Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life
Pastor J. R. Wilhite, author
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Many of the body of Christ profess they are Christian but ask them if they tithe and less than 3% say yes. The other 97% say they are working up to it, and some pastors allow this in hopes to get them to the tithe. This is wrong; the tithe has to be done because we believe God and His word and we do it to show our faith and to please Him.
Jesus is the way to God, the only way, but for some reason many people who say they are Christian do not believe it. Perhaps they either were not taught or have not read John 14:6. Maybe they do not believe because they can not accept the fact that adherents to all other religions are lost because they have been taught that God has many covenants out there. Then again they could just be agents of Satan.
It is not that hard to understand that Jesus came and paid the price for all of mankind. God does not need other covenants to save other people.
John 14
6. Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.
Somewhere along the line, in order to pervert God's truth and to keep as many away from God as possible, Satan got the message into mankind that Jesus is not the only way. Most who believe that Jesus is not the only way have gotten the idea from somewhere that it is too hard to believe in Jesus, that salvation is too hard, too complicated, and just is not the way. That is all a lie because it is very simple. We believe that we are sinners and can not pay the price, which He came and paid for us; we believe in our hearts that He died and God raised Him; we profess this with our mouth; and we are saved. Actually God could not have made salvation any easier, but some people think that if it is not hard and complicated then it can not be true. They are the ones who tend to "make mountains out of molehills."
The process to Christ is not as easy as the process of salvation. Jesus said; "I am the way, the truth and the life." The truth and life are in salvation and He is the only way to salvation.
Jesus has three elements to Him: the Name–Jesus translated means Salvation or Savior and He is our salvation; the Son of God, and as the Son He is the head of the church; and the Christ–the Anointed one – the head of the body of Christ.
Matthew 16
15. He saith unto them, But whom say ye that I am?
16. And Simon Peter answered and said, Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.
17. And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
18. And I say also unto thee, That thou art a piece of the rock [Petros (Peter)], and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
19. And I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever thou shalt loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
In verse 18 I added "a piece of the rock", as it should have been translated from the original Greek. It makes more sense because Jesus had already called Simon by the name of Peter before this so this was not when Simon was named Peter.
Jesus was building His church on what happened in verse 17 ": for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven." When God revealed who Jesus was as the Son and the Christ, Peter then became a piece of the rock. If you look at verse 16 Peter says, "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God," and in verse 17 Jesus says that Peter got it from His Father not from man.
So as we hear from God we grow, we are saved, and our inner spirit man starts to grow. One of the first things we will hear is:
Romans 8
16. The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God:
Due to this revelation from God, we are secure about our salvation. Next God explains who Jesus is in regards to all areas of our life and we then become part of the church.
John 4
24. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
We can not even begin to truly worship God until we are of the spirit.
Matthew 6
5. And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
6. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
7. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
We learn that the above verses make more sense when we are in and of the Spirit, when we no longer just read them but we actually live them.
Matthew 6
14. For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you:
15. But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
God starts calling us to Him early on in our life. The reason why it takes so long for some and others even longer is because for us to hear He has to get through all the junk in us. When I say junk, I am referring to all the walls that have been built in us by what we hear, read, and see in the world that cut us off from Him.
Once we do hear we have a choice to ignore it or act on it. Some do ignore but many act on it.
They go to a physical church or someone of the physical church to profess Jesus and be saved. This is where the problem comes in; very few congregations and preachers teach them that they need to hear from God and how. Those you see who keep rededicating their life over and over again to the Lord lack the knowledge of God and how to hear from Him.
Hosea 4
6. My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me: seeing thou hast forgotten the law of thy God, I will also forget thy children.
I have a lot of people tell me that Hosea 4:6 is not of grace but the law. They are right, but until someone is saved and growing in the Lord they are still of the law. The reason why they are still of the law is lack of knowledge of who Jesus is, that they are supposed to hear from God, and how. Everything we are taught is supposed to be from the Spirit not man.
(Revelation 1
6. And hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen.)
There are those who agree but then state, "I am not a priest." But as we just read above in Revelation 1:6, we are to be a kingdom of priests.
John 14
26. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.
I am not going to spend a lot of time on hearing what the church is, etc because we have studies on line that you can read. What I am dealing with is the truth that He is the way. When we are finally of Jesus we then must grow into the fullness of Him. Of course, if we can not hear then we can not grow.
John 3
12. If I have told you earthly things, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?
The above verse is just why we can not learn it all from man, because the Lord, the Bible, the Church, and Christ are not of physical man but of the Spirit. Only that which is of the Spirit can tell us in our spirit what is of the Spirit. Some men may be of the Spirit, but they do not know all that is of the Spirit, only the Spirit does.
Always look closely at what others teach. If it is against (not of) the Spirit there is a reason; they are still of the flesh only and can not understand what is of the Spirit so they are against it.
John 3
5. Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God.
6. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit.
A lot of people and ministries teach against Baptism of the Spirit, being taught by the Spirit, the Spirit in general, faith, and hearing from God.
Ephesians 2
Mankind generally needs to feel like a part of what is important. Most people want to feel like they did something for it or were, in some way, partly responsible for it. A large portion of mankind can not just accept the free gift and this is why so many are of the law and not grace–Jews, Hindus, Muslims, etc, even some so-called Christians.
Since the days of Moses, mankind could not accept God as their King, Judge, etc; they preferred a man instead. Man can not accept what is not of the flesh. They have a hard time even accepting that the spiritual realm even exists. This is why it is so important that they learn of the Spiritual before too much of the world gets into them.
I have been a science fiction fan for decades and in most if not all books, TV programs, and movies, it shows how mankind will some day evolve and grow into a place where there is no sickness, poverty, or hunger. They promote the idea that all of mankind overcomes all prejudice, all greed, and everyone works together for a better life. Every time we read, see, or hear a story like this pap that goes against the knowledge of God, we get further and further from the truth. Each one of these builds a wall in us that separates us further and further from God and the truth. We are buried in the lies of the world and religion, and the light is fading more and more.
2 Corinthians 10
5. Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ;
Paul saw this problem in his day even before television, movies, the internet, games, etc and saw that the world was pumping out more and more lies to separate us from the knowledge of God.
If you truly want to know the truth if you really want to be of God, you must do three things right now.
If you only do the first one and not the next two then you are like:
Mark 4
15. And these are they by the way side, where the word is sown; but when they have heard, Satan cometh immediately, and taketh away the word that was sown in their hearts.
If you have done the first one and trying for the second with out the third then you are like:
Mark 4
16. And these are they likewise which are sown on stony ground; who, when they have heard the word, immediately receive it with gladness;
17. And have no root in themselves, and so endure but for a time: afterward, when affliction or persecution ariseth for the word's sake, immediately they are offended.
If you do all three and do not verify whom you are hearing from as stated in I John 4:1-3 then you are like:
Mark 4
19. And the cares of this world, and the deceitfulness of riches, and the lusts of other things entering in, choke the word, and it becometh unfruitful.
But if you do all three and verify whom you are hearing from you are like:
Mark 4
20. And these are they which are sown on good ground; such as hear the word, and receive it, and bring forth fruit, some thirtyfold, some sixty, and some an hundred.
In verse 20 above the word fold in the Greek would be better translated as percent which changes the understanding of the verse a lot. Fold would mean you got it all 30, 60 and 100 times again. Where percent means you got none or you got 30%, or 60%, or 100%.
Jesus stated they would bring forth what fruit? Fruit of the word, and since the word is of God; then the fruit would be physically knowledge and understanding, and spiritually fruit of the Spirit.
So the first group did not keep it long enough to produce any fruit. The second had it longer and only was able to produce 30% of the fruit. The third 60%, but the last produced 100%.
There’s the rub; if you do not produce 100% of the fruit physically (the knowledge and wisdom) then you will not last. Subsequently, if you are not 100% of the spirit then the flesh can over take you in time.
We require 100% of the Spirit to keep from falling back into the flesh. We require 100% understanding of the word to be of and operate in the Spirit. Neither can be obtained from the flesh.
Let's look at the fruit of the Spirit:
Galatians 5
22. But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
The love, patience, faith and self-control alone can not work with only 30, 60 or less percent; they require 100%. Otherwise the first group is in trouble 100% of the time, the second 70% and the third 40% where the last can count on help from the Spirit 100% of the time. If we get caught when we are off in in the world 40% of the time, not the 60% in the spirit, then we can be misled and lied to as well as deceived.
1 John 4
1. Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world.
2. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:
3. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world.
Above we have discussed the way Jesus is the way, and somewhat the truth and the life, but now let's look at those last two a little more.
John 1
1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Genesis 1
3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.
4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.
In the above verse God is not referring to the light of the sun, moon, or stars because that had yet to come (it happens on day 4 starting in verse 14). It is not when God became light He always has been and always will be light. The only thing left is when He anointed Jesus as the light of mankind or salvation. No, I am not saying this is when Jesus was created. Jesus always has been. This is where He was anointed as our salvation.
The word darkness in Hebrew refers to everything that is of evil, and the word light refers to the opposite. So, where the light is found, darkness (evil) would be no more. When the light shines through all darkness then there is no more evil. The problem is we have more dark than light on the earth. The light is tied into the word. In John 1:1-4 and then in verse 14 we read that the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Jesus had to become flesh to pay the price, and he had to have the light to overcome the darkness. Jesus is the way to the Father, and the light on the path to the Father lights His way. Once we are of the Father (who is the Spirit) we learn and are of the truth.
John 4
The truth is tied more to the Spirit:
John 15
26. But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify of me:
The only way to God is by Jesus. He also lights the way for us so we never have to walk in darkness. When we know the Father and are of the Father we are also of the Spirit and of the truth and can worship Him.
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