A (0:03)

Grateful to have them all. Right, let's go to John, chapter 14, verse number six. This is week 14 of a series called Goaded. And I want to read the words of Jesus captured by John. And he says this in John 14:6. Jesus answered, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. I want to summarize this statement of Jesus in two words. And these two words are the topic of today's teaching. Jesus is in essence saying in John 14:6, I'm him. Clap your hands if you're ready for God's Word. I'm Him. Family, I want to start this sermon with the following statement. It will be situated on the screens for my note takers. In order for you to be all that God's called you to be to others, you must be willing to let Jesus be all he's called to be to you. In order for you to be all God has called you to be to others, you must be willing to let Jesus be all he's called to be to you. This is the essence of what I've been attempting to articulate for the past 14 weeks in this series entitled Goaded. I have been arguing that Jesus is more than a redeemer who gives us a one way ticket to heaven. He is a rabbi that wants to put heaven in your heart on earth. And far too many people are unaware of this reality. And as a result, they are unconsciously, spiritually settling. They are settling for a segmented and a siloed Savior, as opposed to a Savior that wants to do more than get you to heaven, wants to do more than change your morals. He wants to change your entire life. A life that is characterized by fruit of the Spirit, as Paul captures in Galatians, chapter five, a life that is characterized by joy, unspeakable and full of glory. And unfortunately, many individuals are unconsciously settling. And spiritual settling is the worst kind of settling. It's one thing to settle professionally, it's one thing to settle relationally, but it is dangerous to settle spiritually because your spirituality is the one thing that affects everything. And unfortunately, many people are settling. They're receiving rescue from sin, but they're missing wisdom from life for life. So they're saved, but they're still stuck. They're receiving forgiveness for their past, but they're missing favor for their present and formation for their future. They're receiving a Savior to get them out of trouble, but missing a sage to lead them into transformation. They will experience eternal life now, later, but they're missing abundant life now. And here's the quandary. When you don't receive all that he is, you can't become all you could be. And DT Niles puts it this way. In his quote, he says, the dogness of the dog is in the dog, but the madness of the man is not in the man. It's in his relationship with God. You can't be human as God intended without the divine. And if you don't let Jesus be everything to you, you'll never be everything he's called you to be for others. But here's the truth. We do not rise to the level of our desire. We at the level of our understanding. In other words, what we're currently experiencing from Jesus is limited to what we currently understand about him. Your experience with Jesus is at the mercy of your understanding of Jesus. This is the essence of what we see in Mark, chapter number six. When Jesus goes into the synagogue, he goes into church in his hometown. He goes into church in his hometown. And he is teaching in church in his hometown. He is teaching to people who think they already know him. He is in church. You missing this. He is in church teaching people in church who think they already know him. And as he is teaching, here's what happens. Their familiarity. Their familiarity with him limits their understanding of him. So they say things like, isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't this Mary's son? Isn't this the brother of James, Joseph, Judas and Simon? Aren't all his sisters here? And they took offense at him. And Jesus said to them, a prophet is not without honor, except for in his own town, among his own relatives and in his own home. That'll preach all by itself. But verse 5 said he could not do any miracles there except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. A few sick people and healed them. A few sick people and healed them. A few people got what was available for many people because some people only saw the carpenter and that's all they got. So my experience with him is limited to my understanding of him. And so this is why I believe passages like John chapter number 14 become so important. Because in this passage, Jesus is reintroducing himself to people who think they already know him. He is saying to people, all that you have been experiencing is not all that I am. If you will let me show you all that I am, then you will experience all that I am. Watch what he says here in John chapter number 14. He says to them, he says, listen, I am the way the Truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Now, I need to park here for just a second. This is not where I'm going with today's message, but it's pastorally irresponsible of me not to deal with this. I want you to read what Jesus says. He says, I'm the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Jesus here is making a claim of exclusivity when it comes to who provides access to the Father. This is an exclusive claim. I know this. Come on. I know, I know this is little culturally sensitive, but are we first way, second way, or are we third way? He, Jesus here makes a claim of exclusivity. He makes the claim. He says, I'm the way, I'm the truth, I'm the life. And then he says, no one comes to the Father except through me. Now, the late Dr. Tim Keller says this. You do not make this claim unless you're right or crazy. It's one of the two. He's either right or he's crazy. If he's crazy, then we need to throw out love your neighbor. If he's crazy, we need to stop preaching the two fish and the five loaves of bread. If he's crazy, we need to throw out everything that he said. But if we believe everything else, we need to believe this. Now, the way you feel about what I just said is going to be determined by the glasses you use to read scripture. It's not what you're reading, it's how you're reading it. So if you're putting on cultural glasses to read Kingdom Truth, you're going to find a fence in this. You're going to say, what do you mean, Jesus? You're going to find a fence because you're going to interpret this as shade towards and an indictment of and being condescending toward people who believe differently. When Jesus making this statement isn't insulting people, he's loving people. This is a love claim. He is saying, I want to deliver you from the deception associated with pursuing roads that don't lead you to your desired destination. I love you enough to tell you what won't get you where you're trying to go. So for example, if I'm in Georgia, if I'm in New Jersey, like, so you got Interstate 95, which is in New Jersey. We got 85, which is in Georgia. So let's just say you're trying to go somewhere and the only way you can get there is 85 south or 95 South. And you ask somebody, how can I get to where I'm trying to go? And they say, the only way you can get there is 85 south or 95 South. Nobody's insulting 285. Nobody's insulting 295. We're saying, if you want to get to where you're going, 85 and 95 is the only way to get there. And when Jesus says, I am the way, the truth and the life, he's saying, if you want to get to the Father, I'm the only way there. He's not insulting anybody else. He's not demeaning anybody else. He's not attacking anybody else. He's just telling you, if you want to get to where you're going, this the way. I love you too much to let you waste gas and to let you waste time and to have you with anxiousness and confusion trying to pursue a way that's not going to get you there. I'm the way, the truth and the life. Am I making sense here? But I want you to see this statement here in John, chapter number 14 is a part of a series of statements he makes in John. John, chapter number 14 contains one I am statement that Jesus makes. But the Gospel of John contains seven. So in the Gospel of John, you will see seven I am statements. I am, I am. I am. And when he says am, he's not just making a poetic statement, he's making a theological claim. When he says I am, he is connecting himself to a scriptural narrative in Exodus, chapter three, when God tells a man named Moses who deals with what Du Bois calls a degree of double consciousness, he is too Hebrew to be Egyptian and too Egyptian to be Hebrew. He's Moses. Come on. And Moses is called by God to go into Egypt and to lead Israel in an exodus out of Egyptian captivity. And he receives specific instruction. Moses, tell Pharaoh to let my people go and tell Israel I'm going to take them out of this land and take them to a land that flows with milk and honey. So Moses knows he's going into a polytheistic culture, many gods. And so when he says, God told me to tell you that he's going to bring you out of this land to a land flowing with milk and honey, they're going to say, which God? They're going to say, what's his name? So Moses asked God, who. Who shall I say sent me? What name should I give them? And God said to Moses, I am who I am. Then he says, this is what you are to say to the Israelites, I am has sent you. Who sent you? I am. Who's gonna bring you out? Who's gonna open the door? Who's gonna make the way? Who's gonna make 20, 25 a year that you get anchored? Who's gonna take what the enemy meant for evil and work it for your good God? My noun is a verb. You can't detach my being from my doing. My noun is a verb. I am. So when Jesus in John 7 times says, I am, he's saying, I'm him. He says, I'm him. In other words, he's saying, I am not just a man sent from God, I am God manifested as a man. So when he says I am seven times in John, Listen to this. It is not just a statement of his identity. It is an invitation to an experience. He's not just telling us who he is in general. He's revealing who he desires to be to you personally. He says, I can be this and not be this to you. You don't determine who I am, but you do determine who I am to you. Did you hear what I just said? You don't determine who I am, but you do determine who I am to you. I'm a healer, whether you believe it or not. I'm a way maker, whether you believe it or not. I'm a door opener. Whether you believe it or not, I am. But you determine who I am to you. And many people can't experience all that he is because they have limited or they have limited understanding of all he was created to be. So in John he says, let me just make sure you're clear on who I am. Let me reintroduce myself. Let me represent myself to people who think they know me to make sure they're not serving a siloed and segmented savior. We see. We see here. So let's kind of look at y'all got time today. Let's look at these seven I am statements in John. Let's start with the first one we read here in John 14, where he says, I am the way, the truth and the life. So here's the Daniel's summary of that. Jesus is my navigator. Now, I got a little quiet at the early service on this point, but I know it's not going to be this way in Georgia and Jersey, not at this service. Here it is. Here it is. My navigator. This is interesting. Now, he doesn't just deliver me, he directs me. And many people are settling for the deliverer when they need the director. And if you're getting more deliverer than you are director, that is an indication of a wisdom deficiency, because the deliverer gets me out on the back end. The director leads me on the front end. And many people want him to be a deliverer, but you don't want him to be a director. Am I making sense here? So it's like, hey, I want to direct my life relationally, and when it doesn't work out, come get me out of Egypt. I want to direct my life professionally, and when it doesn't work out, come get me out of Egypt. I want to direct my life spiritually, and when it doesn't work out, come get me out of Egypt. But is there anybody at any location who's at a certain season of your life where you don't have to learn anything else by experience? I have touched the stove enough to know that a stove is hot. Just tell me on the front end. Jesus, my navigator. I am. He says, you'll let me. I'll talk to you on the front end. That there won't have to be so much getting out. If there isn't so much getting in. If we can stop. If we can limit the getting in, we can limit the getting out. He is my navigator. But Jesus also says in John 6:35, he says, I'm the bread of life. Jesus declared, I'm the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. So he says bread. But then he talks about hunger and thirst. So he's talking about something different and bigger than, like, physical sustenance. Here it is. Jesus is my satisfier. Let's keep it honest now. It's one thing to trust him with my salvation. It's another thing to trust him with my satisfaction. And sin is an indication that I don't trust him to satisfy me. Are we okay? Sin is man's attempt to take his satisfaction and put it in his own hands. Sin is my way of saying to God, you don't know how to satisfy what you made. Yeah. So I'mma satisfy my own vengeance, even though you say, vengeance is mine. I'mma feel way more satisfied going off on them than praying for them. I know you told me to pray for them, but prayer let me. Where's my. I'm just trying to find my section. Y'all got me today. Who got me today? Yeah, it's like, I. I know you said pray for them that despitefully misuse you, but I just think I'm Gonna be more satisfied if I just read them the way they need to be. And, Lord, you know I know how to read them. You know, I'm blessed in that area. I can. I feel my realness shifting back over to this side. I'm blessed, huh? Here's what God says. Through Jeremiah, my people have committed two sins. Number one, they've forsaken me. And number two, the spring of living water. They have dug their own cisterns. And here's the issue. It's not that the cisterns don't have water. The cisterns can't hold it. So it's temporarily satisfying. But the whole time you're drinking from that cistern, the cistern's leaking. He says, they've left. They've left the spring chasing the cisterns. You got it. Read. They forsaken the spring chasing the cistern. They left the source chasing the cistern. There's nothing wrong with the cistern. Just don't forsake the source. The source should be the source, and the cistern should be supplements. Nothing wrong with enjoying the fruit of your labor. But that should be a supplement, not your source. Because if you put your joy just in enjoying the fruit of your labor, your joy is going to start leaking. How many restaurants you're going to go to. Let me go to this side. How many countries you're going to visit. How many cars can you actually drive? How many clothes, how many outfits can. It's a. It's a supplement. That's okay as a supplement. Don't make it the sister, because it'll start leaking. And the thing that had you excited and full of joy all of a sudden becomes normal. Do you know many people with audacious goals, like the dominant emotion that many people with audacious goals experience. Experience, once they reach them, is slight depression. Do you know that audacious goals, the dominant emotion that they experience initially when reaching them is slight depression? Because it. You work. Because it wasn't. You were chasing the cistern because you thought it was going to give you water. I don't have time. Oh, it's like Jacob. You work seven years thinking you were getting Rachel, and then you rolled over and said, you. Leah. This not. What this not. I gave up all my social life for this. I neglected my family for this. I destroyed my body for this. Nothing wrong with enjoying the fruit of your labor. Nothing wrong with having amazing relationships. Nothing wrong with marriage. Nothing wrong with any of those things. They just. Sisters. Don't forsake the source. Don't leave the spring for the sister. And Jesus is like, do you trust in my ability to satisfy you when I tell you if any man is going to follow me, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me? I'm trying to get you to the spring. He says, you think I'm trying to steal your joy. I'm trying to keep it. I'm trying to stop you from settling, from temporary happiness that comes from leaky systems. And I want to lead you to a spring of living water where you're overflowing. All right, my satisfied. Number three. He says, I'm the light of the world. When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, I'm the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness but have the light of life. Jesus is my clarifier. Darkness is not just a metaphor for evil. Darkness is a metaphor for ignorance. When somebody says they were in the dark, it means they were uninformed. Right? Here's the thing. Darkness increases the likelihood for damage. You have more accidents in the dark. You hurt your toe in the dark. You step on stuff that cuts your foot in the dark. So there are some injuries that could be avoided if somebody just turned the light on. And Jesus is like, if you let me. What I want to do in your life is not just be a bomb in Gilead to heal you when you cut your toe. I want to be a clarifier that turns the light on so you can step over some stuff how you've been stepping on. May 2025 be the year God turns the light on in here. And there's some stuff that you are looking at. One way that you start seeing from God's vantage point when the light comes on, you see things different. I'm gonna see if I can get an amen here. You see people different and you see opportunities different. You are getting ready to walk through a door. He turned the light on. You say, that's a trap. He says, I want to be. I'll be your clarifier. Number four. He says, I'm the door, I'm the gate. Whoever comes through me will be saved. They will go in, they will come in and go out and find pasture. Now look at verse 10. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. But I've come that they may have life and have it to the full. The thief comes only to steal, kill and destroy. But I've come. They may have it life and have it to the full. Don't read verse 10, disconnected from verse 9. Verse 9. He says, I'm the gate. I'm the door. Whoever enters through me will be saved. They will come in and go out, and they will find pasture. But the thief only comes to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come. So you didn't just come to the door. The door came to you first. Did you hear what I just said? He said, jesus is my access giver. The door came to you first. The door came from heaven to earth. And it says, if you come through this door, you'll find not just God, you'll find God's goodness. So he says, I am a door. Y'all are missing this. He says, I'm the access giver. I not only give you access to God, I give you access to God's good things. I'm the door. I don't just open them. You got it? Let me go up here. I don't just open doors. I am doors. It doesn't have to be a door there when I come. If it wasn't a door there. I make a door to get you into to the life I have for you. I don't know who needs to hear this today, but it doesn't matter who closed the door. Who's gatekeeping and don't want you in the door. Jesus will not just open a door. He is a door number five. I am the good shepherd. Now, I want you to see what he says here about an image. I want you to see the imagery he lays out for us. He says, a good shepherd lays down his life for a sheep. He could have talked about all the other aspects of shepherding, but he specifically says, a good shepherd lays down his life for a sheep. Here it is. Jesus is my defender. Okay, give me my text again. He lays down his life for a sheep. See, this imagery lands different with those in Jesus, those who are reading this in historical context, because when we think shepherd, we think soft. Y'all aren't talking to me. When we think shepherd, we think soft. That's not the imagery Jesus is portraying here. That is not even the imagery that David has in mind. When he calls God his shepherd, he says, the Lord is my shepherd, right? Then he says, I shall not want. And then he goes down in Psalms 23, and he says, your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You miss it. David said, I'm comforted because you carrying. Let me go. Maybe this is for the 130, y'all. Okay. Can I go? Here, Here. Let's say David said, when I see your rod and when I see your staff, I'm comforted because I know you got it and you willing to use it. You will put that rod on a wolf carrying that rod. I wish a wolf would. I wish a wolf would. God, don't play by me. I wish your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Now, this is an area where we struggle to let Jesus be our defender because we feel like we're better at defending ourselves. We done? We done? All right, here it is. Number six. He says, I am the resurrection and the life. Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection of the life. The one who believes in me will live even though they die. Jesus is my reviver. The context of John 11 is a miracle. The resurrection from the dead of a man named Lazarus. Lazarus metaphorically represents two things. What God loves and what you love. Here in John 11, you see, like two shortest verses. Scripture. Jesus wept when he heard about Lazarus. He wept because the Bible says he loved them. So. Jesus loved Lazarus and Mary and Martha loves Lazarus. So Lazarus represents when what God loves and what you love dies. And when it's been dead so long, you wrapped it up and put it in a tomb. And when the disciples were talking about Lazarus death, Jesus used this metaphor. He said, he's just sleeping. What have you had a funeral for? And God's. And God's like you had a whole funeral for something. I'm not through it. I just wanted you to take a nap. I didn't want you to kill it. I just needed you to put it down. You. We're going to spend the block. We're going to come back and pick it back up again. It's not that I don't want you to do that vision, just not now. You had a funeral for something. I'm not through it. I sense that there's some things he's about to revisit with you. I'm reading this book. It's on inner healing. And I never. Cory, I never. I like. I never heard this term. This guy says, some of the fruit of inner healing, Rick, is healed memories. I say, now, wait a minute. Healed memories. So, yeah, where God doesn't erase the memory, but when you remember, it no longer triggers pain. God would you heal memories? He's a reviver. And last but not least, number seven. He says I am the true vine. He says I'm the true vine. My father's the gardener. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit, while every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful. Fruitful Every branch this right here will preach all by itself. He cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. He cut it off because me and God sometimes have disagreement about what's fruitful. I'm like, that's worth something. He like, no, it's not. I need that. No, you don't. I need them. No, you don't. But he says, every branch that is bearing fruit, he prunes so that it will be more. More fruitful. Finally, Jesus is my multiplier. He's my multiplier. Now, here's a challenge. His multiplication comes through subtraction. What's the text say? The text says, every branch that bears fruit, he prunes. He subtracts. If Jesus is going to be your multiplier, you must let him be the subtractor. So here's the question I think the Holy Spirit wants to ask us, and we're done. What part of Jesus have I been consciously or unconsciously resisting? Which of these seven am I not allowing him to be to me? See, it's not that you don't know him at all. We know Him. But there are aspects of him that he wants to reveal to you in certain segments of your seat, of your spiritual journey. And maybe now you're at a place where he's saying, I want to reintroduce myself to you. What you need. I'm Him. Father, would you open our eyes to see, open our hearts to receive the greatest gift you can give us after salvation? And that is a revelation of who you want to be to us. Show us where we've been resisting, who we need you to be. You are everything I need you to be. You're the. I am. You are. There. I am. You are.