No One Comes to the Father Except through Me - Jesus' Most Outrageous Sayings - Part 4

You know, I was driving into work on the Beltway earlier this week, and as I was riding along, I was listening to Murphy and Cash in the morning on 100.3, the oldie station, and this little jingle came on that was so funny that I was laughing out loud driving down the Beltway in my automobile, and I thought, well, maybe you might like to hear it.

Would you guys like to hear it? Well, you are one way or the other, so... Anyway, here it was. This is what I was listening to.

I think you'll enjoy it. Come on. Come on. Oh, no. Oh, no. What do you think?

Awesome. Well, the way Murphy led into this song is, here's what he said. He said, driving on the Beltway in rush hour is the one thing that everybody in Washington has to deal with. You know, I got to thinking later, that's not really true. I mean, this isn't something that everybody in Washington has to deal with.

Not everybody in Washington drives on the Beltway at rush hour, but I also thought there is one thing that everybody in Washington does have to deal with, and that is their death and how they plan to get to heaven. And so that's what I want to talk to you about today. We're in a series entitled Jesus's Most Outrageous Sayings, and if you remember, we're going through the gospel accounts, and we're picking out twelve of the most radical things that Jesus ever said. We're doing a message on each one of them, and then we're trying to answer the question, well, so what? We've done three already, and if you missed any of these three, they're in the bookstore in tape and CD.

I encourage you to pick them up. Today we're ready to do outrageous saying number four, and so I'd like to ask you, if you brought your Bible, to open with me to John chapter fourteen, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, fourth book in the New Testament, chapter fourteen. If you did not bring a Bible, hey, reach right under the armrest there in your chair, and you'll find a Bible right under the armrest. We're going to be on page 763, page 763 in our copy, John fourteen in your copy, and while you're turning, let me give you a little bit of background. Here in John chapter fourteen, Jesus is talking to his disciples during the last supper, and while they're talking, the subject of heaven comes up, and so Jesus in response says this about heaven, verse two, John fourteen. He said, in my father's house are many rooms.

If it were not so, I would have told you. I'm going there to prepare a place for you, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me, that you may also be where I am. Now with his words here in John fourteen, Jesus confirms for us that there is a real place called heaven where real people go after they die. In fact, Jesus talked about heaven all the time. He said, John six, verse thirty-eight, for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but to do the will of him who sent me. He taught us to pray in the Lord's prayer, our Father who art in heaven. He said in Mark chapter twelve, he talked about the angels that live in heaven. He said in Matthew chapter five, verse eleven, blessed are you when people persecute you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for great will be your reward in heaven. And finally, in Luke twenty-three, while hanging on the cross, Jesus turned to the thief next to him and said, today you will be with me in paradise, in heaven. You say, well, Lon, you know what, I hear all that and that's okay, but you know what, I don't really believe in heaven and hell after this life. I don't believe they're real places. I believe that heaven and hell are right here on earth. It's kind of what you make out of this life. Well, friends, you know you're entitled to your opinion.

That's fine. The only problem with your opinion is that the only person that's ever been to the other side of the grave and come back to tell us about it, the Lord Jesus Christ, says that your opinion is wrong. He says there is a real legitimate place on the other side of the grave called heaven, another one called hell, and real people go to both of these places. But when we look in the Bible, actually to find a long and detailed description of heaven, the truth is we can't find it. In fact, Paul says, second Corinthians chapter twelve, that he was caught up by God and allowed to see heaven, but God instructed him when he came back not to tell us anything about it.

You say, well, why would God do that? I think because God knew if we understood how unbelievably awesome heaven really is, none of us would be willing to stay here. We'd all be placing calls to Dr. Kevorkian to come see us because we'd all want to go. The most the Bible tells us about heaven anywhere is in the book of Revelation chapter 21, and here's what we find out. We find out that in heaven, number one, God himself will be there with us. We find out that in heaven the water of eternal life will be dispensed freely. We find out that in heaven the gates are made of pearl and the streets are made of gold. We find out that in heaven there is no sun, there is no moon, because the glory of God himself provides the light for heaven. We find out that in heaven there's no night. We find out that in heaven there's nothing impure, shameful, deceitful, or unholy there. In heaven there is no longer any curse, Allah Genesis chapter three, which means that in heaven there are no more tears, no more death, no more sorrow, no more pain, no more crying. The Bible says this old order of things has passed away, and the best part of all is that in heaven we shall see his face, face to face with the living Christ himself. This is the place that Jesus is talking about to his disciples right here in John chapter 14. Verse four continues, and Jesus said to them, he said, and you know the way to get to this place where I'm going. Thomas spoke up and said, Lord, we don't even know where you're going.

How in the world can we possibly know the way to get there? And you're ready? Here it comes. One of the most outrageous things anybody ever said. Jesus said, Thomas, I am the way and the truth and the life. Nobody comes to the Father. Nobody gets into heaven where the Father is unless they come through me. Here, friends, we have the clearest statement ever made by Jesus as to how a person gets into this awesome place called heaven. And what does Jesus tell us here? He tells us that sincerity, human sincerity, is not the basis on which God lets people into heaven. He tells us here that human zeal for God is not the basis on which God lets people into heaven.

I mean, think about it. There are many sincere Catholic people who attend mass every day. There are many zealous Jewish people who keep kosher and go to synagogue every day. There are many sincere Muslims who pray five times a day and make pilgrimages to Mecca.

There are many zealous Hindus who touch no beef products and bathe in the Ganges. There are many sincere Baptists who don't drink or cuss or smoke or chew or hang around with them, which do, if you understand what I'm saying. But Jesus tells us here that God doesn't let any of these people into heaven on the basis of their sincerity or their human zeal for God. Nobody gets into heaven on that basis. People get into heaven on one basis only, and that basis is personal faith in Jesus Christ. Personal reliance on the blood of Jesus shed on the cross to pay for their sin. Personally embracing Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. This is the constant message of the Bible, the unbroken message of the Bible, the unequivocal message of the Bible. John 14, 6, to repeat it, Jesus said, I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody, nobody comes to the Father. Nobody gets into heaven and gets eternal life unless they come by way of Me. Now there's no wiggle room here.

There's no negotiations here. There's no equivocation here. This is what the Bible says. Now that's as far as we want to go in John 14 right now because it's time for us to ask our most important question.

And everybody knows what it is, right? You know our most important question, right, right, right? Okay, so are we ready? Are we ready? Here we go. One, two, three. So what?

Ah, yeah. Say, Lon, so what? Say, all right, all right, so Jesus said this. I mean, what difference does it make to me? When I walk out of my house on Monday morning to go to school, to go to work, what difference does it make to me?

Well, I'm going to see if I can answer that question for you. This past Tuesday, I had a gentleman come in to see me in my office and he said, you know, he said, I was born into a Hindu family. I was raised in a Buddhist country. Now I live in America and I've been coming to this church and I've come in today because I want to volunteer my services here at McLean Bible Church. Now, you know us.

We're all over it when somebody wants to volunteer around here. And so I said, that's great. That's wonderful. I said, but just tell me, are you a follower of Jesus Christ? He said, yes, I am.

That's great. He said, I'm also a follower of Buddha, Mohammed, Confucius and everybody else that tries to help people get to God. I said, well, sir, that's a problem. I said, and the problem is that Jesus said none of these other people are helping anybody get to God. None of these people can help anybody get to God.

Jesus said, John 14 6, nobody gets to God unless they come by way of me. He said, well, I believe there are many ways to God, not just one. I said, well, sir, there's a problem with your view. The problem with your view is Jesus says you're wrong. He said, well, no, that's according to what you believe. I said, no, it's not according to what I believe. It's according to what Jesus says right here in the Bible. I am the way, the truth and the life. Nobody comes to the Father unless they come by way of me.

That's what Jesus said. He said, no, that's just your interpretation. I said, my interpretation? There's no interpretation to it.

It's a straightforward reading of the Bible. He said, well, according to how you read it, according to how you see it. He said, you know what, Lon? He said, you need to show people more respect.

I said, really? He said, yeah, you need to give people the freedom to try to get to God any way they want to get to God. I said, sir, listen, I'm happy to let people try to get to God any way they want to. My job on this earth is just to tell them any other way they try to get there is not going to work. That's my job.

My job is to warn them if they try to go some other way, it's going to end up in disaster. He said, well, that's according to how you believe. I said, well, wait a minute. John 14, 6 says, nobody gets there but through me. I said, Jesus is either a lunatic or he's telling the truth, which is it? He said, well, I'm not even going to answer that question because it's all based on your interpretation of what he said. We went round and round and round. And when he left, after half an hour, I was exhausted.

I felt like I'd been trying to nail Jell-O to the wall, if you understand what I'm saying. But, you know, there are a lot of people in our world, just like this gentleman, who have real struggles about this idea that there's only one way to get to God, and it's only through Jesus Christ, only by embracing him as your personal savior. Maybe you're one of these people who struggle with this. Well, if you are, let me say you came to the right place today. Because this is what I want to try to fix once and for all in your mind and your thinking with the truth of the Word of God. What does the Bible say about people who are outside of Jesus Christ? Well, listen, John 3, 36, whoever believes in the Son, Jesus has eternal life, watch, but whoever rejects the Son will not see eternal life, for God's wrath, God's judgment remains, sits, rests on that person. John 3, 18, whoever does not believe in Christ stands condemned already, Jesus said, because they have not believed in the name of God's one and only Son. 1 John 5, verse 11, and this is the record that God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has eternal life, watch this now, and he who does not have the Son of God does not have eternal life.

How can you say it any clearer than that? This is why Peter said, Acts chapter 4, verse 12, that salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven, not Buddha, not Confucius, not Mohammed, not Joseph Smith, not Rabbi, anybody. There is no other name under heaven by which we can be delivered. And just in case there's any doubt, listen to what Paul said, 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 8, he said, God will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the message of our Lord Jesus Christ. They will be punished with everlasting destruction and will be shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power, or we could just go back and put it in the simple terms that Jesus put it. He said, no one comes to the Father, no one gets into heaven except through me. There it is, folks.

That is the consistent and unequivocal position of the Bible. Now you say, well, Lon, you know what? I hear you what you're saying, but I have some objections to all of this. Really, I do.

In fact, I got five of them. Well, let me see what they are and we'll see if we can answer them all. You say, all right, objection number one is this. Why are you being so intolerant? I mean, aren't you just being narrow and intolerant by saying there's only one way to get to heaven? We live in a pluralistic world, Lon. We live in a tolerant world. Come on now.

Well, friends, you know what? There are a lot of things in our pluralistic world that there's only one way to do them. For example, there is only one way in this world to add two plus two. You do it all day long, it's going to come out exactly the same. There is only one way in this world to launch the nuclear arsenal of the United States of America.

There is only one way in the world to land a jet on an aircraft carrier, believe me. And you know there is only one way in our world to look like Arnold Schwarzenegger looks or like I used to look. And we'll show you what I used to look like. There I am. Ah, the old memories. There are a lot of things in our world.

There are only one way to do them, friends. So why should it bother us if God says there's only one way to get to heaven? You say, all right, all right, all right.

I got another objection. And my second objection is why would God be so unfair then to people who don't believe in Jesus Christ? Well, you know, just asking that question tells me that spiritually you've got the emphasis on the wrong syllable.

You understand what I'm saying? Listen, Romans chapter 5 verse 12 says, Therefore sin entered the world through one man, Adam, and death through sin, and so death passed on all men. The Bible tells us that when Adam and Eve disobeyed God in the Garden of Eden, they brought a flaw upon the entire human race, a flaw that the Bible calls our sin nature.

It is like a defective gene that every one of us come into the world with. And the result is every one of us, Ephesians chapter 2 says, is born spiritually dead. We are born alienated from God, separated from God, and under God's judgment. Now, God in His mercy made a way for us to escape this predicament. He made a way in His mercy for us to get out of this trouble.

And it's by believing in Jesus Christ, it's by what Jesus did for us on the cross. But friends, if a person rejects God's way of deliverance, if he spurns God's offer of mercy and decides to go his own way, and this person ends up experiencing God's judgment as God's been warning them in the Bible they're going to, how does that make God unfair? Listen, this is not about God being unfair. This is about people being foolish.

You say, well, well, well, wait a minute, but I got another objection. What about if a person never hears about Jesus Christ, Lon? I mean, what if a person lives in deepest, darkest Africa? Friends, they could live in deepest, darkest Washington, I'm convinced, and never hear about Jesus. So you say, what about them? Well, the Bible tells you about them. Look what the Bible says, Romans chapter 1, verse 20. It says, for since the creation of the world, God's invisible qualities, namely, his eternal power and his divine nature have been clearly on display so that people are without excuse. And if you read the passage, what the Bible goes on to say is that there is enough about God in creation, there is enough about God revealed in our natural world so that every human being alive ought to be able to look at the natural world and recognize there is a supernatural, mighty, awesome creator. You know, my son is a medical doctor, and I've said to him a number of times, Jamie, I do not understand how anybody could go through medical training and look at the precision of the human body, look at the complexity of the human body, look at the perfection of the human body, and come out of that not believing in God.

I don't see how that's possible. Well, it's not just the human body, it's the trees, it's the sky, it's the laws of the physical universe. God says there's enough here so that we ought to be able to look around and say, oh my gosh, we didn't do all this, it couldn't have happened by itself, there has got to be a God.

Now, once we do that, God takes it upon himself to then get us the rest of the information we need so we can close the deal with Jesus Christ. Whether we live in Africa or whether we live in Washington doesn't make any difference, and I know that's true because that's my life story. When I was 16 years old, a little curly-haired Jewish boy, 1965, I'm 56, I'll save you the trouble, okay, I got the opportunity to go to Virginia Tech for six weeks as part of a National Science Foundation summer program. We lived in the dorm, and every morning we had classes together, and every afternoon we did research projects individually, and our classwork that year was on enzymes in the morning. Do you know there are literally hundreds and hundreds of thousands of enzymes right now in your body carrying on every chemical reaction that goes on in your body? And every single chemical reaction that goes on in your body is code-specific, meaning that only one enzyme will work. If that one enzyme is missing, the rest of the enzymes will not pick up the enzyme's job that's missing.

They have a union contract in your body. Do you understand what I'm saying? And you want to see a really sick human being?

You find a human being missing one enzyme out of hundreds of thousands, and you'll find a really sick person. Now, I learned that as a young Jewish boy, and I'll never forget walking back across that campus, July 1965, standing on the top of the steps of the dorm at Virginia Tech and looking up at the sky and saying out loud, there has got to be a God, because something like this just couldn't happen. And I'm convinced at that moment, God in heaven went, good for you, Lon, good for you, good for you.

That's the first step. You were there, and I'm going to get you the rest of the information, Lon. Six years later, I was walking down the streets of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, and bumped into a guy named Bob Eckhart, standing there on the street corner, giving me the rest of the information. I didn't know that God when I was 16. I had no clue how to get connected to that God when I was 16, but I had taken the first step, and God saw to it I got the rest of the information so that I could close the deal. And you know Bob Eckhart came to Chapel Hill, North Carolina, for six months every single Saturday, standing on the streets, handing out tracts, and as far as we know, I'm the only person that came to Christ through his ministry. Friends, I like to think God sent Bob Eckhart to Chapel Hill just for me, because six years before, I had said, there has got to be a God, and God said, bingo, and I'm going to see to it you get the chance to know me. And I believe God does that for any human being in the world who will do what I did.

He said, well, well, okay, okay, but wait a minute, here's my fourth objection. So let's say a person looks around, and they say there's got to be a God. But let's say they don't live in America. You know, they live in someplace where the closest religion is Buddhism or Hinduism or Islam or Judaism or Shintoism or animism or whatever, so that they turn to that religion to seek God sincerely. Won't they, like that man said in your office, be okay?

Friends, the answer is no, no, a thousand times no. What did Jesus say? He said, John 14, 6, no one comes to the Father except through me. What does 1 John 5 say? He who does not have the Son of God does not have eternal life.

You say, well, Lon, my last objection then is, what about these people? If they're sincere in seeking God through Buddhism or Islam or Judaism or whatever, couldn't God just kind of credit them with Jesus Christ? I mean, they still go to heaven through Jesus. They just don't know it. They still go to heaven through the blood of Christ.

They just never heard of it. God says, well, since you're so sincere in this religion or that religion, you know what, I'm going to credit Jesus Christ to you. So you still went to heaven because of Jesus. Isn't that possible? Couldn't God do that? Friends, God could do whatever He wanted, but He says in the Bible, He doesn't do this. You say, really, does it say that?

Oh, you betcha. Romans chapter 10, verse 9 says, if we confess with our mouth that Jesus is Lord, not that Buddha is nice or Mohammed is a prophet or Joseph Smith saw an angel or that Rabbi Schneerson thought he was the Messiah, when we confess that Jesus is Lord, and listen, you've got to know some cognitive information to do that. Somebody's got to tell you Jesus is Lord for you to believe that. And the Bible goes on to say, when we believe in our heart that God raised Jesus from the dead, somebody's got to have told you Jesus was raised from the dead for you to believe that. When we have that amount of cognitive information and we believe it, look, the Bible says it's then and only then that we will be delivered. Romans 10, 17, consequently, faith that gets us into heaven and gives us eternal life comes by hearing the message and the message is heard by means of the Word of God, biblical information.

Listen to me, friends, the most sincere Muslim, the most sincere Jewish person, the most sincere Buddhist, the most sincere Hindu, the most sincere New Ager or astrologer or American do-gooder, it doesn't matter until they hear the cognitive facts about Jesus Christ, until they hear about His virgin birth and His deity and His life and His death on the cross and His blood payment for sin and His resurrection and until they believe those facts, that person is lost, lost, lost. This is what the Word of God teaches without negotiation. If you're here today and you've never trusted Jesus in a real impersonal way, I'm here to beg you. I'm here to plead with you. I'm here to appeal to you, to pay attention to what we're saying today, to what God is trying to tell you today. Are you free to try to seek God any way you want?

Sure you are. That's why hell exists. God gave you a free will and He won't violate it, but friend, they're dead end streets.

They won't work. They're not going to get you to heaven. God made a way to get you to heaven. It's the only way to get you to heaven. And the great news of the Bible is it works, but you've got to be willing to come God's way. There's no other way to do it.

And if you're trying to do it some other way, I'm here to beg you. You're going down a dead end street. You need a course correction. You need a U-turn and you need Christ.

And they say, well, Lon, that's wonderful. I hear that, but I'm already a believer in Jesus. So what difference does this make to me? Huh?

I know all of this. Well, friends, what does this mean for you and me as followers of Christ? It means, first of all, that apart from Jesus, every single person you and I pass every day on the metro, on the street, at Starbucks, in the hallway at work or school, if they don't know Christ, it means that they are separated from God. They are under God's judgment and they are headed for a disaster in eternity. It also means that you and I have the information it takes to change all of that.

They need that information. There's no other way they can close the deal with God. And finally, it means that the only hope that people have is for us to open our mouths and lovingly tell them this information.

But friends, you know what? The only way you and I are going to do that is followers of Christ. The only way we're ever going to be willing to face the ridicule, the ostracism, the persecution, and the offended relationships that often come when we're outspoken for our faith, the only way we're going to do that is if we utterly, totally, and completely believe what the Bible says on this subject. If we leave any door open that there's another way for people to get to heaven besides Christ, I promise you, you'll end up clamming up.

You'll end up saying, I'm not willing to pay that price. But you know, the Bible doesn't leave another way. And so let me conclude by saying that as a follower of Christ today, I hope we've put this issue to bed once and for all in your life. I hope that each of you will walk out of here today taking to heart the advice of Paul when he wrote Timothy and said, 2 Timothy 1, Do not be ashamed to testify about our Lord.

Folks, you know what? Sharing Jesus Christ lovingly with people and boldly with people is the apex. It is the climax of the Christian life. You can memorize all the Bible you want. You can memorize every scripture verse in there. You can read the Bible, study the Bible, pray and fast. But if all of that doesn't issue out in an outspoken witness for Christ in your world, then you missed the whole point.

You missed the whole point. The Bible didn't say the Great Commission is not go study the Bible. The Great Commission is not go fast and pray.

Those are great things. The Great Commission is go tell everybody in the world about Jesus Christ. And you know, when it comes to reaching this city for Christ, I'm just here to tell you, we're not going to bring this city to Christ by trying to convince everybody to come hear me. They're not coming. We're not going to bring this city to Christ by you trying to get everybody to come to McLean Bible Church.

They're not coming and we don't have room for them in this building anyway. The only way we're going to make an impact on this world for Christ is by you going out every day and infiltrating your world and being outspoken witnesses for Jesus Christ. Friends, you are the secret to rocking this city for Christ. Not me, you. You say, well, Lon, I don't really know how to share my faith. Ooh, I got something for you. It's called Christianity 301.

Starts Monday night. We'll teach you how to share your faith. That's not an excuse. That's like saying, Officer, I didn't know what the speed limit was. That doesn't work.

No, no. So if you're not sure you know how to share your faith, you go out there and sign up at ticket central for Christianity 301. Friends, this is what it's all about.

And this is why I love the song. Be a missionary every day. Tell the world that Jesus is the way the Lord is soon returning. There is no time to lose. So be a missionary.

God's own emissary. Be a missionary today. Love the song. Now, wait a minute. Wait a minute before you clap. Now it's time for you to stand and sing it with me. Up you go. Come on. Come on. We're going to do it a little slower for you, but I want you to sing. Come on.

You ready? Be a missionary every day. Tell the world that Jesus is the way the Lord is soon returning.

There is no time to lose. So be a missionary. God's own emissary. Be a missionary today. Not bad. Not bad. Friends, let me tell you, God doesn't want you to just sing the song.

He wants you to go out and do it. And I hope you will. I'm going to pray for that right now.

Let's bow together. Lord Jesus, we have the most strategic city in the world that has been handed to us to reach for Jesus Christ. What a privilege to reach the one city left in the world where you can honestly say, change Washington and we can change the world without ever leaving this town. Lord Jesus, that is our duty, our calling, our responsibility, our mandate as McLean Bible Church, to infiltrate and impact this city for Jesus Christ. And Father, the only way we're going to do it is by 10,000 people deciding they're going to be a missionary every day. They're going to share the information that people need to close the deal, that I needed to close the deal.

And there are people out there all over Washington, partway through the process, who just need the information. Lord, I pray that you would challenge us today to walk out of our house every morning, not just singing the song, but live in the life of being a missionary every day. Help our faith and our Bible study and our prayer spill out into an enthusiasm and a verve and an excitement about Jesus Christ that's catching. And help us rock this city for Jesus Christ. If 10,000 early followers of Christ could rock the entire Roman Empire, we can certainly rock one city if we'll be as outspoken for Christ as they were. Lord, grant that that be true. Use us to impact this town for your glory. And we pray these things in Jesus' name. In God's people said, Amen. Amen.