We live in a world where there are multiple ways of doing almost anything you do. You can Google or YouTube various ways to cook chicken, fix a leaky roof, paint a house, fix a car, etc. If you googled “find another way to heaven,” you would find multiple proclaimed ways by man to get there, but not various ways according to the Bible. Some religions are based on our works. If you do certain things, they gain you favor in God’s eyes. Some say there is no way to get to God, so you must go through the saints that have passed on before us. However, if you believe the Bible, there is only one way. In John 14:6 “Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father, except through me.”
There is only one way to make it to Heaven. While many try to change the gospel, they cannot, and it is not a new idea to add or subtract from the gospel. In Galatians chapter 1, Paul returns to the church in Galatia and finds that they have been listening to those who were perverting the gospel. Paul tells them in Galatians 1:9, “As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed.” The commentator Albert Barnes says this about Paul’s statement to the church. “Paul would not be misunderstood on this point. He would leave no doubt as to his meaning. He would not have it supposed that he had uttered the sentiment in Galatians 1:6-8 hastily, and he repeats it with emphasis.”
Galatians 1:6-8 “I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel:(7) Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. (8) But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed.”
The adversary, Satan, had wasted no time in sending men to turn their hearts from Jesus back to the Jewish laws that were manmade things that must be done to gain eternal life. There were feasts and laws that God set in place to help them recognize their sin, but their salvation was never about their works. Hebrews chapter 11 gives us a list of many Old Testament saints saved by faith. In the New Testament, Paul is teaching them that their faith in the Messiah to come had been completed. The New replaced the Old. In Ephesians 2:8-9, Paul reiterates this message of faith, not works, is what our salvation is based on. You do not work for a gift; if you do, it is not a gift.
Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”
While many religions require certain acts to be saved, they are wrong. They have misunderstood the gospel. James teaches us that we will show our faith by our works, but note that faith comes first. He wants us to understand that if we love Jesus and accept what He did on the cross for us, we will have a desire to work for Him. We will desire that everyone take this precious gift given to us so that a holy God will allow us into Heaven to spend eternity with Him. God wants us to be baptized to publicly acknowledge that we have forsaken the old life and are living a new life in Christ. The old, sinful man is dead. We are told to give to the poor, to keep the Ten Commandments, to align ourselves with a good bible teaching church, and to show God’s love everywhere we go. However, these are products from our salvation. They are not the elements that give us our salvation.
James 2:17-18 “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.”
You may think it is harsh that God requires one way to Heaven. I believe the harshness of salvation lies in mankind. We have a perfect holy God, whose holiness is His highest attribute that He cannot violate. A God who made a perfect world for His creations to live and walk with Him, yet Adam and Eve brought the curse of sin on all mankind when they decided they would break the one law that God gave them. Genesis 3:2-3 “And the woman said unto the serpent, We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden: But of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God hath said, Ye shall not eat of it, neither shall ye touch it, lest ye die.”
Psalm 18:30 “As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.”
I Peter 1:16 “Because it is written, Be ye holy; for I am holy.”
Ignorance is the reason many do not accept Christ as their personal Savior. Some have never heard. That is why we need to be locked into a church that teaches the whole truth and supports missionaries that will go and tell where we cannot. The other reason is pride. Mankind wants to elevate himself to be totally in charge of his own life, and to some measure, the greatest measure, he can. He determines if he will believe and follow or do it his way. God is not harsh. He has provided a way, but it is our choice. If you reject the one true way to Heaven, it will be because you have picked a fight with God and think you can make it on your own. I have a saying that I started years ago that applies here. “It is a fool who picks a fight they know they will not win.” You can fight God until the day you die, but you will lose! God is God, and you are not. Choose His way and not yours, and you will never regret it now or in eternity. There is no other way!
John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
