back to index2020-5-3 I AM THE WAY THE TRUTH AND THE LIFE
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We're continuing our series on the Jesus's seven "I am" statements in the Gospel of John. 00:00:09.760 |
We're on his sixth one, found in John chapter 14, verse 6. 00:00:14.280 |
But I want to read the context around this text, so I'm going to start reading from John 00:00:18.320 |
chapter 13, verse 33, and then John chapter 14 up to verse 6. 00:00:27.520 |
"O children, I am with you a little while longer; you will seek me, and as I said to 00:00:32.040 |
the Jews, now I also say to you, 'Where I am going, you cannot come.'" 00:00:38.200 |
"Simon Peter said to him, 'Lord, where are you going?' 00:00:41.200 |
Jesus answered, 'Where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.' 00:00:47.480 |
Peter said to him, 'Lord, why can I not follow you right now?'" 00:00:54.080 |
"Do not let your heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in me. 00:00:58.480 |
In my Father's house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you. 00:01:05.680 |
If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself, that 00:01:14.840 |
Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we do not know where you are going; how do we know the way?'" 00:01:21.160 |
And in response to that, Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:01:27.960 |
Let's pray and then we'll jump into the message. 00:01:32.800 |
Heavenly Father, we come before you this morning wanting to hear your voice. 00:01:38.560 |
We pray, Father God, that you would give us eagerness to listen, a mind that is open to 00:01:44.920 |
hear your voice and a will that is willing to surrender. 00:01:48.720 |
I pray that you would ordain this time for the purpose of glorifying your Son and sanctifying 00:01:59.000 |
All right, so again, I forget whether it's six weeks or seven weeks that we've been in 00:02:04.280 |
quarantine and to be honest, sometimes I wake up and I don't know if it's Monday or Saturday 00:02:09.400 |
and the only way that I gauge what day it is because of the sermons coming up. 00:02:13.240 |
And so when I have to put on my suit, then I know it's Sunday. 00:02:20.120 |
I know many of you guys are still going to work, but I think I ask my kids, "What's the 00:02:26.480 |
first thing that you want to do once quarantine lifts?" 00:02:30.160 |
And obviously, they want to get together with their friends, maybe go out to eat, maybe 00:02:37.120 |
And I thought once this thing completely opens up, obviously the first thing that I look 00:02:41.680 |
forward to is to see the whole church back at church, to be able to have worship together, 00:02:47.240 |
to sing together, maybe go to a nice restaurant and actually sit down and eat a meal instead 00:02:55.320 |
of just taking it out or just eating at home. 00:03:00.080 |
Some of you guys have mentioned that your first thing that you want to do is to run 00:03:04.440 |
I don't understand you, but I know some of you guys are looking forward to some of these 00:03:12.480 |
I want to ask you a bigger question than that. 00:03:17.240 |
Once we pass through this temporary life, and when we think of heaven, what is it that 00:03:25.280 |
What is heaven that you imagine that causes you to think that, "I can't wait to get there"? 00:03:36.160 |
The statement that Jesus says, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:03:39.200 |
No one comes to the Father but through me," he says that in the context of him promising 00:03:43.480 |
them that he's going to the Father's house to prepare a place for them. 00:03:51.000 |
He says to them, "Where I am going, you cannot come." 00:03:56.240 |
In chapter 14, verse 1, it says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled," because they were 00:04:06.080 |
This sixth statement, and we have one more statement of Jesus, "I am divine," before 00:04:12.280 |
he leaves, but these last two statements are specifically directed toward his disciples 00:04:21.760 |
He says that to actually give them comfort, because he has been making it clear that he's 00:04:28.680 |
He's leaving, and so it's starting to dawn on him, "This doesn't make any sense. 00:04:33.600 |
Now you're telling us that you're going to leave, and we can't follow you." 00:04:37.200 |
In response to that, Jesus says, "Do not let your hearts be troubled. 00:04:41.640 |
Where I am going, I need to go in order to prepare a place for you in my Father's house. 00:04:47.540 |
When it is the right time, you will be able to come. 00:04:50.720 |
Right now you can't come, but at the right time, you're going to be able to follow me." 00:04:55.520 |
Then Thomas responds, "No, we do not know where you are going. 00:05:01.800 |
It is in response to this distressful question that Jesus responds and says, "I am the way. 00:05:07.880 |
I am the truth, and I am the life, and no one comes to the Father but through me." 00:05:14.200 |
Even before we get into understanding what he is saying here, we need to understand the 00:05:20.960 |
emphatic nature of this statement, because we know that all of the "I am" statements, 00:05:27.040 |
even if Jesus said nothing else other than to say, "I am, I am, I am, I am," we know 00:05:36.400 |
So the "I am" statement alone, without what comes after, stands by itself, and that in 00:05:44.800 |
How can you be "I am," because clearly he was pointing to the fact that the way God 00:05:50.240 |
of the Old Testament in Exodus introduced himself and Jesus saying, "I am." 00:06:00.000 |
But along with that, he says, "I am the truth. 00:06:06.160 |
And this article "the" in front of it is something that we need to pay attention to, because 00:06:18.760 |
So maybe a better way for us to understand it is him saying, "I am the only way. 00:06:28.480 |
And so obviously he's saying all of this is because he is preparing a way for them. 00:06:32.240 |
And when he's talking about where he's going, he's talking about heaven. 00:06:36.020 |
So if you connect these two things together, what Jesus basically is saying, "I am the 00:06:48.720 |
And so with that, we want to look at these three statements. 00:06:52.480 |
And if you have the children's outline, some of you parents, under each one of these statements, 00:06:57.680 |
"I am the way, the truth, and the life," I divided it into two parts under each title, 00:07:02.680 |
because Jesus says this to, first of all, give them comfort, because they were very 00:07:10.020 |
And then secondly, he's saying this to them to prepare them for what's coming, the trials 00:07:16.420 |
So one is to comfort them, and second is to equip them. 00:07:21.080 |
And I think every truth that we learn in scripture really falls into those two categories. 00:07:26.280 |
Every truth that we have, it first causes us to be comforted. 00:07:31.720 |
When we hear about God's sovereignty, his nature of who he is, his sovereignty gives 00:07:35.480 |
us comfort because we know that he is completely in control. 00:07:38.680 |
That even in this pandemic, he didn't lose control. 00:07:42.200 |
Even with all the famine and with all the distress that we see around the world, God 00:07:47.840 |
But at the same time, he is equipping us to recognize in order for us to be the true light 00:07:53.060 |
in the world, we need to recognize that he is sovereign, not us. 00:07:57.540 |
So it equips us to strengthen us for the work that he has given us to do to be the light. 00:08:02.420 |
So we're going to look at each one of these things in these two categories. 00:08:05.000 |
And the first one is, Jesus says to comfort them, "I am the way. 00:08:13.980 |
You can imagine how the disciples must have felt when they left everything to follow Christ. 00:08:19.660 |
Remember, in the first "I am" statement, "I am the bread of life," Jesus says, "If you 00:08:25.340 |
do not eat of my flesh and drink of my blood, you cannot be my disciples." 00:08:29.620 |
And in John chapter 6, 66, all of the disciples begin to turn away from him. 00:08:34.700 |
All those people who ate the miraculous feeding of the fish and the bread, they turn away 00:08:40.300 |
And Jesus turns around and says, "Are you going to leave too?" 00:08:48.260 |
Well, they've been following him with threats of death, beating, isolation, hunger, and 00:08:56.700 |
even with a deadly storm that came upon them. 00:09:01.060 |
But as long as they were with Jesus, they felt safe. 00:09:04.760 |
But now Jesus is saying, after he told them clearly, "One of you are going to betray me," 00:09:10.940 |
and then prior to that, he's been repeatedly saying to them that, "I'm going to be caught. 00:09:18.260 |
And though I will resurrect on the third day," he told them clearly what was coming. 00:09:22.260 |
But right before the most difficult part of his ministry is about to happen, Jesus says, 00:09:37.540 |
Well, he is saying this, again, not to say, "I'm going to go hide and seek and see if 00:09:44.860 |
In Joshua chapter 1, 9, as he was commanding, as God was commanding Joshua to go conquer 00:09:51.260 |
this new land, fortified, right, with a bunch of soldiers who were wandering in the desert 00:10:05.820 |
They have their family and their children tagging along with them. 00:10:09.580 |
How are they going to conquer this great land? 00:10:12.860 |
So if anybody was in distress, you can imagine the distress that Joshua was in, and God promises 00:10:17.500 |
him this, "Have I not commanded you, be strong and courageous. 00:10:21.220 |
Do not tremble or be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." 00:10:26.500 |
In other words, God's promise to Joshua was, "Do not worry. 00:10:34.700 |
Just like Jesus was in the storm with the disciples, and as they were afraid for their 00:10:39.780 |
life, and Jesus said, "You of little faith, do you not believe who I am?" 00:10:45.900 |
And in essence, Jesus was comforting them in the same way. 00:10:48.580 |
Even though I am going, I am not leaving you, right? 00:10:52.220 |
In fact, later on, we won't be going through this today, but he says, "I'm not going to 00:10:57.260 |
I'm going to be sending a comforter, and he's going to guide you. 00:10:59.860 |
He's going to remind you of everything that I've said." 00:11:03.060 |
So the first statement, "I am the way," is Jesus comforting them and reminding them, 00:11:13.420 |
As he gives the Great Commission, we have a tendency to focus on, "Go therefore, make 00:11:18.860 |
disciples, baptizing them, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you." 00:11:23.460 |
But the essence of the Great Commandment isn't the instruction of going, baptizing, and teaching. 00:11:30.360 |
Even though those are the specific things that he has called them to do, he says, "I 00:11:35.520 |
am with you," at the end of verse 20, "even to the end of the age." 00:11:41.600 |
So any of you who've ever studied that passage, you know that he begins by saying, "All authority 00:11:51.760 |
And then he concludes it by saying, "Don't worry, I am going with you." 00:11:57.960 |
So the first reason why he makes this statement to us and to the disciples is to give us comfort. 00:12:05.120 |
That he didn't just leave us and say, "Hey, I hope you guys can make it. 00:12:10.880 |
There's going to be a lot of trials, persecutions, hardship, famine, pestilence. 00:12:16.960 |
May come your way, but I hope you guys can make it." 00:12:21.400 |
He was reminding them that he will never leave us or forsake us. 00:12:25.640 |
The path that we are to take, he's not just pointing us to the path. 00:12:33.760 |
Years ago, I was in Knoxville, not Nashville, but Knoxville. 00:12:39.640 |
Nashville is where all the city is and big buildings, and that's where they have the 00:12:42.760 |
SING conference, but I was in Knoxville to take care of some business. 00:12:46.440 |
What business that is, I don't have time to explain right now. 00:12:50.440 |
But I was in Knoxville and I had to meet some people and I had to do some stuff. 00:12:54.040 |
And after I took care of my business, I was on the way back to my hotel. 00:13:01.400 |
And anybody who's been in Knoxville, it's like Big Bear without the houses, basically. 00:13:06.800 |
And you have one building maybe every two, three miles. 00:13:11.400 |
And it was 2, 3 in the morning and I just couldn't find out. 00:13:14.040 |
I was like, "Oh my gosh, am I getting deeper into the woods and we're running out of gas?" 00:13:22.080 |
I don't think I had cell phones at that time. 00:13:25.280 |
So I remember just being anxious, being in the middle of nowhere. 00:13:30.880 |
And I remember seeing a light from way off in the distance, Walmart. 00:13:36.760 |
Here Walmart is not 24/7, but over there, Walmart is everything. 00:13:39.920 |
Like if you want to get your car fixed, you go to Walmart. 00:13:46.120 |
So as soon as I saw Walmart, I went and I asked. 00:13:49.920 |
They told me how to get back home to the hotel. 00:13:53.560 |
Some of you guys may remember before we had GPS, being lost on the road. 00:13:58.640 |
Let's say if you're going to your friend's house that you've never been to, and then 00:14:02.120 |
you got lost, the only way that we can find a pullover, find a phone, make sure you have 00:14:09.440 |
Hopefully he's by the phone so you can pick it up and then he gives you the instruction. 00:14:13.200 |
Hopefully you have pen and paper, you can write it down. 00:14:15.900 |
And then you go and then if that doesn't work, you got to pull over again and ask somebody. 00:14:24.660 |
Imagine if we were going to a friend's house and we got lost in a place like Knoxville 00:14:29.120 |
and you're distressed, you're running out of gas, middle of the night, and there is 00:14:38.040 |
Then all of a sudden you see your friend standing by the side of the road. 00:14:44.100 |
And the moment that you see your friend, your anxiousness is gone. 00:14:49.560 |
You're no longer lost, even though you have no idea where you're at. 00:14:54.660 |
Because you're going to your friend's house and your friend is on the road. 00:14:59.320 |
So as soon as he gets in the car, you're not looking anymore. 00:15:08.680 |
He tells you to make a left, you make a left. 00:15:11.060 |
He tells you to make a right, you make a right. 00:15:12.740 |
And even if you end up going nowhere, you're already there. 00:15:17.480 |
Because you're going to see your friend and your friend is already in the car. 00:15:22.120 |
I'm saying this as an illustration because that's exactly what Jesus is saying to his 00:15:32.020 |
If you are with me, if you are with me, you don't need to strive. 00:15:40.300 |
All that feeling of anxiousness, time crunch, purposefulness, instantaneously is answered 00:15:53.040 |
The first and most important part of the statement, "I am the way," is reminding his disciples, 00:15:57.900 |
even though I will physically be gone, I will not leave you. 00:16:03.760 |
But the second part of this is to prepare them for what was coming. 00:16:08.240 |
John 13, this is a passage that we read in the beginning. 00:16:10.520 |
It says, "Simon Peter said to him, 'Lord, where are you going?' 00:16:14.800 |
Jesus answered, 'Where I go, you cannot follow me now, but you will follow later.'" 00:16:48.460 |
And the reason why I say that is because when the soldiers came to get Jesus at the Garden 00:16:52.540 |
of Gethsemane, Peter actually took out the sword, and he actually swung it, even though 00:17:03.580 |
But the fact that he was willing to do that, and even though they probably were outnumbered, 00:17:07.540 |
maybe 100 to 1, at least that's what the records say, probably they were outnumbered, at least 00:17:18.980 |
Even though he meant it, he didn't know himself as well as Jesus did. 00:17:25.060 |
Jesus had answered, "Will you lay down your life for me?" 00:17:31.340 |
"Truly, truly, I say to you, a rooster will not crow until you deny me three times." 00:17:37.140 |
So again, remember, he's saying this in the context of him reminding them, "I am the way. 00:17:45.140 |
In other words, he's telling Peter, "Peter, I'm going. 00:17:53.060 |
In other words, no matter how determined you are, your loyalty, your desire to do good, 00:18:03.060 |
your talent, your ability, your experiences, you will not be able to follow him. 00:18:10.580 |
"I am going to my Father's house, to heaven, to prepare a place for you." 00:18:18.700 |
When Jesus came down, did he just lay the foundation? 00:18:23.700 |
And Jesus has a hammer and nails, and he's preparing a room. 00:18:28.180 |
For the last 2,000 years, he's been working at it. 00:18:31.780 |
And when the rooms are ready, right, a million rooms, maybe that's why it's taking 2,000 00:18:40.580 |
What does he mean by he's preparing a room for them? 00:18:54.620 |
He's not preparing rooms because they're undone. 00:19:03.180 |
And what he was telling Peter was, "Peter, you cannot follow me. 00:19:12.100 |
And the first thing that Peter needed to learn was that way is not you. 00:19:27.700 |
So he was preparing the disciples for what is coming. 00:19:31.460 |
He's going to go to the cross, and they may not fully understand at this point, but once 00:19:35.180 |
he dies and he resurrects, that they will remember that Jesus is the way. 00:19:41.220 |
That's why it says in Luke 9.23, "And he was saying to them, 'Oh, if anyone wishes to come 00:19:45.300 |
after me, he must deny himself, take up his cross daily, and follow me.'" 00:19:51.620 |
We live our whole lives trying to find ourselves. 00:20:01.380 |
That's one of the, even as Christians, we're always looking for, "What's my gift?" 00:20:06.420 |
And in a way, we're all trying to find ourselves. 00:20:08.420 |
Like, "Who am I so that I can live and I can have a purpose? 00:20:13.920 |
But the primary thing that the Bible tells us is to lose ourselves, to die to ourselves. 00:20:22.500 |
As Peter is saying, "No, I'm going to lay down my life." 00:20:36.380 |
So the first thing that they need to be comforted by and also reminded by, it is not you. 00:20:48.140 |
Now, if you're out there listening and you're not a Christian, you don't believe this, I 00:20:53.540 |
mean, that's an arrogant thing to say, especially in this pluralistic postmodern culture, for 00:21:01.260 |
you to stand there and say, and not just me, anybody who's teaching the Bible will say 00:21:12.300 |
In fact, we have more and more people, even people who claim to be Christians, saying 00:21:17.420 |
that it's arrogant for us to say, "He's the only way." 00:21:26.340 |
That's an arrogant thing to say, but maybe you can even say that. 00:21:30.020 |
But to say, "He's the only way," it sounds arrogant. 00:21:33.820 |
In fact, it seems a lot more humble and gracious to say that, "He is my way," but maybe not 00:21:42.580 |
And the reason why there's less and less people who are able to say this emphatically is because 00:21:53.700 |
Either they have weak faith or they have no faith, because you never run into a burning 00:21:59.600 |
building and say, "Hey, I have three options for you." 00:22:04.020 |
You could believe that it's burning, and you could believe that you can believe you can 00:22:10.060 |
go through this door and you'll save your life, but I'm not going to judge you. 00:22:17.300 |
Depending on the message, the message has to be crystal clear, and Jesus made that crystal 00:22:23.580 |
And the reason why he says that is not arrogant. 00:22:29.500 |
He's telling people who are under the condemnation of God, and the only way to heaven is through 00:22:41.300 |
And the disciples needed to know that because every stage of their ministry, they will be 00:22:44.980 |
challenged by the pagan world that they're going to evangelize. 00:22:49.100 |
Every city that they go to, "How dare you say Jesus is the only way?" 00:22:55.700 |
We have thousands of other idols, and you're saying of all the thousands of idols, you 00:22:59.860 |
this puny little nation of Israel, that your Messiah supersedes Caesar? 00:23:07.460 |
Of all the other gods that we've been worshiping, you're saying all of that is nullified and 00:23:16.860 |
So he was not only comforting them, he was preparing them for what was to come. 00:23:22.500 |
Secondly, and again, the most important point was the first one, but the second, he said 00:23:30.300 |
Not only is he the only way, he's the only truth. 00:23:39.300 |
And then he promises them the Holy Spirit, and the primary work of the Holy Spirit is 00:23:48.260 |
He said the primary reason why the comforter is going to come to you is that he's going 00:23:51.660 |
to remind you of everything that I have taught you. 00:23:57.380 |
The primary duty of the Holy Spirit is to convict the world of sin and to remind the 00:24:01.420 |
Christians continually of the truth of Jesus Christ. 00:24:09.980 |
Again in John 6, 66, when Jesus turns to his disciples, when all the other were leaving, 00:24:17.380 |
As a result of this, many of his disciples withdrew and were not walking with him anymore. 00:24:23.980 |
So Jesus said to the 12, "You do not want to go away also, do you?" 00:24:27.860 |
Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom shall we go? 00:24:36.340 |
I may not fully understand you, and you've just said some crazy stuff about eating your 00:24:41.140 |
flesh and drinking your blood, so I don't really fully get what you're doing. 00:24:44.720 |
You say you're going to the cross and be crucified. 00:24:49.700 |
Who's going to sit to the left or to the right? 00:24:53.760 |
That's what the disciples were concerned about. 00:24:56.260 |
That's what they were debating and fighting over. 00:24:59.380 |
I don't fully understand what you're doing, but we believe you. 00:25:08.000 |
In 1 Timothy 2, 5-6, "For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the 00:25:14.060 |
one Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all, the testimony given at the proper 00:25:28.140 |
You know, that ought to bring tremendous comfort for all of us because the truth doesn't change. 00:25:35.280 |
But it also equips us to be able to live in this relativistic society. 00:25:41.700 |
You know, more and more you hear people saying, "There is no absolute truth. 00:25:49.980 |
Relative truth, that statement alone is an oxymoron. 00:26:06.860 |
When you say that that's truth, it does not change. 00:26:14.500 |
If you say it's truth, but it's flexible, it's no longer truth. 00:26:23.660 |
It could be a philosophy, but it's not truth. 00:26:26.380 |
The term truth by the nature of the word is inflexible. 00:26:33.580 |
Like, "Oh, that truth was good in the poor areas. 00:26:37.940 |
That truth was good 2,000 years when they didn't know all of this other stuff, all these 00:26:41.560 |
other facts, but now it's no longer true today." 00:26:55.700 |
You know, you teach the gospel this way to the old people, but to the new generation 00:26:59.980 |
who's computerized, and you know, the gospel needs to change for them. 00:27:06.400 |
By nature, if we say it's truth, truth does not change. 00:27:19.780 |
It's not two for two-year-olds and three for five-year-olds and then 10 for 30-year-olds. 00:27:26.220 |
One plus one used to be two 10, 20 years ago, but 50 years from now, it's going to be four. 00:27:39.400 |
It does not change by preference, by culture, by generation, by age. 00:27:47.480 |
Because truth is inflexible, it has been true all along. 00:27:52.920 |
Truth, because it is inflexible, is the foundation upon anything that we build. 00:27:59.420 |
You don't build a building that you want to last on sand. 00:28:10.660 |
One day, one part of sand will be there, and then when the waves come at night, there's 00:28:17.160 |
And then when the waves come in, a different part of sand there. 00:28:23.100 |
So the sand is always shifting, always changing. 00:28:25.620 |
That's why the Bible tells us not to build our house upon sand. 00:28:33.560 |
But the truth, whenever we build something, what do we build it on? 00:28:42.920 |
Even if everything around it moves, we don't want the foundation to be moving. 00:28:50.620 |
That's what he means when he says, "I am the truth." 00:28:53.140 |
We don't anchor our boat, if we don't want it to move, we don't anchor it on something 00:29:04.780 |
To be anchored in something means you are hooking your boat onto something that's going 00:29:14.060 |
Whether it's calm waters, that you're going to sit there two, three hours later, four, 00:29:18.620 |
five days later, you're going to be in the exact same place. 00:29:22.360 |
That's why the whole book of Hebrews is to be anchored in Christ. 00:29:25.780 |
And if Christ is not the truth, we can't anchor with him. 00:29:31.300 |
Because we don't know where that's going to take us a year from now or ten years from 00:29:34.060 |
now or whether we're young, whether we're married, or whether we're old, or whether 00:29:39.120 |
That's what he means when he says that we are anchored in Christ, that he is the truth. 00:29:48.520 |
He's preparing them because they will be challenged over and over again. 00:29:52.180 |
Remember what Paul says in Corinthians, chapter 122 to 24, "For indeed, Jews ask for signs, 00:29:59.020 |
Greeks search for wisdom, but we preach Christ crucified. 00:30:03.660 |
To Jews, a stumbling block and Gentiles foolishness, but to those who are called, both Jews and 00:30:08.700 |
Greeks, Christ, the power of God and the wisdom of God." 00:30:13.100 |
Is because there was constant, constant complaint. 00:30:24.780 |
You know, we went to Philippi and we got beaten up and thrown into jail. 00:30:27.340 |
So maybe next time we go to Athens, maybe we try a different method, right? 00:30:47.980 |
I mean, you're one of the most educated person in Israel and you are the most powerful. 00:30:54.380 |
So my guess is there was constant temptation to say, you know what? 00:30:58.140 |
Man, I'm so tired of getting beaten up in the cities. 00:31:01.900 |
You know, and sometimes it seems like there's a lot of fruit and sometimes they're still 00:31:24.340 |
What seems foolishness to you, it is the power of God unto salvation. 00:31:33.940 |
These signs and wonders may tickle their ears and may be sensational for a period, but it 00:31:41.360 |
The only way that we can be prepared to go to heaven is Christ crucified. 00:31:46.420 |
That's why Paul says, though they want signs, though they want wisdom, we preach Christ 00:31:57.380 |
Again, to comfort them in John 14, 19, he says, after a little while, the world will 00:32:01.820 |
no longer see me, but you will see me because I live, you will live also. 00:32:06.940 |
Now, obviously the disciples didn't clearly understand what he was saying because after 00:32:12.260 |
Jesus resurrects, they don't even go to the tomb. 00:32:16.460 |
Because as long as he lives, I mean, Jesus says some crazy stuff. 00:32:28.100 |
You know, open that fish's mouth and there's some gold in there. 00:32:34.580 |
So even though we don't get him, as long as he is living, as long as he is with us, we 00:32:42.700 |
But after Jesus dies, even though he made it very clear, resurrection wasn't part of 00:32:50.420 |
Because miracles they can see because they've seen it. 00:32:54.660 |
Walking on water, calming the storm, paying bills out of fish's mouth, feeding thousands 00:33:00.380 |
of hungry people, that's within their paradigm. 00:33:02.500 |
I mean, their paradigm got stretched by watching and walking with Jesus, but death is final. 00:33:10.300 |
So even though Jesus made it very clear he's going to resurrect on the third day, they 00:33:24.660 |
If they can kill him, clearly they can kill us. 00:33:32.780 |
You know, whether it's the disciples or it's us, we follow Jesus because we think it's 00:33:41.820 |
Nobody follows Jesus and says, "You know what? 00:33:43.260 |
I'm going to be crucified, and for eternity I'm going to be crucified." 00:33:49.740 |
We pick up our cross and follow him because following him means there's glory on the other 00:33:54.940 |
The disciples left everything to follow Jesus because he's the Messiah, because they thought 00:33:58.260 |
at some point, if they put in their time, if they keep with him, that they're going 00:34:06.460 |
And they weren't wrong, because Jesus did say that. 00:34:12.220 |
But what he did say was glory was going to come through the cross. 00:34:20.860 |
We followed you because we thought at the end of this road there was going to be better 00:34:26.340 |
But if you go to the cross, what does that mean? 00:34:44.020 |
If you go another path, there is no path of life by being a great fisherman. 00:34:48.460 |
There's no path of life by becoming a Sanhedrin. 00:34:52.140 |
No amount of wealth is going to get you into the kingdom. 00:34:54.860 |
John 4, 13 to 14, "Jesus answered and said to her, the woman at the well, 'Everyone who 00:35:01.460 |
drinks of this water will thirst again, but whoever drinks of the water that I will give 00:35:07.920 |
But the water that I will give him will become in him a well of water, springing up to eternal 00:35:29.140 |
He was preparing them for the hardship that's coming. 00:35:37.020 |
John 11, 25 to 26, "Jesus said to her, 'I am the resurrection and the life. 00:35:41.060 |
He who believes in me will live even if he dies. 00:35:44.460 |
And everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. 00:35:55.660 |
Everything that you've heard about Christianity really can be summed up by this statement 00:36:05.660 |
It's like, "Well, I believe Jesus is a great guy. 00:36:08.580 |
I believe Jesus is going to prepare a way for heaven. 00:36:17.140 |
You can say all of these stuff and all of these things are true, but all of that is 00:36:21.860 |
founded upon this statement, "Even if you die, you will live. 00:36:32.840 |
Because if we don't believe this, we will see Jesus as an avenue, as a means, that if 00:36:40.860 |
we follow him, maybe he'll answer our prayers, maybe he'll make us great, maybe he'll keep 00:36:44.700 |
our children safe, and maybe he'll bless our business, and he'll pay our bills, and that 00:36:50.660 |
we can have a nice, peaceful, long life, raise good children in a nice place, because that's 00:37:01.060 |
He said to pick up your cross and follow me, because even if you die, you will live. 00:37:12.460 |
So all the other things that we obey Christ is founded upon this truth, "Do I believe 00:37:18.980 |
Because if I believe this, and I no longer fear death, it frees me to be able to live 00:37:29.500 |
But as long as I am afraid to die, we will always be bound by this fear. 00:37:37.180 |
Our obedience will always have a limit to where we will go. 00:37:41.300 |
Our life will always be limited by the boundaries that are set because of this fear. 00:37:48.300 |
If you believe me, even if you die, you will live. 00:37:56.260 |
Let me conclude with this, and I'm going to skip two verses and get to Colossians 3, 4. 00:38:02.300 |
It says, "When Christ, who is our life, is revealed, then you also will be revealed with 00:38:11.540 |
There's a couple of things that we need to recognize here. 00:38:36.700 |
But along with that, what the statement says is, "Christ, who is our life, when he is revealed, 00:38:42.700 |
In other words, he's saying, "This is not your life." 00:38:47.500 |
So your pursuit of this world, pursuit of recognition, pursuit of comfort, pursuit of 00:38:52.060 |
safety, pursuit of retirement, pursuit of whatever it is that we're looking for, he 00:39:00.900 |
When Christ, who is your life, when he appears, glory is coming." 00:39:06.500 |
And that's what makes us Christian, because life is not here. 00:39:12.740 |
Whether we are quarantined for the rest of our lives, or whether we come out and flourish 00:39:18.700 |
and have the freedom to do whatever we want, Paul says, "I have learned the secret of being 00:39:28.220 |
Whether he has plenty, whether he has little. 00:39:31.420 |
Whether he's sitting in prison or whether he's free to do whatever he wants, he's learned 00:39:36.060 |
And that secret of being content is Christ being his life. 00:39:42.820 |
Because his life doesn't come with safety, his life doesn't come with health, his life 00:39:46.700 |
isn't connected to whether he's in a prison or whether he's outside a prison. 00:39:53.900 |
And no matter what circumstance he's in, they can't take that away from him. 00:39:58.260 |
What can separate us from the love of Christ? 00:40:05.180 |
The disciples needed to not only be comforted by this, they needed to be equipped with this. 00:40:12.900 |
Because God was, Jesus was going to send them into very difficult situation. 00:40:21.940 |
And all of them are going to be killed with the exception of one. 00:40:24.660 |
And even the one that wasn't killed, it would have been easy for him if he just ended his 00:40:28.860 |
life, if you know what happened to Apostle John. 00:40:32.820 |
Every single one of them, not only did they understand this, but they believed it with 00:40:39.060 |
And they were willing to give their life that other people may have this as well. 00:40:44.260 |
So this sixth statement, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. 00:40:51.260 |
And let me encourage you this morning with this. 00:40:53.460 |
I want to, I'm not asking you to sing this song. 00:40:57.740 |
But the next, I have a video that I want you to watch and sing along internally. 00:41:03.060 |
But if you look at the song, there's six separate circumstances that people are in. 00:41:09.460 |
And the conclusion of each of this is Christ. 00:41:12.580 |
Weak and wounded sinner, lost and left to die. 00:41:24.820 |
Now your burden's lifted and carried far away and precious blood has washed away the 00:41:31.140 |
Sing to Jesus, sing to Jesus, sing to Jesus and live. 00:41:36.300 |
And like newborn baby, don't be afraid to crawl and remember when you walk, sometimes 00:41:43.420 |
So fall on Jesus, fall on Jesus, fall on Jesus and live. 00:41:50.420 |
Sometimes the way is lonely and steep and filled with pain. 00:41:56.900 |
So if your sky is dark and pours the rain, then cry to Jesus, cry to Jesus, cry to Jesus 00:42:07.540 |
Oh, when the love spills over and music fills the night and when you can't contain your 00:42:20.660 |
And then finally at the end of our lives and with your final heartbeat, kiss the world 00:42:26.940 |
Then go in peace and laugh on glory side and fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus, fly to Jesus and 00:42:40.500 |
And as you listen, and hopefully it would be your prayer. 00:42:45.420 |
I'm just going to ask you to listen to that and then our worship team is going to lead