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THE GOSPEL OBSERVER
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"Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations...teaching
them to observe all that I commanded you; and lo, I am with you
always, even to the end of the age" (Matthew 28:19,20).
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Feburary 18, 2007
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Jesus, the Way, the Truth, and the Life
by Grover Stevens
Our study is "Jesus: the way, the truth and the life."
This statement, and claim, of Jesus is found in one of the most
favorite, familiar, and endearing texts in the Bible. "Let not
your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in Me.
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 unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also. And
where I go ye know, and the way ye know." Thomas, desiring to
understand says, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and
how can we know the way?" The Lord then makes the statement of
our text -- one of the most remarkable and profound statements
ever made -- "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one
comes unto the Father, but by Me."
How full of meaning is the message conveyed in these few
brief words. The Lord here and in the conversation that follows
plainly declares that he is God -- is Deity; not was, or going
to be, but is ("Am"). He here equates himself with the Way, the
Truth, and the Life. He is each of these as well as all of them
together. He is the true way of life. He did not say "I will
show you the way," but "I am the way." He did not say "I have
the truth," but "I am the truth." The Lord did not say, "I lead
unto life," but "I am the life."
"I Am the Way"
Christ is the way to the Father. A way is a path, a route,
a roadway. Some say, "How can I know the way when one preacher
tells me one way and another some other way? Dear friend, the
Lord did not say, "The preacher, or the Pope, or mother or
father is the way," but "I am the way." Dear friend, do not
follow this preacher or that, or the Pope, or anyone else, but
the Lord Jesus himself. He is the Way.
We have all, some time or other, followed a marked path to
a given destination. I read a story of one of our pioneer
preachers riding horseback along a road in unfamiliar
territory, when he came upon a barricade with a sign warning
that the bridge was out. Distressed, he looked about to study
just how he might proceed when he saw what appeared to be a
marker showing the way. He went to investigate and sure enough
just before he reached the first marker he could see the next,
and so on through the heavy wooded section of the river bottom.
By following the marked trail he was able to pass through the
unfamiliar territory and reach his destination. Just so with
the Lord Jesus; he is the marked trail -- "the way" through
this old sinful world to the wonderful city of God and to bosom
of the Father. He says, "Follow me and I will take you to the
Father."
Christ is the only way to the Father. "No one comes to the
Father but by me." Hence, he is not only the way, but he is the
only way to the Father. This way is referred to as the "the way
of God," "the way of salvation," the way of truth, and "the way
of holiness" (Acts 18:26; Matt. 22:16; Acts 16:17; John 14:6;
Isa. 35:8; etc.). Our Lord said, "Ye shall know the truth, and
the truth shall make you free" (John 8:32). Many say that it
doesn't matter what doctrine you believe just so you have
Christ, but dear friend, God tells us, "Whosoever...abideth not
in the doctrine (teaching) of Christ, hath not God. He that
abideth in the doctrine (teaching) of Christ hath both the
Father and the Son (2 Jn. 9). Yes, indeed, it does make a
difference what you believe. Again, the Lord said, "But in vain
they do worship Me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of
men" (Matt. 15:9); and "Every plant (doctrine or practice)
which my heavenly Father hath not planted shall be rooted up"
(Matt. 15:13-14). Any doctrine that is not found in the Word of
God is "of men," not God. All spiritual blessings are in Christ
(Eph. 1:3). We have redemption through his blood in Christ
(Eph.1:7; Col. 1:14). We must be "in Christ" to be a "new
creature" (born again) (2 Cor. 5:17), and we get in Christ by
being baptized "into" Christ (Rom. 6:3-4; Gal. 3:26-27), and we
are "born again" by "obeying the truth" (1 Pet. 1:22-23; Rom.
6:17-18).
There is no other way. All religion that seeks to "come
unto the Father" in some other way than in and through Christ
(Jews, Moslems, Buddhists, etc.) is doomed to failure,
according to this word of Christ (John 14:6). Again we hear the
Lord say, "He that rejecteth me, and receiveth not My words
(the gospel of the New Testament), hath one that judgeth him:
the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the
last day" (John 12:48); and all who "obey not the gospel of our
Lord Jesus Christ...shall be punished in flaming fire with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord" (2
Thess. 1:8-9). This also applies to those who claim to believe
in Christ, but reject his teaching. The Lord further said, "Why
do you call me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"
Many teach that it doesn't make any difference what you
believe, or whether you are baptized or not, or "how" or "why"
you are baptized, or whether you worship or not and how you
worship, etc. Such people are not following Christ, the way,
but their own way -- the way of their choice. The way of Christ
is the way of truth. You must believe what Christ tells you to
believe, the truth, the gospel (Mk. 16:15; 1 Thess. 2:13); you
obey Christ's command to be "buried" in baptism (Rom. 6:3-4),
"to be saved" (Mk. 16:16), "for remission of sins" (Acts 2:38),
to get "into Christ" (Rom. 6:3; Gal. 3:27) who is the true way;
and he will add you to the church he established (Acts
2:41,47), not some denomination (Acts 20:29-39; Gal. 1:6-9);
and you worship the way Christ tells you to worship (John
4:23-24).
"I Am the Truth"
Truth is truth only because of God. Without God there
would be no right or wrong, or truth. Truth, righteousness,
holiness, light, and love, in any and all fields, whether
mathematical, logical, moral (ethical or religious) are all
basically the same thing -- just different aspects; and they
all derive their meaning from the inherent nature and character
of God, who is the origin, source, and essence of each. The
statement that two and two make four, or that honesty is good
and lying is bad, expresses an everlasting principle in the
eternal character of God. God and Truth have the same
attributes and character; things equal to the same thing are
equal to each other. God and truth are both eternal, immutable,
perfect, unchanging, accurate, consistent, immortal, infinite,
incorruptible, harmonious, faithful, reliable, trustworthy,
dependable, right and righteous. Men can say, "I speak the
truth," but only God can say, "I am the truth." The God of the
Bible is the only true God because no other being possesses
these attributes. Jesus Christ is one with the Father. To know
Jesus is to know the Father. To "see" Jesus is to "see" the
Father. He is not speaking of the fleshly body. The words of
Christ are the words of the Father. The Father is in Christ and
he is in the Father.
"I Am the Life"
God is life. In every nook and cranny of the world around
us there is abundance and variety of life -- living things.
Among the millions or billions of kinds of life, human life
stands out in uniqueness and singularity. God tells us this is
because it alone is a combination of physical life and
spiritual life (Gen. 1:26; 2:7). All life is from God (Gen. 1;
Psa. 36:9; Acts 17:24-29). Something is eternal. Something
cannot come from nothing, therefore something has always been.
All that is in existence had to be in that eternal "something."
Hence, that which existed eternally possessed life. J.W.M.
Sullivan, one of the world's greatest physicists, says, "Life
never arises except from life...this (fact) leads back to some
supernatural creative act" -- GOD! (Limitations of Science 94).
The Lord Jesus said, "I am come that (men) may have life, and
that they may have it more abundantly." "Abundantly" refers to
the fullness and richness of the life in Christ -- Christ's way
of life -- that higher and nobler life of which human life is
capable. See John 8:12; Luke 12:15; Jude 10.
Eternal Life. Life is union (Gen. 2:7), and death is
separation (Jas. 2:26). Man has both physical life and
spiritual life. At death (separation) both go back to their
point of origin -- the body to dust, and the soul/spirit to God
(Eccl. 12:6-7). Spiritual life (eternal life) is to be united
with God, and spiritual death is to be separated from God,
banished into darkness and despair (Matt. 25:41,46; Rom. 6:23).
The Lord Jesus said, speaking spiritually as he points out in
v. 58, "Whoso eateth my flesh, and drinketh my blood, hath
eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day...so he
that eateth Me, even he shall live by Me. This is that bread
which came down from heaven: not as your fathers did eat manna,
and are dead: he that eateth of this bread shall live forever"
(Jn. 6:54-58). Again God tells us, "He that hath the Son hath
life (eternal life, v.13), and he that hath not the Son of God
hath not life" (1 Jn. 5:12). Again, Jesus said, "I am the
resurrection and the life: he that believeth in Me, though he
were dead, yet shall he live" (Jn. 11:25). Indeed, "I am the
way, and the truth, and the life."
-- Via Guardian of Truth XXXVIII No. 23, pp. 18-19,
December 1, 1994
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MYRTLE STREET CHURCH OF CHRIST
1022 Myrtle Street
Denham Springs, LA 70726
(225) 664-8208
Sunday: 9:15 AM, 10:00 AM, 4:00 PM
Wednesday: 7:00 PM
evangelist/editor: Tom Edwards (225) 667-4520
e-mail: tedwards@onemain.com
web site: http://home.onemain.com/~tedwards/go
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