Loaded Questions | Part 1: Is Jesus Really The Only Way?

The late author and speaker Zig Ziglar said something one time that caught my attention Caused me to adopt it into my own life I laughed when Zig said I read the Bible and I read the news every day of my life I like to see what both sides are up to And I started doing the exact same thing. Well, if you dare to watch the news these days there's never seems to be a shortage of people who are making highly controversial remarks or statements that Constantly capture the headlines and depending on where you happen to stand on the various issues that are out there What we hear some of these people say can be unsettling at times to say the least But here's the truth the truth is had there been a JNN a Jerusalem news network in the first century There is no doubt that Jesus would have easily made the situation room every single night of his life He would have no doubt been the subject of analyst nearly every day of his life because to a person Living in the first century and for that matter a person living in the 21st century The things that Jesus said and the claims that he made are absolutely a shock to the system. They were Provocative they were Countercultural they were different and honestly, they just rub against the grain of human nature When you read the Bible and you study the things of Jesus You'll find out that Jesus constantly said things like you must be willing to lose your life if you really want To save it. He said things like the first will be last and the last will be first Jesus said things like it's the meek not the strong that are going to inherit the earth Here's one he said when persecution and pain come into your life because of me rejoice and be exceedingly glad really he said pray earnestly and sincerely for your Enemies if someone does you wrong don't seek retribution Jesus said don't seek revenge Just let it go and forgive them freely and forgive them fully now Look, if some of those things don't bother you at least a little bit and make you kind of cringe You're not human. I preach this stuff and I don't like it

okay, and so the the way that Jesus handled life and the way that he lived his life and the way that he was Leading us to live his life was our lives were countercultural But I'll tell you this of all the things that Jesus said of all the things that Jesus declared I think this one was absolutely the most controversial of all Jesus said in John 14, you need to understand that I am the way I Am the truth and I am the life. No one will ever be able to come to the father except Through me Well, happy Easter and welcome to canvas church and the start of our new series today over the next four weeks called loaded question And the reason that we're calling it that is because over these next weeks we're gonna be tackling some of the most controversial and frequently asked questions that people have had about God and faith and Religion for centuries and quite honestly are still asking them today I asked all of these when I was a young man and even as I grew older in life And we're gonna tackle some really really big ones like next week if God is so good and God is sovereign Then why is there so much pain and hurting and suffering in the world? We're gonna walk through the Bible and I'm gonna give you an answer to that We're gonna answer third week. Do you really have to go to church to be a Christian? We're gonna look at the Bible and I'm gonna give you an honest answer about what the Bible has to say about that It's gonna be an amazing series I think not only is it going to be incredibly informative to questions that maybe you've asked but I really believe that when it's all said and done it's going to be transformational to your life But the reason that I shared this declaration of Jesus from John 14 is today because I'm not sure that any other claim of Jesus really ignites more emotion from people in the world than this one because ever since Jesus declared it in John's gospel people have forever been analyzing this question Is Jesus really the only way to heaven is Jesus really the only way to eternal life? I mean according to researchers there are about 4,200 religions in the world 4,200 faith groups or denominations that are categorized into five major groups Christianity Islam Buddhism Hinduism and Judaism and out of all of that How is it possible that Jesus can claim that he alone is the only way?

Over the years I have heard people say that it was everything from arrogant to conceited to prideful to egotistic and narrow-minded and everything in between But let me say two things to you before we drop down into this today. Number one, not only am I convinced that Jesus was telling the absolute truth when he said it, but this part is so important for you to understand. It is crucial for you to understand that when Jesus said it, he did not say it out of egotism or arrogance or hubris or pride at all. When he spoke it, the tone and the tenor of his heart was compelled with great compassion. He looked at the world as people who had no hope of rescue, no hope of lifeline, no hope of ever making their way to God because of what sin had done. And when he said it, he wasn't saying it arrogantly, he was saying it compassionately. He was saying it broken. And I'm convinced as we take a closer look at this claim today, that the statement that Jesus made actually makes ultimate sense. But why is it that this statement of Jesus over the centuries and millennia have been so controversial to so many people? Well, one of the reasons is because I believe that it strikes at the very heart of three great myths or three great misconceptions that people have had about religion. In fact, things that I have heard from people for years, I bet you've heard some that we're gonna look at today.

In fact, I would say that some of you in this room probably even said some of these things yourself or adopted some of these myths. Of course, there's more than three, but I want us to take a look at these three misconceptions about religion, and I wanna show you why Jesus is different and why his claim strikes at the very heart of these three myths that people have about religion. So here's the first one. This is the catch-all. This is the one that I've heard from more people over the last 30 years than any other, and maybe you've heard it too. It's this one, myth one. Most people think when you get right down to it, honestly, dude, all religions are basically the same. A lot of people believe that. Most people believe that, although there are surface-level distinctions between various world religions, that at their bare essential, all religions basically teach the same thing. So look, it really doesn't matter which one you follow. You just need to keep trying until you find one that best fits you, and they describe it a little bit like trying to find a perfect pair of jeans or trying to find a shirt that fits you just well. You just need to keep trying faith and trying religions,

and when you find one that just suits you well or fits you well, just do that. If it makes you a better moral person, if it makes you get closer to whatever their spiritual being is out there, then hey, just pick that, and it's kind of this all-roads-lead-to-heaven theory that teaches the general brotherhood and sisterhood of mankind and the universal fatherhood of God. But ladies and gentlemen, there are major distinctions about Christianity that completely separate it from every other religion and make it stand apart, and the distinction begins, honestly, with the very claim of Christ himself. In other words, what I'm saying is the uniqueness of Christianity is actually rooted in the uniqueness of Christ himself. For example, other religious leaders say, follow me, and I will show you how to find truth, but Jesus separated himself from all of them when he said, I'm not gonna just teach you how to find truth, I need you to know that I am the truth. Other religious leaders say, follow me, and I'll show you the way to salvation, but Jesus distinguished himself when he said, I'm not just gonna show you a better path to salvation, I want you to know I am salvation.

I am the door. Other religious leaders say, follow me, and I'll show you how to be enlightened. I'll show you how to find nirvana. I'll show you how to find an existential part of transformation, but Jesus cut through all of that when he said, I'm not gonna show you how to be enlightened, I'm gonna teach you and show you that I myself am the light of the world. What I'm saying is this. Every other religion in this world is based upon you and I doing something to earn God's favor through struggling, striving, working, sacrificing in order to earn God's acceptance, love, and forgiveness. So whether it is the Tibetan prayer wheel that must be spun clockwise while chanting mantras in order to find favor with God, or long pilgrimages that must be taken, or certain benevolent deeds that must be done, or certain foods that must never be consumed, or a series of reincarnations that must be fulfilled, whatever it is, they are all attempts to earn, strive, legitimize, and fight for God's favor and love towards us. Christianity is the only religion in the world. Christianity is the only religion in the world where God does not require us to fight for him, work for him, or get to him.

It is the only religion in the world where God came for us, where God came to us, where he came. came down off of the mountain for us because he knew that we would never be able to get to him. Christianity is the only religion in the world where God made all of the sacrifices. He went first and he did all of that for those that were unworthy and those who were guilty. He did not require that we pay anything, that we do anything, that we fight for anything. He did it all. He sent his son, the most perfect thing he possessed, to do it for us so that all we would have to do is receive the free gift that he gives. So many people think it sounds too good to be true, that there's fine print, or that somehow there's a catch or an aha moment, but it's the only thing in the world where it's just true that God did it all. Let me show you a scripture here in Romans 5. The apostle Paul said, we can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice, so watch what he said. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his son in sacrificial death even while we were still in sin and of no good use to him. Every other religion in the world spells salvation D-O

because they teach that in order to be right with God, you gotta do this, you gotta do that, you gotta follow the rules, you gotta follow the regulations, you gotta do all of these things, but Christianity is the only religion in the world that does not spell salvation D-O or D-O-N-T. It is spelled D-O-N-E because Jesus Christ has already done it all on the cross, paying once and for all the payment and the penalty for our sins, and all we have to do is accept the free gift, and through his grace and his faith in that grace, we are accepted and forgiven completely by God. Now, yes, we live different as Christians. Of course, we live a different life, but we don't live different in order to earn his favor. We live different in the light of his favor because we have been saved. It is a result of the salvation that has taken place in our life. I like to tell people that when you really wanna juxtapose the religions, that it really comes down to, in one way, a tale of two parables. A few weeks ago, we were in a series called Parables, and I taught on one of the most famous, that people that don't even really go to church or know God that much or really buy into the Bible, everybody has almost heard of the parable

of the prodigal son that Jesus told in the Gospels, but what most people don't know is that this was not a new parable. This was a parable that had been taught before, and in fact, it is included in multiple different religions as well. For example, you will find a version of the parable of the prodigal son in Buddhist literature, but both stories involve sons who became rebellious, left home. Both stories tell of how those sons then saw the error of their ways and then decided to come home and be reconciled with their families, but in the Buddhist version, when the son returns home, he is required to work off the penalty for his past deeds and labor for a certain period of time in order to be accepted again by the family, and even though he is eventually accepted, he is never reinstated to complete sonship. He is still just a servant, but when you read the version of Jesus, when you read the parable of the prodigal son that Christ gives, he didn't require the son to do anything because remember, the son was broke and destitute, and he had spent all of his savings and had nothing to offer God, and the mere act of his return is enough to spark celebration. He is met with the open and welcoming grace of his father.

He is restored completely as a son as though he never left home, and what it tells us is this. Many religious leaders have offered up wise sayings to the world, but only Jesus was qualified enough to offer himself up for the world as payment for our sin. No other religious leader in history even pretended to be able to do that. Only Jesus stands alone in all of history. He wasn't just another Confucius full of wise sayings. He wasn't just another prophet for his generation to tell some platonic sayings that we might hang our life on. He was more than a prophet. He was more than a historical figure. He was and is the living son of God. All religions are not the same. God provided a clear path to himself through his son, and I am telling you, it does matter what path you take. All roads do not lead to heaven. All roads do not lead to eternal life, and Jesus made that clear, and he did it in love, not in arrogance, not in egotism, but he did it to say God has seen your. and he has sent a lifeline and a rescue to you. Don't neglect the day of salvation. So in myth one, look man, some people believe this. Hey dude, all religions are basically the same, but now we know that that's not true.

Watch myth two. Myth two is, it dovetails beautifully into it. Even though Christianity may be different, some people will give you that. Dude, it's still just, you know, one of the many varying beliefs and philosophies out there. So in myth one, all religions are thought to be the same. We see they're not. But in myth two, Christianity, while indeed different, is simply believed to be just one of the many, many veins of thought. In other words, Christianity is only as valid as every other religious belief. Who says it's more truthful than any other religion? Now I'm gonna tell you why this is a more prevalent idea, especially in our country, because of the pluralistic attitudes, really, of America. Because here's the thing. Under the United States Constitution, all religious viewpoints are equally protected. Now, no matter how you feel about that, that's a beautiful thing. We live in a country where I get the opportunity to stand on a stage and preach the gospel, as well as anybody can go across the street and worship at a Muslim temple. The Constitution protects our rights to be able to worship as we see fit. People have the right to believe whatever they want. But hear me out.

Because of this, some people jump to the erroneous conclusion that just because different philosophies are equally protected, they must be equally valid. And that is simply not true. What validates a claim? If I'm making a claim, if I'm telling you something is true, what will ultimately validate that claim? Well, it's simple. In this country, we have to offer proof, right? We offer proof. And Jesus never simply stated who he was and just accepted or expected us to believe it or what people should believe because of his claims. He consistently backed up his claim with unique credentials that make Jesus uniquely credible. Remember, in a court of law, if you are making a case for something, you must produce proof or evidence. And what do they call them? They call them exhibits. So if I'm trying to prove something, I'm gonna offer up exhibit A, exhibit B, and exhibit C. So let me just show you quickly in that vein, three things that make Jesus uniquely different than any other individual that has ever walked on the face of this planet. Here we go, exhibit A. All you gotta do is start with the hundreds and hundreds of detailed, fulfilled prophecies concerning Jesus.

Listen carefully. Jesus defied every mathematical odd by fulfilling over 300 Old Testament prophecies concerning the Messiah. These were not general prophecies. These were prophecies about who he was, where he would be born, that he would be sold for 30 pieces of silver, down to the minute details. They are like thumbprints that could only match the coming Messiah, and they were written 750 years before he was ever born. In all of human history, Jesus is the only one whose life perfectly matched these prophecies. Statisticians at Northwestern University ran the numbers, and they say that you have a better odd of winning the lottery every month for the rest of your life than you do accurately predicting 300 details of a person's life 750 years before they were born. Jesus fit all of this perfectly. He was the only one in history that all of these fulfilled prophecies applied to. Exhibit B, all of the witnesses of supernatural miracles that Jesus performed. The Bible says he consistently performed supernatural miracles that were actually corroborated by thousands of witnesses, as well as those who documented the Gospels,

and they told the details of his story with striking similarity and precision. Thousands of eyewitnesses saw him control weather patterns with just his word, feed thousands with a basket lunch, open blind eyes, make lame people walk again, cast out demons, open deaf ears, walk on water, and even raise the dead. And not only did they see it, but they recorded it in detail for future generations to understand that when you are dealing with Jesus, you are dealing with so much more than just an ordinary human being. And finally, the reason that we have gathered together today is in his final stroke of proof. Bible tells us that he brought death to its knees, but the Bible doesn't just tell us that. In his final stroke of irrefutable proof, when he rose, he showed himself to over 500 people who would go on to be martyred for what they saw. If you're fabricating something, if you're making something up just to make yourself the leader of a new movement, when it comes. It's down to them sawing you in half, boiling you in oil, burning you at the stake. At some point, you're gonna go, okay, JK. You know, JK, bro, the gig's up.

We tried, didn't work, but I'm not gonna be boiled in oil over this. And the disciples and many of those people that saw Jesus alive were willing to be martyred brutally and horribly for the cause of Christ, not because somebody told them to believe something, not because they read it in a book, but because they saw him crucified and they saw them take his lifeless body. And three days later, they saw him alive, rose from the dead, and they knew that he was the son of the living God. And they were willing to give their life for it, and they did. This separates Jesus from anybody else. He didn't simply make claims of who he was. He validated his claims like no one else in history, and people were eyewitness to those actions. Myth number three, when you boil it down, some people just go here. They go, man, in spite of all of that, to claim Christ is the only way is just narrow-minded and too exclusive. I mean, come on, man. Now, I'm gonna say this. This would only be true if there indeed were many different avenues to God, if there were many paths and we were simply claiming that our way is the best way. But I say again that Christ did not make his claim

in arrogance, but rather in brokenness and compassion, because there are not many ways. There are not a few ways. There are not even two ways. Jesus made it clear there is only one way. And he knew it because his father revealed this truth to him that he was indeed the only door. And when Jesus said it, he was pleading with people to not miss their opportunity at redemption and freedom. It was said with the broken heart of a father to his children, begging them not to perish senselessly when a way of escape has been provided. It is not narrow-minded, ladies and gentlemen, to pursue truth when it is based on good evidence. It's just logical. It's just logical. I thought about this a lot this last week, and it reminded me of when I pastored with my brother up in Lake City years ago. There was a couple in our church who were praying for a baby. They were struggling with infertility, and finally we were all praying for them, and eventually she got pregnant and they gave birth, but the baby was born with severe jaundice. Now, maybe many of you know what jaundice is, but in case you don't know what jaundice is, jaundice is a liver disorder that causes your skin and the whites of your eyes to turn yellow. The pediatrician told them that indeed

this was a potentially devastating disease, but it could be easily treated, and the doctor prescribed for that baby phototherapy. Phototherapy. He said all you gotta do is put the baby under a special light for a while, and it will stimulate her liver properly, and over time it will heal her and she will be just fine. Now, let's say the doctor prescribed that. Those young parents could have taken several approaches. What they could have said to the doctor was, what? Bro, have you seen her? Look at how serious this is, and you're trying to tell me it's as simple as putting her under a light? Doc, it's too good to be true, and we're not buying that. Maybe what we should do, doc, is we should take her home and scrub her with soap and dip her in bleach, and if we do that enough, if we washed her enough, surely she would be clean and we could get her color back. Or maybe, doc, what we should do is just ignore everything that you said and pretend that everything is all right. You know, doc, jaundice is your truth, not our truth, and we sincerely believe that if we just ignore it and act like everything is okay, that eventually it'll all work out to our benefit. Or maybe they could have said, listen, here's what we need to do, doc. We're not gonna put her under no light.

We are just gonna work as hard as we can to be the most caring and generous and loving and moral parents that we can be, and if we're just good moral parents, everything is going to be all right. The doctor would have said, are you not listening to me? Have you lost your mind? Did you hear what I just said? It's potentially devastating, but the treatment is relatively simple. You cannot ignore what I am saying to you. There is only one way to cure this baby, and to ignore it or to try other methods is to jeopardize this child's future forever. That doctor would have said, I have studied medicine for years. I've got a wall full of credentials that authenticate my claim. I have prescribed this for dozens of babies. It works every time. Believe me, this is. The only way. There's not a person in this room, there's not a person in this room that would accuse those parents of being narrow-minded because they simply trusted their doctor and pursued the course of treatment that his years of experience and credentials led him to prescribe. They would simply be acting in accordance

with all of the evidence. Ladies and gentlemen, ladies and gentlemen, you and I were born into this world with a devastating disease called sin. Every one of us, you, me, the most moral person you can think of, the person you admire that you think lives the golden rule better than anybody, every one of us have been born into this world with sin. It's what makes us selfish. It's what makes us prideful. It's what makes us self-serving and prone to temptation. It's that part of us that we wrestle against and struggle with and deep down, even though some never talk about it, in our very most honest moments of life, it's that thing inside our soul that makes us know something is wrong. We may not admit it, we may not say it like that, but in our very honest moments, when we're not right with God through Christ, we know something is missing, something is wrong. And you can try to scrub our sin away with good deeds and we can try to ignore it and somehow hope it goes away and we can try to be really good and generous and moral people and somehow think that our morality will make up for our sinful, broken condition, but Jesus made it clear that none of these will ever work. Only God offers true healing. Only God offers true healing

through his one and only son, Jesus Christ, for the brokenness of our human condition. And when we turn to him for healing, ladies and gentlemen, that's not being narrow-minded. We are simply acting in accordance with the overwhelming evidence, with the overwhelming evidence that he is exactly who he said he is, the way, the truth, and the life. In Matthew chapter 11, Jesus is talking to a group of people that have tried to make themselves acceptable to God and were exhausted. The Jews had over 600 laws that somehow, if they lived, God was pleased with them, God was happy with them. That's the way they believed and thought and that's the way they taught it, that if you could keep these 600 laws, God was happy with you, accepted you, and was pleased with you, and if you couldn't, then you were just out and God was displeased with you and they were exhausted because nobody could do it. And at the end of the day, no matter how hard they tried, they always felt like failures before God. And Jesus looks at these religiously exhausted people and he says this in Matthew chapter 11. He said, are you tired? Yeah. Are you worn out? Absolutely.

Are you burned out on religion? You dang right. That's why this church exists. This church exists because I came to a point in my life that I got burned out on religion. We couldn't keep doing the same things we used to do. There had to be a place where we could come where it was safe, where it was okay to not be okay, that no perfect people would be allowed and that we could bring all of our junk before the Lord and lay it at the foot of the cross and receive the healing that only he could give. I was tired of trying to work my way to God. Here's what Jesus said. If that's you, here's the answer. Don't work harder. The answer's not try harder. Come to me. Get away with me. Jesus said you'll recover your life. I'll show you how to find a real rest. Walk with me and work with me. Watch how I do it. Learn, I love this. The unforced rhythms of grace. When you come to me and you receive grace, it's unforced. You don't have to force anything. I love you like you are. Keep company with me and you'll learn what it's like

to truly be free. It's like cold, refreshing water rolling over a sparse, burnt, dry soul. When Jesus came out of that grave after three days, he sealed the final piece of proof that the world would ever need to settle once and for all, that because of him and through him, we can be free. Now I wanna take my last three minutes here and I wanna talk to some people that I know are in this room that I suspect were right where I was 30 years ago. when I was on the precipice of giving my life to Christ. I was born in a pastor's home. My dad and my mom loved me and my brothers. They gave us Jesus. We spit in the face of God and we walked away from it. And when I'm 20 years of age, I'm as far away from God as I've ever been. And part of the reason why is because I was full of doubts. I was full of skepticism. I was full of the questions that we're gonna wrestle with in this series. And I felt like in my heart that if I was ever gonna come to God, I had to have all of my questions answered. That all of my skepticism had to be satisfied. That somehow in my mind, I had to be able to reconcile two plus two equals four. And no matter how I looked at the Bible or looked at God or looked at the gospel,

none of it would make intellectual sense to me. And in my misery and in my brokenness, I discovered something that changed my entire life that I am convinced if you're here and in the same place as I was, will change your entire life as well. Here's the discovery. My discovery at 20 was, I do not have to fully understand something to fully believe in it. I don't have to fully understand something to fully believe in it. Because I am telling you that if you come to gospel only with your intellect, if you have to make two plus two equal four, you will never come to God because some of it just will not make sense. The righteous, the holy, and the pure dying for the unrighteous, the unholy, and the impure, that doesn't make any sense. And if it has to make sense to you, you'll never come to God. But let me go ahead and just give you a little, let me tell you where I'm at with it. I don't understand all the nuances about electricity, but I'm not gonna sit around in the dark until I figure it out. I don't know what they're doing on that end. I don't know what they're generating. I don't know how they're controlling.

I don't know how they're distributing. I don't know all the nuances of electricity, but I know this, when I flip the switch, it works, baby. It just does. And you don't have to know everything about God, and you don't have to have it all figured out, and you don't have to have every one of your questions answered, and you don't have to have all of your skepticism satisfied before you believe, before you fully believe. That he is the way, that he is the truth, and that he is the life. It just is, and it just works. And all you have to do is what I did 30 years ago. I fell on. I just said, I'm tired of running. I'm tired of making you fit in my boxes, God. I'm tired of questions that I do not have answers to. And somehow, everything inside of me is just telling me that if I would just begin to follow you right where I am, with all of my doubts and skepticism and crap in my life, that somehow you will lead me to the answers that are the most meaningful of my life. And so today, Lord, I'm gonna trust you. I'm not gonna make you answer all my skepticism. I'm just gonna trust that what you're saying is true, and that you are who you said you are. And that day, I found the greatest freedom that I have ever known. I'm gonna close with this.

In Mark chapter eight, Jesus asked two questions of his disciples. One was an interesting question, and one was an eternal question that will change everything for some people in this room here today. Bible says that Jesus has just healed a blind man. And as they're walking along, Jesus stops and he looks at his disciples, and he goes, I got a question for you. Whom do men say that I am? I know that the fame of my life is getting out, and what I'm doing in miracles is getting out. And I'm curious, what are the people in the town? Who do they say that I am? And one of the disciples said, well, some people say you're John the Baptist reincarnated. Some people say you're Elijah. Some people say you're this. Some people say you're that. Some people say you're so-and-so. And then Jesus stops, and he gets past the interesting question, and he asks the eternal question. He said, well, let me ask you this. Whom do you say that I am? And Peter turns around, and in this moment of declaration with boldness says, oh my God, we are convinced you are the son of the living God.

You are the Messiah. You are the Savior. And Jesus says, Peter. Flesh and blood did not reveal that to you. Only my Father which is in heaven has told you the truth about who I am. And I say that to say this. I've stood on this stage today and I've done my very best to make a case for Christ. But I am telling you that it doesn't matter who I say He is. It doesn't matter how convinced I am that Jesus is who He says He is. What will change your eternity and your life forever is not who I say Jesus is. It'll be who you say He is. Whom do you say that He is? Do you think He's just another historical figure? Then you'll miss it. You think He's just another good prophet? Then you'll miss it. You think He belongs with Aristotle, Socrates and Plato? Then you'll just miss it. But when you come to the realization and you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart that He is the Christ, the Messiah, the Son of the living God. That He is the way, the truth and the life. And that He didn't just die a horrible death, but He lives a life today because He was resurrected three days later. And it was proof that everything He promised was true. Your life will change forever.