SERIES: THE WAY, THE TRUTH, THE LIFE
Preached May 18, 2014 by Rev. Jeremy Stopford, Retired Pastor
TODAY’S SPECIAL: “A Crossing Funny”
There’s a man trying to cross the street. As he steps off the curb a car comes screaming around the corner and heads straight for him. The man walks faster, trying to hurry across the street, but the car changes lanes and is still coming at him.
So the guy turns around to go back, but the car changes lanes again and is still coming at him. By now, the car is so close and the man so scared that he just freezes and stops in the middle of the road. The car gets real close, then swerves at the last possible moment and screeches to a halt right next him.
The driver rolls down the window. The driver is a squirrel. The squirrel says to the man, “See, it’s not as easy as it looks, is it?”
INTRODUCTION
“JESUS SAID, ‘I AM THE WAY’” (John 14:6).
Perhaps some day I will do a message series on “Upper Room Discourse” (John 14-16)
We now will be concentrating on The Way, The Truth, The Life.
What does it mean when Jesus says “I Am the Way”?
Is He one of many ways? Are there other ways to God?
Have you ever said, or heard it said,
“It doesn’t matter what you believe as long as you are sincere.”
“All roads lead to the same (G)od”
“It doesn’t matter what church or religious system you believe in, as we all worship the same (G)od” PRAYER
[I’ll print out for you the verses other than the ones in Proverbs – you can look up the ones in Proverbs!]
THE OTHER WAYS TO GOD
A. The way of death/all the earth
Joshua 23:14 “Now I [Joshua] am about to go the way of all the earth”
1 Kings 2:1,2 “When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son. “I am about to go the way of all the earth,” he said. “So be strong, act like a man…”
Jeremiah 21:8b “Furthermore, tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.”
B. The way of the wicked
Psalm 1:6b “…the way of the wicked leads to destruction.”
Jeremiah 12:1 “Why does the way of the wicked prosper? Why do all the faithless live at ease?”
See also: Prov. 4:19 Prov. 12:26 Prov. 15:9
C. The unfaithful: Prov. 13:15
D. Evildoers: Prov. 4:14
F. Fools: Prov. 12:15
G. The sluggard: Prov. 15:19
H. The guilty: Prov. 21:8
The only other “way” is “the way of death”, and it will NOT lead you to God.
II. THE WAYS OF DESCRIBING “GOD’S WAY”
A. The Lord
Genesis 18:19
For I have chosen him, so that he will direct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just, so that the Lord will bring about for Abraham what he has promised him.
Judges 2:22 I will use them [the nations Israel could not overcome] to test Israel and see whether they will keep the way of the Lord and walk in it as their ancestors did.”
Jeremiah 5:4, 5 “I thought, “These are only the poor; they are foolish, for they do not know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God. So I will go to the leaders and speak to them; surely they know the way of the Lord, the requirements of their God.” But with one accord they too had broken off the yoke and torn off the bonds.”
Ezekiel 18:25, 29 “Yet you say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Hear, you Israelites: Is my way unjust? Is it not your ways that are unjust? Yet the Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ Are my ways unjust, people of Israel? Is it not your ways that are unjust?”
Ezekiel 33:17, 20 “Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just. Yet you Israelites say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But I will judge each of you according to your own ways.”
Matthew 22:16 (see also Mk. 12:14/Luke 20:21) “They [the Pharisees] sent their disciples to Him along with the Herodians. “Teacher,” they said, “we know that you are a man of integrity and that you teach the way of God in accordance with the truth. You aren’t swayed by others, because you pay no attention to who they are.”
See also: Proverbs 10:29
B. Life
Jeremiah 21:8a “Furthermore, tell the people, ‘This is what the Lord says: See, I am setting before you the way of life and the way of death.”
Ephesians 4:20 “Having lost all sensitivity, they have given themselves over to sensuality so as to indulge in every kind of impurity, and they are full of greed. That, however, is not the way of life you learned”
See also: Proverbs 5:6
C. Righteousness
Psalm 1:6a For the Lord watches over the way of the righteous, but the way of the wicked leads to destruction.
Isaiah 26:7 The path of the righteous is level; you, the Upright One, make the way of the righteous smooth.
Matthew 21:32 For John came to you to show you the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe him.
See also: Prov. 8:20 Prov. 12::28 Prov. 16:31
D. Faithfulness
Psalm 119:30 “I have chosen the way of faithfulness; I have set my heart on your laws.”
E. Wisdom: Prov. 4:11
F. Insight: Prov. 9:6
G. Holiness
Isaiah 35:8 “And a highway will be there; it will be called the Way of Holiness; it will be for those who walk on that Way. The unclean will not journey on it; wicked fools will not go about on it.”
H. Peace
Isaiah 59:8 (quoted in Romans 3:17) “The way of peace they do not know; there is no justice in their paths. They have turned them into crooked roads; no one who walks along them will know peace.”
I. Love
Ephesians 5:1, 2 “Follow God’s example, therefore, as dearly loved children and walk in the way of love, just as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us as a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
J. Truth
2 Peter 2:2 “But there were also false prophets among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you. They will secretly introduce destructive heresies, even denying the sovereign Lord who bought them—bringing swift destruction on themselves. Many will follow their depraved conduct and will bring the way of truth into disrepute.”
This way – “the way of life” – will lead us to the cross!
III. THE JESUS WAY, AS SEEN BY THE FOLLOWERS OF “THE WAY” IN ACTS
Acts 9:2 [Saul went to the High Priest] “and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.”
Acts 19:9, 23 “But some of them became obstinate; they refused to believe and publicly maligned the Way. So Paul left them. He took the disciples with him and had discussions daily in the lecture hall of Tyrannus. About that time there arose a great disturbance about the Way.
Acts 24:14, 15, 22 “However, I admit that I worship the God of our ancestors as a follower of the Way, which they call a sect. I believe everything that is in accordance with the Law and that is written in the Prophets, and I have the same hope in God as these men themselves have, that there will be a resurrection of both the righteous and the wicked. Then Felix [the governor] , who was well acquainted with the Way, adjourned the proceedings. “When Lysias the commander comes,” he said, “I will decide your case.””
CONCLUSION:
* Jesus said, “I am the Way” – the way of life!
* Which way are you on for eternity – the way of life, or the way of death?
* Which way are you on for today? Don’t you wish everyone were on the way of life,
from the cross to Heaven!
CLOSE IN PRAYER