the truth, and the life. I've entitled this message, Christ
the Way, the Truth, and the Life. There is not a two-syllable word
in our text, and yet the awesome, sublime nature of the text is
such that if we spend eternity considering nothing else, we
would still not be able to exhaust it. And we would say concerning
this what Sheba said concerning the wisdom of Solomon, the half
has never been told. Christ, the way the truth and
the life. Now Christ says to this somewhat
dull question of Thomas, the disciples quite often would ask
kind of dull sounding questions. So the next time you ask a stupid
question, you're in good company. I ask them all the time. People
are always afraid they'll say something stupid. You will. You
will. I will. That's all right. Thomas
did. Thomas saith unto him, Lord,
we know not whether thou goest, and how can we know the way?
And Christ says to Thomas, I am the way. Not, I'll show you the
way. Not, I'll take you by the hand
and lead you along the way. But I myself am the way, the
way that excludes all other ways. I am the way to the Father. He's so much the way that if
you're on the way, in the way, you're already there. He said, Thomas, I am the truth. That's a powerful, powerful,
powerful statement. I am the truth. Not I'll teach
you the truth, or even I'll tell you what the truth is and give
you the right data concerning the truth, but I myself, in my
person, I am the truth. He said, I am the life. He didn't
say that I'll give you life. He didn't say I'll teach you
how to live, nor will I save the life that you have, but I
myself am the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Not pleading my name, not beside of me, not behind
me, but by me, so much so that when he comes to the Father,
I come to the Father. That's a blessed thought. No
man comes to the Father but by me. That means when he comes
to the Father, I do. I don't come on my own. When
he comes, I come. When a lady, we have several
ladies here that are bearing children inside of them. When that lady goes from one
room to another, you know who else does? That child. We come to the Father by Him. Not just pleading His name, although
we do. But when He comes, We come. I am the way. I am the truth. I am the life. I am the way. If you're lost, what do you need
to know? You need to know the way. The
way to a place. The way from point A to point
B. William Jay, a man of the last
century, was going to take a coach to Bath. And he got up with the
driver and They were driving along, and he started asking
the driver all kinds of various questions. Who owns that house?
He said, I don't know. What's the name of that river?
I don't know. Whose property is that? I don't
know. He got a bunch of I don't knows, and he said, well, just
what do you know? He said, I know the way to Bath.
Well, I know the way to God. I know. The way from destruction
to salvation. I know the way. If you've been lied to, misinformed,
deceived, what do you need to know? You need to know the truth. I want to know the truth. And
I know the truth. He said, I am the truth. If you're dying, what do you
need? Life. He said, I am the life. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Now I want us to consider Christ
the way. Christ the truth and Christ the
life. He said, first of all, Thomas,
I am the way. The way is the road, the distance
between point A and point B. Christ is the way to the Father. He's not a way. He is the way. the way that utterly excludes
all other ways. Now, we're warned by the Lord.
Wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction
and many there be that go in there at. Most people take the
wide gate and the broad way. Our Lord tells us that. Now why
does he call this a wide gate and a broad way? Because the
road to hell is a wide road. There's room for the licentious
man and for the legalist. There's room for the intellectualist.
There's room for the emotionalist. There's room for the moral. There's
room for the immoral. There's room for the religious
and there's room for the irreligious. You can get there as a drug pusher
and you can get there as a preacher. It's a wide road. There are many roads that lead
to hell. Broad is the way that leads to
destruction. And many there be that go in
there at. But our Lord is the narrow way. I love this name of Him. He is
the narrow way. Straight is the gate and narrow
is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it. And rather than debate on why
there's many that go in the wide gate and there's just a few that
take the narrow way, I want to be one of these few, don't you?
I want to be one of these few that enter in at the straight
gate. Now, people complain about this
narrow way. Do you mean to tell me that if
I don't believe the gospel exactly as the scriptures present it,
I will not be saved? Do you mean to tell me that?
That's too narrow. Do you mean to tell me that I
must believe it all? God says that I must bow to every
word of grace. Do you mean I must receive everything
or I won't be saved? That's just too narrow. Well,
here's a question. Would you rather have a big wide
bridge that takes you halfway over the river? Or would you
rather have a narrow road that people go single file that takes
you all the way over? This way is so narrow that you
cannot carry anything with you on this narrow road. Just enough
room for you yourself. Can't carry anything with you.
Somebody says, well, I've been a preacher. I have many wonderful
works. I believe the Orthodox way. If I plead anything other than
Christ the way, I will be rejected. God won't have me. Somebody once said, If all I
have is Christ, is that enough to save me? And a wise preacher
answered that question thusly. It is if he's all you got. If he's all you got, yes, he
is enough. He's everything. If there's something
else you have, no, you won't make it in. He is called in 1
Peter 2, verse 15, the right way as opposed to the wrong way. The wise man said there's a way
that seemeth right unto a man. It appears right. It seems like
it makes sense. It's what we naturally believe. There's a
way that appeareth right and seemeth right unto a man, but
the end thereof are the ways of death. Christ himself is the
right way. All other ways are wrong ways. He's called in 2 Peter 2, verse
2, the way of truth, as opposed to the way of lies. Now listen
to me. All other religions are lies. All other religions. There's
only one way to the Father, and that is Christ Himself. Any message
that does not declare the way of grace, free and sovereign
grace. The gospel I'm preaching right
now, the gospel of free grace, any other way is a wrong way,
it's a lie, it's not the truth, there's no salvation in that
message. Christ is the way that excludes
all other ways. He's called in 2 Peter 2.21 and
Matthew 21.32, the way of righteousness. the way of righteousness. Now, what is meant by righteousness?
Somebody asked me that question recently, and I thought it was
a very good question. What does the Bible mean by the
word righteousness? By the word righteousness, the
Bible means this, a perfect conformity to the holy law of God. If you're righteous before God,
that means you've never sinned, it means you've never lied, You've
never coveted. You've never had an adulterous
thought. You've been perfect before God.
That's what the Bible means by righteousness. And he is called
the way of righteousness. Turn over to Romans chapter 4. How good do you have to be to
be saved? You have to be as good as God. That's how good you have to be
saved. Our Lord said, except your righteousness exceed, surpass
the righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall in no
case enter the kingdom of heaven. Now look here in Romans chapter
4 beginning in verse 5. But to him that worketh not. He doesn't do anything to achieve
salvation. He works not. But believeth on
him. that justifieth, that makes not
guilty the ungodly. His faith is counted for righteousness,
even as David also described the blessedness of the man unto
whom God imputeth righteousness, without work, saying, Blessed
are they whose iniquities are forgiven. whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man to whom the
Lord will not impute sin." Now, here's the way of righteousness. There's only one way that I can
be righteous. It's for God to take the righteousness of His
dear Son and make it mine. And He took my sin and made it
His. Christ Jesus Himself is the way
of righteousness. He's called in Luke chapter 1
verse 79, the way of peace. The way of peace. I want peace,
don't you? I want to have peace that it's
well with my soul. That everything's fine. That
God is not mad at me. That God is not angry with me.
That He's at peace with me. I want that peace, don't you?
Oh, what a wonderful thing peace is. Peace of conscience. Not
looking for anything else. Now, it's said of the natural
man in Romans chapter 3, verse 17, the way of peace. They have
not known. But thank God I know the way
of peace. Scripture says, therefore, having been justified. This is
what Christ did on the cross. Now, if you want peace, if you
want true peace before God, here's where peace comes from. Having
been justified on Calvary's tree, Christ paid for my sins. He blotted them out. I don't
have any sin. I am justified before God. That means I'm not guilty. That
means I'm perfectly righteous. That means when God looks at
me, He doesn't have anything to be mad at. Therefore, having
been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord
Jesus Christ. This way is called in Hebrews
chapter 10, verse 20, the new and living way. New means freshly
slaughtered. His blood is always powerful
before God. It's never old, it's never stale,
it's never, well, okay, but. No. His blood is freshly slaughtered. When John saw that one who was
worthy to take the book and to open the seals thereof, he said
he saw a lamb as it had been slain. Just slain. Now, he's slain from the foundation
of the world, but that blood is always powerful. It's always
fresh before God. It's the new way. It's the living
way as opposed to the dead way. He ever lives to make intercession.
He's the new and He's the living way. He's called in 1 Corinthians
10, verse 13, the way of escape. And I certainly need a way of
escape. He's called in 1 Corinthians 12, the more excellent way, the
way of love. And He's called in Acts 24, verse
14, I love what Paul said here. He said, This I confess to thee,
that after the way which they call heresy, the way that they call heresy,
And if you would stand up in the average church in Lexington,
Kentucky, and say that Christ died only for the elect
and accomplished their salvation, what would the response be? Why,
that's heresy. That's heretical. Paul says,
after the way which they call heresy, So worship I the God
of my fathers, believing all things which are written in the
law and in the prophets. Not only is Christ the way to
the Father, but he is the truth. He said, I am the way. Oh, what
a way He is. If you're on the way, if you're
in the way, you're already there. Do you know I'm already in heaven
because I'm in the way? You say, how can you be in heaven right
now while I'm sitting here looking at you on earth talking to me?
You say you're in heaven? Isn't that hyperbole? Isn't that
overstating the case? Is Christ in heaven? Then I'm
in heaven because I'm united to Him. And Ephesians 2, 6 says
we're seated together in the heavenlies, in Christ Jesus. I'm sitting up there right now
in my Lord and Master, in my Savior. He's the way such that
you're already there if you're on the way. It's not a long journey
that you got to take. No, you're already there in the
way. He's not only the way, He is
the truth. Turn to John chapter 8. Verse 31, Then said Jesus to those Jews
which believed on him, If you continue in my word, then are
you my disciples indeed, and you shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free. Now understand this, when he
says you shall know the truth, he's not talking about body of
facts that you believe. You'll know the right doctrine.
You'll have the correct data. You'll have the right information.
That's not what he's saying at all. He says, when he says you
shall know the truth, he's saying you'll know me. It's me. It's the truth who makes you
free. It's not your knowledge of the truth. Your knowledge
of the truth isn't all that great. Neither is mine. It comes right
down to it. We don't, the stuff we know,
we don't know it very well. That's just, that's just the
truth. It's not my knowledge of the
truth that makes me free. As a matter of fact, if I start
thinking of my knowledge, I start getting uncomfortable. I start
thinking, I don't know, you know, when do you know enough? No,
I don't know enough. But it's not my knowledge that
makes me free. It's the truth himself, the Lord
Jesus Christ. He makes me free. If the Son
shall make you free. Oh, you're free indeed. Now there's my Freedom. It's the Son who has made me
free. He is the truth. Now I want you
to think about how He is the truth. He's the truth regarding God. Look in John chapter 14. Look
at verse 8. Philip saith unto him, Lord,
show us the Father, and we'll be satisfied. It sufficeth us. Now here's another one of those
stupid questions. Lord, show us the Father, and we'll be satisfied.
Does he have any idea who it is he's looking at? This is the
eternal Son of God. And look what our Lord says to
him. Philip, Jesus saith unto him, Have I been? so long a time with you, and
yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father." Now, do you hear what he says? If you've seen
me, you've seen God. All that God is, I am. I'm completely sovereign. I'm
all-powerful. I'm omniscient. I'm God. You know the reason he thought
it not robbery to be equal to God? Only one answer to that
question. Because he was God. In him dwelleth
all the fullness of the Godhead in a body. He is God. He tells us the truth concerning
who God is. All you and I are ever going
to see of God is Jesus Christ. Now I want to repeat that. All
you and I will ever see of God is Jesus Christ himself. He is
the truth regarding God. He's the truth regarding man.
Now what am I? What am I? Now I can compare
myself to other men and I can come out okay. I can always find
somebody I can feel good about myself when I look at them. Well,
at least I'm not like them. At least I'm not like them. I'm
not like that person. You can always find somebody
like that. But Paul said, they measuring themselves by themselves
and comparing themselves among themselves are not wise. An ant can compare himself to
an amoeba. He looks pretty big, doesn't
he? But what if that ant compares himself to an elephant? He doesn't
come out so big, does he? Do you want to know the truth
about yourself? Put yourself beside of the Lord
Jesus Christ. And that's the truth about you.
If you want to know the truth about yourself, look to the cross.
Now listen to me, you young people, I want you to listen to this
real carefully. Everybody in here, I want you to listen. You
want to know the truth about yourself. Don't look within. Don't look
to what men say. But you look at the cross, and
that's the truth about you. If God left you to yourself,
if he took his hand off of you, you would be a murderer of Jesus
Christ. Now that's the truth. That's
the truth concerning you. You look to the cross, you'll
find out how bad you really are. Everybody in this room, all humanity,
all God's got to do is take the hand of restraint off, and you'll
be as bad as Satan himself, and you'll nail Jesus Christ to a
cross. That is the truth. It's the truth
concerning who you are. Now, He is the truth. Not only
is He the truth concerning who God is, not only is He the truth
concerning who you are, He is the truth concerning salvation. Now how in the world can I be
saved? There's only one answer to that question by Jesus Christ. He's the truth concerning how
God can save me. He lived for me. He kept the
law for me. That's the truth. There's my
obedience before God. He died for me. He put away my
sin. He was raised for me. He intercedes
for me. He's seated at the right hand
of the Father representing me. That's the truth. That's the
truth concerning how I can be saved. Christ is the truth. Now, He's the way. Look in our
text in John chapter 14, verse 6. And this is something that
I feel like I've understood more clearly than I have in the past.
John chapter 14, verse 6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, I am the truth, and I am the life. Not I'll give you life, not I'll
show you how to live, not I'll offer you life, but I myself
am the life. Now what in the world does that
mean? That almost sounds mystical. What's he talking about, I am
the life? Well, turn with me for a moment
to Colossians chapter 3. Colossians chapter 3, verse 1. If you then be risen with Christ,
seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right
hand of God. Set your affection on things
above, not on things on the earth, for you are dead. How much stressing have you been
doing over the events going on right now? Everybody's worried
about who's going to win the presidential race, what's going
to happen to the economy, what's going to happen in my family.
Now, we stress over that. How much do folks in the graveyard
stress over what's going on? Ask the dead man if he even cares.
He's not even interested. Dead. He's not concerned about
the things going on in this life. You are dead. You're dead. How much concern do you have?
You're dead. Dead men don't care. You're dead and your life is
hid with Christ in God when Christ, who is our life, shall appear. Then shall you appear with Him
in glory." Now, did you hear that? When Christ, who is our
life, He said, I am the resurrection and I am the life. Christ, who is our life. Paul said, I live, yet not I,
but Christ liveth in me. And the life that I now live
in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God who loved me
and gave himself for me. Now Christ is my life. What's
that mean? What's that mean? What kind of life have you lived? You proud of it? Your life. Your thoughts. Your motives. Your desires. What kind of life
have you lived? Now let me tell you about my
life. You all want to hear about my life? I'm going to tell you even if
you don't. You want to hear about my life? I'm going to tell you
about my life. I have nothing to hide. You can put my life up on a big
screen for everybody to see. And I'm talking about my innermost
being, my thoughts. I have nothing to hide. You put my life out and I'm going
to be proud of it. How's that? How can you say that
you'd put your life out on a big screen for everybody to see and
you wouldn't be ashamed? I'd say, check me out, look me
over, through and through. I'll tell you why I can say that.
Because my life is the Lord Jesus Christ. And I'm not talking about
just... I'm talking about His life. That's my life. That's my life before God. I'm
going to hear Him say to me, Well done, thou good and faithful
servant. Enter thou into the joy of thy
Lord. And you know why he's going to
say, well done, thou good and faithful servant, because it's
been well done. I am perfect. I do not have any sin. His life is my life before God. Now, how can that be? My sinful life became his, so that he became guilty. All that I am All the hell that
is in my heart, the iniquity, the sin, the ungodliness, the
unbelief was made to meet in his body on the tree. And my
life became his life. And that's why he died. But just
as truly as my life became his life, his life is mine, and his
life is my life before God." Oh, you mean that his life is
counted as if it were your life? No, no, no. The Bible says his
life is my life. Now this is where our confidence
comes from. This is why we can look at judgment. Turn with me to 1 John chapter
4. This is a very familiar passage of scripture. You know, I give
this all the time. Maybe somebody's going to hear
it for the first time. In the power of the Holy Spirit. Verse 17 says, Herein is our
love made perfect that we may have boldness in the day of judgment. My whole life is going to be
exposed It's all going to be put on a screen. You know what? There's going to be nothing there
but perfection. Because as He is, so are we in this world right
now. You want to know about my life?
You want to know the details? Read Matthew, Mark, Luke and
John, and you'll find every detail of my life. Can you have confidence in this?
Christ said, I am the way. And you know, I know that He
is the way. He said, I am the truth. And He is the truth. He's the truth. concerning who
God is. He's the truth concerning who
I am. And He's the truth of how God can love and accept and embrace
somebody like me. He's the truth. And He is the
life. His life is my life before the
Father. No man comes to the Father but
by me. Now truly, He comes to the Father
Oh, nobody comes to the Father like He does. You see, He's one
with the Father. And as He comes to the Father,
everybody in Him comes to the Father. And we trust Him. Oh, I love the simplicity of
this. We trust the Lord Jesus Christ as the way. Do you trust
Him as your way? We trust Him as the truth. He is the truth. He's the truth,
the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. And we trust Him
as the life. He is my life before God. Therefore, I have confidence
and boldness to come into God's presence knowing I'm beautiful
to God. I'm perfect before God. I'm righteous
before God because His life is my life. It's the greatest thing I've
ever heard. His life is my life before God. And, well, I'm very grateful. Very grateful. Let's pray together.