One should never be ashamed to study God’s word deeply. It is shameful NOT to study it deeply and then claim one knows the Bible and/or knows God. The deeper we study, the deeper our relationship grows with God, and we begin to see THE Truth, which is only Jesus Christ himself. As he says in John 14:6-7, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me. If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on you do know him and have seen him.”
To understand the context of what Jesus was saying, let’s look at the 30,000-foot general overview; he was at the Passover table with his disciples. He had just shared that Judas was about to betray him. Judas leaves, and Jesus shares that where he was going, they could not go with him now, but later (John 13:36). Jesus tries to bring peace to his disciples by saying, “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me (John 14:1). The disciples were so confused. Thomas states in verse 5, “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus then replies stating that he is the way, the truth, and the life (John 14:6).
Jesus is THE WAY. There is no other that we can go through to reach the Father. Not a single human being, not a single church, not a single religion. Praise God for the one and only Christ who can save us and make reaching the Father obtainable. It is only by Jesus that we can come boldly to the throne of grace as stated in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” The whole book of Hebrews tells the most beautiful story of our Lord and Savior as our High Priest and Mediator. When I studied this book deeply, with thought and care, I found our Savior to be more than I could ever imagine. He is above it ALL. There is none like Him. He is powerful; He is merciful and righteous. He is God! He is THE one and only WAY.
Jesus is THE TRUTH. “The” is possessive and points to Jesus as being the only truth. I pause here to emphasize this because often, we try to claim truth as our own or that a particular person or church or religion has the truth. If we all believe in Jesus, the Son of Man who was born, lived, died, and resurrected, then we all believe in THE Truth.
Nothing can separate us from God when we believe, we become His children. John 1:12, “But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become the children of God.” When we accept the only real truth, that is Jesus Christ, then we will have eternal life (John 3:16). John 17:3 says, “And this is the way to have eternal life- to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth.” We also know that God’s word is true as He is the word made flesh (John 1:1).
There is no other “new” truths or lesser lights that is not directly from the word of God that leads you to Christ. Anything that changes the gospel, that is written in the Bible, is just a deception put there by the devil to take you away from The Truth. Don’t fall for new lines of thinking that change the narrative of what Jesus Christ has done.
Listen to what Paul writes to the church in Galatia, “I am shocked that you are turning away so soon from God, who called you to himself through the loving mercy of Christ. You are following a different way that pretends to be the Good News but is not the Good News at all. You are being fooled by those who deliberately twist the truth concerning Christ. Let God’s curse fall on anyone, including us or even as angel from heaven, who preaches a different kind of Good News than the one you welcomed, let that person be cursed. Obviously, I’m not trying to win the approval of people, but of God. If pleasing people were my goal, I would not be Christ’s servant. Dear brother’s and sisters, I want you to understand that the gospel message I preach is not based on mere human reasoning. I received my message from no human source, and no one taught me. Instead, I received it by direct revelation from Jesus Christ, Galatians 1:6-12.
Thank you Paul for being so bold and showing the rest of us how to stand up for Christ. I am not ashamed to speak Biblical truth, because it is of Christ! I am not trying to win the approval of people, as I am accountable to God, not man for how I live the gospel in my own life.
If it is not God’s word, be careful, sometimes, it’s a wolf in sheep’s clothing, thinking you are following Christ when it’s not, its deceiving, and its robs people of the true gift that Jesus has given. The BIBLE doesn’t need anything added to it to show us who God is and the redemption that we receive from Jesus Christ being glorified by God after suffering a sinners death on the cross. What a great God we serve. JESUS is TRUTH!!!
Jesus is THE LIFE. There are many occurrences of Jesus declaring his authority over life and death, but one of my favorite stories is about the Samaritan woman at the well. Jesus is alone with her as His disciples go into town to find food. In all of the mess of her life, Jesus finds her, extends compassion, challenges her to think and then offers an invitation to receive his “spring of water welling up to eternal life.” She leaves her water jar, goes into town and shares about Jesus to the people. She had to have done a good job, as a crowd came to find him, and because of this woman’s testimony, many came to believe in Jesus. You can find the full story in John 4: 1-42. Many were saved that day, by one woman’s action to believe and receive the living water of eternal life.
When Jesus declares, in John 6:35, that he is the bread of life, he is offering eternal life for those who believe. Check out verse 40, ” For my Father’s will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.” With Jesus there is no death, but eternal life.
We can only see Jesus as The Way, The Truth, and The Life, when we allow ourselves to quit thinking we are right and start asking God for His wisdom and guidance, allowing God to convict our hearts and minds with His Word. James talks about how when we ask for wisdom, God will not hold it from us (James 1:5).
As I stated at the beginning, one should never be ashamed to deeply study God’s word. The deeper we study, the deeper our relationship grows with God. Can one have godly wisdom without thinking deeply? I would think not! God is the creator of our minds. I don’t think He would give us a light version of the gospel so we wouldn’t have to go deep. That is an insult to Him. It would be better if He didn’t give us wisdom than to give us a “light” truth.
But I tell you this: When you ask for wisdom, be prepared to learn and to stand up for your faith. We are called to, NOT be ashamed, and to share it with the world.
