John 14:6 ESV
“Jesus said to him, ‘I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’”
Our God is a triune God – Father, Son (Jesus Christ), and
Holy Spirit. The Father, Son and Holy Spirit exist as three persons in one
being. They have always existed, without beginning or end. They, as one being,
created the universe and all that has been created (Genesis 1:1-26; John 1:1-5).
The Father, Son and Holy Spirit each have their distinct
roles. Jesus submits to the Father, and the Spirit submits to both the Father
and the Son.
God the Father sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to come to the
earth to be our Savior from sin. Jesus became man, though still fully God, and
he gave his life up for us on a cross as the sacrifice for our sins. And after
he rose from the dead and he ascended back to the Father, his sent his promised
Holy Spirit to indwell the lives of his followers.
From even before the creation of mankind God had planned to
send his Son to the earth to be our Savior and to die on a cross for our sins.
He is referred to in Genesis 3 after the fall of man when God cursed the
serpent (Satan, the devil).
God told the serpent that he would put enmity between him
and the woman, and between his offspring and her offspring. He said, “He shall
bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15; cf. Gal 3:16,
19).
Satan did bruise the Lord’s heel when Jesus was put to death
on that cross, but Jesus bruised Satan’s head when he died on that cross and he
put sin to death, and when he rose from the dead victorious over hell, sin,
Satan, and death. And Satan has been bruising Jesus’s heel via his persecution
of the saints of God, but Jesus will strike the final blow when the devil will
be cast into the lake of fire and will be tormented for eternity (Revelation 20:1-10).
So, from the very beginning it was God’s plan to send his
Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Savior of the world. And it was his plan, too,
that only through Jesus Christ could we come to the Father in faith. Anyone who
does not believe in Jesus, thus, also does not believe in God, for God is
Father, Son (Jesus Christ) and Holy Spirit.
And the only way that we can come to Jesus Christ as Savior
of our lives is if the Father first draws us to Christ (Jn 6:44). So, the faith
to believe in Jesus is a gift from God. And this faith means to be persuaded by
God. Thus, this faith in Jesus Christ will submit to God and to his will for
our lives.
And this is not made clearer to us than when the Scriptures
teach that Jesus died on that cross that we might die with him to sin and live
to him and to his righteousness and that we might no longer live for ourselves
but for him who gave his life up for us. And when they teach us that he died to
put sin to death in our lives so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin,
but that we would now be slaves of God and of his righteousness (1 Pet 2:24; 2
Co 5:15, 21; Rom 6:1-23).
So, when this says that Jesus is The Way, The Truth, and The
Life, it means he is the only way to God the Father, he is the only truth, and
he is the only life that is everlasting, without sin, to the glory and praise
of God.
But “The Way” is not only the way of the cross for Jesus in
his death in putting our sin to death, but it is the way of the cross for us,
too, in putting our sin to death with him, and in us being resurrected with him
to newness of life in him, created to be like him in true righteousness and
holiness (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom 8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9; Eph 4:17-24; 1 Pet
2:24).
And it isn’t dying with him to sin just once when we put our
faith and trust in him, but it is dying daily to sin and to self, and it is
surrendering our lives to Jesus, and it is us following Jesus with our lives
daily in obedience to his will for our lives (Lu 9:23-26; Rom 6:1-23; Rom
8:1-17; 1 Jn 1:5-9).
John 14:25-26 ESV
“These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you.”
When Jesus walked the face of this earth, he was able to be
with his followers in person, to talk with them face to face. They were able to
hear him speak truth to their hearts and to respond to his messages with
obedience to what he taught them.
But after his death and resurrection, he ascended back to
the Father. But he didn’t leave his followers alone. He had promised to send
them the Holy Spirit to live in them and to be Jesus to them, for Jesus could
no longer speak with his followers face to face.
So, he sent his Holy Spirit, as promised, to indwell his
followers. Now, when we believe in Jesus to be Lord and Savior of our lives, we
are indwelt with the Holy Spirit. He comes to live within us and to be God’s
voice to us.
The Spirit teaches us all things and he brings to our remembrance
all that Jesus taught his disciples. He guides us into all truth. He is our
teacher, our counselor, our comforter, our helper, our guide, our encourager
and the one who empowers and strengthens us in our walks of faith in Jesus
Christ.
The Spirit living within us is God living within us. And we
have the mind of Christ because God is within us. And he speaks to us day and
night urging, prodding, guiding, encouraging, comforting, and empowering us to
live godly and holy lives, pleasing to our Lord. Amen!
John 14:27 ESV
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
If we have died with Christ to sin, and if we are daily dying
with him to sin and living to him and to his righteousness, we are in Christ
and he is in us, so we never have any reason to be afraid of anything.
The world is clamoring for peace, but the peace that many
want is absence of conflict, which involves compromise and the putting away of
all our differences. But as followers of Jesus, we can’t compromise with the
world, and we can’t put away our differences, for that would mean to put Christ
out of our lives.
So, the world is going to persecute and reject us, treat us
with contempt, ostracize us, forsake us, mock us, call us names, and come
against us. And “the world” includes the worldly flesh-driven and market-driven
church which is following the way of the world and not the way of the cross.
But we are not to fear what humans may do to us. For, our
Lord is completely sovereign over all things, and he is working out his plan
and his purpose for our lives. So, we must trust him fully and not fear, no
matter what direction things in this life end up taking us.
Do
Not Fear
An
Original Work / June 2, 2013
Based
off John 14
Do not let your hearts fear.
Trust in God. Trust in Christ.
“In My house you will find
Many rooms I have
Prepared for you,
And I will come back
And take you to heav’n.”
“I will take you to be with Me;
You’ll be where I am.”
“I am the way and
The truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father,
Except he comes through Me,
So put your faith in Me,
And do all of what I command.”
“Whoever has My commands
And obeys them loves Me.”
“I did not leave you as orphans.
I sent you the Counselor;
The Holy Spirit to live in you.
He teaches you all things,
And He reminds you of Me.”
“My peace I give to you,
So do not fear, trust in Me.”
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