Series: The God You Need to Know
Dr. Woodrow Kroll
September 2, 2010

Woodrow Kroll: Jesus made claims that were absolutely audacious.

Tami Weissert: But they were also absolutely accurate.

Woodrow Kroll: Join us today as we examine what He said about Himself and His Father. Hi, I'm Woodrow Kroll.

Tami Weissert: I'm Tami Weissert.

Woodrow Kroll: And this is Back to the Bible.

Hello, and welcome to Back to the Bible, today on the road in Jacksonville, Florida. We're here at the beautiful First Christian Church of the Beaches. We are the guests of Way Radio here in Jacksonville. Tami, it's a delight to be in Florida.

Tami Weissert: Welcome from me, too. We love Florida. Right behind us is this beautiful ocean and beach. Maybe we should think about coming down here more often.

Woodrow Kroll: Well, maybe we should (laughter and applause). We have two studies left in this week in Florida. And the two studies we're looking at this week are-- all week long we're looking at what God wants us to know about Himself.

If God could tell you what He wants you to know about Him, what do you think He'd say? Well, He did. And that's why we're looking into God's Word.

Tami Weissert: We're looking at things that... Jesus today, and in preparation for this, Dr. Kroll, this is impressive now. I went to the Internet and I put in the name of Jesus, and I searched in Google. And you know what? Two hundred thirty-five million responses came up. And I didn't get through all of them, but I was up really, really early this morning just looking at that.

Woodrow Kroll: One of the things you learn quickly is that Jesus is a very controversial figure. Of those 235 million, lots of them would be many sites that would attack Jesus, attack His credibility, attack His claims, attack everything about Him.

And that's just--that's part of Googling any person's name. But what I want you to know today is this. Jesus made some claims that are absolutely audacious, and also absolutely accurate. And if you can believe those claims, it'll change your life forever. We're going to look at these claims today here on Back to the Bible.

Tami Weissert: Today's Back to the Bible study was recorded earlier in Jacksonville, Florida, thanks to our friends at Way Radio and First Christian Church of the Beaches.

Woodrow Kroll: Well, when you think about the claims of the Lord Jesus, you go right to the Gospels, you read what Jesus has to say, and you say to yourself, boy, I don't remember anybody else making a claim like that. Jesus made claims that Buddha would never have made, made claims that Mohammed would not make, make claims other religious teachers would never be able to make.

Now, of course, any fool can make a claim. Backing those claims up, that's the important thing. What I want you to do with me today is I want you to take your Bible and turn with me to the Gospel of John 14. Because we're going to look at some of the most audacious and accurate claims Jesus ever made.

John 14 is the great passage about the Lord Jesus comforting His disciples. What I want you to really see, though, is that John 14:1 really connects to John 13:38. This is one of those occasions where it's unfortunate that the chapter break comes exactly where it is, because Jesus is talking in verse 38, the last verse of the preceding chapter. And He's talking in verse 1 of chapter 14, which means he didn't stop talking.

So let's go back to chapter 13:38. It says, “Jesus answered, 'Will you really lay down your life for me? I tell you the truth, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times.'” All right – we know who He's talking to, He's talking to Peter.

Now, after He just says to Peter, you were going to disown me, before the rooster has a chance to crow, three times you will deny your Lord. Immediately Jesus says this: “Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in Me.”

Now, so the context in which John 14:1 occurs is not a context of the death of someone in your family, it's not the context of looking forward to the future. It's in the context of the absolute disappointment of Peter as a disciple of the Lord Jesus.

And so when you and I are, you know, in the habit of failing the Lord and we all do, we have to know, are the claims that Jesus makes, claims that I can believe? Because after all, if I've messed up like Peter is about to, I want to know that I can trust Jesus just the way I trust God.

Now let's look at these claims. Verse 1 is the first claim, it's the claim that faith in God and faith in Jesus are of equal value. To have faith in Jesus is just as important, Jesus says, as having faith in God. Now to a Jewish audience, that is an incredibly audacious claim. To have "faith in Me, the way I have faith in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob"? Now you have to really know what you're talking about to make a claim like that.

"Let not your heart be troubled." He's speaking to the disciples. He's doing it in the context of Peter, just about ready to disown the Lord Jesus three times. And yet Jesus urges His disciples here to have equal trust in Him, the way they have trust in God the Father.

Now listen, for all those of you who feel you can trust the God of the Bible, I want you to know that the God of the Bible says, "You can trust My Son Jesus just like you trust Me." That's an audacious claim. The question is, Is it accurate?

Well, let's go on to the next verse and find out, verse 2. Here's the claim that Jesus is returning to His Father. This is a pretty unique claim. He says, “In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going to prepare a place for you.” Now Jesus clearly is indicating that He is going back to be with His Father.

This is not the only time He says this. This is quite a claim. I'm going back to God. You understand what “back to God” implies. It means He came from God in the first place. That's not a claim Mohammed ever made, not a claim Buddha could make, not a claim I can make or you can make. Jesus says, "Here's what I want you to know: I'm returning to My Father."

And I said, this is not the only place this occurs. Look down at verse 12, same chapter, chapter 14, verse 12. He says, “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in Me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these because I am going to the Father.”

This is two times in one chapter. Let me just read another verse, two chapters over, chapter 16 at verse 28, Jesus says, “I came from the Father, and entered the world. Now I am leaving the world and going back to the Father.”

So what He's saying here is this: "When you have faith in Me, you have faith in Someone that you can have faith in just equally as you have faith in the Father. And by the way, I am going back to the Father now, I'm going to leave you alone for awhile."

But verse 2 also makes another audacious claim, and it's the claim that He would prepare a place for us with His Father. Now He says, in My Father's house there are many rooms, many mansions. I love that word mansion. What else would best describe what Jesus is doing today? That's an audacious claim, that in God's heaven, Jesus is preparing a room for me, right now, just like He's preparing a room for you.

Some years ago the Fiske Planetarium at the University of Colorado needed some money for their projects. And the director of the planetarium had a bright idea. He decided to sell one thousand-acre plots on Mars. You know, you buy your plot, he gives you coordinates and you can have space on Mars.

And here's how he made his advertisement, and I want to quote to you from it. He said, “This land still features pink skies, unlimited rock gardens, and not one, but two moons. So peaceful, quiet, romantic, even the natives are friendly.” He sold a thousand acres at $20 a hit, and got enough money to meet their budget that year.

Now think about this. If crazy earthlings will spend 20 bucks to buy a place on Mars that they can't ever dwell in, imagine what it's like to be thinking about the place we will live in for all eternity. See, when Jesus makes His claim, it is a very, very audacious claim. And so if a fictional place like real estate on Mars is so attractive to people, the claim of Jesus to be preparing right now a place for you and me, is an audacious claim.

The question is, Is it accurate? Can you believe it? Look at verse 3. Here's the claim that Jesus would one day return from the place He is preparing for us, and take us to be with Him in heaven. Verse 3 says: “I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to be with me, that where I am, there you may be also. You will be with Me.”

That is an audacious claim. If Jesus is God and He claims to be preparing a room for me to live in God's heaven forever, and then He says, "Oh, and by the way, I'm going to come and get you and usher you to this room," that's a claim I have never heard any other religious leader ever make.

In fact, I don't remember ever reading of a religious leader making a claim like that. So when you think about what God wants you to know about God, you have to understand this. God wants you to know that His Son makes claims in the Bible that are just outrageous! Unless, of course, they're true.

Tami Weissert: There's a God you need to know. Sounds like an introduction, doesn't it? Well, it is. It's also the title of this week's series [The God You Need to Know] which really gives us a basic introduction to God. Hi, this is Tami and during this series, Dr. Kroll touches on some very important points of the Christian faith, so I hope you'll be able to catch all five studies this week.

If that's not possible or if you just want to review the messages, then consider ordering this week's series on CD. To place your order, just call us at 1-800-759-2425.

You're listening to Bible teacher, Woodrow Kroll, here on Back to the Bible.

Woodrow Kroll: Well, today we're looking at John 14 at the very audacious claims of the Lord Jesus. What we're wanting to do here is understand what God wants you to know. And what God wants you to know is, Jesus makes some claims that no other religious leader would ever dare to make.

Now we've looked at several of them already. He's going to prepare a place for us in the throne room of God and heavens of God. He's going to come back and take us to be with Him there. But look at this. At verse 6, He makes a claim in verse 6 that is just absolutely outrageous. I mean, this is just off-the-wall!

Look at this. He says, in verse 6, “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.” That's Jesus' claim. That is just unheard-of. I mean, that's so exclusivistic, nobody would make a claim like that!

Now let's take a look at the claim more closely. And then I want to ask you questions about how you know these claims are so accurate. Look what He says. The claim here is in verse 6, that Jesus is the way to God's home. Not only is Jesus preparing a place for us in God's home, He's the only way you'll ever get to see that place. That's a pretty audacious claim.

The word way that He uses here is a Greek term, hodos, H-O-D-O-S. And sometimes I understand these words better if I see other places in the Bible, the same word is used. I look at the context there and that helps me understand what it means here.

This is a word that was used by a variety of people. For example, one time when the Pharisees were trying to trick Jesus, remember they asked Him that question about paying money to Caesar, paying taxes to Caesar.

They said this – they preceded their question with these words: “Teacher, we know that you are the true and teach the way of God truthfully. And that you do not care about anyone's opinion, for you are not swayed by appearances.” Those are the words of Pharisees who say of Jesus, "We know that you are true and you teach the truthful way." The word there, hodos.

Exactly the same word that's used here. "I am the way." Even the Pharisees recognize Jesus taught the truthful way, they just didn't believe it, and that was their problem. It wasn't that they didn't understand – it was that they didn't believe. Jesus used that expression of Himself in Matthew 7:13, He says: “Enter by the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, now those who enter by it are many.”

But then He goes on and He says, “For the gate is narrow, and the way is hard that leads to life. And those who find it are few. The way – hodos. Exactly the same word. The same word that He uses here is the word that He uses on the narrow way that leads to eternal life.

So the claims that Jesus makes here in John 14, this is not the only place He makes these claims. It's the only place all these claims come together. It's kind of like the alignment of the stars and the planets. John 14:6, audacious things, things that would just simply be outrageous to people, Jesus says them as fact in John 14:6.

So first of all He makes the claim that He is the way to God's home. It's pretty evident in these people's minds, then, that the way that leads to the Father always goes through the Son. So for Jesus to say, "I am the way," would mean that He's making a claim that other people understood that He could make.

But look at the second claim in this verse. He also says the claim that He is the true way. "I am the way, the truth, not just a way. But the true way, the truthful way. Now true here means the opposite of false, or the opposite of inadequate. What is true is faithful. It's all you need. What is not true is inadequate. It's not faithful. It's not what you need.

And what Jesus is saying is, "I am what you need. I am the true way," which would imply, wouldn't it, that there is a false way, that there are lots of ways people have devised to get to God. The problem is they just don't get to God.

Tami Weissert: This is Back to the Bible with Bible teacher, Woodrow Kroll.

Woodrow Kroll: Often I use this expression here in the United States when I'm teaching, because, well, we like to think that all roads lead to God, you know. Your friends believe that, it doesn't matter what road you take, doesn't matter what religion you are, they all kind of end up at God anyway. And they say, "You don't really believe that."

And I say, "Yes, I do." And I say, "Listen. You get out here and you get on Interstate 40 and go west. You'll go through Nashville, you'll go through Memphis, you'll go to Albuquerque. You'll go all the way across the country. You won't go to Chicago. You know why? I-40 doesn't go to Chicago. It goes east and west. You want to go to Chicago, you've got to take a road that goes to Chicago.

Use I-80, don't use I-40. All roads don't go to Chicago. Why would you believe all roads lead to God? I mean, it's just ridiculous to believe that. But Jesus makes a claim that if I am the true way, there must be a false way. That's a pretty audacious claim. When He says, "I'm the true way," it's the same word He used when it was said of Him, "I'm the true light." John the Baptist was not the true light, he was simply the witness of the light, John 1:1-3.

John closes his first Epistle, the little tiny book of John at the end of the Bible. 1 John 5:20, he says, “And we know that the son of God has come and has given us understanding, so that we may know Him who is true. And we are in Him who is true. And His son, Jesus Christ, He is the true God and eternal life. Three times he uses this word for true.

Now Jesus makes the audacious claim that he is the only way to God. He is the only true way to God, and there are others who make a similar claim of the Lord Jesus. But look at this. Verse 6 makes a third claim. It's the claim that Jesus is the living way to God. "I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life. I'm not a dead set of principles, I am not a religious expression, I'm not something you read or memorize or pray."

The word zoe here, the word for life is the Greek word that means something that's animated. It's something that's alive, something that's vibrant. And what Jesus is saying is this. He says, "I want you to get to know my Father. I want you to get to know the God that I prayed to on the cross, and I said to Him on the cross, 'Father, forgive them, for they don't know what they're doing. I want you to get to know that God. But here's the catch: You never can, unless you get to know Me."

So His audacious claim in John 14:6 is that He is the way. He is the true way. He is the living way. All of those are very important words. And then you get down to this last, the most audacious of them all, claims. He says this. “No one comes to the Father except through Me.” Now you talk about an audacious claim. There is no religious leader in the world that would make that claim. They may believe it; they just wouldn't be foolish enough to make it.

Now that's why I think C.S. Lewis is right. C.S. Lewis once said of the Lord Jesus and the claims that Jesus makes, he said, “He is either a liar, a lunatic or the Lord of Glory.” I mean, He either lied to you when He made these claims, He knew they weren't true, but He said them anyway, or He's a little crazy and He made these claims not knowing whether they were true or not. Or the third possibility is, He made the claims knowing they were true, because they are true. That's why the New Testament Church developed a theology that said, if you want to go to God's heaven, you have to go in God's way.

Peter said that when he was preaching, Acts 4:12, “and there is salvation in no one else, no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Only Jesus. That's the most exclusivistic statement of any religion in the world. It's either accurate or it isn't.

The apostle Paul said it this way, 1 Timothy 2:5-6, “For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man-Christ Jesus who gave Himself as a ransom for us all.

Here's what God wants you to know about Himself. He wants you to know He's fully in control, that's what we learned on Monday. God sits in heaven and does what He pleases. That's the third verse of Psalm 115. He wants you to know that He's a Father, that the best way for us to get to know God is not as a sovereign, but as a father.

And He wants you to know that as a father, He loves you and cares for you so deeply that He allowed His Son--no, even more than that, He sent His Son to die for you. That tells you something about His compassion and character.

And then He says, but here's an important lesson I want you to learn. If you want to get to know Me, you have to get to know Me through My Son. If you want to come to God, you have to come through Jesus. See, God is in His heavens doing whatever He pleases. But in order to make the way possible for us to go to heaven, He came to earth in the form of a baby. He came as a man and died on a cross for us.

So here are the claims of Jesus. The claims are that it's possible for you to go to heaven when you die, but the claim is, you can only do it through me. Now you and I are faced with the decision, we can believe the audacity of these claims and believe they're accurate, or we can say, "What a foolish braggart that Jesus must have been," and take our chances some other way.

Now if God in His Word tells you, “This is what I'm like, and this is how you get to Me,” you're faced with the most significant decision of your life. Do I believe Him, or do I reject Him? Be careful what you say, because the answer to that question determines your eternal destiny.

Tami Weissert: Hi, Tami here with a little reminder that Back to the Bible is a listener-supported ministry and that right now, during the month of September, we have a  special matching challenge going on thanks to some generous ministry friends. They pledged $150,000 that will match every gift that comes in up to that amount. That means that when you call in to give $25, your gift will have the impact of $50. Or if you send a check for $50, it will double in impact to $100.

But time is short. This matching opportunity ends September 30th or when we reach our goal of $150,000. So think about it, pray about it, and call us with your gift. Our number here is 1-800-759-2425 or you can send your gift to Back to the Bible, Box 82808, Lincoln, NE 68501. Thank you.

Tomorrow, many religions, one Savior and it's our last day in Jacksonville.

Woodrow Kroll: Tomorrow, I want to talk about specifically the story in John 4 of the woman at the well who met Jesus. She had a little different take on religion than he did if you remember the story. But at the end of the day, there was still only one Savior for Jews and one Savior for Samaritans. There's one Savior for Easterners and Westerners. There's one Savior for Northerners and Southerners. There's one Savior for every ethnic group and what we have to learn about God is God is in control. And if God provides one Savior, we need to look to that Savior and not try to find another one. All that tomorrow, here Friday, our last day in Jacksonville, Florida. I hope you'll plan to join us.

Thanks to all you who have joined us here today. Nice to have you along and wonderful to be a part of our program today. God bless you all. I'm Woodrow Kroll. Have a good and godly day.

Tami Weissert: Today's Back to the Bible program was recorded earlier in Jacksonville, Florida thanks to our friends at Way Radio and First Christian Church of the Beaches.

Scripture used in today's program was based on the New King James Version of the Bible.