Thursday, April 9, 2009

"Thomas said to [Jesus], ‘Lord, we do not know where You are 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. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also, and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.’ Philip said to Him, ‘Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen me has seen the Father, so how can you say, Show us the Father’?" (John 14:5-9 NKJV).

IDEA: Jesus could be a liar, a lunatic, or he could be what he claims to be.

PURPOSE: To help listeners realize that Jesus is the way to God; if He is not, there is no way to God at all.

If Christians were asked, "Is Jesus the only way to God?" what do you think their answers might be?

• Jesus is certainly a way to God.
• Jesus is my way to God, but that doesn't mean there are not other ways.

I can understand why you would say that. We may want to be tolerant and not put other people of other religions down, but the answer is short of saying "He is THE way to God."

I. The answers that people give in our society make Jesus either a liar or a lunatic.

In John 14:6 he said, "I am the WAY to God. No one comes to the Father but by Me."

If He is not, then he is a liar.

Or he is a lunatic. If you were walking among demented people, and someone said to you, "I am the only way to God," you would dismiss him as a lunatic and grossly mistaken.

II. He makes the claim that He alone is the way to God because it is the truth. 

Philip's question, "Show us the Father" was answered by Jesus: "If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father." 

Jesus can't make that statement and simply be a good man like a prophet. We are shut up to the reality that He alone is the way to God because He is God.