The Way, Truth, and Life (Part 3)

In today's sermon, brethren will be the third and final installment in the series on Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life. In part one, we focused on Jesus as the only way to a reconciled relationship with the Father. As the only name given under heaven among men by which we must be saved, Jesus Christ is the one God provided. He sent His only begotten Son in order to reconcile this world in relationship to Him, and as such, He is the true Passover. He is the one who laid His life down for this world, and as the door of the sheep, He is the way. In part two, we reflected on the fact that truth is the foundation of this relationship with God. God our Father is true. His Son Jesus Christ is true. And not only did He bring truth into the world, but He in the flesh was truth personified. He was Immanuel. And He lived, and He walked, and He reflected truth. And all that He said and did. As was mentioned in the first message today, truth is critical, not only to who He was, but to who we are becoming in His likeness as well. And today, in part three, we're going to focus on Jesus Christ as the life. We're going to look at exactly what does that mean, as well as the implications that standing has on the lives of His followers today. You know, God has called us to come out of this world and follow the example of Jesus Christ, and He is the life. But how does that impact us? What does that have to do with you and me and our calling and our future?

Indeed, it's all tied in together as we understand who He is. So the title today is, The Way, the Truth, and the Life, Part 3. And I want to begin the sermon series once again, where we've started off in each message, and that's John chapter 14 and verse 6.

John chapter 14 and verse 6, the words of Jesus Christ. And He said to Him, replying to Thomas's question, Jesus said to Him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. Again, the context here is the final night of Jesus Christ's life. He told them, I'm going to be going away.

And Thomas said, well, where are you going? And we don't know the way, because Jesus said, you do know the way. He said, well, we don't know the way. How can we know when He says, I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. So He just told them He would be going away on this night. But prior to that as well, He'd also told them that He would die.

You recall an incident here in Mark 8, verse 31-33. I'm not going to turn there today. But in that place, as the story goes, the disciples are following Jesus, and He tells them what awaits Him. He says, I'm going to be rejected. I'm going to be rejected by the elders, the chief priests, and the scribes, and be killed. He basically said, death waits for Me in Jerusalem. The disciples are with them, and you'll remember Peter's response was very much, not so, Lord. Surely not. We're with you. We'll defend you. God surely would not have this happen to you. You'll remember Jesus' response then to Peter from that. Get behind me, Satan. Which maybe was a little bit of a shock. But Jesus was essentially telling them that there was a plan that His Father had in place in His life, and His death was in submission to God's plan. In fact, through that plan, God was working out something that would actually lead to life. So, yes, His death would be required so that those who followed Him can live. So, on this final night now in the flesh, Jesus was preparing His disciples for what lay ahead of them. And in light of it all, this proclamation came forth that He is the life. But that might have seemed a bit perplexing in light of His death, in light of what lay right before Him. What did He mean by that statement, and how is He the life?

You know what's interesting this week, as I was thinking about this sermon, there were various scriptures that were coming to mind. Sometimes when I'm putting a subject together, I think, okay, this is a biblical subject. But sometimes the number of scriptures you have might be fewer than maybe other topics. This topic is not that case. So, my work this week was actually, all right, what scriptures do I want to use out of the abundance of scriptures that refer to Jesus Christ as the life? So, I'm going to share a number of them with you today, but I'd encourage you between now and the Passover to do your own study, as in to say searches of Jesus Christ as the life, or Jesus as the eternal life, or life comes by Him or through Him. There's just really far more than would be wise to cover in one sermon, but I think you'll be amazed really how many they are if you study them. And notice the multiple references He made to Himself as the life. So, how could He be the life? And what does that mean exactly? Well, let's go back to the beginning. John 1, verse 1, we've come here a number of times in this series. This is a multifaceted string of scriptures that really have so much in them. I want to at least focus right now from the perspective of how is Jesus Christ the life? John 1, verse 1 says, Verse 4 says, It's a very important statement for us to understand because it expresses the reality of who and what the Word of God was before becoming flesh, as well as who God intended Him to be as the Savior of the world. He says, As an eternal, uncreated God-being with life inherent within Himself, which means God did not create Him. He always existed along with the Father. He simply always was from eternity. And all the other life that exists physically and spiritually did not spring forth apart from His active involvement. Again, verse 3 says, Indeed, several other Bible passages confirmed this truth. Let's notice at least a couple of them to establish this framework that Jesus Christ worked with His Father as then the agent of creation.

And we'll see this cycle of God through Jesus Christ from which life sprang forth. And we want to look at these passages as well because they expressed the life that was inherently with the Word from eternity, within Him, from eternity.

Colossians chapter 1 and verse 15.

Again, how could Jesus say, I am the life? Colossians 1 verse 15 says, So the Word became flesh. Jesus walked in the flesh.

He died for our sins, resurrected to the right hand of the Father. He has gone through the process that you and I are working our way through now. We've been converted, received His Spirit, but the fact is the day will come of our change. Jesus Christ is the firstborn over all creation, having been the first one through this process now to sit at the right hand of God.

And it says, He is the image of the invisible God. Icon. Is that word image? Icon in the Greek. You know, we kind of use that word icon. It's a different spelling, but we use it in the English. When I open my laptop up and I want to open up a program, Microsoft Word, or my web browser, I click on an icon. It's a picture that's a representation of the program. Jesus Christ is the icon of His Father. And of course, He said, if you've seen Me, if you've heard Me, if you've interacted with Me, you've seen the Father. He was that representative of Him. Verse 16 says, For by Him, by the word, all things were created that are in heaven, that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers, all things were created through Him and for Him. Verse 17, And He is before all things, and in Him all things consist, or all things are held together. Understand, God the Father is the supreme authority in the universe. It was the Word who was the creating agent of all things, bringing all life into existence.

It's a process that was of God through Jesus Christ. Salvation is the point to all of this. And as such, the creation, brethren, is not finished. This is an ongoing creation until the day that we are born into the likeness of God. As 1 John 3 says, we will see Him as He is.

Because we will be as He is, of the same form, of the same likeness. But this is an ongoing creation that is dependent upon God the Father and Jesus Christ, and this one who is not just about life, but is life. Is the life. Ephesians chapter 3, verse 9.

Ephesians chapter 3, verse 9. The Apostle Paul writing.

He's kind of breaking into the concept here, but he says, And to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery. So there's kind of a mystery that's been packaged up in this. It's a mystery that has been, we'll just say, maybe somewhat obscure, but it's being revealed. It's being opened up for understanding.

But to make all see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the ages has been hidden in God, who created all things through Jesus Christ. To the intent that now the manifold wisdom of God might be made known by the church to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. That's a very interesting statement. The revelation of this mystery, the wisdom of God being made known by the church, by the example of the church, by seeing what the church actually is walking through in fulfillment of God's purpose, it says, being to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places. The angelic realm is watching with great interest what God is doing.

Verse 11, according to the eternal purpose which he accomplished in Christ Jesus our Lord. Okay, so, of God through Jesus Christ is how this plan of salvation has been unfolding from the very beginning. As we're told elsewhere, these are things which angels desire to look into. Okay, that's 1 Peter 1 verse 12, things which angels desire to look into. Into salvation, right? They're watching. They're wondering as well, okay, how is God going to take these flesh and blood, physical human beings, and make them part of his eternal spirit family? How will that be? How will this process indeed take place? The angels themselves are observing this process with great wonder as they minister to the heirs of salvation. It is a mystery that has been revealed first through Jesus Christ, who became flesh, fully human, flesh and blood, died, physical death of a physical human being, lay in the grave for three days and three nights, resurrected to glory. So it's something that's begun to be revealed through him, something that is preached by the church today. We call it the gospel message, because the gospel is actually twofold. It's the gospel of Jesus Christ, the fact that God sent his Son to die for us so we can live, and it's the gospel of the soon-coming kingdom of God. You know, you can be a part of it. Repent. Believe in the gospel. So that is the message that is carried forward by the church, and this is a process that will soon be fully revealed in us, who are Christ at his coming. Again, when our change comes. Things that, in fact, the angels who minister to the heirs of salvation, they work at God's behest in service to his people whom he's called, but they're watching, and they're looking into this. How is God truly going to bring this to fruition? And Jesus' sacrifice began to be that the revelation, the understanding now coming out of what was in some form a mystery. Indeed, the plan for our eternal life is wrapped up in this one who existed from eternity, who was and who is life, who came in the flesh and died so that you and I can live.

1 John 1, verse 1. If you like memory scriptures, there's an interesting parallel you have between John 1-1 and 1 John 1. Speak of similar things. 1 John 1, verse 1. John says, 2 That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the word of life. 3 John, saying, The word became flesh, as being who was with God from eternity, became flesh. We saw him, we walked with him, we talked with him. We touched him with our own hands. We heard him teach. We sat around the campfire with him by night on the side of the road as we traveled place to place. We slept on the ground next to him and woke in the morning and heard more of what he had to say. John says, we've seen him, we've touched him. All right. Through God's plan of redemption, this one became flesh in order to die for the sins of the world. The title, word of life, here in verse 1, concerning the word of life, means he is the one through whom all things were created. The one who had life inherent within himself, the one in whom all things consist or are held together, he divested himself of the glory that he had with the Father, came in human form, laid that life down unto the death for the sins of the world. And I would just ask us, how incredible is that? The life died so that you could live.

Jesus Christ said, I am the way, the truth, and the life, just hours before his death. The life died so that you and I can live.

Verse 2 says, the life was manifested, and it was made known, it became apparent, he came in the flesh.

And we have seen and bear witness and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us, that which we have seen and heard and declared to you, that you also may have fellowship with us, as in, you know, if you are part of who he is, you're part of us, and we have relationship and we fellowship together, that you may have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. He's talking about a relationship here. God has called us together and we have fellowship with one another, in interaction with one another. And John says, in this, our fellowship, our relationship, is with God the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. And it is something that is so valuable to us as the people of God.

Not only did the Son come to show us the way of life, but he is the life sent forth from God for the salvation of the world. When Jesus told his disciples that he is the way, the truth, and the life, he was declaring himself to be the only instrument which God had provided to bring us into salvation in the family of God. This is what God is doing.

So, you know, my focus on walking through this sermon series here of the way, the truth, and the life isn't just to say it's all about Jesus Christ and not about the Father. Let's understand. He is what the Father is doing. This is the plan. This is what he is fulfilling.

He is the one his Father sent, the one his Father resurrected to his right hand, and we are the ones our Father is called to be in his family. Nobody comes to me, Jesus said, unless the Father who sent me draws him. And I will raise him up at the last day. This is their plan. But Jesus Christ is central to that plan, central to the salvation of all of mankind. And he sent him to be the way, the truth, and the life. Apart from him, we would not have physical life. And apart from him, we cannot have eternal life either. This is the way that God has chosen to carry this process out. There is life in no other way except through him. Indeed, that is the only option, and frankly, the perfect option, that has been made available to us as the people of God.

Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5.

Philippians chapter 2 and verse 5. Again, the Apostle Paul writing, he said, Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus. What was his mind? Well, we see as we move forward, it was a mind of humility. Verse 6.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. This is such an incredible concept to consider, brethren. I hope it never becomes common to us or insignificant. It's like, yes, we know it, front and back. Right? This is the most foundational principle of our Christian lives, to know that Christ came and died for us, but it can almost kind of become a, yeah, we know that, but it is everything. It's everything. God became man and died for us so that we can live. The life laid it down for us. That's no small thing.

And how does God respond to that? Verse 9. Verse 11.

It's always to the glory of God. This is what he is doing.

It's only through embracing this and believing in this reality of his physical life, death, and resurrection that you and I can receive eternal life.

Because again, he is the way, he is the truth, and he is the life.

And no other can claim that role which reconciles us to God except Jesus Christ.

The series of events and the sermons that we have gone through, brethren, they reflect the love of God for us.

Because this is what he has done for us.

John chapter 3 and verse 13.

Jesus speaking here to Nicodemus who had come to him by night.

Jesus says, No one has ascended to heaven, but he who came down from heaven.

And then John inserts here, that is the Son, a man who is in heaven.

You know, at the time John wrote this, Jesus had been resurrected and sitting at the right hand of the Father.

Verse 14. Sitting at the right hand of the Father.

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so, the Son, a man, must be lifted up.

Speaking of the crucifixion, the price he would pay for the sins of the world.

He says, I must be lifted up in this way.

Verse 15.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through him might be saved.

He says, he who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he is not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

Understand, apart from believing in Jesus Christ, we are all dead.

Not because not believing in Him killed us.

No, because our sins killed us, right? The rages of sin is death.

We're dead in our sins.

The only way out is to receive what God sent for us.

And if you don't receive Him, if you don't believe in Him, acknowledge Him, and come under his sacrifice through baptism, you're dead.

We're talking eternally, not a temporary physical sleep until the coming of the Lord.

It is an eternal death that ultimately takes place in the lake of fire.

If one will, with knowledge, refuse and reject the Son of God.

But He came to give us the gift of life that only comes through Him.

John chapter 8 and verse 23, they're not just sounding words that are enjoyable to the ears. These are words that are our very life.

John chapter 8 and verse 23, Jesus said to them, He says, you are from beneath. He's talking to these Jews that were following Him.

He's teaching at the temple. He's being actually challenged in a number of ways that He has said. And He said to them, you are from beneath. I am from above. You are from this world. I am not from this world. Therefore, I said to you that you will die in your sins. For if you do not believe that I am, He is italicized, but it is implied. If you do not believe that I am the Messiah, that I am the one that God sent into the world for the life of the world, you will die in your sins.

If you don't believe I am He, you will die in your sins. Romans 6, 23 tells us, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God, His eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.

So apart from accepting that relationship that comes through Him and through His sacrifice, without embracing Him as our personal Savior, we're dead in our sins with no life in us.

But these passages show something else as well, that He is the life. And if we embrace Him, if we follow Him, if we are His disciples, which is another aspect of a relationship with Jesus Christ, He is the Master, the rabbi, we are the student, we are the disciples, and we follow Him, we learn from Him, we study His life, and we seek to emulate. That's a big portion of our relationship, but apart from that, there is no life.

And it comes in no other way except through believing in the Son of God, who gave His life for the world.

Not only is He life, but your life and my life would not exist physically apart from Him, as God carried forward with this plan, and neither would our eternal life.

This is our life.

Now, during His physical ministry, Jesus also declared Himself to be the bread of life. A bread, a substance that's essential for life. He says, I am the bread of life, and it is essential for the eternal life and the spiritual life of His followers. John 6, verse 26. This is following on the heels of a miracle, Jesus fed 5,000 with physical bread. Okay, so now the masses are following Him. This guy did a great miracle. Free lunch! We like what He says, but we like what He does. Right? And 5,000 were fed, and many kind of say, where is He at today? Let's go find Him. Let's go see what He will do today. But this is the backdrop, okay? Physical bread. Also, verse 4 tells us that the Passover was approaching. So, I want you to notice the lesson that Jesus focuses on with this crowd who followed Him. John 6, verse 26.

Okay, we didn't really care to hear who this guy says He is. You know, the Messiah? Well, maybe, maybe not. But He does some pretty nifty miracles. And again, free food. Who doesn't gather for free food? Verse 27, He says, And He reinforced that through the power of the miracles and all that Jesus did that was backed by the Father. Okay, this is the evidence of who He is. Verse 28. Then they said to Him, What shall we do that may work the works of God? Jesus answered and said to them, This is the work of God, that you believe in Him whom He sent. Therefore, they said to Him, What sign will you perform, then, that we may see it and believe you? What work will you do? They're still looking for another physical miracle. They're looking for something that would be a benefit to them in the moment. But they're not even hearing what it is the message Jesus is teaching. They're looking for something completely different altogether. Verse 32.

Jesus is emphasizing here that this bread, which God provided, would do so much more than satisfy their physical hunger. This bread would actually fill the spiritual hunger they had in their lives. Ecclesiastes says that God has put eternity in our hearts. That as human beings, we grasp at something that is greater than ourselves. A future, a eternity, a life of some form, but of and by ourselves, we don't know what that is. But God created that yearning within us. He gave us His word, and He had sent His prophets before. Now He sends Jesus Christ, who is the bread, who says, if you partake of Me, this is sustenance to actually the spiritual hunger you have. In the ancient world, bread was a key part of life throughout the day, more so even than in our society today. I mean, I eat bread maybe twice a week, if I'm lucky. And some people don't eat it at all, but understand this was a fundamental part of the food group in that day. Probably breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Bread was foundational, and it sustained their life, gave them energy. It gave them, again, just that life, physically, day by day. In fact, it was such an important thing that it's part of what's typically called the Lord's Prayer. Give us this day our daily bread. And that is a physical request, but it does point us to, I believe, the spiritual fulfillment as well. But bread is mentioned all throughout the Gospels. So what's Jesus Christ's point, then, in calling Himself the true bread from heaven? Again, He's just saying, just as physical bread is essential for your physical life, I am sent from God, and partaking of Me is essential for your eternal life. Apart from Me, there is no life in you.

Verse 33, Let me reread that correctly.

Verse 34, Verse 40, The Jews then complained about Him because they said, And they said, How is it you say this? I have come down from heaven. Verse 43, It is written in the prophets, and they shall be taught by God. Therefore, everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to Me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except He who is from God, He has seen the Father. Most assuredly, I say to you, He who believes in Me has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness and are dead.

This is the bread which comes down from heaven, that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread which came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread I shall give is My flesh, which I shall give for the life of the world.

The Jews therefore quelled among themselves, saying, How can this man give us his flesh to eat? Jesus said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood, you have no life in you. And understand, this is something we do symbolically, per Jesus' direct instructions at the Passover. When we take of the bread and the wine, it's typology, okay? It's symbolism. It's not literally blood. It's not literally His flesh.

But it is a reminder annually of what we're to be doing each and every day to be partaking of the bread of life if we want to live. Again, verse 53, Most assuredly I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of God and drink His blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats My flesh and drinks My blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day.

For My flesh is food indeed, and My blood is drink indeed. He who eats My flesh and drinks My blood abides in Me, and I in him. Again, a relationship. He will abide in us. We will abide in Him. As the living Father sent Me, and I live because of the Father, so He who feeds on Me will live because of Me. This is the bread which came down from heaven, not as your fathers ate the manna and are dead.

He who eats this bread will live forever. So again, notice these different terms that Jesus applied to Himself. He said, I'm the true bread from heaven. He says, I'm the bread of God. I'm the bread of life. And I'm the living bread which came down from heaven. Living means life. His father, He says, is the living God. And He says, He sent Me. And I live because of Him, because He's in the flesh. And I'm the living bread because of what He has poured into My life.

By His Spirit and direction. Of course, Jesus Christ now lives at the right hand of the Father. But all of these titles point to the reality of who and what He is, life. And it's literally that important for us to believe it, brethren, because it is our life that is dependent upon Jesus Christ, the life. Because if we're unwilling to acknowledge who He is as the bread of life and partake of Him daily, He says, there is no life in you.

There's no other way to do it. There's no running around Him to get to the Father. He says, I am life, and I am the living bread whom God has sent, that you may partake of Me. Now, as we read through John 6, we saw another life-giving action, referenced through Jesus' words as well. Beyond dying for the sins of the world, and being the bread of life, He also mentioned the resurrection unto everlasting life. So this is part of the aspect of Jesus Christ being the life and the way He gives life to those who are His followers.

Indeed, He said more than once, I will raise Him up at the last day, right, referring to the part He will play in the resurrection at His return. Notice John 5, verse 19, just back of page. John 5 and verse 19. Then Jesus answered and said to them, Most assuredly I say to you, The Son can do nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do, for whatever He does, the Son also does in like manner.

As I've explained already through this series, Jesus Christ could do nothing of Himself as He walked the earth in the flesh. Prior to that, He was God with God, eternal being, life inherent within Himself, but He divested Himself of the glory, and He was a fully flesh and blood human being when He walked the earth. No power beyond simply what you and I have.

He was dependent fully upon the Father to provide through His Spirit what He needed, and He backed Him up with the miracles, with the power, and you'll recall Jesus Christ's even resurrection of certain individuals throughout His ministry. He says, I can't do that of Me. This comes from my Father through Me, so that you may believe, ultimately, and His will would be done. Verse 20 says, For the Father loves the Son, and shows Him all things that He Himself does, and He will show Him greater works than these that you may marvel.

For as the Father raises the dead and gives life to them, even so the Son gives life to whom He will. For the Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment to the Son, that all should honor the Son just as they honor the Father. He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him.

Most assuredly I say to you, He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. So understand, this is a package deal. You can't just say, I believe in Jesus Christ, and that's enough. It's not. He says, He who doesn't believe in Him who sent Me does not have life either.

So we must believe in the Father, and look to the Father, and worship the Father, and have a relationship with the Father. And we must believe in the Son as the One whom the Father sent for the sins of the world. And we follow Him, and we have that relationship as well. We must believe. Most assuredly I say to you, verse 24, He who hears My word and believes in Him who sent Me has everlasting life, and shall not come into judgment, but has passed from death into life. Most assuredly I say to you, the hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live.

For as the Father is life in Himself, so He has granted the Son to have life in Himself. And again, there were times where Jesus walked about in the flesh and raised people from the dead. Verse 27, and has given Him authority because He is the Son of Man. Verse 28, do not marvel at this for the hour is coming, in which all who are in the graves will hear His voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

Rather than the eternal life that Jesus Christ possesses, it's something that He desires to share with you and me. It's something the Father desires to share with you and me as His children, as the people He's bringing into His family. In days coming, Jesus said, when those who are in the grave will hear My voice, and they will indeed come forth unto life.

It's the reason He laid His life down for the sins of the world. As Jesus told Martha, just prior to raising Lazarus from the dead, He said, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though He may die, He shall live. Those are profound words. I read those words at every funeral I give, because those are words of hope. They're words that the living cling to as we grieve our loved ones who have been lost.

But you know, it is the hope of us, even as I've sat by somebody on their deathbed holding their hand. This is the hope that sustains them. Jesus says, I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though He may die, He shall live. That's John 11, verse 25.

So, brethren, is a relationship with the living bread of life important? Indeed, it is. And what does that relationship look like? Well, we're told to look to Him. We're told to believe in Him. We're told to follow Him. We're told to hear Him. We're told to learn from Him. We're told to partake of Him. And we're told to abide in Him, a relationship. They're scriptures for each and every one of those points. This is what a relationship with Jesus Christ looks like. It is an active and dynamic relationship we must focus on every day, because without it, we have no life in us. We partake of that bread of life. And we must each and every day. When we look to Jesus Christ, He points us to the Father. And when we look to the Father, we see the oneness by which they have worked together in this plan of salvation from before the foundation of the world. It is what they are doing to bring many sons and daughters to glory in the family of God. And you can't do it without one, and you can't do it without the other. They are together, existing as a family today, bringing more sons and daughters into that family for eternity. But you and I, flesh and blood, cannot inherit the kingdom of God. It requires life, eternal life, in you. 1 John 5, verse 9.

1 John 5, verse 9. John says, If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater. For this is the witness of God which he has testified of his Son. He who believes in the Son of God has the witness in himself. He who does not believe God has made him a liar because he has not believed the testimony that God has given of his Son. And this is the testimony, the Father gives of his Son, that God has given us eternal life. And this life is in his Son. He who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God. On the final night of Jesus Christ's physical life on earth, he told his disciples about his impending death, but he also told them, I am the life. I am the life. He had told them that he was going to lay his life down for the sheep and then take it back up again through resurrection, that his Father would restore to him the glory. And you recall on that final night, he prayed to his Father, restore to me the glory I had with you before the world was. He had told them these things. They really did not fully understand until later.

He had spoken of his authority over life and death as granted to him by his Father, and he had given them the promise that because I live, he said, you will live also. As I said, there are so many scriptures that you could go to that we don't have time to cover today, but they are scriptures of life. Study them, internalize them, and believe them. Because I live, Jesus said, you will live also. The deliverance Jesus was about to provide through the event of the Passover was not a social or political deliverance. That's what the Jews were seeking, by and large. Someone to throw the Roman boot of oppression off their neck and to lead a revolt and to establish the glory of Israel as the shining nation in the world in their day. That's what they were looking for, but that's not what he was bringing.

It was a true deliverance from a life of bondage to sin and death, and to a life of freedom and eternity. As the way, the truth, and the life, Jesus is the Father's instrument to do these things. He is the one whom God sent.

Because he died for us and rose again, we have a very certain life eternal laid before us as well, as long as you and I, brethren, commit this life to remaining dedicated, to remaining faithful and to the end. Let's conclude in Colossians chapter 3, verse 1. Let's see the summation of all of this, of who he is and the blessing that will be for you and I. In Colossians chapter 3 and verse 1, Paul says, He says, Again, that's speaking to our converted lives in him. Verse 4 says, Brethren, this is the ultimate expression of Jesus Christ as the way, the truth, and the life.

And it vividly highlights what the future reality of this is and what it means for you and for me.

Jesus says, yes, because I live, you will live also.