The Old Way Was One Way

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On today's edition of Pathway to Victory. Now, ask yourself the question, why is it we say this is true for today, but one page over we say, well, this no longer applies to today. Maybe unbelievers have a point there.

Well, the simple answer to that question is the only parts of the Old Testament that apply to us today, the only commands of the Old Testament that we follow today are those commands repeated in the New Testament. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. People often wonder how a loving God could send people to hell.

Well, while God is certainly loving and merciful, he's also holy and there's only one acceptable way to approach him. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress turns to the book of Isaiah to explain why God's standard never changes. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.

Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David. It's great to have you with us on this Tuesday edition of Pathway to Victory. Just a few days ago, I introduced an important series called Not All Roads Lead to Heaven.

Here's why this subject is so critically important. Tragically, we live in a day when people are fashioning false gods of their own imagination. They want someone who's tolerant, a God who will change with the times and look away from their sin. And yet this is not the true God of the Bible. In my series, we're grappling with the realities of our loving, forgiving and exclusive God. Because, contrary to popular opinion, not all roads lead to heaven. Well, I've written a devotional book that parallels this study.

It's also called Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. Now, this is a brand new book, and this is one of my first opportunities to offer you this hardbound devotional. I'm eager to send a copy to you because I believe this is the most important topic we've ever addressed on Pathway to Victory.

Our culture is confused about Jesus, and tragically, a majority of Christians are confused as well. Before the day's out, be sure to request your copy of the Not All Roads Lead to Heaven devotional. I'll send it to you when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. In fact, I'll also include a helpful brochure titled Christianity, Cults and Religions. This pamphlet clearly identifies the difference between following Jesus and the other cults and religions that pervert the gospel. We'll explain more about these resources later, but right now, let's get started with today's message titled The Old Way Was One Way.

A.W. Tozer said, What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us. To put a finer point on it, it's very important that when we contemplate God, we make sure that we're not thinking about the God who resides in our imagination, but instead, we're thinking about the God who actually rules over all creation. It's important that we be worshiping the God who rules instead of the God who resides in our imagination.

You say, what's the difference between the two? Well, if the real God issues certain commands, then those commands are absolute. But if an imaginary God issues commands, well, those commands are optional. If the real God demands certain things from us, then we better do our best to meet his demands. If the real God claims that there is only one way to worship him, then we better find that one way to approach him. If an imaginary God makes such a claim, then we're free to disregard what he says.

You know, it's true, nobody has seen God the Father, but we do know what God is like. We know what he wants from us. We know about his likes and his dislikes. We know about his plan and purpose for the universe. How do we know these things about God?

They are all deposited in this book, the Bible. You know, the foundational assumption of this series is that the Bible can be trusted to tell the truth about God. I had somebody ask me just after last week's message, Pastor, what if you're talking to somebody about the exclusivity of Jesus as the only way to salvation, and they say, well, I don't believe that the Bible is the inspired word of God? Well, frankly, you probably have to end the conversation there, because there's really no basis to claim there's only one way to God if you don't accept the Bible as God inspired and his inerrant word.

But the fact is, we are assuming the fact that the Bible is the word of God. When we say there are not many ways to God, there is only one way to God. And the beginning place for finding that truth of the exclusivity of the gospel is not the New Testament, but it's in the opening passages of the Old Testament. And today, we're going to discover what the Old Testament had to say about the exclusivity of approaching God in only one way.

We're going to discover why the old way was truly just one way. So let's look at the Old Testament. But you know, a lot of people have difficulty in knowing how to interpret the Old Testament. The secular media tries to trip me up all the time on this point, saying, why do you Christians selectively obey the Bible?

Have you ever had people ask you that question before? They say, for example, why is it you believe homosexuality is wrong? Well, we do believe it's wrong. And for example, Leviticus 18 22 says, you shall not lie with a male as one lies with a female. It is an abomination. How many of you believe that's still true today, even though it's in the Old Testament?

OK, we believe that's true. And yet we turn over one page to Leviticus 19, verse 19, and it says, you are to keep my statutes. You shall not believe a breed together two kinds of your cattle. You shall not sow your field with two kinds of seed, nor wear a garment upon you of two kinds of material mixed together. This prohibition says you can't wear a cotton polyester blend.

You can't wear two kinds of material mixed together. Now, how many of you believe that command applies today? Now, ask yourself the question, why is it we say this is true for today, but one page over we say, well, this no longer applies to today.

Maybe unbelievers have a point there. Well, the simple answer to that question is the only parts of the Old Testament that apply to us today, the only commands of the Old Testament that we follow today are those commands repeated in the New Testament. The only laws we obey from the Old Testament are those that have been repeated in the New Testament. And in fact, when we turn to the New Testament, we find prohibitions against homosexuality or adultery or lying or stealing or taking the Lord's name in vain.

All of those things are repeated in the New Testament, and that's how we determine what we are going to obey. And that's the value then of the Old Testament. You say, what is the value of the Old Testament?

Well, J.I. Packer in his book, Knowing God, says that the link between the Old Testament and the New Testament is God himself. The value of the Old Testament for us is what it teaches us about God himself. Unfortunately, many unbelievers, as well as believers alike, don't think that the Old Testament teaches us anything valuable about God.

I remember in college a religion professor I had who had been the pastor of the most prominent Baptist church in that town. That religion professor said to our class one day, the Bible is nothing more than a collection of men's ideas about God. And in the Old Testament, we have man's worst opinions about God, a bloodthirsty, vindictive, cruel God. And in the New Testament, we have man's highest ideals about God, personified in Jesus Christ. The God of the Old Testament has nothing to do with the Jesus of the New Testament. Is that true? When you look at the Bible seriously, you'll find that there is no dichotomy between the God of the Old Testament and the Jesus of the New Testament.

For example, write this down. The Jesus of the New Testament is both loving and judgmental. Did you know that? The Jesus of the New Testament is both loving and judgmental. We accept the fact that he's loving, John 3.16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. But did you know that the God Jesus of the New Testament is also judgmental? When Jesus came the first time, he came as the suffering servant to be our savior. When he comes the second time, he's coming as judge over all of the world.

In Revelation 19, verse 15, John saw the vision of the return of Jesus to earth. And from his, that is Jesus' mouth, comes a sharp sword, so that with it he may smite the nations, and he will rule them with a rod of iron. And he treads the winepress of the fierce wrath of God the Almighty. That's Jesus. He's both loving, yes, but he's also judgmental.

Now mark this down. Secondly, the God of the Old Testament is both judgmental and loving. He's both judgmental and loving. One of the instances of the judgment of God is found in Joshua chapter 6. When God said to Joshua, when you go into the city of Jericho, I want you to kill every man, woman, boy, girl, animal. That was the particular passage that got my religion professor all wound up in college. I'll never forget this. There was 40 some odd years ago, but I can just see him reading that passage from Joshua 6, closing his eyes and pacing up and down and saying, can anyone here imagine Jesus Christ of the New Testament giving a command like that?

Kill every man, woman, child. Can anybody imagine a Jesus doing that? I raised my hand and said, I can. He said, what are you talking about? And I read this verse from Revelation 19, 15. When Jesus comes, there is no dichotomy, contradiction between the God of the Old Testament and the Jesus of the New Testament.

They are both loving, yes, but they are also both judgmental. Listen to Psalm 103 verse 8 about the Old Testament God. For the Lord is compassionate and He's gracious and He's slow to anger and abounding in loving kindness. Now you may wonder, what does this all have to do with the issue of the exclusivity of the gospel? Everything.

Everything. Because when we're talking to people about the way to God, we've got to figure out which God we're talking about. Are we talking about the God of the Old Testament who's vindictive, filled with retribution and hatred? Well, who wants to have a relationship with that kind of God?

He can't be pleased anyway. Are we talking about that God? Or are we talking about the New Testament Jesus as people understand Him, the Jesus who loves everybody and judges nobody?

Well, if that's the Jesus we're talking about and trying to please, why even bother? He loves us however we are. He accepts everybody into heaven. He doesn't judge anybody.

He accepts everybody. So why share the gospel with anybody? You see, what you think about God is the most important thing about you. You've got to make sure that the God you're trying to approach is really the God of reality and not the God of your imagination. And that leads us to the Old Testament. There is no contradiction, ladies and gentlemen, between the Old Testament and the New Testament. Just like the New Testament, the Old Testament taught that there are not many ways to the true God. There is only one way. And we see that truth in five themes, the five basic themes that are pronounced in the Old Testament.

And don't get nervous. We're only going to look at two of those today and three of them next time. What are the five themes of the Old Testament that remind us that the old way was one way? Theme number one is the most basic theme of all of the Old Testament, and that is the oneness of God. If you were to ask the Israelite living in the Old Testament times what is the most important verse of the Bible, they would say Deuteronomy 6-4, hands down. Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God is one God. Why was that such a foundational verse? Remember, as the children of Israel were preparing to enter into the promised land into Canaan, Moses was an old man by now, but he stood on the mountain and delivered the second giving of the law.

We call it Deuteronomy. And that's where he gave that reminder, the Lord your God is one God. And what Moses was saying is, you'll be tempted to go after this God, after this God, after this God, but remember this, God is one. And who was that one God that Moses reminded the Israelites about? It was the God who had appeared to Moses 80 years earlier on Mount Horeb.

It was the God who had appeared to Moses as a fire in a burning bush. You know, I have this experience my family can tell you often. We'll be out going to the movie or at some restaurant or something and I'll be talking to them or I'll be talking on the cell phone to somebody and a stranger standing by will kind of start to listen and they'll come over and say, I recognize that voice. I recognize you.

You're the guy on pathway to victory. I recognize your voice. I say, well, thank you very much, but it doesn't stop there. Then they usually say, you know, you're not at all what I imagined you to be.

And they won't stop there. They'll go on and say, you know, you're grayer, older, more handsome than I possibly could have imagined. No, they usually don't say that, but you're not like what I imagined you to be. The operative word there is imagined. You see, I am not the sum of other people's speculations about me and neither is God.

I am who I am. The oneness of God. The second theme that you find that points to the truth of exclusivity, the Old Testament theme of the holiness of God. The holiness of God. If your best friend were asked to describe you, what one word would they use to describe you?

Is there one word that would capture who you are? But if we had to pick a single word to describe God, there is one characteristic of God that is transcendent above all others, and it's the word holy. Holy. Holy. Remember the passage we read just a few moments ago when Isaiah saw the vision of the Lord high and lifted up? He saw the seraphim, the angels, circling the throne of God and shouting out, crying out, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God of hosts.

The whole earth is full of his glory. Holy. What does that word holy mean?

It comes from a Hebrew word that means to cut or to separate. When we say that God is holy, what we're literally saying is he is a cut above. He is separate. He is distinct from anyone in heaven or on earth. The holiness of God. And when Isaiah saw that and saw the separateness, the distinction, the uniqueness of God, what was his response? Isaiah 6-5, then I said, woe is me.

For I am ruined because I'm a man of unclean lips and I live among a people of unclean lips. For my eyes have seen the king, the Lord of hosts. One of my favorite writers, Mark Buchanan, describes the experience of everyone like Isaiah who truly comes to an awareness of the holiness, the uniqueness of the true God.

He writes, Isaiah, though, can't join the song with the angels, not yet. His life is being redefined for him. An encounter with God's holiness does that to us. It gives rise not to song and dance, but to a wild, harrowing terror. God's holiness is heart-stopping, hair-raising.

It scalds and rends and pierces. It elicits from our lips, our unclean lips, not wow, but woe. When we see God, we also see ourselves. When we behold his holiness, we see in that instant our unholiness. His glory reveals our ruin, his purity our vanity, his light our shadows. Before we can ever rest in the holiness of God, we must first be undone by it. You see, this is what makes the true God different than any other God. Pagan religions picture their gods as participating in evil, even enjoying evil, but not the true God. The prophet Habakkuk said this in chapter 1, verse 13, about the true God. Thine eyes are too pure to approve evil, and thou canst not look on wickedness with favor.

Of all the attributes that create the distance, the chasm between us and God, it is his holiness, and specifically, his zero tolerance level for sin of any kind. We see that illustrated in one of the strangest stories in all of the Old Testament. It's found in 2 Samuel, chapter 6. It's the story of the children of Israel who were carrying the Ark of the Covenant. Remember that piece of furniture that was in the tabernacle and later permanently in the temple, the Ark of the Covenant? They had it on a wooden cart, and it was being pulled by oxen.

And the cart was going up the hill, and as the cart went up the hill, the oxen began to stumble. And one of God's servants, Uzzah, was his name, instinctively reached over and placed his hand on the ark to study the ark and to catch it from falling. Listen to what happened immediately when he touched the ark. 2 Samuel 6, 7, and the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah. And God struck him down there for his irreverence, and he died there by the ark of God.

His irreverence? What are you talking about, God? God had issued a command. He said, no one is to touch the ark for any reason at all. But God, I mean, can't you overlook the letter of the law and look at Uzzah's heart and know that he was sincerely trying to follow you? Nobody is to touch the ark of the covenant, period. We tolerate sin, not because of our godliness, but because of our ungodliness.

And this disturbing story reminds us of something. God is not like we are. God has no tolerance for sin of any kind. And this story also reminds us we are not free to approach God any way we choose, no matter how sincere our motives. There is one true God, a God who is holy, who is different than we are, and a God who can only be approached in one specific way.

We'll see that theme reinforced as we discover again why the old way was one way. Well, we're just getting started, and there's much more teaching coming in the weeks ahead from the series I've called Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. The title was inspired by the statement Jesus made, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but through me. In today's irrational climate in which tolerance is king, many people have a tough time accepting that Jesus' claim is really true that He is the only way to heaven.

To them, it feels unfair and unloving. But Jesus made His declaration not to keep people out of His family, but to invite them in. And I'm pleased to offer a new devotional book I've written to help lift the fog so you can clearly see God's plan. By reading this devotional, it will arm you and your family with facts. My devotional bears the same title as this broadcast series, Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. And when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, I'll be happy to send you a copy. Now, this devotional is brand new, and it contains 100 daily readings for your encouragement. In addition to my new devotional, I'll also include a helpful resource called Christianity Cults and Religions.

In this expansive, full-color pamphlet, we'll examine the teachings of Mormonism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, and 12 other religions and see how they differ from biblical Christianity. Thanks so much for your generous financial support of Pathway to Victory. God is using your gifts to pierce the darkness with the light of His Word. David will give our contact information now, and I look forward to hearing from you today.

David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you support the ministry of Pathway to Victory by giving a generous gift, you're invited to request a copy of the brand new 100-day devotional based on the bestselling book by Dr. Jeffress called Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. Plus, you'll also receive the Christianity Cults and Religions brochure. To make your request, call 866-999-2965 or visit online at ptv.org. Now, when your gift is $100 or more, you'll also receive both the CD and DVD teaching sets for the series Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. You'll get that along with a leader study guide.

Plus, you'll receive a copy of the original bestselling book Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. To request the complete package, call 866-999-2965 or visit ptv.org. You know, a lot of listeners prefer to contact us the good old-fashioned way, and if that sounds like you, write to PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. Again, that's PO Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins.

If you were to ask someone if they think they're a good person, most likely they'd say, well, yeah, but just because you try to be good doesn't mean you are good. Learn how to avoid the way of Cain. That's next time on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. Imagine waking up to the sight of Alaska's majestic coastline or spotting wildlife from the deck of a luxurious cruise ship. Experience these unforgettable moments on the Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska with Dr. Robert Jeffress.

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