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Now, here's today's podcast, From Pathway to Victory. There are not many ways to be saved. The only price that could be paid to redeem us was the blood of Christ, and that leads us to the exclusivity of salvation. God has not provided many ways to Himself. All roads do not lead to heaven. There is one way to be saved. Welcome to Pathway to Victory with author and pastor, Dr. Robert Jeffress. Imagine presenting a gift to someone you care about deeply, but instead of gratitude, this person responds with anger.
It sounds like a far-fetched scenario, doesn't it? But that's exactly what happens when someone rejects the gospel. Today on Pathway to Victory, Dr. Robert Jeffress describes the far better response to God's gift of salvation. Now, here's our Bible teacher to introduce today's message.
Dr. Jeffress? Thanks, David, and welcome again to Pathway to Victory. There's always something going on behind the scenes here at Pathway to Victory, and right now we're already planning this summer's vacation for you.
So, why not escape the pressures of your everyday life and join us? The dates for our Pathway to Victory cruise to Alaska are June 15th through 22nd. We'll be gliding through the calmer waters of the Inside Passage along the spectacular coastline of British Columbia.
On our way to Alaska. And I guarantee that after one full week aboard our luxury cruise liner, you'll come home spiritually and physically refreshed. The wonderful itinerary, information on our guest entertainment, and all the details for reserving your spot can be found at ptv.org. Well, as we approach the end of the month, time is running out to request my bestselling book called What Every Christian Should Know. It's the book that coincides with our current teaching series. This is the perfect choice for your Bible study group or your book club because my book provides crystal clear teaching on the essential doctrines of our faith. What Every Christian Should Know will build your confidence that your faith is squarely founded on the solid rock of God's Word.
And a hardbound copy will be sent to your home when you give a generous gift to support the growing ministry of Pathway to Victory. I'll say more just after our teaching time, but right now let's pick up a message I titled What Every Christian Should Know About Salvation. We recoil at the idea of exclusivity, that there is one way to anything. And yet exclusivity is at the heart of the core biblical truth we're going to look at today. Today we're going to look at what every Christian should know about salvation.
There is one way to be saved, and that shouldn't surprise us. You see that pattern of exclusivity beginning in the opening pages of the Old Testament. For example, when God gave his 10 commandments in Exodus 20, the very first commandment was, I am the Lord your God, you shall have no other gods before me. Well that sounds intolerant, doesn't it? For God to say you must worship me and no other god, but God is very intolerant when it comes to other gods and other religions. What we celebrate today and call diversity or pluralism, God has another word for it, idolatry.
To acknowledge any other god as a legitimate god is idolatry, and God hates idolatry. There are whole areas of our world that are very intolerant. The world of mathematics is intolerant. Seven times seven doesn't equal 51 or 103.
There's one answer, 49. When we come to the idea of faith, the faith that is required to get into heaven is very intolerant. There are not many ways to God, there is one way to God. A second objection people raise often about the exclusivity of Christ is this, well how could so many other people be so wrong? If Jesus is the only way to heaven, then you're saying billions and billions of people living today and billions that have lived in the past are all wrong about faith.
How could so many people be so wrong? Well isn't that what Jesus predicted? Jesus said most people will miss heaven. Most people won't find that narrow way that leads to salvation.
In Matthew 7, Jesus said enter through the narrow gate, for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction and many are those who enter into it, but the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life and there are few, few who find it. A third objection, people say, some people say, well you don't have to claim to be exclusive because all religions teach basically the same thing. All the world religions teach basically the same thing. The only people who say that are people who are ignorant about world religions. Because if you look at world religions, you see they are very different. They don't all teach the same thing.
And interestingly, most all of them claim to be exclusive. Their way is the only way to heaven. Finally, people say, well it's just unfair for God to send people to hell. Especially because they just hadn't believed the right thing about Jesus. What about all the people who have never heard about Jesus? Is it fair for God to send them to hell? We talked about that at length in our series in the book of Acts and remember we saw that everybody has a knowledge that there's a God.
They can accept it or reject it, but everybody can look in the stars and look at the sky and look at the sun and the planets and know they didn't create those things. Romans 1 says everybody can know something about God just by looking at creation. Now, believing God isn't enough to save you from hell, but it is enough information if rejected to continue to hell. The fact is when God sees somebody who wants to know him, God will send the specific information about Jesus that that person needs to be saved. You see that in Acts, Acts chapter 8. Here's that Ethiopian court official reading the Old Testament. He's wondering whom Isaiah 53 is speaking about, the Messiah. He wants to know him and God miraculously sends Philip the evangelist to sit in that chariot with him. Or in Acts chapter 10, Cornelius, the Roman centurion, he prayed. He was a good man, but he didn't know Christ. God sent the apostle Peter supernaturally to witness to him, and God continues the same thing today. Every day of every week, we hear testimonies about people in Africa, most recently Ukraine, who knew nothing about Jesus Christ. But by accident, they tuned in to Pathway to Victory, our church's ministry, and they came to a saving faith. Is that by accident?
No! God gets the word to those who really want to know him. And you know, when it comes to being unfair, I always use this illustration. Just imagine there are a hundred people on death row in Huntsville, Texas. I don't know how many are on death row, but let's just suppose it's a hundred. And suppose the governor one day decides that he's going to pardon one of those prisoners from death row, setting free. Now, some might disagree with the governor over doing that, but could he be accused of being unfair because he didn't release everybody? I mean, after all, the one prisoner who was freed received the governor's mercy.
The other 99 who remain on death row are receiving justice, what they deserve. But in no sense is anybody being treated unjustly. And it's the same way with God's pardon of our sins. The fact that God chooses to save some and not everybody is not because God is unjust. People who receive Christ, his pardon, they receive God's mercy. Those who reject Christ receive God's justice, but in no case is God acting unjustly. Well, how do you communicate that truth of the exclusivity of salvation in a pluralistic world in which we live?
You know, there are three things I like to say to people when they object to this idea, and I hope you'll write them down and remember them. When people object to the exclusivity of Christ, and by the way, 60% of professing evangelical Christians believe there are multiple ways to heaven. So it's not only non-Christians who object to this, but Christians as well.
What do you say to people? First of all, I always like to say your argument is with the Bible, not with me. It's very important to point people back to what the Bible says.
That's where the power is. The Word of God is alive and active and sharper than any two-edged sword. I remind people of Jesus' words in John 14, 6. Jesus said to him, I am the way and the truth and the life.
No one comes to the Father except through me. Acts 4, 12. Peter said, there is salvation in no one else. There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved. It's only through Jesus that we're saved. Paul said it in Romans 10, 9. And if you confess with your mouth Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God has raised him from the dead, you shall be saved. Do you know what's interesting about these three verses? They come from the lips of the three most prominent Jews in the New Testament.
Jesus, Peter, and Paul. Many times I get accused of being anti-Semitic because I say Jews have to trust in Jesus in order to be saved. In fact, the media loves to pull up. They still do it. I saw it again last week. A clip of me from 10, 15 years ago on a TV show saying Jews cannot be saved through Judaism.
And they cut it right there. See, he's anti-Semitic. If they had played the entire clip, they would have heard me say Catholics can't be saved by Catholicism. Baptists can't be saved through Baptist churches. Only people can be saved through faith in Jesus Christ.
And who said that? Paul, a Jew, a Hebrew of a Hebrew said, my sole desire is that Israel be saved. Peter wasn't a Southern Baptist evangelist. He was a Jew, and he said there is salvation in no one else other than the name of Jesus. I had a Jewish man tell me, and he was kind of kidding, but he said, you know, aren't you the guy who tells Jews they're going to hell?
And I laughed, and I said, well, actually, that idea didn't come from me. I got it from a Jewish rabbi. His name was Jesus. Jesus was a Jew, and yet he said, I am the way, the truth, and the life.
No man comes to the Father except through me. We need to remind people their argument is with the word of God, not us. Secondly, we need to emphasize that God wants to save as many people as possible, not as few as possible. That's the heart of God. You see that in 1 Timothy 2, God our Savior who desires that all men be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. Not all people won't be saved, but that's God's desire that they all be saved. 2 Peter 3, 9, for God is not slow about his promise, as some count slowness, but he's patient toward you, not willing that any should perish, but all should come to repentance. Even Jesus himself said this about himself, Luke 19, 10, for the Son of Man came to seek and to save those who are lost. Finally, I remind people the fact that God has provided one way of salvation demonstrates his love, not his hatred. The fact that he provides one way of salvation demonstrates his love, not his hatred.
Romans 5, 8 says, for God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, he sent Christ to die for us. You might use this illustration. Imagine you're awakened in the middle of the night by the smell of smoke. You look around and you realize your house is on fire and you can't find a way out when suddenly the fireman comes crashing through your bedroom door and says, follow me, there's one way out of this burning house. Would you accuse that fireman of being hateful or intolerant because he said there's only one way out of the house? Would you say I'm going to argue with you about this? I think there may be another way out.
No. If a fireman came into your burning bedroom and said there is one way out, you would thank him and you would follow him. The reason Jesus said there is one way out of this planet that is soon to be destroyed is because there is only one way out. And the fact that God has provided and told us what that one way out is, it's not a sign of his hatred toward us, it's a sign of his love for us.
God demonstrated his love toward us and that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Well, who is able to be saved? The availability of salvation. I included this because there are a lot of theologians and would-be theologians who love to argue about who can be saved. Is it just the predestined and the elect?
Do we believe in limited atonement that Jesus' sins were just for the elect? Or is Jesus' blood sufficient for all to be saved? Who can be saved?
An interesting study for you to do sometime is look up the word whosoever. Whosoever and see how many times it's used in the New Testament. For God so loved the world, Jesus said, that he sent his only son that whosoever believes in him shall not perish but shall have eternal life. Or what does the word of God say in 1 John 2 verse 2? And he, talking about Jesus, and he himself is the propitiation for our sins.
And not for our sins only, but for those of the whole world. That word propitiation means satisfaction. It means to appease somebody who is angry. Jesus' blood is the satisfaction. It satisfies the wrath of God. As we sing that song on the cross where Jesus died, the wrath of God was satisfied.
That is propitiation. Not just for our sins, but for the sins of the entire world. Well, wait a minute, pastor. If his blood is for the whole world, does that mean everybody is automatically saved? Everybody's automatically saved?
No. Remember what we saw last time in Romans 5? Paul said, through one man, Adam, sin came into the world and all sinned.
By one man's sin, everybody was condemned. But then Paul says in Romans 5 17, the gift of salvation is not like the curse. The curse comes automatically. You don't have to do one thing to be under the curse. All you have to do is be born. And you don't have to do anything to go to hell when you die, just keep going the way you're going. And if nothing happens in your life, in your relationship with God, you'll end up in hell. We are all under the curse.
But the gift is different. It doesn't come automatically, Paul says. Romans 5 17, for if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, that is Adam, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the one, Jesus Christ. I often use this phrase.
It's built on somebody else's phrase. I tweaked it a little bit about the blood of Christ. Christ's death was sufficient for all, but it's efficient for only believers. Christ's forgiveness is available to everyone, but it only applies to those who receive it. Isn't that what John 1 12 says?
But as many as what? Received Christ. To them, he gave the power to become the children of God, even to those who believe on his name. I love being a pastor. I just love it. I love being your pastor. Some people sometimes ask me, what's your favorite part of being a pastor?
I have to say there's one day a year that's my favorite day, and that's Thursday at Vacation Bible School, because I get to present to hundreds and hundreds of children the plan of salvation, how to become a Christian. We have a lot of fun doing it, but we always just see so many come to faith. I go through the four things you have to believe in your heart to become a Christian. All of us have sinned. We deserve to be punished for our sins. Christ died to pay for our sins. I explain each one of those, and I stop and I say, but boys and girls, you can believe every one of those things and still go to hell when you die.
There's a fourth thing you have to believe, and that is we must receive Christ's gift of forgiveness. And then I illustrate it for the boys and girls this way. I bring up Shelly Taylor, our wonderful children's director, and I pull out from under a chair a big box that's wrapped beautifully, has a big bow on it, and I tell this story. I said, Amy and I were at the mall the other night, and we so appreciated what you've done for Vacation Bible School that we bought this nice gift for you, and Shelly says, oh, well, thank you very much, Pastor. I said, would you like to have this gift? Oh, I would love to have that gift.
She still stands there with her hands to her side. I said, would you believe this gift is for you? Oh, yes.
Do you believe we spend a lot of money? Oh, yes. And then I turned to the boys and girls, and I said, she believes the gift is for her. She'd like to have the gift, but is the gift hers yet?
And they yelled, no, no. I said, what does she have to do? She has to take it. And that's right, and Shelly holds out her hands, and I put the gift into her hands.
And I say, now the gift belongs to her. And in the same way, we must receive that gift of salvation. It's not enough to believe it's there. It's not enough to believe in the love of God and the sacrifice of His Son.
There has to be a point in time when we receive that gift by trusting in Christ for ourselves. As many as received Him, to them gave He the power to become the children of God, even to those who believed on His name. William Cowper was an 18th century poet who had a horrible life. When he was six years of age, his mother died, and relatives bundled him up and sent him to a boarding school where he was bullied and badgered by older boys. He fell into deep depression. He tried to commit suicide several times. Finally, in 1756, at the age of 25, William Cowper was committed to what they used to call an insane asylum.
That was the worst fate that could befall anybody in the 18th century. He was in that asylum. He would wake up in the middle of the nights crying out, my sin, my sin, if only there were a fountain somewhere to cleanse me of my sin. But then in the providence of God, a doctor took over his case, a Christian who was a psychiatrist, Dr. Cotton. Dr. Cotton introduced William Cowper to Jesus Christ, who could forgive him of his sin. Later, William Cowper gave this testimony of what happened to him. He said, the happy period, which was to shake off my fetters and afford me a clear opening of the free mercy of God, had now arrived.
I flung myself into a chair near the window. Seeing a Bible there ventured once more to apply to it for comfort and instruction. The first verses I saw were in the third chapter of Romans, being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, whom God had set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood to manifest his righteousness. Immediately, Cowper said, I received the strength to believe, and the full beings of the Son of righteousness shone on me. I saw the sufficiency of the atonement he has made, my pardon in his blood, and the fullness and completeness of his justification. In a moment, I believed, and I received the gospel. Many years later, William Cowper would write a song about his experience.
It's a song we still sing today. There is a fountain filled with blood drawn from Emmanuel's veins, and sinners plunged beneath that flood lose all their guilty stain. The dying thief rejoiced to see that fountain in his day, and there may I, though vile as he, wash all my sins away. Salvation is not a reward. It is a gift from God based on the redemptive work of Jesus Christ. Of the ten core beliefs we're addressing in my teaching series, this one is at the top of the priority list. With our eternal home at stake, we cannot afford to be wrong about the doctrine of salvation. Well, with only a few more studies remaining in this series, I hope you'll reach out and request the book I've written for you called What Every Christian Should Know.
False teaching runs rampant in our day, even in our churches, and these are the non-negotiable facts about God and the Bible. If you have children or grandchildren who've begun to second-guess their Christian faith, this would make a tremendous gift as well. Remember, our study ends one week from now. So, while it's still fresh on your mind, give us a call or go to ptv.org or write us a letter to request your hardbound copy of What Every Christian Should Know. It's yours for the asking when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. As a listener-supported ministry, we rely entirely on the voluntary gifts from friends like you. And no one makes a greater impact on our future than those we call our Pathway Partners. A Pathway Partner is someone who signs up to give a generous gift each month. You can do that right now.
In this relationship, you're entitled to exclusive benefits. In fact, with your first gift today, I'll make sure that you receive a copy of my book, What Every Christian Should Know. David will repeat this information right now, and I look forward to hearing from you today.
Thanks, Dr. Jeffress. You're invited to request the bestselling book, What Every Christian Should Know, when you give a generous gift to support the ministry of Pathway to Victory. Or when you sign up to become a Pathway Partner. Call us at 866-999-2965 or visit our website at ptv.org. And when you give an especially generous gift of $75 or more, we'll also include the complete What Every Christian Should Know teaching series on audio and video discs.
Plus, you'll get a study guide to use for personal or group study. Call 866-999-2965 or go to ptv.org. You can also send your request by mail right to P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. One more time, that's P.O. Box 223-609, Dallas, Texas, 75222. I'm David J. Mullins.
Wishing you a great weekend? Then join us Monday for a message called, What Every Christian Should Know About the Church. That's right here on Pathway to Victory. Pathway to Victory with Dr. Robert Jeffress comes from the pulpit of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas. 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.
