SERMON: “Exclusivity in a Pluralistic Age: Affirming Christ Alone” (John 14:4–6)
“Exclusivity in a Pluralistic Age:
Affirming Christ Alone” (John 14:4–6)
Series: “John:
Life in Christ’s Name” Text:
John
14:4–6
By: Shaun
Marksbury Date:
April
14, 2024
Venue: Living
Water Baptist Church Occasion:
AM Service
I.
Introduction
As many of you know, we just had a funeral for someone who was a part of our church family. It was encouraging to see that, even though it was Pastor Jorge’s grandmother, he preached the message for her. And, of course, he did a wonderful job, including many illustrations from her life and the shared experiences of his family, showing how she paralleled Proverbs 31. His love for her was clear in his passionate presentation.
He
also did something in his funeral sermon some might find controversial. Rather than just keeping his words about
heaven and God general, he spoke about the need for salvation. He even addressed the fact that there is no
hope in praying to Mary and the saints, as the Roman Catholic Church teaches. Instead, a person must believe in Christ
alone to be saved. I applaud that,
because funerals are the one time when people are thinking about death and
their eternal destinies, so the time is opportune for them to hear about the
gospel of Jesus Christ.
Yet,
many find such presentations distasteful, even many Christians. Some tend to think they’re being gracious by
allowing people to think they can get to God on their own — many times, because
they believing there are multiple ways to God. We live in a society with many ideas about
faith, and this pluralistic mindset has entered the church. As someone succinctly noted[1], according to Ligonier’s State of Theology
survey, most American evangelicals believe:
·
The Bible is not literally true (77%)
·
Jesus was created by God (82%)
·
Everyone is born innocent (72%)
·
God accepts all religions (68%)
·
The Holy Spirit is a force (70%)
·
God learns (61%).
This
means that the American evangelical church has lost much of anything
distinctive. If over two-thirds of
evangelicalism thinks the Bible is inclusive in regards to differing faiths and
traditions, one wonders what kind of message is proclaimed from pulpits these
days! Obviously, the problem starts with
a lack of belief in the Bible, but that is a subject for another day; assuming
the inspiration and infallibility of Scripture, is the Bible inclusive and
pluralistic?
To
answer that, we’ll be considering what Jesus taught, because we don’t want to
misrepresent Him. This morning, we’ll
see that Jesus did teach that there is only one way, calling us to believe in
His exclusivity. Because of that, we’ll first
recognize Jesus as the only path of salvation (v. 4), and we’ll second recognize
Jesus as the only path to the Father (vv. 5–6).
Let’s consider the first of these.
II.
First, Recognize Jesus as the Only Path of
Salvation (v. 4)
“And you know the way where I am going.”
This
follows Jesus’s words of comfort about heaven and His return. In vv. 1–3, Jesus encouraged them to believe
in Him like they believe in God, for He goes to prepare a place for them. He said, “If I go and prepare a place for
you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” These are tremendously encouraging words for
all believers, no matter what they are going through.
However,
these words are promises only to those who believe in Jesus Christ with the
same faith that they would give to God.
Remember that He’s alone with His disciples as He says this. The crowds aren’t there to hear this. The Pharisees, Sadducees, and chief priests
are all absent. Jesus is only speaking
to His followers now, which already indicates that the way isn’t pluralistic
but singular.
So,
He’s speaking of going away, and this isn’t the first time. Several times through the gospel accounts He
has indicated this. He had supernatural
insight into this, and He says in v. 28, “You heard that I said to you, ‘I go
away, and I will come to you.’ If you
loved Me, you would have rejoiced because I go to the Father, for the Father is
greater than I.” There are benefits to
His going away, starting with His work on the cross.
This
is where we lose some people. For
instance, false accounts about Jesus began appearing in the second and third
centuries about the life and teachings of Jesus called the Gnostic Gospels. Among other things, these spurious works peddled
the story that Jesus was not crucified. Because
many Gnostics thought Jesus was just an emanation from God, a being who only appeared
to be here like a projection from the spirit world and who never took on human
flesh, they thought He could not die on the cross. Thus, when the time of crucifixion came, they
thought He either just pretended or He had someone take His place on the cross.
Interestingly,
Mohammed encountered a version of this Gnostic thinking. As such, the Quran states that Jesus was here
bodily, but in Surah An-Nisa (4:157), it says the people were boasting, “ ‘We
killed the Messiah, Jesus, son of Mary, the messenger of Allah.’ But they neither killed nor crucified him — it
was only made to appear so. Even those
who argue for this crucifixion are in doubt. They have no knowledge whatsoever —
only making assumptions. They
certainly did not kill him.” So, Muslims
believe today that Jesus was not crucified, but that He ascended into heaven
bodily. You may see this on popular
social media sites like TikTok, with videos even suggesting that there’s a
conspiracy to make the world falsely believe that Jesus was crucified.
There
certainly are a lot of ideas about Jesus in our culture, but what does the
Bible say? Consider first that Jesus
predicted His crucifixion. He said in
Mark 9:31, “The Son of Man is to be delivered into the hands of men, and they
will kill Him; and when He has been killed, He will rise three days later.” He predicted death, yet, not just any death (like
by stoning). He repeatedly predicted in John
that He’d be “lifted up” (John 3:14; 8:28; 12:32), which people eventually
understood to be a reference to His death (12:33–34). He also predicts, not death by hanging executed
by His fellow Jews, but execution by the Gentiles (e.g., Luke 18:32). In Matthew 20:18–19, Jesus, referring to
Himself as the Son of Man, predicted He would be condemned by “the chief
priests and scribes” and handed over to the Gentiles “to mock and scourge and
crucify Him, and on the third day He
will be raised up.” He also predicts
this in Matthew 26:2, telling them when He’ll be crucified. Jesus said it in a number of ways: He would
die by the hands of the Gentiles through crucifixion.
Moreover,
all the Gospels describe the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (Matt. 27:35–54; Mark
15:25–39; Luke 23:23–49; John 19:16–37), offering four lines of independent
testimony. An angel later reports to the
women at the tomb that Jesus had indeed been crucified (Matt 28:5; Mark 16:6;
24:7). The resurrected Lord Jesus
Himself, when to Emmaus, confirms He suffered these things on the road,
explaining there how it fulfilled Scripture (Luke 24:25–27). Peter later preached that Jesus was crucified
(Acts 2:23, 36; 4:10). After Paul had
converted, he preached the same (1 Cor. 2:2–8; 15:3–7), even making the crucifixion
of Christ a vital component of his Christian identity (Gal. 2:20; 6:14). Anyone teaching Jesus was not crucified
disagrees with the Lord Jesus Himself, angelic testimony, and the consensus of
the Lord’s apostles.
Jesus
would go by way of crucifixion. He just
told them He would be betrayed (John 13:21).
He told them He is about out of time with them, and they will not see
Him any longer (v. 33). He expects them
to see the connection between His predictions and what He is telling them now
about going away.
It’s
a lot for them to take in at that time, though they obviously understood it
later. The crucifixion was so important
because this would be the God-ordained means of taking care of sin. God is completely just, but He does not
desire that everyone is cast into hell as penalty for their sin. As such, He provides atonement; He pours out
his wrath and demand for death upon an innocent sacrifice. And, as John the Baptist prophetically
proclaimed, Jesus is “the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!”
(John 1:29).
Jesus
is the only path to salvation because He’s the only one God provided. There is no one else who would atone for sin. If that’s not clear yet, it will be with our
next point:
III.
Second, Recognize Jesus as the Only Path to the
Father (vv. 5–6)
Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know
where You are going, how do we know the way?” Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the
truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
Again,
the disciples didn’t quite understand that Jesus was going to die for their
sins. They’re so focused on the promise
of the coming Kingdom that they failed to see the need for Jesus to die first to
obtain their salvation. Thus, Thomas
asks his question.
It’s not from disrespect. Thomas had previously said that they should follow Jesus to Jerusalem to die together with Him (John 11:16). Here, he calls Him “Lord” (he’ll later add to that, calling Jesus, “My Lord and My God” in John 20:28, but he hasn’t yet seen the resurrected Lord). So, he respects Jesus, though he doesn’t quite believe that Jesus’s death is necessary, asking the rhetorical question how they could know where Jesus is going.
In
response, Jesus gives another of His emphatic “I am” statements, which He’s
given throughout this Gospel. In John
8:12, He says, “I am the Light of the world; he who follows Me will not walk in
the darkness, but will have the Light of life.”
In John 10:7 and 9, He says, “I am the door of the sheep … I am the
door; if anyone enters through Me, he will be saved, and will go in and out and
find pasture.” In John 10:14, He says,
“I am the good shepherd, and I know My own and My own know Me.” In John 11:25–26, He says, “I am the
resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and
everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” He’s given exclusive claims until this point,
so it shouldn’t surprise us what is coming next.
He
says He is the way. This statement excludes
the possibility that anyone comes to God except through Him. As Ephesians 2:18 says, “through Him we both
have our access in one Spirit to the Father.”
As 1 Timothy 2:5 says, “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus” — not Moses, not Mary, not Mohammed, not
Joseph Smith, not any of the million-plus gods of Hinduism, and certainly not
yourself and the power of your positive thinking. Jesus is the only way.
Jesus
Himself says this. In fact, so vital is
the language of “the way” here that ancient Christians identified themselves by
it. In Acts 9:2, Saul seeks “any
belonging to the Way.” When some of the
Jews of the synagogue of Ephesus grew hard-hearted and disobedient, they began
“speaking evil of the Way” (Acts 19:9). That
spilled out into the city, and v. 23 says, “About that time there occurred no
small disturbance concerning the Way.”
Later, as Paul gives his testimony, he says that he “persecuted this Way
to the death.” In 24:14, Paul says he
serves the God of their fathers “according to the Way,” which “they call a
sect” (it’s not a sect of Judaism, a way, but rather, the Way!). The name Christian also began in the early
church, originally as a derogatory term (Acts 11:26), but the definitive term “Way”
affirms in Christ as the sole fulfillment of God’s purposes for salvation
and life. Jesus is the way, and we’re
followers of the Way.
Jesus
also says He is the truth. What is
truth, though, as Pilate would ask? This
is a divine term, for as John 3:33 says, “God is true.” So is Jesus.
Truth
is also a description of the Word of God.
Jesus Christ is the “Word” (John 1:1–3, 14), the means God used to speak
(Heb. 1:1–2). He’ll return one day,
striking dead the unrighteous with the words of His mouth, for He is called
“The Word of God” (Rev. 19:13, 15). His
truth transforms our worship and fills the inner man; as Colossians 3:16 says,
“Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you.” His truth comes to believers who receive His
word and “the Spirit of Truth” (v. 13).
He is the truth.
Just
like today, those who lived back then wouldn’t have known the truth outside of
Christ. As one resource notes, “Since
there were divergent Jewish traditions, it was difficult for the Jewish person
of the first century to know which tradition was Yahweh’s will.”[2] Many
people today not only recognize the number of divergent traditions in our
culture, but also think that multiple kinds of truth can exist
side-by-side. Thankfully, Jesus came
full of grace and truth (John 1:14), and He didn’t say, “Live your truth;” He
said He is the truth.
Jesus
also said He is the life. This, too,
is a divine claim. As Psalm 36:9 says, “For
with You is the fountain of life.” Now, that is a description of God the Son!
What
does “life” mean? Every person lives,
but they do so without any sense of relationship or purpose in God. So, this means more than simply living, the
existence of biological activity. Jesus alone
offers life, for “In Him was life, and the life was the Light of men” (John 1:4). Jesus said to Martha, “I am the resurrection
and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who
lives and believes in Me will never die. Do you believe this?” (11:25–26). We can have eternal life, but only in Jesus
Christ.
Eternal
life is not just life in heaven. This is
life that changes how we live now. In
Romans 6:11, the Lord says, “Even so consider yourselves to be dead to sin, but
alive to God in Christ Jesus.” We don’t
have to live like we used to; we have put these things off, so we can, as
Colossians 3:1–3 says, “Therefore if you have been raised up with Christ, keep
seeking the things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on the things above, not on the
things that are on earth. For you have
died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.” The new life can change how we live today, if
we walk by faith.
If
all of what Jesus has said hasn’t been sufficiently clear, Jesus then said that
“no one comes to the Father but through Me.”
Only in Jesus, we can know the only way to God, we can know the
unchanging truth of God, and we can have eternal life with God. He is the sum and total of the revelation of
and means to God, and we as Christians cannot reject that teaching.
IV.
Conclusion
People who claim to be Christian today want to be nice. Perhaps they just don’t want to make
waves. Maybe they believe Jesus just
includes other people because they think He’s really nice. Maybe they think God universally accepts all. One thing is certain — living in a
pluralistic society has made many professed believers soft when it comes to the
hard claims of Christ.
Don’t mishear me: We still speak the truth in love. However, the truth isn’t up for negotiation,
and it’s unloving to hide the exclusive claims of Christ. As the Reformation Study Bible notes here, “To
imagine and proclaim other ways is to mislead people and forget the necessity
of His coming and redemption (Acts 4:12; Rom. 10:14, 15; 1 John 5:12).” There is no other religious leader that can
save you. There are no rituals or words
or incantations or even prayers which can save you. Jesus says there is no other way, except
through Him.
He is the eternal Word, the Son of God who would become
flesh to be the Lamb of God. He speaks
in Isaiah 45:21–22, saying, “Declare and set forth your case; indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, a
righteous God and a Savior; there is none except Me. Turn to Me and be saved, all the ends of the
earth; for I am God, and there is no other.” That same Lord speaks now in John 14:6, and He
says, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father
but through Me.” Will you believe Him,
or do you think you have the better way, truth, and life?
[1] Pastor Gabriel Hughes, @WWUTTcom, Oct 2, 2023, https://twitter.com/WWUTTcom/status/1709016891107209518. The findings
are available at https://thestateoftheology.com/.
[2] John D. Barry, Douglas Mangum, Derek R. Brown, Michael
S. Heiser, Miles Custis, Elliot Ritzema, Matthew M. Whitehead, Michael R.
Grigoni, and David Bomar, Faithlife
Study Bible, (Bellingham, WA:
Lexham Press, 2012, 2016), Jn 14:6.