Don't All Religions Lead to God?

Opening - James Drake video from the Middle East

Christchurch, Miami pastor and Chaplain Drake here from the Middle East. I'm enjoying the service today with my men - from all of us, thank you for your prayers and support. As we continue our What About series, we're addressing your biggest questions about life and God and why, if Jesus rose from the dead, it doesn't just change history, it changes everything today. So I got to tell you, living here in the Middle East, I have recognized that people are very religious and they have very different understandings. And it raises the question we're addressing today in the series.

What about other religions? To help set the context, I want you to watch this short clip from Lee Strobel. He was an investigative journalist and atheist who set out to disprove Christianity and ended up becoming a follower of Christ.

Lee Strobel video clip - DO vs DONE

You know, there's a lot of different religions in the world. They all contradict each other. But Christianity is different. I think there's 4,200 religions in the world. Something like that.

Yeah, I think that's right. Every other faith system I've ever explored, and I've looked at thousands, every other one is spelled D-O. You got to do something to try to earn your way to God. Use a Tibetan prayer wheel. Go on a pilgrimage to Mecca. Give alms to the poor. Do good deeds. Do, do, do something. And maybe someday - maybe, maybe not - but maybe you'll do enough to earn your way to heaven.

That's how every other religion functions. Christianity is not spelled D-O. It's spelled D-O-N-E. It's done. Jesus said on the cross, "It is finished." It's done.

He paid the penalty we deserved for the sins that we've committed. In other words, we don't have to pay the penalty. He paid it on the cross on our behalf. He offers forgiveness as a free gift. We just need to receive it in repentance and faith. Say, "I'm sorry for how I've lived. I don't want to be separated from God. I want to know you personally. How do I do that?" I receive this free gift of your grace. That's what grace is. By definition, it is free. And so that's the difference between every other religion and Christianity.

Drake introduces Edwin & Evie Martinez

So what about other religions? To help answer this question, we have some very special guests. Edwin and Evie Martinez have been serving as missionaries for 50 years, which means they have forgotten more about missions than most of us will ever know. They've ministered all across Latin America, partnered with the Billy Graham Association, and helped train evangelists and leaders around the world. Every year, they see thousands of people come to Christ.

More recently, they've been training and sending missionaries into Muslim countries, taking them to places like the Middle East and North Africa. And Evie, with a doctorate in worship studies, equips leaders everywhere they go. So basically, they're like a traveling singing seminary. They also have a deep connection to this church, which makes today even more special. Both of their kids grew up here at this church. We're so privileged to have supported their ministry for many years and, Lord willing, for many more years to come. Would you please help join me in welcoming Edwin Martinez.

Edwin Martinez - sermon

Buenos dias. You are ready for the mission here. You're bilingual already. You're half there. So good to be in this church. So good to be in the Republic of Miami.

So that's a big question, huh - about the other religions. So I'm going to start with a little story. In 1993, the Billy Graham Association, through John Blake in Spain, invited me to do 30 days of evangelistic efforts in Spain. Now, in Latin America, we can have thousands. Not hard to get thousands. In Europe, it's a little different. So we get smaller crowds. And we did it in neutral places - these meetings, municipal buildings. Nice rooms. Baby grand piano. Evie, my wife, would play a folk song from Latin America. And then I would say a few words, and then she would play something else. Slowly getting to a point where I could speak. I did not preach a message that was very long. Every segment was two, three minutes. Most of the people there were not believers. The churches were maybe 15, 20 people. That's a large church. Large church was 50 people at that time in Spain.

So we're there with a packed house. And we knew that most of those people came to hear something about what happened during these 500 years since Europeans came to the Americas. And I'm there to say something. And I said, "I want to thank you because you brought the Bible to us. I want to thank you because you brought us the stories. You brought us the stories of Christmas. You brought us the stories of Easter. We heard all of that through all of these years."

And then I would explain the plan of salvation. I said, "This is what you brought to us. That is, only through Jesus Christ. This is what you brought to us." What I didn't tell them is that in Latin America - and I'm going to talk about Guatemala - the Mayan cultures already had their gods. They were worshiping the moon. They were worshiping the sun. They were worshiping the big rock - huge, huge rock - because they thought that was God. The big tree, fire, salt. And to this day, if you go to Chichicastenango - and those of you going with us on this mission trip, we can stop there - Chichicastenango, they still do animal sacrifices.

And all of this is called Christianity. They never left their tradition. Some of them did and became what we call evangélicos. In the United States, that word has another connotation, but it means "I'm a Christian person. I'm a follower of Jesus Christ. I don't follow any other God."

But you know that the Apostle Paul also had a similar experience.

Paul then stood up in the meeting of the Areopagus and said, "People of Athens, I see that in every way you are very religious. For as I walked around and looked carefully at your objects of worship, I even found an altar with this inscription: TO AN UNKNOWN GOD. So you are ignorant of the very thing you worship. And this is what I am going to proclaim to you."- Acts 17:22-23

What a wonderful statement, huh? "You don't even know who you are worshiping." And that's the case in Guatemala and Latin America. That's the case in the Arab countries. In Islam, the Apostle Paul says, "I am going to present to you the One you should know - the One you don't know because it hasn't been preached to you." And I have the opportunity, the privilege, to do that.

So we have that. That question was there for a long time. Now in the United States, we have a fastest-growing religion in each state. It's amazing what is happening - Judaism, Hinduism, Islam, Buddhism in the United States.

So we need to answer that question. And we're going to answer it this way. You're going to read with me John 14:6.

Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me."- John 14:6

Now, I know we're Presbyterians, but you can venture into saying a very loud "Amen" in your heart. That's a challenge for us sometimes. Isn't that wonderful? That's a great Amen for me. I think that's the answer.

And then on Acts 4:12, let's read it together.

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 4:12

Amen. So I thought, you know, the question is answered. During the last three weeks, we heard an answer to that question. Now we need to believe. That's all we need to do. We need to believe that Christ is the only way. So what happens after we believe? I'm going to take you to Luke 14:25-26.

Large crowds were traveling with Jesus. And turning to them, he said, "If anyone comes to me and does not hate father and mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters - yes, even their own lives - such a person cannot be my disciple."- Luke 14:25-26

That's a lot. It doesn't mean that we hate mother, father, children, family. No, because the teaching in Scripture is that we are to honor them. So what is the interpretation? Let me suggest to you that what he's saying is that he wants to be number one in our lives.

He wants to be number one in our lives - that nobody else is going to take his place, that we are going to be dreaming about Jesus, breathing Jesus, and our words are going to proclaim Jesus all the time. Amen.

That's it. He wants to be number one. What's the number one thing in our lives? For me, at one time it was ultra-endurance bicycling. I thought it was Jesus. For some of you it might be running, sports. For some of you, it might be news - oh, we are enamored with news. And that's the first thing in our lives. Work. What is the thing that I go to bed thinking about and I wake up thinking about? It should be Jesus. It should be Jesus to have him as number one in our lives.

And whoever does not carry their cross and follow me cannot be my disciple.- Luke 14:27

You see, what happened was the Lord Jesus was walking. And I can picture this. He's walking among people, going through different villages. And he feeds people. They like his food. They like it. And then he heals people. People say, "Little John couldn't walk. Now he's walking." And, "Mark - he couldn't see. Now he can see." And the word spreads out. They're following him. Picture that. And then I picture him going on a hill so he can turn around and look at them.

He says these words: "Why are you following me?" Why do we follow Jesus? Well, he's the Son of God. He is God. That's why we follow him. There's no other way. He's the only way. And he's number one in my life. By having Jesus as number one in our lives, we resolve a lot of problems in our lives just by doing that.

But the second thing he says: it's not going to be easy. There are going to be some challenges as you follow me. And the challenges that you and I have in this country or in Latin America are very little compared to the ones our friends in Arab nations. I know a friend - pastor - recently he told me he counted eighteen times in jail. Eighteen times in jail for preaching the gospel. We don't have that problem here. We have other challenges. One of the challenges is materialism. And the Lord is not saying don't make money - make money. We tell our kids: if the Lord doesn't call you full time, make money and give it to the Lord. And praise God, they do.

It's going to be a challenge. Why? What is that cross that we might have? The thing is, those things that take our attention away from Jesus - those are the challenges that he's talking about here. And we need to come to him and say, "Lord, I do have this challenge. I think a lot more about these other things than you. I want to put you first." And everything else will be a blessing. Everything else will come to us more than what we think or dream.

Suppose one of you wants to build a tower. Won't you first sit down, estimate the cost, and see if you have enough money to complete it? For if you lay the foundation and are not able to finish it, everyone who sees it will ridicule you, saying, "This person began to build and wasn't able to finish."- Luke 14:28-30

He's telling a story to people. As we follow Jesus, the story is that if you start something - building something - you want to finish it. So I'm trying to see the thread here. He wants to be number one. He says there will be challenges because we have all the distractions. Now somebody is building something, and a good builder is going to calculate well. So nobody's going to laugh at him because he couldn't finish the building. Let me suggest to you that he's talking about the church.

He's building his church. You know what? He already paid for it. Nobody's going to laugh at him. Even he says, the gates of hell are not going to stop me from building this church. And so I will give my life.

It's paid for. It's paid for. We don't have to pay for it. He gave his life so we don't have to die for our sins and for eternity. Through him we have forgiveness of sin and eternal life.

Amen.