Let's read this morning from
the book of John. Here's a familiar passage of
scripture, taken from the 14th chapter of John. I'm going to
read verses 1 and 6. Verse 1 and verse 6 of the 14th
chapter of John. Now here's our subject today.
The way back to God. In John 14, verse 1, the scripture
says, and this is the master speaking, to his disciples, let
not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Now the disciples of our Lord
had a lot to be troubled over. They had a lot to cause them
anxiety in the first place. Their idea of an earthly kingdom
had been dashed to pieces. They had expected Jesus Christ
to restore the glory of Israel, the glory of David's throne.
They even talked about who was going to sit on the right hand
and the left hand of the Christ when he came into the kingdom.
And these hopes had been dashed to pieces and they were troubled.
and then their Lord and Master was soon to be crucified he told
them that he was going to Jerusalem and that he would suffer many
things of the scribes and Pharisees and be put to death and he told
them on the third day he would rise from the tomb but he said
I'm leaving you in a world filled with hatred filled with persecution
and evil and that troubled their hearts And then he had told them
that one of them would betray him. Judas would sell him for
30 pieces of silver. He didn't name the one who would
betray him, but he told them, one of you will. But he did tell
Peter, he said, Simon, before the cock crows this night, you
will deny, not only once or twice, but three times, that you even
know me. Now that troubled him, and I'm
sure troubled them. and then again he said the religious
world will kill you they will hate you and persecute you they
will throw you out of the synagogue they will exclude you from organized
religion and the day will come when those who kill you will
think that they do God a service now they were troubled and they
had a lot to be troubled about and that's when the master said
to them let not your hearts be troubled they were troubled But
he said, let not your hearts be troubled. Now here comes the
comfort. And here comes the instructions.
And the way out of this trouble, and doubt, and fear, and confusion. The master said, you believe
in God? You believe in God? Believe also
in me. I am the way, the truth, and
the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Thomas had said, Lord, we don't
know where you're going. We don't know where you're going.
How can we know the way? We're so confused and troubled
and anxious. How can we know the way? And
he said, Thomas, I am the way. I am the way. I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Now that's the... I could begin
the message right there and end it right there. That's the answer.
I am the way. Christ said, I am the way to
God. I am the truth of God. I am the life of God. No man.
No man cometh to the Father. Jew or Gentile, old or young,
rich or poor, male or female. No man. Come it to the Father,
but by me." And he emphasizes this all the way through the
word. He says, I am the door. There's one door, the door, not
several doors, one door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. Go in and out and find pasture.
He said, I am the water of life. I am the bread of life. He said,
I am the good shepherd. the chief shepherd, the great
shepherd, I am the resurrection and the life, he that believeth
on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live, listen to me.
What the Master is saying is this, never a prayer ever reaches
the Father except through Christ. He is saying never a blessing
ever came from heaven except through Christ. He is saying
never a sin, never a sin, not one, was ever forgiven. except
through Christ. Never a cry for mercy ever heard
except in Christ. Never a sinner ever saved except
by Christ. Never a name recorded in the
Lamb's Book of Life except in Christ. Never a believer raised
from the dead except by the power of Christ. Never a person entered
glory except by Jesus Christ. I am the way, I am the door,
I am the bread, I am the water, I am the resurrection and the
life. It's all vested in the Lord Jesus
Christ. It all meets in the Lord Jesus
Christ. He is the one door to God, the
one way to God. Now then, His disciples were
troubled, so anxious and fearful, full of doubt. We don't know
where you're going. How can we know the way? How
can we know the way? Well, let me tell you something,
if you believe in God, if you really do, if I believe in God
as he's revealed in his word, I'm not talking about the God
of your imagination, I'm not talking about the God of your
denomination, I'm talking about the God of creation, the God
of of the universe, the living God, the God of the Bible. If
you believe in the God of the Bible as he revealed in the Word,
your heart has to be troubled too. It has to be. If you experience no anxiety
and no trouble in regard to your relationship with God, it's because
you don't know God. And you have no conception whatsoever,
no understanding of who God is. God is holy, perfectly, immaculately,
infinitely, unchangeably holy. And you and I are sinful. We're
absolutely opposite from God. God is almighty. We're weak. God is true. Every man is a liar
by birth and nature. God is righteous. Our righteousness
is a filthy rag. God is just and holy and will
in no wise clear the guilty. David was troubled. David was
troubled. He said, when I consider the
heavens, the sun, the moon, the stars, the things which thou
hast made, what is man that thou art mindful of him? That troubled
David. He didn't understand how a holy,
eternal, infinite, almighty God could even be mindful of the
creature called man He was troubled, Job was troubled Job said Lord
I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear and now mine eye seeth
thee wherefore I hate myself I abhor myself I repent in sackcloth
and ashes Isaiah was troubled he said in the year that king
Uzziah died I saw the Lord high and lifted up, his train filled
the temple, the cherubims, the seraphims covered their faces
and covered their feet and cried holy, holy, holy and then he
said oh woe is me I am cut off, that's what that word undone
means, I'm cut off I'm cut off because I'm a man of unclean
lips and I dwell amidst among a people of unclean lips. Yes,
the disciples had every right to be troubled and know in God. Christ said, you believe in God?
If you believe in God, you've got a right to be troubled. One
of the marks of the rebels of our day is this, there's no fear
of God before their eyes. The Old Testament says the beginning
of wisdom is the fear of the Lord. People in the Old Testament
who were called friends of God, they were identified in this
manner, one who feared the Lord, one who feared the Lord. I tell
you my friend, listen to this, God apart from a mediator, God
apart from an advocate and a suitable sin offering and great high priest
is an angry, offended, holy sovereign. You want nothing to do with an
immaculate, absolute God. Nothing whatsoever. God, apart
from a mediator, is not to be approached. Unless a man can
see God in and through a mediator, the terrors of God's holiness,
the terrors of God's righteousness and majesty would overwhelm us. No man can look on God and live,
even Moses, even the Seraphims. Even the angels. No man can look
on God and live. We dare not come into God's presence
without an advocate, without a mediator, without Christ. That's
what I'm talking about. If you know God. There's got
to be in your heart a fear of the Lord. If God is who he says
he is. If God inhabits the heavens.
If God Almighty makes all things to move and in him they live
and move and have their being. And even pestilences, and diseases,
and wars, and rumors of wars, and these things come and go
at his command. And he said in the book of Job,
they do. Then you've got to be anxious
and troubled. How can we know the way? That's
what Thomas asked. How can we know the way? Do you know the way? Do you know
the way to God? Do you know His way? Have the
secrets of His grace been opened to you? Has the holy of holies
been open to you? Do you know the way to God? Can
you, by searching, find God? Is that way open to you? Do you
rashly, unadvisedly, rush into the presence of Him who is holy? Or do you wait to find from Him
the way to God? Well, the Lord Jesus revealed
the way. He said, I am the way. I am the
way. God in his awesome holiness and
man in his utter depravity, there's a way to bring the two together.
There's a place where righteousness and peace kiss one another. There's a place where mercy and
truth meet together. And Christ said, it's in me.
I am the way. I am the way. No man cometh to
the Father. And that's where we want to come,
isn't it? That's where we want to be. in the presence of the
Father, but by me." This is the message of the whole Bible. Abel
knew Christ was the way. His brother didn't. But Abel
brought a lamb, a sin offering, a blood offering, because he
knew that the blood of Christ cleanseth us from all sin. He
looked to Christ by faith down through the years, but he knew
the way to God was through the blood of the lamb. Moses knew
Christ the way. Moses wrote of me Christ said.
And when they slew the pests over and put the blood on the
lintel and doorposts, Moses is saying Christ is the way. Christ
is the way. When they lifted up the brazen
serpent in the wilderness, he's saying Christ is the way. When
the Holy of Holies was entered by the great high priest Aaron,
he's saying Christ is the way. Here's the blood on the mercy
seat. The mercy seat. Every piece of furniture in that
tabernacle says Christ is the way. From the altar where the
lamb was slain, to the basin where the priest washed his hands
and feet, to the candlestick, the light of the world, to the
showbread, to the incense, to the mercy seat covering the broken
law, and the blood spilled upon that mercy seat, it's saying
without the shedding of blood, there's no remission. Abraham
knew Christ was the way. He knew that. Father, his son
said, where is the lamb? He said, my son, listen, God
will provide himself a lamb. Job knew Christ was the way.
He said, I know that my Redeemer, my Redeemer liveth and he'll
stand on this earth. And though after my skin worms
destroy this body, yet in my flesh I'll see the Lord, and
not another, I myself." Isaiah knew Christ was the way. Christ
by his wounding, by his sacrifice, by his death. He said he was
wounded for our transgressions. He was bruised for our iniquities.
The chastisement of our peace was upon him by his stripes we're
healed. Simeon knew Christ was the way.
He took up that child in his arms and lifted his eyes to heaven
and he said, Lord now let us thy servant depart in peace according
to your word I've seen your salvation I tell you my friends that's
the message of the gospel I've seen thy salvation and I didn't
see it in the law and I didn't see it at Sinai and I didn't
see it at the Jordan and I didn't see it anywhere but in Christ
he that seeth the Son and believeth on him have everlasting life. Simeon saw the Lord. He saw the
Lord's Christ. Mine eyes have seen thy salvation.
The apostles knew Christ is the way. They said there's none other
name under heaven, none other name given among men. Not the
name of Zwingli or Calvin or Luther or any of the founders
of the churches or any of the so-called messiahs. There's none
other name under heaven given among men whereby we must beseech
the name of Christ. It's not the great Allah. It's
not Mohammed. It's not Buddha, Confucius. It's
none of these. It's Christ Jesus, our Lord. That's the name. That's above
every name. That's the name that the Father
hath given Him. That's the name before which
every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that He's
Lord. I am the way. Now call me radical. That's all
right. Fanatical, narrow-minded if you
wish. Call me what you will, but the
scriptures plainly declare, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man. No man. But surely God will make a way
somehow. No man. But surely my mother
has been such a fine mother. No man. But surely the priest,
or the preacher, or the evangelist, or the missionary. No man. No
man. Cometh to the Father. But by
me. Is that what it says? You know
that's what it says. He that believeth on the Son
hath life. He that believeth not the Son,
whatever he believes, whatever he does, shall never see life. The wrath of God abideth on him.
We don't know the way. Lord, we don't know where you're
going. How can we know the way? I'm the way. I am the truth,
the only truth. Truth is Christ. I am the life,
the only life. Outside of Christ is death, darkness,
death, and destruction, and eternal condemnation. I am the way. But
I'll try another way. Any man comes up any other way
is a thief and a robber. He that believeth on the Son
hath life, he that believeth not shall never see life. This
is the record. John wrote, God hath given us
eternal life, and this life's in his Son, and he that hath
the Son of God hath life, and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. I don't know how it can be clearer.
In Hebrews 9.22 the scripture says, without the shedding of
flood, no, no forgiveness. Now if you choose to approach
God, my friend, by your own merit, that's your privilege. If you
choose to approach a holy God by your own works and your own
righteousness, which he himself declared is not sufficient, but
rather in God's sight they're filthy rags. If you choose to
approach God by your religious form and ceremony, or baptism,
or communion, or sacraments, or whatever means, that's your
privilege, you're welcome to try. But the word of God plainly
declares, if the Bible is going to be your rule of faith and
practice, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to
the Father but by me. Now I want to give you four or
five things about Christ the way, the way back to God. Your
sins have separated you and your God. Now here are four or five
things I want you to listen. I want you to listen now very
carefully. as I present them to you. First
of all, faith in Christ. That's the way to God. Christ
is the way. And he's God's way. That's what
I'm saying. He's God's way. Now listen to
Isaiah 714. Behold, the Lord himself will
give you a sign. A virgin shall conceive and bring
forth a son, and thou shalt call his name Immanuel, God with us. This is God's way. It's God's
purpose, God's plan, and God provided. In Isaiah chapter 28,
16, God said, Behold I lay in Zion a foundation, a stone, a
tried stone, a sure foundation. He that believeth on him shall
never be ashamed. That's what God said. Now Christ
is God's way. He's God's way from all eternity.
Christ is a lamb slain from the foundation of the world. He's
always been God's way. God's never had any other way.
to save sinners, any other way to redeem the lost. God announced
Christ coming to Adam right after Adam fell. He said the woman's
seed will bruise the serpent's head. That's Christ. And the
whole tabernacle service, as I told you earlier in this message,
pictures to sinners the redeeming work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now if God's Bible is your guide And that's how faith cometh,
by hearing the word of God. And there's no other guide, there's
no other way. Can you, by looking at the stars, find God? You can
see his power, but not his work of redemption. It's very plain
from the word of God that Christ is the way, for God so loved
the world that he gave his only begotten son. He's God's way.
And in Galatians 4 verse 4 and 5 it says, In the fullness of
time God sent his son into the world, made of a woman, made
under the law, to redeem them that were born under the law.
God sent him. So this is what I'm saying. Christ
is God's way. He's the way to God and he's
God's way. Now God's the offended party. We sin against God. And
he's the one that will lay down the terms of peace. And he has
given the terms of peace. It's repentance toward God and
faith in our Lord Jesus Christ. Alright, secondly, Christ is
the only way to approach God. He's God's way and He's the only
way. Listen to this, other foundation can no man lay than that which
is laid, Christ the Lord. There's none other name under
heaven, under heaven that covers a wide expanse given among men. whereby we must be saved the
prophets knew no other way to him give all the prophets witness
the apostles knew no other way Peter said we're not redeemed
with corruptible things such as silver and gold from our vain
conversation received by tradition from our fathers but with a precious
blood of Christ the apostles knew no other way the redeemed
in glory know no other way they say unto him who loved us and
washed us from our sins in his own blood, they know no other
way to God. The reformers knew no other way,
they said it's the scriptures alone, grace alone, Christ alone. There's a curse pronounced upon
those who preach another way. Paul said if any man preach any
other gospel, even if it be an angel from heaven, let him be
a curse. I'm not being narrow, no more
narrow than God's word, there is a way, why look for another
way? There's God's way, and there's the only way. What a fool I'd
be to turn from the only way and seek another door. There's
not another door. And then watch this. Faith in
Christ, who is the way to God, is a sure and certain way to
be saved. He said in John 6.37, All that
my Father giveth me shall come to me, and him that cometh to
me I'll in no wise cast out. What a promise. What a promise! The door is open. Wide it's open. For whosoever will, by God's
grace, go through it. Come on! He'll never shut you
out. He said that. He said, my sheep
hear my voice. I know them. I give them eternal
life. They'll never perish. Never perish. The hymn writer
said, that soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose, I will
not, I will not desert to expose. That soul, though all hell should
endeavor to shake, I'll never, no never, no never, no never
forsake." Paul said, I know whom I have believed. I'm persuaded
that he is able to keep that which I've committed to him against
that day. I'm not afraid. He is a sure
and certain way because he's God's way. He's God's way, and
He has the sin offering, which I need. He has the righteousness,
which the law requires. He has the sacrifice, which justice
demands. He has it all in His hand. And
then listen to this. Christ is a way that's free.
Free. Don't cost a thing. He says,
O everyone that thirsteth, come to the water. He that hath no
money, come buy wine and milk without price. Don't bring anything. don't bring anything, let not
conscience make you linger nor a fitness fondly dream, all the
fitness he requires is to feel your need of him but I preach
I've been such a terrible person Christ died for sinners, sinners
like you and me but I prayed I couldn't hold out, that's right
you can but he is gracious and able to keep that which I've
committed to him He can keep us. He will present us faultless
before the throne of His glory with exceeding joy. This is the
record God has given us eternal life. It's a gift. Eternal life
is a gift. It's the gift of God is eternal
life. Come unto me all ye that labor
and are heavy laden. I'll give you rest. I'll give you rest. Life in Christ is not sold to
the highest bidder or to the lowest bidder. It's not earned.
It's not merited. It's a gift. It's free. We're justified freely by his
grace. When Christ our Lord died on
the cross, he said it's finished. Everything that the law requires,
that justice demands, that heaven requires, that the sinner needs,
is met in Christ. Wisdom, righteousness, sanctification,
and redemption. God does not require you to produce
a righteousness, but to receive one already produced. God does not require you to understand
his word, to believe it. God does not require you to make
a way to him, but to receive him who is the way. That's so. That's so. I am the way. Last
of all, Christ is the way for all who will come. Jew or Gentile. God has no way to save the Jew
in another way for the Gentile. Christ is the way for all men,
male or female, old or young, rich or poor, white or black,
learned or ignorant, oh, everyone that thirsteth, come to the water.
Come, let us reason together. Though your sins be as scarlet,
though they be red like crimson, our Lord said, I'll make them
as white as snow. You believe that? You believe
in God? You believe in God? Does your faith about God or
belief about God trouble you? It ought to. It ought to trouble
me. Well, what's the way to God?
Well, Christ said, I'm the way. I'm the way. I'm the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Believe on Christ. Lay hold of
Christ. As the old Puritans used to say,
embrace the Redeemer. Cast all your cares upon Him. He cares for you. Rest in Him. But give me something to do.
I will not give you something to do. Christ did it all. And you'll look to him or you'll
perish. Lord, we know not whether thou
goest. How can we know the way? I am
the way, the truth and the life. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. But he is able to save to the
uttermost them that do come to God by him. Will you trust him? Now I have this message on a
cassette tape. Please understand, there are
two messages on one tape. This message, the way to God,
and the one I'll bring next week on a reason to hope, a reason
to hope. Now we'll prepare it