THE ONE AND ONLY

“Jesus told him, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.’” (John 14:6 HCSB)

Napoleon said, “I know men, and I tell you, Jesus is more than a man. Comparison is impossible between Him and any other human being who ever lived, because He was the Son of God.” Jesus is the One and Only!

Noted historian, Arnold Toynbee, declared, “As we stand and gaze with our eyes fixed upon a farther shore, a simple figure rises from the flood and straightway fills the whole horizon of history. There is the Savior.” Jesus is the One and Only!

People of His day said, “Never did a man speak like this.” Of his miracles they remarked, “We never saw anything like this.”  Jesus is the One and Only!

Then, from His lips, listen to the statement here, “‘I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  Now, we despise people who brag on themselves. Yet, it doesn’t bother us to hear Jesus make such a claim. For we know He is different from other men.  There is something special about this Man.  He is unique of all men.  We know He is the One and Only!

Paul calls Him the Last Adam. What the first Adam lost by his disobedience, the Last Adam regained by His obedience. In Eden, man had fellowship with God, knowledge of God, and life from God. Sin changed all that. Man lost his way, his thinking was darkened and he became subject to death. Jesus, however, offers us the way, the truth, and the life in restoring all that was forfeited by the first Adam.

Jesus is the One and Only because He provides RECONCILIATION.  He is “the way.”

There is a great gulf fixed between sinful humanity and perfect Deity. Jesus is the bridge across that chasm. It took One who was fully God and fully man to be the Mediator.  He has opened up the way to God, but we must take it. He is the only way; “No one comes to the Father except through Me.”  That is His dogmatic claim.

The door is open—the way back to God is offered.  Insofar as to what God demands for reconciliation has been provided in the sacrifice of His Son.  God is reconciled to us, and now we must be reconciled to God.  We must respond in faith to this gracious invitation.

There must be A DECISION.

The Bible describes us apart from Christ as lost sheep who have followed our own way. Scripture warns, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death.”  (Prov.14:12)  Jesus spoke of a broad way that leads to destruction and a narrow way that leads to life (see Matt.7:13-14).  

The Lord confronts us with the choice; we are compelled to make a choice; but we are not coerced into making the right choice.  In fact, we do not have to reach a decision except to turn onto the right way by trusting Him who is the Way.  To stay on the road we are travelling as sinners is a straight shot to hell.

This also speaks of A DIRECTION.

Travelling a road takes time. We don’t leap from salvation into heaven. We have an earthly pilgrimage to the Celestial City. Jesus directs us through life. We not only want to go to heaven some day, but please God on our way there.

Because the early Christians were so committed to the highway of holiness, they were known as, “The Way.” (Acts 9:2; 19:9, 23; 22:4; 24:14, 22)  They were so walking in the footprints of Jesus, the One and Only Way, that to follow them was to also walk in the Way.

Furthermore, there is A DESTINATION.

A road presupposes two points—a start and a finish.  You have a place of origination and destination.   We all start out the same place, on the road to destruction. 

The most important thing about a road is where it takes you.  Christ offers us a different road—a difficult road for it takes you to Calvary, but beyond the cross, we will rise and ascend to reign with Him.  This road leads you home—home to Heaven.  Jesus is the One and Only Way to the Father.

Jesus, the One and Only, provides in Himself reconciliation as, “the way,” but also REVELATION for He is “the truth.”

2000 years ago, a Roman ruler, Pontius Pilate, asked, “What is truth?”  It is a summation of man’s quest from antiquity to find truth and his despair of finding it.  Man has searched in vain because his mind is deranged by sin.

But in Christ, we see THE INCARNATION OF TRUTH.

In Jesus, the truth had come in human flesh. That is what John meant when he wrote Jesus is the Word made flesh. As such, He is the revelation of God. Jesus as the One and Only is “the image of the invisible God.” His whole life—His message, miracles, character, and personality revealed the Father.

Listen to the conversation that followed His claim:

“‘If you know Me, you will also know My Father.  From now on you do know Him and have seen Him.’

‘Lord,’ said Philip, ‘show us the Father, and that’s enough for us.’

Jesus said to him, ‘Have I been among you all this time without your knowing Me, Philip? The one who has seen Me has seen the Father.  How can you say, “Show us the Father”?’”  (v.7-9).

Yet, the Bible speaks of those ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth (2 Tim.3:7).  God cannot be reached by the rocket of reason, on the stairway of science, or up the ladder of logic.  He can only be known by the illumination of the Spirit.  The Light of Life must shine into our minds enshrouded by the darkness of sin and dispel the shadows.  This is the Beacon of Gospel Light!

 
In Jesus, the One and Only we hear THE INTERPRETATION OF TRUTH.

Many competing religious philosophies claim to have cornered the market on truth. But following their teaching is a dead-end road. God said of Jesus, “This is my Beloved Son. Hear Him.”

The teachings of Christ tower above all world religious leaders. His words are so sublime, so majestic. There is no comparison between the words of Christ recorded in the Gospels and the teachings found in the Koran, or Book of Mormon, or the sayings of Buddha or Confucius.  That is not to say that some of what those religious leaders had to say did not contain a measure of truth—but none of them would or could make this claim, “I am the truth.”  Jesus is the One and Only who can.

This incomparable Man is the source of reconciliation and revelation, but more—Jesus is the One and Only provider of REGENERATION.  He is “the life.”

Apart from Christ, the Bible says we are dead in trespasses and sins. The ravages of sin are at work in our bodies. You are constantly shedding skin cells.  That’s why an old sofa weighs so much.  Its cushions have enough skin cells in them to make several people!  We are also losing muscle tone, our hair is falling out, and in countless other ways death has a grip on this body.

That isn’t the worst of it!  Beyond that first physical death awaits a second death, an everlasting death in Hell.

The only way out is to receive eternal life.  That’s what Jesus meant when He demanded that “you must be born again.” The One who created man will recreate you in His image.

Christ is THE SOURCE OF LIFE.

Eternal life can only be experienced through the Eternal One. Would you like to live forever? Then you must believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.  He is life.

Jesus, the One and Only, isn’t just the source, but THE SUBSTANCE OF LIFE.

The Apostle Paul expressed it this way, “For me, living is Christ.” (Phil.1:21a)  He was saying that the very substance of life is bound up in a relationship with Christ. In a similar way, he stated in Galatians 2:20, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

Christ was the Apostle’s very life.  Paul had exchanged his sinful life for the Savior’s life. Jesus is what makes life worth the living.

In fact, Jesus is THE SUM OF LIFE.

When you add up all that life can mean, the sum of it is seen in Christ. That is eternal life. His life assures us, “Because I live, you will live too.” (John 14:19b)  The grave is not the end. As the old Gospel song affirms,

“I’ve a home prepared where the saints abide,

Just over in the glory land;
And I long to be by my Savior’s side,
Just over in the glory land.” (James Acuff)

And the hymn:

“When all my labors and trials are o’er,
And I am safe on that beautiful shore,
Just to be near the dear Lord I adore,
Will through the ages be glory for me.

Oh, that will be glory for me,
Glory for me, glory for me,
When by His grace I shall look on His face,
That will be glory, be glory for me.” (Charles Gabriel)

That is the sum of life—the ultimate experience—real life forever!

If you’re lost in sin, Jesus is the Way.

If you are deceived by Satan, Jesus is the Truth.

If you’re dead in trespasses and sins, He’s the Life—Jesus the One and Only!

You must come to Him, for only through Him can you come to the Father.