And now this afternoon, in the moments that remain, I invite you to turn with me to John chapter 14. We looked at this chapter a couple of weeks ago. I want to go back to it again today. John chapter 14. We'll read a section beginning in verse 1. Through verse 14, with God's Word open before us, let's seek the Lord in prayer. O Lord, as we bow now in thy presence with thy Word open before us, we pray that the Holy Spirit will move mightily in every heart. I pray, blessed Spirit of God, that you'll move mightily in my heart, in me and through me, and that you will convey to those gathered in the house this afternoon the message that thou wist have for them, and give us, O Lord, the needed grace to pay careful heed to thy word, recognizing that this is very much a part of our worship. So, Lord, draw near to us now, we pray, in Christ's name, amen. John chapter 14, this is Christ speaking, and this is the word of God, we read in verse one, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself, that where I am, there ye may be also. And whither I go, ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. If ye had known me, ye should have known my Father also. And from henceforth ye know him, and have seen him. Philip saith unto him, Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time with you, and yet hast thou not known me, Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen the Father. And how sayest thou then, show us the Father? Believest thou not that I am in the Father, and the Father in me? The words that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father that dwelleth in me, he doeth the works. Believe me that I am in the Father, and the Father in me, or else believe me for the very works' sake. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Father. And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If ye shall ask anything in my name, I will do it. Amen. We'll end our reading in verse 14. We know the Lord will add his blessing to the reading of his word for his name's sake. If I could call your attention to verse 6 in particular. Verse 6, where we read, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. You're aware, I'm sure, of the many I am statements that Christ uses to designate himself. For example, chapter 6, verse 35, I am the bread of life. Chapter 8, verse 12, I am the light of the world. Chapter 10, verse 7, I am the door of the sheep. Verse 11, in that same chapter, I am the good shepherd. Chapter 11, verse 25, I am the resurrection. Chapter 15, verse one, I am the true vine. Hence we have these many I am statements designated by Christ. I actually passed over one at the very end of chapter eight, where Christ says simply, before Abraham was, I am. indicating that he is indeed Jehovah God. Now of all the I Am designations that you can find for Christ, the one before us now represents what might be considered to be the most comprehensive as well as the most comforting. Comprehensive in that it encompasses three very distinct elements, each one deep and profound as well as practical. comforting in the sense that it is this threefold designation for Christ that is given, in a sense, as the follow-up to Christ's exhortation in verse 1, let not your heart be troubled. A couple of weeks ago, we looked at that text, and I read a quote from J.C. Ryle. I'd like to read that quote again. about the condition of a troubled heart. Ryle notes, heart trouble is the commonest thing in the world. No rank or class or condition is exempt from it. No bars or bolts or locks can keep it out. Partly from inward causes and partly from outward causes, partly from the body and partly from the mind, partly from what we love and partly from what we fear, the journey of life is full of trouble. Even the best of Christians have many bitter cups to drink between grace and glory. Even the holiest saints find the world a valley of tears. And in what immediately follows Christ's exhortation about a troubled heart, we find what might be labeled as the antidote for a troubled heart. The antidote is faith. You believe in God, believe also in me, Christ says. And when it comes to providing substance about what we're to believe concerning Christ, here's what you're to believe, that He is the way, the truth, and the life, in the words of our text. So what I'd like to do briefly this afternoon is to look at each of the statements of this threefold I am designation for Christ. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Let's think first of all then on I am the way. I am the way. When you think of the way, You're usually thinking about a destination. How do I get to downtown Indianapolis from here? Well, you go this way. Go out to Franklin Road, take a left, go to the corner, take another left on Brookville Road, et cetera, et cetera. Interesting to note in the context of this designation of Christ that he has a couple of things in mind that you could call destinations. Look at verse two, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. Many take the reference here to be heaven, and heaven certainly is our ultimate destination. But one commentator takes a more far-reaching view of the meaning of the Father's house. He interprets Christ as saying, and I'm quoting him now, the universe is the dwelling place of my Father. All is His house. Whether on earth or in heaven, we are still in His habitation. In that vast abode of God, there are many mansions. The earth is one of them. Heaven is another. Whether here or there, we are still in the house, in one of the mansions of our Father, in one of the apartments of His vast abode. This we ought continually to feel and to rejoice that we are permitted to occupy any part of His dwelling place. One of the reasons I like this interpretation is that it presents Christ to us not only as the way to heaven, but as the way to God's will, as His will pertains to what we do in this world or where we go in this world. In this scheme of things, Christ is the way to your calling in life or your vocation. Christ is the way to your future spouse. Christ is the way to where you're supposed to live. Christ is the way to what school or college you're to attend. Christ is the way to the service you're to render to God. He is the way. I've never forgotten the way this verse came to my own heart following a long struggle over where I was to go to serve Christ. My training had been completed. I'd finished the academic course in the seminary, so I was in the waiting mode. Very difficult place to be in. And every time I opened my Bible and went to prayer, it was with this question, Lord, where am I supposed to go? Where is the way? Where am I supposed to go to plant a church? I won't go into all the details of that lengthy episode, except to say that following a prolonged struggle in which I was misreading the Lord's direction, I eventually came across this verse in John 14, verse 6, and the impact it had on my heart at the time was profound. Basically, I came to the realization that my focus had been wrong the whole time. I was so consumed with the place of my service that I had forgotten the person I was to serve. So when the Spirit of God conveyed the message to my soul that Christ was the way, I was able to leave the matter with Him. It's as if he said to me, forget about where you're supposed to go. Christ is the way, so seek him and enjoy him. And for the time being, serve him where you are now until he directs you to go somewhere else. The knowledge that Christ is the way brought tremendous relief to my soul. But would you notice under this designation for Christ that in terms of destiny, he is the way and the only way to something else. Notice again the words of verse six, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me. Notice here that the destiny now is God himself, even the Father. Jesus is the way to God, in other words. He's the way to reconciliation to God. He's the way to communion with God. He's the way through which we can glorify and enjoy God. And we should make the proclamation based on this text that he is the only way. He does not say, does he, that he is one of many ways. He says, no man can come unto the Father but by me. Peter put it this way before the elders of Israel in Acts 4 in verse 12. Neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Paul put it to Timothy this way, for there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, 1 Timothy 2.5. Of all the things that bring reproach to Christianity today, perhaps it is the exclusivity of Christ when it comes to the matter of salvation or knowing God. Christ's exclusivity is as politically incorrect as you can be these days, but when you understand who he is and what he paid to bring about salvation, then it doesn't become hard at all to affirm that he is the way and he is the only way to God or to heaven or to salvation. Jesus, then, is the way. Let's go on to consider that Jesus is not only the way, but he's the way, the truth. He's the truth. This is another designation for Christ that flies in the face of the culture of our world, and not just in modern times, but in ancient times as well. You remember when Christ stood before Pilate, and Pilate asked him if he was a king? Aren't thou a king, then? We read in John 18, verse 37, to which Christ answers, Thou sayest that I am a king. To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth. Every one that is of the truth heareth my voice. Oh, we could spend a lot of time, I suppose, expounding what Christ says about the truth. He bore witness to the objective truths of God's Word. He bore witness to the prophecies that were, that very moment, being fulfilled when he stood before Pontius Pilate. But there's also a subjective element to truth in Christ's statement when he says, Everyone that is of the truth heareth my voice. Subjective and objective truth come together then in Christ, and the thing I want you to see from Pilate is that he so much resembles many people in modern times by his reply to Christ when he says in John 18, verse 38, Pilate saith unto him, what is truth? Here was the very personification of truth standing right in front of him. And he decided it was time to get philosophical. Pilate was certainly wise beyond his years, wasn't he? Here we find him expressing the same enlightened wisdom that characterizes the 21st century by saying, or at least implying in his philosophical statement, that there's no such thing as truth. That seems to be the one and only absolute that is allowable in our day and age, the absolute truth that states that there is no absolute truth. It's amazing to me how many professing Christians would affirm the same thing that Pilate affirms. I remember some while back, and this was something that really floored me, it was a Barna study. Barna is that Christian pollster, kind of the Christian corollary, if you will, to Gallup polls. Barna had done a study a number of years ago in which he had polled evangelicals and asked the question whether or not they believed in such a thing as absolute truth, and a very large, even the majority of the respondents said that they did not believe in absolute truth. It gave me cause to pause and wonder, did they really even know what Barna was asking them? Could they really have affirmed such a thing? Professing Christians, no such thing as absolute truth. And of course, where there's no absolute truth, then there's no law and there's no sin. But Christ identifies himself as the way and the truth. And because of this designation, you and I can have confidence in some things. We can have confidence that God is the Creator, and we can have confidence that He rules and reigns, and we can have confidence that Christ is truly the Savior of sinners, and that His promises are, to borrow a phrase from Paul, yea and amen. For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in him amen, under the glory of God by us, 2 Corinthians 1 and verse 20. And that is true, because Christ is the truth. A number of years ago, when we studied the book of Acts in our morning services, at that time I suggested that the book of Acts was, in fact, Luke's Gospel, Volume 2. I pointed that out in more recent times as we've commenced studies in the Gospel of Luke. And because Acts is Luke volume two, I made the point that we can bring forward a very clear purpose statement in Luke's gospel that pertains to the gospel of Luke as well as to the book of Acts. That statement is found in Luke chapter one, verses three and four. It seemed good to me also, having had perfect understanding of all things from the very first, to write unto thee in order, most excellent Theophilus, that thou mightest know the certainty of those things wherein thou hast been instructed." I am endeavoring, although I don't know that I placed much emphasis on it this morning, but I will endeavor along the way to keep that ever before you as we go through Luke's gospel. Very important to keep in mind the purpose for which he wrote his gospel, which was that we might know the certainty. of the things that we have in God's Word. And certainty, isn't that the crying need of the hour? Today, nobody's certain about anything. Certainly not those who deny that there is even such thing as absolute truth. Our educational system today makes it their single point of dogma that you can't be sure about anything. There are no such things as moral absolutes, no such thing as absolute truth, and where there is no certainty, there can be no security. How can there be? You can't count on anyone or anything to be certain. No wonder we live in a culture that says, lock your doors, fasten the deadbolt, set the alarm, and make sure you know where the bullets are stored for your shotgun. The world is so unsafe because there is no certainty. And where there is no certainty, you have shifting values. Where you have no certainty, you have no trust. And where there is no trust, you have to be on your guard. But because Christ is the way, the truth, and the life, the Christian has been saved from this dangerous and unsettling morass by finding something that is certain. In finding Christ, he has found the sure place to cast the anchor of his soul. He has a sure hope because he has a sure salvation. Christ is the way and the truth, and then finally, he is the life. I am the way, the truth, and the life. You could analyze these three designations this way. The way pertains to destiny, the truth pertains to certainty, and the life pertains to vitality. destiny, certainty, vitality. John 17, verses two and three, this is Christ now in his high priestly prayer. As thou has given him power over all flesh that he should give eternal life to as many as thou has given him and this is life eternal that they might know thee the only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent. We know, of course, that Christ is the source of life. John 1, 4, in him was life, and the life was the light of men. He is the source from which all life springs. He is the grounds for life. He becomes the purpose for life. He is the one that gives meaning to life. He is the one that gives fullness and satisfaction to life. John 10, in verse 10, Christ again speaking, the thief cometh not but for to steal and to kill and to destroy. I am come that they might have life and that they might have it more abundantly. And in John 6, 35, Jesus said unto them, I am the bread of life. He that cometh to me shall never hunger and he that believeth on me shall never thirst. He is the source of all spiritual vitality. I read a morning devotional recently by Spurgeon, which addressed the text of Philippians 1, verse 21, where Paul says, for me to live is Christ and to die is gain. Listen to what Spurgeon writes. I'm tempted to read the whole devotion, but I won't. Just a portion of it. This virgin says, Paul's words mean more than most men think. They imply that the aim and end of his life was Christ. Nay, his life itself was Jesus. In the words of an ancient saint, he did eat and drink and sleep eternal life. Jesus was his very breath, the soul of his soul, the heart of his heart, the life of his life. Can you say, as a professing Christian, that you live up to this idea? Can you honestly say that for you to live is Christ? Your business, are you doing it for Christ? Is it not done for self-aggrandizement and for family advantage? Do you ask, is that an invalid reason? For the Christian it is. He professes to live for Christ. How can he live for another object without committing a spiritual adultery? Christ is the source of life. Christ is the reason for life Christ gives meaning and purpose to life Christ gives satisfaction in life He is the way the truth and the life. Oh May we keep him ever in view then in whatever we do or wherever we go. Oh May we aim for His glory in all things and abstain from anything and everything that would tarnish His glory, for He is the way, the truth, and the life. Let's close then in prayer. O Lord, as we bow in Thy presence now and bring this time to a close, we thank Thee again for Jesus Christ. the way, the truth, and the life. We thank thee, O Lord, that he is the good shepherd of his sheep, that the good shepherd was willing to lay down his life for his sheep. We thank thee that he is the light, that he is the door that opens the way for us into the presence of God and into heaven. We thank thee, Lord, that he is the true vine and we are the branches. Oh, may we be found then abiding in him, drawing from him the vitality that we need in order to live for His glory. May we be ever mindful, dear Lord, of who He is and what He's done. For we ask these things now in Jesus' name. Amen.