Why is Jesus the only way to God?

 

Who is Jesus?

Merry Christmas

Isn’t Christmas wonderful? It’s the time to celebrate the birth of sweet baby Jesus. The only person ever born with a halo, Christians or not we all put out our nativity scenes. Shepard’s, angels, oxen, donkeys, Mary, Joseph, baby-Jesus.

It’s so nice, it’s so inoffensive, it’s so harmless. It’s a socialists dream!

What happened to the sweet baby Jesus?

But then Jesus had the audacity to grow up, and just like all children growing up He wasn’t so sweet anymore. As a child but especially as an adult, He started running around fulfilling prophecies about Himself. Making even the most so-called God-fearing Christians in church choke on their tea. With what He had said and done. He starts making outrageous statements like the one in today’s passage.

I am the way, the truth and the life

What is so outrageous?

You might think, well open your bibles on John 14:6-7 and see for yourselves, Page 648 in the back of the church bibles.

Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

Where has all the niceness gone`?

It was so nice ,the miracle of Immaculate Conception (Mary getting pregnant without ever having sex) Jesus teaching wise and good things, Jesus dying for us. If we give the gospel, a quick a shallow browse I think most people would agree that: This Jesus is remarkably easy to digest. He is downright likeable, He is nice, and He is so good with children. He teaches people to not be naughty but play nice.

So WHY did He have to go ahead and say something like that, He was doing so well; riding donkeys handing out fish and walking on water, why did He have to go and ruin it all? Jesus was the perfect mascot for niceness.

Until we actually READ WHAT HE WAS LIKE, what he actually said. And then we are forced to conclude either this man is out of His mind. Or He speaks truth.

Jesus existed. He was historical. We know what he said and did.

Jesus is either of vital importance or of no importance at all. And just like that, our one politically correct human right of being neutral is pulled away like a rug under us. We cannot stay neutral to Jesus; we are either for Him or against Him.

He said: “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

The context it was said in

These words are being spoken during the last supper. He told the disciples plainly that He was the Messiah. He was the Savior who had been promised by God as early as the fall of man. Jesus had told His disciples that He was going away and that they could not follow Him there.

Just imagine the tension. The disciples got more and more confused, and agitated. They knew something was going to happen, but they did not know what. Although Jesus kept telling them that, He was going to die, and rise again. I bet Jesus could feel the tension too, He basically said, I am going to my Father’s House preparing places for you to stay in; I will come back for you when everything is ready. When I do, we will never be apart again. So don’t worry about me, you know by what way I travel and where I am going.

It must have perplexed the disciples hearing what Jesus said. Thomas was the one voicing their concerns when he said “No, we don’t know, Lord,”, “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

Jesus replied; “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me”

We’re going to have a look at what the bible says about Jesus, and if His claims stand the test of time.

I Am the WAY

Jesus said I am the way. He did not claim to know or teach a secret cure, He IS the cure. He is the only man who has ever had a perfect intimate relationship with God. By that I mean; Jesus was the only person who didn’t sin, He lived a perfect life. Jesus’s relationship with God, and His knowledge of God was not corrupted by sin, since he had none. There is no other way to God. I am the way is not everyone gets through Jesus eventually – He is not an idea, He is a person. Only by KNOWING Jesus can we come to God.

I Am the TRUTH

Jesus said I am the truth, He said to those who believed in Him “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” Being the truth Jesus heals the sick, He heals possessed by casting out demons, He brings people back from the dead, He saves people from sin-controlled lives simply by speaking the truth. Jesus is the truth. He said to Philip that anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. Jesus is the true image of the Father. Jesus tells us that if we are faithful to His teachings, the truth (Jesus) will set us free from our slavery under sin.

Jesus is THE truth. No there is no other truth Hut him. He is the revelation of the Ultimate Reality. Being the truth, Jesus is the Centre of the universe.

I am the LIFE

Jesus said I am the life. Jesus is life, because He was never subject to death, He made death, His subject to. Why because when we read in the gospels, Jesus always had power over death. Jesus brought a young girl back to life after dying, He brought Lazarus back from the dead, being dead for several days. Lazarus had already started to smell. Even more awesome is that when Jesus died, God raised him from the dead.

Which proves that even as dead, death had no hold on Him. It would have ended ironically if He weren’t God. The man who brought Lazarus and the little girl back from the dead, would meet His end at death. It would have med it quite clear that it was all a fraud, and what we believe is be wrong. And all of us who work in ministry would have wasted our lives teaching rubbish. However, we see that it’s contrary, Jesus did rise, so that those who are in Him (those who repent of their sins and seek Him (God)) will be risen to eternal life. That is why He said, I am the resurrection and the life.

HE is not just the life bringer but he is life. He sustains all things, He gives us every breath – but he is also our eternal life. Only because what Jesus did for us on Calvary can we have eternal life.

A personal savior, a personal cure.

Jesus is the cure to our Human condition, only by knowing Jesus can we get to God. We can’t achieve it through, sitting with our legs crossed going ahmmm. We won’t achieve it facing a certain direction, praying. We won’t get to God our own way if we make up our own gospels and rules, giving ourselves the opportunity to become God’s and saviors of other planets. We can’t even do like the scientologist and try to pay our way to enlightenment. Jesus is personal ,and we must know Him in that way.

He is the Truth not ideas about truth!

Being the truth Jesus, heals, cast out demons. He does this because He Is who He Is. The truth is realized through Jesus, not trough us realizing ourselves. Whether it is trough money, spirituality, sex or the Eurovision song contest. We are not the Centre of the universe, Jesus is, and only by getting to know Jesus can we know the truth. And only the ultimate truth that Jesus is can set us free from sin, our cruel and horrible master.

Marked for death!, but granted life

We are marked for death, because of our sin. We are so corrupted by our sin that, God can smell it, it’s actually so evident that sometimes we can almost smell it ourselves. Only trough turning to Jesus, repenting of our sin can we experience His resurrection, into our eternal life. Only His blood can clean the stench of our sin, and rise us from the death. To get to God we must live the same perfect life, and die the same perfect death Jesus did. And the only way to do that is to have a personal relationship with Him! We won’t have a chance for a new life in my name, not even in the name of love. Only in the name of Jesus, can we experience a new life. In this life and the next.

The theoretical other way

Jesus said that He was the only way to God, but there is actually another…. Be perfect. Before God sent His son Jesus to the earth to die for our sins, the only way to be right with God, and to have a relationship with God was to obey the Law given by God. The Law consists of 613 laws, among others the 10 Commandments. So to be perfect per definition would be to always obey the Law of God. To make it even clearer, to be perfect you can NEVER have broken any of His laws, from the beginning, you must have kept all 613 of them.

When an expert in religious law asked Jesus what was the greatest commandment, He replied.  “You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind. This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.”

If our love was perfect, we would obey the law.

Ironically if we loved God perfectly we would keep His Commandments, but we don’t. We follow our own sinful hearts, we don’t trust God. And that is evident when Christians try to be righteous according to the Law by their own strength. We have all met them; either the think they are better than everyone else, or they are so down trying to carry the Law by their own strength.

Be perfect like your Father in Heaven is perfect.

Jesus even tells us to be perfect just like God, and if there is one thing that is sure; it is that we’re not perfect. It’s one of the most common excuses when we mess up isn’t it; “give me some slack I’m not perfect!” We’re not even perfect like our better halves, how then can we be perfect like God, it is impossible. That means that we can’t deserve salvation.

We’ve effectively sawed off the branch we’ve been sitting on, by trying to come up with a clever way to deserve God’s grace. It is impossible. Simply because we are sinners, we don’t even measure up to our own expectations. How can we measure up to Gods, when fulfilling all His commandments is the absolute minimum of what He expects of us. And if we do not even meet His lowest expectation. What happens, well if we break God’s commandments, we are sinners. And if we are sinners we are perishing! For the wages of sin is death, and everyone has sinned. We have all fallen short of God’s glorious standard, we can’t meet God’s standard. So is that it then, are we doomed?

Well as always, there is more! We cannot meet God’s glorious standard, but… wait for it… Jesus can, because He alone, carried the full weight of the Law !

We’ve looked at the passages showing us who Jesus is, and through this we’ve seen that Jesus really is the way, the truth and the life. And now we’ve seen that we cannot according to the bible make our own way to God. There is but one way left, there is but Jesus. He is the way, the truth and the life, no one can come to the Father but through Him! So isn’t it arrogant claiming this about Himself? Well… no, not if it is true.

I am Johanna’s husband.

I am Chris, Johanna’s only husband. Is that not arrogant of me to claim, well yes it is, if it isn’t true, if I can’t prove it.

To prove that, I have a certificate of no impediment, which is an official document from Norway and Northern - Ireland confirming that neither Johanna or I are married to anyone else, I have a certificate of marriage confirming that on Wednesday July 21. 2010 Johanna and I was lawfully declared husband and wife. I also have a ring to show people I am married, but the best part is that I have Johanna my wife that I can physically show you, to prove that I am Johanna’s husband.

What the bible says about Jesus.

The same way we have the bible, the word of God. We believe that it is true, because of faith, because of the evidence, and because of the experience of the holy spirit. And if the bible is true, then what it tells us about Jesus is true. Jesus was the only son of God, He came from Heaven to earth. He lived a perfect life, a life without sin. He came to earth to die for our sins, and that is what He did on Calvary. He took our sin, our punishment and our diseases with Him up on the cross. He lived a perfect live, and He died a perfect death. Because He had no sin of His own, death could not hold Him, Jesus conquered death. So when we die, if we are in Christ. We will die a perfect death, after living a perfect live.

Why you might ask? Because of Jesus, when we repent and turn to Him. His death for our sin is made valid for us, and though we sin, it doesn’t kill us because Jesus has already dealt with our sin on the cross.

So does that mean that Jesus died for everyone?

Yes, Jesus did die for everyone who has ever lived, and for everyone who is ever going to live!

Does it mean that everyone is going to be saved?

Everyone who repents and turns to Jesus (believes in Him, that He is who He says He is) will be saved.

What about other religions; Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Baha’i, Mormonism?

Only those who put their faith in Jesus will be saved.

What about our church?

Our church does not have an exclusive cross over our threshold and you will be saved deal with God. Only those who put their faith in Jesus will be saved.

So what are you going to do?

So turn to Jesus He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, nobody comes to the Father but trough Him! To know Jesus is not to sit in a bench and hear someone talking about Him, to know Jesus is as to know any other person. I know Daniel because I spent time with him, I know that he likes star trek better than star wars, I know that he’s not very fond of sugar. I also know that he is man who is really truly burning for Jesus. I don’t know this because I’ve heard someone say this about him. I know this because I have spent time with him, and talked to him, and experienced him. And it is the same way to know Jesus, we need to spend time with Him. Not just hearing what, me or anyone else says about Him. We need to pray (talk with Him), read the bible (get to know who He is, and His persona) Jesus is personal, He is not some lame theory, nor is He made up person. He is real and He wants to have relationship with you. I don’t know what you do or don’t believe. Whether are here looking or want to prove once and for all that there is no God. For many it is helpful to believe in something, it makes our lives easier. Whether it saying we all have to find our own way to God, or my way is the only way. Or even there is no God I believe in science. The truth is that there is only one way to God, and there is only one way to be forgiven for your sins. And that is trough Jesus Christ. So we’re going to finish with a prayer now. I am going to pray out loud and you can pray this silently to yourself, if you want to become a Christian. This is the day the Lord has made. And He has made it so that we have another chance to repent of our sins, turn to Him and believe.

Dear Jesus,

Thank You for dying for my sins, and making a life with you possible. I know that I am a sinner, and that I am lost without you. Forgive me, my sins, and help me believe in you. Turn my heart towards you, and help me to be more like you every passing day. I believe in You and want to be Yours, in your glorious name I pray Amen.

If you have prayed this prayer and want to become a Christian, or if you just want to know more about Jesus. Come see either Daniel, Jack or myself after the service. We’re going to stay for coffee and have time for you and your questions.