Jesus, the only Saviour

Peter Jeffery
© Day One Publications, www.dayone.co.uk, used with permission

I want to tell you about Jesus.

Why Jesus?

Because he was a unique person. Beyond doubt, there has never been anyone like Jesus.

Jesus is the one and only Son of God.

All Christians became sons and daughters of God from the moment they came to him in repentance for their sin and God forgave them, saved them and adopted them into his family. Jesus did not come to God like this because he was always with him. Jesus had no sin to repent of and therefore did not need forgiveness. Jesus didn’t need to be adopted into God’s family, because he always was God’s eternal Son.

Jesus was the amazing person whom God sent to save us from the guilt and consequences of our sin.

The way

In order to be the sinner’s saviour, Jesus had to provide a way by which guilty sinners could be made acceptable to the Holy God. He didn’t come to show us the way or teach us about it, but he himself actually was that way. He said in the Bible, ‘I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me’ (John 14:6).

In this verse Jesus is not saying that he is one of many ways to God; he says that he is the only way. There is a uniqueness and exclusiveness about Jesus when it comes to the matter of our salvation. This may sound bigoted, but it would only be so if it were not true. There is no alternative to Jesus as the way to God because only he can deal with the sinner’s guilt. The way to God must be one that meets with God’s full approval and satisfies the demands of God’s law.

God’s remedy

In John 3:16 we have a perfect statement of God’s glorious remedy for sin: ‘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.’

In his divine love, God has prepared a remedy which deals justly with the punishment that sin deserves, and at the same time provides pardon for the sinner.

God has said that the penalty for sin is death—spiritual and physical death. Nothing can change that because it is the judgement of the Holy God and is therefore perfect and correct. God will not turn a blind eye to our sin; justice must be done. The demands of God’s law and the penalties for breaking that law must be satisfied.

In love and mercy God declares that he will accept a substitute to die in the sinner’s place. But God’s law demands that the substitute must be free from the guilt of sin and, therefore, not deserving of death himself.

There was no man who could meet these requirements. So God sent his own Son into the world to become man, to keep his law fully and perfectly. This was what the man Jesus did: he became the only acceptable sacrifice to God for human sin.

This is why Jesus is the only way to God.

God’s remedy for sin is all of grace. This means that we can do nothing to deserve it . Salvation is by faith through grace alone. God gives us no other alternative to Jesus.

But with such a Saviour as Jesus we need no alternative. His track record is impeccable. He never fails. He receives all who come to him in repentance and faith. Whether you are the vilest sinner or the most respectable sinner, all are welcomed by Jesus. He promised, ‘Whoever comes to me I will never drive away’ (John 6:37).