Turn with me, if you would, to John chapter 14. John 14, as we read together the first 13 verses, the text for our consideration being verse 6, the sixth I am in our series of the seven I am's of the suffering servant, as we have called them. The context here is the Last Supper of our Lord with His disciples. He had just told them some rather disturbing things. And then we begin chapter 14 at verse 1 as we consider this Word of God. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me, that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going. Thomas said to Him, Lord, we don't know where You are going, so how can we know the way? Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you really knew Me, you would know My Father as well. From now on, you do know Him and have seen Him. Philip said, Lord, show us the Father and that will be enough for us. Jesus answered, Don't you know me, Philip? Even after I have been among you such a long time? Anyone who has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, show us the Father? Don't you believe that I am in the Father and that the Father is in me? The words I say to you are not just my own. Rather, it is the Father living in me who is doing His work. Believe Me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in Me, or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father. And I will do whatever you ask in My name so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. You may ask Me for anything in My name. And I will do it. Beloved of the Lord Jesus Christ, ever since the events of September 11, 2001, there seems to have been somewhat of a renewed interest in spiritual things and in the idea of God. People have been encouraged to pray to whatever idea of God it happens to be that they subscribe to, whether that be the God of the Muslims or the God of the Mormons or whatever God they might subscribe to, or even the true God of Christianity. You see, one of two different ideas are being taught, both of which are false. Either we all serve the same God, yet we all call Him a different name, or there are different gods, all of which provide the same goal, which is some sort of a heavenly experience with different ways of achieving it. You know, all roads lead to heaven. Something of that nature. You see, the world teaches salvation man's way. But our Lord teaches salvation God's way. The disciples were troubled in heart. They were unsettled in spirit. They were agitated, the word means. And it's no surprise why. Again, the context, as I mentioned a moment ago, is the Last Supper. And Jesus tells them some things that are rather disturbing to them, to say the least. After He had washed the disciples' feet, He told them that one of them would betray Him. Then He told them that He was leaving them and they couldn't go where He was going. And then He told Peter that Peter would deny Jesus three times. You see, this was heart-wrenching stuff, no doubt the worst being that Jesus was going to leave them. How could that be? That didn't fit with their expectation of the Messiah whom they thought would be their earthly deliverer and would set up His kingdom of power here on earth. You see, they had given up everything to follow this Jesus, and if He was leaving and they couldn't go where He was going, they were defeated. They were done for. No wonder their hearts were troubled. And then Jesus speaks such beautiful words, words they didn't understand yet, which is clear from Thomas' somewhat ignorant comment after Jesus spoke the beautiful words. Thomas says, Lord, we don't know where You are going, so how can we know the way? Yet even in the midst of Thomas' ignorance, yet these were beautiful words. And with these words, Jesus tells of the greatest work that He came to do, which was to fulfill their greatest need, our greatest need, which is to be reconciled, brought back into fellowship with the Heavenly Father. Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God. Trust also in Me. In My Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I'm going there to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me, that you also may be where I am. You see, Jesus couldn't have said it any plainer if He would have flat out said, this is why I have come. Not because of any ideas you might have had. Yes, I am the Messiah. But in a far greater way than you could ever imagine. You see, beloved, with this sixth I am of the suffering servant, Our Lord teaches what His goal was for His people and what our goal must be. And that is to be with God. Boys and girls, that must be our heart's desire to be with God. As well, He teaches the truth of what Peter says of Christ in Acts 4, verse 12. Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved. Jesus says, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Beloved, in this I am, Jesus gives a brief but beautiful explanation of His mediatorial work. Boys and girls, the Bible says that Jesus is a mediator. What is a mediator? What does a mediator do? 1 Timothy 2, verse 5 says, For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus. A mediator is very simply a go-between. One who goes between and one who is between two parties or two people. He goes between the two people who are not communicating, who are not getting along, and the mediator works to bring the two back together again. He works to remove whatever it is that is keeping the two apart so that they will be in fellowship with each other once again. Boys and girls, for example, if there are three friends, maybe you've had this situation. If there are three friends and two of them are not getting along very well, they're fighting with each other, they're not talking to each other. And the third friend, well, that friend isn't fighting with either of the first two, and often that third friend will become the mediator. The one who goes between and is in between the other two, not necessarily to keep them from beating each other up, but the mediator, that third friend, works to mend the friendship between the two that are fighting. The mediator works on behalf of and for the benefit of both parties. Jesus is the mediator between God and His people because the mediator was desperately needed. You see, sin not only separated, but also alienated mankind from God and made all people subject to the wrath and punishment of God. The Bible says that by nature, that means in sin we are at enmity with God. And therefore, by nature, we hate God. And because of sin, God is angry toward all of mankind. And in sin, man can only be eternally separated from God. But the goal of Jesus is to bring His own to the Father. Christ's work, you see, was to make a way to God the Father into His kingdom, into His family for those the Father had given to Him. And in this I am of the suffering servant, Jesus tells us how and why He was able to do this work as we have the description of Christ the Mediator. He says, I am the way and the truth and the life. that's the description of Christ the Mediator. You see, God's Word is clear from the very beginning in Genesis that mankind needed a way to come to God. You recall that the cherubim was placed to guard the way to the tree of life in the Garden of Eden. The way was blocked. Man needed a way. All of the Old Testament sacrifices pointed to the fact that there needed to be a way to come to God. What does it mean that Jesus is the way and the truth and the life? You see, this is a powerful statement as Jesus describes Himself and only Himself. Only He is the way and the truth and the life. And because He is these things, He alone is able to be the mediator between God and His people. I think as we take a little bit of time to consider what man lost in Adam and therefore what we need, that will help us to understand this description of Christ. Remember, Adam enjoyed fellowship with God. He enjoyed open access to God, but he lost it. He lost the way to God. And as we said, he needed reconciliation with God. Adam also enjoyed knowing God in truth as he fellowshiped with his Creator, but sin darkened his mind so that he no longer knew the truth. He became ignorant and in need of illumination. And then Adam also had true life. He had spiritual life in communion with God, but his sin earned him the wages of sin, which is death. And therefore, he needed new life. Regeneration. Reconciliation. Illumination. And regeneration. You see, beloved, without the way, there is no going. Without the truth, there is no knowing. And without the life, there is no living. But Jesus Christ is the way to be followed. He is the truth to be believed. He is the life to be hoped for. The whole of salvation, which we can summarize with the words reconciliation, illumination, and regeneration, is in Christ Jesus. He is everything we need. Just as you sang, Gems, Jesus is all the world to me. He's everything I need. Let's consider this description of Christ the Mediator in reverse order. Jesus is the life. You see, because He is God, He has life in Himself and He alone gives life. Apart from Him, there is only death, which includes a love for sin and the things of Satan and hate for what is good and the things of God. In sin, man is selfish and embraces the doctrine of the survival of the fittest. But the truth is, the more that man has tried to survive on his own, the more wicked he has become by trying to destroy all others. And history has proven this, I believe, in some respects. With Nero and Hitler, and in our modern day Saddam Hussein, to mention a few. In sin, man loves the deeds of darkness which God hates. He despises the things of God, and he doesn't want to glorify God and enjoy Him forever. At the same time, he has no real comfort in life and in death. But Jesus Christ is the life who because of His work on the cross has paid the full debt of our sin. He's removed our guilt and because of His perfect righteousness He has earned for us and given to us a righteous standing before God and therefore He gives His sheep new life. Regeneration. He gives His people a new heart with new desires for God and for what is right. And that new life includes a new way of thinking a new way of feeling, a new way of willing, no longer desiring the way of sin and Satan, but having a desire for God and that which is right. Because of Christ, the life, as Paul says in Romans 6, verse 11, we can count ourselves dead to sin, but alive to God in Christ Jesus. Beloved, as the mediator, Christ Jesus works on our behalf to make us right with God by removing the guilt of sin and giving to us that which we need to enjoy life in communion with God. And that's His perfect righteousness. And He works on God's behalf by satisfying God's wrath, making the payment for our sin in full, and making us able to stand before a holy God. But this new life given to us by Christ's life also includes illumination as He gives us the knowledge of the truth. Jesus is the truth. His very essence is the truth. In Him there is nothing false. There is no deceit. There is nothing hidden in Him. And the lie cannot stand in His presence. He exposes the falseness of the lie. And He is the truth and the fulfillment of all of the promises of the Old Testament. All of the Old Testament sacrifices, you see, pointed to the fact that man needed another to take his place in order to have the forgiveness of sins. And Jesus Christ is the truth of those sacrifices. Both of that another was needed. And the fact that He is that other. And as truth, He also reveals the truth of God Himself, even as He said in verse 9, anyone who has seen Me has seen the Father. I and My Father are one. As the truth who illumines His people with the truth, by the power of the Holy Spirit, Jesus causes us to recognize, to see and recognize the lie of Satan which only leads down the broad path to death. And instead, He reveals to us the truth of the narrow path that leads to life. He alone is the truth that sets one free from the power of death. Beloved, those who are given new life in Christ now desire to be filled with the truth of Christ. they desire the truth of His Word you see there are so many things in this life that desire to grab our attention things all around us that promote that which is false and promote that which is the lie the world would have us believe for example through advertisements and sales gimmicks that we deserve to have the good life we deserve to be healthy, wealthy and wise The world would have us believe that our rights are more important than God's commands. The world would have us believe that mankind is naturally good. The world would have us believe that I can choose what's right for me and you can choose what's right for you. The world would have us believe that we control our own destiny and our own faith because ultimately there is no God anyway. But we have the truth of God. We have the very word of His mouth. This is His Word of truth for our comfort in life and in death. Congregation, what good does a knowledge of earthly things do for us without a knowledge of God? Absolutely nothing. May it be that each one of us is so tied and in tune with the truth of God's Word that it can never be said of us, that it would never be said of any one of us that we should have read our newspapers and our novels less and read the Word of God more. May we desire to be filled with the truth of Him who is the truth. And because Jesus is the life who gives life in the Father, and because He is the truth who fills us with the truth of the Father, He is also then the way who leads us to the Father. The way. When it's talking about the way here, it's talking about the road or the pathway that one must follow to get to a desired destination. Even the boys and girls can understand what this is talking about. There are so many places that we go that we must follow a certain path to get there. We can talk about this in an earthly sense. Boys and girls, if your desired destination is this church building, you must follow a certain path from your house. Indeed, there may be a number of paths in this illustration that you can follow, but eventually you must get on either Broadway or Vista in order to turn into the parking lot. But there is a way that must be followed. In the spiritual sense, Jesus makes it clear that our desired destination must be God the Father and eternal fellowship in His house. And the path to that desired destination of the Heavenly Father's house is Jesus. He is the way. Only He makes us right with God. He is the way to be followed. He is the way to be believed. He is the way to be lived for. And as the mediator, by His going away to death and to His resurrection and to His ascension where His disciples could not follow, He not only prepares the way to heaven and the room for His people, but He also secures the way to heaven and the room for His people. And notice, Jesus doesn't say He's going to come back to be with His people here. He says in verse 3, And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me, that you also may be where I am. He will take His people to be with Him, which is the glory of heaven. Which means that He will take believers to be with His Father. You see, beloved, do not let your hearts be troubled. Why? Why? Because Christ's going away did not mean a final separation, but it pointed to the ultimate gathering of God and His redeemed people. Christ's going away meant not only His preparing of heaven for His sheep, but it also meant His preparing of His sheep for heaven. And because He is the way and the truth and the life, He is uniquely qualified to be the mediator. Notice the necessity of Christ the Mediator. Jesus said, no one comes to the Father except through Me. Now we need to understand how absolute and how final that statement is. No one. Not anyone. There's no questions about it. No one comes to the Father except through Me. You see, Jesus Christ was necessary to be the Mediator between God and men because only He could be. I know this is something that we believe and we profess often. It's so easy to say, Jesus is the only way to be saved. But unless this truth becomes so commonplace among us that we take it for granted, we need to really take some time to think about this. The Heidelberg Catechism beautifully summarizes the teaching of Scripture with regard to the necessary mediator in questions 15-18. Question 15 asks, what kind of mediator and deliverer should we look for then? He must be truly human and truly righteous, yet more powerful than all creatures. That is, He must also be true God. Why must He be truly human and truly righteous? God's justice demands it. Man has sinned. Man must pay for his sin, but a sinner cannot pay for others. Why must He also be true God? So that by the power of His divinity, He might bear the weight of God's anger in His humanity and earn for us and restore to us righteousness and life. And who is this mediator? True God and at the same time truly human and truly righteous? Our Lord Jesus Christ who has given us to set us completely free and to make us right with God. Beloved, there is no other way to the Father because there could be no other way to the Father. Only the God-man Jesus Christ could do and did do all that was necessary to restore to us all that we lost in Adam. The Old Testament sacrifices with the blood of animals could not truly and eternally restore us to the Father. Good works cannot restore us to the Father. The false gods of the nation, both in Scripture and those worshiped today, cannot restore us to the Father. Only the blood of Jesus, with which the writer of Hebrews says Jesus entered the holy place, only the blood of Jesus can restore us to the Father. You see, this is quite a statement in our day as well as throughout history. Our day too, just like many times in history, is a day of pluralism. Ours is a culture of many roads lead to heaven. A culture of inclusiveness and tolerance. But in reality, Christianity is intolerant and exclusive in the sense that all other ways are not to be tolerated. All other ways are excluded because they don't work. They are false. As Proverbs 14, verse 12 says, There is a way that seems right to a man. But in the end, it leads to death. Beloved, the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth is this. With Christ removed, there can be no redemptive truth, no everlasting life, and therefore no way to the Father. Without Him, one will only lose his soul. And to that, Jesus says in Matthew 16, What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? And the answer to that is that there is no good apart from Christ. You see, you can have all the pleasures and enjoyments and toys that this world has to offer. But if you do not know the truth of Christ, if you do not have the new life of Christ, if you are not on the way of Christ, then the words of Job will be all too real to you. He said, Naked I came from my mother's womb. And naked I will depart. There's a bumper sticker, I know many of you have seen it, that says, He who dies with the most toys wins. I think that's the second biggest lie in history. The first being Satan's lie to Eve, you'll be like God. Only he who dies clothed in the robes of Christ's righteousness truly wins. Only in Jesus Christ is there salvation and redemption. Beloved, do you belong to this Jesus? Boys and girls and young people, how about it? Do you belong to Him right now? There is no other way. You've heard it tonight. If you don't belong to Him, what are you waiting for? Why are you wasting your time? The world is out to get you. You see, there are so many temptations out there to draw your focus and your allegiance away from the Lord Jesus Christ, whether it be through entertainment or certain achievements or many forms of false glory. Satan makes so many things, so many ways to look attractive, and he tries to fool you and me into thinking that God is tolerant so that you can live like you want, you can worship like you want, you can believe like you want, you can do whatever you want, but beware. That's nothing but the broad road that leads only to hell and eternal destruction. Our Lord says, My Word is a lamp unto your feet and a light upon your path. And the Word of God says, The punishment that brought us peace was upon the suffering servant Jesus Christ. And therefore, He alone is the way and the truth and the life only through His cross. Did Jesus Christ forever make that way to the Father for His people. Beloved, is it any wonder there is such a need for the Christian religion? It's the only true religion. Is it any wonder that there is such an urgent need for Christian missions? Because only Jesus saves? No one can come to the Father except through Jesus. It doesn't matter who you are or what you have done, whether rich or poor, whether strong or weak, whether intelligent or not so intelligent, there's only one way to God the Father and eternal salvation, and that is through Jesus Christ. You see, not one will sneak in some other way. It's impossible. It won't happen. And the beauty of Christ's words in John 14? These. I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. Some say the only guarantee in life is death and taxes. But God's people enjoy the greatest guarantee, the only real guarantee, and that is the eternal glory of God's presence through Jesus Christ, our Savior, the way, the truth, and the life. Amen. Shall we pray? Father, we thank You and praise You that tonight as over the past few weeks You have been preparing us in a special way to observe our Lord's crucifixion and to celebrate His resurrection by considering these powerful statements that He made when He walked this earth. We thank You for the truth of who Jesus Christ is. And what He has done. We thank You for the truth that indeed salvation is ours. Not maybe will be. Not might be. Not potentially will be. But is ours through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Father God, may we live as a redeemed people full of strength and truth. And again, may our desire always be that You would be glorified and praised in all things. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.