04 - The Myth Of Many Roads To God By Pastor Jeff Wickwire Notes
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Myth-busters Series
Part 4
“The Myth of Many Roads to God”
John 14:1-6 “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. 2 There is more than enough room in my Father’s home.[a] If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? 3 When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am. 4 And you know the way to where I am going.”
5 “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” 6 Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.”
SHOW THE OPRAH CLIP
Oprah’s contention that there are “many roads to God” is embraced by other famous people.
Tiger Woods was asked about his religious beliefs and he said, “My father was a Christian—of course Christianity was part of my life. But my mother is Asian, and Buddhism was also part of my childhood. So I practice both faiths respectfully.”
Sarah Michelle Gellar, star of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, said this about spirituality. “I consider myself a spiritual person. I believe in an idea of God, although it’s my own personal ideal. I find most religions interesting, and I’ve been to every kind of denomination: Catholic, Christian, Jewish, Buddhist. I’ve taken bits from everything and customized it.”
One recent poll reveals that “Evangelicals under 30 believe there are many ways to God, not just through Jesus.”
Another survey showed that nearly two-thirds of evangelicals under 35 believe that non-Christians can go to heaven.
Amazing!
First, I want to point out the growing trend toward:
Mixing different faiths together
We Americans have come to love and embrace what I would call a kind of “Religious stew.”
A little bit of Christianity mixed in with a dash of Buddhism, salted with a touch of New Age mysticism, seasoned with a sprinkle of Yoga, flavored with a smidgeon of Hinduism, all stirred together to form a religious smorgasbord.
And why not?
Because after all, who are we to judge one man’s faith superior to another man’s faith?
Remember the philosophy of Political Correctness?
We shouldn’t offend someone by insinuating that one faith is better than another, or that their belief system is faulty.
We must embrace all beliefs as equal, right?
There’s something good to be found in all of them, right!
Hence, now we see the growing popularity of the equivalent of a religious combo deli sandwich with a little bit of everything in it.
Or a “faith pizza” with all the toppings.
“Give me a faith with everything in it!” we say.
I like variety!
They’ve all got something to offer!
But when we encounter some of the statements Jesus made, it blows this entire notion of religious stew out of the water.
By far, the most outrageous assertion Jesus ever made — His most politically incorrect claim of all — was when He declared in JOHN 14:6:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me.”
This claim rankles people like no other.
It’s been called arrogant and narrow-minded and bigoted and snobbish.
Some of you like to think of yourself as seekers, and something inside of you chafes at this claim.
Our pluralistic culture lashes out at such an idea—that there is only one way to God, one road to heaven, one door that opens into eternal life.
One problem that immediately surfaces is virtually all world religions make the same kind of claim—
They say, “We offer the only way to salvation; we are the only true church, or we alone offer the only true pathway to heaven.”
Mormons make this claim. One Mormon missionary stated, “We believe that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the only true church on earth today, and that there is only one way of salvation—the Mormon way.
Jehovah’s Witnesses also make this claim, stating that they are God's “sole earthly representatives.”
But all these other religions have one thing in common:
They are spelled “D-O” because they teach that people have to do a bunch of religious rituals to try to please God.
It is their own works that earn them an entrance into heaven.
But Christianity is spelled “D-O-N-E” because Christ has done it all through His death and resurrection—and we just need to receive Him.
So…all religions are not the same!
Nevertheless, these conflicting, exclusive claims from other religions confuse people.
How can anyone know they’ve got it right?
How can anyone truly claim to have the only way, the only truth that leads to heaven?
And how can I as an honest seeker distinguish between them?
First,
Consider Jesus’ claims about Himself
Let’s go back to the words of Jesus in John 14:6:
“I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to the Father, but by Me.”
If words mean anything, this is an utterly exclusive claim by the Lord, and this is how Christ is so different from all the others!
Other religious leaders say, “Follow me and I’ll show you how to find truth,” but Jesus says, “I am the truth.”
Other religious leaders say, “Follow me and I’ll show you the way to salvation,” but Jesus says, “I am the way to eternal life.”
Other religious leaders say, “Follow me and I’ll show you how to become enlightened,” but Jesus says, “I am the light of the world.”
Other religious leaders say, “Follow me and I’ll show you many doors that lead to God,” but Jesus says, “I am the door.”
Every other religion I’ve ever seen is based on people doing something — through struggling and striving — to somehow earn the favor of God.
They say people have to use a Tibetan prayer wheel or go on pilgrimages or give alms to the poor or avoid eating certain foods or pray in a specified way or go through a series of reincarnations or wherever.
They are the attempts of people to reach out to God.
But Jesus is different.
He said literally, “I am the way, and apart from Me you will not see heaven.”
Luke 12:8-9 I tell you, whoever acknowledges me before men, the Son of Man will also acknowledge him before the angels of God. But he who disowns me before men will be disowned before the angels of God.
John 3:18 Whoever believes in Me is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.
John 3:36 Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him.
John 8:24 I told you that you would die in your sins; if you do not believe that I am the one I claim to be, you will indeed die in your sins.
According to Christ, without Him there is no way to the Father in heaven.
If you decide Jesus is not for you, God doesn’t have a Plan B.
The early church preached the same exclusive message
In Acts 4:12, Peter says “Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.”
"There is no other NAME,” means that we are saved by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus.
His name is our entrance into fellowship with God and there is none other.
Catch that! Not the name Mohammad, Confucius, Buddha, or Zoroaster.
There is not another name in time past or time future that will bring us salvation when we call upon it.
Peter says in Acts 10:43, "Every one who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins through his name."
The name of Jesus is the focus of faith and repentance.
In order to believe on Jesus for the forgiveness of sins, you must believe on his name. That is…
You must have heard of him and know who he is as a particular man who did a particular saving work and rose from the dead.
In I Timothy 2:5, Paul teaches his protégé, Timothy, that “There is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus."
Acts 16:30-31 The Philippian jailer asked, “Sirs, what must I do to be saved?” They replied, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved...”
1 John 5:11-12 And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life.
Let’s sum up these verses. There is:
One way
One name, and
One Mediator—the Lord Jesus Christ!
The whole gospel boils down to this truth.
When we say, “Jesus, forgive me of my sins. By faith I accept you as my Savior,” he takes your hand and God’s hand and joins them in an eternal grip.
R. C. Sproul wrote, “Moses could mediate on the law, Mohammed could brandish a sword, Buddha could give personal counsel, Confucius could offer wise sayings. But none of these men was qualified to offer an atonement for the sins of the world!”
So when Jesus declares, “No one comes to the Father except through me,” he means it.
And next, we must realize in a day that places a premium on “feelings” that:
Truth is not judged by the way we “feel.”
“There is a way that appears to be right, but in the end it leads to death” (Prov.14:12).
Nor are our choices are not validated by how “sincere we are.”
Sincerity in religious matters is never enough.
We do not doubt the sincerity of those who follow Islam or Hinduism.
But sincerity only matters when it is focused on the proper object.
You can be sincerely wrong and you will still be wrong.
You can sincerely drink rat poison and you will sincerely die.
Believing the wrong thing sincerely doesn’t make it right.
All truth is narrow.
Years ago we all learned that 2 + 2 = 4.
It doesn’t equal 5 or 3, no matter how sincerely you want it so!
SUMMARY:
The stakes couldn’t be higher concerning what you place your faith in.
We must be very careful, thoughtful, and consider carefully the claims set before us.
No one said what Jesus said.
No one did what Jesus did.
No one died like Jesus died.
And no one arose like Jesus arose from the dead!
PRAYER