Now, if you will, turn with me in your Bibles to John chapter 14.
I'm going to be reading from verse 1 through 6 of John chapter 14 as we continue looking
at those I am statements of Jesus Christ.
Those statements give us an idea of who this Jesus Christ is which we have come together
to worship.
Tell us about the very character and love of our Lord Jesus Christ.
So this morning, let's look at another I am statement.
Hear God's word.
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
You believe in God, believe also in me.
My Father's house has many rooms.
If that were not so, would I have not told you that I'm going there to prepare a place
for you?
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me
that you also may be where I am.
You know the way, the place where I am going.
God has said to him, Lord, we don't know where you're going.
So how can we know the way?
Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
And one more verse.
If you really know me, you will know my Father as well.
From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
Let's pray and ask God to bless what we have just read.
Holy Spirit, come upon us now so that we can not only treasure the words of Jesus Christ,
but that we as the people of God will learn to find our way in him.
May our hearts learn to have confidence in what we believe.
Hear your people now, amen.
One of the memories of my younger years was coming back from college every Christmas,
going to my aunt and uncle's home where I and my mom lived.
And after a semester of eating very lousy college food, of getting very little sleep,
constantly tired and rushed, I wanted to go home to rest, to get some good home cooking.
And all that way home from Tennessee to Virginia, I could tell you every city that we just about went through,
some of them were big like Knoxville, others like Abomatics Virginia, which was very small.
I could tell you the favorite places to stop and get something to eat.
I could tell you about the gas stations.
I could tell you about the mountains of western Virginia, which they had junkyards,
which sort of blotted the beauty of those mountains.
I knew my way home and I wanted to get there.
And that was my experience.
But what about you?
If you ever had a similar experience, maybe you were in the military.
And after boot camp, you got to go home for a while?
No more sergeants yelling at you?
No more waiting in line?
Or I know one person now who's out in Texas in boot camp and sweltering through PT.
He is going to be ready to come home to mama's cooking pretty soon.
Or perhaps you had to go off for work for a while to a construction site and then Friday at 4 or 5 o'clock.
You get to go back home after being away for a week or weeks living in a hotel motel.
To go back to your wife and your family.
There's something nice about finding that way home.
And for many, you have memorized that way back home.
Well, as we get over,
those memories should take on added meaning.
Because as we get older, this life that we live has started to lose its luster.
The novelty, we say, has worn off.
And we have to face so many disappointments, so many trials.
We really want to get to our heavenly home.
Be with Jesus.
And the Bible tells us the way, and it's through Jesus Christ.
Christ is the way that we're going to get home.
He's the road, you could say.
And you remember the Kenny Loggins song,
Please celebrate me home?
Well, that's what we want.
But we've got to take the right way.
And I want you to think of all the dissatisfactions you've had in your life.
Those are reminders that we need to be on the right way back home.
To be with our Savior, to be in the new Jerusalem.
The heavenly city that's going to come down.
To be with our Savior forever, a place where we can be secure once and for all.
And when we look at this passage, I want you to notice here
that the disciples are troubled.
Jesus has told them, I'm going to be betrayed.
I'm going to the cross.
Their beloved master was leaving them.
I want you to think about all that they were going through.
What's going to take place?
We don't have Jesus anymore.
He's going to go to the garden.
And the Romans would come.
They would arrest him.
They would take him away.
The disciples wanted that sense of peace and rest.
To know that what they had invested in Jesus was not going to be lost.
And so with this I Am statement, Jesus gives his disciples the comfort that they really need.
And here is why he gives us that comfort.
Here is what that comfort is there for.
He tells us here he has a place for us to go.
That is why we can have some comfort in our lives.
Now if you have read through this passage in a number of versions,
you are probably most familiar with what the King James says.
It says something along the lines of, in my father's house are many mansions.
And that has gotten into our mindset from the King James version that somehow there's this mansion we're going to get in heaven.
It's going to be like Hollywood where the movie stars all have their mansions.
The problem with that is it's just confusing.
How can a house have many mansions?
And if you look down in verse 23, that same Greek word is used again where he tells his disciples this in chapter 14, 23.
He says, anyone who loves me will obey my teaching.
And my father will love them and we will come to them and make our home with them.
And where if you're reading the King James, it says abode, notice the King James had to use multiple definitions for that one word.
So no, it is not talking about you're going to get a mansion.
Something better.
It is telling us that there is a place in heaven that has been prepared for us.
It is a place where Jesus is going to be and you will one day go to dwell with him.
Yes, it is a place.
I think mansions may be a little drab compared to the glories of heaven.
But that's what Jesus has in store for us.
And look at what it says in verses two and three.
My father's house has many rooms according to the NIV and I think that is a good translation of it.
But that were not so.
What I have told you that I'm going there to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.
He's telling us that Christ is going to the cross and from there to heaven.
There is going to be a very spacious place for us when we go to be with him.
And that should impact your thinking because you know where our true home is.
It's not up there on Boblitz Avenue.
It's not where you live.
It is with Jesus Christ to be with him forever in a much better place.
It is no wonder that the Apostle Paul says in Philippians this, that our citizenship is in heaven.
And we eagerly await a savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ.
You and I are aliens and strangers in this world and we need to go home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ.
The passage tells us Christ has prepared a place where we as one author says will feel soothed, secure, and we will be seen.
How many of you in your mind think about your final resting place, your final home we should say, as being with the Lord Jesus Christ forever?
And why was it so important back then?
Well, it tells us in verse one their hearts are troubled.
It tells us again in verse 27 where all these disciples are worried, worried, worried.
He says, peace I leave with you, my peace I give you, I do not give you as the world gives.
Do not let your hearts be troubled.
Do not be afraid.
They had an uncertain future, but Jesus says, don't worry, your future home is secure with me.
I'm going away.
I'm going to the cross.
But don't worry, I'm coming back and you will be with me forever in a place that is much more glorious than this.
Much more glorious.
So here's what we've got to understand.
First, we have a place to go.
Now I want you to think of this for a minute.
Let's just say you are the type of person who doesn't have a family or they've rejected you.
Let's just say you get sent to prison and you have nothing.
When you get out of prison, you have nothing.
You get a bus ticket someplace and you get to that place.
Let's just say you have nowhere to go.
What do you think would be going through a person's mind like that?
Total loss.
Scared.
Wouldn't you?
Who's going to help you?
You have no one.
But Jesus doesn't leave us like that, does He?
And you may think that your life when it gets close to the end, you're like that person.
There's not going to be any place for you to go in the future.
Just the grave.
It's not what Jesus says here.
And when do you need to feel this sense of security?
Any time you get worried about the future.
Any time when you start to think what's going to happen to my health?
What's going to happen to my well-being?
Am I going to have to live out my days in a retirement home where nobody cares about me?
Are you going to be killing food out of my mouth?
Is that what you're scared about?
But Jesus says, one day, one day you will be with me forever.
And the reason we need to realize that and keep that in the forefront of our thoughts
is our knowledge about this world is so limited.
We think we know what's going to happen simply because of what we've seen.
No, Jesus says.
I've got something much better for you.
Just hang on.
Hang on.
I'm coming to bring you with me.
So we do suffer in this world, but he says here, he's coming and he has a place for you to go.
And not only does he tell us he has a place to go,
he tells you there is a way to get there and hear one of the most well-known verses of the Bible in verse 6.
I am the way.
I am the truth.
I am the life.
Jesus is saying I am the way to that heavenly paradise.
And he says there is only one way.
Well, here's where the problem comes in, doesn't it?
We live in this multicultural world and there's all those different religions out there like Islam and Buddhism and Hinduism.
And we think to ourselves, well, maybe all these are ways to God.
And of course, we in this 20th century have said, we don't want to be judgmental.
We don't want to be judgmental about those other religions.
Maybe there's a grain of truth in them.
Do you realize that type of thinking has even made it into study Bibles?
Now, one of the study Bibles I had, I'll admit, it's liberal.
Every once in a while, I had some pretty good ideas in it.
But here's what it says about this particular verse that you need to be aware of.
Contemporary Christians, and I'm quoting here, wrongly interpret as exclusiveness John chapter 4, 14 verse 6.
It celebrates how Jesus reveals God for those in this particular faith community and is not a statement about the relative worth of world religions.
Do you see what he's saying there?
The author of that study Bible and that study note.
Oh, Christianity is not exclusive.
It's not.
I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me.
That seems pretty exclusive to me.
And I want you to notice here that way is qualified.
I am the way, that way is truthful.
That is the way that gives you life.
And it's not just here.
It's in other verses of the Bible as well.
For example, in John chapter 3 verse 18, what does Scripture say?
Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only son.
Pretty clear.
You don't believe in Jesus.
You're condemned because you don't have the way to the heavenly Father.
What about the preaching in the New Testament?
What does it say?
In Acts 4, 12.
Salvation is found in no one else for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which they must be saved.
Do you know what modern liberal theologians have done?
They've done the same thing they accuse us of.
They have read back into the Bible our 21st century sensibilities.
And that is not what people thought during the New Testament.
There were other religions at that time, but Jesus had no problem saying I'm the way of the truth in the life.
Jesus could have said, well, there are multiple ways. Let's just love them all.
He doesn't say that.
Jesus here comforts our heart by saying there is one way and that one way has been revealed to you in me.
I am the one way to heaven.
It's not a two way street.
One way.
One way only.
Now as Christians, you and I need to feel some confidence about what we believe.
Not shame, even when we're ridiculed.
Because let me tell you, here's why I believe that there is one way.
I'll tell you, first of all, the reason I believe is this.
Is that Buddha, Mohan, and the Hindu gods did not die from the honor class.
That's why.
They didn't die from anybody, but Jesus did.
It understands the human condition so much better than all the other world religions that we have a sin problem and that we are in need of salvation.
And there is only one way there.
Two, look at how the gospel is spread throughout this world.
It doesn't say all ways are equal, but it says all people, whether they are black, white, yellow, if you believe in me and my ways, I'll accept you.
Another reason I believe is because what it means to me.
Christ has comforted my heart by the hope of heaven because I've seen so much death.
I've seen so much destruction, I've seen so much lying, there has got to be a better place, much better.
And who needs to hear this this morning, those of you who may be questioning your faith?
And maybe I'm preaching to people who aren't here this morning, but I'll tell you who really needs to hear it.
It is those who may be younger and have gone through a school system in which they've had their world history classes or a world religion class, and the professors told them it's all just human experience.
That's not what this says here.
Christ said, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life.
You can say he's a great teacher, but if you lied about that, he is nothing more than a human liar if he's wrong about it.
He says Christ comforts our hearts by telling us he's going and preparing a place for us.
He tells us, look, there's one way to get there. It's through me.
And he leaves us by saying this. He wants you to trust him.
Trust him. And that is the focus of our life as Christians.
And look at what verse one says, do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God. Believe also in me.
Continually believe in me. Continue on trusting me continuously.
And that's going to be the challenge, isn't it?
You may be challenged from the academic world with what they say. Are they infallible?
No. It may be from pop culture or what you read on Facebook. Is that infallible?
No. It could be from your own thinking. Is that infallible?
No. No, the only thing that is infallible is what Jesus says to us, who is the living God of truth.
And the focus of your life needs to be on that way. Your faith needs to be in that way. Jesus.
You got to trust him.
Now let me tell you a story. Last year, Cooper had his birthday party and he wanted to go play golf.
So he rented out the golf clubs. Now, they had a golf-fiend birthday cake.
So here was what we were to do. We were going to each, all the adults would have one or two children with them.
Now remember, Cooper is like, what, second grade? Second grade? How old are second graders these days?
Eight. Eight.
Okay, so we got a bunch of eight and nine year olds. So, I'm in the golf cart. I've got keys to the golf cart.
I am driving that golf cart. Well, these other little kids get in. So guess what I hear from one little boy?
I want to drive the golf cart. I want to drive the golf cart. You know what I said to him?
When you're 18, come and see me then. You're not driving this golf cart. Because I do not trust you.
I'm not letting you drive me anywhere.
Now, I also had an uncle. He was a truck driver.
I remember one time we were over a bridge. I believe it was over the Chesapeake Rays. It was a big bridge.
Car in front of us stopped. He knew exactly what to do.
Who do you think I want to drive me around? A little eight year old? Or an uncle who's a truck driver?
The uncle who's a truck driver. Well, same way with Jesus.
He wants to be the way. Christ, I would hope, and it is Christ in him that we continually trust for our salvation.
Let's pray and thank Jesus that he is the way, the truth, and the life.
Our Heavenly Father, we thank you for Jesus. We thank you for your word. We thank you that you have shown us the way.
And we also want to thank you because by your grace we know this. It is not because we are better people than anybody else.
We should be the humblest of people because you've shown us the way. You did it out of your mercy.
And now we ask our God that you will continue to comfort our hearts by the faith that comes through Christ Jesus.
Hear our prayer now, O'er with us, and be with us Jesus. Amen.