"I AM the Way"
Look Up: John
14:6
(Copyright 2006)
INTRODUCTION:
Prior to His crucifixion, Jesus was
meeting with His disciples in an upper room. While they were there, Jesus
told them that He was going away and made this statement: [Up unto this point
they hadn’t thought about where they were going. They just went where
Jesus went].
You
know the way to the place where I am going [Jh. 14:4].
Thomas asked Him, We don’t
know where you are going so how can we know the way? [Jh. 14:5].
Well,
He wasn’t talking about
Jesus is the Way to heaven. Issue settled!! Right? I
watched the Barbara Walter’s special a few months ago on “Is there a Heaven
and How do we get there?” The issue on how to get to heaven did not
sound settled.
***Listen to these responses from folks
from downtown
Unlike
the disciples who said they didn’t know how to get there, today people are
saying that they do know how to get there. But are they sure? Have
they really taken the time to consider one of the most important questions of
life? This is serious business. I am not talking about going to
For the next
several weeks we are going to look at Jesus up close—IMAG. We are going
to examine several of His I AM statements that are—no way around
it—exclusive.
Now today we
begin to look at His statement—I AM the Way…to heaven.
Here are the reactions to that exclusive statement: He is THE way, He is
not THE way, He is a way or He is not a way.
If He is only
a way [fine for you but not for me], what do people say are other ways?
Being
Good
We
get to heaven by being good. This is the most common “other way.”
Where
did this come from? Where is it written down? Who came up with this?
It is what religious and non-religious people say. It seems logical
[God is a good God. He lives in a good place. And good people when
they die go to be in that good place]. You see—to believe that bad
people go to heaven doesn’t make sense. It seems fair. It
seems pretty clear. But have you really thought about this?
We are talking about a serious, eternal issue. We don’t need to just
make assumptions.
Is
this “other way” one that you really want to bank on?
1.
Is it clear? Let’s look at this question. Is this approach
really clear cut? To get to heaven should the person be good or do good
[people who shoot folks are described as a “good person”]? Or can you
make up not being as good as you need to be by doing some good? That’s
like extra credit in school. Do you have to be really good, pretty good or
occasionally good? Is there any curve?
Are
you a hard-liner or do you overflow with grace? Well, your answers about
what it takes will be different.
What
should be the criteria for “how good” you need to be? Keep the Ten
Commandments. The Old Testament version or Jesus’ version? If you
keep all of the commandments where does it say that you go to heaven? Are
you going to stake eternity on that?
Should
a bank robber go to heaven? What if he pays his debt to society?
What if he only did it one time? What if he did it to feed his family
versus one who did it for greed?
What
if somebody were bad but in the last five years of their life they turned it
around and ended up being pretty good? Would that compensate? Who
decides?
How
do you decide what disqualifies? Is there an appeal board?
Who
decides what is good enough? Pastors, priests, imans, rabbis, religion
professors, bishops, etc. all have different requirements. Whose opinion
are you going to stake eternity on?
Well,
let’s just go with everybody but the really bad people—the terrorists.
But they say they are going. They think they are good.
Clear?
This is as clear as mud!! It isn’t logical. This doesn’t make
sense. Saying you can go to heaven by being good doesn’t make any sense
when you analyze it.
2.
Is it fair? Is this fair? Of course not. Life isn’t
fair. Have you always been treated fairly? You studied hard and made
a bad grade and others, who didn’t study make a good grade, because they had
the answers when they went into the test. The cop pulled you over but
other people were zooming by you and they got away. How did you feel in
school when you turned your paper in on time but the teacher extended the
deadline another day for those who whined? Fair? There is a lot of
variation in this “good” thing and if someone gets in that didn’t live as
good as I did, I will be upset.
If
God wanted “good” to be the standard for getting into heaven, He should have
clarified how good good had to be.
Notice what He did say—
No one is good—except God alone [Lk.
There is no
one righteous, not even one [Rom.
Jesus Himself even said that good people
don’t go to heaven.
For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the
Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom
of heaven [Mt.
The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were considered the best of
that society. And to top it all, Jesus even let a bad person into
heaven—a notorious thief.
Please
don’t hang your eternal destiny on something as unclear and unfair as being
good.
The
truth is that no one can be good enough to get into heaven. The common
argument is wrong. God isn’t a good God, in a good place, where good
people go. He is a holy-perfect God, in a perfect where perfect people go.
So we are out.
All our
righteous acts are like filthy rags [Isa. 64:6]
Now turn your attention to the
gloriously exclusive words of Jesus—I AM the Way. That is an
exclusive statement, but it is gloriously exclusive.
The
reason that He is The Way is that He is God –and as God He forgives sin based
on His work on the cross. The way to heaven is to trust Jesus and receive
the righteousness of God.
God
made Him who had no sin to be sin for us, so that in Him we might become the
righteousness of God [2 Cor.
That righteousness does not come by works [“being good”]. It
comes by grace.
Now
when a man works, his wages are not credited to him as a gift, but as an
obligation. However, to the man who does not work but trusts God who
justifies the wicked, his faith is credited as righteousness. David says
the same thing when he speaks of the blessedness of the man to whom God credits
righteousness apart from works [
How do you get to heaven?
Through THE Way—a Person—who died on the cross and paid for your sins and
offers you forgiveness and the righteousness of God.
Is
that unclear? No. It is absolutely clear. Is that unfair?
No. It is fair, because it is the same for everybody. t is by
grace.
People usually appreciate something clear and
fair. But in this case, many assail Jesus’ claim as arrogant and refuse
the way that is provided.
When
I was a kid one of the dreaded diseases was polio. Every mother feared
that her child might contract polio. It was a contagious, devastating
disease. My roommate in college had gotten polio as a baby and lost the
use of his left arm. It just hung as limp limb. He could do most
things but lace his dress shoes. When Jonas Salk found a cure for polio in
1955, people did not assail it as being too exclusive and nobody refused the
way. They rejoiced because there was a cure. Salk never
patented the vaccine. He distributed it freely.
There
is one cure for our sin—Jesus. I didn’t say He was THE WAY. He
did.
You
can call what He did and said as arrogant or you can take what is freely offered
and embrace it as the cure.
CONCLUSION:
I chose the latter.