The Way, the Truth, the Life, Part 2

Education isn't the secret of finding truth. As good as education may be, and as necessary as it may be to find fulfillment in your life and in mine, but it is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The way, the truth.

Stop searching when you come to Him. You found the truth. Sometimes when we're anxious about something that's undermining our peace, we'll have a well-intentioned friend reach out and say, don't worry, it'll all work out.

Quite frankly, it's a baseless claim, and we know it. But sometimes we cling to those moments hoping our problems will disappear. Today on Insight for Living, Chuck Swindoll describes a man who said, let not your heart be troubled. His name is Jesus, and his claim was founded on fact, not fiction.

Chuck titled today's message, The Way, the Truth, the Life. Now, Jesus in chapter 13 verse 33 tells these men who are sitting with him at that last meal they were to have together. I am with you a little while longer. You shall seek me. And as I said to the Jews, where I am going, you cannot come.

Now I say to you also. He's going to die. They will not be able to go with him where he is going. So Jesus says to them in verse 1, chapter 14, let not your heart be troubled.

These are the final faithful 11. The man who said that be with him to the end. He encouraged them to keep on believing in him. He said you believe in God. Keep on believing in me.

Present tense. Keep on doing this. You believed in me before I told you I was leaving. Keep on believing me now that I tell you I'm going.

Keep on believing in me. And then without a break in his thought, he describes to them some wonderful events that are yet future. Many of us know these verses by heart, but we didn't know quite where they were found.

Or we remember the thought of them, the idea of them in my father's house or many dwelling places. If it were not so, I would have told you, for I go to prepare a place for you. I may die, but I am going to live on. So don't let your heart be troubled. You may be left, but I am preparing a place for you.

So don't let your heart be troubled. One of you may deny me, but not one of you will miss my return. I'm going to leave and I'm going to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to myself that where I am there you may be also. I got a great thought as I was reading that this past week. During the interval of time between our Lord's departure and our Lord's return, he is involved in two projects.

Two projects. One, to prepare a place for his children. And two, to prepare his children for a place. Verse four, you know the way and you know where I am going. And that was about as long as Thomas could sit on his hands and he stopped him and said to him at that point, Lord, we do not know where you are going and how do we know the way? And very graciously, Jesus gives him the statement that becomes one of his great titles, perhaps the most comprehensive of all, as he looks at Thomas and he says to him, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. Jesus is saying, I am the way. I am the road. I am the path.

From Earth and all your sinfulness to the Father and the glories of heaven. Let's imagine you and I have a friend who doesn't know the city of Los Angeles. And let's say our friend contacts us by telephone and says, I'm coming.

What I really want to see in the evening around sundown is a concert at the Hollywood Bowl. But since I'm getting there early in the morning, I'd like to be able to see some of the sights and to go to some of the familiar haunts of your famous city. And we have three options in helping our friend. We can over the phone tell them tell him how to find his way around the city and on to the Hollywood Bowl by that evening. We could tell them where to go and and how to find their way from here to there. Or the second thing we can do is send him a map and we can circle in yellow and a little pathway.

How to get from here to there and what freeway to take and how long this will occur. This will take you, et cetera, et cetera. Or we can say you anticipate. Tell you what, I'll meet you at the at the plane and I'll spend the day with you and you stay with me. As long as you're with me, you won't get lost. I'll take you through the city and as much time as we have, I'll show you as much as I can show you.

But by sundown, I promise you, we'll be at the Hollywood Bowl. At that moment, you become the way you don't tell them how to do it. You don't send him a map that shows them a path to follow. You say stick with me.

And as long as you're with me, you'll be in touch with the way. That's what Jesus is saying. Jesus didn't hand out maps. Jesus didn't simply talk about the journey.

He said to those men, don't let your heart be troubled. I represent the way to God. And what Jesus promised in the first century is still true today. Don't miss the definite article. The way. Proverbs 14, 12 says there is a way that seems right, but the end thereof are the ways of death. Jesus doesn't say I am a way among many.

He says I am. Definite article. The way. You want to know how to get there? You have to know me.

Second. I am the truth. Merrill Tenney has called truth the scarcest commodity in the whole world.

I agree. I think it is more scarce than peace. I know it's more scarce than hope.

It is the scarcest commodity in the whole world. He continues, truth is neither an abstract system of integrated propositions, nor is it an impersonal ethic contained in many rules. It is both the reality and the ethic expressed in a person. Truth is a person. Another man says it means that Jesus is fidelity incarnate. That we can completely and unhesitatingly and without reservation rely on him. I don't know of a search that has lasted longer through time and produced more incorrect answers than the search for truth.

I don't know of one. Books across the country and around the world, books of philosophy that search, search, search for truth often end in questions or more books and more suggested routes to find the answer. Jesus says, just as I am the path or the road to God, I am also the truth, fidelity incarnate.

I am the end of the search. You know, you can be so close to it and not know you have it in your grasp. You want to know the classic example of that? John 19. I thought of it when one of the fellows talked about playing the part of Pontius Pilate.

I thought perfect illustration of what I'm getting at. John 19, 37 and 38. What's the matter with me tonight?

I've got all these wrong verses. Where is this thing? This is a wonderful moment, isn't it? Anyway, there was that moment when Pilate was standing in front of the Lord Jesus and he has put him on trial and the Lord Jesus has presented himself to Pilate.

Thank you. I knew if I talked long enough you would bail me out, John. John 18, is it?

37 and 38. Why don't you come finish the talk? That would be a great... John 18, 37.

Thank you. Pilate said to him, so you are a king. Jesus answered, you say correctly that I am a king. For this I have been born and for this I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Look at that. He drops that bait.

He was a master at that. To bear witness to the truth. Everyone who is of the truth hears my voice. Pilate gasps, what is truth? Here is an educated Roman, anti-Semitic to the core, who throws his hands up in the middle of the trial and walks across the courtroom and says, what is truth?

I've heard that all my life. I mean he was in visible touch with the truth and he asks, what's that all about? Education isn't the secret of finding truth. As good as education may be, and as necessary as it may be to find fulfillment in your life and in mine, but it is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

The way, the truth. The search ends, Pilate, with me. Jesus is at one and the same time the incarnation of fidelity, the revelation of reality. He is the pattern of goodness and perfection.

Stop searching when you come to him. You found the truth. Back to John 14, I am the life. Life is the dynamic that makes attainment possible. Life is the principle of spiritual vitality. It originates with God, it flows through Christ, and it lifts us out of our sin and places us on a plane of relationship.

It is divine vitality. Christianity is not a system of philosophy. Christianity is not a ritual of rules and regulations.

It is not a code of laws and ethics and demands. It is the impartation of life. It is one who originates life, giving it to one who has no life in himself so that new life is begun and it never dies. Jesus says, I am the source of that dynamic.

You want to have life, you want to have dynamic, you want to have reason to go on, I am able to impart that. See how he concludes the statement? I am the way, the truth, the life. No one, not even you, put your name there, comes to the Father but through me. We Christians who believe that Christ is the only way to God are often criticized and I think at times misunderstood by those who reject the Savior because we are told that's arrogance to make a statement like that. I mean how arrogant can you be to look the world in the eye and say to cultures and languages and peoples all around this globe, in order to have eternal life with God you must know Jesus Christ and I shrug and say, then what else does John 14.6 mean?

It doesn't mean that. What else gives me the mandate to take the message of the Savior to the world if that message isn't true? I have no other. I do not care how morally good or how upright or how pure of motive one may be. Without the knowledge of Jesus Christ in the life, that person will not go to heaven. Jesus said no one comes to the Father but through me.

He said it. He is the way, the truth, the life. I see three things that this does for me with my troubled heart when I read in the context of where the name appears.

I see first of all this name relieves my fear, my fear of getting lost because he is the way. I remember as a little boy and I think most of us have stories like this. In fact I was reminded of it last evening. Cynthia and I were out at South Coast Plaza enjoying a rare date together, just a relaxed time of roaming through the mall and enjoying a meal together and then a little later in the evening driving home slowly, talking about our lives and our future. And while we were at the mall, we saw a little girl who must not have been more than three or four years old. And she was walking toward the six or eight doors that opened to the outside and there was no adult around. She wandered in a little flower shop and no one was there to hold her hand and we became troubled for her and then she left there and went into the little restaurant and walked among the tables.

I got real antsy, especially in a day when kidnapping occurs so readily and quickly. And so we stood near and by and by the little child realized that she was lost. And I did an instant replay in my mind to when I was a little boy and my mother had told me, stay here, don't leave the toy counter. I'm going to make a little quick trip so and so, stay here, stay here, don't leave.

Being a slow learner, she had to say that over and over and over again. So I decided, but I got bored in about eight or ten minutes and she didn't come back so I remember taking the escalator down and walking outside and the street was busy. It was downtown Houston and the honking of cars and the movement of people and before long I was a block or two away and lights looked strangely confusing and a blur of people and I burst into tears. I was lost. It's a terrible feeling. And unlike that little child whose mother did find her in about three or four minutes, I didn't connect for about an hour.

That's a long time. There is nothing like the fear of being lost, but I'm going to tell you something worse than a child being lost and that's realizing as an adult you're lost and you don't know the way home. Home to heaven. And death comes dangerously near and you can't get away from the fact. You need something to relieve that fear.

You need Jesus Christ. He is the way. If you have him, you're never lost. Isn't that a wonderful thought?

Never. You die at age 25, you don't die lost. You live to 100, you don't die lost. You have direction, you have purpose and it relieves the fear of being or getting lost. It's a wonderful relief to troubled hearts.

The second, this name removes my need to continue the search. I don't have to keep looking for the answer or trying to find the solution and coming to the place where it ends with an exclamation point rather than a question mark. I've been trained by some awfully fine men and women and you have too and I have sat at their feet and learned from them. Many of them, however, did not know the end of the journey and only taught me to think or to ask more questions.

How seldom those in academia bring you to the truth, the truth. Jesus does that. He removes our need for further search of the truth. He is that. Third, his name reinforces my hope for a home in heaven. He reinforces my hope for a home in heaven. He is the life. Do you know him? Do you really know this person, Jesus Christ? Can you honestly say when you walk out into the dark night that you know the way, that you have the truth and you're in the light, you're in the life, you've got that set and sure.

Let's take care of that. Let's bow. For just a few moments I want you to do a little reflecting on the road you're taking. Is it one of many roads or is it the road? Is it a road that you hope will lead to the right destination or is it the path of eternal life?

The one that leads in the words of Bunyan to the wicket gate, to that narrow way that leads to the celestial city. Have you found the truth? Have you embraced the truth?

Really put your heart into it, your trust upon it. Do you have the life? I know you have earthly life, but do you have the dynamic that will transfer you from time to eternity, that part that never dies? All three are answered in the same person, Jesus Christ, whose death was a sufficient payment for sin, whose offer is everlasting. Our Father, we this moment acknowledge that your son is our Lord and Savior. We thank you for his wonderful eternal presence. And we thank you for the hope that he brings in a troubled and disturbing era.

Into a life that could be insecure, uncertain, though educated, he can bring that kind of truth. He is the way, the truth, and the life. We together acknowledge him as Lord and Savior. Not one among many, but the Lord and the Savior. Thank you for finding us in our lost estate, for bringing us to faith, and for giving us this hope. Give us a refreshing reassurance as a result of our time together, our life spent in light of the way, the truth, and the life is not futile, but has purpose and meaning. In the glorious name of Jesus Christ, we pray.

Amen. And if you've had good intentions to request a copy of Chuck's brand new book, it's essential that you get in touch with Insight for Living right away. It's called Clinging to Hope, and the subtitle is What Scripture Says About Weathering Times of Trouble, Chaos, and Calamity. This is an excellent choice for the new year, and it's one that will be popular with your Bible study group.

To purchase a copy of Clinging to Hope, call 800-772-8888, or go online to insight.org slash hope. Before we hear from Chuck, let me extend a word of thanks to all those who support Insight for Living. You know, you're truly making a difference with your year-end donations.

As an example, listen to this note from a serviceman in Delaware who said, Chuck, I was stationed at Dover Air Force Base when a voice came over the radio that saved me from self-destructing. I had done all the wrong things, but your words from heaven carried me through. I just want to say thank you for allowing the Lord to use you. Well, when you contribute to Insight for Living, you are playing a significant role in bringing light and hope to those who are searching.

So thanks so much for making moments like these possible. Here's Chuck. God does not need your money. Let me say that again. God does not need your money. What an amazing set of six words, huh? Have you ever stopped to think about it? Our God, great and mighty, doesn't have any needs. His resources are not only unlimited, they're infinite. Psalm 50 verse 1 makes it very clear. The Lord, the Mighty One, is God. In this same passage, God says, For all the world is Mine, and everything in it.

In fact, I own the cattle on a thousand hills. So, if God doesn't need your money, what does He expect from you? Well, in Psalm 50 we read, Make thankfulness your sacrifice. God said, Giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honors Me. Letting go of our own resources is an expression of gratitude to the Lord our God. You see, God is after your heart, not your purse, not your wallet.

Remember, He doesn't need your money. Well, for this reason and more, I'm boldly inviting you to join God in His master plan to make disciples of all the nations. We are partners with the Almighty, and it's a privilege to cooperate with His Son, Jesus, in this way. So, as we wrap up another year of ministry together, can I count on you to join us? At Insight for Living Ministries, we remain fully devoted to our singular goal, which is to make disciples of Jesus Christ in all 195 countries of the world. So, let's do this together.

That's the ticket. Let's do it together. Let's give generously from our hearts that are filled with thanksgiving.

I have every confidence that God will receive our collective gifts to make disciples of Jesus Christ here in your community, in our country, and even around the world in every country. Thank you so much for responding, and thank you for doing so today. Thanks, Chuck. Here's how to get in touch with us. First, you can call 800-772-8888, or you can go online to insight.org slash donate. Our phone number again is 800-772-8888. I'm Bill Meyer, inviting you to join us when Chuck Swindoll describes Christ Our Mediator, tomorrow on Insight for Living. The preceding message, The Way, The Truth, The Life, was copyrighted in 1988, 1992, and 1998, and the sound recording was copyrighted in 1998 by Charles R. Swindoll, Inc. All rights are reserved worldwide. Duplication of copyrighted material for commercial use is strictly prohibited.