Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

-John 14:6-7

Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them: ‘Rulers and elders of the people! If we are being called to account today for an act of kindness shown to a man who was lame and are being asked how he was healed, then know this, you and all the people of Israel: It is by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom you crucified but whom God raised from the dead, that this man stands before you healed. Jesus is “the stone you builders rejected, which has become the cornerstone.” 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 4:8-12

Dirt Road Discipleship

Something very special is happening around the world: there has been a renewed spiritual hunger.

• In 2024, Bible sales surpassed 14 million in the first 11 months.

• No book has ever outsold the Bible, but the last few years there has been a 20% increase!

Having lost faith and trust in world leaders, world health organizations, politicians, teachers, and governments, this generation is looking for an objective source, something to guide them to truth.

This means we live in a time of great opportunity.

We must be ready to give a reason for the hope that is within us.

But in your hearts revere Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have. But do this with gentleness and respect…

-1 Peter 3:15

• We must be willing to do the hard work of discipleship; to speak the truth into culture.

• We must know what we believe and why we believe it.

• We must know the central tenets of the Gospel and be able to communicate those basics to those who are searching for the hope that is found in the Gospel.

• We must lead the way not merely in experience but in intellectual understanding.

This series is your opportunity to be discipled.

Jesus answered, ’I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

-John 14:6

There is probably no more offensive verse to the modern world than this one.

The modern world detests exclusivity.

Its highest value is inclusivity—at least that’s what it claims.

“How can you Christians claim to have the truth? How can you claim that your way is the only way? There are many other religious believers who are just as sincere as you? Why can’t there be many paths to God? Why can’t you be more inclusive?”

Three Issues with Inclusivity

I. The problem with inclusivity.

II. The reason for inclusivity.

The solution to intellectual and spiritual anxiety.

I. The Problem with Inclusivity

Inclusivity, in the past, meant: Equal treatment under the law; equal opportunity under the law.

“Marketplace of Ideas.” Every idea or ideology should be given equal hearing in public spaces in order that superior ideas will emerge.

What did this mean?

• A person cannot be persecuted for their beliefs or ideas.

• All ideas are given a fair hearing.

• No one should be denied the rights and privileges associated with citizenship based on their differences of opinion.

If that is what we mean by inclusive, Christ-followers are in!

In fact, of the five major world religions, only Christians possess no policy of persecution.

In many, not all, Muslim countries, there are indeed policies of persecution that include:

• Punishing those who convert to Christianity.

• Making conversion illegal.

• Making the building of Christian church buildings illegal.

• And making illegal any proselytizing of new converts.

In the summer of 2014, a Muslim group waged a bloody blitz through Iraq’s Nineveh province, crucifying, beheading, raping, torturing, forcibly converting to Islam, and driving out every member of the region’s 2000-year-old Christian community. Christian girls, as young as three, were sold at sex slave markets in Mosul. Ancient churches were burned and dozens of Christian towns in Syria were attacked. Many in the West, even Christians remain unaware of the scale of this persecution, and even fewer know what can be done about it.

-New York Times

Hindus in India today possess policies of persecution toward both Christians and Muslims, but there is no policy of persecution toward any faith in any proclaimed Christian country.

Christians, by and large, believe that all men and women are created in the image of God and should be loved, prayed for, and valued.

Religious persecution continues around the world and has become the reason many want to immigrate to America.

America may no longer be a Christian Country but it remains heavily influenced by Judeo-Christian values and as a result has no policy of persecution toward those who are not Christian.

Christ-followers believe that it is a sin against God to harm anyone just because they are not a Christ-follower.

In this way, Christ-followers are indeed: Inclusive. They desire to converse with those of differing opinions, believing that the truth will win out in the end.

The new definition of “Inclusive” is a logical impossibility.

Old Definition: Equal treatment of all people, regardless of their ideas or ideology.

New Definition: All ideas are equally valid and equally true.

Before: All people are equal and should be treated with dignity.

After: All ideas are equal and should be treated as true.

Therein lies the problem with Inclusivity as it is defined in the modern world.

The Law of Non-Contradiction. (Plato and Aristotle): Two statements made about the same thing that directly oppose each other cannot both be true.

Slavey is a bad idea; slavery is a good idea.

Racism is a sin; racism is a value.

If all ideas are equally valid and equally true, then:

Slavery should not be condemned.

Racism should be considered valid.

Treating women as inferior to men should be accepted.

A bigger problem with “Inclusivity” as defined by modernity is that, when it comes to religion, it works under a false assumption.

“Religions are fundamentally the same, only superficially different.”

Reality: Religions are superficially similar and fundamentally different.

Of the world’s five major religions (Islam, Hinduism, Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism) Islam, Buddhism and Hinduism were all born out of a rejection of the fundamental beliefs of a previous religion.

For example:

Guatama Buddha was born a Hindu.

He rejected two of the most fundamental doctrines of Hinduism. He accepted neither the authority of the Vedas—Hindi Scriptures or the caste system as true.

So he began his own journey of enlightenment. He came up with four noble truths, the Eight Fold Path, and the extinguishing of desire in his Nirvanic Pursuit.

Buddhism was born out of the rejection of Hinduism and the major fundamental doctrines associated with it.

Muslims, like Christians, are monotheists but completely reject the major fundamentals of Christianity.

• Jesus is not the son of God.

• He did not die on the cross.

• He does not atone for sins.

• He is a prophet but not greater than Mohammed.

• Salvation is based on merit, not saved by grace through faith in Jesus.

A journalist recently wrote:

A right-wing extremist... believes that there are inferior religions.

-Joe Klein (Time.com Blog "In the Arena" March 2, 2007

Do we really want to say that religions that offer child sacrifices, mutilate young girls, and kill homosexuals are not inferior?

• 230 million women alive today have been mutilated.

• Saudi Arabia, Iran, Yemen, Brunei, Nigeria, continue to sentence Homosexuals to death—all on the basis of religion. Are they fundamentally equal to all religions?

“Just because two things have something in common does not mean they are related. I have ears. Elephants have ears. Therefore, I must be an elephant?”

We believe that all the religions are the same; at least the ones we read were. They all believe in love and goodness. They only differ on matters of creation, sin, heaven, hell, God, and salvation.

-Steve Turner

In my view, Atheism is the most exclusive of all religious dogmas.

• It categorically rejects the supernatural.

• It categorically rejects anything beyond the material world.

• It postulates an absolute negation. There is no God - which is a logical impossibility.

The only way you could know absolutely there if there is no God is if you possess absolute knowledge of the universe.

Atheism is extremely exclusive!

It seeks to eradicate all religions from the planet earth.

And will do whatever it has to remove all religions—except theirs—from the public arena.

The Irony of Inclusivism:

One: Inclusivists claim that exclusivists are arrogant.

"Who are you to claim that you have the truth?"

Illustration: Elephant and the Blind Men

Trunk: Elephants are long and flexible creatures.

Leg: Elephants are thick and round like a tree.

Side: Elephants are large and flat creatures.

Religion is like the Elephant and the blind men.

They all grasp part of the truth, but no one has the entire truth.

What is wrong with this picture?

The only way you would know that each man had only a part of the truth is if you possess the whole truth—which you are claiming no one has!

Skeptics believe that any exclusive claims to a superior knowledge of spiritual reality cannot be true. But this objection is itself a religious belief. It assumes God is unknowable, or that God is loving but not wrathful, or that God is an impersonal force rather than a person who speaks in scripture. In addition, their proponents believe they have a superior way to view things. They believe the world would be a better place if everyone dropped the traditional religions’ views of God and truth and adopted theirs. Therefore, their view is also an exclusive claim about the nature of spiritual reality. If all such views are discouraged, this one should be as well. If it is not narrow to hold this view, then there is nothing inherently narrow about holding to traditional religious beliefs.

-Dr. Tim Keller, The Reason for God

All views are exclusive because truth by nature is exclusive. It excludes what is false.

Two: Inclusivists claim sincerity is equal to reality.

Think of the logic here - How can you say that Hindus are wrong because they are just as faithful and just as sincere as you are to your faith? How can so many people be sincere and yet be wrong?

• Hitler sincerely believed that the Jewish race is tarnished and needed to be eradicated from the Aryan bloodline. He was sincere!

• The KKK sincerely believed and dedicated their lives to eradicating African Americans from the South. They believed they were protecting their families and that they were serving the purposes of God.

• The Amalekites in sacrificing children were sincere and truly believed that by doing so, they would reap the blessings of the God Molech!

• The people following Jim Jones were sincere right up to the point they drank the Kool aide.

It is not a matter of sincerity.

It is not a matter of diligence.

It is not a matter of commitment.

It is a matter of Truth.

What accurately reflects reality? What is delusional?

Wherever the world’s religions began, that place continues to be their center today.

Islam has its Arabia—its Mecca!

Buddhism has its far east!

Hinduism has its India and is still predominantly an Indian Religion.

Christianity is the exception: Its center is always moving!

From Jerusalem to the Hellenistic Gentiles.

From the Hellenistic Mediterranean World to Alexandria,

North Africa, Rome.

Then to the Northern Europeans—Franks and Anglo

Saxons and Celts—all of Europe and beyond.

Now here we are in the 21st Century, and Christianity is flourishing in Latin America, Asia, Africa, even China and Russia.

“Christianity is a white man’s religion.”

• What continent has the most Christians? Africa

• What people group has the most Christians? Latinos.

• Christianity is growing rapidly in Africa, Latin America and Asia and Russia!

When all is said and done, here is the thing about Jesus.

• No matter where you are from

• No matter what language you speak

• No matter the color of your skin.

• No matter what the religion of your people or tribe

• No matter where you have been or what you have done

All are welcomed at the table!

Jesus may be exclusive, but He is the most inclusive exclusivist you will ever find!

II: The reason for Exclusivity.

Once we expose the idea that the kind of inclusivity that suggests all ideas are equally valid or equally true is bereft of logic and practicality, then we can look at the real issue!

What is Jesus’ message? And why is it exclusive?

It is crucial to realize that this is unique to all world religions!

You will find nothing else like this anywhere:

• Holiness vs Love.

• Salvation by grace through faith.

If this is truly the nature of God - Holiness and Love - then our sin must be dealt with sufficiently before we can enter into relationship with him and possess a hope and a future.

There is only One who has atoned for the sins of the world.

For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus; Who gave himself a ransom for all...

-I Timothy 2:5-6a (NASB)

Now remember what we have stated:

1. God has revealed Himself in Creation.

2. God has revealed Himself in the person of Jesus Christ, validated and confirmed by the resurrection.

3. God has revealed himself through the Scripture validated and confirmed by fulfilled prophecy.

4. Eyewitness testimony and circumstantial evidence points to these truths.

Through these avenues we learn that:

1. God is Holy and Loving.

2. Jesus' sacrifice for our sins meets the requirements of His holiness and brings us into a right relationship with Him!

Objective truth tells us God is a Holy God from whom we are separated because of our sin.

He has redeemed us through the blood of His son—which He foreshowed hundreds of years before Jesus was born.

In the Psalms of David you will often read what are called Psalms of Ascent—describing the scene as people walked up to the Temple to Celebrate Yom Kippur: The Day of Atonement!

Imagine 210,000 people singing this song..

I lift up my eyes to the mountains—where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth. The Lord watches over you—the Lord is your shade at your right hand; the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night. The Lord will keep you from all harm—he will watch over your life; the Lord will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore.

-Psalm 121

When everyone is in place, it's time for the priest to go as a representative of the people into the house of the Lord.

As he goes, he takes two goats: One for the Lord and One for the scapegoat.

Aaron shall bring the goat whose lot falls to the Lord and sacrifice it for a sin offering.

-Leviticus 16:9

One goat for Atonement = ”Covering over of Sin.” Sacrifice. Pronouncement. Transference.

One goat as a Scapegoat = “Removal of Sin completely.” “Sent Away.”

But the goat chosen by lot as the scapegoat shall be presented alive before the Lord to be used for making atonement by sending it into the wilderness as a scapegoat.

-Leviticus 16:10

Goat = Azazel (Hebrew: “Removal; take away”)

General Idea: Carry the sins of the people out into the wilderness.

Your sins are placed onto the goat.

A Gentile walks the Goat out over the cliff with a red cord around his head - which leaves a red ring!

For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.

-Psalm 103:11-14

Illustration: the red cord placed on the head of the goat.

• Life is in the blood; a life had to be taken.

• The wages of sin is death.

The red cord was tied on the altar, and then miraculously—over the course of the days following Yom Kippur—the cord would turn white.

‘Come now, let us settle the matter,’ says the Lord. ‘Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool.’

-Isaiah 1:18

God gave His people a sign!!

• Yes, I am a Holy God who takes sin seriously.

• Yes, I am a God who punishes the evil doer!

• Yes, I am a God that should be feared!

• But I am also a God who loves you so much that I will do for you what you cannot do for yourself.

Now, after hundreds and hundreds of years, leading up to the crucifixion of Jesus:

Feast of Passover is near (Feast= Mikrah: Rehearsal. Foreshadowing.)

Then Pilate took Jesus and had him flogged. The soldiers twisted together a crown of thorns and put it on his head.

-John 19:1-2

A crown of thorns on your head would make a ring around your head that would be red.

Pilate says, “What should I do with Jesus?” What does the crowd say?

It was the day of Preparation of the Passover; it was about noon. ‘Here is your king,’ Pilate said to the Jews. But they shouted, ‘Take him away! Take him away! Crucify Him.’

-John 19:14-15

He was led by the Romans outside the city to Golgatha to be Crucified while the Jews cheered.

• Our Azazel is led outside the city by Gentiles.

• Who is Jesus then? Jesus is our Azazel!

• The Goat has left the building!

And All who call on and fear His name shall be saved!

But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.

-Isaiah 53:5

The red cord turns white days after the Day of Atonement.

The scapegoat has been sent outside the city.

…Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow…

-Isaiah 1:18

The Mishnah: a Jewish source from the first century, collected and written by Rabbis who rejected Jesus as Messiah.

The Mishnah records that 40 years before the destruction of the temple the cord stayed red. It ceased turning white.

• The temple was destroyed by the Roman General Titus in the year 70 which means that sometime around AD 30, the cord stopped turning white!

• Sometime around AD 30, the sacrificial system became ineffective.

• Around AD 30, Jesus (the lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world) was slain on a Roman Cross.

No need for the Scapegoat—The Lamb of God has been slain before the foundations of the world and all who call on His name shall be saved.

God has deemed that His sacrifice and only His sacrifice takes away sin!

To validate the crucifixion of the son of God, God raised Him from the dead!

The reason Jesus says I am the way, the truth and the life and no one comes to the Father except through me is simple.

Jesus answered, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

-John 14:6

No one else has atoned for your sin.

You cannot merit salvation. To think you could ever be good enough to stand in God’s presence is insanity.

All other religions are based on works. Why?

The devil roams around seeking whom he may devour. (1 Peter 5:8)

When you have the authentic, you always have imposters.

The belief that you do not need a savior and can merit your own salvation is not from God. Where is it from?

Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world.

-1 John 4:1-3

If you say that there are other ways to God, you are saying:

1. Sincerity=Truth

2. The cross is unnecessary.

3. God is a masochist.

4. Salvation can be earned.

5. The core of Christianity is not an accurate reflection of the nature, character, and doings of God.

Christianity fundamentally contradicts every other Religious system.

Which religion accurately reflects the nature, workings, and doings of God?

It is either Christianity or some other religion but not both!

Why? Because they fundamentally contradict each other!

Jesus has a right to claim He is the only way to God because only He offered his life as the sacrifice for your sins which makes it possible for you to come into the presence of a Holy God.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

-John 3:16

Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.

-John 3:18

Why are they condemned already? Because we are all sinners!

For God to ignore your sin without doing anything about it is to violate His own nature.

• If you think God is going to make an exception for you, you do so on the basis of feeling—not truth.

• The objective reality is: God, through the Cross of Jesus Christ, met the requirements of His own holiness and provided a way of salvation and restoration.

And all who call on the name of the Lord will be saved. (Joel 2:32, Romans 10:13)

Everyone stands condemned—we are all sinners.

You are separated from God because of your sin, not because you have not heard or received Jesus Christ. Jesus is the remedy.

Here is what the Bible teaches:

One: All men are without excuse.

The wrath of God is being revealed from heaven against all the godlessness and wickedness of people, who suppress the truth by their wickedness...

-Romans 1:18

Two: All who seek God will find God.

‘You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord…

-Jeremiah 29:13-14a

The Hebrew word for "heart" in this verse, lev, encompasses the mind, will, and emotions. The verse suggests that seeking God is a wholehearted pursuit that involves more than a casual effort.

III. The Solution to Spiritual Anxiety

All worldviews are exclusive at some point, because truth by nature is exclusive.

What I have learned:

People who claim that all religions are equally valid and equally true are not affiliated with any, or they have created in their minds what God “ought” to be like. They believe their truth to be the real truth and they exclude those who disagree.

Only Jesus gives a satisfactory answer to the deepest questions of the human heart.

Three of these deep issues:

First: Only Jesus gives an answer to the nature of sin within the heart of man.

Paul:

• Studied at the feet of the greatest teachers.

• Lived in the finest city in Greece with the finest university in the world at that time

• He knew the philosophies of Greece.

• He knew the legal system of Rome,

• He loved the law of God!

• He had been taught the law. He cherished the law.

But he ran into a king-sized problem.

So I find this law at work: Although I want to do good, evil is right there with me. For in my inner being I delight in God’s law; but I see another law at work in me, waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin at work within me. What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body that is subject to death?

-Romans 7:21-24

In my mind I am God’s willing servant.

But in my nature, I am bound to my flesh.

And it tortures me! Who will rescue me?

Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!

-Romans 7:25

How does He deliver me?

Salvation: forgiveness through the cross

Sanctification: Power as He makes His home in you.

Power and Forgiveness!

See-the law was like a mirror-it told you that your face was dirty. Buddha gave us the laws-told us to think right thoughts, do right deeds, and have right ambitions.

But my question to Buddha is:

"In heaven's name Buddha, How? I want to do it-but I keep failing!”

The normal temptations of life come in our direction—and no one is immune to those temptations—no matter how holy you think you are.

To live in this mortal frame is to be tempted.

Your affections in this world, and your desires in your innermost being, have very little to do with the reality of other options that stir in your heart and soul.

You may desire to do good, you may have an affection for that which is good, but inevitably you will fail!

How can I overcome this?

Buddha tells me that in order to reach God I must rid myself of all impurities. But Buddha could not give that power of expelling sin within me.

The pantheistic system couldn’t do it! All the systems of the world cannot do that!

Yet—to be accepted by God and take hold of the hope of eternal life, I must be good. It is a prerequisite for being accepted by their God-but it cannot be done!

1. There are many good people in this world who have betrayed their families and never wanted to.

2. There are many men who are behind bars today-who never intended to cheat the government-but they did.

3. There are many men who have been felled by pride-who did not decide to end up self-aggrandizing themselves-but they did.

But Paul found the secret—the mystery.

One of the most glorious truths in the Christian Scriptures is that you will never keep the law perfectly, so He sent Christ to accomplish that for you.

To meet the requirements on your behalf!

To pay the penalty of breaking the law!

It is not keeping God's moral law perfectly that gets you into Heaven, but the acknowledgement that Jesus Christ has met the requirements of God’s law on my behalf and has provided a way to atone for my failures.

Second: Only Jesus gives you a satisfactory strength and explanation for suffering.

Most world religions end up blaming you for all evil, pain and suffering.

The Bible presents the truth that pain, suffering and evil are indeed complex issues and much of our suffering has little to do with us. How does Jesus give an answer then?

Prevailing Presence: Before My ears had heard, now my eyes have seen.

Redemption: I know that my redeemer lives and in the end will stand upon the earth.

Third: Only Jesus died for your sins, defeated death, and rose from the dead.

When you die, you will not meet Buddha, Mohammed, or Krishna. They are all dead.

• Jesus is the only way to the Father because He and He alone defeated death.

• Do you see why it is so important for you to make up your mind about the historical reality of Jesus’ resurrection? Indeed this sets Him apart.

Christ-followers do not “hope” that Jesus rose from the dead.

They do not wish that He rose from the dead.

Their faith is rooted in history and the eyewitness accounts coupled with the circumstantial evidence.

Who do you want to connect with? Who do you want to follow?

A dead leader who told you that unless you keep this list of laws and travel to these places and live a good life as defined by these five principles, you have no guarantees of what is to come?

Or the One who is at the Right hand of the Father?

Who died for your sins and did for you what you could not do for yourself,

who defeated sin and death,

who intercedes for you at the side of the Father,

whose sacrifice for your sins was deemed sufficient to bridge the gap between you and God.

Whether you believe it or not, whether it is “Your Truth” or not, when you die, you are going to meet Jesus.

He will either be your saviour or your judge.

Why?

Jesus answered, ’I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.’

-John 14:6

Make a Decision