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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. What Satan is doing is using religion as a distraction to people. He's using religion as a false light that will lead people away from the true light, Jesus Christ, who eliminates the only safe pathway to heaven. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Jesus clearly stated, I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.
Yet Christians are being typecast as hateful and intolerant for teaching the exclusive claims of Christ. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress begins a highly relevant series called, Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress. Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. On today's program, we're beginning one of the most important series I've ever delivered on Pathway to Victory.
And that's not an overstatement. When we deal with matters of life and death, heaven and hell, life with God or without God, eternity hangs in the balance. You see, in a day when tolerance is worshiped like a God, people have bought the lie that any expression of religion will ultimately find favor with our holy God. But in this series, I'll boldly contend that not all roads lead to heaven. Because of the gravity of this topic, I sat down to write a full-length book for you as well. When this book was first introduced, it immediately soared to the top of the list as a national bestseller.
You can request a copy today for yourself or somebody you care deeply about. Again, the book is called, Not All Roads Lead to Heaven, and will provide a copy when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. In addition, I'll also include a convenient resource that you can tuck into the book or your Bible. It's called, Christianity Cults and Religions. This multi-folded brochure identifies the many ways that Christianity rises above other religions as the only path to heaven.
More about these resources later, but right now it's time to get started with our first message in the series. Today, we're going to clearly identify Christianity's most offensive belief. Conservative Christians have lost the battle over homosexual marriage, not only in the Supreme Court, but in the court of public opinion. Did you know, for example, that since 1996, the percentage of Americans who approve of same-sex unions has more than doubled? And responding to that trend, the Supreme Court on June 26, 2015 enshrined gay marriage as a civil right. In numerous television debates, I have pointed out the fact that in 1885, the Supreme Court defined marriage as that holy union between one man and one woman.
And now, the Supreme Court says, marriage is whatever you want it to be. And I often ask the question, what is it that changed between 1885 and 2015? In those 130 years, did the Constitution change?
No. What changed was the culture. And the Supreme Court caved in to cultural approval. But it's not just the Supreme Court and liberal activists who have buckled under the cultural pressure to condone what God has condemned. Christians are increasingly becoming supportive of homosexual unions, especially younger Christians. A recent Pew religion forum revealed that 58% of young evangelical Christians support some kind of legal recognition of homosexual partnerships. How do you explain that? How do you explain the doubling of the number of Americans who accept this, and the rise in the number of Christians who accept this? Cardinal Timothy Dolan of New York City on Meet the Press not long ago explained it this way. He said, the church has been out marketed on the issue of gay marriage.
And that's true. I mean, what the liberals have done has been nothing short of brilliant. For example, consider how they've even changed the vocabulary of the homosexual marriage debate. It started as homosexual marriage, it changed to gay marriage, and then it changed to marriage equality. Now, in a nation still haunted by racial inequality in its past, who in the world isn't for equality? And that's why movies and sitcoms and radio programs and magazine articles have all been successful in not only normalizing homosexual marriage, but in marginalizing anyone who opposes it as a bigot, as a homophobe, deserving criticism and public shaming.
We have been out marketed on the issue. Not only that, Christians have been out argued on the issue of gay marriage. A while back, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly ruffled more than a few feathers when he said that Christian conservatives have lost the gay marriage debate because they have failed to formulate any coherent argument against gay marriage and instead have resorted to simply Bible thumping. A lot of Christians got upset with Bill over that.
I wrote Bill a private note about it, which he ended up reading on the air. But that's okay because I said, Bill is somebody who regularly thumps the Bible. I have to concede you're correct in this. Christians, other than quoting Bible verses, have not been able to present a compelling argument to those who don't accept the Bible about what's wrong with gay marriage. We got out argued on the issue. Not only that, most tragically of all, Christians have been out fought on this issue.
We have laid down our rhetorical weapons and run and retreat on this issue, fearful of being chained or criticized. And even more tragic, if we haven't run and retreat, we've opened fire on one another on this issue, failing to support one another on upholding God's standard. You remember just a couple of years ago, we had a very famous sports personality who was invited to come and speak at our church.
When it became public that he was coming, a liberal New York sports columnist publicly called him out on the issue and demanded that he cancel his appearance at the First Baptist Church in Dallas. And the sports columnist said, you can't go to First Baptist Dallas because they are anti-gay and anti-Semitic. Why were we anti-gay?
Because we believe that marriage should be between one man and one woman. That makes you anti-gay. We're anti-Semitic because we believe that Jews as well as everybody must trust in Christ in order to be saved. That made us anti-Semitic.
The sports personality buckled under the pressure, canceled his appearance for fear of public criticism. We're being out marketed, we're being out argued, we're being out fought on this issue and that's why we lost the issue of gay marriage. But that's just one example of how we're losing the battle for biblical truth.
My real purpose today is not to talk about gay marriage, it is to talk about another, an even more foundational issue we're endangering of surrendering. Right now, Christians, conservative Christians are waffling and wavering on the foundational belief of all Christianity and that is that salvation is available only to those who trust in Christ as Savior. Waffling on that issue, Pastor, surely you're exaggerating.
No. In 2008, a poll of 35,000 Americans revealed that 57% of evangelical Christians believe that many religions, not just Christianity, many religions lead to eternal life. If you spend much time on television, sooner or later, and it's usually sooner, the host is going to ask you a question about the exclusivity of Jesus Christ and the question is usually framed this way. Well, what about those who've never believed in Christ? Are you saying they don't go to heaven? Are you saying sincere followers of other faiths are destined to an eternity in hell? You know, if the best answer a prominent evangelical pastor can come up with when asked about other religions is, I don't know, I don't know, I don't know, I just don't know. Are we surprised that people in the pew don't have an answer to that question as well?
You may be saying, well, so what? I mean, as long as I believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven, what difference does it make if in fact there are other ways to heaven? Here's the difference it makes.
What you believe about this issue of exclusivity of Christ for salvation, what you believe about this issue will determine whether you spend eternity in heaven or in hell. Now, if you think that's an exaggeration, consider this illustration. Let's say you're wanting to go to Houston, but instead of getting on I-45 to Houston, you mistakenly get on I-75 north headed to Oklahoma. Now I can tell you, I don't care how sincere you are, if you get on I-75 and travel north, it doesn't matter how long you travel, you'll never get to Houston.
Everybody agree with that? You're going the wrong way. So let's say about an hour into your trip you realize you're headed in the wrong direction.
You don't have a map, you don't have a GPS, realizing that you're on the wrong road still doesn't help you get on the right road, because frankly there are hundreds if not thousands of roads and highways in Texas that you could take and end up anywhere. See, it's not enough just to realize you're on the wrong road. If you're on the wrong road, there's no guarantee you'll get on the right road.
Now, here's my point. Jesus Christ said, if you're trying to navigate your way to heaven, there's only one way to get there. The passage we read this morning, Matthew 7 verses 13 and 14, enter by the narrow gate for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter by it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and few are those who find it. Jesus said the way to heaven isn't broad, it's very, very narrow. And Jesus also slammed the door on any possibility that there's another route to heaven.
In John 14 verses 5 and 6, Thomas said to him, Lord, we don't know where you are going. How do we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes to the Father but through me. So let's just say you have decided that Jesus is the only way to heaven and you are trusting in him. You're headed on that road. But then you discover that Jesus was really wrong about that. You discover that, in fact, there are many roads to heaven.
Now, follow me on this. If Jesus was wrong when he said, I am the only way to heaven and, in fact, there are multiple ways to heaven, if Jesus was wrong about that, then that means he's not the all-knowing omniscient Son of God, right? Everybody, shake your head if you agree with that. If Jesus is wrong on this issue, he can't be God because God knows everything. God has no error, falsehood in him. Okay, so if Jesus, in fact, is not the Son of God, then that means when he died on the cross, he was dying for his sins, not for our sins. If he wasn't the Son of God, everybody agree with that?
Okay. If Jesus died on the cross for his sins and not our sins, then it means you and I are still dead in our sins and trespasses, right? And it means Christianity is false. So if Jesus was wrong on this issue of the exclusivity of Christ for salvation, then Christianity itself unravels like a cheap sweater, okay? But just because you suddenly discover you're on the wrong road to heaven, that Christianity, in fact, is not true, just because you're on the wrong road, I-75, thinking you're going to Houston when, in fact, you're going to Oklahoma, that still doesn't help you determine which road to get on to go to heaven. Because the fact is there are thousands of possibilities of different religions you can choose to go to heaven. And here's the kicker, most every one of those other religions, except for Hinduism, teach that they're the only way to heaven. Buddhism, Islam, other religions say we are the exclusive way to heaven. So if you suddenly realize Jesus was wrong and he's not the way to heaven, how do you find the right way to heaven? And that's why I'm saying to you this issue about the exclusivity of Christ is not some tangent to wrangle about, it is the essence of the whole eternal issue of Job 9-2, how can a man be made right before God?
How you answer that question affects not only your eternal destiny, but the destiny of your families, your friends, and the entire world. Why are we losing this battle for the exclusivity of Jesus Christ as the only way to salvation? It's for the same reason we've lost the homosexual marriage debate. We have been out-fought, out-argued, and out-marketed on this issue. Let's take a moment and look at each of these points.
First of all, we are being out-fought on the issue of exclusivity. This issue that we're talking about in this series, Not All Roads Lead to Heaven, this issue is ground zero for the larger battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. I say it's ground zero because it is the heart of everything God is trying to do and everything Satan is trying to do. You see, the eternal issue for mankind is, will you accept God's way of forgiveness through Christ or will you try to find or manufacture your own way to God? You see, ever since the fall, when Adam and Eve fell in sin in the garden, the choice has been, how will you cover over your sin? Remember when Adam and Eve sinned, they were filled with shame and guilt and they tried to manufacture their own covering of fig leaves to cover their guilt.
That didn't work. God came to them. He killed an animal the first death in the Bible, took the skin of that animal and offered it as a clothing for Adam and Eve.
They had a choice. They could keep their own self-manufactured covering or they could accept God's covering, the death of an innocent animal. That's what the word atonement means.
It means covering. Adam and Eve accepted God's covering for their sin. They had a son. His name was Cain. When he fell into sin, instead of following God's way of forgiveness, he tried to approach God on his own terms. He came up with his own religion, so to speak, his own way of approaching God and God rejected it. And ever since that time, the Bible is referred to Cain's approach to God as the way of Cain. Every false religion is basically an adaption of the way of Cain, trying to approach God on your own terms. The largest issue we ever face in life is, will we follow God's way of salvation or will we follow our own way?
Now, listen to me on this. Because we were created as spiritual beings, we all have this desire to be reconciled to God. And Satan knows that. And that's why Satan doesn't hate religion, he loves religion. Because it appeals to man's inborn desire to be reconciled to God. So what does Satan do?
He uses religion as a way of deceiving people away from the true way of knowing God. For example, let's say you're caught up in a mountain range, you're lost, it's nighttime, you don't know the way to safety, but there is a single star, a single light in the heavens that points the way of escape. Now, that's pretty easy. It's a no-brainer if there's one light up there pointing and illuminating the way to safety. But suppose instead of one star, one light, there are a thousand lights. And they're all illuminating different paths.
And 999 of those paths are going to lead you over the cliff. Suddenly, it becomes much more confusing, doesn't it? It's the same way with the world's religions. What Satan is doing is using religion as a distraction to people. He's using religion as a false light that will lead people away from the true light, Jesus Christ, who illuminates the only safe pathway to heaven. And that's why I say, we cannot underestimate Satan's desire to lead people and deceive people away from Jesus Christ. In John 8, Jesus said Satan is a liar and he's a murderer. In John 10, 10, he said Satan has come to kill and steal and destroy. Satan has as his number one aim to take as many people to hell as possible.
And how is he doing it? By deceiving people into following the way of Cain, other religions that turn people away from faith alone in Jesus Christ. That's why Paul refers to Satan as an angel of light. Remember the words of 2 Corinthians 11, 14, and no wonder for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. Now think about it. If Satan appeared as he really is, the dragon the Bible calls him, or Satan appeared as many people characterize him in a red suit and a pitchfork and the horns saying, hey, come follow me. Is anybody going to be deceived by that?
No. But he doesn't appear as he really is, the horrible monster. Instead, he appears as an angel of what?
Light. To deceive people. When these non-Christians talk about, oh, they've had this near-death experience and they all saw the bright light.
I believe them. But it wasn't the light of Jesus they saw. It was a deception. Satan appears as an angel of light. And then notice verse 15, therefore it is not surprising if his servants, whose servants? Satan's servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their deeds.
How does Satan distract people into following the wrong way that will lead them away from God? He has servants in the world. Servants of righteousness, supposedly. Religious people who are Satan's mouthpieces to lead people to hell. I think these servants of Satan who disguise themselves as servants of righteousness include the founder of Mormonism, Joseph Smith, who claimed to have received a divine revelation from the angel Moroni. These satanic servants include the prophet Mohammed, the founder of Islam, who also claimed that an angel spoke to him, showing him the way to ensure eternal life. These servants of Satan also include religious leaders, wrapped in fine and beautiful clerical robes, who say, oh, Jesus is important.
He's crucial. You must trust in him for eternal life. But that's not enough.
You need to do this and this and this and this. The servants of Satan also include the evangelical pastors, who say, now personally I've trusted in Christ as my salvation, but who am I to judge? There may be other ways to God, and I can't condemn any way to God. What I'm saying to you is this battle for the exclusivity of Christ is really ground zero of the battle between the kingdom of God and the kingdom of Satan. It's no wonder why an exclusive message from Jesus isn't popular in our inclusive world.
To some, it feels elitist or unfair or even cruel. But these misconceptions begin with faulty thinking about God. His loving plan for salvation is designed to lead people into the kingdom, not to keep them out. Earlier today, I mentioned a book I've written that reinforces this conviction. Like the broadcast series, it's also called Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. Now, if you already have that book, we have a brand new book derived from the original one. It's called The Not All Roads Lead to Heaven Daily Devotionals, 100 devotions based on the truth of Christ's exclusive gift to us. So you can request either the original book, Not All Roads Lead to Heaven, or the new Not All Roads Lead to Heaven Daily Devotional. In both books, I've answered common questions such as, can people be saved who've never heard of Christ? Or what about those who worship God by another name?
And is it hateful to insist that there's only one way to heaven? Now, in addition to the books, I've also prepared a practical brochure called Christianity Cults and Religions. In this resource, I highlight the key beliefs of biblical Christianity and compare them to 16 other false religions.
It's designed to expose how Mormonism, Islam, and other false teachings stack up against historic Christian doctrines. So get in touch with us today. Equip yourself with solid answers to tough questions, and make sure your family and friends understand how to embrace an exclusive Jesus in this inclusive world. David will repeat this information again, and I look forward to hearing from you today.
David? Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. When you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory, you're invited to request a copy of the brand new 100-day devotional based on the best-selling book by Dr. Jeffress called Not All Roads Lead to Heaven. You'll get that along with a copy of the brochure Christianity Cults and Religions. To request these resources, call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. And when your gift is $100 or more, we'll also send you the original best-selling book Not All Roads Lead to Heaven.
Plus, you'll receive the complete unabridged teaching series on CD and DVD, along with an in-depth study guide. To request the complete package of resources, call 866-999-2965 or go online to ptv.org. If you'd prefer to send your donation by mail, write to PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222.
That's PO Box 223609, Dallas, Texas 75222. I'm David J. Mullins, inviting you to join us again next time when we conclude this message called Christianity's Most Offensive Belief. That's Thursday here 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, June 15th through the 22nd, 2024.
Leave the stress behind as you take in God's magnificent creation. Relax with us in Alaska, and I guarantee you'll come home spiritually and physically refreshed. To book your spot on the 2024 Pathway to Victory Cruise to Alaska, go to ptv.org. You made it to the end of today's podcast from Pathway to Victory, and we're so glad you're here. Pathway to Victory relies on the generosity of loyal listeners like you to make this podcast possible. One of the most impactful ways you can give is by becoming a Pathway partner. Your monthly gift will empower Pathway to Victory to share the gospel of Jesus Christ and help others become rooted more firmly in His Word. To become a Pathway partner, go to ptv.org slash podcast and click on the donate button or follow the link in our show notes. We hope you've been blessed by today's podcast from Pathway to Victory.
