Series: Tough Questions: Life-Changing Answers Week 4: Is There Only One Way to Heaven?
4 Questions Jesus answered…
- John 13:36: “…where are you going?” Jesus understood what it meant to be troubled. Jesus knew that a troubled heart would eat away at their faith, but faith would calm a troubled heart. His command then was “keep on believing in God and keep believing in Me also” (14:1).
- John 14:5: “…how can we know the way?” Jesus responded, “I am the way, the truth, and the life” (14:6). Since Jesus is the source of life and truth, He must also be the way to God Himself.
- John 14:8: “… show us the Father…” Jesus explained that the disciples were witnesses to the revelation of the Father every day they were with Christ
- John 14:22: “…why do you intend to show yourself to us and not to the world?” Jesus answered Judas’ (Thaddaeus or Lebbaeus) question noting 3 ways Christ is revealed to the believer and not to the world. (1) By fellowship (John 14:23). (2) By the indwelling of the Holy Spirit (John 14:24-26). (3) By inner peace (John 14:27-31).
3 Truths to Remember
Truth #1 – Identify God’s Truth and Gain Clarity & Courage to Choose the Right Way —John 14:1, 7
Personal faith in the personal Lord brings personal relief. “Do not let your hearts be troubled by My going away.” Jesus followed this by “Keep on believing …” To believe in someone is to rely on Him or to trust Him. Jesus asked for His followers’ trust in the midst of their confusion.
Truth #2 – God’s Promise Brings Lasting Comfort & Confidence —John 14:2-4
Our long-term future is secure. Jesus reassured His disciples that His going away had nothing to do with any of their personal failures, past or future. His purpose for going away was to secure their eternal future.
Jesus reminded the disciples that they knew the way to heaven, although they undoubtedly failed to understand that heaven was His subject.
Truth #3 – Proclaim God’s Truth to Change the World: Jesus is the Only Way, Truth, and Life —John 14:5-6
“I am the Way.” Christ spans the distance between God and the sinner. Christ is the Way, the only Way.. Man would gladly manufacture a ladder of his own to climb up to God. But that is impossible. PROVERBS 16:25; ISAIAH 59:8. He is the Way, the Way to the Father, the Way to Heaven, the Way to eternal blessedness. Without Christ men are wanderers. ROMANS 3:12. Christ is not merely a Guide who came to show men the path in which they ought to walk.
“I am the Truth.” Christ is the full and final revelation of God. To know Him is to know the truth. Truth is not found in a philosophy but in a person of Christ. Adam believed the Devil’s lie, and ever since then man has been groping amid ignorance and error. PROVERBS 4:19; EPHESIANS 4:18. Pilate voiced the perplexity of multitudes when he asked, “What is truth?” (John 18:38). Truth is not to be found in a system of philosophy, but in a Person—Christ is “the TRUTH”: He reveals God and exposes man. Without Christ, men are under the power of the Devil, the father of lies. Christ is not merely a Teacher who came to reveal to men a doctrine regarding God: He is Himself the Truth about God.
“I am the Life.” The natural man is spiritually dead. He is alive to the things of the world, but dead to the things of God. Only Christ can make us alive. Those who believe in Him have passed from death to life. Without Christ, men are dead in trespasses and sins. Christ is not merely a Physician who came to invigorate the old nature, to refine its grossness, or to repair its defects. JOHN 10:10.
Jesus alone is the Way to because He alone is the Truth about God and He alone possesses the Life of God. Peter affirmed this in Acts 4:12.
He is the Way to the Father; He is the Truth incarnate; He is the Life to all who believe in Him.
TRUTH – One Way Brings Peace, One Truth Transforms, One Life Lights the Path… He is Jesus Christ the Son of God.