What To Say To Those Who Deny There Is One Way

3:05 I titled today's message, What to Say to Those Who Deny. there is one way. I was in Washington, D.C. I had been invited to come and speak to the religion writers of America's newspapers, and there are about 180 reporters there from USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, other major papers, and actually I was there to debate a topic, and the given topic was, should a political candidate's religious faith make a difference in our selection or voting for that candidate. I was debating against Jay Sekulow, a well-known Christian attorney who appears on television regularly. He's argued several times before the Supreme Court, and Jay's a friend. He was taking the side that, no, we should not consider a candidate's religious beliefs when we vote for him, that competency, not faith, was the real issue.

4:04 And I took the position that yes, it does make a difference whether our leader is a Christian leader or not A person's faith impacts every part of his life And I quoted from the very first chief justice of the supreme court john jay who said god has given this christian nation By the way, isn't it interesting that the first chief justice of the supreme court said america is a christian nation He said, God has given this Christian nation the right and the responsibility to prefer Christians as our leader. The Supreme Court of the United States. I believe that. Well, they opened it up for questions, but one of the reporters raised his hand and said, Dr. Jeffers, you have said that Hinduism, Islam, Mormonism, that they are all false religions. But what about Judaism? You didn't mention Judaism. Do you believe that Judaism is a false religion. I said, well, it's funny you ask that question because this Sunday in my church in Dallas, I'm preaching a message entitled, Why Every Other Religion is Wrong. And the reporter started laughing. They broke out in laughter. I hadn't tried to be funny. I was just telling the stated topic for this Sunday. But it reminded me as they laughed how preposterous it is to the average person to make the claim that every other religion in the world is wrong. If you make that assertion, you'll be met with ridicule, if not with outright anger. Well, what do you say to those objections? I want to share with you today four things you can say to those who deny that there's only one way. Response number one, when people object to the exclusivity of Christ, you can always say, your argument is with the Bible, not with me. When people argue against this idea of exclusivity,

6:15 they're really arguing against God's Word, not against us. I think it's critical that we point out what the Bible itself says about this topic. For example, Jesus, Peter, and Paul were all faithful Jews. And yet these faithful Jews said Judaism is not enough. You cannot be saved through Judaism. It is through Jesus Christ alone that you can be saved. That really takes the sting out of the anti-Semitic argument when people say, well, you must hate Jews if you believe that. No. The three most prominent Jews of the Bible said Christ is the only way to be saved. Now, when you point out what the Bible says, be prepared for two responses. Some people will say, well, that's your interpretation of the Bible. That's your interpretation. And of course, you can always come back and say, well, fine, suggest to me some other logical interpretation of Jesus' words. I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man comes to the Father but by me. If he didn't mean he's the only way to God, what was he saying in that verse? And most people will stutter and stammer, and they won't come up with an explanation. But more likely, people will say to you, when you claim Christ is the only way to be saved, they'll come back with, well, who are you to decide who gets to go to heaven and who gets to go to hell? Only God can decide who goes to heaven and who goes to hell.

7:43 Now, when people say that to you, you say, you're absolutely right. I couldn't agree with you more. only God can say who's going to heaven and who's going to hell but God has already made that decision and it's found in his word it's very important that we point out we are not concocting our own way to be saved we are simply repeating what God has already saved and we do so not to hurt people but in order to help people a Franklin Graham has written a loyal follower of Jesus does not create personal ideas about these matters. All he or she does is faithfully represent the words of the master. When you tell people Jesus is the only way to be saved, you are simply representing the words of your master, the Lord Jesus Christ.

8:37 Response number two. When people object to the exclusivity of Christ, response number two is truth by its very nature is exclusive. Truth by its very nature is exclusive. And we pointed out several weeks ago that we live in a world that rejects the notion of absolute truth, especially when it comes to matters of spirituality. And yet there are other areas in which we readily accept the idea of absolute or objective truth. For example, you can ask a person, how many possible different answers do you think there are to the question, what is two plus three? How many right answers are there to that question? Or how many right answers are there to the question, what is the capital of Pennsylvania? How many right answers are there to that question? Now people come back and say, well, I know what you're getting at, but laws of mathematics, laws of geography, laws of science, those are precise. Those are exact. But when you get to areas of spirituality, well, that's subjective truth. That's a matter of one's own opinion. You see, people make a great error when they assume that just because things are unseen or invisible, that somehow they are not real or less exacting. And whenever you make that mistake of believing just because we can't see something, there aren't exact laws that govern that something, the result can be a disaster for us. On Friday afternoon, August the 2nd, 1985, Captain Ted Connors was preparing to land his jumbo jetliner at DFW Airport on runway 17 left. As he was on his final approach, he noticed a strange cloud formation at the end of the runway. At first, he thought he might fly around that cloud, but then he reasoned to himself he had hundreds of thousands of pounds of jetliner underneath him,

10:42 three powerful Rolls-Royce engines, 43,000 hours of experience between himself and his other co-pilots. What damage could a little wind and rain do to his aircraft? But what Captain Connors didn't realize was that inside that cloud were invisible but very real forces at work. Microbursts, wind shear, vortexes. As Delta Flight 191 made its way through that cloud, those invisible but real forces of nature grabbed hold of that jetliner and threw it to the ground, killing all 131 passengers aboard. You see, in an instant, Captain Connors and the air traffic controllers made an error in judgment. An error that all of us are in danger of making when dealing with the unseen. It's the error of thinking that just because we can't see it, somehow it must not be exacting.

11:42 Ladies and gentlemen, just as there were very real laws of aerodynamics and physics that govern that doomed jetliner. So there are very real spiritual laws that govern your and my relationship with God. We can say, well, we don't believe in those laws. We're going to alter those laws, or we're going to try to go another way and approach God in a different way. And when we do that, the result will be spiritual disaster. God has said there is one way and only one way to himself, and that's through Christ Jesus. truth by its nature is exclusive response number three to those who object to exclusivity and that is we ought to always say God wants to save as many people as possible not as few as possible whenever we point out to people that yes God has said there is only one way to be saved we need to quickly add but God wants to save as many people as possible well then the person ask if that's true. Why has God only said that He will save those who come to know Christ as Savior?

12:53 Does it make sense that God would condemn people to hell because they haven't heard of Christ? Have you ever had people ask you that question before? How could a loving God send people to hell because they have never trusted or even heard the name of Jesus? When people say that to you, There are two biblical responses to that. First of all, the fact of exclusivity, the faith in Christ is the only way to be saved, should lead us to evangelistic fervor, not spiritual smugness. The very fact that Christ is the only way to be saved ought to motivate us to share the gospel with others. Evangelistic fervor, not this feeling, well, we've got the truth and we're going to sit on it and not let anybody else hear about it. This idea of exclusivity ought to lead us to evangelistic fervor, not spiritual smugness. But secondly, I think the Bible clearly teaches that God will reveal Himself to those who want to know Him.

13:53 We ought to always say that to people. When they say, well, what about, you know, the heathen in Africa or the people in China who've never had a Bible? What do you say about those people? And you can always come back with the assurance that God will reveal Himself. to those who want to know him. By the way, that's what Romans 1 is all about. Romans 1 says anybody can look into the heavens and see the stars and the planets or look around and look at the trees and the plant life and animal life or even look at himself and realize this didn't happen by accident. Anybody can look at nature and know there is a power greater than himself. There is a God. You don't have to have a Bible to know that. That's what we call in theology general revelation. Everybody who's ever been born has that knowledge of God. Is that enough to save us?

14:46 Can I look up in the heavens and say, gee, there must be a God, therefore I'm going to heaven? No. No. If we believe what we heard just a few moments ago, that faith in Christ is the only way to be saved, then a knowledge and even a love for God is not enough to be saved. But listen to what Paul said in Romans 1. He said many people have that truth, but they have rejected that truth. And they have replaced the worship of a true God with the worship of a false God they've manufactured with their own hands. It's like Dr. Charles Ryrie says, this general revelation about God is not sufficient to save a person, but it is sufficient if rejected to condemn a person. And people who have that knowledge that there is a God, but they reject or neglect that truth and never search for that God. Paul says they are without excuse.

15:41 All mankind is without excuse. Well, pastor, what about people somewhere across the globe or across the street from me who do respond to that truth, but they've never heard about Jesus? They've never seen a Bible. They've never heard a gospel sermon preached. How in the world can those people be saved? I believe the scripture is clear. when somebody responds to the general revelation God gives them, if they have a right heart, a right attitude toward God, God will send them the knowledge they need in order to be saved. God will send to them the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ. Why? Because God is trying to save as many people as possible. He wants people to be saved. He wants all people to come to a knowledge of the truth. And wherever on this planet, God sees a man, a woman, a boy or a girl who wants to know him, you can rest assured that God will send to that person the gospel of Jesus Christ. You say, now pastor, do you really believe that? How can you believe that?

16:44 By reading the Bible. Think about the book of Acts. Let me share with you real quickly three precise examples where that happened. Where somebody had the right heart attitude toward God, didn't know about Jesus and God sent them the gospel. Think about the Ethiopian official. Remember his story in Acts 8? He loved the God of Israel. He went to Jerusalem to worship the God of Israel. On the way home, he was in his chariot. He opened up the Old Testament scripture, the book of Isaiah. He couldn't understand what he was reading. It was a passage about the Messiah. And what did God do? He saw a heart that was right toward him. So he miraculously sent Philip the evangelist to share the gospel with him. Philip helped make sense of the Old Testament prophet Isaiah and that Ethiopian official was saved and was baptized. Or two chapters later in Acts chapter 10. Here is Cornelius the Roman centurion. He too loved God. He wanted to know God but that wasn't enough for him to be saved. What did God do? He miraculously dispatched the apostle Peter to come and share the gospel with him.

17:48 And Cornelius became a believer. Or Acts chapter 19. Remember the story about the apostle Paul? He stumbled over 12 disciples of John the Baptist in the upper regions of Ephesus. And as he questioned them, he realized these disciples of John, they were not believers. They were lovers of God, followers of the law, but they didn't know Jesus. What did God do? He sent the apostle Paul in order to share the gospel with them. What I'm saying to you is whenever God sees a heart that wants to know him, God will send the truth into that person's life. And by the way, he does the same thing today. Do you think it is just by accident we have missionaries where we have them? Is it just at random that somebody sitting in a hotel room who wants to know God just stumbles across a religious television program? Or driving in their car, listens to a radio program, or halfway across the continent tunes into an internet broadcast, sharing the gospel through the airwaves. Do you think that is just by accident that those things happen? When I was walking across the square, this woman from India, of Indian descent, came up to me and she started saying, pastor, pastor, pastor. And I thought, does my black suit and red tie just scream pastor? Is that a dead giveaway?

19:12 And she said, pathway to victory, pathway to victory. And she went on to say how blessed she is by the ministry of our church every week by watching that program. That's her church. Is that just by accident? What I'm saying to you is the technology is available, the manpower is available today. Not that God has to have those things, but he uses those things to get the message of Christ to anybody who wants to hear it. The fourth response that I make to people who reject the idea of exclusivity is that the fact that God has provided one way of salvation demonstrates his love, not his hatred. The fact that God has provided one way of salvation demonstrates his love, not his hatred. As our plane was making its descent into Dallas, and I realized I had a limited amount of time with my newly found friend here, I decided to save my very best argument for last.

20:15 You know, we preachers like to do that. We like to kind of move toward a climax. So I said to him, suppose this jetliner were to crash and burn right now. All of a sudden, the flight attendant and the other passengers started giving me a dirty look. And so I lowered my preacher voice just a little bit there in the cabin. And I said, suppose this jetliner were to crash. and just suppose that the cabin were filling with smoke, the interior lights went off and the flight attendant was standing at the front of the plane with her emergency flashlight waving at it saying, this way out, this way out. Would you accuse her of being intolerant because she was insisting there is only one way out of the lane? And in the middle of the darkness and the smoke, if I grabbed your hand and said, follow me, I'll help you out. Would you say I was being hateful because I was trying to say there is only one way out of this burning jetliner. For the first time, my new friend began to see the point that I was making.

21:18 And by the way, let me point out one flaw of that illustration if you use it. That illustration is only good when people understand that their lives have crashed and that they are in danger of facing God's judgment in their life. Not everybody agrees with that. Not everybody understands his own sinfulness and need for forgiveness. Malcolm Muggeridge said one time, the fact of human depravity is the most empirically verifiable and yet philosophically resistant truth in the world today. People don't like to accept the fact that they are sinners. But my friend, he didn't resist that truth. He didn't need a preacher to tell him he had fallen short of God's plan. His own failed marriage, some other problems in his life convinced him that he was in need of forgiveness. As we landed and our plane was taxiing toward the gate, I wish I could say that in that moment he bowed his head and prayed to receive Christ as his savior.

22:20 Perhaps if I had been Billy Graham, that would have happened. He didn't do that, but he said this. He said, Pastor, you've given me something to think about. And although I'm not fully convinced yet, I promise you this, when I get home, I'm going to start reading my Bible and check out what you said. That was good enough for me. See, the fact is, ladies and gentlemen, we cannot force people to utilize the way of escape that God has planned. But that shouldn't keep us from courageously waving the light of God's truth in this sinful, dark world. encouraging people to utilize God's way, the only way to salvation. I'm hoping that today's message has inspired you to break out of your comfort zone and speak the truth about God's plan of salvation.

23:14 As Christians, we are ambassadors for Christ. We carry His torch of hope, and it's our privilege to bring light where there's darkness. Along those lines, we're extremely excited about our ministry to the Ukrainian people. You see, the hope of heaven is not an American ideal. The hope of heaven crosses every boundary, and it speaks every language. For this reason, we're ecstatic about translating my teaching in the heart language of the Ukrainian people. Well, when you give generously, we have allocated a portion of our budget to bring light where there's darkness. And today, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory,

24:02 You just heard why the gospel matters so much. Jesus said, I am the way. That's exactly what lesson number one is about. Keeping the main thing, the main thing. And at the end of 70 years, I can tell you, the main thing is the gospel. I'd love to place a copy in your hands. When you give a special 30th anniversary gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Here's David with all the details.