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John 14:4-6 JESUS THE WAY TO HEAVEN

Introduction:

	In our two previous texts Jesus sought to comfort the
troubled hears of His disciples.  They were in deep sorrow
because Jesus was about to be crucified and also because He
would soon leave them and leave them and go away.
	He first sought to comfort them by urging them to depend
on God to help them and to depend on Himself to help them.
They were told not to allow their sorrow to get them down.
They were to count on Him to help them.
	He further sought to comfort them by telling them that
He would go away to prepare a place for them in heaven and
that just as surely as He went and prepared a place for
them, just that surely He would return to get them and they
would never be parted from Him again.
	In our text today Jesus speaks of Himself as being the
way to heaven.

I.  The disciples, knowing where Jesus was going and knowing
	how to get there

	V. 4, "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know."
Jesus told His disciples said that they knew where He was
going and that they also knew the way by which they could
get there themselves.  They were well informed that He was
going to be crucified.  He had begun to tell them this
before they left Capernaum to come to Jerusalem for the
Passover observance.  He had told them again several times
along the way as they traveled toward Jerusalem.  He had
told them again this very night.
	Jesus had also told them that after He would be
crucified, He would arise from the grave.  He told them that
three days after His crucifixion, He would arise from the
grave.  In their presence He had told the Jewish leaders
that after three days and three nights He would arise from
the grave.
	He had also told the Jewish leaders in their presence
that He would soon be going away where the Jews could not
find Him.  Then after eating the Passover Supper with them
and after instituting the Lord's Supper, He told them
plainly that He would be going away and that where He was
going, they could not go at this time.  He said, "Little
children, yet a little while I am with you.  Ye shall seek
me: and as I said unto the Jews, Whither I go, ye cannot
come; so now I say to you," John 13:33.
	Also during the course of the three years His disciples
were with Him, they had been well informed about how to go
to heaven.  Back in John 3:14-15 He had said, "And as Moses
lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of man be lifted up:  That whosoever believeth in him
should not perish, but have everlasting life."
	In the very next verse Jesus said, "For God so loved the
world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever
believeth in should not perish, but have everlasting life,"
John 3:16.
	In John 3:18 Jesus had said, "He that believeth on him
is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned
already, because he believeth not in the name of the only
begotten Son of God."
	In John 3:36 Jesus had said to them, "He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not
the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on
him."
	In John 4:14 Jesus said, "...whosoever drinketh of the
water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the
water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life."
	In John 5:24 Jesus had said, "Verily, verily I say unto
you, he that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent
me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into
condemnation; but is passed from death unto life."
	In John 6:35 Jesus said, "I am the bread of life: he
that cometh to me shall never hunger; and he that believeth
on me shall never thirst."
	In John 6:40 Jesus said, "And this is the will of him
that sent me, that every one which seeth the son, and
believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will
raise him up at the last day."
	In John 8:12 Jesus said, "I am the Light of the world:
he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall
have the light of life."
 	In John 10:9 Jesus said, "I am the door: by me if any
man enter in, he shall be saved..."
	In John 10:11 He said, "I am the good shepherd: the good
shepherd giveth his life for the sheep."
	In John 11:25-26 Jesus said, "I am the resurrection and
the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet
shall he live: and whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die.  Believest thou this?"
	So the disciples had been well informed that Jesus was
going to leave them and go back to God the Father in heaven
who had sent Him.  Likewise they had been well informed
about how to go to heaven.  So in verse 4 of our text Jesus
said, "You know where I am going and you know the way to get
there yourselves."

II.  Thomas, claiming not to know where Jesus was going nor
	how to get there

	V. 5, "Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither
thou goest; and how can we know the way?"  Apparently Thomas
had missed the point that Jesus was going to leave planet
earth and go away back to God the Father in heaven.  It
appears that he thought Jesus was talking about leaving them
and going off to some foreign land right here on earth.
With that in mind, what Thomas says makes perfectly good
sense.  Let me put it this way:  Thomas was saying, "Lord,
you have not told us what country you are going to or what
city you are going to.  We do not even know whether you are
going east or west, north or south.  How can we know what
route to take until you tell us where you are going?"
	You will note that in the answer which Jesus gave to
Thomas, He did not even bother to clarify that He was not
going to some other place here on earth.  He would be going
to heaven above.  That was going to be made evident soon
enough.  When Thomas would stand on Mt. Olives and witness
as Jesus would arise in the air and go up through the clouds
into heaven, Thomas would know then that Jesus was talking
about going to heaven.
	But what Jesus did say to Him was designed to get on
record here in the Bible a clear simple statement about how
any man could go to heaven.  This statement was more for the
benefit of mankind as a whole than it was just for the
benefit of Thomas and the other disciples who were already
saved.

III.  Jesus telling them anew how man can to get to heaven

	Listen to that statement:  V. 6, "Jesus saith unto him,
I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me."
	Take special notice of what Jesus said.  He said, "I am
the way..."  Jesus is the way to heaven.  The way to get to
heaven is not a set of rules.  Keeping the Ten Commandments
which God gave through Moses is not the way to heaven.  One
of the main reasons this could not be the way is that nobody
but Jesus ever kept them.  It amazes me how that some men
get on the television and radio and proclaim to the world
that in order to get into heaven one must keep the Ten
Commandments, and yet those very men have been guilty of
breaking the very commandments which they claim you must
keep.  I heard one man say on the radio that nobody would
ever get into heaven except by keeping the ten commandments
and within a few months he plead guilty of committing
adultery.  I suspect he was not only guilty of breaking the
commandments which say, "Thou shalt commit adultery, but he
was also guilty of breaking the commandment which says,
"Thou shalt not bear false witness."
	The Bible clearly says that all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God and that means that nobody keeps
the ten commandments.  Every man, woman, boy and girl has
broken the Ten Commandments.  If it were true that one had
to keep the Ten Commandments to get to heaven, no human
would ever get there except  Jesus.
	Getting baptized and getting into the membership of a
New Testament church is not the way to get to heaven.  If it
were, then Judas Iscariot would be there.  Judas was
baptized by John the Baptist, the same man who baptized all
of the twelve apostles and even baptized Jesus.  Judas held
membership in the church that Jesus established while here
on earth.  In fact, Judas was an officer in that church.  He
held two offices in that church.  He was not only an
apostle, but he held the honored position of treasurer.
Both offices were offices of honor.  But that did not get
Judas Iscariot into heaven.
	Listen!  Turning over a new leaf and changing your ways
is not the way to heaven.  That plan makes salvation the
result of one's own good works.  But the Bible plainly
teaches that salvation is not by the works of man, it is a
gift of God.  In Ephesians 2:8-9 the Apostle Paul wrote,
"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of
yourselves: it is the gift of God.  Not of works lest any
man should boast."  In Titus 3:5 Paul also wrote, "Not by
works of righteousness which we have done, but according to
his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and
the renewing of the Holy Ghost."  In Romans 6:23 we read,
"For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is
eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord."
	The only way that a guilty sinner can get to heaven is
by repenting of his sin and trusting in Jesus Christ, the
Son of God to save his soul.  Listen again to the Apostle
Paul in Acts 20:20-21, "...I kept back nothing that was
profitable unto you, but have showed you, and have taught
you publicly, and from house to house, Testifying both to
the Jews, and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God, and
faith toward our Lord Jesus Christ."
	If you will call upon God the Father and confess to Him
that you are an unworthy sinner and if you will place your
faith in Jesus Christ to save you by the grace of God, then
Jesus Christ will save your soul.  The Holy Spirit of God
will produce the new birth within your soul which you must
have to get into heaven.  The blood of Jesus will wash away
all your sins.  Jesus, by His almighty power, will save your
soul and will keep you saved for evermore.  You will be
given everlasting life within your soul which will never be
taken from you.  Then when you die you will go to heaven.
	If you will trust in Jesus Christ you will spend
eternity in glory with God the Father and with God the Son
and with God the Holy Spirit and with all the holy angels
and with all who have repented of sin and trusted in Jesus.
But if you refuse to trust in Jesus for salvation, then you
will never make it to heaven.  You will spend eternity
suffering for your sins.
	If you intend to trust in Jesus and be saved, but just
keep putting it off until it is too late, you will never
make it to heaven.  If for any reason in this world you fail
to trust in Jesus you will never make it to heaven.  You
will spend eternity without God.  You will spend eternity
without mercy suffering for your sin.

Conclusion:

	Come, lost sinner friend, and place your trust in Jesus
to save your soul.
	Come saved sinner friend and give your life in service
to the Lord Jesus Christ who has saved your soul.