“Only One Pathway to Salvation” – R. Nelson
BIBLE MEDITATION:
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.” Acts 4:12
ENCOURAGING WORD:
We hear so often in the different religions throughout the world where it is believed that all roads lead to heaven. That is one of the biggest deceptions of our days. All roads do not lead to heaven as we read in John 14:6 where we hear Jesus Himself say, “Jesus answered, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” First thing you have to ask yourself is this, do you believe this statement or do you not? If you claim to be a Christian, and you do not accept this statement as truth, what is your basis for calling yourself a Christian? The one sure way that you can know that Jesus Christ is the only way is to check the graves of all the false prophets of the ages. Look in Mohammed’s grave, there is a body or by now ashes. Look in Buda’s grave and you will find the same thing. If you investigate all the graves of the so-called prophets, you will find a decayed body of some sort. Now we need to go to Jerusalem and investigate the Garden Tomb where the body of Jesus Christ was laid after the crucifixion. You will notice that it is empty. We read in 1 Corinthians 15:55-57; “O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting? For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power. But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ. “Jesus Christ is the only one who conquered death and rose from the grave and is still alive today sitting at the right hand of the God the Father making intersession for us, His true believers.
Once you discover for yourself that all roads do not lead to God, and you have accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, you will begin to notice that life is not as simple as you once thought. You may be experiencing overwhelming problems; or that life is not going as smoothly as you thought it would. You start sensing that something is missing. For those of you who are at this crossroad, the Bible offers the only direction to heaven through Jesus Christ, one filled with purpose, fulfillment, acceptance, and forgiveness. The steps are as follows:
Recognize that you are a sinner
First, you must admit that you have a spiritual need. Romans 3:10 tells us; “As the Scriptures say, “No one is righteous, not even one.” We cannot make excuses or blame others for our actions. We are all sinners in need of a Savior, and we are all responsible for our own actions. Romans 3:23; “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard.” Every person has turned away from God and broken His laws. Our sin has separated us from a right relationship with a Holy God. Apart from Jesus Christ, none will be saved. Proverbs 24:16, “For a righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, But the wicked shall fall by calamity.” (A state of deep distress or misery caused by major misfortune or loss) The born-again believer will acknowledge that he is a sinner by nature and will understand that he is sinful, but he also knows that his sins have been paid by Jesus Christ on the cross, which leads me into the second part.
Recognize that Jesus Christ died on the cross for you.
There is no way in and of ourselves that we can satisfy God’s righteous requirements to be holy, nor can we find a pardon through any church ritual or membership. We read in Romans 6:23; “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.” When Jesus hung on the cross, He took the sins of the world upon Himself and paid a price that He did not owe because we owe a price that we cannot pay. That means every sin that you have ever committed or will commit has been paid for by Jesus Christ if you believe. 1 Peter 3:18; tells us, “For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit,” Back before Jesus Christ was born, the Hebrews would perform certain rituals of sacrifice to cover their sins. Their sins were covered but never really paid for until Jesus Christ made the final sacrifice for the sins of the world. When Jesus died and descended into the lower parts of the earth, He led captivity captive and brought out all the Old Testament Saints who died before salvation was paid for. Until Jesus assented into heaven, the Old Testament Saints were alive and well in Abrahams Bosom, which was paradise, a place of comfort until the true Messiah would remove them. “Abraham’s bosom was for those who had put their faith in the future Messiah.” The Bible calls Jesus the first fruits, meaning, Jesus was the first to be resurrected and he let all those that were in Abrahams Bosom free into eternity in His presence and to experience Him forever more.
Repent of Your Sins
Jesus tells us that we need to be reborn by the Spirit of God to become part of God’s family. John 3: 3; “Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” We are put in right standing with God when we agree with Him that we are all sinners and in need of forgiveness. The word “repent” means to “change direction.” The Bible tells us, Repent, therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the peace of the Lord. Acts 3:19; “Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,” Here God commands us to repent. You must be willing to turn away from the things that displease God. If you have repented of your sins and turned away from sin, and received Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then you are saved. When you understand all about sin and salvation and what is going on in our world today, you may occasionally ask yourself, why has God not yet judged America for all the evil that we have allowed into our country? We read the answer in 2 Peter 3:9; “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” God loves His creation so much that He continues to give us warning after warning about the fate that awaits those that reject His Son, Jesus Christ! I remember Billy Graham once said, and I quote, “If God doesn’t judge America soon, He will have to apologize to Sodom and Gomora.” He made this statement many years ago before things where even half as bad as they are now. We, as a nation are heading down the same trail as Sodom and Gomora and will only be a matter of time when God says, enough is enough. We are living on borrowed time.
Receive Jesus Christ as your Savior
It is essential that you come to Jesus Christ as you are. Do not try to clean yourself up before you come to God. On your own, you can never be good enough to earn a place in His kingdom. We read this in Ephesians 2:8-9; “For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God, not by works, so that no one can boast.” A good analogy of what this is saying is this, does a fisherman clean his fish before he catches them, of course not. So, come to God as you are, and He will start the cleansing process. When Jesus called the twelve disciples, some were fisherman or somehow involved in the fishing industry in some way shape or form. There was Matthew who was a tax collector, Simon (Peter) was known as the Zealot, (a member of a fanatical sect arising in Judea during the first century AD. and militantly opposing the Roman domination of Palestine) not strictly a profession. Zealots engaged in politics and anarchy, attempting to overthrow the Roman government. Judas was a thief, and Paul was anything but a righteous man when Jesus Called him while he was on the road to Damascus. Jesus does not call the righteous, He seems to go out of His way to call those that we would least expect to be called. He took the disciples under His wing for three and a half years, and when the time had come Jesus sent them out into the world to teach the good news of the Gospel. Twelve men virtually turned the world upside down, or should I say, right side up! From unlearned fishermen to the greatest teaches of all time. So, what I am trying to say is this, come to Jesus as you are, God will do the cleansing. We all must come through the finished work of Jesus Christ on the cross, there is no other way!
ACTION POINT:
As you can see, God made it extremely easy for us to be saved. When you make this decision to accept Jesus Christ and become born-again into the Holy Spirit, the Bible says that there is joy in heaven even over just one repented sinner. We read in Luke 15:10; “Likewise, I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repents.” Can you imagine the joy the angels express, every time a person turns to Jesus Christ and repents of his sins? 1 John 1:19; Gives us this comforting verse, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” The ball is in our court! We all need to understand that this life that we are living in the here and now, is just temporary. James 4:14 confirms this, “Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.” Friends, we all know someone that has died well before their time. Some at a very young age and some much older, but the point is, none of them knew the day that they would die. If they did, they would have most certainly repented of their sins before they died. I hear a lot of people say, I want to have fun first, and then I will repent on my death bed. (Russian Roulette) Every person that has passed away without knowing the Lord, would love the opportunity to come back and warn their loved ones that Jesus Christ is real and you need to repent of your sins and turn to Him this day and not wait another second. Like the verse above states, ““Whereas you do not know what will happen tomorrow” However, God does know! If you feel a tugging at your heart to turn to Him, it may be the Holy Spirit giving you one last chance before you depart from this life. Please, do not wait another day! Your eternity depends on it! “This is truly written to the glory of God and Inspired by the Holy Spirit!” Amen!
Commentary from our Chaplin – R. Fritz
Only One Pathway to Salvation
I agree that there is only one pathway to Salvation and that is Jesus Christ. The reality is, without Jesus we cannot conquer any issues that we have throughout our whole life up to that point until we choose Jesus Christ. Jesus says in Matthew 7:13-14 “Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Why did Jesus say that? Because most people are going to choose to take the easy way out, the broad way and verse 15-16 talks about false prophets coming in sheep’s clothing. Inwardly they are ravishing wolves and people believe them without looking at their fruit. The straight and narrow gate is the way which leadeth unto spiritual life and few will be who find it or see it because it is the more difficult way and the way to Jesus Christ and eternal life. When we talk about “repent,” It means change direction or turn from. We all came to Jesus the way we were, not having to change anything. Some of us led evil and unrighteous lives until Jesus got our attention. It was not explained to us at that time what it means to “repent” or what has to happen, so if we have not truly repented, my Lord and Savior will judge whether we are saved or not by looking into our heart. We do not have that right to judge whether anybody is saved. Repenting of your sins is the most important part of being saved. It is the door that starts you down the path to either the wide gate that leads to destruction, or the narrow gate to being saved. There are some who will turn back to their old life. They are fighting a spiritual battle and if they have not given up fighting their own battles and trusting Jesus Christ, they will miss out on eternal life. The heart is the true measurement of faith if you repented where we read in Jeremiah 17:9-10 “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, and according to his ways and according to the fruit of his doings.” The Lord is the judge of your heart and knows your motives. Luke 6:45 says, and this is Jesus talking “A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for out of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh.” Our inner feelings, frustrations, and beliefs will eventually come out of your mouth and you will not be able to stop them.Philippians 2:12-13 says “Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both to will and to do his good pleasure.” Salvation is worked out all through your life with obedience. It is not once saved, always saved. I repeat, the Lord judges your heart. Matthew 7:21 says and this is Jesus talking “Not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. You must “Obey the Lord” to enter the kingdom of heaven. We have obligations through our life when we choose Jesus Christ. After we are saved, we begin to believe, and our faith should grow and show by our works (things we have done for God).
When we talk about being “Born Again,” we talk about our spiritual cleansing, a new spirit, this is part of our salvation also. This is talked about in John 3:3-8. This is a subject that I will finish at another time.
The thing that I have learned is we need to keep looking at ourselves and asking God if there is something, we are doing wrong that needs to change. If we love Jesus, we will keep his commandments. John 14:15-16 says “If ye love me, keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter that he may abide with you forever; This Comforter is the Holy Spirit! Once we are truly saved, you can start to have a relationship with Jesus Christ and when you receive the Holy Ghost and it lives in you, then you can really have a personal relationship with Jesus.
In Conclusion – R. Nelson
To start your walk with our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, you must follow the steps above. This is the beginning of your spiritual walk. In other words, you can do all the good deeds that you can think of, but without recognizing that you are a sinner, knowing that Jesus Christ died for you on a cross, repenting of your sins and receiving Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, then all your works are dead. We read in Revelation where the Apostle John writes to the church of Sardis, Revelation 3:2; “And to the angel of the church in Sardis write, ‘these things says He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars: “I know your works, that you have a name that you are alive, but you are dead.” In other words, all their works are dead. Like Rick referred above, once you are saved, then you will be held accountable for obeying Gods commands. Before you are saved, you can do nothing to satisfy the will of God outside of Jesus Christ! So, to sum it all up in one simple verse, “There is only one way to salvation” John 10:1, “Most assuredly, I say to you, he who does not enter the sheepfold by the door, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” So, enter the straight and narrow gate today and start your spiritual walk that will lead to an eternity with Jesus Christ in the most perfect environment beyond anything that we can imagine. If fact it is so amazing that God said in 1 Corinthians 2:9;”But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, nor have entered into the heart of man the things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” Wonderful things are coming to those who believe! “This is truly written to the glory of God and Inspired by the Holy Spirit!” Amen!