Introduction

When I first got saved there are two Bible verses that I immediately memorized, and probably true with your own experience. One of them is John 3:16 and the other is John 14:6.

Everything in this verse is one syllable except two - "unto" and "Father". It is simple statement and it can only be misunderstood if someone is determined to misunderstand it or is determined to reject it. This statement is not hard to understand, it is just hard to swallow. It is not hard to understand, it is just hard to accept because it cuts through our pride and our way of thinking. 

Sadly, the truth spoken in this verse has been rejected by the world and our society. People have devised their own way. This is not new, this has been the case since the beginning. You have Cain, who offered a bloodless sacrifice, then the Tower of Babel, which is a picture of men attempting to reach Heaven by their own efforts. And today, you have the "Coexist" crowd. And you have probably seen "COEXIST" bumper sticker. Whoever came up with this slogan is a clever person, because he or she was able to put all the major religions of the world in one bumper sticker. Their message is, be tolerant, all religions are the same, all all religions are valid, all religions lead to God.

Yet what Jesus said in John 14:6 goes completely against that. Let's take a look at what Jesus told His disciples and see why it is so important for us to understand today.

Now, again, it is important to understand the context in which our Lord makes this wonderful statement about Himself:  "I am the way."  

He spoke these words when the disciples had good reasons to be troubled. 

John 13:31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. 32: If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him. 33: Little children, yet a little while I am with you. Ye shall seek me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot come; so now I say to you. 34: A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. 35: By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another. 36: Simon Peter said unto him, Lord, whither goest thou? Jesus answered him, Whither I go, thou canst not follow me now; but thou shalt follow me afterwards. 37: Peter said unto him, Lord, why cannot I follow thee now? I will lay down my life for thy sake. 38: Jesus answered him, Wilt thou lay down thy life for my sake? Verily, verily, I say unto thee, The cock shall not crow, till thou hast denied me thrice.

So, here is the setting: Our Lord has been telling His disciples that He will soon go away from them and return to the Father, and they can not follow Him now. Understandably they are very troubled by this and Jesus knew the state of their hearts.  He knew that they wanted to be with Him.  He knew that they were afraid that He was going to be taken from them.  

Then Jesus spoke these the wonderful words of comfort.  

John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2: 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. 3: 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. 4: And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. 

Jesus says, "Don't be troubled.  No matter how dark is the way, no matter how great is your fear.  I am going to the Father's house through the cross.  And if I go there, I go to prepare a place for you.  And I will return." 

Thomas responds and says ...

John 14:5 Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way? 

Implied in that question is, Lord we want to go with You. What is the way to the Father's house? What is the way to be with You?

And in response to that, Jesus says ...

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

Our Lord made a clear and emphatic assertions here. He asserts that He is the Way, He is the Truth, and He is the Life. How beautiful and how precious these assertions are! These three are interconnected, but this morning I was us to consider the first assertion that He is the way.

I - The way, to where?

John 14:1 Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. 2: 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. 3: 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. 4: And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

Jesus is the way to the Heaven, to His Father's house. As Jesus speaks of Heaven, He speaks of it as a real place. Heaven is not an imaginary place. It is not a figment of one's imagination. It is a real place and Jesus is going there and He said He will come again and bring them to where He is.

Not only is Heaven a real place but also it is a wonderful and glorious place! It is the place where you would want to be and spend eternity. 

And what is so wonderful and glorious about the Father's House? Heaven, the Father's house is a wonderful and glorious place, because the Father is there. It is the Father's house because the Father lives there. Heaven is His dwelling, His eternal resting place. And to be able to come to the Father and dwell in His house is the greatest blessing that there is.

There are many beautiful places in this world and this world is a beautiful planet and it only took God six days. But the place our Lord is preparing a place for us and it's been in preparation for more than 2000 years now. How beautiful that place must be!

Now, Jesus asserts that He is the way to the Father's House where the Father lives!

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

By the way, this statement implies that we are lost, that we have gone astray from the Father. We are like sheep who have gone astray.

Isaiah 53:6 All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.

We are all like the prodigal son and we need to come home to Him.

The good news is that God provided the way for us to come back to Him. God provided a way for us to live with Him forever in His heavenly mansion. That way is His Son, Jesus Christ. It is in Jesus that the Father opened the road to Himself. It is in Jesus that the Father opened the road to His house above. So the Father calls us, as prodigals, to come home to Him by taking the path called "Jesus." That is what Jesus is referring to in these words. "I am the way." He is the saving way back to the Father and to heaven. 

II - Is There No Other Way?

John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me. 

Jesus strongly asserts that He is the only way! 

People today do not have a problem if you say that Jesus is a way to God or that you personally believe in Him, as long as you do not say that He is the only way!

In a society which by enlarge embraced the idea of political correctness or religiously tolerance, you are never to insist upon only one way to God. But when you claim that Jesus is the only way to God; that every other way is not the true way, then you will be accused of being intolerant and arrogant!

The world and it's many philosophies and religions will tell you that there are many ways, many paths, many gurus, many guides, and that all roads lead to Heaven.  All religions are equal and valid.

But Jesus Himself makes that plain that He is the only way to the Father. He does not say that He is a way, that is, another way to the Father, but that He is the Way, the one and only Way. So He adds this word too that reinforces that truth: No man cometh unto the Father, but by Me.

This is not just the claim of Jesus. It is the teaching of the entire Bible. 

Acts 4:12 Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

There is one, and only one, road to the Father. There is one, and only one, path to heaven. That is Jesus! Outside of Jesus Christ there is no way to the Father and no way to the Father's house. He is the exclusive way to salvation. He is the only Saviour.

III - How Did He Become the Way?

How has Jesus made the only way back to the Father?

1. By His Sinless Life

Jesus Christ lived a perfect life. He lived the life that we could not live. We all have repeatedly broken the law of God, but Jesus Christ repeatedly and perfectly kept the law of God. It was by His sinless life that He has prepared a way to the Father by His own obedience.

2. By His Sacrificial Death

Not only by His sinless life but by His sacrificial death. He offered the perfect sacrifice on the cross. And upon the cross our sins where transferred to the Lord Jesus Christ and He bore our sins in His body. And by His death He reconciled us to God. We were separated from God. We were far away from God and by the death of Christ, we have been brought nearer to God. This is the one and only way to God.

1 Peter 3:18 For Christ also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit:

I believe that the Cross of Jesus Christ is the greatest evidence that there is only one way by which a man can be saved. When Jesus went into the garden of Gethsemane and prayed ...

Matthew 26:39 And he went a little further, and fell on his face, and prayed, saying, O my Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me: nevertheless not as I will, but as thou wilt.

If there were any other way Jesus would not have suffered the pain He did, the beatings, scourging, the ridicule, the thorns upon His brow, the nails in His hands and in His feet, the death of...

The only way that we may be brought to God is by the sinless life and the sacrificial death of the Lord Jesus Christ .

My hope is built on nothing less

Than Jesus' blood and righteousness.

I dare not trust the sweetest frame,

But wholly trust in Jesus' Name.

IV - Are You On "The Way"?

Are you on the right way?

Proverb 14:12 There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.

There are ways and paths that may appear right, good and pleasant but the end result leads to death and destruction. There is only one way to the Father, and that is by grace alone, through faith alone, in Christ alone. 

As a matter of fact, the early Christians were identified as those who are on "The Way".

Acts 9:1 And Saul, yet breathing out threatenings and slaughter against the disciples of the Lord, went unto the high priest, 2: And desired of him letters to Damascus to the synagogues, that if he found any of this way, whether they were men or women, he might bring them bound unto Jerusalem.

Saul of Tarsus was going to Damascus to find those belonging to "The Way", both men and women that they might be bound and brought back to Jerusalem. Early Christianity was identified by these two words simply "The Way". Jesus was the way and they were on the way. They were going the way, they were apart of the only way to Heaven.

Act 19:8 And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God. 9: But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.

That is how they spoke against a Christian faith in the 1st Century. They spoke against the way. It became synonymous with knowing God and knowing Jesus Christ.

Again and again, throughout the book of Acts the believer were referred to as those who were on "The Way" because they were so identified with Jesus Christ who claimed to be the Way.

Acts 19:22; 22:3; 24:14, 22

So the question today is ...

Are you on "the way"? Have you taken that step of faith and entered through that narrow gate? Have you turn from your own willful ways and embraced "The Way"? To be on the way you must put you faith on the the Lord Jesus Christ.

Matthew 7:13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.

The Way is Available for Everyone!

The way may be narrow but every one is welcome! Jesus said, "I am the way." Some in society have said, "Jesus was arrogant, intolerant and His words were exclusive." Jesus was not arrogant, or intolerant, but in a sense His words are exclusive. They exclude other religious beliefs and practices, but they do not exclude any person.

John 3:16. 

John 6:37 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.

Closing Thoughts

Our Lord emphatically asserts that He is the only way back to the Father and to seek another way is a serious offense. To seek another way is to say to God, "Jesus was not necessary." It is to say, "Christ died in vain." It is to say, "The cross was not all that important after all."

There is not another way. God did not need to give His Son to that awful death if there is another way for us to be brought into the fellowship of God.

There are many things in this world worth doing, worth aspiring to be, worth spending your life doing. But what really matters is where you will spend eternity when you die? Believe in Him and let not your heart be troubled. 

AMEN!