I See the Way

Is there really a future state of
happiness called heaven? Do you believe that? Is there really and truly a future
state of holiness and happiness and glory which God calls heaven? Job said, if a man die, will
he live again? Do you believe that? Paul did. Over here in Philippians
3, verse 10, he expresses the great desire of his heart. He
said to know him. In verse 10 of Philippians, Three,
Paul said that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection. He who was dead now lives. And the fellowship of His sufferings
being made conformable unto His death if by any means. I want to know Him and I want
to know the power of His resurrection. And I want to know the fellowship
of his sufferings, enter into his sufferings, the reason for
them, the accomplishment of them. And I want to be made conformable
unto his death if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection
of the dead. That first resurrection, that
resurrection of glory and happiness and holiness. And David said
in Psalm 17, as for me, I shall behold his face in righteousness,
and I shall be satisfied when I awake with his likeness. Do
you believe there is such a day and such a place? Then if we
do, if we do, and I do, I do, definitely do, If we do, it would seem that
we would have serious thoughts about the true way to that place
and to that state, the true way to heaven, the true way to heaven. We'd have some serious thoughts
about death, serious thoughts about judgment, eternity, and
whether or not we actually have a claim, a title to that place. Now I know this. You know it
too. Religions everywhere. Not only our country, but where
I've been for the past two weeks. And their religion goes back
a long ways. They have church buildings over
there that were built before this nation was ever founded. It's a religious society, and
I know this, and you know that everything that calls itself
religion, whether it be Catholic or Jewish or Protestant, but
everything that calls itself religion today pretends to be
the way to heaven. Now, you know that, and I do. Most everybody in religion believes
in heaven, and they believe that they have a title deed to heaven,
and you waste your time to try to convince them otherwise. They do. But they can't all be
right because they're all so different. It's impossible for them to all
be right. They're so different. And I know
that the Bible says there's just one way. Turn to Ephesians chapter
4. Believe me, I'm not being radical. I'm not being Baptistic. I'm not being negative. Believe
me. They're all wrong but one. That's
right. All religions are wrong but one. Listen to Ephesians 4, verse
4. There's one body. Christ is the head, and there's
one body, and there's one Spirit, there's one Holy Spirit. He's
the Spirit of truth. Even as you're called in one
hope of your calling, there's one Lord, there's one faith,
just one. And there's one baptism, and
there's one God and Father of all, who's above all and through
all and in you all, just one. This is the book of one. I know that there's a way that
seems right unto men, and God repeats that several times in
the Scripture. There's a way that seems right,
there's a way that seems right, there's a way that seems right.
Seems logical, seems right. But He said the end is destruction
and death. There's one way to God. Let's
see if we can find out about this way. Turn to John 14. One
way. John 14. One way to God, one way to life,
one way to heaven, one way to glory. Just one way. Not many
ways, just one way. And this is my text, John 14,
verse 6. Jesus said unto him, I am the
way. I am the way. Brother May and I've read that
a thousand times. Have you experienced it? A man
said to Brother Barnard one time, said, I believe the Bible. Brother
Barnard said, no you don't. No you don't. You only believe
what you experience. That's when a man believes the
Bible when he experiences it. That's when he believes Christ
when he experiences it. That's right. We may give mental assent to
it. We may give mental acceptance
to certain facts because how can you separate what you've
always heard and taken for granted and what you actually have experienced? I was raised a capitalist as
opposed to a communist. I was raised a Protestant as
opposed to a Catholic. I was raised an American as opposed
to an Englishman. We have our culture. We have
our religious tradition. We have our ways and forms of
worship even. I was raised in the Sunday school.
I was taught that this Bible is the word of God. No one ever
told me differently. I wonder how much, how much of
my religion is tradition and how much experience. I wonder
how much of what I say I believe that if it came down to it, if
I really believe it. And that's what I'm asking. You
see, I've read this many times. Let's look at it more carefully
this morning. Let's look at it more carefully. Now, we'll go
back to John 13. John, let's look at it more carefully.
Because I tell you, the most tragic thing that I can even
imagine is to hear the Lord say in that day, depart from me,
I never knew you. I just don't know anything that
chills my blood like thinking that I shall be cast away Stand
there and say, well, I pastored a church and I preached and I
read the Bible and I prayed and I gave my offerings and I did
many wonderful works. And to hear him say, I never
knew you. I never knew you, apart from me. He said, many there
be that go in the broad road and few there be that find the
way of life. So I want to know the way of
life and I want to walk therein. And I don't want to walk therein
with a mere religious profession and a do-gooder attitude and
that sort of thing. My duty and responsibility, I
want to know Him. All right, in these preceding
verses, our Lord told the disciples, verse 33. Now look at it, John
13. Little children, yet a little while I'm with you, in the flesh,
on the earth, walking with you, eating with you, talking with
you. And you'll seek Me. And as I said unto the Jews,
whether I go, you cannot come. Our Lord's going somewhere. Now,
I know where He's going. He's going to Jerusalem. He's
going to be arrested. He's going to be tried. He's
going to be falsely accused. He's going to be committed to
death. He's going to be persecuted by the soldiers. He's going to
be nailed to a cross. He's going to be placed dead
in a tomb. He's going to walk the winepress of God's wrath.
He's going to endure the judgment and wrath of a holy God to put
away the sins of a people. That's where he's talking about,
I go and you can't come. He walks the winepress of God's
wrath alone, unaided. He put away sin by the sacrifice
of himself. By himself he purged our sins. And what he's saying to these
disciples, I'm going someplace and you can't come. You can't
come. Not even the Father walked this
path with him. He walked it alone. He walked
it alone. I go, and I go alone. And you'll
notice as I'm reading these scriptures, he uses the word, I go, I go,
I go, I go, over and over again. Whether I go into the valley,
into the pit, into the fire, into the judgment, I go. And you can't come. So now I
say to you, a new commandment I give you, that you love one
another as I have loved you, that you also love one another.
By this shall all men know you, my disciples, if you love one
another. And then the Apostle Peter wanted to know why he couldn't
go. Why can't I go with you? You're
leaving us, you're going somewhere, why can't I go with you? Why
can't I follow you? And then our Lord said to him,
now Peter, whether I go, you cannot follow now. This path
of redemption, this path of suffering, you can't go. I go alone. I go
alone. But, you'll follow me later. You'll follow me later. You can
follow me later because I go now. You can follow me later
because I go through here and bear all the judgment and all
the wrath and all the punishment and all the condemnation for
you. And when you go this path, there won't be any left." Somebody said, you got to walk
that lonesome journey, you got to go there by yourself. He's
the only one that had to go by himself. I'm not going by myself. I go by myself, he said. Our
Lord was a representative person. He was a federal head of a people.
He was a redeemer of a church. He was a representative of every
believer. And he walked this path, this
path of judgment and condemnation. There's therefore now no condemnation
to them who are in Christ. Why? Because he took the condemnation. There's therefore now no judgment
to them in Christ. Why? He took the judgment. There's
no wrath of God upon any believer. Why? Because he took the wrath
of God. I go alone. You can't go. Why can't I go? Well, you can come later, and
when you come later, there won't be any condemnation left. You
can walk peacefully and quietly. And Peter said, oh dear impulsive
Peter, he said in verse 37, Lord, why cannot I follow Thee now? Why? He said, I'll lay down my
life for You. I'll lay down my life for You. I'll die for You.
And then the Lord Jesus Christ put the truth before Peter that
we need constantly to be put before us, and that is the truth
about our nature, the truth about ourselves. I'll lay down my life
for you, and the Lord Jesus said, will you? Would you really? You
don't know anything about love like that. I do, he said. I'll lay down my life for you.
I'll lay down my life for the sheep, but you don't know anything
about love like that. Why, he said, Peter, The cock
will not crow tonight till you've denied three times that you even
know me." He said, woman, I know not the man. You remember what
he said? She said, why, this one of his disciples, he said,
I don't know him. All men forsook him, even his disciples forsook
him. You'll deny me three times. And
that's the human heart and the human nature. And then he said
in verse 1 of chapter 14, Let not your heart be troubled."
Can you imagine the trouble under which he has placed them by these
words? Here the Master is with them.
And the Lord Jesus said, I'm going, I'm going, there's a way
I'm going, and you can't come. You can't come. They said, you
can come later, but not now, I'll go alone. rose to the occasion. He said, well, I can go. Why
can't I go? Well, I'd lay down my life for
your sake. And our Lord just took all of the wind out of his
sails. He said, well, Peter, you're
the chief spokesman and the chief leader of this bunch, and you're
the very one that'll deny you even know me. Three times you'll
deny that you know me. By the mouth of three witnesses
you'll deny you even know me. And he just slumped down. I just
imagine went over there and took a seat, and all the rest of them
were Their heads were down. And I'll tell you this, if we
consider God's holiness in our sinfulness, we've got a right
to be troubled. These disciples were troubled men. And if we
consider His holiness in our sinfulness, we've got a right
to be troubled. And if we consider the righteousness of God's law,
we've got a right to be troubled. And if we consider the holiness
of heaven, we've got a right to be troubled. And if we consider
the justice of God, The uncompromising, unbending justice of God. I believe everybody hopes to
get off lightly. I think most of us think, well,
you know, a loving God won't send a man to hell. A loving
God would not send a man to hell. And I say this to you, a loving
God never has sent a man to hell. And a loving God never will send
a man to hell. It's a God of judgment and wrath
and justice that send men to hell, not a loving God. God's
love is in Christ. That's where God's love is. It's
God's judgment and justice I fear, not God's love. If I could be
assured of God's love, I would have no fear at all. The perfect
love casteth out fear. I wouldn't have any apprehension
or concern at all if I could be assured of God's love. I hear
preachers say to all the people in the world, every son of Adam,
God loves you and Christ died for you. My friend, if I could
be assured of that, I wouldn't have any apprehension at all. If I knew God loved me, the eternal,
almighty, eternal God loved me with an everlasting, infinite
love, And his son actually, as a ransom and redemption, died
for me? Well, I wouldn't have the slightest
apprehension. I'd be as sure for heaven as
God Himself. Wouldn't you? This is the thing. This is where my apprehension
and concern is. Am I in Christ and does God love
me? Did He die for me? I'll tell you, when you consider
the justice of God, I'm not talking about God's love and grace, I
mean His pure, unbending, unrelenting, uncompromising justice. Eye for an eye and tooth for
a tooth. We don't need to be troubled. If we consider our unfitness
for heaven, now come on, just how fit are we for heaven? I wonder just how fit we think
we are for heaven. Scripture says, at that place,
nothing entereth therein that worketh or maketh a lie. Has ever word and thought and
act of yours this day been perfect truth? No. Well, you can't, you're
not fit for heaven. There's nobody here fit for heaven.
We're unfit for, we'd turn heaven into hell if we got in there,
wouldn't we, Ron? Why, like we are? I mean, the best man's altogether
vanity. When we consider the holiness
of God and our unfitness for heaven, my soul, we ought to
be troubled. We have a right to be troubled.
And heaven can't be attained by works. There's got to be a
holiness. So these disciples were troubled.
Here's their spokesman, their leader, the guy that's always
out in front, you know, and the rest of them laid back. Peter's
the one that said, you never wash my feet. Peter's the one that when Christ
walked on water, he said, let me try that. And he said, no,
the rest of them dared to venture it. He stepped out and walked
on the water. It didn't last long, but he walked a little
way. Peter was always the spokesman,
and here he steps up and said, well, I'll go with you, I'll
die for you. And Christ said, well, you. You're going to deny
you even know me." And he just faded back in the
shadows and was all sitting there troubled. And that's when our
Lord said, now watch it, let not your heart be troubled. But I consider my unfitness and
uncleanness and my sinfulness and failure and unbelief and
God's holiness The fact my Lord's going away and don't be trouble. Why? Well, watch it. You believe
in God? That might be taken two ways.
You do believe in God. You do believe in God. Or do
you believe in God? Well, we should believe in God.
Only the fool says there's no God. I believe God. I believe
in God. Well, Christ said you believe
God, believe me. You believe God, believe me.
Not your denomination, not your preacher, not the evangelist. I've got more confidence in men.
That's good. You never could believe them
anyway. He didn't say believe men. He didn't say believe theology. He said, you believe God, you
believe me. You believe me, the God-man.
Do you know the God-man? You believe me. the representative
man. You believe me, the mediator.
You believe God, you believe me. You believe in me, not in
yourself, in me. You believe in me. Moses believed
in me, he wrote of me. Moses believed in me. Moses knew
something about Elohim, but he knew something about Jehovah.
Moses knew something about the essential holiness, the immaculate
holiness of God, but Moses knew something about a prophet whom
God would send. Like unto me, he said, he'll
raise up from the midst of the brethren, and him you shall hear.
Moses, he believed God, but he believed that mediator, Richard.
He believed God, but he believed that representative person, James.
Abraham believed God, but he believed Christ. Are you with
me? You got to be with me. Under God I beseech you be with
me. You want nothing to do with an absolute God. Isn't that right,
John Fleming? Nothing. I want nothing to do
with God as God. Do you? I don't even say His
name. I believe God. I believe the
infinite, immaculate, unspeakable holiness of God dwelling in a
light to which no man can approach. I believe God. And there's nothing
there for me, nothing but condemnation, judgment, anger, wrath, and hell. But, oh, thank God, there's a
me. Thank God there's a me. There's
a mediator here. Thank God. I believe God. I believe
Him. You believe God? Well, that love
and grace and mercy of God sent me. That love, grace, and mercy
of God sent the mediator. Believe me, he said. Now, don't
you be troubled. You're troubled because you know
who God is. But you believe me. You believe
me. Job called me his redeemer, kinsman
redeemer. Job rejoiced in the ransom. He
said, don't let him go down to the pit. I found the ransom.
I found the me. I'm glad there's a me. You believe
God, believe me. But I made a decision. I wish
you'd graduate. I'm dead serious. But I got saved
back yonder 40 years ago. I sure wish you'd forget it.
And discover me. Me. Believe me. Now listen to
what he said. In my father's house are many
dwelling places. We get hung up on that mansion
thing, you know. It's dwelling places. Where is
it? It's in my father's house. My
father's house. My father. My father. I am my father one. This is the
Lord God in my father's house. That's heaven, Mike. That's heaven. That's my father's house. That's
where I want to be. That's where I want to go. My
father's house. And our Lord Jesus said, the certainty of
it, there are many dwelling places. They're there, James. They're
there. Those dwelling places are there.
Dwelling places for people like you and me. Abodes. Abodes. Dwelling places. And the thing about it, there
are many of them. What's the word many mean to
a great God? It means many. Many. In my Father's heaven, in my
Father's house, in my Father's presence, There are definitely,
no question about it, God will be their God, and God will dwell
with them. John said in Revelation, dwell,
dwelling place, God's going to dwell. And there are many of
them. And they're dwelling places that's permanent. David said,
and I will dwell forever in the house of the Lord. They're there. Now, I want to know the way,
and here's coming. And our Lord said to these worried,
troubled, broken-hearted, defeated apostles, you just feel their
sin in his presence. Don't be troubled. Don't be troubled. You believe God? You believe
God? Believe me. Believe me. In my Father's presence, there
are certainly many, many, many, many dwelling places where we'll
dwell permanently, eternally. Dwelling places. I'll dwell with
Him, God said, and I'll be their God. Now watch this next. And I go. Here He says again, I'm
going. I go. I go. He's got to go. The Son of Man
must be lifted up. If I don't go, you have no dwelling
place. I go. I go to the judgment. I go to the bar of justice. I
go to take your guilt and shame. I go under the sole suffering
of God's judgment. I go. I go. to prepare a place for you. And all my life as a kid, I heard
preachers talk about, Jesus is up there building mansions. He's
up there, Eddie, like he used to be with that role of, I used
to see you with that, those blueprints, you know, building all these
buildings around. No, Jesus, they call him the great contractor,
you know, up there in heaven. You know what kind of place He's
prepared? A place for you. You've got no place there. You've
got no right there by nature. You're not numbered or named
among the dwellers there. That's the place He's prepared.
He's going to fix it so you can even come. Here's the great banquet table
and the marriage supper of the Lamb. Jesus Christ became my
righteousness and my sin offering and my substitute, my sacrifice,
so I can have a place there. See what I'm talking about? He ain't building me a house.
If I have a place, it's God's house and I'll be there. He's
not fixing supper. He's gone to prepare a place
for me, a place I don't belong there by nature. And you know
what he does to me? He prepares me for the place,
so I won't be too miserable. I go, he said, to prepare a place,
a place setting. I've been to big time banquet
before, you know, You go around looking for where you're going
to sit. It would be awful if you went all the way around there
and there wasn't any name, wasn't there? But finally you find it
and you feel so good, you know. You sit down there. That's my
name right there. You ever been to one of those?
I know you have. Well, that's the place. I tell you this, in
Glover there's plenty of room but there's no vacancies. Every
place has a name tag. And that name is blood-bought.
Blood-bought. Redeemed by the blood. I go and
prepare a place for you. Now listen to me. And if I go,
if I go, if I go, if I go, if I sin of God, ordained of God,
appointed of God, if I go and prepare a place for you, I will
come again and receive you. I guarantee you that. All that
my Father giveth me will come to me. I don't think this is
talking about his second coming all together. I'm coming back to claim my reward. I'm coming back to claim what's
mine, Christ said. You're mine. I bought you. I've
come back to claim you. They're my foal, my sheep. And
I'm going to claim every one of them. This is my Father's
will which sent me, of all which He has given me, I lose nothing.
I've prepared a place for every one of them, and none of them
is going to miss that supper. They've all got a robe of righteousness,
and they're all going to sit there. And I'm going to receive
you unto myself, that where I am, where I am, there you may be. Do you believe in me? Do you believe in me? Do you believe in me? Oh, he said, Father, I will.
You know, the Lord Jesus, and not many people can begin a prayer
with, I will. No, not any. You bet not. He taught us to pray, not my
will, but thy will be done. But you know when he prayed in
John 17, that high priestly prayer? Strange language, Cecil. He said,
Father, I will. that they also which thou hast
given to me be with you where I am." And they're going to do
it. I will. I will. And so he comes to verse 4. Now
watch this, and you hang on with me now. He comes to verse 4,
and he said, all right, whether I go now you know, and the way
you know. That ought to sum it up. Wouldn't
you think, wouldn't you think, you say, well, that's clear as
a bell to me. Wouldn't you think I'd clear it up? Our Lord Jesus
has said. Peter stood up and boasted what
he'd do, and he said, sit down and shut up, Peter. You're going
to deny you even know me. And the rest of you cut out of
the same cloth and came from the same daddy, and you all got
the same nature, and we'll all forsake you and flee. But don't
be troubled. You believe God, you believe
me. I go willingly, lovingly. I go victoriously. I go. And I go to prepare a place for
you who don't deserve it and don't merit it and haven't earned
it. And I go to prepare a place in my Father's house and dwell
with Him. If it wasn't so, I'd have told
you. Christ can't lie. I'd have told you, He said, if
it wasn't so. And I go and prepare that place. And if I go for you
and prepare a place, I'm coming back for you, that where I am
there you'll always be. Now you know where I'm going
and you know the way. Oh, you'd think so, but oh, listen,
the dullness and unbelief of the human heart. Listen to Thomas,
verse 5. Thomas said, Lord, we don't know where you're going. We don't know where you're going,
and I tell you, I preached it on the television. I preached
it here, I preached it wherever I go, and other preachers have
preached it, faithful men, and still, still, is so few that can give an honest
appraisal of the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Do
you know that? So few that really know who He is, and what He did,
and why He did it, and where He is now, and what He's doing
where He is now, interceding for us. That He is our life,
that He is our righteousness, that He is our wisdom, that He
is our justification, that He is our sanctification, that He
is our hope. He, not it, not this water. Not our reforming, not our getting
religion, not our getting saved, not our making a profession,
not our accepting Jesus. It's Him, the Head, the Mediator,
the Kinsman, Redeemer, the Ransom, the Representative Person. who
loved us because He would, who chose us because He would, who
called us because He would, who assumed our place in our stead
and actually took our grief and sorrows and sin and transgression
and went through that deep, deep water of suffering and sin. bearing our sins and came out
on the other side having fully satisfied God's justice and went
up to the presence of God and presented His blood and the mercy
seed and the covering and said there, paid for and prepared
a place for me. My forerunner entered within
the veil and said, we are here, every one of us are here on my
merit. We are here and we are going
to camp here. And we turn around and we say,
well, you don't know the way. I believe if a fellow does the best he
can, he'll make it. Now, don't tell me that all these
people aren't saved. I know they don't believe like
you believe, but I believe they're saved. Don't tell me that this preacher
is a man that's feeding the poor and sending He's sending groceries
to Africa and this dear girl's giving her life in a convent
and prayed and burned her candles and kissed her cross and followed
the Pope. Don't tell me they're not going
to be in heaven. We don't know the way. We're
so dull and dumb and dead in our trespasses and sin. We don't
know the way. Lord, we don't know where you're
going. We don't understand this thing of justice and righteousness
and holiness and sin offering and sacrifice and just and justify. We don't know! Jesus said, Thomas, I am the way. That's what I've
been telling you. I am the way. You see that? And the door? Most everybody
here has got, you know, I mean, most everybody knows what that
is. That's a door. Now you got any idea of going
in that other room? I see people climbing out that window, not
that one. pushing these tiles. What are you doing that for?
Well, I believe if a man's sincere, he'll get there. Why don't you
try the door? That's what that is. I'm the
door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved and go in and out and find pasture. What's
wrong with that? Well, I just, you know, I just
believe if a man's sincere. Don't tell me they're not going
to heaven. They're not if they don't go through the door. Christ
said, I'm the way, I'm the truth, the truth. There's no truth but
Christ. There's no truth in the Catholic
Church or the Baptist Church. All men are liars, all preachers
are liars. God, let God be true and every
man a liar. Isn't that what the Bible says? Christ is the truth, and you'll
never find any truth outside of Christ. And I am the life,
and everything else is dead, dead. It's not in Christ. And listen to this. And Thomas?
No man. No man. Doesn't matter if he's
a pope or a preacher or a prisoner. No man. Doesn't matter if he's
a moralist or a murderer. No man. Doesn't matter if she's
a mother or a prostitute. No woman. cometh to the Father,
but by me." Why, that's what that says, doesn't it? Brother man, you believe in heaven?
Yes, sir. You believe people are going
to go there? Yes, sir. How? by Christ, in Christ, through
Christ, because of Christ, and that's the only way. And nobody
else, I don't care how sincere, moral, dedicated, or serving
they've been. Christ said, I am the way. I don't know how to make that
any clearer, Bill, than he may. I'm the way. I'm the way. It's not in my doing. He's done
it all. It's not even in my faith. That's
the gift of God. I do believe, but He enabled
me to believe. It's not in my merit. I have no merit. All the
fullness of God dwelleth in Christ, Christ alone. He who knew no
sin was made sin for us in order that we might be made the righteousness
of God in Him. It's not in my perseverance.
He enables me to persevere. He died, He suffered the just
for the unjust that He might bring us to God. Bring us to
God. I go, oh I go. I go to prepare
a place for you. I go. And if I go and prepare
that place and you for that place, I'll come get you. I'll come
get you. And that's, I'm 62 years old,
I've lived my life, most of it's back yonder. But I have a good
hope of living again. And I'll tell you what it is,
it's not the decisions I've made, it's not the experiences I've
had, it's not the preaching I've done, it's the Christ I know. And who knows me? And He alone
is my hope. He's the only hope, because he
said, I'm the way. I don't know how to make it any
clearer. Are we going to be like Thomas? After he said all of
this, Thomas said, we don't know where you're going. We don't
know anything about judgment and justice and sin offering.
Well, how can we know the way? Well, he said it one more time,
I'm the way.

I See the Way

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

Joshua

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Music

Recent Comments

About

Legal

Subscribe

Account

Articles

Featured Authors

Podcast

Recent Comments

Sermons

Featured Preachers

Books

Browse by Format

Collections

Music

About

Legal

Subscribe

I See the Way

Sermon Transcript

About Henry Mahan

Comments

More from Henry Mahan

Related Sermons

Same Scripture

Articles by Henry Mahan

Books by Henry Mahan

Joshua

Where this book stands in the tradition

Plato

Augustine

The Western Christian Tradition

This Book