And we are on a nice week. It is a first week with instance, and we are getting together figuring out how we can reach out online. It's been a tremendous week, and you'll see some of the fruits of that next week as you get to uh be introduced to some of the instances. I want you to say uh hello to Dan Rackham.
SPEAKER_00Hi, my name is Dan Mackam, and uh really looking forward to sitting for the instrument.
SPEAKER_01Uh sitting next to him is Matthew Schaefer. I'm originally from Colorado Springs, Colorado. Fantastic. And next to him is I'm helping from York. Wow, York. And I uh I'm from Tic. Next to him is I'm Ben of Exotic Floyd. Exotic Floyd, and next to him. I'm Nick Holland, I'm from Johnson City, Tennessee. Jackson City, and I'm Nick Helsinki, and I'm from Christchurch, New Zealand. Fantastic. And uh later on in the podcast, you're gonna hear a tremendous sermon from our very own Paul Feasy. Paul Feasy, what is your sermon about?
SPEAKER_02Uh we're thinking about the way, the truth, and the life, but one of the big things I'd like you to maybe ponder on just before we begin is are Nazi war criminals in heaven?
SPEAKER_01Big question to answer. Uh, we're gonna be hearing that term in just a second. Stay tuned next week. You will hear more from the foundry, more from these exciting interns, and more about the content that we want to bring you for this next year. See you next time.
SPEAKER_02Do you take a seat? Well, Peter and Anne have already prayed uh for us as we as uh as I preach, so we'll we'll get straight in. I love you as we begin, just to think about this. I want to imagine, I want you to imagine that you meet God and God says to you, why should I let you into my heaven? And I wonder what your response would be. I'd like you to think on that for a moment. Why should I let you into my heaven? What would you say? Well, keep that in mind because we'll we're going to come back to that a little bit later. Uh recently I've uh just finished reading a book called War and Grace. It's by a man named Don Stevens. It's stories, uh I think all from the Second World War of how God worked in people's lives. And one of the stories is about uh a lady called Johanna Ruth Dobscheiner, who was known as Hansi for short, and she was a Dutch teenager and a Jew uh during the war. And of course, Holland was invaded by the Nazis and put under occupation, and there was much persecution of the Jews there. But during that time she fell ill uh with scarlet fever, and so she was quarantined to her house for six weeks. Um, and that she saw that as a bit of a kind of respite from the persecution. And during that time, her parents, who were very devout Jews, celebrated the festival of Hanukkah. And in the book it says this. Confined to bed in an upstairs room, and on her own for much of the time, Hansi thought about recent events. She definitely believed in the Jewish religion and its observances. She was Jewish and did not want to be anything else, but something was missing from this seventeen year old's life. She analyzed her religion and that of her parents. It was strict in outward observance of the festivals, yet God seemed distant. God was not part of their everyday lives, even though they were so religious. It shook her deeply to think that God was not treated as a present reality. Orthodox Judaism offered festivals such as Hanukkah to remember the actions of God in the history of the Hebrew people. She started asking herself whether she could know God personally now. If God was real, could he be contacted? Why did her religion make him seem so remote? So there she is, she's part of a deeply religious family, observing all the kind of religious festivals, but God was distant. He was not a part of their everyday life, he was not a present reality, he seemed remote. And I wonder whether actually that might be familiar for some of us here. That there may be some of us here who've been in church our whole lives, or maybe many years, but God has always seemed and seems now like a distant figure. And when you hear people speak about the nearness of God and the closeness of God, how God is present with them in their lives, in good and bad, that seems alien to you. Or if you hear of God as Father, and that kind of close loving relationship that's that's intimate, again, maybe that just seems strange to you. You know nothing of it. You would say, I've never felt that. God is not a daily reality in my life. He seems distant. Well, I imagine in churches across the country, across the world, there are people who would say similar things. What would God say? Well, we've been looking, haven't we, at the I am sayings? And here we're thinking about uh this one today, and it comes in the context of a discussion where Jesus is talking about his father's house and how in his father's house there are many rooms, and he tells his disciples he will go ahead of them to prepare a room for them there. And he says, You know where I am going. And Thomas says, Actually, we don't know where you're going. So how will we know the way? And Jesus responds with the famous verse here that we know. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Now we've probably all heard that verse a number of times before. But what do those things actually mean when Jesus says, I am the way and the truth and the life? Well, we're just going to delve into those bits quite quickly. Well, when Jesus says he is the way, it's much like when he says, I am the gate. Jesus is the one to whom you must go for salvation. He is the one that makes salvation possible. Back at the start of John's Gospel, Jesus promised the disciples that they would see heaven open. And as we go through John's Gospel, we see that that is going to happen through the lifting up of the Son of Man as He gives His life for the world. And so what we're seeing is that the way to salvation cannot be opened by anyone other than Jesus Himself. And actually, he himself is the way to salvation. And we see the apostles continue to teach and believe that in the book of Acts in chapter 4. They said, salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved. So Jesus is the way. But he's also the truth. And now Jesus doesn't mean here that he simply speaks the truth, although of course he does, but he is the embodiment of truth. Again, back at the beginning of John's gospel, we heard that grace and truth came through Jesus Christ. And as we read through John, we hear on a number of occasions that Jesus' words are the Father's words, and his deeds are the Father's deeds. Everything he says and does perfectly reveals the Father. And we see that actually a few verses on from where we are, when Philip says, Show us the Father. And Jesus says, If you've seen me, you've seen the Father. And through John's gospel, we begin to see the work of the Father is that of salvation and judgment. So when Jesus says that he is the truth, he means he is the truth about God's rescue. Hence why he can say to Thomas, No, Thomas, you do know the way. So he is the way, he is the truth, but he is also the life. Now, nine times out of ten in John's Gospel, whenever life is mentioned, we're thinking of eternal life. And again, we learn lots about life through this gospel. Jesus has life in himself. He is the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life. And since we're thinking about eternal life, when Jesus says, I am the life, he means that eternal life in relationship with God has its source in him and him alone. So when Jesus goes on to say, No one comes to the Father except through me, he's showing that there is no other means of salvation available to man. There is only one person that can open the way to salvation. There is only one person that reveals the truth about God and his rescue to us. And there's only one person that can give us eternal life in relationship with the Father, and that person is Jesus. And that really is the simple thrust of these verses: that Jesus is the only way to know God. Christ is the only way to the Father. There is no other way to know God apart from Jesus, and namely placing our faith in him. And that would have been shocking and maybe even offensive for those he was speaking to or people at the time. Because what Jesus is effectively saying to these guys is no matter how religious you are, no matter how strict your observance, or how good your deeds are, no matter how orthodox your Jewish faith, I'm the only way to the Father. He's saying he alone has opened the gate to heaven through his death. He alone has come from the Father and is truth from God, and he alone offers true life to those who are perishing. And maybe that shocks you, or maybe you find that offensive. Maybe you'd say, but you know, surely there are other things that might count. You know, I've been in church my whole life, and I regularly take communion, I've been baptized, I read my Bible, I pray, I've been a good person, I've led a good life, I've been a good husband or a good wife, a good father, a good mother. I've been charitable or generous, I've been successful, I've had a good life. Jesus says, all those things count for nothing, less than nothing, unless you know him. The reality is, all of us here, we all have faith. But actually, it's not really faith that's important. It's the object of your faith that matters. And there will be some of us here today who have placed our faith not in Jesus but in ourselves. And that is very natural. It is in our nature to do that. It's human nature to overestimate ourselves, isn't it? To think, just to be complacent, I'm sure I'll be fine. To have a kind of misplaced confidence before God. You know, whether that's because we fail to understand our sin or because we're proud of who we are, we believe that our character and our deeds will save us. In the same book I've been reading that had Hansi Dobscheiner is also the story of a man called Henry Ghrick. And Henry Grick was the pastor to the 15 Nazis awaiting trial at Nuremberg after the war. Men who were the orchestrators of some of the most terrible war crimes and evil deeds probably known through all human history. And he pastored them for a number of months, and amongst them was the Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering. And on the night he was supposed to be executed, he actually took his life, but before that he spoke with Garrick. And in that conversation, he denied the fundamentals of Christian belief, but asked that he might take the Lord's Supper just in case there was anything in it. And Gehrick replied, I cannot give you the Lord's Supper, because you deny the very Christ who instituted the sacrament. You do not have faith in Christ and have not accepted him as your Savior. Therefore, you are not a Christian, and as a Christian pastor, I cannot commune with you. I'll take my chances. Or possibly in religious ritual, if he could get communion. But there is no taking your chances. Only Christ can save. There is no other way, and there is no other name. And just contrast Goering with one of the other men, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler's foreign minister. At first, when Ghrick met him, invited him to the chapel, von Ribbentrop said, you know that it really isn't as serious as you think, this religion thing. But nevertheless, he became a regular at the chapel, and Garrick described a slow but steady change in von Ribbentrop. That he moved from cool, arrogant indifference to sincere questioning, that he became more and more penitent, eager to turn from his past, even pleading with his wife that she would raise their children in a godly way should the uh the uh sentence go against him. And eventually Garrick admitted him to communion, convinced that God had worked in his soul. And on the night of the executions, he was the first to be executed. And in the book it says this at 1 a.m., Ribbentrott was called for first. Before he walked to the gallows, he told Garrick that he had put all his trust in Christ. Ribbentrock was then marched to the first of three scaffolds. He climbed the thirteen steps to the trapdoor. The impassive soldiers and press representatives looked on. A guard tied his legs. An American officer asked for his last words. Ribbentrock responded, I place all my confidence in the Lamb who made atonement for my sins. May God have mercy on my soul. Then he turned to Garrick and said, I'll see you again. The black hood was pulled over his face. The 13-coiled noose was put round his neck, and he dropped through the trapdoor. Now I wonder how that makes you feel as you hear that. I wonder if you think that that is scandalous. That a man like that could put his faith in Christ and be saved. I wonder if you think people like that should not be saved because what they did was unforgivable. And maybe you would say, I'm no saint, but I'm not like them. That's another level. They are evil, and I am not like that. Well, Alexander Solzenitsyn said the line dividing good and evil cuts through the heart of every human being. See, the difference between us and them is merely a difference of degree, not a difference of category. And if you think that people like that don't deserve to be saved, well then you haven't understood the depths of God's grace, nor have you understood the depth of your own sin. Because what that shows is that you think you are less needing of forgiveness than others. You know, of course your sin should be forgiven, but not the sin of people like that. It shows that you think that the problem of your sin is not as serious. And here's the thing: if you don't realize the seriousness of your own sin, you likely don't realize your need for a savior. You likely think that your character and your deeds will be enough to save you, that you will take your chances. But there is no taking your chances. Only Christ can save. And there is no other way. See von Ribbentrop recognized the depth of his sin. He recognized that he needed a savior, that he could not atone for what he had done. Yet I am confident that today he is with Christ in paradise, along with the other men who gave their lives to Christ in those months. And that is a shocking fact. There are Nazi war criminals in heaven today simply because they trusted in Christ. And I find that breathtaking. And you know, at the start I said to you, What would you say if God asked you, Why should I let you into my heaven? And I don't know what you thought. But if you said, Well, because I've tried to be good, I've tried my best, or I was baptized, I took communion, I was regular in church, I gave money or served in church, I've led a good life. If you said anything other than, I place all my confidence in the Lamb who made atonement for my sins, or words to that effect, anything other than looking to Christ alone as the way to salvation, then you are not a Christian. You do not know Christ, and you are not saved. And it is likely that for those of us for whom that is true, it's likely that we will be the same people who also feel that God is a distant, remote figure, who have never felt the closeness of God or any intimacy with him. And to you I would say, surely that's unsurprising. Because how could we ever feel close to God? How could we ever know the love of the Father if we don't know and trust the one who brings us to the Father? It's unsurprising, then, isn't it, that a Jew like Hanzi, who not who knew nothing of Jesus, would feel distant from God. But her story went on that she fled to Amsterdam, she was hidden by a Christian minister, and she started to read the Bible, including parts of the New Testament. And she said this God was explained and portrayed so clearly in Jesus Christ that I almost felt that I knew him, that I could depend on him, that I could take him at his word and according to his advice. It only worried me when this Jesus Christ made definite claims regarding his purpose on earth or his authority, or proclaimed his divinity and the part he played in our approach to the almighty creator of the universe. Some of his words would come to me, no one cometh unto the Father but by me. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Unconsciously, he had stolen his way into my life, and I could no more think of God the Father without visualizing Jesus Christ. Slowly but surely, God became a reality. As day succeeded day, Christ drew me closer and closer to his heart. She goes on to say that it all came to a head for her on Easter Monday when she was peeling potatoes, hiding in an attic. I slowly knelt down, clasped my hands in absolute surrender, and closed my eyes to all around. Master Jesus Christ, it was all I could whisper. Deep thankfulness and love to Almighty God for his inexplicable revelation and gift flooded my entire being. God cared. He cared after all. What had changed for Hansi? What was different in her life from that moment on? It was Jesus. And because she knew Jesus, she now knew the Father. There was a closeness and intimacy with God that wasn't there before, because before she did not know the one who brings us into the presence of the Father. And that is Jesus. Jesus and Jesus alone brings us into the presence of the Father. And not like some attendant who might usher you into the presence of the Queen and then disappear. No, we come in Christ, united to him through faith. And we can only come because we are in Christ. Not because of anything we've done or our character. And I wonder, do you want to know God like that? Maybe you realize you've never really known God. Because actually you don't know Jesus. But you want to. Well, in a moment, I'm going to pray a prayer. And in this prayer, I'm just going to acknowledge our need for forgiveness, our need for a Savior. I'm going to ask Jesus to come into our lives. And we're going to put our trust in Him. And if you can agree with that, I'd like you to join with me in echoing those words in your heart and say an Amen at the end. Lord Jesus. I confess that I have not trusted in you, but have trusted in my own character and works. Believing that I was worthy of you and your kingdom in and of myself. I see now that I am a sinner in need of a Savior. Thank you that you gave your life for me in order to pay for my sin. Lord, I put my trust in you and you alone. Please forgive me, and please fill me with your Holy Spirit, that I might know you personally and intimately. And that you would strengthen me to walk with you all the days of my life. I ask this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen. And maybe you prayed that prayer. And maybe you prayed it for the first time. And if you have prayed that prayer for the first time, please do. I'd love to chat with you, I'd love to pray with you, or please speak to Steve or someone you came with. I believe there's prayer ministry after the service as well. Please tell someone that you've done that. And don't be embarrassed if you've done that. There's no shame in what you've done. Maybe you think it would be embarrassing. Maybe you've been in church for years and years. It would be embarrassing to say, I realized I never knew Jesus. But actually, there is no shame in what you have just done. If you have prayed that prayer and truly meant that, then you were lost, but you are now found. You were dead in your sin, but you are now alive in Christ. And at this moment the angels are rejoicing in heaven. And Christ has prepared a room for you in his Father's house. How crazy is that? That in God's house, he has a room for you. And so you need never worry, like Thomas, that you do not know the way, because actually now you do know the way. Jesus. The way, the truth, and the life. And he has secured your salvation through his saving work. Praise the Lord.