Unlimited Options?

 Whenever you buy anything new these days there is something that can usually be added to your purchase. Most of the times it is the option of an extended warranty. If you purchase a new car, you have almost unlimited options and there is a pressure to upgrade your new vehicle. This causes me to ask the question, are there different options when it comes to true saving faith?

The bible makes the answer to that question very clear. Acts 4:12 states, “Nor is there

salvation in any other, for there is no other name under heaven given among men by which we must be saved.” There is no other option; the only way to be saved is by placing your faith in Jesus and what He accomplished on the cross.  He paid the penalty for every one of our sins and there is no one else who can accomplish that for us. We put our faith in Jesus.

For some people, that seems too simple. They reason they have to do their part by being a good person. That becomes their option; they will just be a good person. They will be the best that they can be and God will be satisfied with that. But being good cant do anything about the sins you have committed. Isaiah 64:6 makes the statement that our righteousness or good works are compared to filthy rags. Filthy rags can’t save you.

 For others the thought of Jesus being the only way is just way too narrow-minded of an approach in regards to salvation. Those people reason that as long as you believe in something with all your heart, you will be good when your life ends. They have the attitude that all roads lead home, so just believe in something which is the option some choose. However, Jesus stated in John 14:6, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”

There is another group of people who think they can’t be saved because of their past sins. Their sins are just too many or too horrific, so they become hopeless. The despair of hopelessness is their option. “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved,” is what Acts 16:31 proclaims. No matter what you have done there is salvation in Jesus.

For those of us who have placed their faith in Jesus, we are called to pray for those who have not done that. Pray that God would open their eyes as He opened our eyes to place our faith in the only option; the Lord  Jesus Christ.

Pastor Marty