The CliffsNotes to the Bible

Back in the day when I attended high school (before the internet, before cell phones, when we walked to school, uphill, both ways, in the snow, all year round) sometimes classmates and I failed to read an assigned book. Sometimes an assigned book was just too daunting to read. Students (through no fault of their own) simply didn’t have time to read it. Thankfully, the CliffsNotes were available. CliffsNotes summarize a large book into a small pamphlet. Clifton Hillegass in 1958 started CliffsNotes in Nebraska. He started with 16 William Shakespeare titles. Today it includes hundreds of works.

In John 14 verse 6 Jesus gave the CliffsNotes to the Bible. The night He was arrested Jesus summarized the basic message of the Bible. Jesus condensed the basic message of the Bible into a single verse. The very next day He would die for our sins. For over three years Jesus faithfully taught the disciples. John chapter 14 verse 6 summarizes the three key needs of every person. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life; no one comes to the Father except through Me” (John 14:6).

The first great need of every person is reconciliation. Jesus said, “I am the way….” We need reconciliation with God. Every person is separated from God due to sin. Sin is anything we think, say or do that breaks God’s law. God is holy and perfect. He cannot and will not tolerate sin. Romans 6:23 says, “The wages of sin is death.” Sin means separation from God.

Martin Luther died in the early morning hours of Feb. 18, 1546. His final words were, “We are beggars. This is true.” His final words echoed the truths he found in God’s Word. We are beggars because God demands a righteousness we cannot produce. Luther understood we need a “foreign righteousness” or an “alien righteousness.” It is the perfect life and work of Jesus Christ credited to our account.

Luther struggled. He wondered, “How can an unrighteous person stand before a holy God?” He came to understand God’s righteousness is something that God gives to a person as a gift, freely through the Person of Jesus.

The second great need of every person is illumination. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth….” Every single person needs truth. Isaiah the prophet predicted the Messiah would bring light. Isaiah said, “The people who were sitting in darkness saw a great light, and those were sitting in the land and shadow of death, upon them a light dawned” (Matthew 4:16).

People today live in darkness. They are surrounded by lies. Pluralism teaches there are many paths to God. Naturalism teaches that we are the product of evolution. Humanism claims that we are basically good. Postmodernism says that there is no truth. Jesus Christ, through the Bible, provides the light we need.

The third greatest need of every person is regeneration. Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth and the life…” Jesus told Nicodemus, “You must be born again” (John 3:3). Only Jesus provides spiritual life. Regeneration is the impartation of eternal life.

It’s a hard fact but every person is born spiritually dead. No one had to teach me how to lie or steal or be disobedient. It came naturally! We were dead spiritually by nature and by choice (Ephesians 2:1). When a person is saved Jesus gives them eternal life. Jesus said, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in Me will never die” (John 11:25). Through repentance and faith, Jesus makes a person spiritually alive.

Jesus in only one sentence summarized our three greatest needs. We need reconciliation with God the Father. We need illumination or truth in a world of lies. We need regeneration or eternal life. Jesus said, “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow Me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of My hand” (John 10:27-28). Won’t you come to Him today?

Ethan Hansen is the pastor of Faith Bible Fellowship in Big Lake.