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.”
INTRODUCTION: In these few words of our dear Savior, we hope to discover the Divine excellence and absolute sufficiency bound up in Jesus Christ Himself to meet every need of all His people of all ages. Today we will attempt to answer the question set forth by Thomas in verse five, “How can we know the way?”
THE DOCTRINE STATED: Christ Himself and nothing BELOW Him is “THE WAY” through which the Father comes down to His eternal children.
“For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus,” I Tim. 2:5. In Heb. 8:6 Paul was explaining to the Jerusalem saints how it is that Christ is “the mediator of a better covenant, which was established upon better promises,” than the old weaker and unprofitable Mosaic Covenant of law works. Also, “For this cause” Paul declared in Heb. 9:15, Christ Himself “is the mediator of the New Testament, that by means of death, for the redemption of the transgressions that were under the first testament, they which are called might receive the promise of eternal inheritance.”
The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is “THE WAY” through which the Father comes down to His eternal children because He ALONE is “the one mediator between God and men.” He only is “the mediator of the new covenant,” Heb. 12:24. Which is what the book of Hebrews is about. Peter got this when he exclaimed to the high priest and his kindred in Acts 4:12, “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is no other name under heaven given among men, WHEREBY we must be saved.” This too is why John explained: “For the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ. No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, HE HATH DECLARED HIM,” John 1:17-18.
NOTICE: Our text reads: “Jesus saith unto him (Thomas) I am THE WAY…” This is His view of Himself, being His conscious awareness. In these words, He is as much said: ‘“I am THE WAY’ that God comes to you.” ‘“I am THE WAY’ that God reveals Himself to you, being the PERSONATOR of God; I am the “declarer” of God.” “I hold God out to you. I set God forth to you.” Or “through me and by me, God manifests Himself to you. All that you see of God you will see in me for “I and my Father are ONE,” John 10:30. “No man cometh unto the Father but by ME.”
“Jesus saith unto him, I am THE WAY…” In these words, He also was in as much as saying: ‘“I am THE WAY’ through which you are given up to God”. ‘“I am THE WAY’ through which you have sweet and Divine Consolations from God as your Father and are brought into communion with Him.” The Lord Jesus Christ Himself is the WAY through which you are given eyes enabled to sweetly see “as in a glass” the revelations of the Divine Nature. It is into Christ Himself you will look to discover the mind and character of God. In so doing, you will be “changed into the same image from (one) glory to (another) glory, by the Spirit of the Lord,” II Cor. 3:18. Christ Himself is the FACE of God that you behold. Whatever you see of God you will behold in Him alone. From which paraphrases we may observe the following:
First: God only comes to us through His Son Who was ordained to that end, having been set up from everlasting to be the Man-Christ Mediator. We do not behold God as He is in Himself, but rather as He is revealed in the Person and work of Jesus Christ. He is the only suitable light to set forth and hold out such an OBJECT!
Second: What does this say about those who profess to know God and have found other ways of bringing God down to themselves. They are not so bold to say a dead sinner can bring down God, nor would they confess that God comes to them through the keeping of law works alone. However, by using some Gospel expressions while figuring out a way to blend Mosaic Laws with the Gospel of Christ they thereby create a man-centric way in which God reacts to man and comes down to him in either His gracious Presence or His justifiable wrath. All of which is a system of conditionals that teaches “if-you-will-God-will” and “if you so choose” because “God WANTS to bless you.”
The aim of this false Gospel is to turn the effects produced by God in Christ into a means by which God is caused by His creature to alter Himself based upon His creature’s decision. To which I respond: You may as well expect the streams to affect the fountain, or a grain of sand to affect the universe, or moonbeams to affect the Eternal Omnipotent God to be altered in His mind and react to one of His creatures!
Third: No soul does or can come to God until he receives power from God to do so. A dead man does not have the power to give himself life! It must come from a source outside of him. This is exactly why “Jesus said unto him, I am THE WAY…no man cometh unto the Father BUT BY ME.” Further, in John 6:44, He said it like this: “NO MAN CAN COME unto me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him.” You may as well expect moonbeams without a moon, or streams without a fountain, as to expect a dead sinner to give himself up to the glory of God without first being the object of the power of God’s operations upon him! “This is the work of God, that ye believe on Him Whom He hath sent,” John 6:29. “Unto you IT IS GIVEN in behalf of Christ, not only TO BELIEVE on Him, but also to SUFFER for His sake,” Phil. 1:29. No wonder Christ followed His lessons to be learned in Chapter fourteen with John 15:5, “Without ME YE CAN DO NOTHING!”
Fourth: We see nothing truly in God, nor do we have a real communion with God, but what we see and enjoy in Jesus Christ Who is Himself “THE WAY” of our sight, the truth of it, and the life of our communion with God!
CLOSING LESSONS:
First: We are brought to know the way when we are brought by grace into an experiential union with Him Who is “THE WAY.”
Second: There are three basic things essential to a soul: 1st. A way to walk in. 2nd. A light of truth to discover it. And 3rd. A power to carry that soul onward in the way or else he lies still!
Third: Christ Himself and nothing BELOW Him is “THE WAY” for the saints to walk in.
Fourth: Herein lies the answer to the question, “How can we know the way?” Hear the words of our sweet Jesus, “I AM THE WAY.”
Is this your experience?
Next lesson, we hope to examine CHRIST HIMSELF IS THE TRUTH.
Weslaco, TX. Jan. 31, 2024.
No comments:
Post a Comment
Thanks for commenting. If an answer is needed, we will respond.