Faith Only? Series

In my files I have a comment of an economics professor who explained his problem with Jesus. He said, “I really don’t see how Jesus can be the only way to heaven. I definitely believe in God, but there are just too many people in the world who don’t believe in Jesus for me to think that God doesn’t love them too.”

Now was this man right? Is Jesus NOT the only way to heaven? No, he is not right. But how do we know he’s not right? Well because that’s not what the Bible says. Now, just for the sake of argument, let’s say this man believed in heaven, in God, in Jesus as the Son of God, and that he believed that Jesus died on the cross, was buried, and rose from the grave. But there was something about the idea that Jesus would be the only way to get to heaven that offended him.

Why would that offend him? Well, he was using his human reasoning and that led him to REJECT the idea that Jesus was the only way to be saved. Well then, how would we try to change his mind? What resource would say that he was wrong? (THE BIBLE)

For example: we might show him John 14:6 where Jesus said … “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME.”

Or Acts 4:12 Peter echoes Jesus: “… there is SALVATION IN NO ONE ELSE, for there is NO OTHER NAME under heaven given among men by which we must be saved”

But my guess is, those verses wouldn’t matter to him because his human reasoning had already rejected this idea and it wouldn’t matter to him what the Bible said otherwise. Someone once noted that “If people believe what they LIKE in the Bible, and reject what they don’t like, it is not the Bible they believe. It’s just their opinions that matter!

But our opinion does NOT matter. It ONLY matters what the Bible says. In John 3:18 we read “Whoever believes in (Jesus) is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God.” And John 3:36 says “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him.” And Jesus said “Unless you believe that I am he, you will die in your sins.” John 8:24

You see - you CAN’T be saved WITHOUT Jesus. And to be saved you must believe that He is who said He was!

As John 3:16 declares: “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.”

It’s a repeated theme throughout the New Testament – we’re saved by faith in Jesus. Without faith in Jesus, it’s impossible to please God. Without faith in Jesus it’s impossible to have our sins forgiven. And without faith in Jesus it’s impossible to make it into heaven. In fact, this concept that faith in Jesus as the only way to be saved shows up so often in Scripture that there are people who say we are saved by - FAITH ONLY!

ILLUS: I’ve had discussions with these “faith only” folks, and SOME of them will go so far as to say that you ONLY need faith to be saved. You don’t need to repent, because repentance is something you DO, and anything you DO would be a work… and as Ephesians 2:8-9 tells us, we can’t be saved by good works. And you don’t need to confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, because confession would be something you DO, and anything you do would be a work, and cannot save you. And you don’t need to be baptized, because baptism is something you DO, and anything you DO would be a work… and that would make a work. And you don’t need to be faithful to Jesus till death to be saved, because living faithfully would be something you DO… yadda, yadda.

THEY BRAND ALL THOSE THINGS AS “WORKS”.

ILLUS: One of the professors at Liberty Baptist Theological Seminary asked his students how they did their “altar call” at their church. One of the students was the preacher of a large Baptist church, and he commented that they didn’t do altar calls. He was asked if he had the people to stand up to accept Jesus. He did not. And one of the other students asked if people were told to raise their hands if wanted to belong to Christ. He didn’t do that either! Someone finally asked, “Why not?” and he replied: “Well, anything they might DO would be a WORK” and because salvation was not by works, he refused to have his audience do anything! (Blair A. Yager professor of New Testament at Roanoke Bible college in Elizabeth City, NC in Christian Standard 4/22/01)