"I AM' SERIES": I am the way, the truth and life - Erick Mtimkulu

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description. Now let's dive into today's

message. So for this week, we.

Will look at I am the way the truth and life John chapter 14

John 14 · chapter mention

let us read together. 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 back and I will take you to

myself, that where I am, 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 are 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.

Lord, we are so grateful to once more sit under the Holy

Scriptures for we recognize, oh God, it is holy moments that

when we worship, when we preach, these are holy moments.

Lord, we don't take these moments lightly.

And therefore we ask that would you come and instruct us?

Would you come and speak to us this morning?

Guide my thoughts, oh God, this morning and guide my words this

morning in Jesus name, Amen. In fact, this portion of

scripture from chapter 13 to chapter 17 is normally called or

understood as the Upper Room discourse.

So in Jesus is of course with his disciples and he knows that

the hour has come. Jesus does not at this point in

time have a lot of time. And if you read from chapter 13,

we find that first Jesus washes the feet of his disciples.

And interestingly, if you go to chapter 13, verse 21, we also

read that Jesus himself is troubled.

Not only are the discipled troubled in chapter 14, verse

one, but in chapter 13, verse 21, Jesus himself is troubled

after having washed the feet of his disciples.

I think it is quite interesting when you read this biblical

text, most specifically chapter 13 as Jesus washes the feet of

his disciples, interestingly that he does not skip Judas.

Jesus knows very well that Judas is going to betray him, and yet

when he washes the feet of the 12, he does not say, you will

betray me. So step aside.

Let me wash the feet of the 11. But Jesus washes the feet of the

one whom he knows very well that we'll betray him.

But that's a sermon for another day.

But Jesus himself, of course, is troubled.

And Jesus had told Judas that. Judas, I know that you are going

to betray me. He also had reminded Peter in

chapter 13 that you, Peter, as well.

You're going to deny me not only once, Peter, but you're going to

deny me 3 times. And they know as the chapter 14

begins, it begins knowing that their hearts are now troubled as

Jesus heart is also troubled because Jesus knows that he's

going to drink the cup of wrath. God's wrath is going to fall

upon him. He knows this very well and his

heart is troubled and the disciples are disciples are also

troubled. They are in distress.

And in fact the word distress and and distraught in this

context actually means to be conflicted.

The disciples now are conflicted, but the biggest

reason perhaps they are troubled, they know that Jesus

is going to leave them. That is the one they have been

with for three years, the one they set under his teaching, The

one who instructed them is now going to leave.

And the Bible tells us they are now distressed and their spirit

is troubled. And so we will look at this

under 3 headings. I am the way, I am the truth and

I am life. Keep in mind that the context

here is the context of the disciples.

Disciples being in distress and troubled because Jesus is going

to leave them. Not only that, he has told them

that one of them is going to betray him and he has told the

other one that you are going to deny me.

And then Jesus says, let not your hearts then be troubled,

believe in God and believe in me.

And Jesus then in, in, in, in, in verse 7, verse 6, and verse 7

reminding them that I am the way, I am the truth and I am the

lie. Church, I am going to share some

things that to me this morning are perhaps going to be hard,

but yes, they're going to be necessary for me to say because

the text that we have in front of us, in fact, allows me to say

those things this morning. And Jesus here is making an

exclusive claim that he is the way, telling his disciples who

are troubled, I guess, don't be troubled.

I am the way, I am the way to heaven, but also I am the way to

the very presence of God, that I am the one that will take you

from point A to point BI am the way.

But for us to perhaps to understand why, if Jesus is the

way, we must understand that because of the sinfulness of

man, because of the state of humanity that had degraded God,

the state of humanity that is in sin, and because of sin,

humanity is alienated from God, separated from God and Jesus

saying I am the way. And how then does Jesus meet

that qualification of being the way?

It's an exclusive claim that he claims only for himself.

He is the way because Jesus alone is sinless.

He is the way because Jesus alone is the only one who could

truly and fully obey the commands of God.

Jesus is without sin. He had no sin and yet He That is

why he is the only one qualified to be the sinless lamb that died

in the place of man. So Jesus would be the only one

who will die in our place and for our sin, as the perfect and

sinless Lamb, and the one who will reconcile us before God,

who will bore our sin upon His body, that those who are

alienated from God will now be reconciled by His blood.

It's an exclusive claim. There is no one else who's

sinless. There is no one else who kept

the law of God perfectly apart from Christ.

The Bible is clear on this matter that there is only one

mediator between God and man, the man Christ.

It's an exclusive claim. And so Jesus says I am the way.

I am the way because one, I am sinless, but also I am the way

because I'm the one who fully and truly obeyed the very

commands of God. This begs the question then, if

Jesus makes this exclusive claim as to being the way, isn't this

an arrogant statement? David Helms writes the

following. It is unloving and arrogant to

claim that Jesus is the only way.

It is arrogant and unloving to claim that Jesus is the only way

unless it's true. It's only arrogant if it's not

true. But if if it is true, then this

is not an arrogant statement. Indeed, Jesus is the way in X412

it says. And there is salvation in no one

else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men to

which might be saved. But what about others?

What about other religions? What about other systems?

What about other beliefs? The the Eastern beliefs will

say, escape the flesh of the world by human effort.

Ancestral worship will say, sacrifice something to appease

the wrath of the ancestors, prepare the beer, prepare the

wine for the ancestors in order that the wrath of the ancestors

does not fall upon you, rather they open the way for you.

New Age mysticism will say that truth is found by looking

within. Pluralism will say it doesn't

matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.

But what does Christianity say? It says the following You are

not God. You have been made by God.

You are not inherently good. In fact, you are sinful and you

cannot save yourself. You need grace, and grace has a

name, and that is Jesus. The difference here is massive.

We don't look to ourself. We're not saved by human effort

or by moral pursuits. We're not saved by appeasing the

right of the ancestors, but rather we are saved and know the

way because of Jesus Christ. Therefore, others will say that

all religions are are different paths to the same God.

All of those religions. They also claim that what we do

leads to true divinity and the true God and this is how we know

his nature and his character. Church.

Let me be clear, if Christ is true, all other religions are

false. I'm trying to find the the

kindest way to say this. I just I don't have the words

forgive me. I'm a Township boy from

collegiate so my English is a bit limited.

I'm trying only one can be true, one religion can be true because

Jesus makes the this exclusive claim that I am the way.

The question then that we have to ask as a follow up question

to the previous question is why is this the case?

Let me say this, we don't apologise for the exclusivity of

Christ. Why?

Because it's the only hope for this world church.

There is no hope apart from Christ.

There is no salvation apart from Christ.

There is no justification apart from Christ.

There is no reconciliation apart from Christ.

Without Christ, man is in a sinful state.

Only one can be true. I know we are afraid to say this

at times that we must be at least be accommodating.

If we are seeing this other religions that are true, we must

also then say that Christ has equals.

We then have to take it that further.

But if it does not have equals as Isaiah 40 says, then there

can only be one true religion. John, the apostle of love, takes

this further to the disciples. Do not be troubled.

Do not be troubled. In my Father's house are many

rooms. The the the the the King James

Version uses the word mansion, which I thought is not a better

translation. I think the ESV and the NIV are

the better translation of this text.

That my father are many rooms. There is a a dwelling place of

God where God dwells, where God is the aboard of God.

In my father's house are many rooms and I go to prepare a

place for you, not just what it says in verse three.

I will come back and I will take you to myself that where I am,

you may be also. What a wonderful reminder to

these disciples that guys, I'm going to prepare a place for

you. There is a place for you.

It is my father's house. What, what a way to comfort the

disciples that are troubled because the one they love is

leaving. Say, do not be troubled, I am

going to prepare a place for you.

Guess what? I'm also coming back.

And so that where I am you as well, maybe also going for you

in this world where we need comfort, in this world with many

troubles, let us be reminded that in South Africa and in the

world we are on foreign land, that this world is not our home

church. We are not home yet, not home

yet. And so he comforts them with

these words. Let me perhaps remind you that

this world is not your best life.

Now I know we think this world is our best life.

In theology we call this an over realized eschatology when we say

we want everything here and now and yet Jesus does not promise

that that he will give us everything we want in this

world. But the comfort is look up.

You are not home yet my friend. Good friend of mine from who

leads a church in Khayelitsha wrote the following.

He says when we reach heaven, the overwhelming joy of being in

the presence of God, seating with Him will be indescribable.

Our emotions will overflow as we see our Lord Jesus Christ face

to face, knowing that we are finally home in the hands of the

Saviour. The peace and the fulfilment we

will experience in that moment will be beyond anything we have

ever known on earth. Wow, wow.

These wonderful metaphors that John uses to describe the this

wonderful vision of the blessedness of heaven, the

beautiful vision of what heaven would look like in the dwelling

place of God where we are filled with joy being with Jesus.

So Jesus saying, I am the way to my Father's house, I'm the way

to him. And CS Lewis will respond and

say, if you read history, he says you will find that the

Christians who did most for the present world were just those

who thought most of the next You are not from this earth.

Look up. You are not from here.

In fact, Abraham in the Old Testament, even though the

writer of Hebrews give us a picture of Abraham who would

dwell in a tent and, and as though Abraham is having this

picture, that one day Abraham looked to a beautiful city, a

country that is not made by human hands, whose God is the

builder and whose God is the maker.

That is in Hebrews 10. And therefore this home here, it

is not our home, but the one Jesus is describing here for the

disciples and by extension describing it for us.

It is a home that will never fade.

It will never rust away. It will never rot away.

Church, there is a reality of this world of dying.

There is a reality that we will die because of different things,

sickness, accidents, and all of these things.

But there's something wonderful about the biblical text that in

First Thessalonians chapter 5, it's a reminder that those who

1 Thessalonians 5 · chapter mention

are in Christ, they do not weep like those who do not have hope.

Because though we die and yet we leave because Jesus says, I am

going to prepare a place for you.

And Thomas says, Lord, we don't know where you are going.

How can we know the way? And Jesus says, Thomas, you may

be looking there, but I want to say it to you, Thomas, I am the

way, the truth, and the life. No one, Thomas, comes to the

Father except through me. I am the way, Thomas, to the

Father. I am.

There is no one else who has access to the Father.

I am the only one who has access to the Father, and I am the only

way to the Father. Again, Jesus is claiming here

divinity. No one comes except through me.

I am the way and therefore church.

Here's the implication. If this is true, which I believe

it is true, therefore Christianity is the only way to

God. Full stop.

That's an exclusive claim that Jesus makes.

And then he says in chapter 12 and in chapter 13, now the hour

has come, Jesus is now has to go to the Father, preparing the

disciples guise that I am going to go, and the way in which

Jesus is going to go is going to be hard.

And yet the biblical text tells us that when Jesus is in

Gethsemane, his sweat was like blood, because the way to the

cross is intense. That the one who knew no sin and

in that time would bore a sin upon him.

The very weight of sin will be upon him.

He says to the disciples, I go, and the way is through the

crucifixion, that he will be the ultimate sacrifice.

There is no shortcut to this. Jesus must die.

When the writer of Hebrews says, therefore, brothers and sisters,

since we have confidence to enter the most holy place by the

blood of Jesus, by a new and living way open for us through

the curtain that is his body, that Jesus makes a way for us

through his death, He prepares a way for us through his death.

He secures the way for us. Through his death, that is the

comfort that Jesus offers the disciples, and it's by extension

he offers us the same comfort. Be reminded, church, that one

day Jesus will wipe away every tear, every trouble will go

away, every sickness will go away, every sin will no longer

be committed one day that time will come.

John Newton puts it this way. When I get to heaven I shall see

3 wonders there. The first wonder will be to see

people there I did not expect. The second wonder will be to

miss many people whom I did expect to see.

And the 3rd and greatest wonder of all will be to find myself

there #2 Jesus is the truth. Notice again to Philip.

Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and that is

enough for us. Notice Jesus.

Jesus said to him, I have been with you so long and you still

don't know me. Philip, whoever has seen the

Father has seen me. And this is quite interesting.

This is sort of a Trinitarian theology that is coming through

here. And Jesus uses two word, 2

sentences here, or two ways in which he describes his

relationship to the Father. Number 1, he says to see me as

Jesus is to see the father #2 he says I, I and the Father are

one. Now to a Jewish person and a

Pharisee who's listening to this, this is blasphemy, this is

heresy. Jesus would deserve to die by

saying these things in front of any Jew or any Pharisee.

To say I and the Father are one, to see me is to see the Father.

Jesus is claiming again that me and the Father are one again.

He is claiming to be the King of Israel.

He is claiming divinity again, that I am divine, not just fully

man, but a truly God as well, because me and the Father are

one. And so here's the point Jesus is

making here, is that to see me as Jesus is to see God, that

Jesus is the image of the invisible God.

When you see Christ, you see God.

When you get to know Christ, you get to know God because Jesus is

the very true revelation of God. There is no other way to the

Father. He is the ultimate truth that

reveals the character of who God is.

To know Christ is to know God, for there is no other way for us

to know God apart from Christ. Remove Christ, all you have is

nothing, because He is the ultimate truth.

He is the ultimate truth that demonstrates the love that God

has for us. For in John three he says for

God so loved the world that he gave his Son, that whoever

believes in him shall not perish, but have eternal life.

So God demonstrates his love through Christ Jesus.

He represents us before the Father.

There is no truth apart from Christ.

He is the source of all truth. If you, if you've spent some

time in the Township, even if you didn't live there, but

you've been there, or you go and meet with the sangoma and one of

the things you seek from a sangoma is truth.

Say, tell me, you know, put the bones out there.

Tell me something about my life because my life is not going

well. And the someone was of course,

will put their bones out there and, and, and, and actually

blow, blow and then make them trust that a message will come

through for you and your family because people are seeking

truth. And this is what will happen

quite often. They will say the person that is

bewitching you is either a person that stays three houses

from your house or, or they'll ask you which member of your

family doesn't like you that much.

And you say this one. They say, that's the one.

I can actually see that's the one.

And the damage that they have caused is that family members

are not talking to each other because I'm thinking, oh man,

Ryan is busy and they say he's the one bewitching me.

And so when you do counseling in the Township context, we do some

normal type of counseling to actually help people to say get

on, why not getting along? Notice Sangoma told me this.

Oh boy, what am I going to do now?

Sangoma told you this. So if not, you're speaking to

your mum for two years. Yes, Because they go there to

say I want the truth. Sangoma tell me the truth.

And Jesus says, making a claim, that if we need truth, if we

want ultimate truth, he is the only one that can provide it.

He is the very standard of truth.

He is the author of truth. Apart from Christ, there is no

truth. So when we ask questions like

this, where did we come from? What's wrong with the world and

how can the world be fixed and how can the world be redeemed?

And where are we going? Jesus provides the answers to

man's predicament. He provides answers to life's

toughest questions. Why death.

What's going on in our world? Jesus provides the answer to all

of those questions. Why?

Because He is truth. And often the answers that He

gives us are sometimes the answers we don't want to hear.

But regardless, He is truth #3 so He is the way is the truth.

But also Jesus is life. And if you notice there in verse

4, chapter 1, begin chapter one one.

And then verse 4 it says in the beginning was the Word, and the

Word was with God, and the Word was God.

Verse 4 then says in Him was life, and the life was the light

of the world. And then John 526 says, For as

He the Father has life in himself, so He has granted us

the Son also to have life in himself.

John 1010 I have come that they may have life and have it

abundantly. So the question then we have to

ask what kind of life is Jesus providing or what kind of life

is Jesus talking about? That to the disciples, they must

know He's not only the why, He's not only the truth, but He's

also life providing a different kind of life.

And in this context, of course, if we read from chapter 8 on

what we have seen, that Jesus is eternal life and provides and

gives eternal life to those who come to him by faith.

And that kind of life is a, a divine kind of life.

It is an abundant kind of life that only God gives.

It is God who is working within our souls, giving us a kind of

life where we are able to commune with God, to be in

fellowship with God, and to be able to walk with God.

Without this life that God provides, we are spiritually

dead. We are empty without this kind

of life. And Jesus says, I want to give

you, but the kind of love I want to give you is eternal life.

Do you know what that is? It's called an assurance of

salvation. It's the life Jesus gave you.

And because of that life, he says I've given you this life.

Guess what, No one's going to take it away from you.

Your room is ready, but your room over there and I'm going to

take calm and take you with me. It is as though Jesus is giving

heaven on earth because the the seal of the Holy Spirit

communicates to us the reality that what we have we can never

lose. It is a guaranteed deposit of

what is yet to come. Therefore, Jesus says, I am

giving you that kind of life that immediately dwells in those

who believes. It abides in those who believes

a kind of quality of life, a kind of life only Jesus can

give. Church, let us be satisfied in

what Jesus offers us, what Jesus gives us, the kind of life Jesus

give us. No one will ever give us this

kind of life. Be satisfied to such an extent

that Jesus becomes enough for you.

Satisfied because often we'll say, Lord, I'm expecting this

kind of life. I want this kind of life.

Oh, I want my my, my neighbor's kind of life and just says no,

no, no, I have given you eternal life and guess what?

That's the best life ever. Eternal life is a person.

Jesus not simply giving that. In fact, he's giving us himself.

So to know Christ is to know the kind of life he offers.

Then the question is how do we get to this kind of life?

In verse 1 he says believe in God and believe in me.

Believe in verse 11 he says believe me that I am in my

father and and the Father is in me.

So how do we get this kind of life?

Here's the solution. Believe in me.

That's it. Don't believe in yourself, don't

believe in your education, don't believe in your achievements,

believe in me. So here's the question I think

you've figured out by now. I ask a lot of question, do you

believe? Do you know him?

Are you in the way? Do you believe with this truth?

Have you received the kind of life Jesus offers?

Have you been born again? Have you come to a place of

total surrender and submission of your life to Christ Jesus?

You are the only one who can answer those questions.

But Jesus says, here is the offer.

The room is ready. I'm preparing a place, but

something must happen before then.

You must believe, and so do you believe this morning, one

application point and then we close Jesus's reminder here to

the disciples not to be troubled because it's going to prepare a

place for them. Equally reminding them that He

is the way, the truth, and life. Therefore, if all of that is

true, to which I believe it is true, anchor your hope in

Christ. Jesus is promising to prepare a

place for us, to give us hope beyond our present struggles so

that we may live with an eternal perspective.

Church, our current challenges are temporary.

Jesus will come one day. The Bible reminds us in

Revelation that there will be a new heaven and there will be a

new earth. Jesus is coming back.

And because of that, may I encourage us and say to us,

because we believe that may we treasure Christ above all

others, May we love Christ, may we adore Christ.

May we honour Christ because He is the way, the truth, and the

life. Therefore embrace Him this

morning. Therefore adore Him this

morning. And if you do not believe this

morning, I would say to you, call upon Him this morning to be

the anchor of your soul. Father, we thank you this

morning to be reminded that indeed you are the way, the

truth and life. You are the one who is divine.

And we recognize Lord this morning that you have no equal.

There is no one like you. You are the only way to the

Father. You are the only standard of

truth. It's only you, oh God, You are

our source. Oh God, apart from you there is

no other. Lord, help us to embrace this

truth. Help us to believe this truth

that there is none like you. You alone are supreme.

You alone are sovereign. You alone are deserving of

praise and glory and honour. You alone remind us of the

picture of in Isaiah 6 that when the Angel says holy, holy, holy

is the Lord God Almighty and the whole earth filled with his

glory. And so God, we thank you for

remind. Press this in our hearts this

morning in Jesus name, Amen. Thank you for listening.

To today's message, we hope you are encouraged and challenged in

your faith. If you're in the southern

suburbs, would love to welcome you in person at one of

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Until next time, stay please and keep shining your light.