Christ: The Only Way

If you want to talk about arrogance and narrow-mindedness, let's lay the blame and the guilt where it belongs. It belongs on Jesus. It's Jesus who makes the claim.

It's the New Testament that says, there is no other name under heaven through which men may be saved. It's hard to imagine there's anything more offensive in a culture that places a premium on inclusiveness, telling someone about the exclusivity of God's kingdom, that Christ is the only way. Welcome to Renewing Your Mind on this Tuesday. I'm Lee Webb. Objections to the Christian faith abound in our culture, and this is one that can make us the object of ridicule and scorn. Fear not, though.

As Dr. R.C. Sproul just mentioned, we're not relying on our opinion when we share the truth. One of the forms of amusement that we sometimes do in social gatherings is ask people to relate their most embarrassing moment. I really couldn't say what my most embarrassing moment was in my life, but certainly one of the most embarrassing moments I ever had took place the first year I was a Christian. I was a freshman in college, and I was so filled with enthusiasm about my newfound faith that I was a real zealot. I told anybody who would listen to me about the riches of Christ. And I even had the opportunity at college to speak one morning in an all-college chapel, and I gave my testimony. So everybody on the campus who knew me knew that I had embraced Christianity. And we had a professor, a woman professor, who was overtly hostile towards Christianity, and she taught a course in English, and I happened to be in her class. And she seemed to take delight in taking shots at Christianity during her lectures.

And so I learned very early to keep my mouth shut in there and kind of keep a low profile. Well, one afternoon she called on me in front of the whole class, and she asked me this question. She said, Mr. Sproul. And I said, yes, ma'am. She said, do you believe that Christ is the only way to God?

Oh, I just groaned in myself. I thought of all the questions that this woman could ask me in front of this class. She picks a question like that. Because I knew that if I answered the question honestly, I was in deep, deep trouble. And I also knew that if I lied about it, I was even worse trouble. Because if I said, no, I don't believe that Christ is the only way to God, I knew that if I said that, I would be committing treason to Christ, that I would be guilty of betraying the One who had redeemed me.

And so really, as difficult as the decision was humanly, because of the current press of circumstances, there was really no decision to make. I had no alternative when it comes down to it. I had to give a true answer, and I said it softly, quietly, and hoped that she wouldn't hear it. I sort of mumbled when she said, do you believe that Jesus Christ is the only way to God? I sort of mumbled, yes, ma'am. She said, what did you say?

I said, yes, I do believe that. Well, she went off like a skyrocket. It was a paroxysm of rage. Immediately she said, I can't believe that you would make a statement like that.

That is the most narrow-minded, bigoted, conceited statement that a person can make. And I just blushed, beat red, and just sagged down into my chair and listened to the smirkings of the people in the class. And I didn't say anything to her during class. But after the class was over and I was leaving the class, she stopped me at the door.

And she showed a sense of compassion that I didn't know existed in this person. She said, Mr. Sproul, I want to apologize to you. And I said, no, I want to apologize to you.

And I said, why is that? And she said, because I asked you a question, I knew what you were going to say, and I could sense that I deeply embarrassed you in front of the whole class. And I said, well, yes, you did.

I was embarrassed. She said, but I still for the life of me cannot understand how you could think that your way is the only way. So now it was up to me to give an answer for the hope that was within me.

And I was frantically searching for a way to pass the buck, the truth be told here. I said to her, ma'am, if I believed that Jesus Christ is the only way to God, because it is my way to God, and the unspoken assumption were that I believed that anything that R.C. Sproul believes is the right way must therefore be the only way, then I quite agree with you that my answer to your question would have been unspeakably arrogant and unbelievably narrow-minded and conceited. But let me ask you a question. I know that you don't embrace Christianity, but would you agree that people as foolish as I am or as stupid as I am that be engaged in religion or so on could come to the conclusion that Jesus is one way to God?

She says, oh, yes. I understand that there have been people of great integrity and people of great intelligence who have become Christians and who believe that Jesus is at least one way to God. But what I can't understand is why you think He has to be the only way to God. And I said, okay, well, let's start with the first premise that I have become convinced that Jesus is at least one way to God.

That you don't object to. I said, but you see that Jesus Himself teaches that He is the only way to God. And I reminded her that Jesus had said, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father but by me.

Now, if you want to talk about arrogance and narrow-mindedness, let's lay the blame and the guilt where it belongs. It belongs on Jesus. It's Jesus who makes the claim. It's the New Testament that says there is no other name under heaven through which men may be saved except Jesus. It is the New Testament that makes the audacious claim that there is only one way that is acceptable to God to come to Him. Three times in the New Testament the record is that God spoke audibly from heaven. On every occasion, it was God Himself saying something about Jesus.

This is my beloved Son. Hear Him. And we are told in Scripture that God is a jealous God, that God jealously guards His own integrity, His own righteousness, and that the fundamental law of God is a prohibition against idolatry, against the worship of something that is not God and that God will not tolerate those who supplant true religion. Now, I know that's downright un-American because we have a viewpoint in our culture that is sacrosanct. And the idea is that all religions are equally tolerated under the law.

This country was settled by people who sought to escape religious persecution and who were looking for a society and a culture that would be tolerant. And one of the bedrock premises of America is equal toleration of various religions. But you understand if you're thinking carefully, dear friend, that it is one thing to say that all religions are equally tolerated under a system of human law.

It's another one to say that they're equally valid, that their truth claims are equally valid. That may be the case if there were no God, so that every God was a false God, and it would be equally invalid. But I hear naively all the time from people who say it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you're sincere, all religions are essentially the same. People who say that haven't studied all religions. There are world religions that are positively hostile towards Christ. And if Christ is the Son of God, and you have a religion that is hostile towards Him, friends, that is not acceptable to God.

God will not tolerate that. And I had this lengthy discussion with my English teacher, and I said, do you understand, at least in principle, what I'm saying? And she said, yes, and I could see how you could be convinced if you follow Jesus, that if Jesus says He's the only way, then you would be morally obligated to follow Him. And she said, yes, and I could see how you could be morally obligated to echo and repeat that idea. She said, but that's what puzzles me.

I said what? She said, how you could believe in a God who is so narrow-minded that He would only provide one way of salvation to a world. What is this God who is so restrictive? And I said, well, again, I don't know why God hasn't given us five saviors or 15 religious ways to satisfy Him. I don't know the answer to that question. But there's another question, and that is, why has He provided one way? Why does He bother at all to redeem a world that universally rejects Him? Why does He do it at all? Why is there one way?

Why are there any ways? And I said to my teacher, I said, let's just try a hypothetical situation. I know you don't believe the Bible, and I do, and we're coming at that from totally different perspectives.

I'm convinced that the Bible is the Word of God. You're convinced it isn't. I said, but I'm trying to help you understand the sense of what we're talking about, and let's just take a hypothetical situation. I don't think it is hypothetical, but just for the sake of argument, we're going to make it hypothetical. I said, suppose there is a God.

Let's start with that supposition. And suppose that God is altogether absolutely holy. And suppose that God, not out of any necessity within Himself, but out of sheer love and graciousness, creates a world, and He inhabits this world with a vast array of animals and plants. And then when He's finished, His crowning act of creation is a creature that He shapes in His own image and breathes into this creature His own breath and gives this creature preeminence over all of creation, dominion over all the world, and gives Him the task of mirroring mirroring and reflecting God's own holy character.

And God gratuitously heaps all kinds of benefits on this creature, but gives one restriction to this creature and says, you're not allowed to touch or eat of this particular fruit. And as soon as God turns His back, suppose this creature, totally ungrateful, who owes His Creator everything, turns around and grasps for equality with His Creator and openly, willfully defies the law of God. And God had told Him, if you do this, you die. Now suppose right then God would have erased mankind from the earth. He would have been perfectly just to do it, wouldn't He?

Yes. I said, but suppose God was so patient, so kind, that He said, I will cover this creature's nakedness, and I will provide a way of salvation for Him, and I will promise to deliver this ungrateful sinner from His desperate condition. And suppose the people ignore that promise, and they continue to defy Him and expand on their rebellion against Him, and then they wind up in a situation where a whole group of them are in bondage to another group, and the Egyptians have made slaves out of the Hebrews, and the Hebrews are crying out. And God hears the cries of His people, and He acts and says, let My people go. And God moves from heaven to redeem these people miraculously from bondage, and said, I will make you My own nation. I will be your God, and you will be My people. And the people said, that's terrific.

Let's go. And five minutes later, they're violating every law that God gives them, and they begin to dance around a golden calf, and they begin to prefer other religions. They begin to worship Baal rather than Almighty God.

And suppose God patiently reminds them of their terms of their agreement by sending human beings called prophets and providing a system of religion that will symbolize forgiveness and atonement. And when the prophets come, they kill the prophets, and they corrupt the atonement celebration. And so finally God says, okay, I am going to send to this people who reject everything I do for them, I'm going to send my only begotten Son, and I am going to take the sins of My people and transfer them to the back of My own Son who is perfectly righteous and perfectly innocent, and they kill the Son.

And God said, that's okay. You killed Him, but if you will just put your trust in Him and honor Him, I will forgive you of every sin that you have ever committed against Me and against Him, and I will give you eternal life where there will be no more death, no more tears, no more wickedness, no more pain, no more suffering, and you will live forever in unending bliss. But my only requirement is that you honor the One who has died in your place. Buddha didn't die for you. Moses didn't die for you. Muhammad didn't die for you.

And I require that you honor and embrace My only Son. I said to my teacher, just suppose that's true. You don't believe it's true? Well, I'm just asking you hypothetically, if it were true, would you dare to stand before God on the day of judgment and say, God, you have not done enough for me? Would you look into the face of God and say, one way of salvation is not enough?

The author of Hebrews raised a rhetorical question that haunts my soul. When he raised this question, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Beloved, I don't think that people who believe in Christ are any better than people who believe in something else.

We're not talking about the superiority of the people. But I'm sure it rankles God Almighty to hear any human being even mention Buddha in the same breath with Jesus Christ. Because Christ alone is sinless. Buddha was a sinner. Buddha couldn't save himself, let alone anyone else.

Mohammed was a sinner, and Mohammed never saved anybody. Only Christ is sinless. Only Christ has offered an atonement. Only Christ has provided redemption for us.

If that's not enough for you, if that's too restrictive for you, then go your own way. But it's the only way that God has provided. You choose that or you perish. There is no other answer to the problem of sin. All of us are infected, and Jesus is the only remedy.

Dr. R.C. Sproul has been our teacher today, and he'll return in just a moment with a final thought. This week on Renewing Your Mind, we are pleased to feature Dr. Sproul's series in which he answers many of the common accusations leveled against Christianity, including today's topic, Christ the Only Way. It's vital that every believer be equipped to explain why Jesus must be the only way to God, and that's why we want you to have this entire series. It's titled Objections Answered, and while he answers eight critical objections in this series, we want you to be even more equipped to defend Christianity. That's why we're also including Dr. Sproul's sweeping series on apologetics, Defending Your Faith.

In 32 lessons, you'll learn how to use logic in your interactions and how to defend your faith in a faithless world. You can request the digital download of both of these resources when you go online and give a donation of any amount to Ligonier Ministries. This is an online offer only this week, so let me give you our web address.

It's renewingyourmind.org. And on behalf of all of my colleagues here at Ligonier Ministries, let me thank you for your generosity. I sometimes wonder what I would do if I were God. And when I muse on that subject, I usually become very beneficent and benevolent, and I say, well, if I were God, I'd save everybody. I would just forgive everybody and wouldn't even require a cross or an atonement or anything like that. And I sometimes wonder why God didn't do it that way.

But then I'm reminded of two things, dear friends. One is that I'm not God, and I don't think like God. And the biggest reason why I am not God is because I am not holy. And so the way that I would do it, the way that you would do it, is not the holy way. It's not the way God has decided to do it. God does care about us, and He does care about people, and He does care enough to give His only begotten Son, but He doesn't care so much that He will negotiate His own character. The second thing I want to say is that not only am I not God, but I think if you thought about it for five minutes, you would rejoice in that discovery.

Aren't you glad that R.C. Sproul is not God? I'm glad because I couldn't begin to do for a fallen world what God has done for us in Christ. And we take comfort that Christ is the only way to God. But many claim that there is no God at all.

He can't be experienced after all by any of our five senses, they claim. So how can we be sure that there is a God? Well, tomorrow on Renewing Your Mind, Dr. Sproul will walk us through the rational steps necessary to understand the importance of God. Tomorrow on Renewing Your Mind, Dr. Sproul will walk us through the rational steps necessary to understand our invisible God. We hope you'll join us Wednesday. We hope you'll join us Wednesday.