6 Words That Will Change Your LifeSample

Twenty-four years ago, I was in India at the invitation of an evangelist who needed a preaching partner. 

It was kind of a strange situation. The Catholic schools we were invited to were not allowed to preach the gospel to their mostly Hindu students. But guest preachers could! So the priests running these schools were thrilled when their crazy Protestant cousin (yours truly), would lay out the gospel for their students. 

I quickly learned that the students often responded to the gospel by simply grafting Jesus into their Hindu belief system. So I racked my brain for a way to help them realize that Jesus was the only way of salvation. Finally, an idea struck. 

Whenever I preached, I’d place a chair on stage. I’d start by saying, “Now children, (even teenagers were called children in this culture), what is this?”  

“It's a chair!” they’d yell. 

“When Jesus says that we must believe in Him to be saved, He means that we must trust in Him and Him alone, and in nothing else but Him to forgive us for our sins.”  

Then I’d take one foot, put it on the chair and ask, “Am I trusting fully in this chair?” 

The audience would invariably roar with laughter and “No’s” would echo across the boisterous audience. 

“What do I need to do to truly show that I’m trusting in it?” I’d ask. 

The audience would yell in near unison, “Stand upon the chair!!!”  

I’d stand with both feet on the chair and the crowd went wild. 

“Now, am I trusting in the chair?!”  

“YES!!!” they’d yell together. 

“In the same way, you can’t trust in Jesus plus any other god. When you put your faith in Him, you are putting your faith in Jesus alone for your salvation. Otherwise, you just have one foot on the chair and you are not really trusting in Him.” Then I gave the gospel while standing on the chair. 

Many young people indicated faith in Jesus during that three-week trip and were given new hope through Christ. 

Jesus offers an exclusive message, in a very inclusive way.  

It’s exclusive in the sense that Jesus said, “No one comes to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). But He offers eternal life to anyone and everyone “who believes in him” (John 3:16). 

As we share the good news of the gospel in this culture, we must encourage new believers to “stand upon the chair” by putting both feet on the finished work of Christ on the cross. All other ground is sinking sand. 

Does the exclusivist nature of Jesus’ words in John 14:6 make you uncomfortable? If so, have a conversation with God about it.