I like to speak from familiar
passages of Scripture, the Scripture which we have read or studied
or heard preached all of our lives, because I feel like that
every time I study and restudy a particular familiar portion
of God's Word, the Lord gives me something new and something
beautiful. And this morning I want you to
turn with me to John 14. You know immediately what scripture
I'm going to read. John 14, 1 through 6. I'm going
to speak on the subject, Christ, the weight of God. Christ, the
weight of God. John chapter 14, verse 1 through
6. Our Lord said to his disciples,
let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions, or dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself, that where I am, there you may be
also. And whether I go, you know, and
the way you know. And Thomas said unto him, Lord,
We don't know where you're going. How can we know the way? And
the Lord Jesus said unto him, Thomas, I am the way, the truth,
and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. I am the way, I am the truth,
I am the life. Now my friends, the disciples
were troubled. They were troubled. Our Lord
said, let not your heart be troubled. They were troubled. And they
had reason to be troubled. And in the state, if you and
I are in the state they're in, or were in, we have a reason
to be troubled too. They had a reason to be troubled.
You see, they didn't understand. They didn't understand what this
was all about. Now, they had this conception
of the Lord's kingdom. They believed he was the Messiah.
Peter said that. We believe that the Christ, the
son of the living God. We believe you're the son of
David. We believe you're the rightful heir to the throne of
David. And they had the idea that the
Lord Jesus had come to set up the Jewish kingdom, a mighty
and influential and powerful and splendid and majestic kingdom
right here on this earth, a materialistic kingdom. Rich and powerful kingdom
to throw off the bondage of Rome and and the Jew be free once
again That's what they thought and then our Lord talked to them
about dying He said I'm going to die and he talked to them
about they're denying him and Forsaking him all of you. He
said will be offended because of me this night and the sheep
will be scattered He talked to them not about influence, but
persecution. He talked to them not about acceptance,
but rejection. Why, he said, they'll cast you
out of the synagogue. Why, the time will come when
the man who killed you will think that he's doing God a service.
They didn't understand this. And all the mysteries of the
gospel and the mysteries of our Lord's kingdom and the mysteries
of eternal life are never understood by the natural man. Eye hath not seen, ear hath not
heard, neither hath it entered the heart of men, the things
that God hath prepared for them that love him. But he hath revealed
them unto us by his Spirit." And he said to his disciples
later, he said, I've got much, many things to tell you. You're
not able to bear them now. You can't understand them. But
when the Holy Spirit comes, he'll guide you into all truth. These
men were troubled. They didn't understand. And that's
when our Lord said to them, let not your heart be troubled. He
comforts them. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. You believe in God? Do you believe
in God? Believe in me. Trust in me. Rest in me. Do like Job. Job said, though he slay me,
I'll trust him. Job didn't understand all that
was happening to him. Why, he lost all of his cattle
and his sheep and his oxen, and all ten of his children were
killed in one great tornado. And here he sat, broke and miserable,
and his health was gone. He had boils all over his body,
and people were laughing at him and ridiculing him. And he'd
read promises in the Word of God, how that they that trust
the Lord shall be blessed, and how that they that believe on
God will be prospered above all men. And this is so spiritually,
but not always physically. Job didn't understand it. But
he did say this, though he slay me, I'll trust him. And that's
what the Lord's saying to the disciples here. He is saying,
you believe in God, believe in me. Believe in me, rest in me,
trust in me. And then David, these were the
last words of David. David's life was an enigma. A
powerful man, a godly man, a man after God's own heart. A man
who started out slaying his 10,000, and then his own son killed one
of his other sons, and then another son tried to throw him off of
the throne, and won the hearts of the people from his father,
and David became an outcast. And all of this occurred, and
when he died, he said, before he died, he said, although my
house be not so with God. God hath made with me an everlasting
covenant, ordered in all things, and sure. And this is all my
salvation and all my desire, although he make it not to grow.
I believe him. I believe him. And that's what
our Lord's saying here to the disciples. He's saying, let not
your heart be troubled. You don't understand, I know.
You can't understand. You can't put this all together.
How can the finite mind of a man comprehend the infinite mind
of God? How can we, in our foolishness
and ignorance, even hope to comprehend the infinite, infallible, all-wise
mind of God, and purpose of God, and ways of God? Can't do it. So we must walk by faith and
not by sight. Our sight's not that good. It
doesn't reach that far either way, just about as far as I can
see. I can't see 4,000 years back
and 2,000 years ahead. I can't see that far. I can't
see into the past. I can't see into the eternal
councils of God. I can't see into the secret chambers
of God's will and wisdom. I can't see into the future.
I must not walk by sight. I must not continually Put out
the fleece, I hear people say. You be careful of signs and wonders. Our Lord said, no sign shall
be given but that of the Word of God. Blessed are they that
have not seen and yet have believed. This evil and adulterous generation
seeketh after a sign. Prove God. God doesn't have to
be proved. God is God. Who needs to be proved,
as I said, prove your own selves, whether you be in the faith.
God doesn't have to be proved. Proved is a God. God doesn't
have to be proved. Prove the gospel to me. No, we
don't. God doesn't have to be proved.
I tell you who must be approved, and that's us. And these disciples,
and our Lord said, I go to prepare a place for you. Now, my friend,
by nature and birth, we don't have a place. I take that back. We have a place. It says when
Judas hanged himself, he went to his own place. And if we die
in our sins, that's our place too. Separated from God in darkness
and evil and corruption forever and ever. That's our place. But
by nature, we don't have a place in God's presence. Our Lord said,
you know, the average person thinks when the Lord said this
to his disciples, I go to prepare a place for you, that he's talking
about going up there and laying some golden streets and putting
up a few buildings and putting a wall around it and a few gates
of precious stones. No, sir. The preparation of the
place is the place of acceptance in the sight of God Almighty.
And that took His obedience. By one man's disobedience, I
was made sin. By the obedience of another,
I was made righteous. So Christ prepared a place of
acceptance and a place of righteousness and a place of holiness and a
place of glory and a place of eternal rest in the presence
of God by his obedience and by his death and by his intercession. That's preparing for me a place. I've got no place by nature,
and this place the Lord's talking about preparing is the place
in God's favor. You know, when man fell, he fell
out of favor with God. We're not born in God's favor.
We're born dead in trespasses and sin. The wicked go astray
from the womb, speaking lies. We're conceived in sin, and shaped
in iniquity, and brought forth speaking lies. Our place is a
place of destitution, and despair, and distress, and damnation.
Christ said, I'm going to prepare a place for you. And the preparation
of that place is by his obedience, his death, his burial, his resurrection,
and his intercession. And if I go and prepare this
place, you know, one time he said, if I don't go away, the
Holy Spirit will not come. Well, if the Lord didn't go,
when the Lord speaks of going away, he's speaking of his death,
his death, his burial, his resurrection. He says, if I don't go away,
the Holy Spirit won't come, because if I don't go away, the Holy
Spirit has no reason to come. He doesn't have any gospel to
reveal. He doesn't have any blood to apply. He doesn't have any
salvation to give, because Christ accomplished that by his death.
And if I go and prepare that place for you, I will come again
and receive you unto myself, not just to a materialistic future
world, not just to gladness and happiness and freedom from sickness
and sorrow and death, but unto myself, that where I am. There you may be. Have you ever
thought much about where I am, that where I am, there you may
be. Where is Christ? Well, I'll tell
you one thing. He's at the right hand of God.
That's right. He sat down on the right, at
the right hand of God. That's the right hand. You know
what the right hand is to a king? It's the place of love, acceptance. It's the place of honor. It's
a place of glory. And Christ sat down at the Father's
right hand, having finished His work. And you know, we who died
in Him and were buried in Him and arose in Him are also seated
with Him in the heavenly, where Christ is, there you may be also. Where is Christ? At the right
hand of God. Where is Christ? Exalted above
every name, given a name above every name. heaven earth and
hell Where is Christ? He's eternally glorified and
brethren every one of his people are in him and where he is there
We are also and then he goes on and he says and the way, you
know the way, you know and One of them said well Lord. We don't
know the way and We don't know where you're going. How can we
know the way? And that's when he gave my text. And this is
what I want us to think about now for the rest of the time.
He said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh to
the Father but by me. I am the way to the Father. I
am the way to this place I prepare. I am the way to where I am. I
am the truth about it, and I am the life of it. And no man cometh
to the Father but by me. Now, my friends, this whole situation
in which we find ourselves, this whole state of inability and
state of corruption and state of sinning, and that's where
we are. You say, I'm dissatisfied with my world. Well, God is too.
This world is a world of sin. This world system is contrary
to God, in opposition to God, and truth and holiness and love
and life always has been, always will be. And this whole thing
got started in the Garden of Eden. When our father, Adam,
in Adam all died. In Adam, sin and death passed
upon all men. In Adam, judgment and condemnation
came upon all men. God created one man. That man
was Adam. The word Adam means man, the
Hebrew word for man. And every man was created in
Adam. And we stood in Adam and we fell in Adam. God never created
you nor me. He created Adam. You and I came
from Adam. You see, we were born by natural
generation. Adam, even Eve, came out of Adam. God didn't form Eve from the
dust to the ground like he did Adam. He formed Eve out of Adam.
Adam was the first man. Adam was the man God made, according
to the Word of God. Made him in his own image, made
him holy and upright. Eve came out of him. And you
and I came out of him. We came from the seed of Adam.
The first son, Cain, Abel, and all the rest of them born in
between. And we inherited an evil nature. And when Adam sinned,
you see, Adam lost three things. First, he lost life. God said
if you eat of the forbidden tree, you die. Well, Adam didn't die
physically, not right at that moment. He lived another seven
or eight hundred years. But he died spiritually. The
life of God. God created Adam in his own image,
breathing into Adam the breath of life. He became a living soul.
He walked with God. He knew God. He didn't know anything
about sin. He didn't even know he was naked.
He had no experience with sin. He knew nothing of shame. He
knew nothing of guilt. He knew nothing of lust. He knew
nothing of anger. He knew nothing of hate. After
he fell, he knew shame because he ran and hid. He knew fear
because he hid. He knew hate because he blamed
what he did on the woman whom he was supposed to love. He knew
lies. He began to tell God a lie. You
see that? What happened to this man? The
divine life went out. The light went out. He died.
You see, God cannot lie. Man can, because man doesn't
have the divine life, the holy life, the life of God. That light
went out in the Garden of Eden. Man is a sinful nature. God cannot
lie. God cannot sin. God cannot hate. You see, God is holy. Man is
unholy, and everything man is, is in opposition to God, the
true divine life of God, the holy life of God. And man not only lost life, but
he lost the truth. He believed the devil's lie and
refused God's truth, and he's been doing that ever since. You
tell a man a lie, he'll believe it a whole lot quicker than he
will the truth. That's what Christ said. He said, I'm talking about
spiritually now. I'm not talking about naturally
or physically. I'm talking about spiritually.
Christ said, let another come in his own name, and him you
will receive. I come in my father's name, you
receive me. Now tell a man a lie. about God, and he'll believe
it, a natural man, not a believer, but a natural man, quicker than
he will the truth about God. He lost the truth of God. He
can't comprehend the truth of God. The truth of God, the wisdom
of God, is what? Foolishness with man. That's
what God says. He said, My thoughts are not
your thoughts. There's a way that seemeth right
to man, and the end is death. Isn't that what Scripture says?
The end is death. The way that seems right to a
man, reasonable, logical. Write to that man. Tell him what
God said and he doesn't think that's right. He's got his own
mind made up. He lost the truth and he lost
the way to God. God put him out of the garden
and shut the door. Put flaming swords so he couldn't
get back to the tree of life and live on forever in the condition
he's in. That's what we lost. The way,
the truth, and the life. In Christ, all three of those
things are restored. In Adam we died, in Christ we're
made alive. Christ is the truth of God, and
Christ is the way to God. Now I want to look at those individually
just for a moment. Are you with me? Christ said,
I am the way. I am the way. He didn't say,
I am a way. He didn't say, I'm a good way.
He didn't say, I'm a sincere way. He didn't say, I'm a special
or a convenient way or even a simple way. He said, I am the way. I
am the door. By me, if any man enter in, he
shall be saved. Christ is the way to God. Not one of the ways, he's the
only way. No man cometh to the Father,
but by me. That's for sure. That is the truth. If I know
God, it'll be through Christ. If I love God, it'll be through
Christ. If I walk with God, it'll be through Christ. If I ever
see God, it'll be through Christ. All right, Christ says, I am
the way. He says I am the way now when we talk about a way
when you talk about a way you you presuppose two things Two
points where I am and where I'm going If you if you're talking
about a way now Christ is the way He says the only way and
he says I am the way now when we talk about a way We're talking
about two points where I am and where I'm going Well, where am
I and where am I going? Where do I want to go? Well,
Christ is the way from ruin to righteousness. As by one man's
disobedience we were made sinners, by another man, Christ Jesus,
we were made righteous. From ruin to righteousness, Christ
is the way. And then from death to life,
Christ is the way. The wages of sin is death, but
the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So Christ is the way from death Spiritual death now, I'm gonna
die physically and you are too. It's appointed unto men wants
to die and Every man that's ever lived has died except Enoch and
Elijah and they were translated taken to be with God without
dying but he my Lord died and and and Christ is the way from
spiritual death to spiritual life and Christ is the way from
enmity to peace having made peace through the blood of his cross
Christ is the way from guilt to What the law sayeth, it sayeth
to them that are under the law that every mouth may be stopped,
and all the world become guilty. Christ is the way from guilt
to pardon. He's the way from condemnation to acceptance. There's
no condemnation to them who are in Christ. We're accepted in
the beloved. And Christ is the way from hell to heaven. Now
watch this carefully. Don't leave me now. This is the
heart of the gospel. Our Lord said, I am the way.
I am the way, the only way. And I am the way. from ruin to
righteousness. And he says, I am the way. He
didn't say, I'll show you the way. He didn't say, I'll make
a way. He didn't say, I'll provide a
way. He said, I am the way. This is where most people miss
the gospel. Christ doesn't point to a way
and say, walk in it. He says, I am the way. Would
you have wisdom? Christ is our wisdom. He Himself
is our wisdom. Would you have righteousness?
Christ is our righteousness. He's not just an example. He
is our righteousness with God. We are righteous in Him. We are
holy in Him. Would you have peace? Christ
is our peace. That's what the Scripture says.
He's our peace Himself. He didn't just make a way of
peace or provide a way of peace or assure us of peace. He is
our peace. Would you have holiness? Christ
is our holiness. Would you have life? Paul said,
when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall ye appear
with him, and he is my life. He that hath the Son of God hath
life. He that hath not the Son of God
hath not life. You don't find life at the front
of the church, or in church membership, or in the waters of baptism,
or in the experience behind the barn. Life is in Christ. Would
you have hope? Christ in you, the hope of glory. You don't miss this. I am the
way. No man cometh to the Father but
by me. Christ says, I am the way. Thomas said, Lord, show
us the way. He says, I am the way. He didn't point to a law or to
a doctrine or to a Tradition or to a ceremony or to a even
a way of walking he says pointed to himself. I am the way You
see a branch Here's a bind and the branch goes out of the bind
And you cut the branch off from the vine. What happens to the
brain it withers and dies and you burn it the vine goes on
living well a branch will go on living as it securely vitally
joined to the vine. So the life of that branch is
the vine. It is the vine. And the life
of that branch is in its intimate, personal relationship with that
vine. And Christ said, I am the vine,
you are the branches. I am the head, you are the body.
I can lose a hand and go on living, a leg, not my head. This is where the life, this
is where the government, this is where all of it is. Cut that
off, and I'm gone. Christ is my head. Ye are the
body. Union with Christ. This is what
I'm saying, friend. Don't miss it. He of God is made
unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.
Christ is everything. You say, but preacher, what shall
I do? Do nothing but believe on Christ. But preacher, I tell
you, I'm going to go home and pray. I hope you do. I believe
you will. You ought to. But that's not
the gospel. The gospel is Christ. But I tell
you, I'm going to be baptized and join the church. I hope you
do. You ought to. You're commanded to, if you're
a believer. But that's not the gospel. The
gospel is Christ. Well, I'm going to quit doing
the things I've been doing and start worshiping and serving
God. I hope you will. I believe you will. You're commanded
to. But that's not the gospel. Christ is the gospel. And don't
you get that confused with the gospel either. I'm redeemed by
Christ. Christ is the way. Not allegiance
to Christ or following an example of Christ or talking about Christ. He himself is the way. And I am in that way as he's
in me and I'm in him by faith. He is the gospel. I am the way
to God. Seek ye the Lord While he may
be found, not the Lord's doctrine, nor the Lord's people, nor the
Lord's church, but the Lord himself. Let Israel hope in the Lord,
for with the Lord there's mercy. I've got to be vitally, in a
living relationship, joined to the Son of God. Doctrine won't
save, it won't do to die by, it might do to live by, but it
won't do to die by. Christ is the gospel. He said,
I am the way, I am the truth. What do you mean I'm the truth?
Truly man and truly God? I am the truth. Truly prophet,
priest, and king. The only one. I am the truth. I'm the sum and substance of
every promise. Every promise is in Christ. Fulfilled
in Christ. Everything God has is vested
in Christ. Turned over to Christ. This world's been turned over
to Him. He's Lord of the living and the dead. Christ is the truth.
He's the truth of every type, shadow, and example in the Old
Testament. Christ is the truth in opposition to every error,
every error, and I am the life. We know that the Son of God has
come and has given us an understanding that we may know him that is
true. He is true. He is the truth and he is the
life. This is the true God and this is eternal life. Christ
is the way to God. It's a person. Salvation is not
a plan. It's not a proposition. It's
a person. I hope you know him.