No one comes to the Father except through me. —John 14:6
Recently, an appliance in my home stopped working, and it seemed that in the entire city there was only one technician who could repair it. Everyone I asked recommended that one gentleman. However, each time I reached out he asked, very apologetically, to please text him back in a month's time. There was a long waiting list. Month after month, I checked back. Each time the response was the same. Then I suddenly remembered that I knew his son. He had worked with me on a project a couple of years earlier, and I still had his contact information. I sent the son a text message explaining the situation, and before the day was done, I had an appointment with the father. Three days later, the appliance was fixed!
Jesus says, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). If you’re like me and attended Sunday school or a church-managed primary school, I’m willing to bet that was one of the first Bible verses you memorized. And you probably understood that the verse is referring to salvation, but no one ever explained how, exactly, a person “gets saved.” As a result, I was in church for years and believed I was saved but, sadly, I was not. I thought that once you are a good, church-going person who does many good deeds for the Lord, you are Heaven-bound.
Paul makes it clear in Romans 10 that being enthusiastic about the things of God is not enough to save us (1-3). Rather, “if you declare with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved,” Paul explains. “For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved (v 9-10).
It is also important to know that simply reciting a prayer cannot save us.
According to the Bible, the only way to receive salvation is by believing in Jesus—putting our faith in Him. That means, fully believing His death on the cross is the only way to atone for our sins because our sinful nature prevents us from atoning for ourselves. It means completely relying on Jesus alone as our Savior and making Him the Lord of our lives.
GotQuestions.org provides a very helpful list of Bible references that point to the way of salvation:
John 3:16 tells us, “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.”
Salvation is gained by faith (Ephesians 2:8), by receiving Jesus as Savior (John 1:12), and by fully trusting Jesus alone (John 14:6; Acts 4:12), not by reciting a prayer.
We have all committed sin against God (Romans 3:23).
Other than Jesus Christ, there is no one who has lived an entire life without sinning (Ecclesiastes 7:20).
Because of our sin, we have earned judgment from God—death (Romans 6:23).
Because of our sin and its deserved punishment, there is nothing we can do on our own to make ourselves right with God. As a result of His love for us, Jesus died in our place. He took the burden and judgment of our sin upon Himself (2 Corinthians 5:21).
Jesus was then resurrected (1 Corinthians 15), proving that His payment for sin was sufficient and that He had overcome sin and death. As a result of Jesus’ sacrifice, God offers us salvation as a gift. God calls us all to repent of our sins (Acts 17:30) and have faith in Christ as the full payment of our sins (1 John 2:2).
Truly believing in Jesus the Son is the one and only way to the Father.
If you know someone who attends church regularly or shows much enthusiasm for the things of God but may not be saved, consider how you might be able to encourage or lead him or her to salvation. If you are that person, I encourage you to reach out this week to a relative, friend, or pastor who can guide and support you.
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