“Jesus Came To Show Us The Way”

John 14:1-6

1) Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me.

2) In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.

3) And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

4) And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know.

5) Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way?

6) Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.

Preface

I

t is crucial that we understand why Jesus came. It was not that He had to for Himself, but rather, to save Man from his problem. But, before he could be "saved," he had to be shown that he was in need of a savior.

From time immemorial, Man has believed that he has more power than he actually possesses. Reality is that he can control nothing! It has to be set up this way so that Man will come to accept that despite his efforts, he will have no success until God is "in control."

It is not possible for Man (a "human being") to "do the right thing." However, every man must come to see and believe this for himself—or he will never be helped.

Main Thought

Man is born in darkness concerning his understanding of what is spiritual. He is blind to all but what is fleshly and cannot know these things—except through the Spirit of God and the receiving of the Holy Spirit.

Because Man is who and what he is, he does not like feeling as if he does not know all. Since he operates according to his "perceptions" (which are fleshly), he supposes that he will be called "dumb" or "ignorant" for what he does not know. Therefore, this causes him to take being "informed" of something the wrong way.

Unfortunately, this "problem" interferes with the saving of one's soul. You see, though when we come into salvation we know nothing of salvation, we fight most efforts to "educate" us concerning salvation. Now, making this more ironic is the fact that the plan of salvation is not "understood" anyway, but rather, accepted "by faith." After all, the scriptures admonish us that "...the just shall live by (his) faith."

Presupposed by us in the way that we deal with anything given to us as information is that "understanding" is just something that human beings "have." This is not so. Neither is it true that he knows' how to "do" everything.

"This is more of a problem than one might believe, for it interferes with the receiving of the Holy

Spirit. You see, if you cannot or will not accept that there' is something you nee to do that you cannot do, then you will not be open to believing God for that experience. For when one speaks in "another tongue" (one he has not learned), he must have no "issues" about feeling "dumb" for never having done it before. Simply, he must accept' that there is this thing and many others that he simply does not know.

If one is seriously on a quest for knowledge, hopefully he will want the truth, also. Why? Because all that is knowledge is not necessarily, true. Now, the first thing that the seeker of knowledge needs to know is that what God says is already "true." This, then will satisfy all of one's "cravings."

Man's greatest gift was given to Him in Jesus, for it is He Who came to show us how things really are; He came and defined "reality," so that forever after we need be neither "ignorant" nor "dumb."

In our text, today, we encountered the scripture explaining to us that "mankind was made subject to vanity," meaning no less than that Man was brought in "empty" so that all would have the same chance at "salvation.

Though we might recognize our "emptiness,” the minute we are given anything to insert within that void, we take that "thing" as our "stopping point" and frequently, shut down the possibility of any further "revelation."

Israel did this after they were given the Law and instead of that law bringing them to further revelation, it kept them from being able to accept the Ultimate

Revelation of Jesus Christ. This, despite the fact that they were never able to keep the very Law that they revered.

Never has the World been in more need of the Lord than now. Never has the "way" been made clearer. Yes, there is a proliferation of preachers and teachers with "different" messages, but the harder the devil tries to deceive, the clearer the Lord is making the truth. Though "ministers," today, teach/preach the message of God as if for all people, unconditionally, the information contained within the message is for those willing to change.

Salvation is not conferred upon one because one wants it, needs it, or claims it. Salvation cannot be ascribed to one because of what he has done or will do.

Salvation is the reward of those willing to live a life consecrated and submitted to the Lord on a daily basis. The submitted life; the "new life" is a life that is unrecognizable from one's life before salvation.

Since "Jesus came to show us the way," we need to recognize that we can get to Him only through Him—not through prayer, fasting, teaching, preaching or anything else.

Part of the "way" that Jesus came to show us involves the fact that nothing after salvation is the way that it "seemed" before salvation. So, this means that "problems" are not really "problems" after salvation because now, we know the God Who is in absolute control of all things!

Following the way of Jesus is the only way to avoid an eternal life of misery. Though many feel that their lives could not be any more like "hell on earth," true hell will be about unresolved "hunger"—the hunger of the flesh for the things of the flesh. One who is ruled by his flesh on this earth will be ruled by the flesh in the afterlife—but will be without the means to enjoy that which is lusted after. It helps to remind oneself of whom one is. Sometimes, one needs to say to himself, "I am spiritual. Therefore, I must not be moved!" This will be possible only if one makes a conscious choice to live for Jesus—not for what He can do for us, but for what He has already done!