Is Jesus Really The Only Way To Heaven? Series

GodQuest - Is Jesus Really the ONLY way to Heaven?

If Jesus is the only way…

What about People who are Moral?

What about people who are Other Religions?

What about people who are Unreached?

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Intro

Good morning.

This week we are finishing up our GodQuest series.

We have been looking at some questions and topics that people struggle with in believing Christianity and have been struggles for those within Christianity.

The purpose of the series is not only to answer questions for those who have these struggles, but to also equip those of you who have believed in Jesus for salvation so you can communicate with those the Lord puts in your life and so you can walk more assuredly in your faith.

In this series we have looked at

the evidence that points to God’s existence,

why you can believe the Bible is God’s word,

why you can believe in a good and loving God, even in the face of suffering,

and last week we examined

how the creation account lines up with the evidence we find regarding the origins of life.

This week we are going to tackle an issue that for many makes Christianity and the God of the Bible seem so intolerant to them.

We are going to assess the claim and ask the question

Is Jesus Really the ONLY way to heaven?

Slide

So, if you would turn with me in your Bibles to John 14:1-6

We are first going to hear what Jesus said about this, and then we are going to look at some follow up questions so that we can see the love and sovereignty of God regarding “the way” He has made and also to help those Christians who either struggle with this question themselves and/or do not know how to respond to those who ask.

So let’s begin by seeing what Jesus had to say regarding this.

John 14:1-6

14 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going."

5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?"

6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.

Pray

Ok, the Bible clearly tells us through Jesus’ own words that

Jesus really is the only way to Heaven

Slide

But notice that in the first verse of this passage, Jesus is seeking to bring comfort to His disciples.

Jesus being the way to heaven is meant to bring comfort to people.

Why then is Jesus being the way such a divisive issue and one that is argued to make it seem that this is an intolerant viewpoint?

Again, as with so many issues of life, our perspective matters.

So, this morning, to help us better understand that Jesus really is the only way to heaven, and so we better understand His love and Sovereignty and can truly gain a godly perspective, I want to deal with the exceptions that people raise so we can truly see that Jesus really is the only way.

Whenever I have been in discussions with people about Jesus being the only way to a relationship with the Lord and into heaven, they invariably ask

What about People who are Good?

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Usually this question comes across like this

You mean to tell me that I can

live honestly and

with integrity and

not steal or cheat,

but if I don’t believe in Jesus as Savior I won’t go to heaven.

And the person who has been

a liar and

a murder all their life,

but then receives Jesus as their Savior does get to go to heaven?

To many people that doesn’t seem loving or just and that is what we are claiming that God is, both loving and just. How can that be?

Well, I will tell you that God is both loving and just.

The problem however, lies in our corrupted perspective of life and of what good is.

We tend to compare ourselves with those around us.

Grading on a curve Illustration

When I was in school we called that grading on the curve. They would take the highest grade in the class and assign grades to all the other exams based on that.

A 54% doesn’t look as bad when it is the highest grade of those you compare it too, but it is an F when compared to the standard of having everything correct.