Jesus sharing with His disciples “I Am the Way”

  1. Traveled path
  2. You have to trust me completely to follow the path that is in front of you.
    1. Must throw off every weight and run the race marked out in front of us.
  3. We must walk the narrow path.

This is where real problems can come up in our lives.

  1. I Am the Truth

Truth has a lot to do with how we walk this narrow path that is in front of us.

Truth can become nothing more than a doctrine

Doctrine = Set of beliefs taught by the church

Truth is suppose to set people free (John 8: 32)

BUT-

They become a heavy burden that crushes people with unbearable religious demands (Luke 11: 46)

Truth is not a doctrine, it is a person Jesus Christ

When we read the Bible, we are not learning a thing, but a person.

2. The Way Becomes Behavior Modification

When walking the path in front of us is a collection of…

You have to do this, you can’t do this, it becomes a burden that no one can accomplish.

We become more worried about behavior modification than freedom that Christ intends

EXAMPLE: See someone who lost everything in a fire.  I write a letter to a friend, should I feel sad?  They reply Yes so I cry.  How would you feel about that?  Same way we see the Bible and see Husbands, love your lives, wives love your husbands, children obey their parents.

If your ability to walk the path requires memory, then you are walking in legalism.

Old Testament full of promises to do better and be a better person not realizing the impossibility of fulfilling it.

You are so careful to clean the outside of the cup and the dish but inside you are filthy–full of greed and wickedness. Luke 11: 39

EXAMPLE:  write a letter to someone who hurt me and I have to forgive.  Still hate them but write the letter.  Is Jesus happy with this?

3. Freedom of the Truth

Jeremiah 31: 33, 34 law written on their hearts.

Jesus will put a new heart in us to serve the Lord.

He will empower us to be able to walk the Way that is in front of us.

Hebrews 4: 12 For the word of God (What is the word of God? Bible, but it is also Jesus.  If it is just showing us how to live we are falling into a burden we can’t live, but if it is showing us a relationship, then we are free) Is alive and powerful. (not just words or doctrine) It is sharper than the sharpest two-edged sword, cutting between soul and spirit, between joint and marrow. IT EXPOSES OUR INNERMOST THOUGHTS AND DESIRES. (how do we know if we are legalistic or free?) Nothing in all creation is hidden from God. Everything is naked and exposed before his eyes and he is the one to whom we are accountable.

May what is on the outside, become a truth inside of me. If not I am going to stand in front of you someday exposed as a clean cup that is filthy inside.4. Jesus walked the Way

4. Jesus walked the Way

Way = traveled path.

Hebrews 4: 15, 16 Need mercy and grace from the one who walked the way in front of us.

EXAMPLE: don’t cry over disaster of friend, don’t love my wife, don’t submit to my husband, don’t obey my parents.  I need your help

Pursuit of Jesus is the point.

EXAMPLE: Saul wasn’t told quit killing people, he was shown Jesus

Life we live, we live by Faith in the Son of God who loved us and gave himself for us. Galatians 2: 20