Speaker 1: Good morning.
Speaker 1: Good morning, that is our question of the day.
Speaker 1: Do all religions lead to the same place?
Speaker 1: Do all places?
Speaker 1: Do we all end up in the same spot at the end of it all?
Speaker 1: This is one of those massive conversations right?
Speaker 1: We don't have time this morning to cover every nook and cranny, every nuance of this conversation, and it's also, as it would have it, one of the most controversial things to discuss in our day and time.
Speaker 1: If you walk out and you say, hey, I'm right and everybody else is wrong, guess what?
Speaker 1: You're going to get some reaction there.
Speaker 1: If you claim to have exclusive truth, you're going to get some reaction there.
Speaker 1: I've learned a lot in this subject, particularly from John Tyson, from Tim Keller, from one of my professors in seminary whose name was Glenn Kreider.
Speaker 1: The goal today in answering our question is to take a lot of content and hopefully synthesize it in a way that is digestible and helpful and applicable for us in our day and time.
Speaker 1: I am making one big assumption I think it's true, and we'll talk about that actually in a few weeks.
Speaker 1: I am making the assumption that the New Testament in particular the whole scripture, but New Testament in particular is a reliable historical document, in other words, what we have from Jesus are actually the words of Christ.
Speaker 1: The events in Acts are actual historical events.
Speaker 1: I think there is valid, compelling evidence for that.
Speaker 1: Like I said, we'll talk about that in a few weeks, but today, jesus and other religions.
Speaker 1: Jesus and other religions Did you have your coffee this morning?
Speaker 1: I know it's raining outside.
Speaker 1: When it's rainy outside, sundays just make for a great nap day.
Speaker 1: But we'll postpone the nap for like 45 minutes and we'll dig in together this morning.
Speaker 1: That sound good, you with me, wide awake, ready to rock and roll.
Speaker 1: Let's do it.
Speaker 1: John 14, verses one through seven.
Speaker 1: This is Jesus the night before his crucifixion.
Speaker 1: He's gathered in the upper room with his disciples.
Speaker 1: You can imagine the stress level in the room is high.
Speaker 1: Everybody knows we are on the brink of something unprecedented.
Speaker 1: We're entering uncharted waters and at the same time, we know there's a lot of confusion about what is coming next, even though Jesus has clearly said I'm going to die, I'm going to be buried.
Speaker 1: Three days later I'm going to resurrect, I'm going to rise again.
Speaker 1: We know the disciples didn't get it.
Speaker 1: They didn't connect all the dots.
Speaker 1: In this moment there's a lot of confusion.
Speaker 1: Jesus knows that and he speaks to it.
Speaker 1: And this is what he says Let not, or don't let your hearts be troubled.
Speaker 1: Believe in God, believe also in me.
Speaker 1: In my father's house are many rooms.
Speaker 1: If it were not so, would I have told you that I go to prepare a place for you.
Speaker 1: In other words, jesus is saying you can trust me, I only tell you the truth, and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and will take you to myself that where I am, you may be also.
Speaker 1: And then Jesus makes this claim.
Speaker 1: He says and you know the way to where I am going.
Speaker 1: And that is where the rumblings in the room begin.
Speaker 1: I just imagine being in that room.
Speaker 1: This is where the disciples start looking at each other and they're like Peter, do you know the way?
Speaker 1: Peter's like no, I don't know what he's talking about.
Speaker 1: John, you're leaning on Jesus.
Speaker 1: Ask him what he means.
Speaker 1: John's like I'm not asking anything, you know.
Speaker 1: And like the rumblings are going.
Speaker 1: Everybody's like have you ever been in a room when somebody's like and you know the story of it, and everybody's like no, we don't know the story at all.
Speaker 1: We've never heard that story.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's like maybe you've been in church and I've said something about Star Wars.
Speaker 1: You're like bro, nobody watches that.
Speaker 1: Nobody knows what that means.
Speaker 1: Give us something helpful.
Speaker 1: This is that moment.
Speaker 1: The disciples are like we don't know, we don't know where you're going.
Speaker 1: And finally Thomas speaks up.
Speaker 1: Thomas said to him Lord, not only do we not know the way to where you're going, lord, we don't know where you're going, we don't know the destination.
Speaker 1: Therefore, we can't know the path.
Speaker 1: How can we know the way?
Speaker 1: And Jesus said to him I am the way and the truth and the life.
Speaker 1: No one comes to the Father except through me.
Speaker 1: If you had known me, you would have known my Father also.
Speaker 1: From now on, you do know him and have seen him.
Speaker 1: So here Jesus' claim this morning.
Speaker 1: Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life.
Speaker 1: I am the only way for you people, broken, sinful humanity, to get to almighty God.
Speaker 1: And then Jesus takes it a step further and says if you know me, if you know Jesus, not only do you know God, but you've seen God so literally, for the disciples gathered in the room that evening.
Speaker 1: He looks at them and he says you've laid your eyes on me.
Speaker 1: You've literally, tangibly seen, literal, physical Jesus.
Speaker 1: You've seen almighty God.
Speaker 1: And Jesus says because you know me, because you know the way, the truth, the life, you now have the opportunity to be connected to God, the opportunity to be connected to God.
Speaker 1: And then we'll fast forward a little bit to Acts, chapter four.
Speaker 1: This is after the crucifixion and burial and resurrection of Jesus.
Speaker 1: 40 days has passed.
Speaker 1: Jesus has appeared in person to over 500 people.
Speaker 1: The church has grown from 500 to 3,000, plus on the day of Pentecost when the Holy Spirit comes in Acts chapter 2.
Speaker 1: Signs and wonders are being done through the apostles and the people in Jerusalem are getting stirred up.
Speaker 1: Because there was a day where Peter and James and John were walking by what's called the Beautiful Gate.
Speaker 1: The gate called Beautiful, and there was a guy laying there on the ground who scripture says had been lame from birth, so in other words, from the time he was born he had never been able to walk.
Speaker 1: And he's laying there begging for alms.
Speaker 1: He's looking for a handout, he's looking for somebody to give him money so he can eat for the day and he's to do the same thing tomorrow.
Speaker 1: He's been doing the same thing for years and he looks at Peter and James and John.
Speaker 1: He says, hey, do you have something for me, do you have some money for me?
Speaker 1: And what's the response of Peter, james and John?
Speaker 1: If you know the song, they say silver and gold.
Speaker 1: Have I none, but what I have, give I thee.
Speaker 1: In other words, I got something I'm going to give to you In the name of Jesus of Nazareth.
Speaker 1: What do they say?
Speaker 1: Rise and walk.
Speaker 1: And, as the song says, the man went walking and leaping and praising God.
Speaker 1: So there's a healing, there's a miracle that takes place in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And, as you can imagine, the religious leaders.
Speaker 1: They are stirred up by this because they don't like the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: They crucified Jesus.
Speaker 1: They don't like anybody doing anything in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And so they gather some of the disciples together and put them in the middle of a trial.
Speaker 1: And that's where we pick up in Acts, chapter four, verse five.
Speaker 1: On the next day, their rulers and elders and scribes gathered together in Jerusalem with Annas, the high priest, and Caiaphas.
Speaker 1: Now think back.
Speaker 1: Where have you heard those names before?
Speaker 1: These were leaders who were in on the crucifixion.
Speaker 1: They were part of the group that led the trial that ultimately led Jesus to the cross.
Speaker 1: They're here again overseeing what is the trial of Peter and some of the other followers of Jesus Annas and Caiaphas, and John and Alexander and all who were of the high priestly family and when they'd set them in the midst, they inquired by what power or by what name did you do this?
Speaker 1: Why is this guy who was lame, now standing and walking and talking about Jesus?
Speaker 1: Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, rulers of the people and elders, if we are being examined today concerning a good deed done to a crippled man, by what means this man has been healed?
Speaker 1: Let it be known to all of you and to all the people of Israel that, by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified and whom God raised from the dead by him, this man is standing before you.
Speaker 1: Well, this Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, but he's become the cornerstone.
Speaker 1: And then Peter says this there is salvation in no one else.
Speaker 1: There is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.
Speaker 1: Is Jesus the only way to eternal life or are all religions ultimately the same?
Speaker 1: One way to approach this topic is to answer the question is Jesus the only way to eternal life?
Speaker 1: Simply by saying yes.
Speaker 1: I asked that question to our group this morning at 6.30.
Speaker 1: That was Brian Burton's response.
Speaker 1: Yes, period, now let's go eat brunch.
Speaker 1: You know like let's just get out of church a little bit early today.
Speaker 1: I love that.
Speaker 1: That's an option, that's a possibility.
Speaker 1: The other option, and the one we're going to engage with this morning for a little while, is to go on a little bit of a quest for truth.
Speaker 1: As Jesus followers, we do not have to be afraid of the truth.
Speaker 1: Here's a big claim there will never be any truth, any scientific discovery or archaeological find or any cultural, narrative or philosophical idea that invalidates the resurrection and the kingship of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: As followers of Jesus, we do not have to be afraid of asking the big questions and then honestly seeking for answers.
Speaker 1: Jesus has declared he's the way, the truth and the life, and if we believe that, if we believe that he resurrected from the dead, if we believe that that actually happened, then there is nothing in this world or in the future that will invalidate the resurrection of Jesus.
Speaker 1: That's 1 Corinthians 15.
Speaker 1: Paul said hey, if you can prove that Jesus didn't rise, we can go home.
Speaker 1: We're wasting our time.
Speaker 1: But then Paul says if Jesus did rise, everything changes Culturally.
Speaker 1: In this age of post-truth, of tolerance and coexistence, to claim exclusive truth, to say that there is one way you need to know, it's going to get you labeled.
Speaker 1: People are going to say well, you're just being divisive.
Speaker 1: Why don't you hold your truth and I'll hold my truth and we can just live our lives according to our own truth.
Speaker 1: My beliefs aren't hurting anybody, so don't let your beliefs infringe on my beliefs.
Speaker 1: Don't be divisive.
Speaker 1: You might be called ignorant.
Speaker 1: People might say well, you just don't know enough about what other people believe.
Speaker 1: If you really understood, you would come to see that all religions are basically the same.
Speaker 1: We're all teaching the same things and aiming at the same goal, and even beyond that.
Speaker 1: If you'd been born in India, you'd probably be Hindu, or if you'd been born in Iran, you'd probably be Muslim.
Speaker 1: If you'd been born in China, you might be an atheist or a Buddhist.
Speaker 1: Depending on where you have been born determines what you believe.
Speaker 1: You're just ignorant.
Speaker 1: If you really believe that there's only one way to God, maybe you're not ignorant, maybe you're arrogant, maybe you just think you're better than everybody else, and that's the narrative that we hear so often in our culture today.
Speaker 1: Well, you Christians, you just think you're better than everybody else.
Speaker 1: You look down on everybody else and you claim to know the only way to God.
Speaker 1: Or, at the worst, you're intolerant and dangerous.
Speaker 1: How could you ever believe that someone who believes differently than you is condemned to an eternal hell, even though they were sincere in their belief, they were good and kind, a devout person?
Speaker 1: That's dangerous to believe that a God would condemn someone who was sincere and devoted to their faith to hell, even if it was a different system of faith.
Speaker 1: What do we do with this?
Speaker 1: Have you heard people say things like have you heard those narratives in our culture?
Speaker 1: I talk to our younger people all the time and they hear that over and over and over on social media, in the schools.
Speaker 1: And it's wild, the narratives that come when we stand up and we say there's one way to God.
Speaker 1: But here's the thing we go back to John 14 in Acts, chapter 4.
Speaker 1: If we read these words and we take them at their face value, we read them for what they are.
Speaker 1: It is impossible to read the words of Jesus in John 14 and the words of Peter in Acts, chapter 4.
Speaker 1: It's impossible to see them as anything other than a claim of exclusive truth.
Speaker 1: And that puts us in an interesting position today, does it not?
Speaker 1: What do we do with this?
Speaker 1: How do we sort through this?
Speaker 1: We're going to ask three questions today.
Speaker 1: Number one why does religion exist?
Speaker 1: The second question aren't all religions basically the same?
Speaker 1: And then the final question for the day are Jesus and Peter right?
Speaker 1: And our goal is to sort through this topic and hopefully, if you're a follower of Jesus, land in a place that inspires confidence in what you believe.
Speaker 1: And if you're here and you're not a follower of Christ, the goal is to maybe spark some thought, to ask some questions of you and say, hey, how's your worldview working out?
Speaker 1: Or is it possible that the exclusivity of Christ is actually a good thing in a world that says all roads lead to the same place?
Speaker 1: So, question number one Y'all good Still with me?
Speaker 1: Okay, everybody's like?
Speaker 1: Can we pause and get some more coffee for a moment?
Speaker 1: It's a little bit rainy outside.
Speaker 1: Why does religion exist?
Speaker 1: Why, when we look back through the annals of history, why is it that every society in human history has had some version of God?
Speaker 1: Why is it that we, as people are drawn to worship.
Speaker 1: Well, I think it's because we've always asked big existential questions.
Speaker 1: We've always looked at the world and wondered why are we here?
Speaker 1: Why is there something instead of nothing?
Speaker 1: What is our purpose for existing?
Speaker 1: Why are we on the planet?
Speaker 1: Ants just do their thing, y'all.
Speaker 1: They build their ant hills and then my four-year-old kicks them and they rebuild their ant hill.
Speaker 1: There's not that existential question of like, why am I rebuilding this thing for another toddler to walk by and wipe it out?
Speaker 1: They just do what they do.
Speaker 1: Birds build their nest, fish swim in the sea.
Speaker 1: Humans ask big questions of purpose.
Speaker 1: Why are we here?
Speaker 1: The second thing that we ask we want to know why the world's broken like.
Speaker 1: Why are we the way that we are?
Speaker 1: Why is there violence?
Speaker 1: Why is there anger?
Speaker 1: Why is there hatred?
Speaker 1: Why is there animosity between people?
Speaker 1: Why are there natural disasters?
Speaker 1: Why is there pain in my life and in the earth?
Speaker 1: What?
Speaker 1: What's the problem?
Speaker 1: The third question we ask is well, is there any hope?
Speaker 1: Is there any shot at me leaving my pain behind?
Speaker 1: Is there any solution to the problems that we see all around us?
Speaker 1: And the fourth question is what does the future hold Like?
Speaker 1: What's the goal of all this?
Speaker 1: So like, if we sort all of this out, then what does the future hold?
Speaker 1: What's the goal of all this?
Speaker 1: So, if we sort all of this out, then what does the future look like?
Speaker 1: What does it look like when the problems get fixed and the solution is implemented?
Speaker 1: It's an interesting thing to consider, especially in our Western world.
Speaker 1: When you look back at the last couple of hundred years, you had the age of enlightenment that placed this high value on human intellect and human reason, the ability for us as people to think and logic our way into a better world.
Speaker 1: And then, on the back end of the enlightenment, came the Industrial Revolution, where we applied our logic and our reason to the scientific world and we begin to invent and create.
Speaker 1: And the thought for a lot of people in those days and times was that we could eventually evolve beyond our need for God, that through science and intellect and reason and through better technology, better systems, better human creations, that in our world we would eventually move beyond our need for faith.
Speaker 1: We could essentially build a society that was good and functional and full of hope, that answered the problems the world faces with human-created solutions and built a better future, but in reality what has happened has been the opposite our future, but in reality what has happened has been the opposite.
Speaker 1: As science has progressed, we haven't gotten better at solving the problem of violence.
Speaker 1: We've gotten better at killing other people.
Speaker 1: As we've advanced in our intellect about what we know about the universe, it hasn't led to more peace on the inside.
Speaker 1: If anything, we have more questions than ever before.
Speaker 1: The more we know and the more capacity we have, it seems like we don't answer questions.
Speaker 1: We just open the door to so much more that we do not understand.
Speaker 1: We're not solving the problem of anxiety with human intellect and reason.
Speaker 1: We're not bringing peace through technology and invention.
Speaker 1: The solution to the problem has to be bigger than us, if the last 200 years have proven anything.
Speaker 1: So what do we do?
Speaker 1: It's actually another interesting thing to note that it was late in the Enlightenment that atheism actually came to be seen as a valid belief system.
Speaker 1: Now we have writings of people who didn't believe in God as far back as ancient Greece, people who claimed there was no God.
Speaker 1: But in terms of an actual belief system that you could build your life upon, it didn't really emerge until the end of the Enlightenment time.
Speaker 1: But the whole secular progressive ideology is built on this theory that the more we progress, the less we need to rely on our faith.
Speaker 1: According to Pew Research, interestingly enough, as a whole, the world today is actually growing more religious and not less.
Speaker 1: It's fascinating, now, not true in the Western world, not true in the United States of America, not true in much of Western Europe, but as a whole, in terms of total population on the planet, the world today is actually growing more religious and not less.
Speaker 1: I believe in large part because we have not yet found great answers to these four questions.
Speaker 1: In most cases, people don't have purpose.
Speaker 1: People don't understand how to address the problem of the brokenness in the world.
Speaker 1: Many people are living without hope, and people are afraid of what the future holds, and so they turn to faith.
Speaker 1: If religion is ultimately about making sense of life, then that leads us to question number two Aren't all religions the same?
Speaker 1: We're all just trying to become better people.
Speaker 1: Whether you're a Buddhist or a Hindu, or you're a reformed Jew or you're a Christian, we're all just trying to reach our version of God and to do good in the earth while we are here.
Speaker 1: Ultimately, like rivers, we are all flowing eventually into the same ocean.
Speaker 1: It was Oprah.
Speaker 1: A few years ago, in a conversation with someone who was at the taping of her show, she said this there are millions of ways to be humans and many ways to the one you call God.
Speaker 1: And at this point in time, someone stood up and tried to counter what she was saying.
Speaker 1: And her response to the person who stood up and spoke to her was there couldn't possibly be just one way and, statistically speaking, over 50% of people who call themselves Christians actually agree with Oprah.
Speaker 1: They say I believe in Jesus, I believe he's the way, but there are other valid ways as well.
Speaker 1: We're all heading to the same place in the end.
Speaker 1: Aren't all religions the same?
Speaker 1: Here's an interesting graphic that may be helpful to us as we think through this topic today.
Speaker 1: This is the religious landscape of our world today, and I know you probably can't see the words from where you are, because I can't see the words from where I am, but I just want you to see how the globe shakes out.
Speaker 1: So the dark pink on North America shakes out.
Speaker 1: So the dark pink on North America, south America and other parts of the world, that's primarily Christian regions 31% of the population on the planet today identifies as Christian 31%.
Speaker 1: Now, what's interesting is, the epicenter of Christianity actually is not the Western world, it's not Australia, it's not Northern Europe.
Speaker 1: The epicenter of Christianity in the world is actually sub-Saharan Africa as a whole.
Speaker 1: The fastest growing segment of Christianity in the world is sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaker 1: By 2050, four out of 10 Christians in the world will live in sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaker 1: The second largest religion in the world today is Islam.
Speaker 1: Nearly 24% of the world today is Muslim, primarily in Northern Africa, sinai Peninsula, the Middle East.
Speaker 1: Islam is actually the fastest growing religion in the world.
Speaker 1: Most religious scholars, people that study this stuff, say that by 2050 to 2060, islam will actually overtake Christianity as the largest system of faith in the world.
Speaker 1: The third largest group on the chart is the yellow over there on the far east the unaffiliated group.
Speaker 1: Sixteen percent of the world today claims no religion.
Speaker 1: Percent of the world today claims no religion.
Speaker 1: Now you notice this is mostly primarily in China and some of those surrounding nations where it's actually illegal to profess a faith People in that area.
Speaker 1: They might follow the teachings of Confucius or some other traditional Chinese religious teachers, but by and large they have no religious affiliation.
Speaker 1: That's 16% of the world by 2050, they expect that number to decrease to 13%.
Speaker 1: So the unaffiliated group in the world is decreasing.
Speaker 1: Christianity is exploding in sub-Saharan Africa.
Speaker 1: Islam is rapidly expanding.
Speaker 1: Then you have Buddhism above China, there, and then below as well.
Speaker 1: Buddhism is 7% of the world's population.
Speaker 1: It's declining rapidly.
Speaker 1: Sorry, I missed Hinduism.
Speaker 1: Hinduism is entirely.
Speaker 1: 97% of the world's Hindus are in India, Maritas and Nepal.
Speaker 1: That's 15% of the world's population.
Speaker 1: 6% of the world's population are some version of folk religions or tribal religions.
Speaker 1: That makes up the majority of the 4,000 religions mentioned in the video at the beginning, and then 0.8% of the people in the world are other.
Speaker 1: There's not really a clear classification.
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a smorgasbord, if you will, of religious belief.
Speaker 1: And then, last but certainly not least, 0.2% of the world's population is Jewish, primarily in Israel, and so we look at this and it's just interesting to me one to see it laid out across the globe.
Speaker 1: But it would seem to give credence to the thought that where you were born is maybe the primary determining factor in the religious belief that you adopt as your own.
Speaker 1: So what do we do with that?
Speaker 1: If where you're born plays such a big role in what you believe, what do we do with that?
Speaker 1: Well, for many people, they look at something like this and the easy solution is to say well, all religions must be the same.
Speaker 1: That's the easiest.
Speaker 1: Simplest answer is just to say hey, it really doesn't matter where you're born or what you believe.
Speaker 1: We all go to the same place eventually.
Speaker 1: Anyway, John Tyson is a pastor in New York.
Speaker 1: He was teaching about the exclusivity of Christ recently and he made an incredible point.
Speaker 1: He was talking about why it's easier to believe this.
Speaker 1: He said because once you admit that all religions are not the same, it destabilizes the simple cultural narrative about who's right and who's wrong, the simple cultural narrative about who's right and who's wrong.
Speaker 1: If all religions are not the same, then what that means is that somebody is right and that somebody is wrong.
Speaker 1: Or, to say it differently, it means that one way is right and all the other ways are wrong.
Speaker 1: And in a world where the cultural narrative is well, you can believe whatever you choose.
Speaker 1: As long as it works for you and it helps you become a better person, then we're all good.
Speaker 1: Basically, the Hakuna Matata philosophy applied to our religion is like hey, no worries man, you just do you and live your best life and don't worry about it.
Speaker 1: And we'll all be good to say that someone is right and that someone being right means that everybody else is wrong.
Speaker 1: That destabilizes the whole thing.
Speaker 1: So what do we do with that?
Speaker 1: Well, let me show you another graphic and this is another one where it's like you're not able to see all the things on the screen.
Speaker 1: Take a picture of it.
Speaker 1: You can blow it up later We'll put it on line for you as well.
Speaker 1: This is a chart comparing Islam, buddhism, hinduism, judaism and Christianity.
Speaker 1: We'll talk about the founding, the deity, worship, the purpose, the problem, the solution and the goal.
Speaker 1: My goal in putting this chart together was to accurately describe Islam and Buddhism, or Hinduism and Judaism, so that somebody who believes this would look at this and say, yeah, that's a pretty.
Speaker 1: It's not everything, but it's a pretty good illustration of what we believe.
Speaker 1: And we're not going to go over all of this, don't worry.
Speaker 1: Some of y'all look very nervous right now.
Speaker 1: You're like are we about to like break this?
Speaker 1: It's already James 11, 22.
Speaker 1: I don't think we have time to go through all that.
Speaker 1: We don't have time to go through all this, don't worry.
Speaker 1: I just want to show you a couple of things Founding different times founded.
Speaker 1: I just realized I have the same thing on Buddhism and Hinduism.
Speaker 1: That's not accurate.
Speaker 1: My bad, founded at different times.
Speaker 1: But look at the deity line.
Speaker 1: Islam says there is no God but Allah.
Speaker 1: Islam is unitarian, monotheistic.
Speaker 1: There's one God.
Speaker 1: Buddhism says there is no specific god or deity to worship.
Speaker 1: It's almost an atheistic system of belief.
Speaker 1: The hindus, they're polytheistic.
Speaker 1: They have a whole pantheon, if you will, of gods that they worship.
Speaker 1: The jewish people believe in one god, yahweh, the god of abraham, isaac and jacob.
Speaker 1: For us, as christians, we believe in one God, the God of Abraham, isaac and Jacob, revealed in Christ, testified by the Spirit.
Speaker 1: We say there's one God, but he's not Unitarian like the Muslims say.
Speaker 1: He's Trinitarian.
Speaker 1: He's Father, son and Spirit.
Speaker 1: Some of you, the dots are connecting and you're like well, all of these groups can't be right.
Speaker 1: Then you fast forward and you're like, well, all of these groups can't be right.
Speaker 1: Then you fast forward and you look at the purpose and the statement of purpose.
Speaker 1: It generally revolves around reaching oneness with the God of your choice.
Speaker 1: The problem we've done things that are not good and the world's broken because of what we've done.
Speaker 1: The Hindus would say there's this cumulative total of our past, karma that keeps our soul tethered to the natural, and we've got to escape that.
Speaker 1: A Christian would say we've sinned against God and a Muslim would say we've failed to follow the will of Allah.
Speaker 1: That's the problem.
Speaker 1: But then you get to the solution.
Speaker 1: How do we solve the problem that is created and how do we live up to the purpose for which we were created?
Speaker 1: The Buddhists would say you got to follow the eightfold path and you have to eliminate internal desire and be delivered to achieve this state of moksha.
Speaker 1: The Hindus would say something similar.
Speaker 1: You achieve moksha, this release from the cycle of birth and death and rebirth, by having good karma.
Speaker 1: In other words, the good has to outweigh the bad at the end of your life, and if the good doesn't outweigh the bad, then you're reincarnated and you get a chance to try again.
Speaker 1: The Jewish people would say the solution to the problem we've sinned against God is you've got to follow the teachings of the Torah and we're waiting on the Messiah to come.
Speaker 1: The Muslims would say that to solve the problem of the world we embrace the five pillars, we say the creed daily, we pray, we give alms, we make a pilgrimage to Mecca, we fast during Ramadan.
Speaker 1: We are completely devoted to Allah.
Speaker 1: And then the Christian.
Speaker 1: How do we solve the problem facing the world?
Speaker 1: Be reconciled to God.
Speaker 1: It's salvation by grace alone, through faith alone in Christ alone.
Speaker 1: There's nothing that you can do to earn it.
Speaker 1: It's a gift of Almighty God, it's a gift of his grace.
Speaker 1: Then you talk about the goal.
Speaker 1: What does it look like when all of the world is put right?
Speaker 1: Well, for the Muslim, it's a global caliphate of Islam.
Speaker 1: It's Islam that stretches from the east to the west and ultimately leads to the resurrection of the righteous and the paradise, and the infidels, those that don't believe in Allah, and to hell.
Speaker 1: For the Buddhist, the goal is actually the release from suffering.
Speaker 1: By entering a state of non-existence called nirvana, you go from existing to not existing.
Speaker 1: Hindus would say something very similar.
Speaker 1: You're released from existence, you enter oneness with the Brahman, into enlightenment.
Speaker 1: The hope of Judaism is a Messiah who will redeem the people from their sin and reconcile them to Yahweh.
Speaker 1: The hope of the Christian is a new heaven, a new earth, an embodied eternal existence where we dwell with God and the tears are wiped away and the pain is no more because the world is put right.
Speaker 1: Y'all, we've got some contradiction here, do we not?
Speaker 1: I think it was hulk hogan who said the one thing that all religions have in common is that they're all different.
Speaker 1: Like do we just quote hulk hogan that the internet said?
Speaker 1: Hulk hogan said that.
Speaker 1: I don't know where he said that or why they attribute it to him.
Speaker 1: I just thought it was interesting.
Speaker 1: And even if hulk hogan didn't say that, that statement is true, when you look at the worldview laid out by the different systems of belief, the one thing that they all have in common is that they're all making vastly different claims about who God is, about why that we're here, about what the problem is and about how the problem gets solved, how is salvation achieved, and then we have vastly different claims about what it looks like when everything is put right.
Speaker 1: We can't both exist and not exist at the same time.
Speaker 1: If the Buddhists are right, then the Jewish people are wrong, and vice versa.
Speaker 1: Here's the point.
Speaker 1: Everyone is making a claim to exclusive truth, even the people who would articulate some version of pluralism that says every road leads to the same place.
Speaker 1: If the pluralists are right, then everybody on the chart is wrong, because everybody on the chart is saying that all roads don't lead to the same place.
Speaker 1: You got to take our road to get to the ultimate goal, and here's what else we know.
Speaker 1: There are people who are sincere in their devotion to Allah.
Speaker 1: They're devout, they're committed.
Speaker 1: Devout, they're committed and, by the world's definition, they are nice and they're kind and they're compassionate.
Speaker 1: They genuinely believe what they say they believe and they hold their beliefs with kindness and compassion for others.
Speaker 1: There are people of Buddhist belief who are the same way, and people of Hindu faith are the same way, and people of Jewish faith are the same way, and people of Hindu faith were the same way and people of Jewish faith were the same way.
Speaker 1: I remember being in Israel a few years ago and we had lunch at a place outside Jericho.
Speaker 1: It was a restaurant owned by a Muslim man and I ended up riding this Muslim man's camel.
Speaker 1: The camel's name was Sammy and I rode Sammy around the parking lot and as we were getting ready to leave the restaurant that day, you're like what does Sammy have to do with it?
Speaker 1: Sammy has nothing to do with it.
Speaker 1: I just can't tell the story without bringing Sammy into the story.
Speaker 1: And as we're leaving the restaurant that day, this Muslim man looks at me, he knows I'm a follower of Jesus and he says you pray to your God for me and I'll pray to my God for you.
Speaker 1: And it was a phenomenal moment because this man, he'd been so kind and so hospitable to our group and so compassionate, so gracious.
Speaker 1: But in that moment what I knew and what he knew were the same thing.
Speaker 1: I thought he was wrong and he thought that I was wrong.
Speaker 1: And while we enjoyed our time together, we both knew we could not both be right, and I would love to see him become a Christian and he would love to see me become a Muslim.
Speaker 1: Our tour guide that trip was a Jewish man that I grew to really like and have a friendship with, and he could quote more of the New Testament than I've probably even ever read, but yet he didn't believe in Jesus.
Speaker 1: He thought that we were wrong and he knew that we thought he was wrong and we were friends.
Speaker 1: But at the end of the day, we walked away knowing that I wanted nothing more than for him to become a Christian and he wanted nothing more than for me to become Jewish, because we both believe that our way leads to God.
Speaker 1: And so to say that all roads lead to the same place is to simply say we don't believe any of this and we've got to do something with that.
Speaker 1: If the pluralists are right, that all roads lead to the same place and all these individual religions are wrong.
Speaker 1: And so now we're back to our original question who's telling the truth?
Speaker 1: Who actually knows what is right and real?
Speaker 1: In other words, are Jesus and Peter telling the truth in John 14 and in Acts, chapter 4?
Speaker 1: Well, let's ask this question what makes Jesus different?
Speaker 1: We talked about Jesus for a few minutes.
Speaker 1: Is that good with you guys?
Speaker 1: Well, one thing that makes Jesus different he wasn't actually the only apocalyptic preacher from Israel.
Speaker 1: He wasn't the only one who claimed to be the Messiah who would deliver the people of God, but he is the only one we're still debating today.
Speaker 1: Gamaliel in Acts, chapter five.
Speaker 1: I'm gonna go to the scriptures, acts five, verse 35.
Speaker 1: Gamaliel gathers chapter 5.
Speaker 1: I'm going to go to the scriptures, acts 5, verse 35.
Speaker 1: Gamaliel gathers together a group of religious leaders on the back end of the commotion that Peter, james and John have caused, and and he said to them men of Israel, take care what you are about to do with these men, for before these days, theodos rose up.
Speaker 1: He was an apocalyptic preacher.
Speaker 1: He promised to be the Messiah to bring the deliverance of Israel.
Speaker 1: He was claiming to be somebody, gamaliel says, and a number of men about 400, they joined him.
Speaker 1: Theodos was killed and all who followed him were dispersed and they came to nothing.
Speaker 1: After him, judas the Galilean.
Speaker 1: He rose up in the days of the census.
Speaker 1: So around the time that Jesus was born, there was a guy named Judas, from Galilee, who showed up and said I'm the Messiah, follow me and I'll lead you to God.
Speaker 1: He rose up and drew some of the people after him.
Speaker 1: He too perished and all who followed him were scattered.
Speaker 1: So Gamaliel says, in this present case, concerning Jesus of Nazareth, I tell you, keep away from these men and let them alone, for if this plan or this undertaking is of man, it will fail.
Speaker 1: Jesus is gone, the followers will disperse, we'll never hear of them again.
Speaker 1: But then Gamaliel says but if it is of God, you will not be able to overthrow them.
Speaker 1: You might even be found opposing God.
Speaker 1: So they took his advice.
Speaker 1: When they called in the apostles, they beat them, they charged them not to speak in the name of Jesus and they let them go.
Speaker 1: Then they left the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor for the name.
Speaker 1: And every day, in the temple and from house to house, they did not cease teaching and preaching that the Christ is Jesus.
Speaker 1: Gamaliel's point he's like y'all.
Speaker 1: We have seen this before.
Speaker 1: We've had men rise up, claim to be from God and they've gathered some followers to themselves, but it's all died out, it's all died down.
Speaker 1: And here we still are.
Speaker 1: Gamaliel says, hey, if Jesus is another one of those guys, we don't have to do anything, just let it go away.
Speaker 1: And here we are, 2,000 years later.
Speaker 1: The church of Jesus Christ is still alive and active, because Jesus is not just another apocalyptic teacher from Israel, another person claiming to be God.
Speaker 1: He's the resurrected son of God with the power to save and to set people free.
Speaker 1: He's been changing lives for 2,000 years.
Speaker 1: The movement didn't die out.
Speaker 1: It has only gotten stronger to the point now where there are 31% of the 8 billion people on the planet who claim the name of Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Now, sincerity of belief, devotion to a deity, to a system of faith that is not in and of itself conducive, conclusive when it comes to asking the question of what is truth.
Speaker 1: I know that I agree with that 100 percent.
Speaker 1: Just because somebody says it's true doesn't mean it's true.
Speaker 1: John Tyson made a great point.
Speaker 1: He was like hey, have you ever met a flat earther?
Speaker 1: Right?
Speaker 1: You ever met somebody convinced we didn't land on the moon?
Speaker 1: You know what I mean?
Speaker 1: It's like hey, they're adamant, they're convinced, they're convincing, and they're wrong.
Speaker 1: Sincerity of belief, devotion to a cause, isn't just enough, and so the second thing that changes the game when it comes to Jesus are the claims that Jesus made and the evidence that Jesus presented.
Speaker 1: Jesus claimed to be God Helaimed, to be divinity dwelling with us.
Speaker 1: He claimed to have the power to forgive sin, something that only God can do.
Speaker 1: He said that he would die and that he would rise again.
Speaker 1: And Jesus claimed that simply by believing in him, you could find eternal life with God.
Speaker 1: You can be forgiven, right?
Speaker 1: Jesus claimed that you don't have to earn your way to God, that there is grace available through his life and death and burial and resurrection that will set you right with almighty God.
Speaker 1: The evidence for that, there was an empty tomb on the third day, cs Lewis.
Speaker 1: He put it like this.
Speaker 1: He said when you look at the claims that Jesus made, the life that Jesus lived, the teachings that Jesus presented.
Speaker 1: You got three options.
Speaker 1: One Jesus could be a liar.
Speaker 1: He could just be out of his mind, intentionally deceiving people by making claims that were not true.
Speaker 1: He could be lying.
Speaker 1: He could be a lunatic.
Speaker 1: He could be crazy, like you think about some of the stuff he said I'm God, if you've seen me, you've seen the father?
Speaker 1: Like, take up your mat and walk.
Speaker 1: And the guy does.
Speaker 1: And then Jesus is like hey, all, by the way, your sins are forgiven.
Speaker 1: Like normal, rational people don't say those things.
Speaker 1: Unless third option, cs Lewis says he could also be the Lord of all.
Speaker 1: He's either lying, he's crazy, or he is exactly who he says he is.
Speaker 1: There's no in between.
Speaker 1: He can't just be another sage, another wise teacher, another moral prophet.
Speaker 1: No, he's either God of all or he is just another man.
Speaker 1: My conclusion, my conviction this morning I believe with all my heart that Jesus is the resurrected son of God.
Speaker 1: I believe that he died the death that I should have died in my place.
Speaker 1: I believe he was buried.
Speaker 1: I believe he literally rose from the dead and I believe with all of my heart that one day he will return.
Speaker 1: I believe that Jesus is exclusively the way to God.
Speaker 1: I believe that when he looked at his followers of that evening in the upper room and said I'm the way, the truth and the life, he didn't say it with judgment for all those who didn't believe in him.
Speaker 1: He said it out of love and compassion for a world that he knew was dead in sin and heading to an eternal hell, separated from the God they were created to know.
Speaker 1: Jesus claims to be the way, the truth, the life, so that we will follow after him, so that we'll know that God came for us.
Speaker 1: God came for you.
Speaker 1: God didn't leave you in your sin.
Speaker 1: God sent his son on a rescue mission to the planet so that we could know him today and forever.
Speaker 1: And so y'all would we say that, hey, there's one way, there's one path to life, there's one way to be reconciled to God, to have your sin forgiven, to find out really why you're on the planet and what you were created for.
Speaker 1: We don't say that with judgment and anger and hatred towards those who believe otherwise.
Speaker 1: We say that with love and compassion, with an invitation to believe in Jesus attached, because that's why Jesus came.
Speaker 1: Yes, he makes an exclusive claim, but he preached an inclusive gospel.
Speaker 1: He said whoever will come and take the bread of life, come and drink from the rivers of life, come and be forgiven, come and be set free, come and find life in the name of Jesus.
Speaker 1: And so, as Christians, we hold the exclusivity of Christ, but we hold it with open arms, inviting anyone who will to come and to meet Almighty God through the person and work of Christ.
Speaker 1: How we carry that truth matters, does it not?
Speaker 1: You know people, and I know people that right now don't know Jesus, and sometimes it's easy to look around and go.
Speaker 1: How do you miss him?
Speaker 1: Every other system of belief says do it and earn it and achieve it, and that's how you get to God.
Speaker 1: And Jesus comes and he says it's salvation by grace, through faith.
Speaker 1: It's the good news that I couldn't do it and you couldn't do it, but Jesus has done it on our behalf and we just receive that gift.
Speaker 1: How do we miss it?
Speaker 1: So this might be the most controversial thing I've said all day.
Speaker 1: I was watching the Chosen the other day with my wife and it was the first time I'd watched that show and I was struck by Jesus on the show because he looked so human, he looked so normal.
Speaker 1: And then it hit me why did people miss Jesus?
Speaker 1: Because he looked so human, he looked so normal.
Speaker 1: And then it hit me why did people miss Jesus?
Speaker 1: Because he looked so human, he looked so normal.
Speaker 1: It's Isaiah 53.
Speaker 1: He had no form or majesty about him that we should look at him, no beauty that we should desire him.
Speaker 1: In other words, if you had lined 25 first century Jewish men up in a line and said pick out the son of God from the line, simply by appearance, nobody's going to pick Jesus necessarily, unless you just get lucky and land on the right guy.
Speaker 1: It was his teachings, it was his life, it was the words he said and the things he did, the love that he displayed that drew people to him.
Speaker 1: It wasn't his appearance.
Speaker 1: Why do we miss Jesus?
Speaker 1: Because so many of us, we're looking for perfection from people.
Speaker 1: We're looking for people who perfectly emulate the teachings and the life of Christ, and so I think it's leading to a world where everybody's well nobody's perfectly following Jesus.
Speaker 1: Therefore, he must just be one way of many.
Speaker 1: But here's what I want to tell you today John, one of the disciples, who was there in the upper room with Jesus the night before the crucifixion.
Speaker 1: He got a revelation from God 60 years after the resurrection of Christ.
Speaker 1: It was a revelation of the resurrected son, and this is what John says Revelation 1, 6 and 7, to him, who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood and made us a kingdom priest to his God and father.
Speaker 1: Behold, he is coming with the clouds and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of him.
Speaker 1: Even so, amen.
Speaker 1: What John says is people miss Jesus the first time, but when Jesus comes again says is people miss Jesus the first time, but when Jesus comes again, nobody's going to miss Jesus because he's coming in glory.
Speaker 1: He's coming without equal.
Speaker 1: He is coming with incomparable power and might and majesty and everybody's going to know this is the one and only Son of Almighty God, is the one and only Son of Almighty God, and on that day it's gonna be too late to trust him as your Savior.
Speaker 1: Today, it is not too late to trust him as your Savior.
Speaker 1: His grace, his mercy, his compassion is available by faith, for you today.
Speaker 1: Will you trust him?
Speaker 1: Do you know him?
Speaker 1: If you know him, will you share the good news of almighty God, that Christ has come, christ has died and Christ will come again?
Speaker 1: Father, we love you, we thank you, we worship you.
Speaker 1: All to you, god, all to you.
Speaker 1: Everything we have, everything we are, everything we own, it's all yours.
Speaker 1: So, god, be in this moment with us, lead us through this time of worship and response.
Speaker 1: God, help us by your spirit to respond according to the truth of Christ, the reality of Jesus.
Speaker 1: In Jesus' name, amen, I'm gonna be at the back.
Speaker 1: If you need to join the church, you need to surrender your life to Christ.
Speaker 1: You need to pray.
Speaker 1: You need to ask questions.
Speaker 1: Let's have a conversation.
Speaker 1: If you're a follower of Jesus, let's stand and let's worship.
Speaker 1: Let's open our lives to Jesus and declare all to him.
Speaker 1: Will you stand and sing with me this morning?