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‘I am the way.’
Joh_14:6
I. It is the way to the Father’s house of which He has just spoken, where God manifests His Presence to His people, and they are for ever with Him in glory.
II. It is the way to the Father Himself, here and now. For only as we realise our heavenly sonship, and live as the children of God, can we claim a place in our Father’s House hereafter, or be ‘made meet for the inheritance of the saints in light.’
III. He is the way, straight and direct, so that wayfaring men, though fools, can walk therein.
IV. He is the only certain way: ‘There is none other Name under heaven whereby we must be saved.’
V. There are three difficulties which must be overcome if the way is to avail for man’s use.
(a) The way must be made for man, for by himself man could not make it. ‘No man cometh unto the Father but by Me.’
(b) Man must be made willing to walk in it. ‘Ye will not come unto Me.’
(c) Man must be made fit for his Father’s Home with that ‘holiness without which no man shall see the Lord.’
And in Jesus all these difficulties are done away. The Way has been made, made by Jesus in His life, His death, His Resurrection.
—
Bishop C. J. Ridgeway.
‘I am the truth.’
Joh_14:6
In order to understand this aright, we must understand what are the nature, the properties, the characteristics of the truth.
I. The word ‘truth’ speaks for itself.—In the Hebrew it is the equivalent of that which is firm, immovable.
II. What is truth?—Truth is—
(a) A Revealer.
(b) Divine in its origin.
(c) Infinite, vast, inexhaustible.
(d) Necessary to the completeness of life.
(e) Immortal.
(f) Pure.
(g) A Liberator.
Jesus said, ‘I am the Truth.’ Can we resist His claim? Is it not true? Surely in Him truth finds its embodiment as nowhere else, and hence we call it ‘the truth as it is in Jesus.’
Bishop C. J. Ridgeway.
‘I am the Life.’
Joh_14:6
I. He is the Pattern Life.—Never was a life of man lived like His life. All are agreed about this. As in the days of His flesh foes as well as friends recognised the perfection of His life, so in all ages since, so in this critical age in which our lot is cast, believers and unbelievers alike are unanimous in the verdict they pass on the life of Jesus. ‘Truly this was a righteous Man.’
II. He is the Bringer of Life.—He asserts this of Himself: ‘I am come that ye might have life.’
III. He is Himself the Life.—‘Apart from Me ye can do nothing,’ any more than the branch can live and bear fruit when it is severed from the parent stem.
We cannot live on doctrines or feelings about Christ, nor depend for life on mere ordinances of religion however carefully observed. The only true life is that which centres round a living, personal Christ, and draws all its strength from Him.
Bishop C. J. Ridgeway.
Illustration‘If you can receive it, your “life” is really, at this moment, up in heaven with Christ. He represents it; and He holds it. He is it. Our “life,” down here, is a part of that “life” which Christ “lives,” eternally and essentially, before the throne; and certain secret communications, always passing, make that “life” this “life.” This is a necessary result of that oneness which there is between the member and the Head. It is very unintelligible to a man of the world; he knows nothing about it; but it is a great reality to a Christian. And it is an unspeakable comfort. Every one feels a jealousy and a fear, “Will my ‘new’ feelings last? Will this ‘new’ existence, of which I am beginning to be conscious, will it go on?” The resting place for that doubt is: “Yes—for my ‘life’ is a part of ‘the life’ of a ‘living’ Saviour; Who, ‘in that He died, He died unto sin once; but in that He liveth, He liveth unto God.’ That is eternal. ‘My life is hid with Christ in God.’ ”
LIVING IN CHRIST
You may try other ways, for a time, and you may think that you are succeeding; but, mark me, you will see at last that union and communion with Christ—nearness to Christ—dependence upon Christ—serving Christ—loving Christ—waiting for Christ, is the only security; the only strength; the beginning, middle, and end; the sum and substance of all spiritual ‘life,’ within a man’s heart.
This is why some fail, and some keep on to the end. It is that some understand, and some do not understand—some have always remembered, and some are always forgetting, what those words mean, ‘I am the life.’
To see this a little more plainly, let us break up the thought into four—
I. ‘Life’ in Christ.
II. ‘Life’ on Christ.
III. ‘Life’ to Christ.
IV. ‘Life’ with Christ.
—
Rev. J. Vaughan.
CHARACTERISTICS OF LIFE
I. What characteristics of life do we find in the character, walk, and conduct of Jesus? Look at Him in His relationship to the Father.
Of Himself He could do nothing, teach nothing, speak nothing.
He did not come of Himself. He lived for His Father’s glory, not His own. He did not do His own will, but His Father’s.
His life was one of (a) consecration to God; (b) dependence on God; and (c) harmony with God.
II. These will be characteristics of our life if the Divine life has been imparted to us.
The Divine life is the same, whether lived by Him or lived by us. God is the centre, not self.
—
Canon J. G. Hoare.