10.09.06 AM SERMON - Jesus in John # 52 - John 14

This morning, I want to focus on just one verse in today’s passage.

A verse which over the past two thousand years, has been one of the most significant to the Christian faith and its exclusive assertion about the person and deity of Jesus Christ.

The verse is the very words of Jesus, recorded for us to hear.

Words that amount to such a claim, that if true, they must have a relevance for each of our lives here in this place.

Jesus makes this extraordinary declaration,

"I am the way and the truth and the life. No-one comes to the Father except through me.”

Here is both an amazing claim, but also and incredible promise.

You see, Jesus made some great claims & some great promises.

He could make these claims and promises because of who He was and because of what He was going to do.

We hear clearly that JESUS IS THE WAY.

1. JESUS CHRIST IS THE WAY- OUT

The way out.

So many people today are looking for a way out - any way out.

People look in all kinds of places for a way out. Some look to alcohol, or drugs.

Some look to particular experiences or relationships or to sex for a way out.  

Some even take their own life as a way out.

In 2004, 5906 people took their own life in
UK, and it is around this figure on average – 1% of the total deaths every year.

Wherever you look, people are looking for a way out.

You may be looking for a way out.

Maybe you’re facing troublesome times.

Difficulties, hardships, failure, emptiness, despair, debt, feelings of guilt and condemnation.

Maybe you have got things wrong, messed up and you can’t see the way out.

Jesus is the WAY OUT in times of difficulty.

That is not to say that we will not face difficulties and problems.

Jesus followers are not immune to difficulty, in fact they are promised hardship.

But he provides a joy, peace, hope, a spirit of endurance and perseverance in the midst of the confusion, the pain, the heartache.

The apostle Paul wrote, “I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.” (2 Cor. 12:9-10) 

Jesus also is the WAY OUT from under temptation.

1 Cor. 10:13 “No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it.”

It may be that you feel trapped in particular behaviour or sinful habits. In a particular wrong relationship.

It may be that you feel as though there is no way out

God promises that the Christian does have a way out, in his strength, by the power of his Spirit, through Christ, you can experience freedom.

Jesus also is the WAY OUT from under condemnation and guilt which can weigh us down.

Hebrews 10:19-23 “Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful.”

Romans 8:1-2 “… there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus, because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death.”

And here we see that Jesus is certainly the WAY OUT of spiritual death.
If you want to experience life and freedom, look to Jesus for your way out.
No matter what we might be going through or facing, we can know Jesus Christ as the Way – Out.
 

2. JESUS CHRIST IS THE WAY – IN

We read in verse six, Jesus saying, “No one comes to the Father except through me”.
Not only is Jesus Christ the WAY IN….He is the ONLY way in.

Acts 4:10-12 “It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. He is " 'the stone you builders rejected, which has become the capstone.' Salvation is found in no-one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”

Jesus said, in John 10:7-9 "I tell you the truth, I am the gate for the sheep. … whoever enters through me will be saved.”

If you want to live to be everything that God wants you to be.

If you want to know your purpose here on earth.

If you intend to spend eternity in heaven with God, rather that eternity in hell apart from God, then know this morning that Jesus is the WAY IN.

3. JESUS CHRIST IS THE WAY – THROUGH
Life, however much you try to plan, will always have an element of uncertainty about it.

All of us, I’m sure, have gone and had an accident, or an illness, which has then affected subsequent events.

Sandra and I were thinking about the number of accidents I have caused or been a part of, I’ve cut my little finger, I’ve shut my finger in a train door, I’ve sliced the top of my finger off with a cheese slice (all different fingers), I’ve accidentally cut my wrist on a Christmas tree glass bauble, I’ve trod on a needle which had broken off in my foot, I’ve dropped a plate on my big toe, twice I think, I’ve jammed a pencil in my side and still have the lead mark there to prove it, I’ve got stuck in a tree and the milkman had to free me, I’ve crashed the car once, and set my mattress on fire.

Accidents are not planned.

We can try our best to make plans in life, but we should always recognise that the best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.

We need to know that whatever we are going through whether it is planned, our fault, not our fault, deliberate, accidental, whether it is illness, grief, whatever we are going through, Jesus Christ is the way through.

2 Cor. 4:17-18 “… our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.”

Hebrews 12:2-3 “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

[PP seatbelt sign] We will go through storms, trials, turbulence, in life, but travel through them with Jesus as Pilot, navigator.

4. JESUS CHRIST IS THE WAY – UP

Jesus Christ is the ONLY WAY UP. Up to the father and to the home above.

The scriptures speak about this world not being home for the Christian.

Here Christians are strangers, living in a foreign land.

This is not their home.

Christians live in tents, that is our failing broken bodies.

We eagerly await our permanent dwellings with our Father.

Christians have heaven to look forward to, as well as enjoying a taste of heaven now.

[PP The Only way is up by Yazz and the plastic population]

God has provided in the person of Jesus Christ, a way out from the hold and the effects of sin and death, from temptation and an empty way of life, he has provided a way into his kingdom and all that he seeks us to be, and promises a way through life and we have a Way up to look forwards to.

Col. 3:1-4 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”