Only
One Way To God
By
Mark Greenwood.
Jesus said , “I am the way, the truth and the life, no man comes to the
Father except by me”.
The Apostle Paul said,
“ There is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus”.
Many find it easy to say that all
roads lead to God and it keeps a lot of religious people happy, but it is not
the truth and it cannot be what any real Christian believes either.
The reason I
say that is because Jesus said, "I am the way the truth and the life no one
comes to the Father except by me", and the Apostle Paul said, "There is only
one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus".
Let me ask you,
what did Jesus pray in the garden of Gethsemane? Do you remember the story how just before He was arrested,
tortured, beat and crucified, He went into the garden to pray and prepare
himself for what was to fellow. The
bible tells us how He was in such agony that he sweat as it were, great drops of
blood. What was causing this agony?
His prayer to the Father was "If it is possible take this cup from me,
nevertheless not what I will but thy will be done".
Jesus knew what
he would have to suffer to save mankind and he asked the Father if there was any
other way possible than for Him having to suffer and bear the full wrath of God
for the sins of the world.
If there was
any other way for man to get to God than faith in Christ death , any other way
at all, then Jesus Christ would not have had to die.
The bible says
that the wages of sin is death, (Jesus paid the price in full), but the gift of
God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
So the reason I
cannot say that all religions point to God is because I would be saying that the
death of our Lord Jesus was futile and he died in vain.
No, Jesus knew what he was doing when he offered himself up as a
sacrifice for our sins, it was necessary for him to suffer and die as he did so
that we might be saved.
So, what do we
have to DO now to get right with God?
Well, God is a
righteous God and he demands righteousness from us so he gave us the law to
keep, to help us to be righteous, however all that proved to us was that we
couldn’t keep the law. Now God
knew we wouldn’t keep the law, so right from he beginning of time (before the
beginning of time actually) he made
a way for us to be right with him, and that is by faith.
He says that if we believe that Jesus has died for our sins having faith
in his finished work on the cross, then that is accredited to us for
righteousness. All the
righteousness we will ever need is accredited to if we have faith in Jesus
Christ.
But surely we
have to do something more than believe with our hearts that Jesus died for us?
No, it is by
God’s grace alone. Grace means
undeserved favour. We don’t
deserve anything from God but he still loves us and wants us to be saved. The bible says, "For God so loved the world that he gave
his only begotten son that whosoever believeth on him should not perish but have
everlasting life".
Most folk would
rather do something, like live a decent life and trust in that, but that is not
good enough, we could never meet God’s standards however hard we tried.
You may feel that you are good enough and that you do enough good works.
No doubt you are better than me and do more good works than I do,
I know I am not good enough and I need a saviour.
I would plead with you, don’t trust in your own works because you
won’t make it no matter how good you are.
Do what I have done, put your trust in the only one who can save you,
have faith in Christ death on the tree.
Another
question, according to God what is the greatest sin you can commit?
Think about it,
have you committed it? If so, you
need a saviour or you will be punished in hell.
Jesus said that
the first and great commandment was to love the Lord your God with ALL your
heart, soul, mind and strength. How
often have you broke that, the greatest of commandments?
If that is the greatest commandment then the greatest sin is to break it.
If you have broke this commandment and you die today without a saviour
then you face a lost eternity, to be tormented day and night for ever and ever..
The bible says,
‘how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation’.
If you want to stay lost then simply reject the way of salvation that is
offered in Christ Jesus.
There is a way
of salvation but only one way.
It is so simple
‘only believe’, yet folk won’t do it, why?
Because they count the cost and they are not willing to pay the price.
Oh yes it is free, but once we believe and put our trust in him who is
the only way, then he says, ‘come follow me’.
Yes the price is much too high. Even
to say, I believe on Jesus as my saviour, causes some to be offended and you
will find you have to make a stand or cast it away.
The bible says,
"For by grace are you saved through faith,
and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest
anyone should boast".
It’s a free
gift, man cannot boast that he is good enough or has done enough good works, no,
it is free. Will you accept it now
or will you still trust in your works?
God has already
done it all for us, just believe on Jesus for your salvation and follow him.
If it had been
possible for us to be saved any other way then Jesus wouldn’t have had to
suffer like he did, but because it was the only way, he was willing to say, for
you, "not my will but thine be done". Are
you willing to say that or is the price too high.
He died for you, will you live for him?
Sin separates
us from God. What can wash away
your sin? Nothing else, but the
blood of Jesus.
If you have
committed the greatest sin of all, do you think you will escape if you neglect
God’s only way of salvation.
The bible says
that it is appointed unto men once to die and after death the judgement.
After the judgement if our names are not found in the book of life then
there is the second death, the lake which burns with fire and brimstone.
Make sure your name is in the book of Life.
The only way is by accepting the free gift of eternal life and believing
in the death of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ as a substitute for our sins.
Have a change
of heart, change your mind, repent and believe, do it today, believe and ask
Jesus into your life, ask him to change you.
He has promised to make you a brand new person, only believe.
I am not asking
you to go to church, not asking you to do anything except believe and give your
life to God. Is that too much to
ask? Are you afraid that God will
call you to do something you cannot do? Don’t
be afraid, trust and obey. He died
for you, give Him your heart and He will make you into a brand new person.