JESUS: THE ONLY WAY

Theme: “There is no other method or religion by which fallen man can be restored to right standing with God.”

Certain almost-correct statements circulate in the world.  “All religions are like different paths up the same mountain – they all lead to the same place.”  “All religions are different roads to the same destination.” These statements are almost correct because all religions except Christianity do lead to the same place – the lake of fire which is the second death!

There is no Plan B for salvation.  NO ONE is saved by being “good enough” because no one is good enough. Only perfect is “good enough”. As we have already seen, committing one sin is just as bad as violating every commandment in the Bible. One sin is enough to send you to hell.

No one can be saved simply because he has not heard the gospel.  That is why it is so critically important that the gospel be preached to every living person, as Jesus commanded.  That is why missions must always be a high priority for the Church.  If ignorance is an excuse before God and God has a Plan B for the ignorant, let’s save ourselves a bunch of time and money and call all the missionaries home. They are wasting their time if those people can be saved anyway without hearing the good news. All that money could be spent on other things, and all those sacrifices are sadly unnecessary if people do not need to hear the gospel to be saved. But they do!

There is no salvation in the name of Buddha or the name of Mohammed or the name of Confucius or in any other name.

Acts 4:12:
Nor is there salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among man by which we must be saved.

John 14:6:
I am the way, the truth and the life.  No one comes to the Father except through Me.

1 John 2:23:
Whoever denies the Son does not have the Father either; he who acknowledges the Son has the Father also.

Mark 16:15-16:
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature. He who believes and is baptized will be saved; but he who does not believe will be condemned.

Revelation 20:11-15:
Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away.  And there was found no more place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things that were written in the books.  The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them.  And they were judged, each one according to his works.  Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.  And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

Acts 17:30:
Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent.

The Scriptures in the previous lesson outline what a man must do to be saved.  No alternative is ever mentioned.
 

Question 7-1:  What about aborted babies, infants who die and the mentally incompetent? Do they go to hell because they have not confessed Christ?

No, and the reasons for this will be discussed in Lesson 9.
 

Question 7-2: What about morally good people who never confess Christ?

All of them will burn in hell.

Good, sincere Muslims who adhere to everything the Koran says burn in hell.

Generous agnostic philanthropists who give away everything to build hospitals, feed the hungry and help suffering humanity everywhere burn in hell.

Nice Jews who ignore Jesus but keep all the Jewish festivals burn in hell.

Church members who tithe faithfully and cook record numbers of beans and chickens for church dinners but never receive Christ burn in hell.

Kind, grandfatherly, well-meaning preachers who carried out nice social programs but were never saved burn in hell.

No one is good enough to go to heaven without being forgiven.  “There is none righteous, no, not one.”  (Romans 3:10).
 

Question 7-3: Isn’t it unfair for God to condemn a sinner to hell just because he is in a country that has not heard the gospel?

First, just as a matter of fact, there is no such country on the earth today.  It is known that most of the world’s population has been evangelized.  Jesus also said, “He who seeks, finds.” (Matthew 7:8). If anyone on earth is sincerely seeking God, God will arrange for that person to hear the gospel. There are some amazing stories about such people, reminiscent of the story of Cornelius in Acts. He was seeking God, and God arranged for him to hear the gospel even though the preachers had not even been willing to go to the Gentiles!  Cornelius saw an angel clearly in a vision, Peter fell into a trance, and God put all the pieces together.  There are stories of things like someone wanting to know the truth and being told by an angel to go 200 miles through the jungle to an exact location where a missionary was preaching the gospel. You do not have to worry about a just God denying a sincere person a chance to find the truth if he is seeking it.  The “unfair” picture of someone who really wants to know God but can’t find a missionary is unrealistic given what Jesus said on the matter.
 

Question 7-4:  What about the “gospel of inclusion” being promoted by a certain minister inTulsa, Oklahoma?

This doctrine is a wicked, Christ-denying heresy.  It is nothing more than a watered-down version of the heresy of universalism (“everyone is saved no matter what”).  Universalist churches are cults because they teach you that you can do your own thing and be saved anyway.  This is similar to the B’hai “faith” (actually an unbelief, not a faith) and what the Masons teach.  “Do whatever you want, worship God in your own way, as long as you’re sincere” is an idea that blatantly contradicts the Bible and sends millions to hell.

The “gospel of inclusion” says that everyone (Buddhists, Muslims, Jews, etc.) is saved unless they explicitly deny Christ. This is absolutely contrary to the Bible, which teaches that you must confess Christ to be saved.  No one who fails to confess Christ is saved, no matter how good or sincere.

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