If you listen to the world around you, you might think that there are many ways to salvation. You might think that all roads lead to God. Maybe this sort of thinking is a result of what I like to call our “Burger King mentality” - have it your way. It certainly comes from our deepest problem, which is sin. It goes back to the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve took the first bite of the forbidden fruit because they desired to be like God. So, now, we want to live the way we want and have eternal life on our terms - salvation according to our plan. And there is no shortage of people out there who will tell you just what you want to hear.
Through the prophet Jeremiah, God warned the ancient people of Judah about such foolishness and the consequences that come from it.
“Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They say continuously to those who despise the word of the Lord, ‘It shall be well with you, ' and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.”
Those whom Jeremiah ironically called prophets were not. They spoke their own words rather than the Word of God, just as those who claim there are multiple paths to God rather than the one true path … faith in Christ.
Jesus was quite clear about God’s plan for the salvation of mankind when He spoke in John 14, saying, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
It is through the Gospel, and the Gospel alone, that faith in Christ comes, not when we believe it as an intellectual pursuit, but when we truly apprehend the promise of God being for us … IN FAITH … when each of us grabs hold and believes that forgiveness in Christ Jesus is “FOR ME.” There isn’t one way for the Gentile, and another for the Jew, another for the Muslim, the Buddhist, the Hindu, and so on. There is no other way but Christ Jesus and faith in His atoning sacrifice upon the Cross. For many in the world, this is not a comforting thought, however, because it makes them subject to the will and mercy of God. But why, one might ask, would a person not want to be subject to the will and mercy of God? To find peace in being so subject, one must truly have a love for God. Unfortunately, many in this world do not have that love and thus don’t trust in Him, despite His attempts to give them that love.
They love themselves and the world around them. Despite God’s best effort - the sending of His Son in the person of Jesus Christ - such people stubbornly continue to go their way, carrying their unconverted, hardened hearts with them.
We should not be surprised at this. Jesus said such would happen, that not all would receive His message of forgiveness.
“Do you think that I have come to give peace on earth? No, I tell you, but rather division. For from now on, in one house there will be five divided, three against two and two against three.”
Therefore, there is no middle ground regarding salvation. It is either faith in Jesus or nothing. It is either life or death. It is God or the World. We cannot follow two masters, nor can we be our own master. We’ve tried that for a long time, and it doesn’t work so well.
We do not get to have it “our way.” It is only through repentance and forgiveness - what we collectively call the Gospel - that we find our hope for eternal life with God. Being a good person will not save you. The Law will not save you. Jesus points to that when He speaks of settling with our accuser before going to court.
“As you go with your accuser before the magistrate, make an effort to settle with him on the way, lest he drag you to the judge, and the judge hands you over to the officer, and the officer puts you in prison.”
The Law is our accuser. We are brought before God by it. We have a debt we cannot pay. How then are we to settle with the Law? We cannot. However, Christ through His obedience and sacrifice upon the Cross has settled the account on our behalf, so all who have faith in Him might receive mercy from God at the final judgment. The Law accuses, but Christ is our advocate. Through Him, when we repent and seek forgiveness, we are declared righteous - though we technically have no righteousness of our own. As it says in 2nd Corinthians 5:21,
"God made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God."
Or as it says in Isaiah 61:10,
"I will rejoice greatly in the LORD, my soul will exult in my God; for He has clothed me with garments of salvation and wrapped me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom wears a priestly headdress, as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."
Salvation does not come according to our will, but by God’s grace and mercy, through the obedient suffering of Jesus Christ. It is to this we must hold, and not to the way of the world, even if the world offers promises of eternal peace, earthly happiness, prosperity, and even salvation itself. Do not be led astray by the false prophets of this world who speak a word other than the word of God.
Let us pray: God Almighty: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, keep me in true faith so that I might look toward you and give you the glory for my well-being and ultimately for my salvation unto eternal life. Do not let me see my way or the way of the world, but rather THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE, in whose name I pray. Amen.