Great Mysteries of the Faith:
Is Jesus the Only Savior?
Romans 3:21-24
Recently, a man made a reappearance into the minds of all Americans after a more than 30 year absence from the limelight. Chances are, every one of you have heard of him, and some of you have even wanted to be him at one time in your lives. Who is this individual? I am talking about the rebirth of Superman.
The opening weekend of the Superman movie grossed well over 100 million dollars at the box office showing that there is still a market for the superhero movie market. As a matter of fact, there have been over 39 different superheroes portrayed on the big screen between the last two superman movies. The X-men series, the two Spiderman movies, and the Incredible Hulk, and the Batman series have been blockbusters that people flocked to in record numbers. Others such as Daredevil, Catwoman, and the like have pulled in respectable numbers of people as well. It turns out that people still have a fascination with superheroes. How else can you explain a near-mint copy of the first issue of the X-men comic recently selling for over $45,000?
Leo Partible tells of his own fascination with comic book heroes in the forward of the H. Michael Brewer book, Who Needs a Superhero?
When I was twelve years old, I was a paperboy for one reason: I needed money to buy comic books. I loved those pamphlet-sized, 35- to 70-cent, four color wonders printed on cheap newsprint.
I especially identified with Spider-Man, who was a superhero, yes, but also a young adult trying to cope with underachievement and disappointment. If I was having a bad day, Spider-Man’s was even worse. If I got a low grade, Peter Park could best me by losing his job at the Daily Bugle for turning in blurred pictures of Spider-Man’s skirmish with Doc Ock, catching the blame of New York City for the latest round of power outages, and failing every course at Empire University because he missed too many classes.
The comics also awakened my first spiritual stirrings. As I told syndicated columnist Terry Mattingly in a recent interview, people are always looking for answers to the big questions, like “What am I doing here?” I was no exception, only comic books did a better job of giving me answers than many of the sermons I heard from priests and preachers. Comics hooked me with living color and fast-paced action, framing a fantastical world of good and evil where I could witness how courage, the exercising of one’s unique gifts, and divine intervention could save the day.
Could it be that our fascination with superheroes comes from a longing down inside of each of us that we need someone to save us? After all, that is what comic book heroes do. Superman is the saving son from above. Spiderman shows us our duty to serve for the good of mankind. X-Men show us how we need to be in the world but not of it. Does this sound familiar to anyone? All of these superheroes are showing us a glimpse of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and people are reaching out to these heroes because they emulate the characteristics of the Savior we all desperately need.
Ever since the beginning of time, we have been searching for one to save us. Adam and Eve had fellowship with God in the garden but lost it after sinning. Thus, there became a God-shaped hole in all of thus that only a relationship with God can fill. God promised that relationship would be restored by making a covenant with Abraham and his children to save them. But, this was not a literal covenant just pertaining to those in Abraham’s lineage. Anyone who becomes a Christian is said to be a child of Abraham. How do we do that? We do it by perfectly following the law laid out in the Old Testament. But, we all have that sin problem to get over first. God made a way that is laid out in Romans 3:21-24. Follow along with me in your sermon notes.
But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and all are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Jesus Christ.
So, God made a way for us, but is it the only way? Is Jesus the only Savior? What about other religions? What about those who have never heard the gospel? This morning we are going to answer these questions and find out what these answers mean to our personal walk with the Lord. Before we do, let’s look to the Lord for wisdom, understanding, and guidance.
Question #1: Is Jesus Really the Savior?
Did you ever see those commercials that have an actor dressed as a doctor that starts out by saying, “I’m not a doctor, but I play one on television?” Or, how about the new Holiday Inn commercials where they thank the man for saving the life of a patient, and he replies, “I’m not a doctor, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night.” Well, suppose they did not give this statement. How could you tell for sure if they were a doctor or not? First of all, you would look at their credentials. Do they have a medical degree from a real medical school? Secondly, you would check out if they were actually practicing medicine somewhere. Finally, you would go to their patients to see if they were actually helped. You could only come up with three conclusions after doing these things. The person was either lying about being a doctor, was a real doctor, or they were insane and actually believed that they were a doctor even if they were not.
Now, we can make this same argument about Jesus being Savior. In John 14:6, Jesus clearly exclaims to all mankind that he is the Savior and Lord of all. He states, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.” It is clear that Jesus is claiming to be the Messiah. Thus, we can apply the same type of reasoning to his claim as we can to the claim of a doctor. C.S. Lewis made this argument by stating that Jesus was a liar, a lunatic, or He is Lord. Let’s look at that for a moment.
We started examining the validity of a doctor by looking at his credentials. We can do the same with Jesus Christ by looking at Old Testament prophesies. There were literally hundreds of prophesies telling of the upcoming Lord, and Jesus fulfilled every one of them. Then, we need to look to see if Jesus was practicing like the doctor. Jesus did abide by all of his teachings, and was in fact the only man without sin. Then, we need to look at the results of Jesus’ work. Very simply, contact with Jesus led to changed lives. Cowards became courageous martyrs. Uneducated men became great teachers. Brash sinners became models of morality. Diseases were cast off. The winds and waves obeyed his every command. He conquered death and brought others who were dead back to life. It seems very clear that Jesus fits the criteria for being Savior.
The problem is that most people want to turn Jesus into just a man who was just a wise and good teacher and not the Savior of the world. This cannot be because of this argument. Jesus has to be Lord and Savior because He claimed to be. If He is just a good teacher, then he either lied about being Lord or he was delusional and actually believed He was Lord even though He was not. Either way, if he was a liar or a lunatic, we cannot believe a word out of His mouth thus meaning that He could not be just a good teacher; because, a good teacher never lies and is not insane. Jesus has to be Lord or He is nothing at all. And, since He is Lord, He must be the Savior we are all longing for as He claims to be.
Question #2: What about Other Religions?
The next time you go to the airport to fly somewhere, I want you to try something. As an experiment, I want you to walk around blindfolded through the terminal and pick any gate. Once you get to the gate, I want you to board whatever plane is at there. When the plane lands, I want you to tell me if you got to the destination you had planned on going to. Chances are, there is no way you are going to end up where you wanted to go because there are so many gates going to different locations all over the world representing multiple airline companies. Even though every plane is headed outbound, there is only one plane going to where you intend to go. Unless you get on the one plane going the right way, you are not going to end up where you expected to go.
Why do I tell you this? Well, there is a common phrase going around these days that is as ludicrous as going to the airport, getting on a random plane, and ending up where you intended to go. The phrase is this: “All religions are really the same. They are just different routes to get to the same place.” Have you ever heard this statement? It is one of the most popular viewpoints of our time. In a recent opinion poll, four out of ten Americans claimed that “When Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and others prayed to their god, all of those individuals are actually praying to the same god, but simply using different names for that deity.” 40 percent of all Americans believe this!
This is a dangerous belief, but it is easily dispelled. After all, all you have to do is take a quick look at different religions to realize that there are irreconcilable differences between them. Firstly, we need to look at the issue of salvation. In every other religion other than Christianity, you are saved by the works that you do. In other words, you have to work your way into heaven. In Christianity, we are saved by the grace of God alone. We don’t have to earn our salvation – we just have to accept the free gift from a loving God. Secondly, we must look at Jesus. No other religious leader ever claimed to be God. They were all just messengers of God, but Jesus loved us so much that he left heaven to come to earth to bring a Savior to man. Thirdly, no other religious leader has ever conquered death. The founders of all other religions are dead and in their tombs, but our Savior is still alive and lives within us. That makes Him the only personal god among the bunch.
I want you to look closely at the claim of Jesus we mentioned earlier. Jesus claimed to be “the way” not “a way to heaven”. He also claimed that no one would come to Father except through Him. This is backed up in Acts 4:12. “Neither is there salvation in any other; for there is none other name under heaven, given among men, whereby we must be saved.” Jesus Christ is the only Savior – plain and simple. When you make this statement nowadays, you will be called narrow-minded and God will be seen as being unfair.
The reason people claim unfairness is because every religion has its good points. Every belief system has an aspect of truth to it. The problem is that people have only kept part truths over the years. They have followed what their itching ears wanted to hear and that has lead to the formation of other religions. After all, everyone on earth has a relative that once was a Christian because all came from Adam and Eve. The problem has been the false teachers that have sprung up over the years. That is why we are warned over and over in the New Testament to watch out for false prophets. It does not take long for them to develop a following that leads to a religious system with glimpses of truth but missing the entire point. Therefore, since these other religions are not completely based in the truth, they cannot be a valid avenue to get to heaven. It must come through the only religion that is completely based on truth which is Christianity. Check history. Check the Bible. Everything about Christianity stands up, so we must follow the outline set forth in Bible if we wish to be saved. We must be saved by the blood of Jesus on the cross.
Question #3: What about Those Who Have Never Heard?
This is the question among questions this morning. Will a loving, good, and fair God deny salvation to someone who has never heard the gospel? Before we see what the Bible has to say about this topic, I have to tell you one thing. God is judge and I am not. He is the final authority on who makes it to heaven and who does not. All we can go on is what is written in His Word to make our assumptions.
The first thing we have to uncover is if not hearing the gospel is a reasonable excuse for not responding to God. The definitive passage of Scripture on this is found in Romans 1:18 – 20. “The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of men who suppress the truth by their wickedness, since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities – his eternal power and divine nature – have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” Basically, Paul is telling us that we should know that there is a God just by looking around us. How can you look at this great world without realizing that there is a powerful, good God who formed every mountain and every stream? Creation speaks to every man that there is a creator God, so Paul tells us that no man has an excuse to not react to God. But, these people may never hear or see more of God than what is revealed in nature. Now what hope do they have?
You see, we are only responsible for what we have heard, so there is a chance that people who see nature and realize that there is a God can worship Him without actually hearing the gospel. They can worship God how they know Him and live consistently with moral law as they understand it, and then God may seek to give them a special revelation about himself. The Biblical example of this is in Acts 10 and involves Cornelius. Cornelius was not a Jew and had not heard the gospel as of yet; however, he worshiped and prayed to God as he knew how, and God gave Him a vision. He told him to send for Peter to explain the gospel to Him. There is little doubt that Cornelius is in heaven today. Although the details of how this works remain somewhat hidden, we can be sure that “God will judge with perfect justice” as stated in Psalms 98:9.
Since this is so uncertain of a topic, shouldn’t we make every effort to get to these lands where people have never heard the gospel and teach it to them? After all, we do know for sure if they are given the gospel and they accept it, they will surely be saved. Their lives hang in the balance so we must do our job and reach them with the gospel. This is laid out beautifully in Romans 10:14. “How then shall they call upon Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” God has us here to reach these people through giving monetarily to missions, praying for missionaries around the world, and actually going on mission trips ourselves. If you do not do your part in spreading the good news, there may be people here on earth who go to hell because they are never told the truth.
Everyone needs a superhero to save us, and he is not found in a comic book. Leo Partible continues. “Comics seem to whisper of God’s plan for humanity, and gradually I began to see Jesus as the ultimate superhero. He created the universe. He became the God-man, with amazing abilities and powers beyond mere mortals. On earth he commanded the weather, cast out demons, raised the dead. Like other heroes, he came from humble beginnings and grew up with surrogate parents, Mary and Joseph (think Ma and Pa Kent, or Aunt May and Uncle Ben). He became renowned for standing up for truth and justice, and performed amazing feats like changing water to wine or telling off the establishment by saying even outcasts like prostitutes would make it into heaven before them. Like Spiderman or Batman, Jesus was considered a menace to authorities. He had skirmishes with humankind’s greatest enemy, Satan, the first villain to plot world domination. As mirrored by the greatest superhero stories, even friends abandoned Jesus at the hour of his sacrifice.”
You see, we all long for a superhero to save us, and He is the Lord Jesus Christ. This morning, if you have never asked Him into your heart and to save you, you can do it now by coming to the altar as we close. For those of you who have already accepted Him as Savior, you have something else to think about. How are you going to tell the world about the real superhero that they need? How are you going to tell your neighbor? How are you going to tell your family member? How are you going to tell those from other religions? How are you going to take this message to those around the world who have never heard? There is a superhero who wants to save the world this morning and His Name is Jesus. Won’t you commit yourself to Him by accepting Him as Savior or making a commitment to spread His story? Let’s pray.
