Why One Way

Secular: Trip to Boston

Tourists… not staying long…
Asked for direction to a meeting point…
Given a map and warned!!
The Big Dig
$3m per day $1B per year
Remove 16 million cubic yards of dirt… tunnels 8-10 lanes
Build bridges 14 lanes
3.8 million cubic feet of concrete (2400 aces at 1 foot thick)
We thought we knew better…
Map seemed to show something else…
Navigate our own route…
Hit a traffic jam beyond any traffic jam every created in all of human history!!

Biblical:

We are tourists… we need to heed the warnings and follow the directions…
We are in search of truth… in search of hope… in search of the ONE WAY…
John Texts…

Personal: We have tried

A Recipe
A building project
A math problem (did not hear or understand…)
… the directions make the result more certain…

Bridge:

Directions valid because:

By Manufacturer or expert
They have been tested
How do we know we know we have the plans, blueprint, directions… WHY ONE WAY?

Body:

1) The Church and the World

a. 60’s bumper sticker

b. most everyone who went to church understood ONE WAY

c. Somewhere along the line many churches decided we needed to “embrace” the world’s value

d. NIV 1 John 3:13 Do not be surprised, my brothers, if the world hates you.

e.

f. NIV Luke 6:26 Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.

g.

2) Objectivity

a. Continuity –

i. Survival - Persecution

Criticism

ii. Teachings - Prophecy

History

Character / Frankness (real heroes… real people)

iii. Influence - Lives (Transformed)

World

b. John 17:15-17 My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one. They are not of the world, even as I am not of it. Sanctify them by the truth; your word is truth.

c. 2 Peter 1:20-21 Above all, you must understand that no prophecy of Scripture came about by the prophet's own interpretation. For prophecy never had its origin in the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit.

Truth… founded in God not man

Objective truth…

So much of the error in our society is subjectivism…

What is good for me…

What do I like…

What makes me feel good…

True faith accepts the objective truth of Scripture!!

3) Rationality

a. It makes sense

i. Not about feelings

ii. Not about experience

iii. It is about fact

b. It is not contradictory

c. 1 Cor. 14:33 For God is not a God of disorder but of peace.

d. Post-modern – No truth…

i. Tolerance… accepting all as true…

ii. Post-modernism is itself is oxy-moronic… it makes the claim that truth is unknowable… a claim with the presupposition that itself is true…

iii. We are willing to be swept along without understanding that it is a faulty understanding

iv. We know some things are absolutely true…

v. The weight of evidence also tells us that our Bible is true… The lives that are changed by the power of the Word of Christ – the gospel… gives us evidence to our faith…

e. Luke 16: 17 It is easier for heaven and earth to disappear than for the least stroke of a pen to drop out of the Law.

f. Power of God in meaning

i. Study / Meditate / Pray / Understand / Live

ii. Not an Incantation

Rationality – our Bible makes sense!

4) Veracity

a. The Bible is Truth

b. God is truth

c. Everything we need to know for life and godliness is contained within…

d. 2 Peter 1:3-4 3 His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness. 4 Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.

e. Deal in truth – 2 Tim 2:15-16 5 Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who does not need to be ashamed and who correctly handles the word of truth. 16 Avoid godless chatter, because those who indulge in it will become more and more ungodly.

f. correctly handles – divides, cutting like a tent-maker – the pieces must fit!

g. THE VERACITY of the message… the Bible… our faith

5) Authority

a. Mark 1:22 22 The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law

b. 1 Peter 4: 11 If anyone speaks, he should do it as one speaking the very words of God. If anyone serves, he should do it with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.

c. If the Bible is true… it must have authority!

d. Word of God… to the exclusion of other opinions

e. Rational… understandable (letters, narratives, poems… original audience and us with some effort).

f.

g.

h.

i.

j.

6) Incompatibility

a. If scripture has authority and is true…

b. 2 Cor 6: 14 Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness? 15 What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? What does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? 16 What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God

c. Whatever opposes God or departs from his truth in any way is a challenge to the authority of Scripture!

i. Dilute

ii. Mix with untruth

iii. Do not defend the veracity of the message… our faith … we make it equal in our tolerance

d. OIL AND WATER

e. 2 John 9 Anyone who runs ahead and does not continue in the teaching of Christ does not have God; whoever continues in the teaching has both the Father and the Son. 10 If anyone comes to you and does not bring this teaching, do not take him into your house or welcome him. 11 Anyone who welcomes him shares in his wicked work.

f. THAT’S INCOMPATIBILITY

g. Galatians 1: 8 But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach a gospel other than the one we preached to you, let him be eternally condemned! 9 As we have already said, so now I say again: If anybody is preaching to you a gospel other than what you accepted, let him be eternally condemned!

h. There is only one message… one Bible… one Saviour… One Authority… Only One Way!

7) Integrity

a. If we have such a high premium on truth… integrity must be a cornerstone virtue and hypocrisy a horrible vice!

b. Prov. 11:3 The integrity of the upright will guide them, But the perversity of the unfaithful will destroy them.

c. IF we belive in the

i. Objectivity of Scripture

1. Speaks outside of us… not to be twisted into our own way

ii. Rationality of Scripture

1. It makes sense

2. Letters, narratives, parables…

d. Veracity of Scripture

i. It is true

ii. It is consistent

iii. Its claims, prophecies and promises are real

e. Authority of Scripture

i. Because it is objective, rational, and true …

ii. It speaks with authority

iii. Because it identifies our Saviour… draws us closer to our God… guides us in godliness

f. Incompatibility of Scripture

i. It paints the tension between the world and our faith in TECHNICOLOUR

ii. It highlights the tension between holiness and worldliness

iii. It proclaims the depravity of humankind and awesome mercy, love and peace of God

Conclusion

INTEGRITY -
If we understand the: objectivity, rationality, veracity, authority, and incompatibility we are called to turn our back on hypocrisy and tolerance and treat the Word of God, Our Saviour and Redeemer with integrity…
If Scripture is Objective:

There is Only One Way

If Scripture is Rational

There is Only One Way

If Scripture is True

There is Only One Way

If Scripture has Authority

There is Only One Way

If Scripture is therefore incompatible with the World

There is Only One Way

BECAUSE WE TRUST IN GOD… BECAUSE WE TRUST IN CHRIST… BECAUSE WE TRUST IN HIS WORD…. Because we act in integrity…
We know Why… there is only one way!!
Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.