I Am - The Way the Truth and the Life

about 17 years ago i'll never forget that moment i'll never forget where I was i'll never forget the conversation and I will never forget what evolved after that about 17 years ago Denise and I were living in Arlington Texas i was a pastor at a church we had a home group a group that we loved it was four or five couples our age they all had kids our kids' age it was just a sweet sweet season in life i remember I was at Kroger i had reached in grabbed a gallon of milk just getting a few items to head back home probably about 7 o'clock on a Friday night and my phone rang and so I've got the milk in one hand i answer the phone the other going "Hey hello." And it's my friend Jim who is one of the guys in our group that's got daughters my daughter's age and just full of kids in that group and he said "Keith it's bad." And he began to weep and the next words that came out of his mouth is "We don't think she's going to make it." So somewhere between the milk in the refrigerator section of the store me trying to understand what was Jim was saying found out that his oldest daughter a middle schooler had been in a horrible car accident a drunk driver had run a red light and t-boned her and he goes,"I don't think she's going to make it." And gathered enough from him to know what hospital she's in i don't even have to go in the story your mind can begin telling the story yourself one of those moments that will forever live just in your memory going "Everything just begin to turn upside down at that moment." And life just changed from what we knew it now maybe you've never received a phone call that someone you've loved has been in a car accident and they may not make it but you've probably been in one of those moments in life where whether it's a phone call or a text or an email or some kind of conversation that that something came through and it took whatever you knew is normal at the moment and turned it completely upside down maybe it was a text from somebody that said "Can I come over i need to talk with you." Or maybe it was an email that you got from work and that email said "You will need to clean out your desk because we're downsizing tomorrow and you no longer have a job." Or or maybe it was just that conversation from someone that said "I no longer want to be in this relationship." We could go on and on and on about the the different situations the different examples in life but many in this room you've been in those situations you've been in those phone calls you've been in those conversations where like I said everything you knew was like this and in a matter of seconds it was just turned upside down well today I want to take us to a passage that there are some the Jesus disciples that could probably nod their head going "Yeah we've been there." In fact they were in a conversation with Jesus himself that after this conversation after sitting at this table with him for several minutes maybe 30 minutes maybe even an hour two hours they walked out of the room and they probably looked at each other and said "What just happened?" And so we're going to continue our I am series now here's the interesting thing about it we're in this I am series and all the I am statements that Jesus made took place prior to the cross we celebrated the resurrection yesterday but I need you to step back into the pre-Easter celebration the pre-Easter kind of moment time for us to continue to look at these I ams and if you have your Bibles look up John chapter 14 we'll have the scriptures on the screen you've got them in your handout there but to go back this conversation we're just like what do you do what do you do when your life is just turned upside down the disciples are asking that question what are we supposed to do and as I read John chapter 14 let me kind of set the context context for you they had just had the Passover meal remember Jesus called them all in there and he kind of turned up things upside down when he did the wine and the bread and said "Remember me and the things that we just celebrated." So he kind of took this traditional meal and he added some elements to it he he approached it a little bit different and so just the very participation in this Passover meal kind of had the disciples looking at each other kind of going "Wow that was a little bit different." And then the conversation throughout that night he begins saying things that they might not have caught it right in the beginning but they kind of leaned forward going "Did he just say what I thought he just said?" Like that moment that he looked around the table and said "Somebody at this table is going to betray me in the next few days." Might have passed over their head the first moment they're then they're asking the question "Somebody at this table will betray Jesus our Messiah our savior." And then Jesus got real specific in this conversation he looked at Peter and said "Peter you will deny me three times before the rooster crows." So it was one of these conversations that they're going "What?" And then in chapter 14 that we'll read in here in just a second Jesus looks at his disciples and says "Hey I know I've been with you but I'm about to leave you." Now that didn't make sense to them because Jesus wasn't some like overnight guest that was there a few days and they leave and maybe see him several months later these men sitting around this table had committed their life to him they had walked with him they were ready to do whatever he wanted them to do and go wherever he wanted them to go they were going to follow him for the rest of their life and he looks at him and says "No I'm about to leave and be gone." And so go with me to John chapter 14 verse one and let's just read it together this conversation jesus looks at his disciples sitting around this table maybe he would say the same things to you if if you had just read the email that you had lost your job or someone you'd love just said they're going to walk away from you or the phone call at the dairy aisle at the Kroger's that I received and he said this in verse one "Don't let your hearts be troubled trust in God and trust in also me there is more than enough room in my father's home if this were not so would I have told you that I'm going to prepare a place for you when everything is ready I will come and I will get you so that you will always be with me where I am and you know the way to where I'm going and then one of them looked at him and said "No we don't know Lord." And it was Thomas we have no idea where you're going so how can we know the way and so in this moment of even more confusion this more moment of they're kind of looking at each other going "What is Jesus talking about he's going to leave us." And all of a sudden they look at each other and one of them says "Jesus we are so confused we don't know where you're going and how in how in the world would we know the way if we don't know where you're going?" And it's at this moment that Jesus declares his sixth of seven I am statements and he says these famous words that we've heard many many times and Jesus told them "I am the way the truth and the life i am the way the truth and their life see they were confused because he said he's going somewhere so Thomas looked at him innocently and authentically and said "Show us the way give us a map give us the directions to it." But Jesus wasn't interested in giving them directions he wasn't interested in giving them a route to where he was going he was interested in them grabbing hold and coming close to him in relationship and when he made this famous statement that we've heard over and over so many times if you've been in church at all i am the way the truth and the life jesus wasn't trying to give some kind of formula jesus wasn't trying to give some kind of directions he wasn't trying to give some kind of route to go somewhere he was trying to reinforce to them that the way to the father which is where he was going is always forever through relationship with him i am not let me draw it for you not let me show it for you not let me diagram it for you he says I am it's about a relationship i am the way the truth and the life and so I want to take the next few minutes of our time together today and let's break down and let's look at each of those it is a relationship but there's something unique and specific about each of those i am the way the truth and the life and if you have your hand out you can write in the first blank there as he talks about the truth or the way this is what he's saying jesus is the way for the lost when he says "I am the way," he is declaring he says "Through me I am the way i am the way for the lost." Have you ever thought of what a multiplechoice world that we live in i mean like if we finish church today and you said hey Keith why don't you join us for Cheesecake Factory and we'll have a nice lunch together and I've never been to Cheesecake Factory in this area so I said sure I'd love to join you so after church he said I'll meet you there and so I get in my car and what will I do i will pull out my phone and I'll put in Cheesecake Factory and guess what my little Google Maps will show me i can go down County Line Road i can take 470 i can use tolls not tolls to get from here to Cheesecake Factory i would probably have four five six different options on how to get the Cheesecake Factory and so I can't even go to lunch without a bunch of options in my life and then if you've ever been to Cheesecake Factory it is like reading a book right i mean that menu is the most overwhelming menu I've ever seen in my life you got page after page you want pasta you want sandwiches you want fries you want baked you want salad and it's just page after page in fact sometimes my back hurts the menu at Cheesecake Factory is so heavy but the only reason we go to Cheesecake Factory is why to get to the end of the meal so we can get the cheesecake and now if you've had your big belly full of all the good food at Cheesecake Factory then you have to choose and make a choice of which cheesecake to order that menu for cheesecake at Cheesecake Factory is as long a list and menu as at most restaurants for all their main items i mean you look at it and you can get the regular cheesecake you can get the original one with with berries you can get the triple berry blerryberry bliss you can get the toasted marshmallow s'mores galore or you could get the chocolate tuxedo cream just to name a few i am getting paid by Cheesecake Factory by the way for announcing all this right now because I just upped their totals at lunchtime today so you had the option how to get there you had all these multiple choices of what to order once you get there and then I guarantee here's what's going to happen next you're going to get in the car and have to unbutton your top button because you've just eaten more than you should have and on your way home you're going to be thinking "Wow I need to start a diet i need to lose a little bit of weight." Let me just give you a hint here there was a time I've shared with y'all that I was in the WW club the WW gang the Weight Watchers here's how it works you get so many points every day and they calculate your food by points so I as a young strapping old man I had 23 points a day that I could eat i could eat whatever I wanted to but it had to stay within 23 points did you know one piece of cheesecake has 78 points so the time I went there when I was on Weight Watchers I ate three days worth of my points and one dessert so of course you're going to be looking for a diet well guess what you want to do a diet then you got the option you can do Weight Watchers you can do N you can do intermittent fasting you can do thoseic weight loss drug there's all these different options here's what I'm trying to get at our life is full of options yet Jesus stands up and he limits the options when it comes to relationship with his heavenly father he made that statement I am the way he didn't say I am a way he didn't say "I am several a way of several different options you can choose." He said "I am the way." So for many people you're like "Praise God i love that Jesus is the way." But you may be sitting here going "Okay that's really hard to to really comprehend." Because here's what we know there's over 10,000 world religions out there throughout our entire world there's over 10,000 religions and so some people are sitting here and reading the scripture and going "Wait a second jesus said he is the way and that leaves out how many more if there's 10,000 religions in our world." And so it brings up the question how do you know Jesus is the only way how can we be so confident that Jesus is the only way and here's the answer because Christianity is the only religion that celebrates Easter christianity is the only religion that Jesus's claim that he is the resurrection of life validates that he is the way you see you look at all the other religions and they have good things about him and good aspects and you ought to do this and you should do this and you ought to think this way and they all have a little bit of goodness about most religions but most religions I would say all religions other than Christianity are based on our behavior not his resurrection let me say that again the reason that Jesus is the way because he claimed "I am the resurrection." And he didn't just claim it he did it remember this statement right here is being said before he was ever crucified on the cross and he says "I am the way the truth and the life." Later on he says "I am the resurrection." And what happens when he's laid in the tomb three days later he proved what he was saying is true and so when Jesus makes the claim he is the way he is saying it with great authority in fact in the book of Acts 4:12 here's what it says there is salvation in no one else god has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved you see when Jesus is declaring "I am the way." He's not giving directions he's offering himself there's a big difference imagine this you come home and your house is on fire and you're scared to death if because you know one of your family members is inside the house so how would you feel if a fireman stood outside the house going "Okay if you're in the house and you're you're burning in this room here's what I need you to do." dug down really really low and crawl on the ground and the fireman's standing out there and all his fire gear and he's got the water hose right here he's got the mask on he's going "Okay if you can't see where you're going just kind of fill around i think the kitchen's to your right and I think there's a door you can get out." And he spends 15 or 20 minutes just giving directions on how to get out would you like that type of fireman no the fireman you want is going "Everybody stay back i'm going in for them." And that's exactly what Jesus did when he was in heaven for us and he wanted us to have the relationship and spend eternity in heaven it's like he said "Hey dad father God I'm going in for them i'm going down i'm not going to give them directions i'm not going to tell them how to behave i'm not going to tell them all the things they should be doing i'm going in for them and I will be the resurrection and I will be the way and I will get them out." And so Jesus stands to us he sat around the table with the disciples and he says "I am the way the truth and the life it's not about directions it it's it's about offering himself that we may know the way." Here's the second thing he said not just the way he said he's the truth if you're filling in blanks you can write this down jesus is truth for the uncertain jesus is truth for the uncertain you you understand this that truth has become something that's subjective for our current culture we we live or our society wants to live by the motto you do you I'll do me they want to say that that you me whoever is involved gets to determine what is really true now there's only one problem with that philosophy it's completely wrong like if you walked outside today and going "Hey I just I wanted I just it's raining today." If it's not raining guess what you're not getting wet i If it's not raining guess what all of our new flowers will not get watered you see truth is objective not subjective just because you want it to rain just because you want to say "I feel like it's raining," doesn't mean it's not raining if you're here today and you're like "Well let me kind of push back on that some more i really do think each person can decide what real truth is." Then do me a favor come up here and I want you to lay on this stage and I'm going to hold up an a a 100 100 pound barbells right over your head you see the truth the law of gravity is objective it's going to work you and I don't get to decide i hold over your head these hundred pounds barbells and if I let it go can I tell you what's going to happen it's going to fall and bust you upside your head is what's going to happen to it and you can lay there all you want to go "No I just I I I just think I get to decide what the law of gravity is or is not no you don't get to decide that i I I don't get to decide that truth is objective." And so when Jesus came and that we live in such a world of uncertainty here's what our society's done it's so uncertain then let me just figure out and I'll determine what's true and that will take away the uncertainty that does not take away the uncertainty the uncertainty is taken away by finding and grabbing hold of something that you can hang on to that will remain true no matter what comes your way and that's why Jesus sat amongst his disciples and he said "I'm not just the way I am the truth." I mean people have been searching for truth since the beginning of time if you go to the Easter story that we just looked at last week do you remember what Pilate said after after he tried Jesus and talked to Jesus and didn't find anything wrong with him but he felt the pressure of all the Jewish people about crucifying Jesus and he's like I I don't know what to do like I think what Jesus is saying is true but I don't really follow Jesus so I don't know if that's true and these people are wanting to crucify him but I don't think he should be crucified and he's sitting there and Pilate is in a just a mess of uncertainty and Pilate looks to all the crowd and says "What is truth?" You see Pilate was looking for something he could hang on to not a person that he could grab hold of and he asked that question what is truth and the person of Jesus truth himself was standing right there in front of him but he was trying to grab hold of a concept rather than a person and what Jesus wants us to understand along with his disciples that he was speaking to that day is that truth is a person and that person is Jesus himself that's why he declared "I am the truth." But then you might have someone who's a little bit more skeptical that's really easy for me to say because I'm the preacher like so be it i read the Bible and so be it and so declare it but maybe you're here and you're going "Well Keith I don't know if I can grab hold of that as much as you." Like how do you know that Jesus is actually the truth and here's one way I can filter it that I filter it to understand and really grab hold of that he's the truth i just look at all the fulfillment of Old Testament prophecies that Jesus fulfilled in fact if you do a little research there's over 300 Old Testament prophecies about Jesus in other words people hundreds of years before Jesus was ever born made prophecies they foretold something is that it's going to happen about Jesus and when Jesus was born throughout his whole entire life until his death burial and resurrection there's over 300 of those and there's what the scripture lets us know as you compare Old Testament to New Testament and even there's some historical data that will come and back up the New Testament that all 300 of them came true now here's an interesting fact for you let's let's not push it maybe you're a little bit more of a skeptical going "No 300 Keith that's a lot." So let's make it really easy let me narrow it down to let's just choose eight of his prophecies here's what a mathematician said as you think about odds let me kind of give you an example then I'll put it in that favor here's some odds that if the odds of you being struck by lightning are one in 700,000 so if there's a storm outside you should still be safe but there's a one in 700,000 chance that you'd actually be struck by lightning now if you are struck by lightning and killed those odds go up to one in two million now watch this if we take those eight biblical Old Testament prophecies and what are the odds that those eight would be fulfilled through one man Jesus Christ that is one in octillion that's one 000000 until you get nine zeros that are the odds of that now I'm not a mathematician i have no idea what I just told you if it wasn't written down I couldn't have said it to you so let me give it to you some language that a Texan will understand if we took the state of Texas and we lined up silver dollars all over the state of Texas until they were two inches thick okay so the entire square area of of Texas and you line up silver dollars to two inches thick if we send a blind man walking into Texas and we tell him of one of all those millions and millions of silver dollars one of them has a mark on it go in there and find it and you get one chance there is more of a chance that that man will blind man will find that one silver dollar in all of Texas lined up two inches thick with silver dollars than the prophecies even eight of the Old Testament prophecies coming true about Jesus here's what I'm trying to say like how do we know that Jesus is truth when eight things out of 300 but we're only going eight are spoken about his life and they come to pass there's something about that man that's not the same about everybody else there's something about the truth that this man speaks and lives and that man is Jesus and so when Jesus was standing before his disciples here here's what he's trying to do he's going "I'm not a concept i'm not a mathematical ratio i'm a man that wants to have a relationship with you i am the way i am the truth truth doesn't just know with the head truth grabs hold of with heart and Jesus wants you and I understand today just as he did his disciples around that table that day is he wants them and us to grab hold of him with our heart more than just our head but he didn't stop there he says "I am the way the truth and the life." If you're taking notes you can write this down jesus is life for the dead here's why I say that jesus is life for the dead when he said "I am the life," he was specifically talking about eternal life in heaven like he's standing there he's talking to him he's breathing with them he's drinking with them he's eating with them it's obvious at that moment Jesus was alive and so the fact that he stated "I am the life." They didn't go "Woo wow we thought you were like a non-living person Jesus." They knew he was alive then but he was talking beyond this life and he was talking about eternal life in fact when he's having that conversation with the disciples and he says "I'm going to prepare a place for you." He wasn't saying "I'm going down the road and I'm buy a house and I'll fix it all up so we all can live together." He was not talking about anything earthly he was talking about everything eternal and he says going I'm going to prepare a place for you but he didn't say and I'm gonna stay there and maybe you'll find your way he said I will come back and get you and we will be there together because the disciples sitting in that or sitting around that table had believed in him as the Messiah they had believed in him as the son of God as the savior now did they have perfect belief no i'll tell you why if you read that chapter some more and I encourage you to go home and read all of chapter 14 today you'll find out there was another conversation that took place not just with Thomas then another one of the disciples Philip said Jesus um like like can you show us tell us help us know who God is more and Jesus is going I've been walking with you for three years and but he looks at Philip and says "Hey Phillip if you know me you know the father here's what Jesus was trying to get across eternal life is not found through our behavior eternal life is not found through our good actions eternal life is not something you earn eternal life to God in heaven is found through me and if you have a relationship with me you have eternal life in heaven and Jesus was just trying to simply spell out and show them I may be leaving but I'm not gone and where I'm leaving to you can go there also eternity in heaven because you have a relationship with me you have a relationship with me you have a relationship with the father in heaven

in fact Romans chapter 3 23 says this "For the wages of sin is death but the free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord." You know so many people are trying to find that eternity in heaven through religion through their good works their behavior through these these these earthly ways and not the relationship i remember a couple of years ago I had a couple I did some pre-marriage counseling for and and then they got married and I was all excited for them three months after they got married they called and said "We're getting a divorce." And I sat down with them and here's what they said we realized we were more infatuated with the institution of marriage than we were each other we wanted the joys of marriage we wanted the house we wanted the white picket fence we want a little puppy dog we wanted some kids but we finally realized we had no relationship with one another and they said "Who wants to stay in a marriage without a relationship?" I I wonder how many people are in churches across America and churches across the world today and they are staying in a religion religion with no relationship they show up on Sunday morning check it out the box going I did my thing but they're missing the joy of the real purpose of what Jesus was doing and so Jesus wanted his disciples to know he wants us to know we can have eternity in heaven with him through a relationship with him not through our actions our religion the things that we do and so Jesus stands there that day and he says "I am the way the truth and the life." But then he makes another statement read with me on that continued verse verse six and then he says "And no one can come to the father except through me." This statement this sentence this verse right here may be the most controversial most difficult verse in all the people in all the Bible for people to grab hold of because he said "And no one comes to the father but by me." At this moment this is when some people throw their hands up going "Well I want no part of God because look he's so exclusive he's not inclusive he's like picking and choosing and I don't want any part of him." But here's what I want you to understand about this verse it shouldn't be controversial it shouldn't be dis shouldn't be difficult it is the most freeing verse in all of scripture in fact if you're taking notes write this down it's a claim that he makes and this claim of Jesus is an invitation that no one can come to the father except through me and here's why I say it's an invitation it's an invitation that tells you and I how to get there you know if I invited you over to my house tonight for a little get together a little party and you get there and I I'm waiting for everyone to get there and all of a sudden one of the windows start rattling and somebody's trying to get in the window like that's not the way to get in then somebody goes to the back door and they're banging on the back door they're trying to open the back door i've got someone else like climbing on top of the roof trying to go down the chimney like everybody's trying to get in my house and finally opened my front door and said "Hey gang just come in the front door okay we're we want everyone to be here we we're having a party just come in the front door." No one would look at me going "You're the worst host in the whole wide world." You would look at me going "Thanks for clarifying we wanted to come we just didn't know how to get in but you're an amazing host because some guy's full of soot because he's tried to go down the chimney someone else the police are coming because he's trying to break in the window that's not a good place to be but when I open the door and said "Hey just come on in the front door." You're going "Thanks." And we're high-fiving as you walk in and we're going to have a great party that's exactly what Jesus is doing here when he made that statement the claim of Jesus is an invitation and that no one can come to the father except through him he's just clarifying how to get there he's not trying to make it hard he's not trying to limit it he's not definitely trying to exclude anybody he's just making sure all of us know how to get there not all of us selected one all of us because here's the next thing I want you to write down the claim of Jesus includes everyone the invitation is offered to anyone who believes it is inclusive it is inclusive of all of us in our goodness and our badness he includes us in it john 1:12 says this "But to all who believed him and accepted him he gave the right to become children of God." And so Jesus stands before the disciples we hear the word today i am the way the truth and the life i am it is a relationship through Jesus to the father now here's the question as we wrap up today so what do you do with it what do we do with it okay let's do this sometimes I like to end the service kind of dividing us in groups so let me divide us in groups if you're here today if you're watching us online and you get that and you have a relationship with Jesus and you know the way to the father is through him you've put your trust in him you you have that relationship here's what I say then keep focusing on the relationship because sometimes we get the relationship and then we like okay I did that Jesus now I got to be really good really good really good and we put all this effort all this work all this stuff on ourselves we will never be good enough to draw closer to him it is always through the

relationship denise and I leave this afternoon as soon as church over we're heading to San Diego my daughter's getting married hallelujah i'll be a rich man next Sunday because I'm I'm done paying the bills right and I thought about

this as I reflect on her 29 years of being in this world there are many many many many moments I can reflect on that she brought us joy and there's a few maybe more than a few that she didn't bring us joy that she went through her own struggles she went through her own stuff if you're a parent you know what I'm talking about this is not dogging my daughter this is just that's how we are right our parents could say the same about

us but there'll be this moment that next weekend before I marry her I will throw my arms around her and all that matters is she's my daughter we're not tallying up how many things she did right and how many things she did wrong and trying to figure things out there's no balance sheet she is my daughter and that's all that matters and we will rejoice in the moment because of the relationship

maybe some of us in here that have a relationship with Jesus we need to throw a wedding with Jesus and we need to rejoice in the moment that you are his son and you are his daughter he has no balance sheet he has no accounting going on he loves you in spite of you and allow him to throw his arms around you and simply say "I love you my child he is the way the truth and the life now I said there's two groups maybe the other group is someone in here and you're just like you're right on the edge like you're kicking the tires you're you're leaning towards this God thing this Jesus thing but some of the questions I brought up you're going Keith you read my mind those are my questions i don't know what to do with it can I just say whether you're watching online or you're here right now as I woke up this morning I'm praying this is the word I felt like God wanted me to give to you today if you're on the outside going "Do I want to take that step?" Here's the word for you let go let go of your questions let go of everything you're trying to figure out and just say "Jesus I don't get it all but I accept you are the way the truth and the life i'm going to let go." And Jesus once you grab hold of me and hang on to me then you and I can figure these things out together as we move down the road together but just let go and say "Jesus I believe you are the way the truth and the life." And here's what I would encourage you if that's you just make that decision make that declaration don't go home and think about it because you will think yourself out of it just say "Jesus I believe." And let the party start in your life jesus said "I am the way the truth and the life nobody comes the father but through him." Will you pray with me father thank you for your word thank you that you invited us God thank you that that you made the way for us through your son Jesus thank you that you love me in spite of

me thank you that you are indeed the way the truth and the life in Jesus name we pray amen