THE REFORMED WITNESS
HOUR
"Only One Way of Salvation
(2)"
Rev. Carl Haak
(e-mail: Rev. Carl Haak) |
Dear radio friends,
If you listened to our program last week, you will recall that we asked the
important question: What is the way to
heaven? We asked whether there is more than
one way to heaven. And we heard the answer of
the Word of God, through the inspired apostle Peter, as we read in Acts 4:12,
“Neither is there salvation in any other: for
there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”
We learned from the Scriptures that the way of salvation is only in the work of
Jesus Christ. We saw that salvation is to be
delivered from the greatest of all evils, which is our sin, and to be brought to the
highest of all possible good, which is God. And
we saw that it was only in Jesus Christ, only in His name, says Peter, that is,
only by His power and in His authority, that there is salvation.
Today we want to look again at this verse of Scripture and look at two things that
it teaches us. First of all, we want to see
that this is indeed the exclusive way of salvation — there is none other. Secondly, we want to see that it is the sure way
of salvation.
The apostle Peter said, “There is none other name under heaven given among
men, whereby we must be saved.” Now,
very plainly, the Scriptures are teaching that the way of salvation is exclusively in
Christ. There is no other name under heaven
among men. That is, Peter is saying, you may
look under all that lies beneath the heaven, you may look upon it all, you may search and
examine, look where you want – you will not find salvation except in the name (that
is, in the power and authority) of Christ. You
may go to universities, where you will find the very best of man’s wisdom. You may climb the highest mountains, enter into
different temples of various religions, observe sacrifices, come before a Buddha or
Mohammad, engage yourself with a cult – but there is no salvation for the soul
in them. They cannot and they do not save! They are delusions.
Jesus Christ, then, does not take His place in line with other saviors. There are no saviors other than Jesus
Christ, the Son of God revealed upon the pages of Holy Scripture. That means that, apart from Jesus Christ revealed
in the Bible as the One given of God to die on the cross for sinners, there is no
salvation. And if there is no salvation, then
there is only damnation. Jesus is the only
way to the Father.
Follow me, now, very carefully. Falsehood
can tolerate falsehood. But truth never can. Two lies can live in the same house and never
quarrel. But truth cannot live with the lie. The popular understanding is that the Hindu, the
Mohammedan, the modern church all can say, “We call God by different names, but we
hope one day all to meet together. There are
many ways to heaven.” Jesus Christ,
revealed in the Scriptures, cannot and does not take His place with that! He proclaims that all other ways are a lie,
a delusion, and cannot save. It is Christ
alone.
There are many who say, “Oh, yes. Christ
saves. But let’s not be so uncharitable
to say that that means that all other beliefs, all other ways, are to be condemned.” Always the gospel of Jesus Christ will be received
by the majority with favor if it is presented as a way, which takes its place
alongside of other ways. But when it is
proclaimed in the authority of God that it is the only way, the exclusive
way, then it becomes offensive.
But I ask the question: How is that
charity? How is it charitable to say that
there is salvation in others besides Jesus Christ? How
is that love? Is it charity to say nothing
when a blind man nears the cliff edge? Is it
charity to say nothing when an emigrant is boarding a leaking boat? Is it charity not to cry out and warn men of
danger? Peter is saying, “Apart from
Jesus Christ, unless you rest by grace through faith in Him, you will perish!” He is not saying to the Jews, “Your system of
work-righteousness is noble, and it has many redeemable points. It’s very useful, you know.” Oh, no! He
is saying to them, “There is no salvation in it.
There is salvation only in the Jesus of God.”
Let us hear the Word of God. There is
no salvation in superstitions of men, in philosophies of men. And there are a host of them. New Age philosophy, Hinduism, and on and on we can
go. They come and say, “This is the way
by which you can come to God. In fact, this
is the way in which you can become God.”
You take your child and you cast him into a river.
Or you worship an animal. Or you
lacerate your flesh. Or you wear rough
clothing. Or you put pins through your ears. Or you drink herbal tea. We denounce all of this, in God’s name, as
demons sent among men to delude their souls.
But when we bring this closer, then we see that the gospels, many different
gospels, many different messages heard in the Christian church, are also denying the truth
about Jesus. There are many who say, “I
believe in God and in His Son Jesus Christ. But
don’t let that interfere with what I want. Jesus
is my Savior. But He’s not my lord
– not yet, at least. He must accommodate
Himself to me. He has to take me in my
life-style. Jesus who saves me must condone
my sinful life-style. He is Savior, but not
Lord. He lets me be who I want to be. Don’t let Jesus, then, interfere with my
dating, with my companionship, with my working on Sunday.
Don’t let His day curtail my fun.” Christ
is merged into cultural norms. Christ
accommodates Himself to man.
In the name of Jesus Christ, we denounce that!
It is utter delusion. It is founded
upon man’s fancy. It is an idol. It is not the God of Scripture. A God who has no holiness and justice? That may sound very good on the surface. God will tolerate anything. That may serve as a toy to play with. But it is far too untrue to die with. It utterly fails to meet the want of conscience,
the want of the sinner. There is no rest for
our souls in such a word. It cannot save. Jesus is not the Jesus of positive thinking. He is not the Jesus proclaimed by the popular
preacher who strips Him of His deity and almighty power.
He is not the Jesus of free-willism, a Jesus who is impotent to save unless the
sinner first decides that he will let Jesus save him.
He is not the Jesus left after men have nullified the greater part of Scripture,
denying creation, denying the virgin birth — that is not Jesus! No, the name of Jesus is above all names. It is the name which alone can save. It is the name of Jesus that is revealed in all
of Holy Scripture, confessed in all of its truth and in all of its power and glory. Only in Him is there salvation.
But we have to bring this even closer. There
is no salvation in us, in our good works, in our faith or repentance. Now listen carefully. I did not say that faith and repentance are not
necessary. They are the fruits of salvation,
and without them no one is saved. But faith
in Jesus and repentance of sin are not the cause of salvation. Jesus’ work upon the cross is the cause of
salvation. That work on the cross not only
paid for sin, but is also the mighty power of God to work in us faith and repentance. But the faith and the repentance are not the
ground or the cause of salvation. That has to
be made plain because self-righteousness holds a very firm place in our nature. After all these years, Adam’s fig-leaves are
still the preferred religion of man. It lurks
in every sinner to think that he will get to heaven by what he does. It lurks in the heart of every sinner to say
before God, “Certainly, I am not as other men are.
There is something redeemable about me. Don’t
my contributions to the church add up to something? My
obedience, my prayers — don’t they count for something?” I answer that question: “As far as earning your place in heaven, no! They count for nothing.” I did not say they are not important. I did not say that they will not be found in your
life. They must be found in your life
if you belong to Christ. But I say to you,
upon the basis of God’s Word, that they are not the ground of your salvation. The ground of salvation is only the work of
Christ.
This idea of work-righteousness can be put very piously sometimes. We can say then, “Yes, I trust in Christ and
the mercy of God to do the rest. I have gone
a long way. I have lived a pretty good life. Oh, I know there have been some failures. But Christ will make up what is left behind and
remains. Jesus will come and put Himself in
a yoke with my works. The two of us, pulling
together, pull the cart of salvation. Jesus
and myself!” On the basis of Jesus’
words and the cross of Jesus Christ, I denounce that!
That is not true. In Isaiah 63: 3,
Jesus says, “I have trodden the winepress alone.”
Salvation is not partially what Christ did and then partially what you do as His
helper. Salvation is earned on the cross of
Jesus Christ alone.
We must put away from us all such that would add to Jesus Christ as being a basis
of salvation. Away with priests. Away with indulgences. Away with ceremonies that, supposedly, have the
power within themselves to save. Away with
all of those things. There is no salvation in
them.
But, still more. There is no salvation
in sincerity. Now listen carefully again. I did not say that the child of God need not be
sincere. He must. I said that salvation is not earned by
sincerity. What do I mean? This. There
are those who will say, “Well, many people may be mistaken. They may have a false religion. But, oh, are they sincere and are they earnest
about it! They have such strong feelings! Certainly that sincerity and those feelings must
count for something. If one believes a lie,
that’s not so good. But, if they are
sincere about it, well, isn’t that OK? The
Buddhist is so sincere. The Mormon is so
earnest!”
Upon the basis of God’s Word, we declare once again that the child of God is
not simply a sincere man. He is sincere. But a Christian is not simply someone who feels
strongly about something. A Christian is
someone who feels strongly about the truth. Mere
sincerity, of itself, is no savior. If you
read the Bible and you remember the time of Elijah, when he stood before the priests of
Baal on Mount Carmel, the priests of Baal were sincere.
They were earnest. They meant it. They cut themselves with knives as they called
upon Baal to hear them. Manasseh, one of the
kings in the Old Testament, was sincere when he offered up his son to Moloch. He meant it.
And the apostle Paul, before he was converted, was sincere too. He was a zealot when he persecuted the church of
God. The basis of salvation is not that
someone sincerely believes something. It is
not, “I feel good about this and therefore it must be right.” No. The
basis of salvation is the work of Christ. Sincerity
counts when it is sincerity in the truth, the truth of Holy Scripture.
Now, I know that I will be called uncharitable, bigoted, and narrow-minded. The truth of the gospel, the Word of God, which
must be proclaimed in all love and charity, is this:
Salvation is in Jesus Christ to the uttermost.
Outside of Him, there is not so much as one iota of salvation! The greatest danger to the Christian faith today
is that many proclaim that everything is true. There
are many saviors, there are many ways to peace with God.
Whatever suits you ought to be good enough. Everybody
ought to be able to have his own religion. Why
not?
The question is not: What do you
think? but: What does God say? What pleases Him?
Has God spoken in the Bible or has He not? Has
God said in the Bible, There is no other way but the way of Christ on the cross alone, or
has He not? Has He said that all outside of
this cross shall be damned, or has He not?
I will not mention any more of the so-called ways that men think will bring them to
heaven. Each man seems more and more to have
his own way. Your human nature and mine can
build our own. Perhaps we say, If we give a
thousand dollars to charity or build homes for the poor, that will save me. Let me speak plainly. If you have any refuge other than this text (Acts
4:12), Christ, the name and the authority of Christ as the basis of salvation, if you have
any other refuge, it is a lie. May God
sweep it away and leave you bare and without shelter.
Better to know your fallen state than to live your life under a delusion and a lie. Heaven has one entrance. If a way is not through Jesus Christ, then there
remains only a certain fearful looking for judgment and fiery indignation.
But Jesus Christ is the way. “I
am the way, the truth, and the life. No man
cometh unto the Father but by me.” Jesus
is the Savior. Hear the Word of God. There is a name that is given among men. It is given.
God the Father in mercy gave His Son. There
is a way of salvation. That way is the cross
of Jesus Christ. That cross of Jesus Christ
was not a tragic mistake. It was real
deliverance. It was powerful deliverance. It was eternally planned of God that His Son would
take the place of all those whom the Father gave to Him and actually die for their sins;
that He would deliver them by a payment of the debt; that He would stand in the place of
those given to Him of the Father so that they may say,
Jesus paid it all! All to Him I owe.
He hath washed me white as snow.
Jesus Christ does not simply show the way. He
is the way right now. Powerfully, by
His Word and by His Spirit, He works in your heart so that you become pricked in your
heart over your sin. You become burdened and
weary of your sin. You identify your problem
as your own sin. That is the work of
God’s grace in you. And Jesus, by His
love and power, draws you to Himself. He
draws you to the fountain of His blood and there washes you and makes you whole. He works in you both to will and to do of His
Father’s good pleasure.
You have heard the Word of God. There
is salvation in no other name but in the name of Jesus Christ. We praise the living God. We praise Him for His matchless grace and
unfathomable love — that He has given the way of salvation in His Son. Now you have heard that truth. When the earth begins to shake and the stars fall
when Jesus returns, you and I must witness that we have heard the answer to our question: How do I get to heaven? Only the cross of Jesus Christ, given completely
of the grace of God. That takes me to heaven. Oh, that is good news! Good news for convicted, weary, heavy-laden
sinners. That is perfect rest. And that is peace.
Today we confess, and one day, perfectly before His face, we will give the answer
to the question, How am I saved? How do I go
to heaven? By nothing but the blood of Jesus. His blood avails for me.
Let us pray.
Father in heaven, we thank Thee for Thy Word.
And we ask that Thou wilt write it upon our hearts.
Amen.