THE EXCLUSIVITY OF JESUS CHRIST
I am a member of an exclusive club! I have a Cabela's Club Credit Card. With this card, I receive many great blessings. Wherever I go and make purchases, I build up points in my Cabela's Club account. With these points, I can redeem them to get all kinds of hunting, fishing, and outdoors equipment and toys. It is awesome!
I have other credits that I can choose to use, but none of them will earn me Cabela's points. None of them bless me with free hunting/fishing toys. If I want these points, I must use my Cabela's Card. It is the only card that gets me these points. It is exclusive.
Today, we are going to talk about salvation and about Jesus Christ. As we examine Scripture, we will find out that salvation is found only through Jesus Christ. He is exclusive. If you want to be saved, only Christ can save you.
1. THE TEACHINGS OF JESUS.
A. God’s Motivation for Salvation.
Jn 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only Begotten Son that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life.
God’s desire is for salvation to all people. His love compelled Him to sacrifice Jesus Christ to die on the cross to pay the price for our sins so that people might be saved thru faith in Him.
B. The Condition of those who haven’t believed in Him.
Jn 3:18 He who believes in Him is not judged; he who does not believe has been judged already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
Jesus revealed important truths with this verse.
(1) Those who believe in Jesus are saved.
(2) Those who reject Jesus are lost and already condemned.
(3) Those who haven’t rejected Him, but haven’t yet believed are condemned.
** This is important because Jesus is saying that those who have not believed are already on their way to hell and until and unless you come to faith in Christ, you have no hope of going to Heaven when you die.
Good intentions of getting saved “one day” are irrelevant.
C. The Only Way to Heaven.
If His teachings were not clear enough in John 3:16-18, the truth of the exclusivity of salvation thru Jesus Christ becomes crystal clear in 14:6.
Jn 14:6 Jesus *said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father but through Me.
(1) Jesus is the only Way to Heaven. There are not many ways to Heaven. No other religion, no other teaching, There is no other way!
(2) Jesus is Truth and the only source of absolute Truth. Every other religion or spiritual teaching apart from Jesus and the Bible is false.
(3) Jesus is the only Mediator between God the Father and man. No other person whether dead or alive is your “go-between” with God.
** Mohammed can’t save you. Buddha can’t. Your good deeds can’t. Jesus is God and He, alone, is God. There is no other God. He alone died for your sins. He alone can save you!
2. THE TESTIMONY OF THE APOSTLES.
A. Their Admission to Jesus Christ.
Great crowds had been following Jesus and were amazed by His miracles and teachings about the love of God. Then, He began to preach sermons about Lordship and how anyone who would believe must take up his cross and follow Him. The Jewish people were very familiar with the horror of crucifixion as they had all witnessed it. His teachings on His flesh and blood also appalled them. So, many fell away and quit following Him.
Jn 6:66-69 66 As a result of this many of His disciples withdrew and were not walking with Him anymore. 67 So Jesus said to the twelve, “You do not want to go away also, do you?” 68 Simon Peter answered Him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have words of eternal life. 69 We have believed and have come to know that You are the Holy One of God.”
Peter knew Jesus to be God in the flesh. He fully believed that Jesus was the only source of salvation.
B. Their Testimony to the World.
One day Peter had healed a man by the power of the Holy Spirit. Later he preached a bold sermon to a group of people and the Sadducees came with guards and put him and John in jail. The next morning they were questioned about the healings they performed and asked “by what power have you done this?” He answered “By the name of Jesus Christ whom you crucified!” Peter went on to add this about salvation.
Acts 4:12 And there is salvation in no one else; for there is no other name under heaven that has been given among men by which we must be saved.”
So, the apostles that walked with Jesus firmly believed and taught that the message of the gospel is that salvation is thru Jesus Christ alone!
3. THE MESSAGE OF THE GOSPEL.
A. The Message to the Lost.
Rom 10:8-13 8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation. 11 For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in Him will not be disappointed.” 12 For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, abounding in riches for all who call on Him; 13 for “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
Paul has been teaching about the gospel of salvation and he asks the question “What does it (the Bible) say about being saved?”
(1). You must repent and believe. You must turn from your sins and believe that Jesus is God in the flesh and He died for your sins and rose again. Repentance and faith result in righteousness– right standing with God concerning sin.
(2). You must confess Jesus Christ as Lord. Confessing Christ as Lord results in salvation. IOW, it seals the deal. Confessing is much more than just “saying Jesus is Lord”.
“Lord”- kurios- signifies sovereign power and authority over you.
It is an absolute surrender of yourself and your will to Him. It is becoming His slave with Him as absolute owner over us.
1 Cor 6:20 For you have been bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body.
The soft gospel of today leaves Lordship completely out of the salvation process. The Bible, though, never separates Christ’s lordship from His Saviorhood. In truth, Jesus will not be your Savior unless He is also your Lord.
Is the Bible serious about Lordship? Consider this, in the New Testament, Jesus is referred to as Savior about 15 times, but is referred to as Lord around 700 times. And, whenever “Savior and Lord” are referred to together, His title of Lord precedes that of Savior.
* Examine your life this morning. Can you honestly say that Jesus is your Lord?
B. The Responsibility of the Saved.
Rom 10:14-15;17 14 How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? 15 How will they preach unless they are sent? Just as it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news of good things!” 17 So faith comes from hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ.
What is Paul saying in these verses? He makes 4 points:
1. The only way to be saved is to call on Christ’s name.
2. The only way to call on Christ’s name is to believe the gospel.
3. The only way to believe the gospel is to hear the gospel.
4. The only way to hear the gospel is to be told the gospel.
John MacArther tells the story of a boy in Africa.
There was a boy that grew up in a primitive tribe in Africa. He was so ill-behaved that his family made him stay outside when they had guest. He was punished often because of disobedience and cruelty. He felt guilt all the time because of his inability to control his meanness. He often pounded his head against a tree crying out “What’s wrong with me? Why do I do these things?”
One day his friend returned from a visit from the coast and was telling him of all the great things he saw. He told him about going to a church where people gathered to sing and pray to God who created the whole world. They spoke about how much God loved every person.
This is the only knowledge this bad little boy knew about God– that He is the Creator and that He loves everyone. He decided to try to talk to “this God” just like He was his own father. He said “I can’t explain what happened but it was an exciting experience. I wanted to know more about God, but no one in my village knew anything about Him. I prayed and hoped that one day someone would come along and tell me about Him.
Some time later, he got a job on a road project and came to a village that had a church where they met on Sundays. He was so excited and couldn’t wait until Sunday. Finally, Sunday came and he listened to the singing and the message about God’s love and how He sent Jesus to die for his sins. But, he thought, I wonder if God knows the awful things I’ve done in my life? But the preacher said that no matter what I’ve done, God loves me and would forgive me and make my heart clean. I knew in my heart that everything he said was true.
This man would have been hopelessly lost if someone had not told him about a God that he had never heard of. There are millions of people in the world just like him. Will you be the one that goes and tells them about our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ?
Church, The Lost will remain lost until and unless they hear and heed the message of the Gospel. If Jesus Christ is your Lord, then His command to you is to share the gospel with the world.
