Him alone
John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
I have just begun a new semester at Liberty, and this time I am taking an eight week course on the Gospel of John. I am excited for what God will reveal to me during this time studying His Word. I loved this quote by Leon Morris, “I like the comparison of John’s Gospel to a pool in which a child may wade & an elephant can swim. It is both simple & profound.” The book of John points to the deity of Christ, and the salvation found in Him like none other. The lost can be pointed to read the book and come away with a heart forever changed; the theologian can get lost in the endless study of the Spirit inspired words that John penned. Last night I learned that John’s Gospel was likely the last New Testament book written. John likely wrote it when he was 100 years old, at the end of his life, at the peak of his understanding with incredible memory and attention to detail. He was the closest to Christ; Now there was leaning on Jesus’ bosom one of His disciples, whom Jesus loved. (John 13:23)
John’s Gospel contains my favorite scripture in the Bible, John 14:6 above. I could write at length on the many roads to go down that wonder away from the simplicity in that scripture. We, just like those 2000 years ago, have made our way to God through some other way. I thought for much of my life it was found in the church pew on Sunday; I thought it was because I really wasn’t that bad a guy; I thought my good deeds outweighed my bad; then Christ began to show me how bad I really was, and how lost I was without Him. That point in your life where your sin in revealed is extremely painful, but joyful in the same. The realization that you cannot do any work to earn your way to heaven is relief. You would, and will fail eternally if you believe in any works based religiosity system in any way. Only through a humble, repentant heart, is Salvation found in Jesus Christ alone.
The are many religions out there, and all try to point you to eternal paradise. All others point you to some way of earning your ticket to paradise. No other religion teaches what Christ teaches. Sadly, some twist the teaching of Christ to fit into their own doctrines, and many times their doctrines rest on works based faith. Your prayers to any person, even supposed saints, means you are worshipping a person, and not a deity. I remember a point in my life, where I lost a best friend; I found myself even praying to him for help. No help, no repentance, no Salvation should ever be directed to, or expected from, anyone or anything other than Deity. Christ was answering Thomas’s question in a direct response, no parable, no metaphor, a clear concise answer when he asked, John 14:5 Thomas said to Him, “Lord, we do not know where You are going, and how can we know the way?”
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