One Way

Why "One Way", you ask? I'm glad you did! For me, the term "one way" has two meanings. The first, as you can see in the subtitle, is that the road of the Christian life is like a one way street - we should be continually moving forward, however slowly, yet steadily.

In Matthew 7:13-14 Jesus says:

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it."

And in Luke 9:23 he says:

"Then he said to them all: 'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.'"

As Christians we travel a narrow road. Ultimately, as true followers of Christ, there really is only One Way we want be traveling: "Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you. Make level paths for your feet and take only ways that are firm. Do not swerve to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil." (Proverbs 4:25-27)

The second meaning for me is "the way" that Jesus talks about in John chapter 14 verses 1-6:

"'Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. You know the way to the place where I am going.' Thomas said to him, 'Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?' Jesus answered, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me…"

Jesus states very clearly here, and other places, that he is the only way to God and eternal life with him in Heaven. He is the truth, and there is no other! Jesus is God, King, Priest, and Savior, and He alone deserves my allegiance and all that I am!

Then why is it so hard at times to give it? Because I still live in a fleshly body corrupted by the effects of the Fall.

Yes, God loves us, and created us to have a loving, eternal relationship with Himself! "I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving kindness." (Jeremiah 31:3) See also John 10:10, John 17:3.

BUT - Man is a sinner by nature and choice and, therefore, does not deserve this relationship. When Adam and Eve willfully disobeyed God in the Garden by eating the forbidden fruit (read in Genesis 3), they were not just being disobedient to God's command, but were proud, considering themselves to be better than God. This leaves us in a tough spot, because God's standard for man is moral perfection (Matthew 5:48, Romans 3:23), and nothing we can do - no morality or religious effort - can restore this relationship (Isaiah 64:6, Romans 3:10-12b, James 4:17, James 2:10).

The consequences of sin (breaking God's law) is death - both physical and spiritual. See Ezekiel 18:20, Romans 6:23a, and Isaiah 59:2.

Because God is a JUST judge, He must punish sin. Suppose a murderer came to court, with the plea - "Well, I've done a lot of good things in my life. Can't those things outweigh the murder I committed?" If the judge let him go, we'd call that man a horrible, unjust judge! In the same way, God cannot leave the guilty unpunished, and we are ALL guilty. (Genesis 18:25, Exodus 34:7, Hebrews 9:27, Romans 14:10c)

HOWEVER - because of God's great love for us, he gave us a provision: Jesus Christ. Jesus is the God-Man, the incarnate Son of God. (John 1:1, John 1:14). Jesus was the ONLY person ever to walk this earth who lived a blameless, sinless life! (Hebrews 4:15, 1 Peter 2:22). And, like was mentioned above, he claimed that salvation comes through Him alone (John 14:6, Acts 4:12).

What did Jesus do? Motivated by love and to satisfy our ENORMOUS debt before the Judge, Christ died in our place on the cross, taking the punishment for sin we deserved on Himself, in order to turn aside God's wrath from us! (Isaiah 53:5, Romans 5:8, 3:25, 1 Peter 3:18, Hebrews 9:22)

But that's not the end of the story! Yes, Jesus was buried in a tomb, but on the third day after his death, he was resurrected - just as the Scriptures had predicted! (1 Corinthians 15:3-4) After his resurrection was made witness to by over 500 people, Jesus ascended into heaven and was exalted to the right hand of God the Father as Lord of all! (Acts 1:9,11b, 2:33,36)

Through Jesus, salvation is offered freely to us as God's gift. See Romans 6:23b, Titus 3:5, and Ephesians 2:8-9.

BUT - we must respond to the giving of this great gift by turning to God in faith. This is done by REPENTING (Acts 2:38, Acts 3:19), BELIEVING (Romans 10:9, John 5:24), and RECEIVING (John 1:12, Romans 10:13). Intellectual acknowledgement of the historical life and claims of Jesus and the existence of God is not enough. As it says in James 2:19 - "You believe that there is one God? Good! Even the demons believe that, and shudder."

There is a necessity and urgency of man's response! Jesus Christ IS going to return to earth to judge all of mankind (2 Thessalonians 1:7-10), and whether through Christ's return or death, all mankind will stand before the judgement seat of God - either condemned or forgiven (John 3:18,36).

TODAY is the day for you to trust Christ - there is no guarantee for an opportunity tomorrow! (See 2 Corinthians 6:2, and Hebrews 3:7) You could die in a car accident on the way to work or school today, or from a heart attack, house fire, or a hundred other ways. You can't just wait till your old and on your death bed to make your confession, because while we'd all like to die peacefully in our sleep, the truth is most of will not die that way.

My friends, "Today if you hear His voice, do not harden your hearts." (Hebrews 3:7)