2026 05 10 - Only Jesus and Jesus Only - Engel

Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and from our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. You're probably wondering why I am in this pulpit three Sundays out of the last five. Well, I've been wondering the same thing. And somehow along the way, I'm supposed to be retired, but somehow we got our schedules switched up, but here I am, and you've got to take what you get, I guess.

I was out of town last week when Pastor Pa preached a confirmation sermon based on the epistle lesson from First Peter, leaving the Gospel lesson from last week in John chapter 14 as an open opportunity for me to address a question that I believe is very important for us today. The question is, is Jesus the only way to heaven?

It may not seem such a vital question to you, but hear me out. Several years ago, Franklin Graham, the son of Billy Graham, who we're all familiar with, was supposed to be the speaker for the Pentagon National Day of Prayer.

He was uninvited to be that speaker because of his belief that only Christians have God's ear, that Muslims are evil, and that Hindus and Muslims don't pray to the same God as Christians do. He was uninvited from that event, denied that privilege to preach the gospel because of his outright declaration that Jesus is the only way to heaven. Now, the message of salvation by grace alone and through Christ alone has never been popular, but today, those who hold this view sometimes face fierce criticism to say that Jesus is the only way to heaven. And sometimes even evangelical Christians, and especially those of the younger generation, find themselves in a kind of a doctrinal squishiness on this particular point. This is how they think as Jesus the Son of God, yes, he is indeed the Son of God.

Did Jesus die on the cross and rise from the dead? Yes, indeed he did. Is he the only way to heaven? Ah, we aren't so comfortable sometimes with that idea. So why is that?

Why are some people uncomfortable with the exclusive queen claim that the Christian faith, the belief in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, is the only way? Well, there are many reasons, perhaps, but I think the Internet has changed the whole playing field on this regard. I grew up in southeastern Virginia, in the Tidewater area of Virginia, and I was 21 before I met the first Jewish person. I was many years later before I met a Muslim or Hindu or a Buddhist. You may have grown up in Jacksonville a generation ago and may have never encountered a Muslim person or spoken to a Hindu, but the Internet has changed all of that.

Because of the Internet and things like Facebook and Twitter and millions of websites and Zoom and these meetings that we have, you are exposed to a variety of people that you would never have been exposed to before. And given the mobility of our modern life today, you probably have people in your neighborhood or in your workplace or in your school who are from China or India or the Ukraine or from someplace in Africa. There was a day when we talked about Hinduism and Buddhism or Islam as being over there, somewhere across the oceans, far, far away, thousands of miles away. But today that's not the case. Just as Christianity has spread into all parts of the world, so.

So those religions have come to our doorsteps. And many of you probably work with people from many different backgrounds and religious preferences, because as the world has grown smaller, some of the barriers that have separated us in the past have broken down. So how can we possibly believe that Jesus is the one and the only way to God in today's world? That is a very unenlightened perspective. It is definitely out of bounds in polite company.

Christians in the workplace today or in social settings often feel on the defensive about their faith because no one likes to be called a hate monk. No one likes to be tabbed as intolerant or ignorant. We say it doesn't bother us, but it does.

We have all become aware of the spread of Islam in our world today in the last few years. The social culture in which we grew up is rapidly changing, and really, we have no choice but to learn about how to get along in a nation where. Where there are such a variety of people from different cultures, different traditions, and different religions than our own. And as America changes, we face the danger of reducing genuine religious differences to a kind of a bland, lowest common denominator, all religions are equal type of approach.

But when you hear people say all religions are equal, you can be sure of two things. Number one, they don't know what they're talking about. And number two, they have not really studied any religion in depth. So in this message, I'm going to pose three questions. Number one, what does the Bible actually say about this?

Number two, how do we communicate what the Bible says to other people? And number three, how do we live in an increasingly pluralistic world? So, first, what does the Bible say?

Well, the text from John, chapter 14, verse 6, tells us exactly what the Bible says in just a few short words. It is Jesus who says, I am the way, the truth, the life. No one can come to the Father but through me.

Now, if words have any meaning at all, if they mean anything, this is an utterly Exclusive statement made by the Lord Jesus Christ. Without him, apart from him, there is no way to get to the Father.

If you decide that Jesus isn't for you, God doesn't have a plan B for you. It's that simple. But notice how personal it is when Jesus says this. We are not saved by religion. We're not saved by our doctrine.

We're not saved by the church. Jesus Himself says, I am the way. And he doesn't say, I know the way, but rather, I am the way. And Jesus doesn't give us some kind of opportunity or formula to follow. He tells people that they are to follow him, that he is the way, that it is a personal relationship that we have with him that makes the difference, because He Himself is the way that leads to the truth, that leads to the life with the Father in heaven.

Now we add to this John, chapter 14. We add the words of Peter in Acts, chapter 4, verse 12. There is salvation in no one else. God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved. Then you add to that the words of Paul in First Corinthians, chapter 3, verse 11, where he says, for no one can lay any foundation other than the one we already have, Jesus Christ.

These three verses seem to be absolutely definitive. There is no other way. There is no other name, and there is no other foundation.

And add to that one more verse from First Timothy, chapter 2, verse 5, where again Paul says, there is one God and one mediator who can reconcile God and humanity. The man, Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone. The whole gospel boils down to this truth. Because our sins have separated us from God, we need a mediator to bring us back into relationship with God.

And because that sin gap between us and God is so eternally wide, we need someone from heaven who is Himself eternal to bridge that gap for us, to make it possible for us to come back into relationship with God. Jesus is the only one who can bridge that gap. And by his death he paid for our sins and he bridged that gap that separates us from God. And by his resurrection, he proved he is the Son of God. No other mediator is necessary.

No other mediator is possible.

Only Jesus, the perfect Son of God, could offer Himself for our sins. And he did what no other religious leader can or ever has done. Now, if we could add dozens of other verses to these four, there are many of them that we could add. But the God of the Bible is clear. There's only one way.

He is an utterly exclusive God. He has no competitors. He is the living and true God, and there is no one like Him. And he's not going to share his glory as the only God. He is the One who created all.

He's not going to share that glory. He alone deserves our thanks, our praise, our glory, our worship. And when His Son declares, no one comes to the Father except through me, he means it. Jesus means it. So the issue is not about our emotions.

It's not about our preferences, because the truth is the truth. You can be as sincere as you want to be in what you believe, but unless it's the truth, it's not going to matter. You can be sincere. We don't doubt the sincerity of those who have other faiths. We don't doubt the sincerity of the Hindu or the Muslim.

In fact, we admire them for their dedication to what they believe. But to be sincere only in matters that are the right object is what is important. To be sincerely wrong is to be sincerely wrong. And believing the wrong doesn't make it right. Why?

Because all truth is narrow. We all learned in school. 2 plus 2 equals 4. Doesn't equal 3, doesn't equal 5. No matter how sincere you are about the belief that two plus two equals three, truth is narrow.

So that's what the Bible says. Jesus is the way. Jesus is the truth. Jesus is the life. Now how do we communicate this to others?

Christians have always believed this, by the way, but we have not always expressed it in a way that gets across to the world. And as our world grows smaller and as we rub elbows with so many different people from different religious backgrounds, how do we explain what we believe in a way that they can understand?

Well, I think the most profound answer to that question is don't be afraid. Now, I have to warn you, I'm actually speaking to myself. You don't have to listen to this if you don't want to. I'm speaking to myself because too often it is fear that makes me defensive about my faith. Are you with me?

We seem to be that way. We shouldn't be afraid. We should not be afraid if someone doesn't share our point of view. We should not be afraid when our Muslim co worker or our Hindu neighbor tells us about their faith. We shouldn't be afraid to strike up a conversation with someone who may not have any religion whatsoever.

It's okay to listen to them. Many of us like to talk, but not to listen. Many of us like to talk, but only so we can listen, rather so that we can talk some more. It's not A sin to let someone tell us about what they believe. It's not a sin to let someone explain their view of the world.

It's not a sin to let someone explain their religious practices to us. In fact, when you think about it, a simple kindness to show some interest in the background of other people who come from different cultures, from different backgrounds. How can we ever befriend someone if we really don't get to know them, if we don't listen to them? So we need to open our ears, really to listen intently and then to let God lead that conversation. We need to listen and we need to learn and we need to pray as we listen.

We need to ask questions, we need to seek understanding. We need to find some common ground. We aren't compromising our faith by simply listening to them and hearing about their religion. It's okay to enjoy the friendship of a Hindu or a non Christian. Show yourself to be friendly and God will somehow open up that door of opportunity that we could not have opened ourselves.

So again, I'm speaking to myself here to practice listening to other people, to hear what they say. So it gives me an opportunity to share what I believe. So now we come to that third question, and that is, how should we live in this increasingly pluralistic world in which we live? Well, first of all, there's no turning back to the way it was. There's no way of going back to when the world was still over there, thousands of miles away, when we didn't have to even know about these people.

There's no way of going back to that. So here are several suggestions. First of all, keep yourself grounded in God's Word. Make sure you know what you believe. Let it be the word of God where you lay your firm foundation of your faith.

Know what the Bible teaches. Learn the doctrine, not as a seminarian might learn the doctrine, but the basic tenets of the faith. And don't be afraid to acknowledge that you don't know everything. And when you have this conversation and you come away from it and you need some answers, don't be afraid to ask your pastor or to do some research on your own and to study it and to find out, but know the Word and what it says about your faith. Secondly, keep a smile on your face.

This is something sometimes hard for us to do because many of us fail in this area. We get upset, we get angry when people criticize us for what we believe and disagree with us. And the joy of the Lord turns into the wrath of God on our countenance. That doesn't do much for the grace of God because no one is going to want to listen to us, to talk with us if we are pointing the finger at them and we're flapping the Bible in their face.

The proverb that a gentle answer deflects anger, but harsh words make tempers flare is good for us to remember when we're trying to talk with someone about our faith and listen to them about theirs. Because if we get angry, or if other people get angry, let it be because we're telling them the truth, not because we ourselves are upset or because we are angry. If they reject us, let it not be because we treated them rudely. If sinners reject Christ, let it be because they truly reject him and not our angry words.

Remember, you can't argue a person into the kingdom of God and you can't insult a person to believing in Jesus Christ. Because salvation is a miracle of God that takes place in the human heart by the working of the Holy Spirit. And only the Holy Spirit can convert a soul. It's not our arguments that win the lost. It is the Lord who works in that heart and the Holy Spirit that makes a difference with our words and our sharing of the truth.

And finally, there's this.

We need to realize that there is a tremendous spiritual hunger in our generation. That's why Islam is on the rise in America. That's why people turn to New Age shamans. That's why Eastern religions are attracting so many people. This incredible religious diversity today testifies to the hunger of the human heart.

We were made to know God. And if we do not fill that God shaped vacuum in our heart with the truth, we will fill it with something else. A substitute. And for sure, Satan is having a field day today. He's expending all kinds of energy, all kinds of effort to spread his lies.

But as we know where sin abounds, what grace superabounds. The very fact that we live in such spiritual darkness means that when the light does shine, it is really going to be a bright light. So let us not be discouraged by the task, but rather let us be encouraged by by the opportunities that God presents to us. And again, I have to remind myself that I'm speaking to me. So here's the bottom line.

If Jesus is truly the only way, then the unkindest thing would be to keep it to ourselves. This is the mantra that Pastor Popp is preaching to us all the time. Share the good news. If Jesus is truly the only way that the most loving thing we can do is to share him with others.

Suppose you and I are standing 50ft away from the edge of a cliff, just having a conversation. If you were to fall over this cliff, you would fall 1800ft onto the jagged rocks below. There's no guardrail to warn you about the cliff. There's no warning signs, no blinking lights, no whistles, no rubber mats with raised bumps. And as you're there standing with me and we're chatting away, an elderly man is seen walking slowly to the edge.

And we realize that he's blind.

And he starts crying out, which way should I go? I don't know which way I should go. What would it be like if I said to him, it doesn't matter. Go any way you want. Would I not be criminally negligent?

When he falls to his death, if I care about him at all, I will call out and say, don't take another step. Just stay where you are. I'll be right there and I'll lead you the way. Then I can take him by the hand and I can show him the way to safety. In that situation, love would compel me to speak the truth and to do what I have to do to save his life.

In summary, there are two absolutes that I want to share with you. Number one. God's heart is wide.

God's heart is wide. But secondly, the way to life is narrow.

Because the way to life is only through Jesus. There are many religions of the world and many good things that we can learn from those religions of the world. But there is only one way to God. That is the narrow way, and that way is Jesus.

I'm going to share with you five words that will take you to heaven. If you understand what these five words mean, you can spend eternity in heaven with the Lord. And these five words are so powerful, they contain enough truth to save the entire world. Here are the five. Only Jesus and Jesus only.

Only Jesus and Jesus only. Can you say those with me? Only Jesus and Jesus only. To find our way to the Father's house, we have to travel the course that Jesus laid out for us. Other roads may be attractive.

They may seem like a shortcut. But only one road leads to where we want to go. Jesus is the only way to heaven. Only Jesus and Jesus only. Amen.

Gracious Father, we thank you for this truth. It's so simple that sometimes we just pass over it. We say these words again and again. What do they truly mean to us? We pray, Father, that they will impact us now so that we know.

We know we have to share these words with others. For we know there are many people who are walking down a path that leads them to that cliff. And we know when they go over that cliff, it's too late. It's too late. So, Father, help us to listen, to be patient with others, to hear them, and to try to understand where they're coming from.

But then, Lord, to be able to share with them the truth, the absolute truth, the divine truth that Jesus is the way. And by sharing that way, we allow the Holy Spirit to have that opportunity to touch a heart, to save a soul, and to bring that one to the Father in heaven. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. And now may the peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Amen. Let us rise.