Pastor
Dick Brookes
Interim
Senior Pastor
The
Coila Church
It
sounds arrogant, doesn’t it – “Jesus is the only way to God!”
So let’s get right at it!
“I
am THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE. No one comes to the Father
except through me.” Jesus
speaking in John 14:6
“Salvation
is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven
given to men by which we must be saved.”
Peter speaking about Jesus to the Jewish leaders. Acts 4:12
Here’s
the problem – no other religion provides a solution to the basic
human problem. It doesn’t matter how GOOD people appear to be,
eventually everyone has a dark side and it usually gets discovered.
As a pastor, I can tell you about funerals I have performed for
“wonderful people” – except for the stories their children and
spouses told me or what the person who had died had already told me.
Someone
once said to Jesus, “Good
teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?”
Jesus replied, “Why
do you call me good? No one is good except God!”
Luke 18:18-19
Most
people believe if they are good enough God will accept them, and
usually being religious, or sincere, is the measuring stick they
assume God will use. But Jesus made it clear, the goodness is not
defined on human terms, it is defined by the very character of God –
in other words – moral perfection!
So
here’s the question: are you GOOD ENOUGH according to God’s
standards? If you’re honest, you will say, “Well, of course not,
no one is perfect!” And you would be right.
So
how do imperfect people become acceptable to a perfect God?
The
answer is – someone else has made a way for you to be made perfect
in the sight of God. When Jesus died on the cross, he died for you
and your imperfections. All those things you have thought and done
which you know are wrong, but you always hoped no one would ever find
out about – God already knows about them. And He will hold you and
me accountable for all of them. But when Jesus hung on the cross and
died – he took all of your imperfections – what the Bible calls
sins, - and he took them to the grave, and then left them there when
he rose again.
The
best other religions can do is make you look good on the outside for
a while; but eventually the guilt and emptiness will return. God
says, “Place you faith in My Son, and what He has done for you and
I will accept what HE did on YOUR behalf. “Everyone
who calls on the Lord Jesus Christ shall be saved.” Romans
10:13
You
can do that RIGHT NOW!!
Pastor
Dick Brookes
Interim
Senior Pastor
The
Coila Church
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Pastor
Jim French
St.
Luke's Church
Aside from being controversial, this
is one of the most important of Jesus' claims. If Jesus really is
the only
The first thing we need to
understand is the claim to be the only way to heaven came directly
from Jesus' lips. HE said HE is the ONLY WAY. In John 14:6 Jesus
says, “I am the way the truth and the life, no one comes to the
Father except by me.” And in John 10:9 he says, “I am the door.
If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will go in and out and
find pasture.” These claims to exclusion (to be the only way) are
what Jesus said. The reason that Christians believe that Jesus is
the only way to obtain salvation is because he said so!
But why would a loving God be so
narrow minded as to make only one way to heaven? The simple answer
is that only one path is sufficient (only the God/man Jesus can pay
the penalty for our sins because only a perfect God/man could do so)
and since Jesus restores our relationship with God he is the only
path that is needed. (If you have built a bridge strong and wide
enough to accommodate all who want to cross the river, why build
another?)
As Pastor Dick stated so well in his
article, Christianity is the only religion that solves our problem of
separation from God. It's the only religion that provides
forgiveness for our sins. Most other religions rely on “doing
good” or being “good enough” to get to heaven. But that begs
the question: “How much “good” do you have to do to qualify?
How good is “good enough” to gain acceptance into heaven? The
Bible says that “...all
our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.” (Isaiah 64:6).
Even our best works fall short of God's standards.
Jesus is the only way to heaven
because only God is able to solve the problem of our sin.
Christianity is the only religion where the God's great love provokes
him to enter into his creation and become a part of it to save us.
You see, it's God's work that reconciles us to Him, not ours.
That's why we put our faith and
trust in Jesus Christ for our salvation, because only his perfect
work on the cross is our bridge across the river.
Pastor
Jim French
St.
Luke's Church
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