Sermon Tone Analysis

“Christ Is…”

“Christ Is The Way”

John 14:6

In an October 19, 2006 edition of the Chicago Sun Times, Elliot Harris wrote an article titled, “Woods Takes an Evangelical to Sunday School.”

The hubris of the article alone should cause you to take notice and prepare for a lot of worldly NONSENSE.

The following is what was written…

Tiger Woods was put on the spot by an evangelical guest of Nike on October 9, 2006, during an exclusive golf outing for top business and entertainment executives.

That day, 30 people gathered at the Trump golf course in Los Angeles for the 2006 “Tee It up with Tiger Woods” event, which included a private golf session and lunch with the living legend.

During the lunch, there was a question-and-answer session with Woods.

Most people asked about their swings or golf questions.

However, one guest of Nike stood up and asked two questions: “Have you accepted Jesus as your Lord and Savior?

And if not, prayerfully, would you?”

A source present at the lunch later said: “You could have heard a pin drop.

People were mortified.

But Tiger was as unflappable as he is on the golf course.”

Tiger said: “My father was a Christian—of course Christianity was part of my life.

But my mother is Asian, and Buddhism was also part of my childhood.

So I practice both faiths respectfully.”[1]

Everybody gets a trophy.

Everyone’s belief is valid and relevant.

There are multiple paths to Heaven.

That’s what the general public wants to believe.

That’s what celebrities and high profile influencers want the public to think.

Do what you want and do what makes you happy…as long as you aren’t hurting other people, you’re good.

Truth isn’t absolute; it is what you want it to be.

There has been such a huge push the last few decades towards mental health, wealth, and happiness, that absolute truth has been pushed to the background.

Absolute truth has been rejected in favor of me making my own way towards whatever “TRUTH” I desire.

But we know that there is only One Way, One Truth, and One Life…THERE IS ONLY ONE THAT CAN GET US TO THE FATHER AND TO HEAVEN!

For the past several weeks we have been working through a series “Christ Is…”

We have been looking at what Christ Did and What Christ Is, and Who Christ Is to us…

So far we have seen that He is our example, our power, our ransom, our intercessor, and He abides in and with us.

Tonight, if you haven’t already guessed, I am preaching that Christ Is The Way!!!

We hear the Tiger Woods story, and we read the headline and the arrogance that it has, and we see just a very small sampling of the confusion that the world lives in when it comes to “Faith.”

The world seems to think that there are lots of paths that lead to eternal happiness, but the absolute truth is that Christ is the only way.

When we hear that, or think about that, our thoughts most often go to the fact that Christ is the Way to Heaven, but tonight I want to show you that Christ is the way to so much more!

I. Jesus is the way to Pardon

a.

In Acts 13 Paul and Barnabas arrive in Perga which is in Pamphylia.

On the Sabbath day they did what they always did…They went to church.

After the reading from SCripture, the leaders of the Synagogue asked the leaders asked them to speak.

They did what we should all do…THEY TALKED ABOUT JESUS.

They preached Christ, as Messiah, They preached Christ Crucified, They preached Christ resurrected, and they Preached Christ as Savior.

b.

Acts 13:38-39 “Let it be known to you therefore, brothers, that through this man forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you, and by him everyone who believes is freed from everything from which you could not be freed by the law of Moses.”

c.

They preached Christ as the ransom, the pardon, the reason we no longer need a sacrifice.

They Preached Christ as the Ultimate Sacrifice.

Its because of His sacrifice, it’s because He paid the ransom, It is because of Him that the penalty of our sins is no longer valid to those that believe and call on His name...

It’s because of that Pardon that we can have peace!

II.

Jesus is the way to Peace

a. Jehovah Shalom

b.

John 16:33

c.

Romans 5:1-5

Because we have absolute completeness is Jesus we can rejoice in sufferings.

Imagine how men and women like Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Corrie Ten Boom could suffer the unimaginable sufferings and torture.

Imagine going through those levels of persecution and still being able to say, “IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL.”

That’s exactly what Jesus does.

He completes us so that in Him we need nothing else!

III.

Jesus is the way to Holiness

a.

Last week I spent a significant amount of time in 1 John talking about Abiding with Christ and Him Abiding in Us.

b. 1 John 1:7

c. 1 Corinthians 1:27-31

IV.

Jesus is the way to Happiness

a. John 13:15-17

b.

The Beatitudes...

V. Jesus is the way to Heaven

a. John 14:1-3

b.

Not only is He the Way, but He has already prepared a place for us!!!

VI.

Jesus is the way to The Father

a. 1 Peter 3:18

b.

THE VEIL WAS TORN

VII.

Jesus is the way to All Spiritual Blessings

a. Ephesians 1:3-6

Jesus is the Way to PARDON, PEACE, HOLINESS, HE IS THE WAY TO HAPPINESS, HEAVEN, THE FATHER, AND ALL SPIRITUAL BLESSING.

The beauty of all of it is the Way to Him is SIMPLE!

The Bible says that God is patient not willing that any should perish, but the all would come to repentance.

It says that no one come to God except that the Spirit would draw them.

I am here to tell you that The Spirit draws all people.

All we have to do is accept.

All we have to do is submit to the Spirit, Call on the Name of the Lord and Believe that God Raised Jesus from the grave, We have to admit that we are sinners and turn from those ways, and we have to CALL HIM LORD.

That means that we no longer do what makes us happy, but we do what makes Him happy.

Even better, we allow the Spirit to transform our minds so that what makes Him happy, makes us happy!!!

[1]Barry L. Davis, 52 Sermons about Jesus, Pulpit Outlines Series (Barry Davis, 2012), 30.