This lesson was taught during the Sunday school hour by J.C. Van't Land as part of the series Tough Teachings of Jesus. The audio for the lesson can be found here.
a. This morning we're going to have our 7th and final lesson on "Tough Teachings of Jesus." We have by no means covered all of Jesus' tough teachings, because really everything that He taught was a difficult lesson on some level for some group of people. b. Who is Jesus? Who does the world say that Jesus is? c. Most of the world recognizes that He was a real person who lived approximately 2,000 years ago. This is evidenced by the fact that our entire accounting of years revolves around His life. Before Christ, and In the Year of our Lord. BC and AD. He must have had some influence if that is the case. d. Was He a great teacher? Some sort of prophet? Someone who could heal? Some sort of moral authority? Or was He more than that? e. Many religions identify Him as at least one of these things. But Christians identify Him as much more than that. Our religion's name is based on Jesus' name. And it is this distinction that separates Christianity from all other religions. f. Let's turn to John 14:1-11 for the passage that we'll be talking about this morning. II. The Difficulty of Jesus' Teaching. a. John 14:1-11: "Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In my Father's house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And 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. And where I go you know, and the way you know." Thomas said to Him, "Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?" Jesus said to him, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also; and from now on you know Him and have seen Him." Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us." Jesus said to him, "Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; so how can you say, 'Show us the Father?' Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me? The words that I speak to you I do not speak on My own authority; but the Father who dwells in Me does the works. Believe Me that I am in the Father and the Father in Me, or else believe Me for the sake of the works themselves." b. Why was it difficult for the disciples to understand that Jesus and the Father are One? They had been with Jesus for so long, and they still could not wrap their heads around the fact that Jesus was the Son of God and that He and the Father were One and the same. i. It can be difficult to think of this-2 Beings as one, much less 3 Beings as one. It makes my head hurt sometimes just thinking about how the Trinity can exist. 3 in 1 and 1 in 3. c. The first interaction in this passage takes place between Jesus and Thomas. Thomas claims that they (the disciples) do not know the way to the Father. i. How does Jesus respond to this inquiry? He could have said, "Repent of your sin, follow the Law, obey God, love your neighbor, and be saved." But this is not the way that He prescribes. ii. He says "I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me." iii. This is where Christianity differs from all other world religions: our works do not save us. We only have access to the Father through another person, one of the Members of the Triune God. d. The second skeptic in the passage is Philip who struggled with unbelief. After Jesus says that if you know Christ then you know the Father, Philip still asks for Jesus to show them the Father. He did not take Jesus' word at face value and did not believe despite the signs that had been shown them. Jesus had laid it out for them plain and simple: He and the Father were One. The only way to access the Father was through Christ. Simple. i. At this point in His life, Jesus had turned water into wine, calmed a storm, walked on water, given sight to the blind, fed over 5,000 people with a five loaves and two fish, raised Lazarus from the dead, and conducted countless other miracles. The disciples had been with Him for these miracles; they experienced them; they had even been on the receiving end of some of the miracles. ii. Jesus tells Philip that if he can't believe what Jesus is saying, if he doesn't think He has this authority, then at least believe because of all of the miracles that Philip has seen Him do. iii. This is reminiscent of Jesus' parable of the rich man and Lazarus. When the rich man is tormented in Hades, he begs Moses to send Lazarus back from the dead to testify to his five brothers. Abraham responds "They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.' And he [the rich man] said, 'No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.' But he said to him, 'If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.'" iv. Jesus did miracles to help prove that He was the Son of God. People saw the miracles and still didn't believe. People saw Him rise from the dead and still didn't believe. Even His own disciples didn't believe, though they had seen the majority of His miracles and saw Him rise from the dead. a. The passage that we read in John 14 ultimately begs the question: who is Jesus, really? This is the questions that the disciples are struggling with. The disciples knew Him on a familiar level. They probably recognized Him as some sort of moral teacher and authority. They obviously had some sort of respect for Him, since they all left their professions, dropped what they were doing, and followed Him when He commanded. Like we just talked about, they had seen Him perform many miracles and teach great and wonderful things, putting even the smartest religious elite to shame in what must have been spectacular debates. b. Was Jesus a great teacher? A moral person? A good example? A prophet? He was all of those things, but if that's where His identity stops, if that's all He was, then He was also a lunatic because a great, moral teacher who is not God would not claim to be God the way that Jesus does in this passage and in so many others. c. Our church holds to what the Westminster Confession of Faith says about the Holy Trinity: "In the unity of the Godhead there be three persons, of one substance, power, and eternity; God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost. The Father is of none, neither begotten nor proceeding; the Son is eternally begotten of the Father; the Holy Ghost eternally proceeding from the Father and the Son." d. It takes all three Persons of the Trinity to make up the triune and true God. Without any one of the three, we would not have God. e. John Calvin comments on this passage: "The whole may be summed up thus: 'If any man turn aside from Christ, he will do nothing but go astray; if any man do not rest on him, he will feed elsewhere on nothing but wind and vanity; if any man, not satisfied with him alone, wishes to go farther, he will find death instead of life'…For Christ proves that he is the life, because God, with whom is the fountain of life, (Psalm 36:9) cannot be enjoyed in any other way than in Christ. Wherefore all theology, when separated from Christ, is not only vain and confused, but is also mad, deceitful, and spurious; for, though the philosophers sometimes utter excellent sayings, yet they have nothing but what is short-lived, and even mixed up with wicked and erroneous sentiments." f. The bottom line is, if we worship a god that doesn't include Christ (or any One of the Three), we worship a false god. g. Religion that is separated from the True Christ is no religion at all. h. We must have an accurate understanding of who Jesus is if we want to know who God is. His disciples did not have the understanding until after the ascension. They found His teaching incredibly difficult that He and the Father were one. i. Today, people still have difficulty believing Jesus' claim that He and the Father are One and that He is the only way to the Father. IV. The Fruits of Inaccuracy. a. What happens when we don't believe that Jesus and the Father are one? Where does this belief lead us? b. We get the idea that "all gods are the True God." Or "as long as you believe in a (any) god and do the right thing, you'll end up in heaven." Or "if we just love everyone, it doesn't matter who Jesus is to you." These are all beliefs that people have told me they hold to. i. Side-note: if you ask, "who is Jesus to YOU?" then you're not truly seeking the Christ of the Bible. If you ask who He is to you, then you're going to make Him into whatever imaginary figure you want Him to be (and that imaginary figure will more than likely not demand anything uncomfortable of you and that imaginary figure most assuredly did not bear the weight of our sin). We need to ask "who is Jesus," and only by answering that question will we see how He relates to us. c. When I was in college, I spent a couple months of one summer in Ghana on a school-funded trip with a non-profit (and non-Christian) organization. I was there with 8 other people, 2 of whom were Christians, 2 Atheists, 2 Hindus, and 2 non-committal. The village we stayed in was completely Muslim, as was the family that we stayed with. Needless to say, we had many interesting debates and my eyes were opened, me being a kid from a small Christian, conservative farming town. Growing up I kind of thought these other religions were a fantasy because I'd never met anyone other than Christians. I think that's a great way to grow up. Aware of false religions, but protected from them. d. One of the Hindus and I talked a lot about religion, and I continually shared the Gospel with her, and tried to lay out the reason for the Christian faith as best I could. e. She continued to say things to the effect of "we all worship the same god," and "I like to think of life as all of us walking through the forest. We all take different paths, but in the end we all end up in the meadow on the other side." Now that sounds nice and loving and would make for a good bumper sticker, but it really makes no sense. f. I tried several times to lovingly point out a grievous error in the logic (or lack of logic) of her thinking-mainly, that the God of my religion says that He is the only way, so how can that religion mesh with her thinking that all religions lead to the same place? Also, if all religions are the same, then why don't we all believe the same thing? The Muslim faith commands them to kill anyone who isn't a Muslim, so how does that belief/command jive with what she just stated. g. At one point in our trip, all of the people in the group wanted to pray with our Muslim family during one of their daily prayers. I was a little bewildered, especially by the Atheists, who were probably the 2 most excited people in the group to pray. They all begged me to pray with them, but I politely declined. I still to this day ponder on who the Atheists thought they were praying to and if the Hindus thought that they were praying to the same god as the Muslims and if the Christians who went thought they were praying to the same god as the Muslims, or if they were truly praying to the God of the Bible. h. That was a very eye-opening trip for me. I tell you this story as evidence that there are lots of people in this world who really think that either it doesn't matter what you believe, or they think that as long as you believe in some sort of deity, you're good to go. i. Last week Andrew taught about several wrong views on Hell that can be very damning. Today, we're going to talk about some religions that are damning. These religions have the wrong view on who Jesus is, and a wrong view on Jesus will end in Hell. j. At the very least, I think, I hope we all already agree that Hindus and Buddhists do not worship the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. So, we're not going to spend time talking about the differences there. k. I don't know that the thinking that ALL religions are the same is prevalent in the Church today, however, I think what is much more common in the Church today (the Church at large-not necessarily our church) is the idea that a few others (such as Mormons, Jehovah's Witness, Muslims, Jews, and Christians) all worship the same God. Or at least some people claim that we all recognize the same God the Father, just because each religions' holy books reference various parts of Scripture. l. This gets to the main point of the lesson. Jesus' teaching in John 14 is difficult because He claims that He, Jesus Christ, is the only way to the Father. He says that He and the Father are One and the same. In this statement, he refutes all religions that say anything to the contrary. m. It's easy to accept false beliefs for the sake of being politically correct and not offending friends or coworkers. And it is tough to accept the narrow path. But, Christ has told us in Matthew 7:13-14 "Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it." n. This Scripture passage confirms my friend's claim that "all paths lead through the forest and end up in the meadow on the other side." However, what that view fails to acknowledge is that the meadow on the other side is death. And it fails to admit that there is another, lesser known, narrow path that runs along the side of the forest. And only that path leads to the river of life. That path is the narrow way. The Way is Christ. o. Let's talk about some of those wide paths that lead through the forest. Even though they sound like the narrow and right way, they are not. We're going to move from furthest from the Truth to closest to the Truth. But, saying that they are closer to the truth is like saying that this side of Earth is closer to the Sun than the other side of the Earth. In the grand scheme of things, we are no closer to the sun than the other side. V. The Wide Paths to Destruction. a. Now, I am not a scholar on other religions. I think there is a great danger in opening yourself up to other religions' teachings, even if the intent is to better evangelize to them. I think there is a great benefit in knowing what other religions believe, and I think we all need to know some basics of popular religions so that we can intelligently and lovingly point our neighbors to Christ, and knowing the basics of other religions can help affirm your faith in Christ, but I think there is a danger in studying too much of other religions. You open yourself up to false teachings and can start to doubt your own faith. At least, I think this is something that I would struggle with. But, let's learn a few of the basics about some false religions. b. Islam. Is the Islam Allah the same God as our God the Father? Many people think so. i. According to Islamic tradition, the angel Gabriel appeared to the Prophet Muhammad over the course of 20 years, revealing to him many messages from God. ii. Muslims recognize many of the same earlier Judeo-Christian prophets and figures—including Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and even Jesus. iii. They even believe that Jews and Christians worship the same God as they do, however we do so imperfectly. iv. In Islam, Muhammad was the last and greatest of the prophets, whose revelations alone are pure and uncorrupted. v. There is a growing acceptance of Muslims in the Christian community these days. As Muslim "extremism" continues to grow, congregations are calling for peace and unity with Muslims, saying that Allah and God are the same. vi. This sounds great on the outside. After all, like we've just established, Muslims recognize many of our same prophets, and they even recognize Jesus as a prophet and moral teacher. So why can't we worship with them? vii. Because Jesus is not just a moral teacher. He is the Son of God. And we are not to add to His Word. viii. And as the author of Hebrews says in Hebrews 1:1-4: "God, who at various times and in various ways spoke in time past to the fathers by the prophets, has in these last days spoken to us by His Son, whom He has appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the worlds; who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, having become so much better than the angels, as He has by inheritance obtained a more excellent name than they." ix. God has spoken His Word. He used the prophets in the Old Testament and the apostles in the New Testament. He did not speak His Word to Mohammad. x. Anyone who claims that God has spoken to them is lying. God's Word is already complete. xi. I have friends who are missionaries in Jordan and their main mission is to evangelize to Muslims. The way they do this is by reading the Qur'an with them, and then slowly introducing the Bible. The whole premise of their missionary style is thinking that Christians and Muslims already worship the same God the Father, but Muslims just need to admit that Jesus is God's Son. Once they verbally admit that Jesus is God's Son and not just a prophet, these "Muslim Christians" are encouraged to continue living their lives the same way they previously did-praying 5 times a day during the call to prayer, attending services at their Mosque, etc. This might sound harmless, but it is a lie from the pit of hell to say that we and Muslims worship the same God the Father. xii. We do not worship the same God as Muslims. As nice as it might be to evangelize using the Qur'an, the Qur'an is not the Word of God. xiii. Muslims are close to the Truth, but they misidentify Jesus, which is a grievous and damning error. xiv. They do not recognize Jesus as God's Son. So, even though they claim we have the same Father, the Father is not the same without the Son, since they are one. c. Jehovah's Witness. Do Jehovah's Witness worship the same Jesus, the same God as we do? The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob? i. Regarding Salvation, Jehovah's Witness believe the following. This is pulled straight from the JW website's list of their beliefs and doctrine: "Deliverance from sin and death is possible through the ransom sacrifice of Jesus. To benefit from that sacrifice, people must not only exercise faith in Jesus but also change their course of life and get baptized. A person's works prove that his faith is alive. However, salvation cannot be earned—it comes through 'the undeserved kindness of God.'" ii. That sounds fairly accurate, right? They must believe the same thing we Presbyterians believe, right? iii. Well, let's see what they have to say about Jesus: "We follow the teachings and example of Jesus Christ and honor him as our Savior and as the Son of God. Thus, we are Christians." Sounds pretty good so far, right? "However, we have learned from the Bible that Jesus is not Almighty God and that there is no Scriptural basis for the Trinity doctrine." iv. There you have it. Yes, they believe that Jesus is A Son of God, but that He was created before creation. That God created Jesus and that Jesus is not a member of the Trinity. v. Do you see how destructive this teaching is? How they are so close to the truth, but without the proper belief in Christ, it is completely and utterly false! They believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, the same way that we do, they acknowledge that salvation comes through faith in Christ's sacrifice, which is true, but they miss the mark when it comes to defining who Christ actually is. vi. Without Jesus, the Trinity is not the Trinity and God is not God. vii. We must be incredibly vigilant when interacting with these other "Christian" religions. Jehovah's Witness say that they are Christians. Their statement of beliefs say that they are. viii. We must heed Jesus' warning in Matthew 7:15 "Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves." ix. It might sound like Christians and JW worship the same God, they even claim that we do, but we do not. It's interesting that they call themselves Christians even though Christians identify Jesus as a member of the Trinity, part of the Godhead. It should be considered blasphemous to them that we call Jesus "God." d. LDS: Does the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (Mormons) believe in the same Jesus, the same God as we do? i. No. They believe that all people (including Jesus and Satan) are spirit-children of God the Father. Similar to Jehovah's Witness, Jesus was created by God. Jesus and Satan were the firstborn children, and we all existed in spirit form at the beginning. The Heavenly Father called all of the "Spirit Children" together and laid out His plan for the world. Jesus accepted this plan and wanted to give glory to God. Lucifer did not like this plan and wanted glory for himself. ii. All of the spirit children that followed Lucifer (1/3) did not receive physical bodies. All of the spirit children that followed Jesus did, or will eventually, receive physical bodies. iii. Bottom line: Mormons believes that Jesus, Satan, and we are all children of God. iv. This is dangerous because it is close to the truth, but it is not the truth. Yes, we are all children of God. But we are not children of God the same way that Christ is the Son of God. He is a member of the Trinity. We are not. Satan is not. v. In addition, Mormons hold to the Book of Mormon in addition to the Bible. This goes back to Hebrews, where we know that God's Word is complete. God did not speak to Joseph Smith. vi. It might sound like Christians and Mormons worship the same God, but we do not. i. Our final religion of the day. This is probably the most difficult one to hear and some of you might think that Jews will be with us in Heaven. ii. How do Jews not worship the same God the Father that we do? Don't they ascribe to all the books of the Old Testament? iii. Abraham and his descendants were chosen by God and set apart for Himself. iv. This is all fine and dandy, right? v. But, we need to ask the question we've asked of all the other religions: what do they believe about Jesus Christ? vi. The Jewish religion does not believe that Christ has come the first time. They are still awaiting the Messiah's first arrival. vii. In Acts 4, Peter and John healed a lame man in the name of Jesus and preached Jesus' name. Many were coming to faith in Him. Then, they are arrested and brought before the high priest and his compatriots. These men were the Jews of the Jews. If anyone was a Jew, they were. And they question Peter and John, "'By what power or by what name have you done this?' Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, 'Rulers of the people and elders of Israel (he is speaking to Jews): If we this day are judged for a good deed done to a helpless man, by what means he has been made well, let it be known to you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead, by Him this man stands here before you whole. This is the 'stone which was rejected by you builders, which has become the chief cornerstone.' Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved." viii. Peter makes a great distinction between the Jews and now the Christians. Between those who rejected the stone, and those who accept Him as the cornerstone. ix. If they do not believe that Jesus was the Son of God, then they do not believe in the One True God. x. Judaism is so close to Christianity. We share the entire Old Testament with them! xi. They believe in the God the Father of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. xii. But without Christ, apart from the narrow way, it is not Truth. xiii. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No one comes to the Father except through Him. a. Hopefully by now the concept has been reinforced: God the Father and Jesus are One. Even if we say we are worshiping the same "Father," if we separate Him from Christ, He is not the same Father. b. Christ is pivotal to the truthfulness of a religion. He is key to what we believe. If you are curious about the validity of another religion, or if you have a discussion with somebody about religion, the first question to ask is "what does that religion say about Christ? Who do you believe Christ is?" That is the most important aspect of belief. c. Jesus is the only way to the Father. We can only have Christ and the Father if we have all of Him, including His difficult teachings. d. I had a buddy in college who was a Catholic, or almost more of a Universalist of sorts. We would talk about differences in faith, and I talked about many of these concepts with him. That apart from Christ, no one can be saved. He said to me one time that "anyone that loves is really showing Christ to people because God is love." e. This sounds great. As long as you love people, you are a child of God. But what's wrong with this thinking is that love doesn't define who God is. God defines what love is. f. So, why is it a difficult teaching that Jesus is the only way to God? Because as much as we would like everyone to be saved and all paths to lead to Heaven, that's not what Christ said.
g. All of these religions sound great. They might sound like they recognize and worship the same God that we do, even if it's only the "God the Father" part. But, God the Father is not God the Father without God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. If we want God, if we want salvation, we must have all of them. Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, and no one comes to the Father except through Him.
http://olympiabp.blogspot.com/2017/05/tough-teachings-of-jesus-for-religious.html
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