Please return your seats and turn with me to the Gospel of John and the 14th chapter. The Gospel of John and the 14th chapter. And as you are making your way to the 14th chapter of the Gospel of John, we would like to encourage you as an eldership, this week our annual missions conference begins. And since we are commemorating 30 years of missions work at KBC, We'll begin on Wednesday, we normally begin on Thursday through to Friday, but this week we'll begin on Wednesday, our Missions Conference, and it will go through to Sunday. And we'd like to encourage you to make an extra effort this week to set a time, the evenings, starting from Wednesday to Friday, and be in attendance, so that our presence not only will be an encouragement to the preacher, but also be an encouragement to our missionaries as well. And then we'd also like to prayerfully encourage you to consider your giving to missions. No amount is too small. All amounts are welcome. Whatever the Lord impresses upon your heart according to your ability, please give towards the work of missions. Our target is to raise a one-off amount, 160. The details are given. If you go in the FOIA, you'll see where that amount will be going. And then we'll also be renewing our monthly giving towards missions this year. Even students are encouraged to give from whatever it is that the Lord blesses you with. Please be encouraged to give towards the work of missions. John chapter 14. The Bible reads, we'll read the first 11 verses. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may also. You may be also. And you know the way to where I am going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my father also. From now on, you do know me, you do know him, and I've seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the father and it is enough. Jesus said to him, have I been with you so long and you still do not know me? Whoever has seen me has seen the father. How can you say, show us the father? Do you not believe that I am in the father and the father is in me? The words that I said to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does, in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves." We'll end our reading there. And as we continue our journey through the Gospel of John, this morning we come to a section or a portion in the Scriptures where we find those famous words, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Now, we must not forget the context in which these words were uttered. The Lord Jesus Christ has just announced that he is going to the Father. The Lord Jesus Christ has just announced to his disciples and said, let not your hearts be troubled. The Lord Jesus Christ has just announced that I go to prepare a place for you and when I do that, I will return and take you so that where I am, you may be with me. And it is in that context that Thomas asks the question, where? We do not know the way. And Thomas' abrupt question is similar to Peter's question in chapter 13 and verse 36 through to verse 37. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in response to this question, He tells them that He is the way, He is the life, and He is the truth. And therefore, their hearts must not be troubled. And it is good to remember the context, even when we think of those words. Jesus told them that their hearts should not be troubled. And whenever our hearts are troubled, it's always encouraging to know that there is someone who knows our hearts, there's someone who's there who can comfort us, and that someone is God himself. But the trouble is that throughout the human history, human beings have always tried to find a way to get to God. They've always wanted to find ways on their own terms, how they can get to this God. And all their efforts have been but in vain. And way back in Genesis 11, you recall the Tower of Babel, where they wanted to create a tower, human beings to create a tower to find their way back to God. And this has been the efforts of the human race. But all these are but in vain. And yet the Scripture still stands true. The Scriptures continue to proclaim that there's only one way to God, there's only one way to the Father, and that's the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what the Scripture tells us. And the Scriptures are clear, authoritative, and exclusive in their declarations. Many Christians are dismayed by the world's opposition to the gospel. Many try to find ways of presenting the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ so that it appears acceptable to the world that is in opposition against the gospel. And therefore, they try to emphasize no offensive gospel towards the unbelieving world. They try to find ways of accommodating those who are living in rebellion against God. Well, that is okay as long as we do not compromise the gospel message. The gospel itself tells us that Jesus is the way to the Father. The scriptures themselves show us that the only way to know the Father is through the Lord Jesus Christ. And our presentation of the gospel must not distort this exclusive way, this clear way that the scriptures tells us. And one would think that the postmodern world, in this postmodern world, that there will be, which emphasize tolerance, that there will be more tolerance towards Christians, but rather the opposite is what has happened. This postmodern world that we live in, has given religious tolerance to all kinds of religious groups except the Christian faith. And the reason is that the cry, is that the Gospel message is exclusive. It's offensive to say that Jesus is the only way to the Father. And therefore, there's been this hatred, this opposition when it comes to the Gospel of our Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ. When it comes to the Gospel message, when it comes to the Christian faith. And this objection to the Christian faith has marked the world's hatred for Christians and the world's hatred for Jesus Christ ever since he uttered those words recorded for us in our passage this morning, I am the way, the truth, and the life. And this morning I want to remind ourselves once again of the claim of the Lord Jesus Christ. I want us to look at this portion of scriptures and see what Jesus says about himself as recorded in the Gospel of John. And the first thing that we notice in verse 6 is Jesus' uncompromising uniqueness. Jesus' uncompromising uniqueness. And Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. Jesus made one of the most controversial yet true statement in all of history. And as Jesus responds to Thomas' question, He began by letting His disciples, and then in wider application to all of us, that He is unique in every way. There's no one like Him. There will never be anyone like Him. He is unique and John records for us this uncompromising uniqueness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And in the Greek language, the phrase, I am, is a very strong way of referring to oneself. It would be similar to saying, I myself, only I, That's what it emphasizes, I myself, only I. And the emphasis there is that there's nothing like this, there's no person like this, there's no one like the Lord Jesus Christ. And when you see in the Gospel accounts, particularly in the Gospel of John, the famous I Am passages, of phrases. Those who were there understood what the Lord Jesus Christ meant. In John chapter 8 and verse 58, the Lord Jesus Christ says, "'Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.'" The Jews understood what he meant. And that's why they took stones and wanted to stone him, because they knew exactly what he was saying, that he is the God who appeared to their father Moses, their leader. And they saw this man saying to them that he is God. Later on, when you read in John chapter 18, verse 4 through to verse 6, the night before he was arrested in the garden, when the soldiers went to seek for the Lord Jesus Christ, when they went to seek Him in order to arrest Him, And they asked, as they were looking for the Lord Jesus Christ, and he said, I am He. John records for us that the words were so powerful that the soldiers fell to the ground. And these words, I am, reflect the very name of God in Hebrew, Yahweh, the God who is to be or the self-existing one. It is a name of power and authority, and the Lord Jesus Christ claims it to be His own. And here now He says to them, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. You see, Jesus and compromising uniqueness. Jesus is the only way. When Adam and Eve sinned against God, that act of rebellion brought about spiritual death to the human race. And human beings from that point are born separated from God. And therefore, when Jesus came into this world, he was coming on a rescue mission. He was coming to impact his life into spiritually dead people. There's no one, there's only one way for human beings to recover from the fall and it is that exclusive way, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Peter in Acts chapter 4, And verse 12, he reiterated this very same truth. In Acts chapter 4 and verse 12, Peter says, salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. And the exclusive nature of the only path to salvation is expressed in these words, I am the way, the Lord Jesus Christ says. But he goes on to say, I am the only truth. The Lord Jesus Christ did not claim to be one of the truths or to be one among many truths. No, the Lord Jesus Christ says, I am the truth. The only truth. And you recall in Matthew 5, all the way to Matthew 7, on the Sermon on the Mount, the Lord Jesus Christ reminds His hearers of several points of the law. When you read in Matthew 5 and verse 22, He spoke about the law and He said, but I say unto you, Now, as Matthew is writing to a Jewish audience, any committed Jew would understand what Jesus was saying. The Jews will see the parallel between what Jesus is saying and what happened in the book of Exodus. When you go back to the book of Exodus, Moses is called by God to come to the mountain, and God speaks to Moses on the mountain. And He gives Him the law on the mountain. Now when you come to Matthew 5, you see the Lord Jesus Christ Himself goes upon the mountain and He begins to give them the law. And now He says, it was said to you, I say unto you. And everyone would see that the Lord Jesus Christ is saying, the God who gave Moses the law, it is I. And that's why I was able to say, I say unto you. Therefore, the Lord Jesus Christ, saying to all of us that he is the authoritative standard of righteousness, the incarnate Word of God, is the source of all truth. Jesus is that exclusive Word of salvation. Jesus is the only truth. And we see he goes on to say, I am the life. The life of the Lord Jesus Christ is matchless. His life is matchless in every way, from his complete divinity to his perfect humanity, from his incarnation to his glorious ascension. from his miraculous virgin birth to his supernatural ascension into heaven. And in these words, Jesus is declaring himself to be the great I Am, the only path to the Father, the only true life. No one can be matched with the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the source of both physical and spiritual life. Jesus Christ is the exclusive path to God because he alone lived a sinless life. He alone died a vicarious death, a substitute death. He alone rose from the dead. And therefore we see here that Jesus is the exclusive way to the Father. Because no one who's ever lived or anyone who will ever live in this world lived a perfect life. like the Lord Jesus Christ. He sacrifices life to sinful, rebellious sinners so that if they come to Him and believe in Him, they will find life. And this is what is offensive to the world. The world says, but you cannot claim that you alone know the truth. The world says, but you cannot claim that only through Jesus is the way to the Father. What about these many other religious groupings? But the Scriptures remind us that He is the way to the Father, and we see Jesus' uncompromising uniqueness. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. But secondly, we see that Jesus is the only means to the Father. He is the only means to the Father. The last part of verse 6 and verse 7, No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on, you do know him and you have seen him." Jesus Christ is the only means to the Father. Nothing but intimate relationship with Christ secures eternal life with God. And because He is the way, He is the truth, and He is the life, He is the only means to the Father. There is no other way to God but through Him. As I said today, many claim that there are other ways to God besides Jesus Christ. And they will say to Christians, you can't be so narrow-minded as to say that Jesus is the only way to God. In fact, they get upset when they hear these words, no one comes to the Father except through me. They say, this is extremely offensive. This is intolerant to make such a claim. This is what the scriptures say to us. Think of it this way. If you bought a gift for your friend, and you're trying to send that gift to that friend of yours, and you put any physical address, do you think your friend will get the gift? Obviously not. You need to get the physical address from your friend and use that address. Only then will your friend get the gift. Or in this day of Yango, if you want to use Yango services, you want a cab, or you want a taxi, you go to your app, put your location and your number, and then the driver will locate you. You just don't put any number or any physical location, the driver won't find you. In the same way, You cannot come to God unless God Himself tells you how to come to Him. You cannot reach God unless by the means in which God Himself has revealed to us. And since God has revealed that the only way to Him is through His Son, Jesus Christ, there can be no other way. And the structure of this statement, that is in verse 6, is such that Jesus is not giving descriptive terms about himself. He wasn't saying, I am A, the way, B, the truth, C, the life. No. Rather, Jesus is saying, I am the way because I am the truth because I am the life. I am the way to the Father because I am the true manifestation of the Father. I am the way to the Father because I alone have the power of eternal life. And therefore, it cannot be true that there are many ways to God. It cannot be true. No matter the claim, it cannot be true. And this is the truth that you and I, you who are Christians, must be convinced of and must believe with all our hearts. There's only one way to God and that's through Jesus Christ. There's no other way apart from Christ. And when we make this claim, we are not trying to be unkind. We are not being proud. We are not being narrow-minded. We are not in any way saying we are better than people in other religions who are sincere and devoted in their faiths, no. But we are saying with all humility what God himself has said in his word. We are simply stating what God has revealed to us in the Scriptures. That there is no other way to the Father except through Jesus Christ. And therefore, any religion that does not fully accept everything that the Bible tells us about Jesus Christ cannot know God. Jesus is the full and the final revelation of the true God. And therefore, any concept of God that does not arise from Jesus Christ is an image of our own creation and it's therefore false. Nothing but personal, intimate with the Lord Jesus Christ. secures eternal life. And if you do not acknowledge the fullness of God or the fullness of the Godhead in Christ, then you do not know Christ and you do not know the Father. There's only one way to the Father. And that's through Jesus Christ. Now, the reason why people struggle with this truth, it's not because it lacks merit, but it's because of their preconceived true ideas about God. Our preconceived ideas blur the truth about God. And this is what we see in the third place in the further question from Philip, verse 8 through to verse 11. This preconceived idea or ideas about God. Verse 8 through to verse 11. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father and it is enough for us. Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long and you still do not know me? Philip, whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I said to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does this. Believe me that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves." Our preconceived ideas Blame the truth about God. The disciples are not realized that Jesus Christ was the express image of the Father and that in him dwelt the fullness of the Godhead. And hence this question from Philip, look, if you just show us the Father, that would be enough. After all, this is why you came, to reveal the Father to us. And Philip's question seemed to be good and reasonable. You came to reveal the Father, so just show us the Father. was anticipating to see something more. Not just this, the plain human form that lived it with them. Not this just plain form that did everything like them, except without sin. He wanted to see some special material, special image, or something to that nature. He wanted something more. But when he looked at Jesus, his outward appearance was just like the rest of them. But Jesus told Philip that He had been showing the Father all this time, His works, His personality. He has been revealing the Father to them. Everything He did is authority. He was revealing the personality of the Father. And the personality of Jesus is the personality of God the Father Himself. He is the exact representation of God. And no one who's ever lived, no one who ever lived has such a personality like the Lord Jesus Christ. He lived and did not sin against God. He did everything for the glory of God. His authority. He cast out demons. All this thing was to point us to the Father. And He died on the cross so that in Him, if we believe, we may come to know the Father. The words he spoke, the works he did, no one else was or is God's only begotten Son, only Jesus Christ. And when you understand this truth, when you understand this truth, then you'll understand why there can be only one single, solitary, authorized way of knowing the Father. and having a personal relationship with Jesus Christ brings so much joy, so much comfort to know that I've been brought into the very presence of the Father because of the Lord Jesus Christ. It is only through Jesus Christ that men and women, boys and girls, can come to know God. There is no other way apart from Christ. The desire of Philip is a common problem, even in our day today. There are so many who fix their confidence not upon Christ and his words, but upon some extraordinary event. Or sometimes when you hear Christians would even say things like, if only something out of the extraordinary would happen, then I would have confidence in God. So many today desire to see the extraordinary, desire to see miracles upon miracles, and hoping that when they see miracles, then they would come in faith to God, then they will believe the Lord Jesus Christ. But the reality is, they will never, or should I say you will never, come to receive any more revelation than what God the Father has given us in Christ Jesus. There is no more or greater revelation than what God the Father has given to us in Christ Jesus. The perfect revelation of the Father to the world He's His only begotten Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. He's all you need to know the Father. You must believe in Him. for the forgiveness of your sins. He is the way, He is the truth, He is the life. Outside Him, there is no way to get to the Father. However sincere you may be, you are lost in your sincerity. Outside Christ, there is no way, no means to the Father. It is self-deception to ignore the fact that God has revealed and to believe that some other sign or manifestation of God's wisdom and power will bring you to your knees to believe in God other than the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a popular poem about the life of Jesus Christ that was written. Although the author is frequently cited as unknown, the poem is actually attributed to James Alan Francis, and it is called The One Solitary Life. This is what it says. He was born in an obscure village. the child of a peasant. He grew up in another village while he worked in a carpenter's shop until he was 30. Then for three years, he was an itinerant preacher. He never wrote a book. He never held an office. He never had a family of his own or owned a home. He didn't go to college. He never lived in a big city. He never traveled 200 miles from the place he was born. He did none of the things that usually accompany greatness. He had no credentials but himself. He was only 33. when the tide of public opinion turned against him. His friends ran away. One of them denied him. The other betrayed him. He was turned over to his enemies and went through the mockery of a trial. He was nailed to a cross between two thieves. While he was dying, his executioners grumbled for his garments, the only property he had on earth. When he was dead, he was laid in a borrowed grave through the pity of a friend. Twenty centuries have come and gone. and today he is the central figure of the human race. I am well within the mark when I say that all the armies that ever marched, all the navies that ever sailed, all the parliaments that ever sat, all the kings that ever reigned, put together, have not affected the life of man on earth. as much as that one solitary life. Jesus is the only means to the Father, and he commands you to come to him today. Amen.