Do you believe that Christ is the only way to God? How can you be so narrow-minded? Stay tuned, Renewing Your Mind Weekend Edition is next. Welcome to this weekend edition of Renewing Your Mind with author and teacher Dr. R.C. Sproul. Dr. Sproul is also the Senior Minister of Preaching and Teaching at St. Andrews, a Reformed congregation in Sanford, Florida. Perhaps you're a Christian. You read your Bible, pray, go to church and believe that Jesus is the only way to heaven. If that describes you, then you have a lot of explaining to do. How could you be so narrow-minded? What makes you think that you've cornered the market on heaven? What makes you better than Buddhists, Muslims, and Jews? You get the point. Anyone who has ever publicly proclaimed their faith in Christ is ultimately going to face some version of these questions. How should we answer these critics? Today on Renewing Your Mind, as we continue our study of the Gospel of John, Dr. Sproul will remind us that we're not left to ourselves for answers, that we have One who can answer for us. Here now is Dr. Sproul with today's message, The Only Way. this morning as we return our attention to the gospel according to John. We're going to begin at verse 6 and read through verse 11. Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me. If you had known Me You would have known my Father also, and from now on you know Him and have seen Him.' Philip said to Him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us.' Jesus said to him, Have I been with you so long, and yet you have not known Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father. So how can you say, show us the Father? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father in me? The words that I speak to you, I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does the works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father in me, or else believe me for the sake of the works themselves. He who has ears to hear, let them hear the Word of God. When I was a college student in an English class that was being taught by a woman who had been a war correspondent during World War II who was openly hostile to Christianity, And she never missed an opportunity to attack Christianity in her classroom. And I tried to sort of melt into the woodwork to escape the arrows of her wrath, but one day I was not able to do that. And she called on me in front of the whole class, and she said, Mr. Sproul, do you believe that Jesus is the only way to God. I thought, what a question to have thrown at me in front of this whole class by this woman because I know how she felt about any exclusive claims to Jesus. And I was caught between a rock and a hard place because on the one hand, if I said what I believed, I knew that I would experience an avalanche of wrath from her And I also knew that if I didn't say what I believed, that I would be guilty of treason and nothing less than that to the King of Kings. And so I mumbled my answer. I said, yes. She says, what was that? I said, yes, ma'am, I do believe that Jesus is the only way to God. And she went postal. I mean, there was this paroxysm of rage that she spewed out at me in front of this class. She said, that is the most narrow-minded, arrogant, bigoted thing I've ever heard a student say. And the rest of the class glared at me. And I said, yes, ma'am. Well, after class, I think this woman felt a little bit sorry for the way in which I had been humiliated in that experience. And so as I was walking out the door, she stopped me and she said, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to be so hard on you. And then it came right again, but I just can't understand how anybody could be that narrow-minded as you are. And I said to her, do you think it's possible that Jesus could possibly be one way to God? She said, oh yes, I believe that he could be one way to God. I said, well, can you believe that a person could be genuinely convinced that Jesus is at least one way to God? Oh, yes, she says, I know there are intelligent people and so on who are Christians and who embrace Jesus as the way to God. It's this narrow view, this bigoted view that says that he's the only way to God that I can't endure. I said, well, do you understand my problem? See, I have been persuaded. that Christ is the Son of God. I'm a Christian. There is nothing more foundational to Christianity than that confession that He is the Son of God. Now, if I believe that Jesus was the only way to God because He happened to be my way, and the unspoken premise of my logic was this, that anything that R.C. Sproul believes must by logical necessity be the only true way to think, then I would agree with your assessment that that would be unspeakably arrogant, bigoted, and narrow-minded. But I want you to understand why I believe Jesus is the only way. And it is because Jesus said that he was the only way. And if I deny that, I deny him. And let me just say, parenthetically, dear friends, if you deny that, you deny him. And there's probably no greater point of pressure in your society than that very point right there by your friends, by your community, and even by many churches that are telling you, you must deny the uniqueness of Christ. Which is to say, you must deny the church's confession of faith that makes Christianity what it is. And that's why I want to spend some time on this text, because here is where we find Jesus giving another of those sayings that we have looked at in the Gospel of John called the I Am sayings of Jesus. And remember how that in the Septuagint, that is the Greek translation of the Old Testament Scriptures, the sacred name for God, the ineffable name of God, the name Yahweh, which we translate, I am who I am, is rendered in that Septuagint by the Greek conjunction of two words, egoimi, which literally means, I, I am, or I am the one who is the I am. And that when Jesus uses this language, this unusual construction of words, that He is making a radical claim about His connection with God Himself. And these are the words that are used here in this particular passage in John chapter 4, verse 6, where Jesus says, Ego imi he hodos, I am the road, I am the way, I am the truth, I am the life, and nobody, no one comes to the Father except by me." Now, why is that? First of all, when we look at the structure of this, where Jesus said He's the way, He's the truth, and He's the life, it's not like we have a string of descriptive terms that reflect on the character of Christ, where He says, A, I am the way, B, I am the truth, C, I am the life. Rather, the structure of this is like this. I am the way and what is tacitly assumed here in the elliptical form of this statement is I am the way because I am the truth and because I am the life. I am the way to the Father because I am the true manifestation or revelation of the Father. I am the way to the Father because I alone have Zoe. I alone have that power of eternal life that I've been talking about all through John's gospel. Jesus had earlier said He was the door through which men must enter. Elsewhere in the Scriptures we're told there's no other name under heaven through which men must be saved. Again the Apostle tells us there is but one mediator between God and man, even the Lord Jesus Christ. And again in John's Gospel we read in the very first chapter that the Logos who is incarnate in Jesus is the monogamist, the only begotten of the Father. And so this is not one of these exceptional passages from the lips of Jesus. It's consistent with a theme that runs through the entire New Testament. that God has provided a road or a path or a way of redemption, which was His plan from all eternity, and that the divine Logos, the second person of the Trinity, took upon Himself a human nature to make that way possible for people. As I explained this to my English professor, she said, but how could God be so narrow-minded? I thought God was a God of love. See, she believed the maxim in our culture that it really doesn't matter what you believe, just as long as you're sincere. And if you are sincere about your devotion to Zoroastrianism, if the Ephesians were sincere in their devotion to the goddess Diana, If the followers of Baal were sincere in their worship of Baal, and the Philistines in their worship of Diagon, and the Buddhists in their worship of Buddha, and the Muslims in their worship of Allah, then that's all that matters, because God doesn't care whether you worship idols or don't worship idols, just as long as you worship them sincerely. There's a temptation brought to our Lord in the wilderness when Satan himself appears and says, you know, just bow down for a moment to me, one little genuflection, and I'll give you the kingdoms of this world. Jesus said, well, I can't do that. Well, don't be so narrow-minded, Jesus. There's room in the mercy of God for a little Satanism. It doesn't matter what you believe. It doesn't matter what you worship, just as long as you worship. I really can't think of anything more antithetical to biblical Christianity than that concept. But yet we've had that inculcated in us from the time we were in kindergarten where we've been told You know, because all religions are equally tolerated under the law of the United States, and we have religious toleration, we make that leap, that gratuitous leap from equality under the law to equal validity before God. It's a perilous place to stand, because the Scriptures say that there's a difference between truth and falsehood. And there is a difference between the true Messiah and false messiahs. And there is the difference between Christ and anti-Christ. Jesus explains further in verse 7, if you had known me, you would have known my Father also. And from now on you know him and have seen him. Philip said to him, Lord, show us the Father, and it is sufficient for us. Let me load it a little bit. Philip could have said it this way, Jesus, we've seen some fantastic things. Loved it, the wedding feast of Canaan. Loved it at the feeding of the 5,000, and what you did when you stilled the waves that night on the Sea of Galilee. I mean, Old Testament people would have given their lives to be able to just witness one of these miracles that you've performed. Angels would like to look into these things that we've been able to see. But give us the big one. Show us the Father. And then we'll be satisfied. Just one more miracle. Peel back the veil and let us see the face of God. And what does Jesus say? Philip, how long have I been with you? And you haven't known me. I mean, Jesus is obviously frustrated here. Philip, I've been with you all this time. You've heard everything I've had to say. You've seen everything that I've done. And you still don't know me. You still don't get it. Don't you understand that he who has seen me has seen the Father? And if you know me, you know the Father. And conversely, if you know the Father, you will recognize me. Don't you know that I am in the Father, the Father is in me, and I don't say these things on the basis of my own authority. I speak nothing on my own authority, but only on the basis of what the Father authorized that I say. Do you see what's at stake here? The biblical Christ, not the American Jesus, the biblical Christ, not the liberal Jesus, the biblical Christ claims to be the virtual, true, living manifestation of God Himself. And when we confuse Christ with other religious leaders, it's a travesty on the truth of God. Who else provides an atonement for your sin? Did Buddha? Buddha's dead. And when Buddha died, he stayed dead. And Confucius, as admirable as he may have been in his wisdom, when he died, he stayed dead. And Mohammed, when he passed away, he remained in the state of death. There's only one who's provided an atonement. There's only one whom God has authenticated from heaven. There's only one whom God has raised from the dead and appointed Him to be the one by whom He will judge the whole world. Now, if you're still left with an uneasy feeling about the narrowness of God and the limits of God's love, and you're thinking, well, why doesn't God have enough love that have 15 saviors out there for us? After all, we all come at it from different ways, and why can't he have a God for this kind of personality and a Redeemer for that kind of personality? I mean, if he really cared about the human race, wouldn't he have 12, 13, 14, 15, maybe 20 saviors? Anything less than that, he's not really being gracious. Let me ask you to be careful about one thing. When you die, and stand before God. Please don't say to God, you haven't done enough. And that's what's implied in this protest, that God is not gracious enough. You see, we're told that God loved the world so much that He gave the monogamous. He gave His only begotten Son. And He says, if you put your trust in Him, you will not perish. I will forgive all of your sins. I will give you eternal life. I will heal all of your problems. I will wipe away all of your tears. but I hold one absolute mandate that I won't negotiate. You must worship Him and Him alone. If that's not enough, then take it up with your Creator and speak to Him about His lack of mercy and of His lack of grace. Can you imagine standing at the foot of the cross and saying, that's nice. Doesn't quite do it. Now, Christian people think. Think about the character of Christ. Think about the work of Christ. And you will see that nothing is more consistent with who He is and what He has done than for our Lord to say, and the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except by me. Don't be like John the Baptist when he was locked up in prison and sent the message to Jesus, are you the one who was to come? Or should we look for another? To look for another is the supreme fool's errand, because there is no I. But thanks be to God, there is one who has done all that is necessary for our redemption. And that's why we come to him and we say with Simon, thou art the Christ, the Son of the You're listening to Renewing Your Mind Weekend Edition with R.C. Sproul as he takes us through the gospel of John. When we read the Bible, we continually read the historical accounts of people and people groups, customs, places, wars, and the list goes on. But how does it all fit? How does it all come together in one overarching story? How well do you know the Bible's many themes and how they contribute to the story of redemption? Take a guided tour through God's Word to discover and marvel at God's plan of redemption. Today we're offering a special edition of a book entitled, What's in the Bible? This book is a collaborative effort between Dr. Sproul and Robert Wolgamath, inspired from our current Dust to Glory series. Today, we're offering the book, What's in the Bible, for a donation of any amount. To get a copy of this one-volume guidebook to God's Word, give us a call at 1-800-435-4343. Again, that's 800-435-4343. 435-4343. Or you can go online to rymoffer.com. That's R-Y-M as in renewing your mind and the word offer.com. That web address is for this week's special offer only. What's in the Bible was designed to help individuals over common hurdles such as long lists of laws and genealogies, which often discourage reading the Bible cover to cover. Instead, R.C. Sproul and Robert Wolgamoth collaborated to highlight the essence of God's voice, activity, and purpose from Genesis through Revelation. This book, written from the perspectives of a theologian and layman, is a roadmap that takes readers over general impediments and helps believers comprehend the whole of Scripture. Be sure to take advantage of this special offer. To get a copy of What's in the Bible for a donation of any amount, give us a call using our toll-free number, 1-800-435-4343. Again, that's 800-435-4343. Or you can go online to rymoffer.com. That's R-Y-M as in renewing your mind. And the word offer dot com. That'll bring a close to this weekend edition of Renewing Your Mind. Thank you for being with us. Join us again next weekend as Dr. Sproul continues to take us through the Gospel of John. Until then, you can keep up with us on Facebook at Facebook.com slash Ligonier. Ligonier is spelled L-I-G. O-N-I-E-R. You're listening to Renewing Your Mind, Weekend Edition, the listener-supported radio outreach of Ligonier Ministries in Orlando, Florida.