Jesus the Only Way: Remain in His Love

Because what so often happens in the life of a Christian is that we receive Jesus' love and we treat it kinda like a boarding pass to a plane. Well, I've got my ticket to where I'm going. I got it. I bought it. I secured it. And so now I don't have to think about it Right? We view Jesus as well. I punched my ticket into heaven. I did it when I was five years old. I said the prayer. Look, I wrote it in my bible. And now, we just kinda live our lives and don't think much about Jesus. Maybe we give him a tithe of our life. We come to church and kinda here and there just attend. But, man, we we're just kinda living on our own still. We're pursuing all the other stuff. It's so easy for us to forget who Jesus is and what he's done and what he's promised to do in us and just kinda live in this world as if he doesn't really exist in our lives. And what Jesus is saying is, if you wanna experience my power in your life, remain in me. Stay close to me. Stay connected to the vine. [00:47:14] (60 seconds)  #RemainConnectedToTheVine

And man, as we do that, as we put ourselves in the spaces and places where we're hearing and seeing and believing all that God is for us in Jesus, we're gonna watch as we remain in Jesus, how he deepens our faith. We're gonna watch how he deals with our pride and produces humility. We're gonna watch how he deals with our self centeredness and produces gratitude. We're gonna watch how he deals with our guilt and shame and produces freedom. Jesus is the only ground for our salvation, but Jesus is also the only ground for our daily lives. And so maybe for many of us today, the decision isn't to come to Jesus for the first time. Maybe for many of us today, decision is to come back to Jesus. To come back and say, man, yes, Jesus is my savior, but I've been living for other stuff. I've been giving my time, my energy, my resources, my money to so many other things, and Jesus has been getting my scraps. So maybe for some of us today, the decision is, man, I gotta run back to my life source. I've gotta stay. I've gotta remain connected to Jesus. Because what we see all over God's word is this, Jesus is our only ground for salvation and he's our only ground for life right now. [00:48:14] (76 seconds)  #ReturnToJesusDaily

God who is holy and created us to live holy. When we rebelled in sin, our sin is offensive to him. Right? Like the only person that we can get forgiveness from who we've offended is the person who we've offended. Right? It wouldn't make sense for someone else to come and forgive us for the ways we've wronged God. God needs to forgive us. And what God says to all of our offensiveness is, I'm gonna come and deal with it myself. I'm not gonna make you pay the price. The one we offended comes and himself makes it right. It's the most beautiful thing. It's the greatest news. We call it the gospel. The good news of who God is and what God has done. God has come himself, the one who we offended and has made it right. [00:38:22] (55 seconds)  #GodCameToForgive

Greater love has no one than this, that someone laid down their life for their friends. Now Jesus would say these words and then just in a few hours from now, he would be laying down his life for his friends, crucified on the cross. In an act of love that has no superior, in the greatest act of love that's ever been done, the holy God of the universe who did nothing wrong took all of our wrongs on himself and was treated the way that we deserve for those wrongs so that our record could be clean. I mean, maybe you have some friends who've done some cool things for you in the past and now you feel like, man, these are my people. I'm indebted to them. Maybe you have some friends who let you stay in the fantasy football league even though you didn't pay your dues, and now you're like, man, these are my bros. Ride and die for life. Man, Jesus gave you his life. He bled and died for you. I mean, think about the beauty of that. [00:37:23] (58 seconds)  #UltimateLoveLaidDown

That's kind of our default thinking. Like, man, we just gotta qualify. We gotta be good enough and then we'll be okay. But Jesus says this. Look at John 14. Jesus says, I'm the way, the truth, the life. No one comes to the father except through me. Do you see the exclusivity of that statement? No one comes to the father except through me. Jesus is saying, he is the only way. What he's saying is you can't earn this. You can't qualify for this. You can't be good enough for this. You've just gotta know me. You've gotta get in with God the same way I got into that VIP room. I knew somebody who got me in. [00:23:12] (46 seconds)  #JesusIsTheOnlyWayStatement

But a lot of those other all those other people, they were there because they'd earned it. They were there because they'd made enough money or risen to some level of success to kinda qualify to be in this VIP room. And I think that's how a lot of us view the Christian faith. That man, we gotta work and and qualify and do enough good and then maybe God will accept us and we'll get into his VIP heaven. We'll get into heaven with him. One of the interesting things about some of the late one of the late shows, the Stephen Colbert one, is he asked people, you know, what do you think happens when you die? And other people have been asked that question recently and I've just been watching and listening to the answers. And so many people say, well, I just hope I hope I've been good enough for something good to happen. [00:22:30] (42 seconds)  #YouCantEarnYourWayToGod

You see what it says there? Jesus appointed us to bear fruit. When every other religion tells us, go figure out, go figure out how to be better, Jesus comes and tells us, I'm gonna I'm the one who's gonna make you better. Jesus will produce fruit in you, in your life. And that's why he can say, look at it, this is what I command you, love one another. Love one another. He's commanded you to love the other people in this room. He's commanded you to love the people that he has put in your life. Now, if you really wrestle with that command to love people that are in your life, you have to look up at God at some point and say, are you kidding me? Have you met some of the people you've put in my life? How am I gonna love them? How can you command that I love these people? How are we gonna truly beautifully love each other? By Jesus producing fruit in our lives. By Jesus restoring us slowly sometimes to be who we were always meant to be. [00:40:12] (72 seconds)  #JesusProducesFruitInYou

So how can Jesus say that he is the only way to God? Well, first off, Jesus can say he's the only way to God because of who he is. Because of exactly who he is. That's why Jesus can say, he's the only way to God. Now Jesus makes really clear in other places in John who he is. Like look at John 10 on the screen. He says, my sheep hear my voice, I know them, they follow me. I give them eternal life and they will never perish. No one will snatch them out of my hand. My father who has given them to me is greater than all. No one is able to snatch them out of my father's hand. Now look at this. I and the father are one. [00:26:12] (40 seconds)  #OnlyWayBecauseOfWhoHeIs