4 “You know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
John 14:6 is probably the most loved and most hated verse in the entire Bible. It all depends of course, on which side of the great divide between the saved and the lost you stand.
Christians have always been accused of being narrow-minded, intolerant and even arrogant when it comes to the exclusivity of the Gospel message, so a good place to start this morning would be a reminder to us of the truth that salvation through Christ, and Christ alone is not something the Church has decided. Jesus did. He said it, and our task as the Church is to faithfully proclaim what the Word of God says.
It was Jesus who said in Matthew 7:13, “Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many.” It was Jesus, not us, who called the way to salvation narrow.
The Bible teacher Jon Courson wrote in his commentary on John 14:6, “In His wisdom, the Father kept the way to heaven very exclusive, knowing that if there were ten ways, there would be fifty counterfeits and it would be all the more confusing. ‘Neither is there salvation in any other,’ Peter would say, ‘for there is no other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.’ Period. Case closed. Understanding the naivety of people, God said, ‘I’m going to keep it real simple. There’s only one Way,’ making His not an act of exclusivity, but of love.”
So instead of questioning why God would make the means of salvation so narrow, maybe we should be falling to our knees, thanking Him that out of His great love for us, He has been so gracious and so kind as to make it possible for us to be forgiven for our sins and for us to be reconciled to Him through the atoning sacrifice of Christ on the cross.
R. C. Sproul wrote, “God is not obligated to save anybody, to make any special act of grace, to draw anyone to Himself. He could leave the whole world to perish, and such would be a righteous judgment.”
But the non-believing world does not want to hear that. Jesus Christ and His Gospel message is hated now more than ever, so what do we do in the face of the world’s opposition to the Gospel? Paul writes in Ephesians 6:12, “We do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” This is such an important point for us to remember. Non-Christians are not the enemy. They may think we treat them as enemies, but they are victims and are held captive by the lies of the devil.
Most Christians understand this, and for the most part, Christians do try and treat their non-believing friends and family with dignity and respect. We are, after all, commanded to do so in Scripture. Paul wrote in Colossians 4:5-6, “Conduct yourselves with wisdom toward outsiders, making the most of the opportunity. Let your speech always be with grace, as though seasoned with salt, so that you will know how you should respond to each person.”
So we are to treat non-believers, or outsiders as Paul describes them, with grace, but as we learn to do this, we soon realise that what makes the Gospel so offensive is Jesus Christ Himself. The claims He made during His 3 or so years of public ministry, summed up perfectly in John 14:6, are by their very definition, exclusive. Jesus’ message, and the message we are called to proclaim is clear, as Paul writes in 1 Timothy 2:5, “There is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus.”
There has always been opposition to and hatred of the Gospel of Christ, but you would think that in our world where there is a louder call for tolerance and understanding, that the Christian faith would be more acceptable to outsiders than say, 10 years ago, but we are seeing the exact opposite. Tolerance is given to every religion except Christianity, for the reason that the Gospel is regarded as intolerant.
The world tells us that we are free to believe whatever we like, but the Christian faith is not included on that list. The Gospel’s message that only Jesus can save is offensive, because if you follow that truth claim to its logical conclusion, Christianity teaches that all other religions are false and any other route to God is a dead end. There is no way around that logic, which explains the world’s hatred for Jesus ever since He spoke the words that John’s Gospel continues to proclaim today: “I am the way, and the truth, and the life.”
This is the sixth of Jesus’ seven famous “I am” sayings in the Gospel of John, and each of them are radically exclusive as they set Jesus apart as the one and only Saviour. In each of these statements, Jesus uses the word “the” rather than “a.”
He is The Bread of Life, The Light of the World, The Door, The Good Shepherd, The Resurrection and the Life, The Way, the Truth, and the Life, and He is The True Vine.
Each of these statements is radically exclusive, declaring that no one but Jesus can save us from sin, bring us to God, and grant us eternal life.
Despite the non-believing world’s rejection of John 14:6, as the Church we cannot water down the truth it proclaims, however offensive it may be. John 14:6 is not only true, but it offers the only real answer to the great need of every human being - the need to be reconciled to God.
The theologian Os Guinness wrote, “Truth is true even if nobody believes it, and falsehood is false even if everybody believes it. That is why truth does not yield to opinion, fashion, numbers, office, or sincerity. It is simply true and that is the end of it.”
The awful truth of what sin has done to us is clear. It has alienated us from God, making us ignorant of truth, which in turn condemns us to both physical and spiritual death. Jesus though, has come as the answer to sin’s dreadful predicament. He is the way for sinners to be reconciled to God, He is the truth that God has revealed to correct our ignorance, and He is the life that we need to regenerate us from the power of death.
At the end of chapter 13 John records that Jesus told His disciples that He was about to leave them, and that for now, they would be unable to follow Him. Peter then asked where He was going, and wanted to know why he couldn’t follow Jesus now. Then he made the bold statement that he would lay down his life for Jesus, who told Peter that he would deny Him three times that night.
Now, in chapter 14, it is Thomas’ turn to question Jesus. “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?” (John 14:4-5)
Like Peter, Thomas had no idea that Jesus was talking about the cross, but having the benefit of knowing what was about to happen, we are better able to understand Jesus’ reply to Thomas, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
We have to know the destination to which Jesus was referring, and in verse 6 He makes it clear that He is speaking of God the Father and His glorious presence in heaven. That is where Jesus was going, and that is where we are to follow Him.
But we need also to know where we are to begin with. A way is the path between a starting point and an ending point. So, spiritually speaking, what is our starting point? In what condition are we in our search for God? According to the Bible, mankind is totally depraved. Because of the guilt of our sin, we are condemned before a perfectly holy God.
We know the words of Romans 3:23 very well - “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” It is our sin which separates us from God and all of the blessings which come with a relationship with Him, so our greatest need is to be reconciled to Him.
And to make matters worse, there is nothing we can do to reconcile ourselves to God. And not only are we condemned in sin, but we are completely corrupted by sin. What all of this means is that we cannot come to God, nor do we want to. That is how much we have been corrupted by the stain of sin.
And this is where we begin to understand the hatred of the true Gospel, because if we are to turn to Jesus Christ in true repentance, we have to agree that the Bible is right in teaching us that we are lost and unable to do anything about it. The world doesn’t like that idea.
The Gospel proclaims that the only means of us being reconciled to God is if He sends a Saviour for us. Only Jesus, as God’s sinless Son, could atone for our sin through His death. God’s gracious way of salvation requires that we are to confess our sin, humble ourselves in seeking His pardon, and then surrender our claims to self-rule. And this is where we run into a problem. Sinners don’t like being told they cannot save themselves. Jesus alone offers salvation from sin, but a world that will not confess its sin is offended by Him, and in so doing refuses to be reconciled with the God who sent Him.
This is why the Gospel is good news. Jesus came from Heaven to earth to reconcile lost sinners to God. He said in Luke 19:10, “The Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost,” and in Matthew 20:28, “The Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many.”
So when Jesus proclaimed that He is “the way,” He meant that sinners may come to God only through the ministry of reconciliation for which He came. Jesus is the way because God in His grace has provided a means for sinners to be justified in His sight through faith in Christ. We looked at Romans 3:23 earlier. In this verse Paul gives us the bad news, but in the very next 2 verses we are given the good news. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified by His grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God put forward as a propitiation by His blood, to be received by faith.” (Romans 3:23-25)
David wrote in Psalm 24:3-5, “Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord? And who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation.”
David asks some important questions here. In order for us to enter Heaven by our own righteousness means that we should have clean hands and pure hearts, we should not turn to things which are false and should never be deceitful. And therein lies the problem of every sinful human being.
This is why Jesus came. This is why He is the only way to the Father.
Secondly, Jesus says He is the truth.
We need to have the truth revealed to us, because it was through ignorance and lies that we first fell into sin. Adam and Eve didn’t just happen to sin, but they were led into sin by Satan. He sowed doubt in their minds by saying, “Did God really say, ‘You shall not eat of any tree in the garden?’” That’s not what God said, but the devil twisted the truth by suggesting that God’s commands are not for our good and that the way for us to enjoy freedom and blessing is by breaking God’s commands. And here we are, all these years later, believing the very same lie.
Our problem is ignorance of God and blindness to His truth. Paul wrote in Ephesians 4:18, “They are darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them, due to their hardness of heart.” For us to be saved, we need to be enlightened by the revelation of God’s truth, which is why we need Jesus - He is the truth.
He is the way to God not only by what He did by dying on the cross for our sins, but also in revealing the truth of God so that we might believe and come to God through faith in Him.
We can have knowledge, but without the truth, we have nothing, which is what we see in the non-believing world which is full of darkness and ignorance. Despite our increasing knowledge, unless it is undergirded and upheld by the truth who is Jesus Christ, there can be only ignorance, folly, and darkness. The world is lost because it refuses to turn to Christ who is the truth.
Jesus’ third claim in John 14:6 is that He is the life. Apart from Him we are spiritually dead as Paul writes in Ephesians 2:1-3. “You were dead in the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience - among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind.”
That’s the bad news, but look at what Paul writes in the following verses: “But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ - by grace you have been saved - and raised us up with Him and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages He might show the immeasurable riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.” (Ephesians 2:4-9)
What a wonderful thing God has done for us!
Jesus is the source of eternal life for those who believe and follow Him. It would not have been enough for Jesus as the way for us to be reconciled to God, and it would also not be enough for Jesus to reveal the truth of God to us. There is still something missing. Without the new birth given to us through Christ, we would remain dead, morally corrupt, and spiritually disabled, meaning we would not be able to follow in the way that Jesus has made or believe the truth that He has revealed.
In order to be saved, we must be not only forgiven but also regenerated. We must be made alive spiritually, and that is only possible through faith in Jesus.
Just as He called Lazarus from his grave, so He calls to us in our spiritual death. All who are saved come to Jesus by the power of life in His call through the Gospel. And those who come to Jesus as the way of salvation and believe Him as the one who reveals God’s truth receive life in Him. His is the way of truth that brings life. He said in John 5:24, “Whoever hears my word and believes Him who sent me has eternal life.” But there is a warning for those who reject Him in 3:36, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.”
Jesus’ answer to Thomas’ question is probably the most exclusive statement anyone has ever made, which explains why there is so much hatred of and opposition to the Gospel message. It’s also interesting that Jesus made this statement less than 24 hours before His death.
The Australian theologian Leon Morris wrote, “‘I am the Way,’ said one who would shortly hang impotent on a cross. ‘I am the Truth,’ when the lies of evil people were about to enjoy a spectacular triumph. ‘I am the Life,’ when within a matter of hours His corpse would be placed in a tomb. How could Jesus speak so boldly when He knew what was about to happen? The answer is that Jesus also knew that He would rise from the grave, that His truth would be proclaimed with power across the world, so that multitudes who believed and followed would be reconciled to God and enter into glory with Him. As the bearer of resurrection life, Jesus gives eternal life to those under death’s power. As the incarnate truth, Jesus reveals the truth amid the errors and lies of the world. And as the only way to the Father, Jesus has the right to demand our faith and exclusive devotion, as our only Saviour and Lord.”
Since only Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, He calls us to faith in Himself. When Thomas asked the way to the Father, Jesus didn’t give him directions, or a list of good deeds and spiritual achievements that he was to achieve. He directed Thomas, and us, to Himself. “I am,” He said. We are not saved by following a way, believing a truth, or by searching for life in the vain things of the world.
We are saved by Jesus, because He is the way, the truth, and the life. Apart from Jesus, the world offers many things, but they are all godless and dark and ultimately they will lead to death and eternal separation from God.
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” Is that an exclusive claim? Very much so. And it remains as divisive today as it was when Jesus first said it nearly 2000 years ago. But it remains the truth, and as Peter said in Acts 4:12, “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.”
Homegroup Study Notes
Read John 14:4-6
Discuss each of the three claims Jesus makes in verse 6 in your group.
Why do you think this verse is so loved and so hated?
How would you respond to comments from non-Christians that Christianity is exclusive, narrow, offensive and even arrogant?
Read Colossians 4:5-6
How are we to do this without compromising the truth or “watering down” the Gospel message?
Discuss this quote from R. C. Sproul:
“God is not obligated to save anybody, to make any special act of grace, to draw anyone to Himself. He could leave the whole world to perish, and such would be a righteous judgment.”
How does this statement help us to understand that the Gospel of Jesus Christ is good news?