Gospel—R. Thonney
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Let's turn to John's Gospel, chapter 14.
To begin.
John chapter 14 and verse 6.
Jesus sat unto him.
I am the Way, the Truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but.
By me. Let me read that once more. Make sure you're listening. These are the very words of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Jesus says unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Here the Lord Jesus was talking to his disciples when he was here in this world, and he was telling them that he was getting ready to go back to the Father.
And he said the way you know.
And they said, how can we know the way we do not know it? And Jesus gave these wonderful words of life.
I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No man cometh unto the Father, but by me. How important it is to understand that if you are going.
To heaven. It is through Jesus. There is absolutely no other way.
He is the way. My purpose tonight is to focus mainly on that second part that He said the truth. I am the truth.
Somebody has said without the way, there's no going. Without the truth, there's no knowing. Without the life, there's no growing.
Oh, how we need Jesus.
How important.
How simple, how profound these words you know we're living in a day.
Pluralism. Anything goes. Your idea is as good as mine, and the idea of absolute truth is rejected.
And it's because.
The culture we live in is humanistic. If it is a matter of my idea and your idea, I can understand why you think your idea is better than my idea. But you know it's not a matter of my idea or your idea. It is a matter of a standard that is absolute. Jesus said I am the way. There is no other way.
I am the truth. There is no truth outside of Him. I am the life. There is no living outside of Jesus.
Oh, how important it is to understand that.
Truth, when we speak of it in the absolute sense, it's connected with the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, because he said I am the truth.
It also says.
Sanctify them through thy Word. Thy word is truth. So it's truth in the absolute sense is found in Jesus, is found in the precious Word of God.
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Is there truth in me? I hope so, but I sure wouldn't want to be pointing to myself when I talk about the truth.
No, you're going to find it in its absolute sense. It is in Jesus his person. Oh, how wonderful to know that we're not talking here about.
Religion.
We're not debating which religion is better than another.
We're talking about a person and that person said I am the truth in the sense we're Speaking of it here. It is the most exclusive thing possible. It excludes all other options. Absolutely impossible that there be any other remedy for mankind than this one. Who says I am the way, the truth.
And the life.
You know, in today's world, it scares me when I see young people and children trained and they spend a lot of time.
In front of a TV screen and there they see.
Stories make believe stories of all sorts and sizes.
And then they see the news, something that is supposed to be presented as factual, true.
But you know, what I see increasingly is a generation that is coming up that has no way to distinguish between what is true and what is false.
That's why it's so important that you and I understand.
Where to stand in relation to God? It has to be on the ground of truth.
Now, we used to live in South America.
For about 16 years in the country of Bolivia.
And supposing while I lived there, I was arrested and taken to justice.
In that country they have their own political constitution, and as I'm taken to justice, I would be judged by their political constitution. I might say to them, hey, I'm an American in the United States, we can do that. What would they tell me? They would say you are on Bolivian territory. You will be judged by Bolivian law there.
And I just want to say to everyone present here tonight, when we're dealing with God and God's Word and the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, you are not at liberty to be deciding the standard upon which you will be judged. In the end, that standard is already settled. Jesus is the truth, and Jesus came into this world so that we can know who he.
Is oh how important it is to know Jesus?
I know almost everyone in here as I look around the room are people who have sat in gospel meetings like this before.
And who know about the truth? My concern is that it is not sufficient to know about the truth. You must know it intimately. You must have received this truth. Your eternal destiny depends on what you do with this truth. The one who said I am the way, the truth.
And the life. What have you done with Jesus?
You know it's.
So focused on the fact that everyone has their own rights.
That sometimes people think they have the liberty to just understand it in the minds without really truly coming to grips with the issue of your sins before God. I want to say that Jesus is unavoidable.
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You will meet Jesus. Every single person that has ever lived on planet earth will need Jesus.
Here's the truth. You cannot avoid it. Impossible.
Oh, how important to come to the grips with that issue here and now.
In this lifetime, because now there's salvation for those that receive Him as their Savior, the time is going to come.
When those who have rejected him are going to stand before him.
Like it or not, believe it or not, you will come face to face with Jesus. It is unavoidable. Have you thought about it?
Like to go back to the first chapter of John's Gospel?
And let's read a few verses here.
John chapter one, verse one.
In the beginning, you know, it's really important to start at the beginning. Sometimes we don't start at the beginning and therefore we don't understand things very well. But here we start in the beginning.
Was the Word and the Word was with God and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God.
Who is this word that it speaks about?
In verse 14 it tells us.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glories of the only Begotten of the Father.
Full of grace and truth.
So this word is a person.
An eternal person, the eternal Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, the full expression of all that God is.
You know, I have a thought in my mind.
And if you're just going to look at me and I don't say anything, you don't know what I'm thinking. But I express my thought to you using words.
And you will come to understand what I'm thinking.
God is so immense, so infinite in His being, there was no way that human beings could understand who He was and what His thoughts are.
Until Jesus came, He is the word of God. He is the full expression of all that God is.
And he came into this world. It's history. It's historical fact we're talking about. We're not talking about philosophy and ideas. We're talking about historical fact.
The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory of the only Begotten of the Father.
Full of grace and truth. You know, we're saying that song God is light and God is love.
He was full of grace. That's the expression of the fact that God is love and truth. That's the expression of the fact that God is light. In other words, in his presence you can hide absolutely nothing.
Since people think they have the liberty to establish the norms of their own judgment, people like to accommodate themselves. We live in a democracy and supposedly we think we're at liberty to do such things. Again, I say, friend, that you may be in the United States of America, you may have that liberty, but when we're dealing with God.
We're dealing with someone who you cannot avoid, and those questions of your sins must be exposed, will be exposed, every single one of them.
We heard in the meeting this afternoon about lying. That's very common in the country we live in all over the world.
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A lie was the first thing that entered the church in the book of the Acts.
Serious before God? Why is it so serious to tell a lie? Because God is true, and every lie is an insult to God.
I have to plead guilty.
Charge of lying. Not only the brother that spoke this afternoon. I've told lies, sorry to say it.
But.
We are dealing with a God who is a God of truth.
And he is a God not only of truth, but he is a God of grace. And we want to talk about that as we go through the book of John a little bit and the Lord Jesus meets different individuals there. You know, it's grace and truth.
We tend to be lopsided. Maybe we get off on the side of truth and we're real rigid.
And we don't show any grace. Or maybe we get on the side of grace and we compromise the principles of truth.
That the imbalance of our human nature. But here was one who was completely perfect. Here was one who is the truth.
Oh, how wonderful as he meets with each one. Nothing escaped his view, nothing could be hidden from him. But at the same time, he had not come to condemn, he had come to say.
So full of grace and truth. Verse 17 says the law was given by Moses, but grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.
Truth is the expression of that which is.
The Lord Jesus being the truth, was the living expression of everything he said.
In the 8th chapter of this book.
He was asked Who art thou? And he said everything I said unto you from the beginning.
He was the full expression of everything he said. He was the truth.
So let's go over to the book, to the third chapter, and here we find him meeting up with different people. In the book of John's Gospel, he meets with individuals. Let me say this to each one Here you have to deal with God on an individual basis.
Yeah, you might be a part of a Christian family. Thank God for a Christian family, but that does not save you in itself. You yourself have to deal with God about your own sins. You are responsible. Don't try to push the responsibility off on somebody else.
Here we have a man, Chapter 3, verse one. There was a man of the Pharisees named Nicodemus.
A ruler of the Jews the same came to Jesus by night, and said unto him, Rabbi, we know that thou art a teacher come from God, for no man can do these miracles, that thou doest, except God be with him. Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I sent to thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot see the Kingdom of God. Nicodemus says unto him, How can a man be born when he is old?
Can he enter into the second, the second time into his mother's womb, and be born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
There was a man that came to Jesus, a ruler, a man of position, a religious man. He was of the Pharisees, the most zealous sect of the Jewish people at that time.
And he begins to talk to Jesus. Sounds pretty good what he has to say. We know that thou art a teacher. Come from God, where no one can do these miracles that thou doest except God. Be with him. Pretty good religious talk.
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Jesus, in effect says, you know Nicodemus.
All your religion, all your social position when it comes to the Kingdom of God.
Has no effect whatsoever. If you want to see the Kingdom of God, If you want to enter the Kingdom of God, you must be born again. You've got to start right at the beginning.
All your rank, all your position has no meaning when it comes.
To the Kingdom of God. And so it is. We are all born into this world, but we are born with a life and a nature.
That likes to sin. That's the nature we're born with from our parents, right from Adam on down.
You will never be able to go into heaven.
You will never enter the Kingdom of God with that nature that was born into sin. If you want to enter the Kingdom of God, you must be born again. That was strange to Nicodemus, he says. How can that be?
And Jesus says, and this is beautiful in verse 5, Verily, verily I say into thee, except the man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. Two things, water and the Spirit.
Lots of people think that the water is baptism. We're not here talking against baptism. Baptism is important. But this is not talking about baptism. This is talking about the Word of God. Peter says in his epistle being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible by the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.
I was born the first time by corruptible seed. My body's wearing out. I was born and raised here in Walla Walla. I enjoy this place, but you notice I've got quite a few Gray hairs on my head now. My right knee is kind of bum on me.
Why? Because I was born of corruptible seed. I needed to be born again, and that happened. How did that happen? By the Word of God and by the Spirit of God. God takes His word. It is the incorruptible seed, and by the Spirit of God applies it to your heart. That's why it's so important to listen.
To what God has to say in his word. I don't mind if you don't want to listen to me, but I played with you. Listen to what God has to say, because that's the way God imparts life and when God says something.
Accept His word into the depths of your heart and soul, because even though you may not understand it all, God is true.
He does not lie. He could not be God and lie because he is the true God.
You can trust Him, so when he speaks, believe it. God takes that word and imparts life through the Holy Spirit in the soul that hears His word.
How often in scripture it says he that hath ears to hear, let him hear? I haven't noticed. I like to look around as I'm speaking, but I often notice that there are people that are here.
But they're trying their best to try to ignore what is being said.
Young person, are you ignoring what God is saying? It is important that you listen.
I've told it before, but when I first went back to Chicago to live, there was a lady that used to come to the gospel meetings.
A very nice lady of that neighborhood where the meeting room was, and she would come and sit there through the meeting, but it was evident that she was trying to put her attention on anything else but what was being said.
She would look around to see who had a new hat on or a new blouse on to be occupied with anything but the word of God.
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What I say tonight is not that important. What God says in His Word is extremely important because that's what God uses to impart new life to the soul that listens, that hears.
Been my privilege to see souls.
Come into the light in that way.
Remember a man in Mexico? Southern Mexico? Oaxaca state?
And he was sitting there in the gospel meeting while the gospel was being preached.
And after the meeting, he just kept right on sitting there. He didn't get up to go like most of the other people did.
Finally, Brother Alarcon said. What do you have to say about the message you heard tonight?
He says, you know.
It's so wonderful. All this time I didn't understand, but tonight the windows opened and the light came in. I see it now, I understand it.
God had found a listening ear and an imparted life to that person. Are you listening? That's the way a person is born. Again, you may not understand or not know exact time frames. That's not the important thing. The important thing is to listen. Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God.
So it does seem by the record we have in the rest of the John's gospel that Nicodemus the Word got into his soul and he was born again, because later on he comes out on the Lord's side.
That was the light shining in, but what about the love part?
Go down to verse 16 for God.
So loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
Yes, it's wonderful to have that new life in Christ, but what about those sins I've committed? Can God just pass lightly over them and say, well, we're just going to sweep them under the rug and we won't worry about them? Is that what God does?
God cannot treat sin lightly. Not little one little white lie will ever enter heaven.
Absolutely not. If you get away from God's notice, it would call in question His own righteous character. Can't happen, won't happen.
Every sin that has ever been committed on planet earth must receive its just penalty from the hand of God.
Can't be otherwise.
Those sins you've committed and long forgotten about? They've got to be paid for.
And God so he wouldn't have to condemn me to the lake of fire forever.
Sent his own son. He gave his only begotten son. God had one son. I have two sons. I'd have a tough time given even one of them to die for somebody else.
God had one son, and he gave him so that we could have eternal life. The Lord Jesus came into this world.
And at the end of his life went to the cross to pay the price of our redemption.
You know the story, but I want to tell it to you anyhow because it displays who God is. It displays the truth of who God is. And God can't. Passover 1 little sin I've committed can't do it.
As Jesus was hanging on that cross, suffering those awful abuses.
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Let's turn to John's Gospel chapter.