We just have a wonderful crowd here this morning and we say
welcome. There are faces in the audience
that I haven't seen for a while. There are visitors from other
congregations. There are visitors from the
area, from the community. And we want to say welcome.
You are our honored guest. I hope and pray that what we
have to consider for a little while this morning would be
helpful to you, encouraging to you, and edifying to you in some
way. Going to talk about some of the
greatest things the Lord ever said so long ago when He walked
on the face of this earth. Our text is found in John
chapter 14 and beginning there in verse 4.
And where I go, you know, and the way, you know, Thomas said
to him, Lord, we do not know where you're going.
And how can we know? The way Jesus said to him, I am
the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father
except through me. Just a little background about
this passage. We're talking now on the eve of
the crucifixion, on the eve when Jesus would tell his disciples
that he would be betrayed, that he would be arrested, that he
would be crucified. So many things that they didn't
understand. And the Lord was very busy on
this night. And I love this because it shows
the tender protection and comfort of the Master that we
serve. Jesus sees fit now to comfort
his disciples by giving them knowledge about something
they're going to need for the rest of their life.
And I got to thinking about this early this morning.
Jesus about to undergo the worst thing that any man could ever
undergo. He would be crucified for the
sins of the world. And he would have to do it even
more so worse in this regard, without God.
He would have to do it all alone for the very first time.
And when he was hanging on the cross, Jesus had said those
words, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Or as it is directly quoted from the Old Testament in the book of
Psalms, My God, my God, why are you so far from helping me?
And Jesus knew that he was going to have to do that and bear the
sins of the world. Without God, He would have to do
it alone. And yet he took the time to
comfort his disciples. Folks, please listen to this.
Jesus has time for you, and I don't care what it is in your
life that you're going through today, you may be going through
some difficult times. You may be really lonely, you
may feel all alone. I'm going to tell you something
right now. Nobody in the world may
understand, but Jesus understands and He has time for
you. Jesus gave them comforting words
that they needed to know to get them and sustain them through
life. And I'm going to tell you these
are the same comforting words that are going to sustain US in
our life. He speaks of a place where he's
going in verses 2 and three of the very same narrative.
Notice he said 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. And if I go and prepare a place
for you, I will come again and receive you to myself.
That where I am, there you may be also.
I want to make a point here about the word mansions.
The word mansions is not actually a very good
interpretation or rendering in this passage.
It actually means dwelling places or abode.
It's a staying abiding dwelling or abode.
So really in the original it would read something like this.
In my father's house are many dwelling places.
Now I just got a little quick aside and I'm going to be fast
about this, I promise. Because the word mansions is not
a good translation in the English language.
And because Jesus actually said in my Father's house are many
dwelling places. And because in the Old Testament
the Father's house was the temple and there were many
dwelling places. The Old Testament tells us in
the temple they were called chambers and because they had
many chambers in the temple, which was the Father's house in
the Old Testament, some people have said this, Jesus was not
referring to heaven here, He was referring to God's house today,
which is the church, and that Jesus was saying, I'm going to
prepare a place where he can dwell on earth in the church.
Little side note here, got to slip this in.
It is true. Jesus said the Kingdom is within
you. That means Jesus reigns in our
hearts. If you're in the Kingdom, he's
reigning within you all. That's true, but that's not what
he's talking about here. What he's talking about is a
place that's called his Father's house.
The word house, this Greek word is a different word that's found
in the Old Testament for house, referring to the temple.
This word actually means home. Let me ask you this.
Answer this to yourself. Where's the Father's home?
Jesus said I'm going to my Father's home, that's heaven.
Don't think for a minute that Jesus in this passage is not
referring to heaven. He is referring to heaven.
He said in my Father's home, which is heaven, are many
dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have
told you. Then he says I'm going to go and
prepare a place for you. Now heaven already exists.
The dwelling places in heaven are already there.
Jesus wasn't going to say, didn't say, I'm going to go
build your spot. This is beautiful.
Now get this, what he was telling his apostles and in like
manner he's telling faithful Christians, today I'm going to
my Father's home in heaven and I'm going to prepare a place for
you. What's that word prepare mean?
It means I'm going to make a reservation.
How about that? I'm going to go to heaven and
make a reservation for you. That where I am, there you may
be also. Jesus wasn't saying I'm going to
go up a plate, prepare a place for me to come and dwell.
And he was saying I'm going to prepare a place or reserve a
spot that you get to go in heaven one day.
Wow. And all those faithfully served
him. But Thomas, you know, Thomas
didn't understand. And just notice this before we
go to what Thomas said, Jesus says I will come again and
receive you to myself. That where I am, where's em
Father's home in heaven. There you may be also for all
eternity. Now what Thomas do Thomas, I get
it. I get it.
Lord, we don't know where you're going and how can we know the
way If we don't know where you're going and we don't know
what you're talking about, How can we know the way?
And then Jesus said these masterful words.
He said I am the way, the truth and the life.
I'm just going to slip something in here.
I don't care how good a person you are.
I don't care how many benevolent, wonderful things you
do for others. I don't care how much goodness
is in you. You can't go to heaven without
Jesus. Jesus said I am the way.
There's no other way except Jesus Christ.
You know, this is the 6th, by the way, the 6th of the I am
statements of Jesus. He made seven.
This was number six. I got to tell you something.
I preached this sermon several years ago right here, and I've
got to thinking. I got to thinking about all the
hope and I got to thinking about all the wonderful things that we
get from that and the encouragement we get from that.
Do you know when I preached this sermon 2 days before my colon
rupture and almost died? 2 days.
Isn't it great? I'm glad the Lord spared my
life. I'm glad the Lord gave me more
time. I got a lot more work to do and
I'm so thankful that I'm still here.
But I got to tell you something. If I was not OK and it was time
for me to go, I had a place to go and one day a place in my
father's house. That's the key.
You remember that old commercial, Some of the old
timers again, I'm an old timer too, so I can slip in old timer.
I'm an old timer guy now. I'm almost 16, so I can say
this. Remember that American Express
commercial, American Express. Don't leave home without it.
OK? Talk about Jesus.
Don't leave this world without him because there's only one way
to heaven. That's Jesus.
Don't leave this world without Jesus.
The I AM statements of Jesus did wonderful things.
Two things. Number one, it indicated who
Jesus was and #2 it tells us even more about who God is.
Notice in John 1 and 18, no one has seen God at any time.
The only begotten Son who was in the bosom of the Father, He has
declared Him. So these statements are
exclusive in nature. That is this Jesus is the way.
Now, you know, we know in the New Testament, we'll get to that
passage later, that there's really only two ways.
There really is, and we get it. It's very simple, but there are
only two ways, and we understand that.
But you know, it's not just a New Testament principle.
Did you know that in God's mind and in God's plan, even in the
Old Testament, going all the way back to the Old Testament, there
has only always been two ways. If we go to the book of
Deuteronomy, the 30th chapter, verses 15 through 20, you know
what we find? There's two ways.
There's life and good and death and evil.
So it may sound really harsh, but here we go.
Good gets life, evil gets death from a spiritual perspective.
We're talking about good from a spiritual perspective, get
spiritual life from a spiritual perspective, spiritually evil
get spiritual death, which is a separation from God.
We understand that, OK, But when we talk about good, please get
this. We are not talking about your
nature like a good person. Please get that this has nothing
to do with your own personal goodness or nature.
It has everything to do with choice.
It has everything to do with obedience.
It has everything to do with service and sacrifice to the
Lord. Part of that is our service and
sacrifice to each other. So when the Bible talks about
good, it's not talking about good people necessarily,
although Christians better be some good people.
It's talking about those that make the good choice in
obedience to follow the Lord. That's what it talks about.
All right, notice we understand about that idea.
We got to choose in Matthew chapter 6 and verse 24.
No one can serve 2 masters, Jesus said in the masterful
Sermon on the Mount. For either he will hate the one
and love the other, or else he will be loyal to the one and
despise the other. You cannot serve God and Mammon.
First of all, a little bit of background here.
At the time of Christ and the apostles, the country had many
slaves and they had relationships with their master.
In fact, the relation of master and slave is referred to
frequently in speech and literature.
What they would have understood, and this just proves by the way,
how brilliant Jesus is, they would have understood this.
You know what? They would have understood that
if you're a slave and you had a master, you couldn't divide your
services to another master. Couldn't do it, can't have to.
Jesus says you can't have two. You know why?
If you did and a person divided his service or his life or his
dedication to two different masters, the master in which
owns him, it would be in a matter of inflicting severe
punishment to him. Are you kind of getting the
metaphor here? If I'm owned by this master and
I go working for this master, this master ain't going to be
very happy, is he? This master over here that
actually owns me is not going to be happy.
They would have understood that Jesus uses that phraseology,
that they would have understood from a common historical
standpoint. And he makes this point.
He slips this in this illustration, you can't serve
God. And mammon, what does that mean?
Well, the word mammon actually comes from a derived from a
Chaldean word that's defined as this what is trusted treasure or
riches. This doesn't mean you can't have
riches. It doesn't mean that you can't
have things. It doesn't mean you can't enjoy
life. And I'm going to get back to
that. Enjoying life.
Oh, I believe enjoying life. We're back then later.
This doesn't mean you can't have things.
What it means is don't let these things be your master.
Don't let those things compete with God.
It doesn't have to be riches. It's anything.
Don't let anything in your life compete with God.
That is the Lord's point. OK, so from the Old Testament
standpoint, we talked about good and evil and all that.
What about the New Testament standpoint?
What did Jesus say? He said enter by the narrow
gate. For wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leads to destruction.
And there are many who go in by it because narrow is the gate
and difficult is the way that leads to life.
And there are few who find it. First of all, I want to make a
point about this. Few that find it.
This doesn't mean, as some would assume.
It doesn't mean only a few people.
OK, hold that thought. It doesn't mean only a few
people. But let's look at the context of
what the Lord's talking about here.
OK, Here's the context. The context is there's a narrow
way that's difficult. Yeah.
Being a Christian is a struggle. It's hard sometimes.
I've talked to so many people in my lifetime who thought if I
come to Jesus, my life is going to get easier.
I've known a lot of people like that.
I knew one guy that was struggling financially, so he
thought if I become a Christian that I'm going to get rich, that
God's going to bless me monetarily, overflowingly, and
I'm not going to have any kind of struggle anymore.
You know, that's not what Jesus said.
Jesus said seek first the Kingdom of God and his
righteousness, and all these things shall be added to do what
that means. What you need will be taken care
of, The things that you need, the basic necessities.
Not that you're going to have it easy.
Sometimes living the Christian life is difficult, and that's
the backdrop of that passage. Let me go further though.
What about in the book of Jude? Beloved, while I was very
diligent to write to you concerning our common salvation,
I found it necessary to write to you exhorting you to contend
earnestly for the faith which was once delivered to the
Saints. The word contend, by the way, is
a Greek word that's often used in the athletic world of a
wrestling match. OK, but fair, says this form and
this passage is a strengthened form, meaning to agonize and
face the foe wherever he is. Let me ask you something.
Who's the foe? It's the devil.
Don't think for a minute that there's not someone When you try
to serve God, it's going to throw everything but the kitchen
sink at you. It's going to happen.
It's the devil, but it's OK. We win.
Going to give you the pattern how we do.
But what did Paul say about that?
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against
principalities, against powers, against the rulers of darkness
of this age, against spiritual host of wickedness in the
heavenly places. I'm going to tell you something.
We look at some of these passages so far, and we might
take. Wait a minute.
It's kind of discouraging. You're trying to tell me being a
Christian is hard. Yeah.
You know who the greatest preacher of the world ever knew?
You know who he was? Yeah.
You know who he is? Jesus.
He was also the most realistic preacher ever.
When Jesus gave those parables, one of the parables he gave the
parable of the sower. He said the Kingdom is like
this. A farmer goes out to sow seed.
He takes it in his hand like the broadcast method, and he slings
it out. It's going to fall in one of
four kinds of soil. Don't have time to go into the
story, but remember the seed which represents the gospel is
going to fall in four different kinds of the heart, which is the
soil. Only one's any good one of four.
So don't get discouraged. Don't get all bummed out and
chicken out. Don't do that.
Just go to work hard with the word of God on the other three
hearts. What else did Jesus say?
He said. And by the way, when the good
seeds planted in the good soil, guess what's coming?
It's the devil, it's the enemy, and he's going to plant the bad
seed among the good seed. He was the ultimate realist.
That is so important when people need to understand what you're
getting into when you serve God. My mother and I, years ago, we
used to sell real book encyclopedia.
I'm so glad I don't try to sell. I don't have to sell
encyclopedias. Make a living anymore.
Long, long time ago. And you know what?
They used to have these world book conventions.
We travel all over the United States and we have these
committees. It was the biggest hype thing
you've ever seen in your life. Pumped up.
They put some guy up there that's made all this money and
made all this success and all that.
You know what people did, man, they were so fired up.
You'd fly around the room and then you went home and it's just
you. And I got to go over here to
Bryan Osbourne and convince him he needs these books.
And I got AI need a paycheck and I need to make a certain amount
of money. And it's dependent on people
buying some books. It wasn't realistic.
You see the point. And often times a lot of people,
when it wasn't realistic, when they got home, they became
discouraged. So the Word of God is realistic
to let you know what you're getting into.
It's going to be difficult. It's all right.
The idea of a wrestling match, by the way, in ancient times was
different than today. Back then, it was different than
today. Today, I've never been a
wrestler, but you know, you pinned, so I know this.
You pinned somebody for three second count and you win, right?
Not so back then. You literally took your hand to
the neck of that person. That was your adversary, your
foe, and you pinned the neck down until the person gave up.
That's what the Bible is telling us to do with the devil.
You pin him down until he gives up.
How do I know that that works that way?
James 47. Therefore, submit to God, resist
the devil, and he will flee from you.
All right? Being a Christian requires
effort. It requires sacrifice.
Luke Chapter 9 verse 23. Then he said to them all, If
anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself.
Take up his cross daily and follow me.
What does all this mean? What's it mean to deny myself?
It means to disown your selfish desire.
That's all. Give up any selfish desire.
You know, one of the hard things it is to convince people about
things when they're kind of a narcissist, when they think
about things, about everything being about them.
One of the hardest things is if a person's like that is to
realize, oh, oh, it, it really isn't all about me.
We all kind of fall into that category.
Sometimes we think it's all about me being a Christian and
coming to Jesus and being obedient to him.
If you desire to come after Jesus, Jesus says disown your
selfish desire, put yourself aside.
That's the entire Christian principle.
We put others before ourself. That's what it means to prefer
one another. It means I prefer you, you
prefer me. And guess what?
It doesn't matter what we go through, we're getting along.
It's when we think of our own selfish desire, we get in
trouble. What else?
Remember, crosses are for dying. Take up your cross daily and
follow me. Taking up his cross is
figurative, based on the practice of a doomed man
carrying his cross to the place of crucifixion.
OK, the way of the Christian. It's a life of service and
sacrifice. Acts 16 and 17.
The girl followed Paul and us and cried out, saying these men
are the servants of the Most High God, who proclaimed to us
the way of salvation, the way of Jesus.
It's a way of sacrifice, yes, but it's the way of salvation.
What else? It's also the way of God.
So he began to speak boldly in the synagogue.
When Aquila and Priscilla heard him, they took him aside and
explained him the way of God more accurately.
So the way that we're talking about the way of Christians is
the way of salvation. It's the way of God.
And here's the best part. It's the way to heaven in
Matthew 7 and 14. Getting back to Matthew again,
because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads
to life and there are few that find it.
Now I said I was going to get back to this word few.
OK, put it in the context in which Jesus is making the
comparison. You've got the masses that are
choosing what an easier way. You've got a few.
When compared to the masses choosing a difficult way, this
word narrow has been described by scholars as something that is
a high mark between two rocks. Something very tight, something
very difficult. It's difficult.
Sometimes choosing the difficult way is not the easy way, it's
the hard way. What Jesus was saying is few are
going to find it, Not that it's hard to find, few are going to
find it. Meaning few are going to make
the choice to choose the difficult way.
Why? Because when persecutions come,
difficulty comes, hard times come, loneliness comes, many
people choose another path. And that's what he's talking
about. I don't know how it is with you.
You have been lonely. What if you tried to serve God
but your family was against it? What about that?
It's lonely, isn't it? A lot of times people turn their
back on Jesus because it's the hard way to follow Him and they
go the easy route. But I'm going to tell you
something. It's worth it.
And you are not alone. I don't care how lonely you
think you've ever been. Notice the 23rd Psalm and the
third verse. He restores my soul.
He leads me in the paths of righteousness.
We are not alone. Our shepherds leading us.
Don't you see the point? Just stay on the path.
You going to make mistakes? You absolutely will.
You going to fall down? Yeah, you're going to fall down.
Just keep on going and don't ever quit and remember, it's the
shepherd Jesus that's leading us in paths of righteousness.
So is it worth it? It absolutely is worth it.
Romans chapter 2 verse 7. If you stay on the path, you get
eternal life. Eternal life to those who by get
this please patient continuance in doing good patient
continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor and
immortality. Beat says it's this.
It signifies the brave holding up under burdens which would
cast us down a pressing forward in the face of foes who would
drive us back and that patience manifests itself in good works
in our life. The next passage I want to show
you is a passage is one of my favorite.
I love is very encouraging. Revelation chapter 2 and verse
10, Jesus, the words to the seven churches of Asia, the
church, Smyrna, the persecuted church, and these are the words
of Jesus. Do not fear any of those things
which you're about to suffer. And many of them were about to
lose their own life. Then he said, indeed, the devil
is about to throw some of you into prison, that you may be
tested and you will have tribulation 10 days, but be
faithful until death. And I will give you a crown of
life. Now, this is often interpreted
like this. Just be faithful all your life.
And while it includes that, that's not the context.
The context is this. Be faithful even if it means
you're death. That's what it means.
That's what Jesus said. And Jesus said if you do, is it
worth it? I'm going to give you a crown of
life. I'm going to give you a crown of
life. All right.
What about 10 days? 10 days refers to a full and
complete period. It may be long or short, but it
will come to an end. It means to have a willingness
to die rather than quit. And you know, I'm going to tell
you something. I can do anything for 10 days.
If you got to suffer through something, but you know it's
going to end, you can, you can bear down man, and you can gut
it out and you get through it. Just remember this.
I don't know what you're going through, but you're going
through something. Just remember you hang in there
and you be faithful. It's going to end the pain, the
suffering, the trouble, the the trials.
It will end. And Jesus says, I'll give you a
crown of life. Don't quit Jesus.
Not only is the way, He's also the truth.
What does that mean though when we talk about truth in first
John chapter 1, the Bible says in the beginning was the Word
and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
First of all, the first phrase there, the Word, was with God.
This shows the everlasting existence of Jesus Christ.
The word here is Jesus. So the first phrase shows the
everlasting existence of Jesus. He has always existed.
He was called the Word, which is the truth, and He was with God
all the way back to the beginning.
OK, but there's something else. There's also a secondary thing.
So in other words, the first clause is the Lord's eternal
existence. The second clause is the Lord's
distinct personality. He is God.
Now I just have to make this point quickly.
This doesn't mean he's God the Father.
This doesn't mean there's one in the Godhead.
There are three that bear record in heaven.
There's three in the Godhead. There is God the Father, there
is God the Son, there is God the Holy Spirit. 3 separate
personages in the Godhead. And when the Bible says these
three are one, it means they work together.
They work in unison. They agree in one, absolutely.
But there are three separate personages all with a different
role. That's what that means.
OK, so Emzer says it like this. The phrase the word which is
Jesus was God is said on the basis that God is the family
name of deity. In other words, Jesus is deity
too. Hence any member of that family
would rightfully take that name, just as any member of the Smith
family is a Smith. We got a Smith in this audience.
I know some Smiths. There's a bunch of Smiths.
Are they the same person? No, but they all have the family
name Smith in heaven. The family name for deity is
God. Three separate personages all
working together. Jesus is God too in that regard.
You know, Jesus is actually called God in the Old Testament,
in Isaiah 9 and 6. For under us a child is born, we
know who that is. Under us a son is given, we know
who that is. And the government will be upon
his shoulder, and his name will be called.
Wonderful counselor, mighty God, everlasting Father, Prince of
Peace, that's all talking about Jesus.
And by the way, that's why in the New Testament the phrase or
the name Church of Christ and Church of God is often used
interchangeably talking about the same place.
Notice Acts 20 and 28. Therefore take heed to
yourselves and all the flock among the which the Holy Spirit
has made you overseers, to shepherd the Church of God,
which He, Jesus, purchased with His own blood, used
interchangeably. And how do we know that all of
us is talking about Jesus? Go back to John 1 and 14.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld
His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,
full of grace and truth. Yes, the Word of God is truth.
Have you ever heard somebody say there's really no such thing as
truth? Is there such a thing as truth?
I'm gonna let Jesus answer, Can't we do that?
Let's do that. When Jesus was praying to his
Father, he answered the question I just gave Is there truth?
John 17 and 17, Sanctify them by your truth.
Your word is truth. Now sometimes people do this.
They cherry pick scriptures. I like this one over here.
I'm going to stick on that one and neglect the rest of the
Bible. I like the one that says believe
in the Lord Jesus and you shall be saved.
I like that one. So people think, well, all you
got to do is believe. What about the rest of it?
What about the other things? What about repentance,
confession and baptism? What about that?
What about living a faithful life?
What about that? Let me give you Bible.
It's all included. It all matters.
Let's go to the psalmist David in Psalm 119 and 60.
Notice the entirety of your word is truth.
That's all of it. You can't just pick and choose.
The entirety of your word is truth.
Sometimes people say this. What's true for you is true for
you, and what's true for me is true for me.
Got a friend that I studied with for, I don't know, a couple
years. Every time we got together, we
wanted to talk Bible. I love that.
And we talked about what the Bible says in order to be saved
and what the Bible says about what God wants from your life in
serving him. You know what he said?
I see it. I've read the verses.
I understand what you're saying. And yes, the Bible says that,
but I'm just going to choose to think this instead.
I'm going to say, well, God is love and acceptance, and I'm
going to just believe that nothing's required of me and I'm
going to raise my family in the same way.
That's really sad, isn't it? Because it says the entirety of
your word is truth. That's the standard, folks.
It's not my truth. I'm nothing.
It's the word of God. So can a person determine what's
true for them? And that's OK.
Let's go to the Bible set First Thessalonians 2 and verse 13.
For this reason, we also thank God without ceasing, because
when you receive the Word of God, which you heard from us,
notice you welcomed it not as the word of men, not as the word
of men, but as it is in truth the Word of God, which also
effectively works in you who believe.
What's that truth going to do for us?
It's going to make us free. Can it agreed to be free?
John 832 And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make
you free. Free from what?
John 8 and two, for the law of the Spirit of life in Christ
Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death.
The truth makes me free from sin.
Wow. And that's the same truth that
brings me to heaven, having your name written in heaven and the
Bible calls it the book of life. You know how sometimes people
say membership has its privileges?
There's commercials like that. Membership has this privilege,
membership is great. What if you got your name
written in heaven in the book of life?
The Revelation letter calls it the Lamb's Book of Life.
Notice in Philippians 4 and verse 3.
And I urge you also, True Companion, help these women who
labored with me in the gospel with Clement also, and the rest
of my fellow workers whose names are in the book of life.
You know, the phrase book of life is not new or exclusive to
the New Testament or yet about heaven in the new from a New
Testament perspective. It actually goes all the way
back to the Old Testament and it was used to describe God's
covenant people. Exodus chapter 32, beginning in
verse 32. Notice yet now if you will
forgive their sin, but if not, I pray blunt me out of your book
that you have written. And the Lord said to Moses,
whoever has sinned against me, I will blot him out of my book.
So those that overcome though, guess what, we're going to stay
in the book. He who overcome shall be clothed
with white garments, and I will not blot his name from the book
of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before
his angels. That phrase right there.
He who overcomes is the same thing as being faithful unto
death that we've already noticed.
That's all that means. Be faithful unto death.
Don't quit. Don't turn your back.
Ian Zerr says it this way. It is a universal practice for
institutions that consist of individual membership to keep a
record of its names in a book. That fact is a basis for the
figurative idea of a book of life in which the Lord keeps a
list of His people. The point is that all whose
names are there may be considered in good standing with
the Lord. OK, now got to throw in the
negative part. Just got to do it because that's
what the Bible says. But, you know, we also find if
we're not faithful, the flip side is we're blotted out.
We don't want that, right? Give your Bible real quick.
Second Thessalonians chapter 1. And to give you who are
troubled, rest with us. When the Lord Jesus is revealed
from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking
vengeance on those who do not know God and on those who do not
obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, these shall be
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of
the Lord and from the glory of His power when He comes in that
day to be glorified in His Saints and to be admired among
all those who believe because our testimony among you was
believed. I'm just going to ask you a
question today. And by the way, every
relationship that we have is reciprocal or it doesn't work
and we get it. How many marriages would last or
how many marriages would you say is a good marriage if one person
did all the given and the other person did all the taking?
And it'll work. And we understand that in every
single relationship that we have, all our relationships, we
get it right, no problem. But when it comes to religion,
people want it to be often times all Jesus.
He did all the work. He died for my sins, and there's
really nothing that I need to do and I could just benefit from
what He did for me. Folks, please listen, that is
not a relationship. The greatest and most important
thing you could ever have is a relationship with Jesus.
But that's twofold. So let me ask you this.
And when you do have that relationship, you are written in
the book of life. Let me ask you, are you in the
book? Are you in the book?
It's a very important question because Revelation 20 and 15
says anyone not found written in the book of Life was cast into
the lake of fire. So Jesus is the way.
He's the way to God in heaven. He is the truth that leads us
away from sin and brings us to salvation.
But finally, the last one, and this is quick and we're almost
done. Guess what?
He's the life. He's the spiritual life that
we've been talking about early in our lesson. 4 things about
Jesus. Now 4 things.
Why is he the life? Well, first of all, John one and
three, He's the creator. He was in the beginning with
God. Let us make man in our image.
Genesis 126 He's the creator, He was there in the beginning.
That's number one. Number two, in him Jesus was
life. John one and four, he upholds
all things by the word of his power.
Hebrews 1 and verse 3 Finally, in in him all things consist.
Colossians 1 and 17 in Romans chapter 6, verse 23 for the
wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord. This death, by the way, is a
spiritual death, a separation from God.
We know that without Jesus there's a spiritual separation
from God. We get it, OK, but in Jesus
Christ, the gift is given is eternal life through Jesus our
Savior and our Lord. Now He's the only one that
brings eternal life and it is a gift.
But the gift has a cost. OK?
The ultimate cost and price that was paid was by Jesus Christ
himself on the cross. But guess what folks?
We got a price to pay too. Our price is our obedience.
Our obedience we're going to get specifically how you actually
start that journey in just a second.
But notice if we want the gift, Jesus died for our sins to have
a gift, but we have to have our part, which is our obedience.
That's our price. Notice in John 10 and 10, I have
come that you may have life and that you may have it more
abundantly. I love this word abundantly.
It means overflowing, rich fullness.
You know, I got to say, a religion that makes a man look
sick will not cure the world. Diana calls that a Frankism.
I've been saying that for years ago.
That's one of the Frank isms. A religion that makes a man look
sick won't cure the world. Christianity is not a life of
being miserable. I heard one brother say one
time, unless you look a little miserable, you're not
successfully living a Christian life.
You know what I thought? How sad it is that you just said
that. I feel so bad for you.
That is not what it means to be a Christian.
A Christian has a life that is more abundantly.
And I'm going to tell you right now, I ain't got time to have a
bad time. I enjoy life and there's nothing
in the world wrong with that. Nothing in the world wrong with
that. Kaufman says it this way.
How grotesque and unreal are the ideas of those who think the
Christian leads a life of boring inhibition, sitting out his
years in the chilly twilight of monastic gloom, forbidden to do
anything that anyone else wants to do, and always cowering in
the fear of an angry God. On the contrary, the Christian
life is the happy life, free, abundant and overflowing,
adventurous and exciting beyond any other kind of existence.
Why can't men believe their Creator to the effect that the
the way of Christ is the way of joy and fulfillment?
So it's the greatest life ever. It's the greatest life ever.
In conclusion, Jesus says I'm the way, the truth and the life.
Here's the rest of the story though.
He says this, No one comes to the Father except through me.
Now that is exceptive in the statement and it means this all
and only. So in other words, we get the
first part. All who come through Christ will
get to the Father. We get it.
But remember this too, only it's all same way.
Only those that go through the Son or through Jesus will get to
the Father. I know that making a decision to
follow Jesus is a big decision, and I know sometimes it takes us
time to prepare and get ready to make the ultimate decision.
But just remember this years ago in a sermon that I used to
preach 25 years ago, I don't preach anymore.
I had a little illustration. It was about a preacher, an old
preacher. And one day he sat down 1
evening and he's writing a sermon and he got tired and he
fell asleep. And when he slept, he dreamed
that there was a demon's council where all the demons got
together just to talk about stuff.
And they decided, what can we do to get more people to reject
Jesus and not come to Jesus? And how can we get more people
to not go to heaven? And one of those demons said, I
got it, send me to the earth. You know what I'll do?
I'll go tell everybody there is no God.
And they thought I don't work. That might work.
The second one said, no, I got it, send me and I'll tell him
Jesus was not who he claimed to be.
He was just a man and he was a fraud in all his claims.
And they thought, well, maybe that'll do it too.
Then there was a third one. He said, no, I got it, I'll go
tell him the Bible is a lie, it's not true and you don't have
to follow it. But finally #4 another rose up
and he was the while. He was the wise old devil
himself. You know what he said?
He said, no, send me and I'll go to the world and I'll tell
everybody there is a God and I'll tell them that Jesus Christ
is his Son and he died for their sins.
I'll tell them that the Bible is true and that you have to follow
the word of God. And I'll tell them you got to be
baptized to be saved and live a Christian life.
I'll just tell them, not now, not today, I'll tell him, put it
off, you got plenty of time. Jesus said, Come unto me, all
you that labor are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Take my yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I meek and lowly at
heart, and you shall find rest unto your souls, for my yoke is
easy, and my burden is light. Dear friend, today Are you ready
to follow Jesus? How do you do it?
Romans 10/17 you got to hear the word of God.
So then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
After hearing the word of God, you got a choice.
Hebrews 11 and six says you got to believe with all your heart.
Without faith it's impossible to please Him, for he that comes to
God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those
who diligently seek Him. But then I got to do something.
I got to change some stuff. I got to repent of my sins.
Acts 17 and 30. Truly, these times of ignorance
God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent
upon these steps. Now you're willing to make the
confession, the greatest thing you will ever say, confess Jesus
Christ as the Son of God. Acts 837 Then Philip said, if
you believe with all your heart, you may.
And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the
Son of God. Upon taking these steps, you're
a fit candidate to go to the point of salvation, to contact
the blood of Jesus, and that's to be baptized for the remission
of sins. Mark 1616.
He who believes and is baptized will be saved, but he who does
not believe will be condemned. Is it necessary for salvation
first? Peter 321 the like figure where
to even baptism death also now save us, not the putting away
the filth of the flesh, but the answer of a good conscience
toward God by the resurrection of Jesus Christ.
If you will do that and you're ready to follow Jesus, you'll
have your name written in the book of life and you will have a
relationship with Jesus. If you've never taken these
steps of obedience, we'd love to assist you in that today.
Maybe you have. Maybe you've drifted away.
Maybe they're just some correction you need to make.
Just do it. We'll pray with you and for you,
and God will forgive and restore.
Be one of either class. Please just come forward while
we stand and while we see.