I'm reading again from John 14, verse 4. John 14, verse 4. And whither I go, ye know, and
the way ye know. And Thomas says unto him, Lord,
we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? And Jesus saith unto him, I am
the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father
but by me. Never man spake like this man. So Nicodemus thought when, in
reply to his complimentary greeting, Master, we know that thou art
a teacher come from God. No man could do the miracles
which thou doest, except God be with him. And the Lord Jesus
said, Nicodemus, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man
be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. Never
a man spake like this. So Nathaniel thought when Christ
said to him, Before Philip call thee, I saw thee under the fig
tree. You saw me under the fig tree? When Philip came to me and said,
We found the Messiah, we found the Christ, you saw me? Yes, Nathaniel, before Philip
called thee, I saw you sitting there. I knew what you were thinking. You were under the fig tree for
a special reason. You had gone there to contemplate
the promises and the prophecies, and I saw you. Never a man spake
like this man. So Zacchaeus thought when he
ran and climbed up the tree to see the Lord Jesus Christ being
short of stature and he couldn't see the Lord because of the people
in front of him. So he ran ahead, climbed up in
a tree, and when Christ came under that tree, he looked up
and said, Zacchaeus, come down, for I must abide at thy house. And Zacchaeus came down, and
the Lord Jesus said to him, Zacchaeus, today salvation is come to your
house." Never a man spake like this. So Peter thought when the
Lord Jesus would go to the cross, the Master would go to Jerusalem
and be mistreated, and then nailed to a cruel tree. And Peter said,
Lord, don't go. Don't go to Jerusalem. Just stay
here. We love Don't go to Jerusalem
and be mistreated of these people and die on a cross." And the
Lord Jesus said to him, "'Get thee behind me, Satan. Thou art an offense to me.'"
Never a man spake like this man. So thought the scribes and Pharisees
when Christ took off their mask of hypocrisy, when Christ stripped
them of their religious veneer, when Christ let the world look
into their hearts and see what was there, the corruption and
the evil and the wickedness covered up by their ceremonies and rituals. And he said to them, Woe unto
you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, how can you escape the damnation
of hell? Never a man spake like this man.
So Pilate thought when this man was brought before him, bound
with a crown of thorns pressed into his brow, and the blood
trickling down his face, and his back laid open, lacerated
by the cat of nine tails. And Pilate said to him, Are you
a king? And the master looked at him
with those eyes that see into the very heart of a man, and
said to this end, was I born. And for this cause came I into
the world." Every man spake like this man. So the centurion thought
when he saw him hanging on that cross. He'd been cursed and cruelly
treated. He'd been beaten. He'd been nailed
with rusty spikes to a Roman tree. He'd been hanged between
two thieves and spit and denied even a drink of water in his
dying hour. And he looked down into the faces
of those who lied on him, false witnesses that had borne lies
and evil tales, those who had forsaken him and denied him and
betrayed him and sold him out, and those who had driven the
nails and those who had spit upon him. He looked down into
their faces and then he lifted his eyes to heaven And he said,
Father, forgive them. They know not what they do. Never
man spake like this man, no matter where and no matter when and
no matter to whom he spoke, whether in the temple or whether on the
seashore, whether on the side of a mountain or whether standing
in a boat. whether speaking to the doctors
and lawyers in the temple, or whether talking to a little child,
whether speaking to a fallen woman, or speaking to a Pharisee
visiting him by night, never, never man spake like this man. The scribes heard him, and they
were confounded. The lawyers heard him, and they
became confused. The Pharisees heard him and they
were put to silence. The demon-possessed heard him
and were still. The diseased heard him and they
were healed. The dead heard him and they came
forth. The blind heard him and they
could see. The lame heard him and they walked. And the evil heard him and became
pure. and this power and this authority
with which he spoke, and these words which he spoke that had
such power to make the diseased well and the lame to walk and
the dead to rise, it was not the power of an earthly throne.
Kings come and kings go, and they have their way, and by their
word men are beheaded or hanged, or knighted, or promoted. But
his words and his authority and his power was not the power of
an earthly throne. It was not the power of dungeons
and jails and the racks. Many a believer has been sent
to the dungeon to try to force him to deny his Lord. Many a man has been put in a
prison to force them to silence. But our Lord's power and authority
was not the threat of jails and dungeons and rats, or even of
hell. And His power and His authority
was not the power of organized religion. It was not the power
of emotion. But the power and authority of
our Lord. This power that could be felt. This power and authority that
was experienced, this power and authority that changed not only
the outward acts of men, but even the inward thoughts of men,
this power that reached to the motive and the attitude and changed
the heart, this power that turned a man completely around and made
him live, this power was the power of God. And this power
was the power not of doctrine, but of truth. This power was
not the power of the throne, nor the power of the law, nor
the power of organized religion. It was the power of light. It was the power of light, like
the sun that beams from heaven and makes the seed to grow. The
power of God's light in the words of our Lord made the dead to
live. God, who at sundry times and
in divers manners spake to our fathers by the prophets, hath
in these last days spoken to us, spoken to us, in words of
power, the power of truth, and the power of God, and the power
of life, he hath spoken to us by his Son. And if the words of prophets,
being denied and rejected, did not go unpunished, how shall
we escape if we neglect? So great salvation. If they hear not Him that speaks
from heaven, who will they hear? Our Lord in this same power and
authority, the power of truth, the power of life, the power
of God, the power of the Holy Spirit, He speaks today. He speaks to you. The dead heard him and they lived.
What about the dead today? The diseased heard him and they
were healed. What about the diseased today?
The lame heard him and they walked. The blind heard him and they
could see. What about the dead and the blind
today? He still speaks. He speaks tonight. He speaks to you. I'm not the
one who warns you. I'm not the one who exhorts you. I'm not the one who invites you. I am not the one who speaks to
you. It is Christ who speaks. It is Christ who speaks. Turn
with me to 2 Corinthians chapter 5, 2 Corinthians 5. Never man spake like this man. He speaks today. He speaks today. In 2 Corinthians 5, 19, to wit,
that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself, that
man Jesus Christ is God. When he works, God works. When
he speaks, God speaks. When he moves, God moves. When
he forgives, God forgives. God was in Christ, reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them, and
he hath committed unto us the word of reconciliation. God the Father was in Christ
speaking, and Christ was in his apostles and disciples and prophets
and preachers speaking. Now then, we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God did preach to you, as though God
did warn you, as though God did exhort you, as though God did
beseech you by us. Show us the Father, Philip said,
and we'll be satisfied. Philip, have I been so long time
with you, and yet thou hast not known me? He that hath heard
me hath heard the Father. He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. Believest thou that the Father
is in me, and I am in the Father? Don't you recognize the Father?
If you had believed Him, you would have believed me. And Paul is saying here now then,
we frail instruments, earthen vessels, who sufficient for these
things, the chief of sinners, less than the least of all the
saints, not worthy to be called an apostle, but we are ambassadors
for Christ, as though God himself did beseech you by us." We pray you in Christ's stead. Christ is not here in the flesh, but He's here in His Word, and
He's here in His minister, and He's here in His gospel. And it's the same as if Christ
Jesus were speaking to you. Or the man's not called to preach. We pray you in Christ's stead. God did beseech you by us. Christ said to his disciples,
They will not listen to you. Shake the dust off your feet
and leave that city, and God's judgment will fall upon you.
Because he that heareth not you, heareth not me. We beseech you in Christ's stead. the same power of truth, the
same power of God, the same power of life. Faith cometh by hearing,
and hearing by the word of God. Turn to 1 Peter chapter 1. 1
Peter chapter 1, verse 23. Being born again, being regenerated, we're talking
about the new birth. We're talking about the quickening
of the Holy Ghost. We're talking about that powerful
transformation whereby man is taken from a spiritual grave
and made alive in God. That's what we're talking about
here. We're talking about that miracle by which a man becomes
a son of God. becomes a member of the family
of God. We're talking about that everlasting
miracle by which a man is translated from the kingdom of darkness
to the kingdom of God's dear Son, being born again. Not of corruptible seed, it's
not by blood, not by the will of man, it's not by the will
of the flesh, it's of incorruptible seed. The planting of the seed
by the Holy Ghost. What is that seed? It is the
Word of God. That's what that seed is. It's
the Word of God. Never a man spake like this man. He spoke, and Lazarus walked
out of his tomb. His Word made him live. He spoke, and the lame took up
his bed and walked by his Word. That man received strength and
life in his dead limbs. He spoke, and the blind could
see, and the leper was cleansed by his word. And if you're ever regenerated,
my dead sinner, it'll be by his word. And if you're ever given eyes
to behold Christ in his saving beauty, If you ever see Him,
not as the illegitimate son of a fallen Jewish woman, but as
the Son of God, if you're ever made to see that, it'll be by
the Word of God. It won't be because you got older
and wiser. It'll be because God, by His
Word, said, See! See! If those ears of yours are
ever unclosed, If you ever wean from the siren voices of this
world and made to hear the Spirit of God speak in the mysteries
of the gospel, it'll be by His word. By His word, the word of
truth. Turn, if you will, to the book
of James. James chapter 1, verse 18. Oh, I'm not ashamed, Paul said,
of the gospel. It's the power of God. The gospel is the dynamite of
God unto salvation. Of his own will, James 1, 18,
of his own will begat he us, gave us life with the word of
truth. with the word of truth, of his own will. Not of him that willeth nor of
him that runneth, it's of God that showeth mercy. I will be
merciful to whom I will be merciful. I will be gracious to whom I
will be gracious. Lord, if you will, you can make
me clean. If you will, and of his own will,
Salvation is of the Lord, but of his own will brought he us
forth, begat us with the word. And over here in our text tonight,
speaking to his disciples, the Lord Jesus said, I am the way. I am the way. I am the truth. And I am the life. How many times
have you read it? Have you ever really read it? How many times have you heard
it? Have you ever really heard it? How many times have you seen
it, but have you ever really seen it? We don't know where you're going.
Lord, how can we know the way? I am the way. I am the way, I am the truth,
and I am the life. Have you heard it? Has it come
to you like a clap of thunder on a quiet night? Has it come
to you like a flash of brilliant lightning on a dark night? That's
it, I see it. It's changed my direction, it's
changed my thinking, it's changed my life. It's made of me a bond
slave of Christ. He's the way. I see it. By his word, I've been made alive." Adam, in his state of innocence
and purity, needed no way to God. Adam walked with God. Adam, in
his state of innocence and purity, needed no mediator, God met him
in the morning, and God walked with him in the cool of the day.
Adam, in his state of innocence and purity, he needed no intercessor,
he needed no atoning sacrifice, he had no sin. He felt no guilt. He knew no shame. But when seeing vested Adam's
heart, how different the scene! It's the cool of the evening,
and God comes to the garden. Where's his friend Adam? Adam? Where are you, Adam? Where are you, Adam? And Adam
answers in a trembling voice that never trembled before. Adam answers in a voice of shame
and guilt that's never felt that before. I was afraid. You afraid of me, Adam? Why are
you afraid of me? I'm naked. Who told you you were
naked? I went and hid from thee. Let
men talk all they will of their goodness. Oh, when men talk about their
holiness, let them talk, if they will, of their works. Let them
talk, as they will, of their closeness to God. But those who really know something
of the glory of God, Those who know something of the absolute
holiness of His presence, they mourn in shame over the distance
between themselves and God. Listen to David, O God, my sins
are ever before me. Against Thee and Thee only have
I sinned and done this evil in thy sight. O God, take not thy
Holy Spirit from me." Listen to Job. "'I have heard of thee
with the hearing of the ear, and now mine eye seeth thee,
wherefore I abhor myself. I repent in sackcloth and ashes,
Once have I spoken, yet twice things too wonderful for me. I'll never open my mouth again."
Listen to Daniel. I was left alone, and I saw the
Lord. And there remained no strength
in me, and my beauty and comeliness has turned in me. into corruption,
and I retained no strength. Adam, where are you? I'm ashamed. Adam, where are you? I'm naked.
Adam, where are you? Like the apostle Peter, Lord,
depart from me, I'm a sinful man. Listen to Isaiah, in the
year King Uzziah died, I saw the Not the little peanut God that
people walk with and talk with in this day, but the God of heaven,
high lifted up on a throne, before whom even the cherubims and seraphims
veil their eyes and their ears, and put their hands on their
mouths, and they cry, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts. And Isaiah said, Oh God, I'm
a man of unclean limbs. Let men who will talk of their
goodness and their holiness and their closeness to God, but those
who know something of His glory, those who know something of the
holiness of His immaculate, immutable law, Those who know something
of His divine presence in fire and purity, the more they see
Him, the more they mourn over the distance between themselves
and Him and cry, Let not God speak to us, lest we die. Give us a mediator. Oh, won't
somebody represent us to God? Won't somebody represent God
to us? We want nothing to do with an
absolute God. We must have a mediator. Listen to Paul cry, O wretched
man that I am, who shall deliver me from this body of death? In my flesh dwelleth no good
thing. To will is present with me, but
how to perform that which is good I find not." Christ said, I am the way. You're separated from God by
your sins. Your sins are separated between
you and God. Your sins, like a cloud, have
divided you from God. There's no communion with God. There's no fellowship with God. There's no walking with God.
Except in Christ. Except in Christ. Christ said, I am the way, I
am the truth, I am the life. No man, no man, no Man born of
woman, no man begotten in the flesh, no natural man, descendant
of Adam, no man cometh unto the Father in any way for communion,
fellowship, salvation, any way except by me. No way to God except
by me. No way. God's greatest glory is the giving
of His grace. In Exodus 33, Moses said, Lord,
I beseech thee, show me thy glory. And God said, I'll make all my
goodness pass before you. Moses, I'll proclaim the name
of the Lord before you, and I'll be gracious to whom I will be
gracious, and I'll be merciful to whom I will be merciful."
Christ is the only way to mercy. He's the only way to God. He's
the only all-sufficient, divinely appointed way to God. The Jew
turns to his rivers of oil, his oceans of blood, his cattle on
a thousand hills sacrificed, and his forests of Lebanon burned. But the burden of sin is still
there. The nakedness is still there. The guilt is still real. The
rivers of oil will not put it away. The oceans of blood will
not cleanse it. The cattle sacrificed by the
thousands and the forests of lemon and burn will not put away
the burden of sin. It's still there, heavy on the
heart. The pagan religionist falls to
his knees under the burning desert sun, and he bows for hours and
prays for hours to his dead God, who never speaks and who never
comforts and who never gives peace. He walks upon the beds
of glass and lies upon the beds of spikes and with bleeding feet. But still heaven is quiet. There's
no voice of forgiveness, and his heart is still guilty, and
there's no word of peace. The savage chants before the
shrines of devils. He sacrifices his firstborn in
the fire. He throws the young girl in the
lake, and he comes away from that pagan sacrifice and that
altar of devils with no peace. His heart like the raging sea. The sin is still there, the guilt
is still there, the shame is still there, the burden is still
there. God is not bad. And the legalist, the religionist
bows before his laws and his rules and his religious regulations,
and he keeps the holy days, and he argues his denominational
position. And he goes about his business
of serving his God. And when he comes to the end
of the day in the quietness of the setting sun, he knows nothing
of a union with God. He knows nothing of a living
presence of a living Lord. He knows nothing of the peace
that Christ gives that passes understanding. He knows nothing
of a hope in the face of death and certainty before the judgment. He knows nothing of the quietness
of God's Spirit that says, I'll never leave you. I'll never forsake
you. Lord, I'm with you always, even
to the end of the earth. How can my burden of guilt be
lifted? How can the holy law of God be
honored? How can the justice of God be
effectually satisfied? How can I come before God? Show
us the Father. Lord, we don't know where you're
going. How in this world can frail,
foolish, fallen, guilty, naked, desperately evil, sin-loving,
law-hating, God-rejecting, sons of Adam? How in this world can
we come where you are? Will the Lord be pleased with
thousands of realms, or with ten thousand rivers of
oil? Shall I give my firstborn for
my transgression? Shall I offer the fruit of my
body for the sin of my soul? How can I come before the Lord? How can I bow myself before the
Most High God? Shall I walk an isle? Will that
do it? Maybe if I get baptized, maybe that'll do it. Ten thousand
rivers of oil won't do it. Maybe one container of water
will do it. Thousands of rams and bullocks
won't do it. Maybe the hand of a preacher
can do it. Offering my firstborn won't do
it. Maybe if I make some decisions
it'll do it. Wherewith shall I come before
the Lord? What's the way to God? Is it the way of doctrine? Is
it the way of legalism? Is it the way of ritualism? Christ looked at those disciples
and He said, I'm the way. I'm the way. Christ is the way
to righteousness before the Father. The Father will not accept our
righteousness. It is filthy rags. The Father
will not accept our goodness. It's polluted from the very root.
But He'll accept His Son's righteousness in our stead. Because it's perfect
as He's perfect. Christ is the way to peace with
God. I may make resolutions and vows
and decisions and promises, and when I make them, I know I'm
going to break them. But our Lord Jesus Christ can
give peace to the troubled heart, comfort to the broken heart.
He can give peace and rest to the contrite heart, because he
never breaks his word. Christ is the way to peace with
God through the atonement. It is the blood that maketh atonement
for the soul. Death cannot walk over the atonement
of our Lord. The forces of evil cannot reach
the believer over the atonement of our Lord. Christ is the way
to communion with the Father in prayer, for he is our great
high priest. He makes our evil prayers to
be holy. He makes our corrupt worship
to be perfect. Christ is the way to life from
the dead, because I live, ye shall live also, and that's the
only reason. Because our Lord Jesus Christ
conquered death for every one of his people. I'll go to the
tomb, and I'll come out on the other side, because before me
he went there and he came out. Christ is the way to a glorious
inheritance. It is ours in him. He still speaks. And if you hear
from heaven, you'll hear him speak through his gospel. And
if you don't hear him speak through his gospel, you won't hear from
heaven. You won't hear. Brother Roach prayed, God, meet
the need of the weak and the need of the strong, because thou
hast the power to meet both with the same words. That's what I'm
preaching. These words which you carelessly
attend to are the words of God. We are ambassadors for Christ
as though God did beseech you through us. Be you reconciled
to God. God spoke to you tonight, did
you hear Him? Back yonder in the days of the
flesh, people who were blind heard Him and they went off seeing.
And people who were lame heard Him and they walked off and carried
their beds of affliction. And by the power of the Holy
Spirit, he still speaks today. And he that hath ears to hear,
let him hear. But if you don't have ears, you
won't hear. What did you hear? I heard God speak. What did you
hear? I heard a man. Didn't do you
any good, did it? No. Sure didn't. Sure didn't. What about you that heard God?
What did it do for you? Made me a new creature. My word
will not return unto me void. It shall accomplish that whereunto
I have sinned. And like the rain that comes
from heaven and waters the soil, so shall my word water the ground
prepared by the Holy Spirit. Our Father in heaven, thank you
for your presence and for the power of your Spirit. And thank
you, O God, for speaking to us again. Oh, the matchless, mighty
words, the marvelous words of our Master. How rich, how precious,
how comforting. We come with a burden and we
go away the burden lifted. We come with a broken heart and
we go away rejoicing. We come distressed over our guilt
and our shame and like Adam hiding, Lord, take not thy Holy Spirit
from us, and we go away feeling the powerful, intimate, personal
presence of the living God. We come, O God, with the guilt
of sin, and we go away hearing thy voice. Thy sins be forgiven. Thank you for your mercy and
for your grace. Maybe somebody will hear thee
speak tonight. May it please thee to give us
that gift, the gift of life, For Christ's sake we pray, Amen.