JESUS IS THE WAY (Sunday 17-05.2015 )

FOUNTAIN OF GRACE CHURCH OF GOD

MADRID-SPAIN.

HOST PASTOR: PASTOR DANIEL OBIDIEGWU

TEL: +34632875301 (FOR COUNSELLING & PRAYERS.

PASTOR DANIEL OBIDIEGWU

Text: John 14:6

Apart from few atheist many people believe in the existence of a supreme being but differ in their ways of approach to Him. The quest of finite man to gain access to infinite God has in the ages past and also in this present time given rise to many religion and the icons of these religions are reverenced and seen in many religion as the personality through whom one can get to God Proverbs 14:12.  

Does every religion lead to God?  Perhaps you’ve heard people say that all religions lead to God. This idea is called religious pluralism. Pluralism comes in two forms. First is the fact that we live in a society that has many cultures and many religions, and we are to treat each with respect. That is true, and good. We should be tolerant, but that does not mean that we have to agree with everyone. Religious pluralism goes beyond this—it says that all religions are equally valid. What about it? Could all religions be valid paths to God? no, pluralism is a naïve way of trying to avoid religious fanaticism that bleeds violence and wars.

 

Some people believe that all the religions in the world are basically the same. But that simply is not true. Christians, Jews, and Muslims believe in a personal God who has revealed Himself to mankind. Buddhists and Hindus believe God is impersonal and unknowable. But God cannot be both personal and impersonal -- both concepts cannot be correct.

But Christianity is also different from all other religions of the world in one other vitally important concept -- the idea that God reached out to man to save him because man was helpless to save himself.

Every other religion in the world is based on man's efforts to reach God. These world religions teach that man must somehow do righteous deeds or perform religious service in order to become good enough for salvation. In order to be saved a person must pray a certain number of times, in a certain manner, facing a certain direction. Or he must wear a particular type of religious garment. Or he must visit a certain religious shrine or temple. Or he must worship in a particular way.

Some religions require sacrifice and even the infliction of pain upon a believer in order to become holy in the sight of God. Some extreme religions require adherents to beat themselves with whips or rods to show their devotion to God. Some require pilgrims to crawl on their knees a certain distance in prayer in order to earn righteous points with God. Some religions require worship on Friday; others on Saturday; and others on Sunday. 

But in all of this, the striving after righteousness is based on the religious activity of the man or woman. In every other religious system besides Christianity, a spiritual scale hangs over the head of the individual, with all of the sins they have committed on one side and all of their righteous deeds on the other. The person never knows whether they have been good enough, or prayed enough, or worked hard enough to earn the righteous points needed to counter their earned sins.

But the Christian Bible teaches that man is a sinner and could never earn salvation by what he or she did.

As the Scriptures say, "No one is righteous—not even one." (Rom. 3:10, NLT)

For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. (Rom. 3:23, NLT)

We are all infected and impure with sin. When we display our righteous deeds, they are nothing but filthy rags. (Is. 64:6a, NLT) 

The apostle Paul makes it clear that salvation is available only through the sacrifice that Jesus Christ made when he carried the sins of the world on the cross. For God made Christ, who never sinned, to be the offering for our sin, so that we could be made right with God through Christ. (2 Cor. 5:21, NLT)

Jesus never sinned. So He was the only one who could pay the price and carry the sins of all people who ever lived upon himself on the cross. He was the sacrificial lamb who took upon himself the sin of the people.

This salvation comes only through the grace of God toward man, and we can only receive it by faith -- not by any deed that we could ever do. 

For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God,  not of works, lest anyone should boast. (Eph. 2:8-9, NKJV)

No matter how good you are; no matter how religious you are; no matter what you do for God, you can never be good enough, or holy enough to earn salvation. 

Any plan of salvation that is based on the efforts of man is doomed to failure. But the Bible tells us that salvation has been made available to us because Jesus came to earth and bore our sins on the cross.

For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. (John 3:16, NKJV)

All we have to do is believe and receive what Jesus did to bring salvation to us. God has given us the grace to receive salvation; all we have to do is open the door by faith.

Is Jesus the only way to Heaven? 

Yes, Jesus is the only way to heaven there is no other way to salvation than through Jesus Christ. Jesus Himself says in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” He is not a way, as in one of many; He is the way, as in the one and only. No one, regardless of reputation, achievement, special knowledge, or personal holiness, can come to God the Father except through Jesus.

Jesus is the only way to heaven for several reasons. Jesus was “chosen by God” to be the Savior (1 Peter 2:4). Jesus is the only One to have come down from heaven and returned there (John 3:13). He is the only person to have lived a perfect human life (Hebrews 4:15). He is the only sacrifice for sin (1 John 2:2;Hebrews 10:26). He alone fulfilled the Law and the Prophets (Matthew 5:17). He is the only man to have conquered death forever (Hebrews 2:14–15). He is the only Mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). He is the only man whom God has “exalted . . . to the highest place” (Philippians 2:9)

The apostles’ preaching focused on the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. Peter, speaking to the Sanhedrin, clearly proclaimed Jesus as the only way to heaven: “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12). Paul, speaking to the synagogue in Antioch, singled out Jesus as the Savior: “I want you to know that through Jesus the forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you. Through him everyone who believes is set free from every sin” (Acts 13:38–39). John, writing to the church at large, specifies the name of Christ as the basis of our forgiveness: “I am writing to you, dear children, because your sins have been forgiven on account of his name” (1 John 2:12). No one but Jesus can forgive sin.

Eternal life in heaven is made possible only through Christ. Jesus prayed, “Now this is eternal life: that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom you have sent” (John 17:3). To receive God’s free gift of salvation, we must look to Jesus and Jesus alone. We must trust in Jesus’ death on the cross as our payment for sin and in His resurrection. “This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe” (Romans 3:22).

        At one point in Jesus’ ministry, many of the crowd were turning their backs on Him and leaving in hopes of finding another savior. Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you want to go away as well?” (John 6:67, ESV). Peter’s reply is exactly right: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life, and we have believed, and have come to know, that you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:68–69, ESV). May we all share Peter’s faith that eternal life resides only in Jesus Christ.