"The Way, the Truth, and the Life" By Bob Heirtzler April 30th,
2017
Good morning, church. What a beautiful day it's been so far, isn't it? Last day of the month; it's raining outside. April showers bring? May flowers. Exactly. But God also brings showers on the inside so we can grow, ourselves, in our lives, too. Amen? The Scripture I'm sharing today in John chapter fourteen, verse six:
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
There's three points I want to make, today, is:
I Am the Way—Point 1 I Am the Truth—Point 2 I Am the Light—Point 3
Now, if all of us decided to travel to Shedd Aquarium, tomorrow morning at eight o'clock, and we went to Shedd Aquarium; we were going to meet there. Many of us would use the similar, same roads, but we all start from a different point, right? There's many different ways to get to Shedd Aquarium, basically, right? And, we have a few guys here that might take their boat, their sailboat, or canoe. And, maybe some of those might sky-dive and land there—you might deal with a few laws they break, there, but, our final destination is to make it to Shedd Aquarium. There's many ways to get to Shedd Aquarium. There's people today that believe there's many ways to make it to Heaven. Some believe that all you've got to do is say the “Sinner's Prayer.” Some say you've just got to get sprinkled with water in the titles. Some say you've just got to confess with your mouth and then believe. But Jesus said, “I am the way.” Not a good way. Not a great way. Not a way, but the way. And the Scriptures also teach us in—I'd like to turn to Isaiah, chapter forty-three, verses ten through thirteen. Now, if all of us were going to see Jesus, if we're all going to see Jesus, we all have our own path to get there, right? But, it all lines up with the Word of God, so, the Way, basically, right? We all have different callings, different backgrounds, right? We all can't be Bill Adams, playing the saxophone, because, there would be no one sitting out here. We all can't be Ed the Postman. We all have to be different; we all can't be Parrish—but we do need Parrish. We do need Parrish, and the elders, here, too. Does that make sense? We all can't be—okay, so let's go on to Isaiah chapter forty-three, verses ten through thirteen. God says:
Isaiah 43:10-13 Ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen: that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I am he: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me. [Imagine that: No god formed before or after. He doesn't know anybody else besides Him. He also said, in verse eleven:] I, even I, am the LORD; and beside me there is no saviour. [Pastor Paine talked about that, last week: we can't make it to Heaven without a Savior. Make sense?] I have declared, and have saved, and I have shewed, when there was no strange god among you: therefore ye are my witnesses, saith the LORD, that I am God. Yea, before the day was I am he; and there is none that can deliver out of my hand: [Parrish mentioned that earlier today] I will work, and who shall let it?
God has a plan for us. If we go to Acts chapter four, and we're still talking about, “I Am the Way.” Acts chapter four, verses ten through thirteen:
Acts 4:10-13 Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by him doth this man stand here before you whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner. Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved. [God declared His name, and His name is Jesus.] Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they marvelled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.
People know that we've been with Jesus. Arman shared about the working at EKCO days. I used to work at EKCO; I remember him working an extruder there, and God used us mightily, there, to share the Word. And, yes, we dealt with some stuff that came at us, but we still maintained our walk with God, and we still moved forward in God, and nothing stopped us. We just kept moving forward, you know? So, also, they know that we've been with Jesus, too. They know there's something different about us, because we were the talk of the town. I remember that guy, Randy. We were the talk of the town, but God blessed us.
And, now, we're going to talk about, “I Am the Truth.” Let's go to Titus chapter one, verse one through three:
Titus 1:1-3 Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness; In hope of eternal life, which God, that [what?] cannot lie, [God cannot lie. When God says it's going to happen, it's going to happen when God says it] promised before the world began; But hath in due times manifested his word through preaching, which is committed unto me according to the commandment of God our Saviour;
Once again, God is our Savior. Refer back to Isaiah... And, Pastor Paine mentioned, again, we can't make it to Heaven without a Savior. He said, in John four twenty-four, these are familiar Scriptures:
John 4:24 God is a Spirit: [not a bunch of spirits, but a Spirit} and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
God is One. Also, in Deuteronomy six:
Deuteronomy 6:4 Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD:
And, in John eight, thirty-one and thirty-two, another familiar Scripture, it says:
John 8:32 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall [what?] make you free.
And, in Psalms twenty-five, verses four through five—I saw this the other day, and I said, “Wow! I kept reading it over and over again.”
Psalms 25:4-5 Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.
God has something for each and every one of us; it doesn't matter how old you are. Arman's and my classes are in here today; there's no class for them, and, young people, God is the only way to go, the only way to go. “But you're an old guy, Bob!” Yeah, but I started as a teenager, in this ministry, too, you know? And God has been with me, every step of the way. Yeah, there's been ups and downs, but God's always been constant, always been there, always been a prayer away. There's something about that name of Jesus. They were singing today, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus. Something just happens.” Give it a try, young people, say, “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus,” and mean it. See what happens. I dare you. See what happens. See what happens; you know what I'm saying? And the last point is on “I Am the Life.” In Galatians two twenty—I think heard this, earlier, already:
Galatians 2:20 I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.
“I am crucified with Christ...” How do we get this? How do we get this salvation? How do we get one with God? How do we get closer to God? It's all got to do with what happened on the day He died on the cross. And this is going back to when Thomas asked the question, “How can we know the way?” (John 14:5) And Ephesians four five says what?
Ephesians 4:5 One Lord, one faith, one baptism,
There's oneness in all this. I used to believe there were three Gods. I used to believe there was a Father, I used to believe there was a Son, and I used to believe there was a Holy Ghost. I never knew that all three were One, until I came here, and my eyes were opened, and I realized, “Wow! They are the self-same.” “How do you know that?” Well, if you read John chapter fourteen, not only does He say who He is, He also reveals that He is the Father, and, further down in the chapter, He also reveals that He is the Holy Ghost. We went over that study earlier this year, on the Godhead. How do we get this applied to us? Let's turn to Romans chapter six, one through six:
Romans 6:1-4 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? [it says:] God forbid. [You notice there's a period right there, in the Scriptures? “God forbid.” That hit me so hard the day that someone shared that with me, “God forbid.” Period. I couldn't keep doing what I was doing and ask God to forgive me, because I was going to run out of Grace, eventually. I had to stop doing what I was doing and get right with God. Because I used to say, “I did that again. I'm sorry. God will forgive me.” Maybe one day it won't happen. And, you know what? I don't want to take the chance no more. I want to make sure that I'm right before God, every day. Every night, close my eyes, that I'm at peace with God. Raise up the next day for a new day in God. When God's trumpet sounds, I don't want to be standing around wondering where everybody else went. I want to be part of that crowd that goes, you know? So, it says:] How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein? Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death? Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.
When Jesus was buried—He died, right? on the cross—He was buried. He wasn't sprinkled, He wasn't—He was buried in a tomb. And what happened after? The angels came down, and did what? rolled the stone away, right? And He rose up from the dead. And, Parrish, the first week of this month, he talked about, a lot of people thought they were gods. A lot of people believed they were gods, and, you know, their bag of bones are still in the grave. But our God rose from the dead, and He changed into newness of life. We experience that when we come out of that watery grave. It's not sprinkling; buried in water, and come up out of that watery grave. It represents the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There's no other way. There's no other way that works. You don't think I looked for it? I did. There's no other way. And, as a closing thought, the Scriptures, here: John fourteen and six, again:
John 14:6 Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Thank you. Amen.
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