Preacher trashes "Inclusion" - explains why inclusion doesn't cut it.

[0:00] John 14, the words of our Saviour. I know often at funerals we do refer to John chapter 14, these very words,! because it tells us of a place that he's preparing for us.

[0:11] John chapter 14, and we're going to read it from verse 1. It says, Let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house there are many mansions.

[0:25] If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself.

[0:38] That where I am there ye may be also. And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not whither thou goest, and how can we know the way?

[0:52] Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

[1:04] Of course, our Lord is telling of his Father's house, the many residences and mansions, the places to reside there, that he's preparing that place. And we know he ascended into heaven, and so that's where he's talking of, and that's where we can ultimately be.

[1:18] I know we've talked on the doorstop at times, the Jehovah's Witnesses think heaven is just for an exclusive group. But no, there's heaven for you that believe, that trust him.

[1:30] Of course, I'm thinking likewise we'll probably have heaven and earth, and the whole universe will be at our disposal when we are in glory. But yet there is a heaven promised.

[1:40] But there's a way to heaven, and that's what we're telling about tonight. A way to heaven. And we're standing at the crossroads, and you can imagine it as you picture it, the Y junction.

[1:51] Which way are you going to go? Jesus says, I am the way. We're going to talk about that truth. And what direction do we take? Do we go Jesus' way, or do we go our own way?

[2:03] We need to know the way, the way. And there is only one way, one way. One who can save us. For myself, I've found that the best way is not always my way.

[2:16] Frank Sinatra, of course, he sings, I did it my way. I don't know whether he found the Jesus way or not. But if he was just doing it my way, chances are he didn't get there.

[2:26] When we do it our own way, we sometimes can really mess things up badly, can't we? I know since I've been married, I do it Julie's way now. Of course. But no, I need to decide if it will be my way or if it will be his way.

[2:39] And that's the point, isn't it, brothers and sisters tonight? They go God's way. And the way away from sin and guilt is, of course, his way, isn't it? Really, he is the way, the way to truth and true peace and true freedom.

[2:54] It's his way. And he tells us his way is a narrow way. It is the way that leads to life. It's interesting, the early church was called the way. As we read in Acts 24, they kind of did it in a kind of mocking way.

[3:09] The way they call heresy is what they described the church as, the way they call heresy. And Jesus didn't say, I am a way.

[3:19] He said, I am what? The way. The way. Now, there's a lot of talk these days, of course, about inclusion. It's kind of the buzzword, isn't it? But really, in Christianity and salvation, salvation is exclusive.

[3:32] It's actually exclusive in the sense that there is no other way. It's an exclusive way, one way. And the Lord Jesus is not just another great teacher, as some would put it, as, of course, Muslims put it, that he's another great teacher or leader, as if there's some other choices.

[3:52] But there is no other saviour. It's like in that religion, in every other religion, there's no true saviour there. There's no saviour there. But in Christ, we find a saviour.

[4:02] We find the saviour. And really, the Lord Jesus is the one and only way to the Father. There's no shortcut, no alternative way. He says, I am the way. No man cometh unto the Father but by me.

[4:15] The Lord Jesus is the way. Because he's the only one who, as God, also became man. So it's an exclusive way. There's no shortcut. It's not like you can jump the fence and try to find some other way.

[4:27] There's only one way. There's only one door. There's only one saviour. And this is the way. The one who come as the one saviour who took on himself our sins and paid the price for them, suffering and dying for us.

[4:42] So Jesus is the way because he alone is the truth and the life. There's other teachers that might claim to have truth. They claim to give life, perhaps. But only the Lord Jesus can truly be the truth and be the life.

[4:55] It seems that man wants to have his own man-made way of salvation. Really, that's the complete picture of every other faith, every other philosophy, is it's a man-made kind of salvation.

[5:07] But really, it falls short. It's not possible to have a man-made way of salvation. Some would want to make or to walk their own road to God and to heaven. But we can't build a road to heaven.

[5:19] We must go Jesus, the way to heaven. Unbelieving man will not take the one way to the Father. He would rather walk through the wide road of unbelief and follow the broad way of destruction.

[5:32] But the Lord Jesus says, No man cometh unto the Father but by me. And so this is what we like to stress when we're witnessing, when we're telling others of the way to salvation. There is only one way.

[5:44] There's no extra way. There's no alternate way. There's only one and one only road to the Father. One and one only path to heaven. It is Jesus.

[5:55] And the Lord Jesus speaks to our heart today and he says, I am the way, the truth and the life. So we can take heart in that. Now this word way is literally a road, a travelled path.

[6:07] The Lord Jesus is talking about a road that leads to a place that takes the traveller to heaven. Of course Thomas at the time, he said, I don't know where you're going. And then the Lord Jesus explained that he's talking about the way to the Father.

[6:21] The Bible speaks really there's only two roads. There's only two. It's either Jesus' way or some other way. Whatever those ways are. That's the broad way, which is multiple roads that lead to hell.

[6:35] Unfortunately, that's the alternative. And the Lord Jesus, he identifies himself as the way, the pathway that leads to the Father and to heaven. It's exclusive.

[6:45] It's exclusively Christ that is the way. There's simply no other way to God and to heaven than the road. It's like there's a road with a sign on it.

[6:56] The way to heaven. And that sign to heaven is Jesus, isn't it? We see as he tells the disciples in Matthew 7, he tells them this. In Matthew 7, verse 13 through 14, the Lord Jesus says, Enter ye in at the straight gate.

[7:10] This word straight, it means narrow. It's the same sense of it. It's this narrow gate. He says, Enter in at that gate, because wide is the gate, and broad is the way that leads to destruction.

[7:22] And many there be which go in thereat, because straight is the gate, or narrow is the gate. Narrow is the way which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it. So this road to heaven has got a name on it, and it is Jesus Christ.

[7:38] That is the name of the road to heaven. There's no other street that will take you to heaven. There's no alternative way. And the way to the Father, when you think about it, back in Genesis, the way to the Father was closed to us.

[7:51] As Adam and Eve sinned, the garden was closed. It was gated and shut and barred. We were taken out of the garden because of our sin.

[8:01] Mankind had to leave the garden. And we're all in the same boat as Adam and Eve now. We're all fallen and become wicked sinners who've lost the way to God and to heaven. When we rebelled against God in Adam at the garden, and we chose the fellowship of Satan, we gave up the Father's house of fellowship and life.

[8:19] We turned our backs on it and walked away. And now that road is closed. The path is shut. But now God provides the way through Christ. He's provided the way for anyone who trusts in Him to come back to Him, back to His house and to fellowship.

[8:34] And so we want to encourage that. I know sometimes we can make the assumption as I can make that assumption that everyone is saved, that is attending.

[8:45] But we know when you have some conversations with people, you come to see that, no, that's not always so. They might have some wrong impression or some wrong faith, or not really an entire faith in Jesus as their Saviour.

[9:00] And so we want to make that very clear that there's only one way. It's like this, you know, as a preacher at times, as I say, at times presiding over funerals, sometimes they don't know whether that person's saved.

[9:15] And I don't want to give the congregation that false hope that they've gone to heaven, because only really they can answer for themselves have they trusted Christ for their salvation. And I pray that would be true for everyone that is here tonight.

[9:27] Or that can be true for you, that you can find that way to the Father and to heaven. And it's Jesus. It's entirely Jesus. It's exclusively the Lord Jesus. He took upon Himself our guilt, the whole shame and sin of humanity.

[9:44] He suffered the punishment that we deserve to deliver us from that pathway to destruction and to make that pathway to heaven for us. And so He had to go that road of suffering for us to take our payment, to take our penalty, that pain that led Him to the very cross.

[10:02] He took that roadway to the cross so He can make for us that roadway to heaven through His precious blood. And not to have to take that roadway, that broadway that leads to destruction and everlasting death in hell.

[10:16] So the Lord Jesus tonight, He is the life, the one by whom life with God is restored, the one in whom everlasting life is found.

[10:28] And because He entered our path of death and overcame it, we can have life. He is saying that He is the way, not merely showing us the way by example, but being the very way in Himself, His very person.

[10:41] He's not merely some prophet teaching us about a better way or guiding us in a way, but He is the way Himself. His very self is the way. He is the way from God to man, the source of heaven's blessings, and the way from man to God is our righteousness, our sin offering.

[11:01] And so He offers us that way to live. Even when we're confused and we don't know where to turn, He is the one that we can turn to. We can know His constant presence and know Him personally, follow Him truly.

[11:13] And He is the living way. The Bible talks about a new and living way. And He is the way. It's really the only path that overcomes death, that promises eternal life.

[11:23] No other religious figure can offer you that. I know we talked to some, as we had an abundance of different kinds of religious people that we talked about salvation with on Saturday, the number that went out door-knocking.

[11:40] And you've got Buddha here, you've got a Jehovah's Witness there, you've got a Muslim, a Hindu. There's such a confusion of different beliefs. And really the one difference between all of that and Christ is that they don't offer that eternal hope.

[11:57] They don't offer that everlasting life. There's no assurance there. There's no certainty there or salvation. Whereas in Christ there is a sure hope. There's a sure way. And it's certain.

[12:07] It's like if you were to want to take some journey across some rugged mountain range, you'd want to find one who's been there and been through the whole geography and knows the way to go.

[12:20] You wouldn't trust someone who's only gone part of the way or might have some knowledge about the way, but you want the one who knows the way. And that's the one. He came from heaven to earth. We know that he took upon him the form of a servant.

[12:33] He was made in the likeness of men. And he died on the cross, the death of the cross, the very death of the cross, so that we can have life. And one day we're all going to bow the knee to him, the Lord Jesus.

[12:44] It says, Every knee shall bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord. I am the way, the truth, and the life. These are the words of Jesus to Thomas, as he was a doubting Thomas.

[12:55] But then we see that as it happened later in John 20, that this very Thomas bowed the knee to him and said, My Lord and my God. He came to that conviction of faith.

[13:08] And so also the Lord Jesus, he is the truth. He is the true God and the true man. He is truth himself. Pilate asked him, What is truth?

[13:19] And really, our Lord answers that here in John 14, where he says, I am the truth. And again, in this world where there's so much confusion, there's abounding confusion, so many lies and deceptions, there's so many strange doctrines and cults about.

[13:34] And some people would say, It doesn't matter what you believe, so long as you're sincere. But of course, that's not the case, is it? You know, they still say in the courts, they say, As someone puts their hand on the Bible, I declare the truth, the whole truth, nothing but the truth.

[13:49] We know how untruthful the justice so-called system is at the moment. But thank God, they still have some regard for the Bible, and that's what they hold when they say these things.

[13:59] Because there is a dividing line between truth and error. And so when we're looking for answers, we turn to the Bible because that is the truth. We can trust it. That's why we're giving out Bibles, because that's the ultimate tract, isn't it?

[14:11] The ultimate salvation gospel message is the very words of God himself. And really, there's not different versions of the truth. Some people have the idea, Oh, you've got your version of the truth, I've got mine.

[14:22] There's really not different versions of the truth. There is only the truth. And really, there ought to be in us a zero tolerance for error. There should be a zero tolerance for that which is not biblical, because we can't mix error with truth.

[14:38] We have to stand fast on the side of truth. And there can be no accommodation of conflicting views, of different views. Jesus is the truth, the truth. And when you get that point, when you get that truth, that he is the truth, it makes everything fall into place, really, doesn't it?

[14:55] Because the Lord Jesus is the revelation of all truth. All the truth that's found in God, because Jesus is God. All the revelation of his truth, about the Father, about heaven, he reveals that truth to us.

[15:09] His word is truth. As he tells us, thy word is truth. And in contrast, we see, men are by nature children of a lying devil, willing to be willingly deceived by lies, or sometimes mistakenly believing lies, but ignorant of that truth.

[15:31] And really, everyone outside of Christ is in darkness and blinded. I think of loved ones of my own that I've... My heart goes out to think that the devil has blinded them to not believe.

[15:46] It grieves my heart, deeply grieves my heart. And God forbid, I stand at their funeral, I don't know where they've gone. I want to give them the gospel and tell them, and I've done that, and I will continue to do that, even if I'm mocked and scorned.

[15:59] Because the people need to hear the gospel. Your loved ones need to hear the gospel. Your friends need to hear the gospel. And we mustn't be ashamed of it. Friends, the Lord Jesus is the answer.

[16:11] And we must tell others of him. And so people are searching for answers, real answers. What is the answer? It's the truth. Jesus is the truth. We know that life can be filled with pain and difficulties and confusion.

[16:26] And sometimes we can get lost in the fog of life. Some would have the kind of philosophy that life is meaningless. In Shakespeare's Macbeth, it says, life is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.

[16:45] That's the state of an unsaved man, isn't it? That there's nothing, it's empty, it's meaningless. But there is meaning to life. As a Christian, we're not standing with that kind of philosophy. There is meaning to life.

[16:57] And really, the fullest meaning for life is Christ himself. He is the one who promises fullness of life. He says, I've come that you might have life and have it more abundantly. And not only is he the way and the truth, but he's the prince of life, the Bible tells us.

[17:11] And again, this life is exclusive. It's exclusively Christ. When you really think it through, if someone doesn't have Christ, they're dead. They're actually dead.

[17:23] The Bible tells us that. We're effectively dead if we don't have Christ. The Bible tells us that people are dead in trespasses and sins. So outside of Christ, there is no life. There is no life.

[17:34] We've got dead people walking around all around us, really, haven't we? Blind people walking around. They're the living dead, really, aren't they? They don't have life. They don't have the saviour. Because Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life.

[17:47] And we see as it reads, 1 John 5 verse 12, that he that hath the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. And this is very, very confronting words here, isn't it?

[18:00] Really, when you think of it, my loved ones who don't have the saviour, they're not even alive. They're actually spiritually dead. And this is something exclusive here, that Christ alone is the life.

[18:11] If you don't have Jesus Christ, then you don't have life. You can't be a little bit alive. Without Jesus, you're fully dead. And thank God, he's conquered death, and he's risen in triumph.

[18:23] He's the one who's the conqueror of death and hell. And he's living. He's alive. He's not some dead prophet. He's a living saviour. And he invites each one to come unto me. Come so that you can have this life, this abundant, this eternal life.

[18:38] The question is, will you follow? And what's your priority in life? I know the Bible talks about how there's but one step between us and death.

[18:50] There's no telling how much time we have. What am I giving priority to in my life? Is it Jesus? Does Jesus matter to you? He says, I am the way, the truth, and the life.

[19:01] He says, no man comes to the Father but by me. And so tonight, the Lord Jesus is not a saviour. He is the saviour. As I say, Christianity is exclusive.

[19:12] There's exclusively Jesus who can save. Apart from him, there is no promise of eternal life to anyone. And you know, the words of Acts 4, verse 12, are very strong again.

[19:26] As the preacher declares, neither is there salvation in any other, for there is none other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. He says, there's no salvation other than in his name.

[19:39] There's only one name that can save you. Not some name of some prophet and you can rattle off a hundred different prophets' names. They're not going to save you. But the name of Jesus is exclusively the saviour.

[19:51] He's exclusively the one name that under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. Life is more than the toys and trinkets that we might amass, more than the treasures of this world.

[20:06] Because friends, eternity is just one step away. And so, again, it confronts me as I think of a funeral that I might have had to conduct but as I say, I couldn't make this one.

[20:20] To address a crowd of people, to stand in front of a grave, to see a casket lowered into the ground and not to know where that person's going really would have been more comfort for me to know that this one knew the saviour but I don't have that knowledge.

[20:37] And friends, I pray, I urge you tonight, each one, younger ones, all of us here tonight, we've got no telling how much time we have to trust Christ. He says to you, I am the life.

[20:49] And he declared himself to be the life incarnate in human form. He came into this dead and dying world, this lost world where there's this broad way and it's teeming with people going the wrong direction, going down this broad way that leads to destruction, down to their damnation.

[21:06] And he came into this dead and dying world and he is the one who is the life. He's the one who gave us the life as he breathed into Adam's nostrils the breath of life. And he's able to give life to you that believe, eternal, enduring, everlasting life.

[21:22] And he declares to you, I have come that they might have life and have it more abundantly. When you think, really, the way, the truth and the life, he's the one that gives us life with a capital L, life to the max, life more abundant.

[21:36] And his life gives us life that's eternal life in its duration, in its quality. And that's what makes a funeral service to one who died in Christ a joyous occasion.

[21:47] Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. And so, if it came to the time, I'm not wishing it on anyone, but if it was your funeral that I was at, I'd have that glad joy that you'll be with him, you'll be with the Saviour.

[22:04] And, of course, there's tears for ourselves because we remain, we miss those loved ones, but there's an assurance that we can have, yes, they called on his name, they trusted in him. And so, I urge you tonight, I know it's sometimes confronting to think of loved ones who don't seem to have that profession of faith, but it's all the more telling and urgent for us to do what part we can to tell them while we can because we were once dead in trespasses and sins, we were once there and then when Christ touched us, we were born again and we're no longer dead, we're born again.

[22:38] He says unto you, marvel not that I say unto you, you must be born again. Now, you might say, preacher, I'm hearing you tonight and I'm not really sure whether I am born again. If that's you tonight, please don't leave this place without speaking to someone about your soul.

[22:54] There might be a trusted Christian in the presence here tonight or myself or another person you trust that knows the Lord and say, look, tell me how, how can I believe, how can I be saved and really, it's not, I like to kind of put it a little tongue in cheek that there's no kind of special ceremony or magical words or I've not got some magical holy water to sprinkle on you or some special ceremony to conduct to make sure that you're a Christian tonight but really, it's simple faith.

[23:26] It's simple faith. You can believe without me even saying a word to you. It's really that you trust in Jesus, that you have that repentance, that mind shift, that you go from unbelief and darkness to belief and faith.

[23:39] You see, the lights go on and you see, yes, Jesus died for me and I trust in him. I trust in him as my saviour. That's what it is. That's as simple as it gets, really.

[23:50] It's simple faith and it says, he that has the Son has life. He that has not the Son of God has not life. And so, it's very important here tonight. I know this is a very simple message but really, I can't press this truth enough to everyone that's here.

[24:07] I know there's younger ones here, there's older ones. You might think, well, I'm not even sure that I'm a Christian. Friends, you can trust him tonight by faith. Simple faith. Realise that you're a lost, a hell-bound sinner that you need a saviour.

[24:22] Realise that no philosophy or thinking or views or ideas of your own are going to cut it because you have to be knowing the One who is the way, the truth, the life.

[24:34] There's no inclusivity here. There's no tolerance of all kinds of views here. Really, Christianity, Bible truth is very exclusive.

[24:45] It's exclusively one saviour. He is the the way, exclusively the way. He's exclusively the life, the truth and he's the only path that takes us to heaven.

[24:58] We know one day we will die. We don't know when that moment will be but more than that there's also spiritual death. Spiritual death where we'll be separated from God.

[25:10] Well, there'll be the reality of hell. It's a real place. The Bible tells us of the lake of fire. These are telling truths and these are not things to toy with or to to mess around with or try to come to your own mind about.

[25:25] You've got to take it as read. There's no there's no glossing over it or kind of trying to manipulate what it says. It says what it says and so take it as read.

[25:39] Spiritual death, condemnation, punishment, torment. These are the words that the Lord Jesus used. You are alive right now but some of you are also dead.

[25:52] That sense of spiritually dead. Your spirit is dead towards God. It needs to be made alive and that can happen right now by faith. where you can go from death unto life.

[26:04] You can be translated from darkness into light. You can know that your penalty of sin is entirely paid and you can know the way, the truth and the life.

[26:17] He says, no man comes to the Father but by me. So I pray you'd make that trust tonight in simple receptivity to receive that gift. It's so simple and it's so plain.

[26:29] It's so straightforward really. It's not complicated. It's very easy to be saved in the sense of that simple trust of receiving the gift.

[26:41] And then there's a whole new dimension happens after that. Of course, our walk with God. There's a whole lot of learning, a whole lot of walking, a whole lot of changing and transforming that happens.

[26:55] That's the discipleship part. that follows on from the salvation part. And the salvation point is the point that matters when you can be saved for time and for eternity. And as it reads, he that has the Son has life.

[27:07] He that has not the Son of God has not life. So let us pray. Lord, we thank you that you simply tell us that you are the way, the truth and the life. Lord, we see that Christianity, salvation, as your word tells us of it, is exclusive.

[27:23] There's no inclusivity of all kinds of, as if there's all kinds of roads that lead to heaven. We know there's only one road that leads to heaven and that's got that signpost that says Jesus Christ.

[27:35] We pray that each one might know that simple trust that you are the one and only saviour. There's no other name given among men under heaven whereby we must be saved.

[27:46] We pray each one might have that heart's trust to know you're saving, to receive that gift of your eternal life by virtue of your dying in our place, bearing that penalty of death, of our sin, payment that was made and you said, you declared it, it is finished.

[28:04] When you breathe that last breath, every payment was made, every part of that payment was made. And we pray each one might have that heart's trust.

[28:15] Help us, Lord, to have the heart for those that are yet lost. Put on our hearts those people, Lord, that you want us to tell. of this great salvation. Put on our hearts, Lord, those ones that you want us to be burdened for.

[28:30] Put on our lips, Lord, that message to them, that we might be messengers of this life to those around about that know you're not yet, Lord, we pray in Jesus' name. Amen.

[28:41] Thank you.