Good morning again. I'm going to be reading out of John chapter 14 verses 1 through 7. And in your pew Bibles, it's where it says John chapter 14. I don't know the page, but I know John 14 is going to be on it. Hear now God's inspired word. Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many rooms. If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you? And if I go to prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself, that where I am, you may be also. And you know the way to where I'm going. Thomas said to him, Lord, we do not know where you are going. How can we know the way? Jesus said to him, I am the way and 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. From now on, you do know him and have seen him. May God bless the reading of his word. Let's pray. Father in heaven, I simply ask that you would bless the preaching of your word, that you would get me out of the way, and that we would hear the voice of our Savior, Jesus Christ, loud and clear. And I pray, Lord, that as the word goes forth, it would do what it's intended to in the hearts and minds of those who hear it, that it would comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable, and that you would receive glory. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Please be seated. So when I was young and growing up, we played video games, Atari, Space Invaders. It really wasn't what you guys had today, right? It was a joystick with a button. You guys have a whole plethora of things to do. So in the absence of real good video games, we also played board games, right? Growing up, we played this game called Sorry. It was more like what me and my brother were saying to my parents on a continual basis, sorry, sorry. We also played payday, remember payday? No, okay, good. Parcheesi, ring a bell? And of course Monopoly, that's the foundation of all the board games. And then there was a board game called Life. Now, nobody I know ever followed the instructions to that game. Everyone made up their own rules, and I don't know anyone who actually played it and won the game. And the unfortunate irony is, this is the way most people are living their lives today. The very same way they played the board game called life. Not reading the directions, making up their own rules, defining things whatever they want, the way, whatever way they want, and then declaring victory without any actual measurement or standard to do so. But as Christians, we don't get to make up our own rules or devise our own set of instructions for life. Jesus has left us clear instructions on life. The Christian believes what Jesus says. The Christian believes that Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, and no one gets to the Father but by Him. The Christian believes that if you do not believe Jesus is the I am, you will die in your sins, John 8. The Christian believes that there is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name in the heaven by which men must be saved, Acts chapter 4. The Christian believes that except you be born again, you will not see the kingdom of heaven, John chapter 3. This is not the game called life. This is real life. And it's not ambiguous. We have clear-cut instructions on how to navigate our way in this world. Now, although it's not a game, we are playing for keeps. Eternity is on the line, and every Christian needs to know that. So my question is this, is this what evangelicals in the United States actually believe and live by, that Jesus is the only way? Not really. As per a recent Ligonier study, they do a study on the state of theology every two years in 2020 and 2022, they did two studies. They do a study every two years and people are given a theological statement and then asked, do you agree or disagree with this statement? Here are some of the results of the study. When presented with the statement, everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature, 52% of the people agreed with that. When presented the statement, God accepts the worship of all religions, Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, 56% agreed. When given the statement, Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God, 78% of the people agreed. This is not good theology, nor is this the Jesus of the Scriptures. But 78% said it was. 42% of evangelical Christians agree that gender is a matter of choice. We are not in a good way theologically in this country. People are getting simple theology wrong. The questions they got wrong are basic to any understanding of Christianity, and they're essential to salvation. Worse, the ramifications for not knowing these things are eternal. The stakes couldn't be higher. A.W. Tozer said that whatever comes into your mind when you think of what comes into your mind first when you think about God is the most important thing about you. What do you think about first when somebody mentions God to you? People aren't reading their Bibles. They're not taking their theology seriously. They're not studying themselves to be approved of God, rightly handling the word of truth. Consequently, they're going the wrong way because they're thinking and believing the wrong things. Proverbs tells us there's a way that seems right to a man, but in the end, it leads to destruction. So what I want to do this morning is briefly go over verse six, and then show you one common objection to its conclusion, and then how you can respond. So look down at verse six. Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father but by me. Now early in this passage, at the beginning of chapter 14, Jesus tells the disciples that he's going to his father's house to prepare a place for them, but not to be worried. Then Thomas puts the brakes on. Whoa, whoa, how can we know the way? See, new women thought men don't stop and ask for directions. They do, it's biblical. Or since it's Thomas, maybe he's just doubting that there is a way at all. Is there a way, Jesus? And it's here that Jesus responds with one of the most memorable verses in all of Scripture. I am the way, I am the truth, and I am the life. No one gets to the Father, where I'm going, but by me. That is an enormously weighty and profound statement. And at the same time, it answers Thomas's question, how can we know the way? In other words, there is a way according to Jesus and it's through Him. Not around Him, not over Him, not under and through His legs. It is through Him. In fact, eternal life is knowing the way. Jesus is the way. This is eternal life, that they may know you, the one true God and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. So what exactly does Jesus mean by the way? What is the way? When Jesus says he is the way, he's referring to the means or the conduit that leads us to the father. Remember, he just told him that he was leaving. The prophet Isaiah speaks of this way in Isaiah 35, 8. And a highway shall be there, and it should be called the way of holiness. The unclean shall not pass over it. It shall belong to those who walk on the way. So, Jesus is the means of salvation. The way is not a road. The way is not a path. The way is not a flow chart. The way is not a set of directions. The way is not a list of instructions. The way is a person. Jesus did not come to show us the way or to make a way, but to be the way. This points us to the person and work of Jesus, the perfect life he lived on our behalf to earn the righteousness that we need, and the sacrificial death he died on the cross to take on our punishment. Hebrews 9a tells us Jesus is the way into the Holy of Holies. And in Hebrews 10, 19, we read, we have competence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus. The new and living way that he opened up for us through the curtain, that is through his flesh. The author of Hebrews calls it not just a way, a living way. The way is a person, he's alive. Jesus is the only way to the Father, the only way into the Holy of Holies. Now this truth is in direct conflict with the world, with the way most people play the game called life, where everyone gets to create their own rules and go their own way. We're all God's children, you know, just like Pope Francis taught them. Right? We read this morning, women needed the dough to make cakes for the queen of heaven. and they pour out one drink offerings to other gods in order to spite me. Oh, no, no, no, go to Mary, she'll get you to Jesus. Pope Francis teaches something called inclusivism. In other words, all roads, all religions lead to the same God. Just like language, there's many different languages and many different expressions, but all with the same result. You all get to God, even if it's by virtue of Jesus's life, you don't need to know him, because God would never allow someone to suffer in hell. Blasphemy. Another heresy is pluralism, which teaches that all religions are equally valid. They're all an imperfect version of the one true religion and will get you to your destination so long as you follow your beliefs sincerely. You've seen the coexist bumper sticker. It's all good. For others, the focus is on just making your way through life. But for Jesus, the focus is on Him. Him being the way, the only way to eternal life. So Jesus is the way, not one of many. Jesus is teaching exclusivism. It is only through Him. And there's the rub for unregenerate humanity. They'll look at you, only one way? How narrow-minded could you be? But Jesus taught there was a way. One way, and it was through him. The way is a person. Then next, in the same breath, Jesus says, I am the truth. The truth. What is that? What is truth? You want to watch a smart person squirm if you're talking with him or arguing theology or politics? Ask them, what is truth? They're arguing about the truthfulness of the statements, but they can't define what truth is. Let me ask you, if I ask you the question, what is truth? What's your answer gonna be? I'll give you the answer. Truth is that which corresponds to the mind of God. When God defines something, it is true. And he has defined his entire creation. All facts are God's facts. In fact, our friend Eliyahu says that God is the father of all facts. We have to think like God, to think his thoughts after him. Think of it this way. There's three terms you need to know. Reality, belief, and truth. Reality is the way things actually are as defined by God. Belief is the way you think things are. And truth, truth is when you get it right, when your belief lines up with reality. When you recognize what God has defined and walk in that, when you think God's thoughts after him, you are now walking in truth. So when Jesus says he is the truth, he means that everything he says and does is in line with God's thoughts and therefore a perfect depiction of reality. Jesus is the truth, capital T. We get better clarity when we read about who Jesus is and what he does in the Gospel of John. John 1 and 1.14, Jesus is God who's come to earth as a man. In the beginning was the Word, the Word was with God, and the Word was God, and the Word became flesh and dwelled among us. God enters into his own creation, taking on humanity. John 118, Jesus reveals the Father to us. No one knows the Father except the Son, the only begotten Son who is at the Father's side. He reveals him to us. John 515, he came to do the will of his Father. He says, my Father is working till now, and now I am working. And most importantly, John 18, 37, he's answering Pilate, who just looked at him and said, what is truth? Jesus says, for this purpose I was born, and for this purpose I have come into the world, to bear witness to the truth. I am the witness because I am the truth. The follower of Jesus says this, truth is the foundation of life. Life is not the foundation for truth. In other words, our lives stand on the truth. We build our lives on the truth. Our lives exist and flourish on the truth. We measure our lives by the truth, while most people measure their truth by their life. This is how I live, so it must be true. No. Please also notice that Jesus said he is the truth. He did not say, I am the feeling. I am the goosebumps. I am the sensation. He says, I am the truth. Truth is not swayed, changed, or determined by your feelings. If you don't build your life on the truth, you will become like the Israelites that God destined for exile in Jeremiah chapter 7. God says, and you shall say, this is the nation that did not obey the voice of the Lord their God and did not accept discipline. Truth has perished. It is cut off from their lips. Church, when truth is rejected, it perishes and people will perish with it. Look around at our culture. Let me remind you of some things. Life begins at conception. There are two genders, male and female. Cutting off parts doesn't make you a female, it makes you an amputee. Marriage is one man, one woman becoming one flesh for one lifetime. All lives matter. Feelings are not facts. Truth is not relative. And Jesus is Lord. Do your feelings determine or change anything that I just said? No. Those are facts. Yet, 38% of people think religious belief is a matter of personal opinion. So it's not about objective truth according to the results of the Ligonier study. Listen to how Paul frames it for Timothy in 2 Timothy 2.4. He tells Timothy, preach the word, truth. Reprove, rebuke, and exhort with complete patience and teaching, teaching them the truth. For the time is coming when people will not endorse sound teaching, truth, but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers who suit their own passions and will turn away from listening to the truth and wander off into myths. If your life is the foundation of your truth, your passions are going to lead you astray. You will wander from the way, which is Christ, into myths, lies, and deceptions. A life not built on truth will lead to a life built on self-directed and self-deceived passions. If you've ever listened to R.C. Sproul, he's drummed it into my head. Right thinking leads to right living. What comes in here will come out here. Now, if what comes in here is polluted, what comes out of this will be polluted as well. The objective, immovable, and unchanging truth stands in stark contrast to the subjective, fluctuating desires and emotions of mankind. You never want to make decisions based on your emotions. So who is Jesus? He's the truth. He's immutable. He's the same yesterday, today, and forever. If truth were a person, he'd look like Jesus. The truth is a person. He looks like Jesus. The truth was a who before it was a what. Most people build their lives on the subjective rules they like, just like their rendition of the board game called life. Only this one is for real. We're playing for keeps. This is not a game, but they don't know the difference. Lastly, Jesus says he is the life. First thing to notice, notice the order of the words. Truth comes before life. If you put your life before truth, like we just said, you will be living in reverse, like going the wrong way on a board game. Nothing is going to make sense. Again, John describes Jesus and life in so many ways in his gospel. Here in 14.6, Jesus says, I am the life. In chapter 5.26, he says, I have life in myself. John 5.21, Jesus gives life to whomever he wills. In John chapter 6, Jesus says, I'm the bread of life. He says in 11.25, I am the resurrection and the life. John 17.3, this is eternal life that they may know you. the one true God and Jesus whom you sent. Since Jesus is the truth, he is the embodiment and the epitome of life. Jesus exactly, perfectly reflects what a perfect life with God looks like. I like Thomas Akempis. He says it like this. I am the way, the truth, and the life. Without the way, there is no going. Without the truth, there is no knowing. And without the life, there is no living. For Him to be the way, for Jesus to be the way, according to the truth, He needs to be the life, the perfect life we needed to be in right relationship with the Father. Without Jesus, there is no eternal life apart from His perfect life. His perfect life leads to our eternal life. So He comes to live the perfect life according to the truth to become the way, the only way. Then he says, no one gets to the Father but by him. No one gets to the Father any other way because Jesus is the only way. Now the term no one is a universal negative, which negates any other way that any other person may think is a way to the Father. Who does the term no one exclude? No one, right? It applies to every single person, not just some few people. Based on this verse, it would seem that Jesus, the Jesus of Christianity, is the only way to heaven. And if you tell someone that, they're gonna get upset. They're gonna balk, they're gonna scoff, they're gonna sneer, they're gonna ridicule. But friends, ridicule is not an argument. Give me your argument. Most people are going to object to John 14, 6. So now what I want to do is go over what that objection is, what it entails. I want to identify the real problem and explain how to answer it. So remember, the Ligonier study tells us we live in a postmodern world where most people think truth is relative. You have your truth, I have my truth. Jesus is a created being, they say, and the worship of Jews and Muslims is acceptable to God. So the objection usually sounds like this. It'll go something like this. So you're telling me that Christianity is the only way, and if I'm not a Christian, I'm going to hell? You mean to tell me that it's only Christians that go to heaven? Every other religion leads to hell? In fact, in President Trump's first term, he appointed this man named Russell Vought to a position. And the Senate was cross-examining him. Bernie Sanders got up, and he read an article that was written by Russell Vaught who said, I'm a Christian, and I believe that Jews and Muslims have rejected their Messiah. And because they rejected their Messiah, they don't know the true God. Bernie Sanders would have none of that. So he's cross-examining this man, and the man kept saying, but sir, I'm a Christian. I'm a Christian. Jesus is the way. Now, he didn't go as far as to say that Jews and Muslims and everyone else would be condemned, but that's the truth. But you see what kind of outrage this sparks in the hearts and minds of people. What about the fact that we have the freedom of religion in this country and we can believe in whatever God we want? Why is Bernie Sanders criticizing him for that belief? This is a very common objection that deals with the aspect of Christianity called exclusivism. Christianity is the only way to get to heaven, which excludes all other options, as per Jesus in John 14, 6. Exclusivity is a truth claim. And to some, it sounds arrogant, bigoted, narrow-minded. On the face of it, the initial objection in their question makes some wrong assumptions about Christianity that need to be dealt with. And we're going to go through this. This objection deals with several issues that need to be examined and addressed one by one. This question deals with the nature of truth, the nature of mankind, the nature of salvation, the existence of the hell, the identity of Jesus, and the reality of an afterlife. So this is really a theological question, not a philosophical or scientific one, and consequently, our answer must be a theological one also. but answering it will require us to know theology. It's gonna require us to know our scriptures and the basic tenets of our faith. We could talk for hours. There's been books ad nauseum on this one objection alone. So I wanna see if this afternoon I can give you a succinct answer, condense it and put it into a succinct answer. Okay, so first the objection. Are you telling me that I'm going to hell because I'm not a Christian? Assumes that the Christian claim is wrong. Right? And that another view must be correct. It assumes that there's a right and wrong answer. Is that good? Yes. Why? Because they agree and presuppose logic. They know that they can't have contradicting terms. So this presupposes that truth exists, which is good. And that's where we're going to start. So what is the nature of truth? What is truth? That which conforms to the mind of God. When my belief lines up with God's reality, truth by nature and definition is exclusive. So here's the question, does two plus two equal four? Good, oh boy. Who said four? Oh, somebody be bold enough to raise your hand. Only four? How narrow-minded, how bigoted of you to say that. You realize there's an infinite number of digits above four and an infinite number of digits below four. How can you say the only answer is four? What do you have against three and five? You all must be numeral-a-phobic. That sounds ridiculous. Because it is. That's the mindset of people today. The same standard holds true for every religion that makes specific truth claims. Does that mean that they're all arrogant, bigoted, and narrow-minded? No. If you get a true Jew, a true Muslim, and a true Christian in the same room, they are all going to agree to disagree. The Muslim says, we are going the wrong way. The Jew says, Jesus is not Messiah. The Muslim says, we're committing the sin of shirk if we believe Jesus is God. So even amongst ourselves, in the true religious community, we recognize that there's truth and falsity. It's the world that doesn't understand this. But what this does mean is that they can't all be right. Truth by nature is exclusive. And someone who denies one set of beliefs is a true believer in another. No one is neutral. If you can have any answer you want or contradictory answers to the same question, then truth is irrelevant and arbitrary. It has no meaning. So first, if truth exists, then it's exclusive by definition. And when somebody makes that objection, you can say, oh, so you believe that there are truth and falsities. So that's good. Next, let's take a look at the nature of man. Biblically, man is a sinner in need of forgiveness. Romans 3.23 says, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Every one of us has sinned against a holy and righteous God. And that's not too difficult to see that the world outside is broken and in need of fixing. All you have to do is turn on the TV, look at the internet, or read the paper. In fact, when we went down into Patchogue, when we went to the LGBTQ parade, I was talking with some people, and I asked them the question, when you look out at the world, does it seem like it's going in the right direction or the wrong direction? And she looked at me, she says, oh, the wrong direction. I said, well, the wrong direction assumes a standard for rightness and wrongness. How do you ground your standard in your worldview? And she received it. She's like, hmm, that's a good point. It's obvious that the world around us needs fixing, but the reality is that we've all contributed to the evil in the world. So we're part of the problem. So when somebody asks, you know what's wrong with the world? I say, I am. I am. The problem is sin in the heart of humanity. Here's the heart of the answer that deals specifically with the wrong assumption of the person who's making the objection. I'm not going to hell because I'm not a Christian. No, no one goes to hell because they're not a Christian. If you go to hell, it's because you sinned against a holy and righteous God. It's your sin that separates you from God, not your religious affiliation. It's your sin that separates you. Paul says it like this, no one is righteous, not one. No one understands, no one seeks for God. All have turned aside. Together they've become worthless. No one does good, not even one. Paul's quoting the Old Testament prophets and reaffirming those truths in the New Testament. So no human being is innocent or guiltless before God. And it gets worse because Paul would also say, you can't save yourself. The solution to that problem exists outside of yourself, not inside. Because he says, by the works of the law, no man can be justified. There's nothing that you can do that's going to earn God's favor. You cannot put God into your own debt by keeping the law. All mankind is broken and needs to be fixed. These issues, truth is exclusive and man is broken, are either true or false, but they cannot be both, right? So truth is exclusive. So the first two parts of our answer is, number one, truth exists and it's exclusive, and second, man is broken, he's sinful, that's the problem. So now what about hell? According to Jesus and the scriptures, and even other religious traditions like Islam and Judaism, hell exists, and we need to be willing to talk about that. Jesus talked about it. Shouldn't we be willing to talk about it? But what is hell anyway? The way I like to think of it is like this when I'm giving somebody an illustration. Think of a prison. A prison for spiritual criminals where no one ever gets falsely imprisoned for a crime they didn't commit because God is the perfect judge. It will be a place of perfect justice for every inmate. No one gets injustice because the judge is omniscient and he's good. We don't reward our kids if they have bad behavior, and we shouldn't do it with adults either. So if justice is real, and look, everybody wants justice just for the other guy. We don't want justice for ourselves. So if justice is real, then there can't be a reward for sin. There must be a penalty. You remember Bernie Madoff? Right? He was the guy who stole billions and billions of dollars, bankrupted senior citizens. They had to sell their houses. As he's awaiting sentencing for his crimes, a reporter is interviewing him and asked him a question. And he said to the reporter, but I'm still a good person. That's too low a view of goodness. Do you think yourself a good person? Your standard for goodness is too low. If Bernie Madoff stole all your money, but still thought he was a good person, what would you want to happen to him? That's justice. Justice is getting what you deserve. Every sin in this world will be paid for, either by you or by Jesus. So listen to what Jesus says about people and hell in Matthew 23, 15. Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel across sea and land to make a single follower. And when he becomes a follower, you make him twice as much a child of hell as yourselves." I carefully picked that verse for two reasons. First, based on what Jesus says, if you follow the Pharisees' teaching, you will become a child of hell like them. Second, weren't the Pharisees teaching people about religion? So what is Jesus saying? He says that following the wrong way, the wrong beliefs, the teaching of the Pharisees will lead to hell. Religion doesn't deal with your real problem. You cannot earn your way to heaven. You cannot go around Jesus, over Jesus, or under Jesus. You have to go through Jesus. The law can't save you. None of you keeping the law is going to make yourself perfect. You need transformation. Is it bigoted, arrogant, or narrow-minded to correct someone about their religious beliefs or teaching if it leads to hell? No. No. That's loving. If what Jesus said about hell is true, then it's loving to warn someone about it. Two plus two does not equal five, it does not equal three, it equals four exclusively. You would never get on a bridge built by an engineer who thought two plus two is three. You wouldn't get over the bridge. You would never get on a plane built by an engineer who thought two plus two is five, where one wing is longer than the other. That's death, that's a death sentence. Any other answer besides for is false and will result in error. The same way, every sin that we commit is an error. It's missing the mark and deserves justice. So how much more serious is this when we're talking about eternity? So truth exists and it's exclusive. Man's problem is sin, and hell is justice. Following? Okay. Finally, let's take a look at Jesus, who he is. The identity of Jesus is the most important part of answering this question. And this becomes the dividing line between Christianity and every other religion, right? Who exactly is Jesus? Jesus himself asked, who do you say I am? Muslims will say he's a prophet, he's a prophet of God, Esau. Jews will say he's just a man, just a Jew, he wasn't the Messiah. Christians believe that he is God and the Messiah. The most important question anyone will ever have to ask in their entire life is who is Jesus? So listen to what Jesus himself says about his identity. If you do not believe that I am, and he's quoting Exodus 3.14, when God told Moses, tell him, I am that I am sent you. So Jesus says, if you do not believe that I am, you will die in your sins. That's an astonishing claim, in that Jesus claims to be God, the I am of the Old Testament, Exodus 3.14. And that not believing in that truth leaves you dead in your sins and transgressions. We know why, because he's the living way. If you don't come in contact with the living way, you're dead. So first he claims to be God, second he points to people to trust in him as the payment for their sins. This is one of the most definitive claims to deity by Jesus in the entire New Testament, and there are many, many more. That's a game changer because if it's true, then all other religions are false. But if Jesus is wrong, then he himself is a liar, and Christianity is false, and he is not the only way to heaven like he claimed. In an argument made popular by C.S. Lewis, Jesus is either Lord, liar, or lunatic. So what did each of the gospel writers say about Jesus? Well, John 1, 1, we know, the beginning is the word, the word was with God, the word was God. John believed he was God. Matthew, quoting Isaiah, said they shall call his name Immanuel, which means God with us. So John and Matthew believed he was God. Mark and Luke both quote the Old Testament, Malachi 3, 1, with regards to John the Baptist, who would prepare the way of the Lord. Jehovah God. Who did John the Baptist prepare the way for? Jesus. They're pointing to Jesus as being Jehovah God. They all point to Jesus' divinity in the opening paragraphs of each of their Gospels. So either Jesus is God or He is not, it can't be both. So, truth exists, it's exclusive, man is broken, hell is justice, and Jesus made a huge claim. He is God. So now let's listen to this objection again and see how we would answer it. If Christianity is the only way, are you telling me that everyone else is going to hell? No. On Christianity, no one goes to hell for not being a Christian. You go to hell because you sinned against the holy God. You receive justice for the way you lived. And since God is holy and just, each and every sin in this world must be paid for. True justice must be served. All sin must be paid for, either by you or by someone else. Now Christianity, Jesus, offers a full payment for your sins if you acknowledge them, if you repent and trust in him. Jesus is the solution to your problem, not the cause of it. Your problem is sin. Jesus is the solution. And it's loving to warn people about hell, if hell exists. And Jesus says it does. Notice whenever you get into a religious talk with someone, they're always looking to get Jesus on their side. Well, didn't Jesus say to love your neighbors yourself? So you can just affirm anything that they do. Everybody wants Jesus on their side. Why? Because Jesus has credibility. He's the truth. It's loving to warn people about hell. Jesus says it does. But Jesus dying for your sins isn't enough. You need positive righteousness to get into heaven. You need Jesus's perfect life imputed to you by faith. The positive righteousness you need to enter heaven after your sins are paid for because you can't bribe a holy judge with good works. So if this is ground level, every time you sin, you're going deeper and deeper and deeper and deeper into debt. Jesus dying for your sins just gets you to even. Now you need positive righteousness to get in your spiritual bank account to get into heaven. Jesus is perfect life. He lives the perfectly righteous life on your behalf. So now you have the positive righteousness to get into heaven, imputed to you by faith in him. Imagine someone robs your house, steals your car, and kicks your dog. Later, the cops find him, and he comes to you and says, listen, I'm really sorry for what I did. So I worked three weekends at the soup kitchen. That makes us even. No, that's not restitution. And guess what? You don't get to dictate the terms. You don't tell me, oh, I did this, and now you're gonna accept it. You have to come to God on his terms, not yours. Lest we forget who was the one who paid for the sin, and what he offered up, his one and only son. We can choose the sin, but we can't choose the consequence or the remedy. Jesus says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Now, if you're answering this objection, you want to remind them of the irony. You realize when he says, come to me, all you who are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest, his statement is inclusive. If you repent of your sins and come to him, he'll receive you, anyone. Whoever comes to Him will be saved, no matter how great or small their sin, no matter the color of their skin, no matter their economic status, no matter their level of education, no matter their political party, no matter what their situation is, if they come to Him, He will save them. Why? Because He came to purchase people out of every tribe, every tongue, every people, and every nation. His death on the cross would make that purchase. If you're listening, can you hear what Jesus is saying? I'm the God who's come for you. I'm the one who will love you to death. I'm going to the Father and I am the only way there. Come to me. So in answering this objection, four points. Truth is exclusive. Truth exists and it's exclusive. Man's problem is sin. Hell exists and delivers justice. And Jesus claimed to be the God and Savior. He claimed to be your payment for your sin. He is either Lord, liar, or lunatic. Since all religions make exclusive truth claims, saying Christianity is exclusive and therefore wrong doesn't actually prove anything. All religions make truth claims. All people make truth claims. Conversely, Christianity is the only faith that offers you a Savior, that offers you a payment for sin. Well, every other religion teaches you that you can bribe your way into heaven by doing good works. Imagine calling God your father and thinking that he's going to keep you out of heaven because you didn't do enough. What kind of father is that? And since truth is exclusive and Christianity makes truth claims that differ from other religions, it cannot be one of many religions that saves. It's an either or proposition. It cannot be both. So just how different is Christianity than every other religion? Well, you can follow the writings of Islam without Mohammed and be a Muslim. You can follow the writings of Buddhism without Buddha and be a Buddhist. You can follow the writings of the Old Testament without Moses and still be a Jew. But there are no writings that you can follow without Jesus and be a Christian because Christianity is not a teaching that we observe. Christianity is a person that we trust in us and are saved by. He is the way. He is the truth. He is the life. No one gets to God the Father but by Him. He is the living way. It's this characteristic that makes Christianity uniquely different than any other religious view. Since all the major religions have something to say about Jesus that differs from what Jesus actually said about Himself, all religions cannot be both true and false at the same time. But let's say you're a skeptic. You're still not convinced. I'll go as far as to agree with you. All religions will lead you to God. All religions do lead to the same God. Only one leads to him as father. The rest lead to him as judge. You will stand before that God and have to give an account of yourself. If your sins are not paid for, you will pay for them. Jesus didn't come to bring you a religion. He came to bring you a father. All religions make exclusive true claims, so they can't all be right and wrong at the same time. However, Jesus doesn't exclude anyone when he says, whoever believes on me will not perish, but have eternal life. The only real question left is, will you turn from your sin and believe on Jesus? Are you willing to come to him and die to yourself? Listen, religion hangs around the cross. Christianity hangs on the cross. You need to turn to Christ and be saved. He will save whoever comes to Him. Now, I'm not about here to beg you to come to Jesus. Jesus is not going to beg you to come to Jesus. Jesus, this is going to hurt. Jesus doesn't need you. You need Him. You need to recognize the depth of your own sin and come to Him. Turn, repent, change the way you think. Call upon the name of Jesus and be saved. The Christian says Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life, while the unbeliever says, no, it's my way, my truth, and my life. So I finally looked up the official game rules for the board game called Life. I Googled, how do you play the game of Life, the board game? Here's what the game overview said. Life is a two to six player game about money. This game is going to teach us a lot more about life than you think. Your score is represented by the wealth your token car collects as it travels through the board, with the overall goal being to retire the wealthiest player at the end of life. At the end of life, you're the wealthiest player. Now, do you see the sad irony of this? At the end of your real life, your material wealth stands behind you, not ahead of you, because you can't take material items into heaven. All you will have is the record of your life, sins and all. So for the Christian, your material wealth on earth makes no difference regarding salvation. We're storing up for ourselves treasures in heaven where moth and rust do not destroy. So at the end of the Christian life, Jesus, your Savior, stands before you so that your sins are left behind you. And then you realize Jesus is all you have, but then you also understand Jesus is all you need. He is the gift. He is life, eternal life. In the end, life is not a game. Life is a person. His name is Jesus. He is the way, the truth, and the life. No one gets to the Father but by Him. Let's pray. Father in heaven, as we come to terms With who your son is and who we are as people, we recognize the depth of our sin. We also understand the magnitude of the payment that you put on that cross in our place. And for that, Lord, we say thank you. But for Father, for those who don't know you, I pray, Lord, that your spirit will bring conviction. Open their eyes, open their ears, give them hearts to believe. Change them from the inside. Father, we pray for transformation as your word goes forth. Lord, what a God, what a Savior you are. You are the only way. And we are so grateful, Lord, that you chose us to know you, to be in union with you through your son, Jesus. What a blessing, what an honor, what a God. It's in Jesus' name we pray. Okay.