Many have said it's Exclusive

John 14: 8-11

I bet you know someone who is looking for a way to God other than through Jesus Christ; in fact you may be that someone.  More than one person has told me that John 14:6, is too exclusive, what about the person in some jungle that has never seen a Bible?  And my answer is; John 3:16, the same God who so loved the world that He gave his only Son to take our place, pay our debt by shedding His blood on a cross so all could have eternal life who put faith in Him.  That God is big, real big, and I trust He will reach them with His love story of Jesus. 

I also observed that many who make such claims, have a better plan than God’s.  Their plan is built around living life as they please, and God calls that rebellion, it is living independently of God’s authority, in fact it is living under your own authority, making your own way to eternal life.  But from who or where did you get such authority, and how much control do you have over this life, not much, you can not add one day to your life, the book of James makes that very clear. “Come now, you who say, “Today or tomorrow we will go into such and such a town and spend a year there and trade and make a profit”—yet you do not know what tomorrow will bring. What is your life? For you are a mist that appears for a little time and then vanishes. Instead you ought to say, “If the Lord wills, we will live and do this or that.” As it is, you boast in your arrogance. All such boasting is evil.”  (James 4:13-16 ESV)

Now if the above is not clear let me make sure that you understand; I believe Jesus is “Truth” not a truth but “The Truth,” and if that is true, then “Truth” has spoken in John 14:6-7, Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. If you had known me, you would have known my Father also. From now on you do know him and have seen him.” 

Now if you’re a Christian, a person who by faith has put their hope for this life and the life to come in what Jesus did some 2000 years ago on a cross, by buying you back out of the grasp of sin, by shedding His blood for your sins, and you are still in trouble, so was the apostle Philip. Philip said to him, “Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us.” (John 14:8) This was Jesus reply to His disciple, and to you and me: “Jesus said to him, “Have I been with you so long, and you still do not know me, Philip? Whoever has seen me has seen the Father. How can you say, ‘Show us the Father’? Do you not believe that I am in the Father and the Father is in me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on my own authority, but the Father who dwells in me does his works. Believe me that I am in the Father and the Father is in me, or else believe on account of the works themselves. (John 14:9-11 ESV)

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice