Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life

Several years ago, a man named John was saying goodbye to his mother at the airport. She was well into her 80s, and he sensed that this might be the last time he saw her face to face. As they hugged, he whispered,

“Thank you for everything, Mom. For all the prayers. For never giving up on me.”

His mother—small in stature but mighty in faith—looked up at him and said,

“I haven’t stopped praying for you since the day I knew you were growing inside me. And I won’t stop until I can’t anymore.”

John stood there, stunned. He’d gone through a rebellious season, made a mess of parts of his life, and for years he’d thought she had no idea what he was going through. But she did. And she had been battling for him on her knees, in secret, all along.

He said later, “That moment changed me. I realized that while I had been running, my mom had been interceding. And I believe now that it was her prayers—long, patient, faithful prayers—that helped bring me home to God.”

You know, when John’s mother said, “I haven’t stopped praying for you since I knew you were inside me,” what she was really saying was, “I’ve been praying that you’d find the way. That you’d know the truth. That you’d experience the life God created you to live.”

THAT’S THE CRY OF EVERY GODLY MOTHER’S HEART. NOT JUST FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO BE SUCCESSFUL OR SAFE—BUT FOR THEIR CHILDREN TO KNOW JESUS. TO WALK WITH HIM. TO FIND THE ONE TRUE PATH THAT LEADS HOME.

Let’s read this account together in John 14.

John 14:1-11
1 “Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am you may be also. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.” 5 Thomas said to him, “Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way?” 6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. 7 If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 8 Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” 9 Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? 10 Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. 11 Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves.

So often, people will say that Jesus never claimed divinity – that he never claimed to be God.  Well, they aren’t paying attention to this portion.  

In this passage, Jesus says a few things:
•v. 6 - I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through me.
•V. 9 – Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.
•V. 10 – I am in the Father and the Father is in me.

It’s an exclusive claim of divinity and an exclusive way to heaven, and WE HAVE FULLY BOUGHT INTO THE EXCLUIVE CLAIM OF JESUS TO BE THE WAY OF GOD, THE TRUTH OF GOD AND THE LIFE THAT CAN ONLY BE FOUND IN GOD.

Now, if you are not yet a Christ follower, you might find this statement troubling.  But it is in the context of a troubled heart that Jesus makes this claim.

Look at verse 1.

John 14:1a
“Let not your hearts be troubled.”

Now, why would they be troubled?
Back up to Chapter 13 for a moment.

Look at John 13:33 and 36-38.

John 13:33
Little children, yet a little while I am with you. You will seek me, and just as I said to the Jews, so now I also say to you, ‘Where I am going you cannot come.’
 
John 13:36-38
Simon Peter said to him, “Lord, where are you going?” Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow me now, but you will follow afterward.”37 Peter said to him, “Lord, why can I not follow you now? I will lay down my life for you.” 38 Jesus answered, “Will you lay down your life for me? Truly, truly, I say to you, the rooster will not crow till you have denied me three times.

Why would they be troubled?  This word means to be “shaken up.”

Why would they be shaken up?

Jesus has told them…I am going away.  He says, “…and where I am going, you cannot come.”

Jesus is forecasting their separation.
•He is also forecasting to them a tough moment…one of denial.
•They have already heard him say that one of them will betray him.

And they are starting to catch on…It’s as if their hearts are putting it all together and they are saying…“Wait.  Jesus is serious about this stuff.  He keeps talking separation, leaving, denial and betrayal. What’s happening here?”

It’s in the midst of being troubled that he says…“Guys, listen to me.  I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me. I am going to prepare a place for you and will come back to take you to be with me.”

And this is the language of the marriage covenant as the bridegroom would pay a dowry to the bride’s father, they would drink the cup of the covenant and the groom would proclaim to his bride, “I am going to my father’s house to prepare a place for you…and I will come again and receive you to myself, that where I am, you may be also.”

In the midst of trouble, Jesus establishes a covenant with them.  And it is in the midst of our trouble that Jesus offers a covenant to us.

Now why can you trust his covenant?

I think the answer is fairly simple… Because he is the way of God, the truth of God and the life of God.

Isn’t that what this mother wanted her son to know?

Here is my outline:

Three Truths Christians Mother’s Teach their Children
1.Jesus is the Way to God.
2.Jesus is the Truth of God.
3.Jesus is the Life of God.

Let’s look at this first truth Christian Mother’s Teach Their Children.
I.Jesus is the way to God.

A man once proudly told his wife he didn’t need GPS or directions to get to a wedding they were attending—“I’ve got it all up here,” he said, tapping his temple.

Thirty minutes later, they were deep in the countryside, passing the same gas station for the third time. The kids in the backseat were starting to ask if they were just going to live in the car now.

His wife gently suggested they stop and ask for directions, to which he replied, “I’m not lost—I just took the scenic route.”

Eventually, with a little help from a very amused gas station clerk and a humbled heart, he found the right road and they made it just in time… to hear the closing song of the ceremony.

It’s easy to lose your way, isn’t it?

The idea of “The Way” is found in many places in the Old Testament. So, these disciples, and later the first century Jewish audience who heard it from these disciples, would have to really wrestle with these claims.

In Deuteronomy, we are exposed to the “ways” of God – his commandments.

Deuteronomy 5:32-33
You shall be careful therefore to do as the Lord your God has commanded you. You shall not turn aside to the right hand or to the left. 33 You shall walk in all the way that the Lord your God has commanded you, that you may live, and that it may go well with you, and that you may live long in the land that you shall possess.

In Isaiah 30:21 we hear the prophet say, “You shall hear a word behind you, saying, ‘This is the way; walk in it.’”

The Psalmist says in Psalm 27, “Teach me your way, O Lord.”

The Jews knew much about the way of God, yet Jesus claimed to be THE way.

AND, when you keep this in its context, you quickly see that the way of Jesus involves a cross, because Jesus is saying this as he is headed to the cross.  He knows that:
•he is going to be betrayed by Judas,
•denied by Peter
•and killed by the Romans and the Jews.  
•He knows that in the way he must walk, there is a cross!

Q: Why is the cross fundamental to the way?
A: So that Jesus would absorb the Wrath of God on our behalf.

You see, God is revealed to us as a JUST God.  And we were created in his image.  

Therefore, when we see that which is unjust and those who perpetrate it, we respond.  We ache in our souls…we get involved to fix it…we run for office…we see injustice and we long for justice. This is because we were made in the image of God.  

But what the Bible reveals to us, is that we are the perpetrators.  You see, God’s law demands us all to love him with all of our heart, all of our soul and all of our strength…he is to have the absolute first place.

But what’s true of your story and my story?  What is true of our lives?

We have all loved other things more than God.  And this is what sin is, as John Piper says, “…dishonoring God by preferring other things over him and acting on those preferences.”

And if we understand who we are sinning against, we must understand that it is NO SMALL THING.

PIPER ALSO SAYS…
The seriousness of an insult rises with the dignity of the one insulted.  The Creator of the universe is infinitely worthy of respect and admiration and loyalty. Therefore, failure to love him is not trivial—it is treason. It defames God and destroys human happiness.

Since God is a just God, he will not leave sin unpunished. Notice how the Bible proclaims our guilt.

Romans 6:23a
For the wages of sin is death…

Have you ever loved something more than God?  Have you sinned against him?  Have you defamed your Sovereign?

All of us have sinned!  The scripture in the book of Romans declares all of us guilty.

Romans 3:23
for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,

We are all condemned.  And look at what Ezekiel 18:4 says to us all.

Ezekiel 18:4
Behold, all souls are mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is mine: the soul who sins shall die.

Do you see that?  It says, “…the soul who sins shall die!”

Friends, we have a terrible problem!  We are condemned to death because we have loved other things more than God.  And God is JUST to condemn us!

JOHN PIPER SAYS…
“There is a holy curse hanging over all sin. Not to punish would be unjust. The demeaning of God would be endorsed.  A lie would reign at the core of reality.”

But God is not only JUST, God is also LOVE.  And God’s love took action, willing to meet the demands of his justice.

That’s why the way of Jesus involves a cross—to meet the just demands of the character of God and to display the infinite love and grace that God has for sinners!  

Galatians 3:13
Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree.”

And this satisfied the just wrath of God.  The Apostle Paul makes this clear for us in Romans 3.  Look at the word Propitiation in Romans 3:25.

Romans 3:25
…whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith.
 
The word, “propitiation,” refers to the removal of God’s wrath by providing a substitute (Piper, Fifty Reasons Why Jesus Came to Die).  The substitute is provided by God himself in Jesus.  

JOHN PIPER, IN HIS BOOK  50 REASONS WHY JESUS CAME TO DIE, SAYS…
The substitute, Jesus Christ, does not just cancel the wrath; he absorbs it and diverts it from us to himself.  God’s wrath is just, and it was spent, not withdrawn.

Jesus is the way, because His cross makes a way for us to be right with God.

Jesus is also the truth!  Let’s look at our outline again…

Three Truths Christians Mother’s Teach their Children
1.Jesus is the Way to God.
2.Jesus is the Truth of God.
3.Jesus is the Life of God.

Let’s look at number 2 here.
II.Jesus is the truth of God.

A mom walked into the kitchen and noticed the cookie jar was mysteriously empty—again. She called in her 6-year-old son, who had chocolate on his face and crumbs all over his shirt. She asked, “Did you eat the cookies?”

He looked her dead in the eye and said, “Nope.”

She raised an eyebrow. “Are you sure?”

He replied confidently, “It was probably Dad.”

Now, Dad hadn’t been home all day. But this little guy had committed to the lie.

His logic? If you say it with confidence—and you blame someone else—it becomes the truth, right?

Do you remember the question that Pilate posed to Jesus?

John 18:38a
Pilate said to him, “What is truth?”

Less than 12 hours before this question was asked, Jesus declared that, “I am the truth.”

The truth of God stood directly in front of him, and yet Pilate didn’t even wait for an answer.  Instead, he responded rhetorically and walked away.

Professor David Schrock reminds us that assaults on truth are nothing new. The question of truth continues to shape theological, ethical, and political debates still today. Pilate may not have known the answer, but Christians today need to be able to answer that question—“What is truth?” Schrock looks at the truth from three different angles:

•Inspired truth.
He states… “In contrast to the spirit of the age, truth isn’t a feeling experienced but a fact decreed in eternity, demonstrated in history, and progressively revealed and recorded in Scripture. Put simply, truth is what God says it is.”

As Isaiah 65:16 says, God is “the God of truth.” And when God revealed himself, He inspired a true book. Scripture attests to itself that God’s law and commandments are true (Ps. 119:142, 151, 160).

On the basis of God’s character, his faithfulness in history, and Scripture’s own testimony, we have confidence that true truth exists and has been given to us by the God of truth in his inspired Word.

•Incarnate truth. God’s truth is more than just written—it is also manifested in a person. Jesus is the Word who spoke the world into existence and took on human form to embody grace and truth (John 1:1, 14). As “the way, the truth, and the life,” he wasn’t just a man talking about truth, but He Himself is the truth of which all Scripture speaks.

•Eschatological truth. When we think about truth we often think historically or universally, but there is also a future element as well.

SHROCK SAYS:
“Jesus sends his Spirit to lead people into truth now, to transfer them into his kingdom (Col. 1:13), to cause them to walk in the truth, and ultimately to point them to the winning side of eternity before the day comes in which the Lord conquers his enemies once and for all. We hold fast to the truth now, knowing that a day of reckoning is coming—a day in which what we believe about this inspired, incarnate truth will determine our eternal fate.”

John 8:31-32
31 So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed him, “If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, 32 and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”

Our taking Christ into our lives, our dwelling upon the TRUTH…his word, will set us free.

Jesus is the way…Jesus is the truth… And this leads to life.

Three Truths Christians Mother’s Teach their Children
1.Jesus is the Way to God.
2.Jesus is the Truth of God.
3.Jesus is the Life of God.

III.Jesus is the Life of God.

IYou can always tell a mom by her purse—or more accurately, her bag of miracles.

One time, a little boy tripped and scraped his knee at church. His mom whipped out a band-aid, a juice box, a pack of Goldfish, a wet wipe, and a Matchbox car—all from the same bag. Someone nearby said, “Is that a purse or a portable Target?”

But that’s Mom Life: always prepared, always multitasking, always thinking three steps ahead. That bag might have snacks, socks, sunscreen, backup clothes, church bulletins from three months ago, and probably a half-eaten granola bar fused to a receipt—but it’s basically a survival kit for everyone but her.

This heart for her kids extends throughout her children’s lives, as more than anything, she wants her kids to possess the true life found in Jesus.

What is this life?

If you examine the words that Jesus said, you will see, that over and over again, he declared that in him is life and it has two parts – abundant life here, and eternal life with God the Father!

John 4:13-14
Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but whoever drinks of the water that I will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

John 6:35
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.”

John 8:12
“Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”

John 10:10
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.”

•Life Abundant
•Life Eternal
•Life fulfilling
•Life Well Illuminated

This is what Jesus Christ offers to us who follow him – Abundant Life Here, and Eternal Life With the Father!

This is what every Christian mom wants for her children.

So, let me ask you, do you have this life?

Jesus invites us to follow him and receive eternal life.  

John 1:12
 But to all who did receive him, who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God.

Have you received Christ? He took the wrath of God for you to pay for your sin and provide you the way to the Father.

John 3:16-18
“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.

God loves you and offers you life everlasting.  God sent Jesus, not to condemn you, but to save you.  And those that believe are not condemned.  But those who reject Christ stand condemned already because they do not believe in the name of God’s son, Jesus.

If you have not taken Christ as your Savior, in just a moment, I am going to pray and ask you to receive Christ.  And you are going to pray a prayer with me, taking Christ into your life.

And as a church, we are placing Christ above all else, because it is all about Jesus!

So, let me ask you…Is Christ first in your life?  The only way we can live this out together is that Christ is first in your heart and life.  

Remember the call of Christ.

Luke 9:23-24
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it.”

Friends, let’s be honest.  It’s easy, even after giving our lives to Jesus to love other things more than him.  Are you taking up your cross?  Are you daily denying yourself?  Are you losing your life that he might replace it with his?

What areas of your life does Christ not have first place?
•Your career?
•Your marriage?
•Your relationships?
•Your entertainment?
•Your willingness to share him with others?

•What is the Spirit saying to you today?

It’s all about Jesus!  So, we place him first over everything!

 
This blog is based on the message shared by Senior Pastor Dr. Roger Patterson on Sunday, May 11, 2025 from our CityRise Church West University Baptist campus. Check out the full message below!