Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening and now
for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program today. I'm glad you could join us. And if you'd like to
follow along in your Bibles with today's message, I'll be preaching
from the book of John, the Gospel of John, chapter 14. John chapter 14. My main text,
I'm gonna read several passages here, several verses here, but
my main text is John 14 and verse 6, and the title of the message
is One Way of Salvation. one way of salvation. Now, one
of the most unpopular truths of Christianity, true Christianity,
and I know there's a lot of people who deny this today and call
themselves Christian, and it's called progressive Christianity,
but one of the most unpopular truths that Christ taught And
that's what Christianity is. It's trusting Christ and following
his teachings is this fact that true Christianity is the one
and only, the exclusive way to God. It's the one and only exclusive
way of salvation. Now there are several passages
of scripture that we could go to. I don't have time in one
message to go to all of these scriptures, but John 14, six
certainly states this. This is the Lord speaking to
his disciples before he entered, before he is arrested and goes
to the cross. And he's speaking here to all
the disciples, but he's answering a question that his disciple
named Thomas, you've heard of Thomas. They call him doubting
Thomas. that Thomas asks. And let's begin up in verse 1
and then we'll get to verse 6. He says, Christ said, let not
your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. Now we're going to find, we've
already seen in the Bible, and we're going to find as he continues
his teaching there, is you cannot, now listen to this, you cannot
truly believe in God, the true and living God, and not believe
in the Lord Jesus Christ. You can believe in a God, a God
of your imagination, and you may believe a lot of things that
are true about the true and living God. For example, there's a lot
of people who believe that God is real and that he's the creator
of this world. But see, God reveals himself
in his word for the salvation of his people so that they might
have a right relationship with God. So you can believe that
God is the creator and not believe in Christ, the one way of salvation,
the one way of being accepted with God, the one way of being
right with God. You understand what I'm saying?
So he connects the two. Christ, Jesus Christ, the God-man,
is the full revelation of the Father. So let's read on, verse
2. He says, In my Father's house
are many mansions, If it were not so, I would have told you,
I go to prepare a place for you. And then verse three, he says,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and
receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be
also. Now this place that he's talking
about is not referring to geography. It's referring to a spiritual
state and standing before God, which in the Bible is called
the kingdom of heaven. You know, people think, and when
they talk about going to heaven, they talk about like going up,
you know, and when a believer dies, I believe his spirit goes
to be with the Lord. But the Bible teaches that true
believers in glory, in eternal glory, will inhabit the new earth
in a glorified body. But his going to prepare this
place has to do with his redemptive work of saving his people from
their sins by the sacrifice of himself. That's why he told them,
he said, let not your heart be troubled. They were troubled
because they knew what was going to happen when he presented himself
or when the soldiers would come to get him and he would be brought
up on trial. They knew that the Pharisees,
the Sadducees, the Sanhedrin, the Romans were intent on killing
him. Killing Jesus of Nazareth. Because they looked upon him
as, the Jews, the unbelieving Jews looked upon him as being
a blasphemer. And the Romans looked upon him
as being an insurrectionist, a rebel. So they wanted to kill
him. and they ganged up to do so.
But what he's telling them here is all of this, it's not the,
ultimately, it's not just the evil workings of man, though
that is involved, this is the work of God. What he's going
through, what Christ went through in his suffering, in his arrest,
in the beatings, in His death, in His burial, His resurrection,
this was all ordained of God before the foundation of the
world. Why? For the glory of God in the salvation
of His chosen people, given to Christ before the foundation
of the world. So there's no accidents here.
There's no contingency plan here. There's no taking God by surprise. He knew, Christ knew full well
what was going on here. And he said, I'm going not just
to suffer and not just to be ridiculed, not just to be falsely
accused and beaten and not just to die, even though that was
his purpose, but I'm going in all of that, I'm going to prepare
a place for you to save you from your sins. Now Christ did that
as the surety and the substitute of his people. Having their sins,
the debt, the sin debt, legally charged to his account and he
did it to prepare that place. How? By establishing righteousness
that is imputed to his people. Charged over to their account.
That's why the Bible says in Romans 10 for Christ is the end
of the law for righteousness. to everyone that believe it.
So he says in verse four of John 14, and whither I go, you know,
and the way you know. He told him these things. Well,
Thomas, you know, Thomas was a very weak human being, just
like me, just like you, all of these, what is a saved person? a true disciple of Christ. We're
sinners saved by grace. And Thomas in his human weakness
and sinfulness, he says, said unto him, verse 5, Lord, we know
not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way? Well, verse
6, there's the text now. Jesus saith unto him, I am the
way, the truth, the life, No man cometh unto the Father but
by me. Period. That's it. Nobody's going to the Father
except through Jesus Christ based on the merits of His blood, His
death, which is His righteousness imputed to His people. If you come to God based on any
other ground but Jesus Christ and Him crucified, you will be
rejected. That has been set down in the
scripture from the very beginning. Look at the story of Cain and
Abel. Cain came based on his works. Abel came through the blood of
the lamb. That lamb that Abel sacrificed
and brought the blood was a picture, a type, and even a prophecy. of the Lord Jesus Christ the
one way of salvation the one way to God no other way no other
way now that's offensive to so many people today even so many
who call themselves Christian there is a progressive form of
Christianity and it is false Christianity now you understand
this if we go by the Bible those who call themselves Christian
but claim there are many ways to God. You go your way, I go
mine. My friend, they are not Christian. They just call themselves Christian.
Jesus Christ did not teach many ways to God. He didn't teach
the Buddhist way, the Muslim way, or the Hindu way, then the
Christian way, or the Jewish way. He didn't teach the Baptist
way, the Methodist way, the Pentecostal way. No, sir, there's one way
to God, and that's through the blood of Jesus Christ. What can
wash away my sins? Nothing but the blood. And remember
now, his blood, equals His righteousness. His blood is satisfaction to
the justice of God. In other words, in dying on the
cross for His sheep, He drank damnation dry for them. The wrath of God was poured out
upon Him based on their sins charged to Him and He finished
it. He fulfilled all righteousness,
and that's how we stand before God if we're truly Christian.
Not in our own righteousness, not in our own works, but in
Him, whom to know is life eternal. He is the way, and the way is
the way of the cross. The way is the way of righteousness.
The way is the way of grace. He is the truth. There's only
one truth. revealed by God as to how sinners
can be made right with Him, saved from their sin, justified before
Him. And that's through Christ. And
He is the life. Eternal life is only in Christ. You see, not in anybody else.
The other ways are ways of death. There's only one way to God. He said, no man cometh unto the
Father, but by me. So, again, why is it so unpopular? Well, men by nature just want
to believe that there's many ways to God. And that comes out
of ignorance. It comes out of unbelief. It
comes out of pride. That's called pluralism. I don't
know if you've heard that term or not. Pluralism. Many ways
to God. There's three basic philosophies
that prevail today. And it's in false Christianity
too. And in some form or to some degree,
these three philosophies. There's humanism. Now humanism
teaches that the world basically revolves around man. and that
it's all about us, and that there's some spark of goodness within
us, and in order to get people saved, as they claim, all you
have to do is find an eloquent preacher who can tug at your
heartstrings and fan that flame, that spark, and turn it into
a flame. But that's not what the Bible teaches. Humanism has
to do with those who worship a God that is likened to themselves. And they reason from the ground
up. In other words, whatever my thoughts
about God, it starts with me, not with him. And you see, that's
why God said, my thoughts are not your thoughts in Isaiah 55. My ways are not your ways. My
thoughts are high above you. My ways are high above you. You
see, salvation is not reasoning from the ground up, beginning
with me and ending up with a God who's like me. Salvation is a
revelation from God down. Righteousness comes from heaven
down, not from the earth up. You see, it's not by the works
of man. Christ is the righteousness of God. So humanism is a false
belief. And it's pervaded even modern-day
Christianity. Salvation conditioned on you,
not on Christ. You see, the gospel says salvation
is conditioned on Christ. Who fulfilled all those conditions?
The second philosophy that pervades is relativism. And relativism
is an autonomous view. In other words, you have your
truth, but I have my truth. And what may be truth for you
may not be truth for me, and vice versa. That's relativism.
In other words, there's no absolute truth. But it's just every man... Well, I'll tell you how the Bible
puts it in the book of Judges. Everyone does that which is right
in their own eyes. That's relativism. In other words,
it's no absolute standard of truth. But my friend, God is
the absolute standard of all truth, and that absolute standard
of all truth is revealed concerning salvation and justification before
God, a right relationship with God, is revealed in the person
and the finished work of the God-man, the Lord Jesus Christ. The Bible says in Acts 17, in
verse 31, that God will judge the world in righteousness by
that man whom he hath ordained, in that he has given assurance
unto all men, in that he raised him from the dead. That's why
Christ says here in verse 14 of John, or verse 6 of John 14,
I am the way, I am the truth. Christ is the absolute truth.
There's no salvation with God but in Christ. There's no righteousness
before God but Christ. Do you understand that? So relativism
is a false gospel. And then the third philosophy
is what I mentioned before. Pluralism. There are many ways
to God. Well, the Bible says otherwise.
In Acts chapter 4, the disciples, led by Peter, they had healed
a man. And they had been told by the
court, the Jewish court, not to do anything like that. And
so they were brought up before the court. And in verse seven,
it says, this is Acts chapter four, it says, and when they
had set them in the midst, that is they put, here's the Jewish
court, unbelieving Jews. They arrested Peter and some
of the other disciples and they set him in the midst and they
ask him this question, by what power, this is Acts 4-7, by what
power and by what name have you done this? You healed a man,
by what power did you do it? Remember they accused Christ
one time of acting in the power of the devil. He said, they asked
him, by what name, whose authority have you done this? In verse
eight, now listen to Peter's answer. In Acts four and verse
eight. Then Peter filled with the Holy
Ghost said unto them, you rulers of the people and elders of Israel,
if we this day be examined of the good deed done to the impotent
man, by what means he has made whole, be it known unto you all,
and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ
of Nazareth, whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead,
even by him does this man stand here before you whole. Verse
11, this is the stone which was set at Nod, counted as nothing,
of you builders, which has become the head of the corner. And then
verse 12, neither is there salvation in any other. For there's one,
there's none other name under heaven given among men whereby
we must be saved. None other name given among men. In 1 Timothy chapter two and
verse five, Paul wrote, for there is one God and one mediator between
God and men, the man, Christ Jesus. You see that? There's
no other salvation, no other way. No other truth. Now, this brings up a very valid
point that we need to see. Go back to John chapter 14. Now, after Christ had said in
John 14, 6, let's read it again. It says, Jesus saith unto him,
unto Thomas, and he was speaking to the rest of the disciples,
he says, I am the way, the truth, and the life, No man cometh to
the Father but by me. Now look at verse 7. If you had
known me, you should have known my father, and from henceforth
you know him and have seen him. Well, Philip saith unto him,
Lord, show us the Father, and it sufficeth us. That'll be enough.
Verse nine, Jesus saith unto him, have I been so long time
with you? And yet hast thou not known me,
Philip? He that hath seen me hath seen
the Father. And how sayest thou then, show
us the Father? Now look at verse 10. Believest
thou not that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words
that I speak unto you I speak not of myself, but the Father
that dwelleth in me He doeth the works. Verse 11, believe
me that I am in the Father and the Father in me or else believe
me for the very work's sake. Now, this whole passage is very,
very instructive concerning the relationship between the Father
and the Son. Christ said, if you've seen me,
you've seen the Father. Well, what is he doing? You know,
we know the doctrine of the Trinity. You've probably, I'm sure you've
heard of that. There are people who deny the doctrine of the
Trinity. That God subsists as one God in three persons. Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And I'll be the first to tell
you that it's a mind-boggling truth that we can't explain,
and we don't even have an illustration. I know preachers try to use illustrations
for that, but it's no good. Earthly illustrations cannot
really capture the essence of that biblical truth. But when
Christ says, if you've seen me, you've seen the Father, is He
claiming that He is the Father, He is the Son, He is the Holy?
No. He's the Son. He's claiming that
if you know God as your Father, the only way you can know God
as your Father is through the Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Apart from Christ, you do not
know God as your Father. Apart from Christ, all you know
God is as your judge. You understand? And that's why
it's so important. That's why the gospel shows how
sinners are made right with God by His grace through the person
and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ said in John 17 and verse
3, He says, this is life eternal. that they might know thee the
only true God and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent." And then
over in the book of John chapter 6 and verse 44, listen to this, he says, No man
can come to me except the Father which has sent me draw him and
I will raise him up at the last day it is written in the prophets
and they shall be all taught of God every man therefore that
hath heard heard what? the truth the way of Christ the
gospel wherein he is revealed as the Lord our righteousness
and hath learned of the Father how now to learn of the Father
means to learn how God can be a just judge and still be a loving,
merciful, gracious father to save a sinner like me. He said,
have learned of the Father, cometh unto me. In other words, that
is a revelation that comes only through Jesus Christ. Nowhere
else. You see, here's the issue. I've
said this many times, God is righteous and we are not. And God being a righteous God
must punish sin. And the wages of sin is death.
God cannot ignore my sins. God cannot look over, pass by
my sins at random. God cannot forget my sins and
just act as if they never happened. God cannot save me in spite of
my sins. God must deal with my sins. And the wages of sin is death,
as I said. So the question comes, how can
a holy and just and righteous God Who must be just? Who must deal in truth? Who must
punish sin? How can He save a sinner like
me and still be righteous and holy? How can He be both just
and the justifier? How can He be both a righteous
judge and a Savior in mercy? There's only one way. The one
way of salvation And that's through the person and work of Jesus
Christ as the surety and the substitute of His people given
to Him before the foundation of the world by the Father. In
other words, the only way that you can approach God confidently,
with liberty, as a loving Father, is through the blood and the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. No other way. Buddha
won't help you there. Allah, Mohammed, they won't help
you. Brahmanatman, the Hindus, they
can't help you there. No, sir. And listen to me. The Jews cannot help you there. Judaism cannot do it. Somebody
asked me one time, do we worship the same God of the Jews? Well,
according to the Bible, an unbelieving Jew, the only way we can say
we worship the same God as any Jew is if that Jew is a Christian
who believes in the Lord Jesus Christ, who's come unto the Father
by Him, the one way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to
the Father but by me. You say, well, don't the Jews
believe in the God of the Old Testament? Not the true God.
Even the Jews back then who didn't believe in Christ as they looked
forward to Him as the Messiah, they worshiped another God, a
God of their imagination. The prophets, one of the complaints
of the prophets is that God made through the prophets is they
don't know me. And He said under the new covenant, which is Christianity,
He said, they shall all know me from the least of them to
the greatest. So do we worship the same God as the Jews? No.
They worship the God of judgment in their legalism. Now that's
not to put them down. That's all of us by nature. But
if you come to God through Christ, then you know the Father. One
way of salvation. I hope you'll join us next week
for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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today and may the Lord be with you.