Jesus Is The Way

Minister:
Date: AM
Text: John 14:6
Psalters: 368, 84, 60, 292
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper
  1. The meaning.
    1. "Whither I go ye know (My Father's house), and the way ye know" (4), but they did not understand (5).
      1. The end of the way is "My Father's house", where He would have us dwell with Him forever.
      2. When Jesus speaks of heaven as His Father's house, He describes its intimacy and beauty.
      3. This is the greatest blessing for any creature.
    2. How do we get to the Father's house of many mansions? Jesus is the Way.
      1. A "way" is a traveled path or road, which leads to heaven (narrow) or hell (broad).
      2. The only way to heaven is through Jesus (the Door according to 10:7).
      3. Jesus is speaking of the way He must go in order to open the way for them and us.
  2. The reason Jesus is the way.
    1. First, He is the truth (i.e., harmony between the manifestation of a thing and the thing itself).
      1. Jesus, the Truth, is needed because we are lost in the lies of sin, tempted by the chief Liar.
      2. Jesus is the Truth because He the perfect harmony between the highest reality (God) and its revelation: God in flesh.
    2. Second, He is life.
      1. Life is not activity, but knowing God through Jesus Whom He sent.
      2. Jesus came down into our death, took on Himself our life of death, died our death but still lived, passing into life.
      3. Thus He the power and source of life to sinners who lie in death.
    3. Jesus is THE Way to the Father and heaven (not half or 99%).
      1. So important to remember because we always want our way: works, baptism, church membership, etc.
      2. That Jesus is the only way makes it very urgent (Acts 4:12).
  3. The experience of Jesus being the way to the Father and to the Father's house.
    1. First, the experience is only that of those who are drawn out of death by Him Who is Life, out of the lie by Him Who is the Truth.
    2. Second, the experience is ours in the way of the exercise of our faith.
      1. Faith knows Him to be what He says He is, and then trusts Him to take us there (though it is still not sight).
      2. The disciples believed, but their faith was weak.
    3. Walk the way of Jesus by hearing Him say that He is the way.