Elder Brian Haferkamp preaches on John 14:1-14. He shows how Jesus’ statement that he is the way, the truth, and the life was (and still is) meant to be a comfort to his disciples.
The Way, the Truth, and the Life
John 14:1-14
This section of John--chapters 13-17--is called The Upper Room Discourse.” For anyone who wants to know what happened on the night before Jesus' death these chapters give us a look into the upper room.
For most of my life I have heard preachers and teachers teach John 14:6 evangelistically. However, in its original context it is not an evangelistic message--rather, it is meant to be a comfort to Christ's disciples in their time of need.
I want to explore this verse today not as an evangelistic mic drop but as a comfort for the followers of Christ. If Jesus were giving an evangelistic statement alone then he was in the wrong place. Judas had already left the room (John 13:30) and Christ had declared to Peter that they were all clean and did not need to be washed again, referring to the washing of their sins (John 13:10, 15:3). So the people in this room were believers who had followed Christ as his disciples throughout his earthly ministry.
Once Judas left the room the plan was set into motion. Christ knew this; he knew that the clock was ticking. He began to speak to the remaining disciples and says,
"Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me."
Things were about to start happening that would shake the disciples in this room. Think about the messages he had just told them in chapter 13:
One of you will betray me
I'm leaving shortly and you cannot come
Peter will deny me three times
These were not fringe disciples of a random rabbi. They were the core. They were the ones Jesus had invested so much of his ministry and teaching into. But Christ had a mission. He shared that mission with Nicodemus in John 3:
John 3:14-18
And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life.
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God."
At that time, many assumed that the lifting up Jesus referred to was that he would be lifted up to the throne--to earthly power--where he would save the world through his leadership and military might. But Jesus knew that his death was his mission. He foretold his death three times (Matthew 16, 17, and 20). He knew that Abraham sacrificing Isaac on Mount Moriah was the kind of “giving” God meant in John 3:16. Being raised up like the serpent in the wilderness was about being raised on the cross of a criminal and not about being exalted to the physical throne on which Herod sat.
So this was a crucial time for Christ and his disciples. This time between Judas leaving and Jesus making his way up the mountain to Gethsemane was a time of comforting his followers.
Now we come to the verse we will focus on today--verse 6.
As he is talking about going to prepare a place for the disciples--a place they cannot go yet--he says,
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."
How could this be a comfort to the disciples?
Put yourselves in the shoes of the disciples. They had given up their jobs, homes, and relationships to follow Christ these three years. All Jews, except perhaps John the Baptist, believed that Messiah would be a great military king and usher in eternal prosperity and peace. These disciples believed and even confessed that Jesus was the Christ. And now Jesus was telling them that he must go away and they could not come with him.
Was Jesus just carrying them along only to drop them? Leave them high and dry? That wasn't the plan, but only he knew what would happen after he died. So Jesus speaks of going away but gives the disciples this reassurance: Your belief in me has not been in vain.
Paul addresses the thought of our faith being in vain in 1 Corinthians 15:
1 Corinthians 15:12-19
Now if Christ is proclaimed as raised from the dead, how can some of you say that there is no resurrection of the dead? But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain. We are even found to be misrepresenting God, because we testified about God that he raised Christ, whom he did not raise if it is true that the dead are not raised. For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised. And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins. Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished. If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.
Jesus assured the disciples that they have chosen the right path--the only path. He is encouraging them to continue forward even in the coming dark days. Do not give up hope in the choice to follow Jesus. There is no other way to get to the Father. It will look as though all has failed, but they should not let go of their faith in Christ as the Messiah.
Let’s look at what Scripture says about Jesus as the Way, the Truth, and the Life.
Jesus is the way
In Acts, when the disciples were categorized as followers of The Way, it is the same word Jesus used in the upper room. We often hear about the "way of the Lord." Jesus is that way. He is the narrow path; he is the way of salvation; he is the way to God the Father.
Mat 7:13-14
“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. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few.
Mark 1:1-3
The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
As it is written in Isaiah the prophet,“Behold, I send my messenger before your face,
who will prepare your way,
the voice of one crying in the wilderness:
‘Prepare the way of the Lord,
make his paths straight,’”
When the disciples followed him they began on the right path to the Father. Today Jesus might have said, "Stay the course. You're on the right path, regardless how it looks coming up ahead."
Imagine with me.
There is a wall dividing two sides. All men and women are trying to move from one side to the other. They are drawn and compelled to search for a way to the other side. Along the wall there is a door which leads to the other side. Its end is truly entrance to the other side. However, someone has come along and placed doorways which look like they would be the grand entrances to the other side. Inside each of those entrances, opposite the doorway, one runs into the same wall that separates both sides.
The roads are wide and smooth that lead to those false doors. There are many who are encouraging you along the way to go in this direction or that. It seems for all intents and purposes that that should be the way. And yet all are disappointed when they realize that is leads only to the same wall and not to the other side. Some who realize that fall down in despair. Others backtrack and try other doors.
There are so many doors, so many ways, that promise the life that we long for. Yet there is only one true door to the other side. There is only one way in--Jesus Christ. What a relief to find that door after so many years of searching and finding only disappointment!
In this age there are many doors promising to get you to the life you desire--Transcendental Meditation, Sex, Drugs, Work, Psychology, Other Religions, Anarchy, Family, Government, Buying things. Be encouraged that as you pass through the door of Christ and through the way leading to eternal life that you have chosen the true door. It will be tempting to grow discouraged and turn back. Don’t turn back! Don’t give into your discouragement when the way gets difficult! Don’t turn back to seek another door; it will only lead to darkness and despair. Press on until you reach the other side, confident that you have chosen the right way.
Jesus is the truth
Jesus also told the disciples that he is the truth. For the disciples,the next 72 hours would be some the most chaotic of their lives. In the chaos, however, they were to hold firm to what they had come to believe about Christ. The times threatened confusion, but it is the enemy who is the author of confusion. He is the father of lies. Jesus came in grace and truth.
Doubt was coming. Doubt that Jesus was who he said he was. Doubt that he had risen from the dead. Doubt that he was the Messiah. John especially likes to talk about Christ as the truth.
John 1:14, 17
14 And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth...17 For the law was given through Moses; grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.
John 5:30-33
30 “I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just, because I seek not my own will but the will of him who sent me. 31 If I alone bear witness about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who bears witness about me, and I know that the testimony that he bears about me is true. 33 You sent to John, and he has borne witness to the truth. 34 Not that the testimony that I receive is from man, but I say these things so that you may be saved.
John 8:31
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”
John 17:17-19
17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth.
John 18:33-38
33 So Pilate entered his headquarters again and called Jesus and said to him, “Are you the King of the Jews?” 34 Jesus answered, “Do you say this of your own accord, or did others say it to you about me?” 35 Pilate answered, “Am I a Jew? Your own nation and the chief priests have delivered you over to me. What have you done?” 36 Jesus answered, “My kingdom is not of this world. If my kingdom were of this world, my servants would have been fighting, that I might not be delivered over to the Jews. But my kingdom is not from the world.” 37 Then Pilate said to him, “So you are a king?” Jesus answered, “You say that I am a king. For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world—to bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.” 38 Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”
Christ told the disciples plainly that Messiah would “suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
He also needed them to hear and hold onto the promises he was about to give:
I’m preparing a place for you with the Father
You will do greater works than I did
Whatever you ask in my name will be given
God will send his Holy Spirit to be with you forever
You will bear witness about me
All of these were the truth. When Christ said that all who come to him will have eternal life--that was the truth. When Christ said the disciples were cleansed of their sins--that was the truth. Jesus wanted the disciples to remember and be comforted by the fact that they knew the truth and could trust what Jesus had told them.
Jesus is the life
John 1:4
4 In him was life, and the life was the light of men.
The disciples gave their lives to Christ in faith believing that he was the Messiah. In return, Christ promises that the life that he has been given by the Father will be given to all who believe.
1 John 1:1-4; 2:24-25
That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we looked upon and have touched with our hands, concerning the word of life— 2 the life was made manifest, and we have seen it, and testify to it and proclaim to you the eternal life, which was with the Father and was made manifest to us— 3 that which we have seen and heard we proclaim also to you, so that you too may have fellowship with us; and indeed our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ. 4 And we are writing these things so that our joy may be complete...24 Let what you heard from the beginning abide in you. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, then you too will abide in the Son and in the Father. 25 And this is the promise that he made to us—eternal life.
John 3:35-36
35 The Father loves the Son and has given all things into his hand. 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.
Not only had Christ given the disciples his life (which was the Father’s life given to him), but he promised to keep it and nothing can take that life away from them.
John 10:27-30
27 My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. 28 I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand. 29 My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father's hand. 30 I and the Father are one.”
John 6:35-58
35 Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst. 36 But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37 All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out. 38 For I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will but the will of him who sent me. 39 And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of my Father, that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day.”
Again, put yourselves in the shoes of the disciples. They were fully convinced while Jesus was with them that these promises would come to be. But what about when he went away?
If you staked your life on someone who promised to give you $100 million dollars then one day went away but still promised to give you that money. What would you think? Where would your mind be? What would others say when you had left everything to follow that person? What comfort would you need in the face of that promise walking out the door and you not knowing where the person was going to go?
Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.
Believe.
This is the crux of the matter. That is the call to action that Jesus gave the disciples. This is the call to action for us.
Brothers and sisters, we live in dark times. As the darkness deepens, there will be a temptation to flee Christ. As the sheep are scattered there will be the temptation to seek out another way; an easier way. I assure you that there is no easier way. We must hold firmly to Christ. There is no other way. There is no other truth. There is no other life. The peace, the healing, the wisdom, the satisfaction you desire is found in no other. Believe in God. Believe in Christ. Believe that you have chosen the right path; that you have found the truth; that God will give you the eternal life he promises.
The days are evil. The darkness is getting darker. But the Son is coming. Daybreak is nearer than it has ever been. Hold fast to Christ. He is the only Way, the only Truth, and the Only Life. There is no other way to get to the Father except through him. Amen.
