Michael Youssef - I Am The Way, The Truth, and The Life

I believe if there is one affliction, one affliction that all of us, everyone at the sound of my voice, is susceptible or prone to, it will be this: stress. Stress. Well, how do I define stress? It is our response to physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual pressures or demands that are placed on us that we feel in life. When we get stressed out, we often experience some physical symptoms, whether it be digestive disorders, disruption of our sleep patterns, nervous tics, or high blood pressure, and on and on and on. But thank God that in John chapter 14, our Lord Jesus Christ gives us a manual for stress management.

Turn to John 14, please. If you are feeling stressed right now, I have good news for you. I have good news for you! Because the very first thing that our Lord Jesus Christ says to the disciples, before he tells them that he is the way, the truth, and the life, before he says that, in verse one he says, «Let your hearts not be troubled.» Now, beloved, the fact is that more than at any other time, at least in my lifetime, and having seen many individuals, people are very stressed, highly stressed. Whole institutions are stressed, and society at large is very stressed, and that is because back then we stopped trusting in God.

This opening statement comes right after Jesus prophesied that Peter is going to deny him three times. Right after that, there’s no doubt in my mind that Peter, or even the other disciples, couldn’t even conceive of him doing that. Peter could never imagine denying Jesus. Please put yourself in their place at that time. It’s very easy for us, after so many 2,000 years, to read the Bible with our Christian heritage, our Christian life, our Christian Bible study, and all that. We get away from it. But here they are, sitting down, and these disciples were greatly troubled. They were aware of the mounting pressure. They were told that Jesus is going to the cross. He just told them he’s going away. They knew that the priests and the rulers of the Jews were determined to kill Jesus. They were so troubled because Jesus told them that one of them is going to betray him. Most of all, they were worried sick. Just think about it. They were worried sick about losing Jesus. After all, he’s been their Lord, their Messiah, their leader. If he went away, what was going to happen to them? What was going to happen to the mission? Would they see him again? How would they see him again?

So after he tells them not to let their hearts be troubled, he immediately tells them about that marvelous place he’s going to prepare for them. Immediately. What is Jesus doing? Listen carefully, please. He was gently getting them to focus on the unseen. And the Bible says the seen is temporary, but the unseen is what is permanent. Listen, from my experience of 52 years in ministry, there is nothing like the prospect of death that focuses a person’s attention on what is really important in life.

Look at verse five. Thomas. He said, «We don’t know where you’re going! What is this talk about going and coming? I’m so confused.» I love Thomas. I really love that man. Don’t ever call him «Doubting Thomas» again; I call him «Honest Thomas,» and I thank God for Thomas. You notice Jesus never rebuked him. He never rebuked him when he said that. «We don’t know the way! We don’t know where you’re going! How do you know the way?» He never rebuked him. Why? Because Jesus gave Thomas the greatest opportunity to proclaim the fifth proclamation that we are now seeing about the exclusivity of Jesus. Are you with me? If you’re visiting with us, this is the fifth in the series «I Am» (ego eimi in Greek): «I am the way, the truth, and the life.» And no one, no one, no one—can you say that with me? —no one. That means no one on the face of the earth is going to come to the Father except through me. Amen.

You know, in my previous life, when I used to belong to mainline denominations, the clergy, in big meetings or small meetings, and it didn’t matter, would always accuse me of being narrow-minded—always narrow-minded, publicly and openly, in large meetings and small meetings. My response was never defensive; it was offensive at all. My response was always, «Thank you for noticing that. Thank you for noticing that. Thank you for noticing that I’m narrow-minded.» Often I would say to them, «Do you want to know why I’m narrow-minded?» Most of the time they’d say, «No, thank you.»

The tragedy is this: so many today, among church people who have been so indoctrinated in ignorance, really do believe false teachers and false preachers. In their desire to please the hostile culture, they try to alter the truth. They try to modify the facts. They try to color the black-and-white pictures. They try to muddy the water, and they try to confuse the folks. Oh beloved, listen to me. If your desire is to be liked by your peers, if your longing is to please the pagan culture, if you want the approval of the sinful culture, if your purpose in life is to be accepted by this hostile world, then you are placing your eternity in jeopardy.

Think about the early Christians, the first Christians, the first-century Christians. They could have saved themselves a ton of trouble. They could have saved themselves much pain and suffering. They could have saved themselves from being thrown to hungry lions or dipped in boiling oil or dipped in tar and lit up in Nero’s gardens. They could have saved themselves all the suffering if they had said what supposedly 65% of church people in America say: that Jesus is a way, not the way. They could have saved themselves all this trouble.

What Jesus said to them can be read as follows; it can literally be paraphrased: «Because I am the way, the only way, therefore in me alone you will find the whole truth and real life, which is eternal.» So much for narrow-mindedness. Think of it this way: preachers of tolerance, who by the way I have dealt with many of them, are the most intolerant people on the face of the earth. They really are. They just accuse us of intolerance so they can shut us up. Somebody actually said that to me. So when Jesus insisted that he is the way and the only way, it means that only those who go through him, and him alone, will have eternal life, will be eternally saved, and will make it to heaven.

God makes it very clear in his word that every human being on the face of the earth, every human being that is born of a woman, we all are born sinners. Yes. Seven hundred years before Christ, God said through Isaiah 53:6, «We are all like sheep that have gone astray. Each of us has turned his own way.» And that is why God made and provided only one way to come back to him, to return to him. That is why when Jesus said, «I am the way,» he is saying categorically, categorically, there is not any other way.

We saw his claim just a few messages ago: «I am the door.» The door. Not the doorkeeper. Not the door guard. Not the holder of the door. No, he is the very door itself. Oh, but there’s more. No one—please get this—no one, no one has ever, ever claimed to be the only way to God the Father and to heaven. No one. See, that’s why I’m saying these false teachers are basically preaching ignorance. These folks describe themselves in various ways. They call themselves messengers, guides, or teachers or whatever it might be, but they have never said, «We’re the way to heaven and to eternal life.» Not one.

Some foolishly think they can climb over the door. Others think they can buy their way in. There are others who think that if you follow certain rituals, you will make it. Others foolishly think that if you belong to a certain denomination because they say you can’t come to God the Father without going through «Mother Church,» that this is the only way you can be saved. No, no, no, that’s not what Jesus said. He said he is the one who is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through him.

The sad part about our culture today, which is enough to make me weep, is that truth has become a thing of the past. Truth is very relative. We joke about there being multiple sides to the truth—your truth, my truth, that truth—and now it’s myriads of sides to the truth, but Jesus is the absolute truth. A friend of mine who practiced law for a number of years said he has never seen what he sees happening now, which is that people absolutely under oath in the court of law tell bold-faced lies, and they know it. All those years of experience in the courts have not prepared him for that. Today we see a lot of people telling bold-faced lies, and they know it, in the media, in public life. Even those who are sitting there know it’s a lie, but they keep their mouths shut.

See, brothers and sisters in Christ, when that happens, listen to me, we will have no civilization. We will have no civilization when the truth becomes rare and when we are confronted with the truth and we say, «Oh, that’s just your truth, not my truth.» When Jesus said, «I am the truth,» he left us in no doubt whatsoever to the fact that he’s not saying, «I know the truth,» or that «I have part of the truth.» He says, «When I said I am the truth, I meant I am the embodiment of the truth, and there can be no truth existing apart from me.» Can I get an amen?

Back in the 80s, when I was involved in leadership training, I came across a man and got to know him really well for two or three years. He found that he was waiting in front of a bus station in front of a Christian bookstore. So, he picks up a Bible, takes it home, and for 15 days he doesn’t leave the house, doesn’t leave the room, reading the Bible from Genesis to Revelation. And at the end, he knelt and gave his life to Christ. The very first question I asked him was, «What happened?» He said, «You could never read these hundreds of prophecies about Jesus in the Old Testament and how Jesus fulfilled them all without believing.» He memorized the entire New Testament. He said, «In Christ, I was able to see the whole truth. I used to know smidgens of the truth before I came to Christ. Now I found the whole truth.»

You know what? This is the sad part: after 2,000 years of Christianity and 500 years of Western civilization, so many people in the West, who knew Christ to be the light, are now turning to look at this dotted board wall with little truths and making them all look alike. No wonder we are entering a new dark age. As a matter of fact, my dear friend who went to be with the Lord, Chuck Colson, prophesied—really, that’s all I could call it a prophecy—when he said the following: «We are entering a new dark age brought on by relativism, radical individualism, and materialism.»

He continued, saying that people have become so accustomed to the dark that they do not even realize that the lights are out. «I am the way,» says that we can be saved only through Jesus. «I am the truth,» says that Jesus is the only one who can assure us of salvation. «I am the life,» says that you can be assured of eternal life here in this life. Sin says that we live in fear of death, or some people like to think they’ll never experience the shadow of death. The Bible says even youth grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall. But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint. Oh, my beloved friends, when you come to Jesus, who is the way, when you come to Jesus, who is the whole truth, you’ll receive not only eternal life forever with him, but you will live this life to its fullest, as it’s supposed to be.

When you come to Jesus, he will place his Spirit, a new spirit, his Spirit in you, and his Spirit will constantly invigorate you, energize you, constantly renew you, and fill you with hope. Can I get an amen? And listen, the more time you spend with Jesus, the more your spirit is ignited and energized. The closer you walk with Jesus, the more spiritual vitality you will receive. The deeper you go with Jesus, the more focused on eternity with him you will be.

Let me tell you this as I conclude. In fact, there’s an old song that I was sharing with Jeremy this week, and he said, «I don’t know this one.» I said, «This is very, very old, really old,» and it used to go something like this: «No matter where on earth we dwell, on mountaintop or in the dell, in cottage or mansion fair, where Jesus is, heaven is there.» Oh, hallelujah! Yes, this is heaven—to know my sin is forgiven, on land or sea, no matter where, where Jesus is, there’s heaven! Amen.

Thomas à Kempis once said, «When Jesus said to follow me, 'For I am the way, the truth, and the life, ' he was saying that without the way there is no going. Without the truth, there is no knowing. And without the life, there is no living.» Today, Jesus is still calling—still calling. He’s still calling boys and girls, men and women. He’s still calling, and he says, «Come to me, for I am the way. I am the invaluable way. I am the infallible truth. I am the unending life. I am the way that is straight. I am the supreme truth. I am the life that is true and blessed for his uncreated life. If you abide in my way,» Jesus said, «you shall be my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.»