Why is Jesus the only Way to Heaven?

Over the years this question has been asked to me on numerous occasions.  My answer, while not always appreciated or accepted, has remained the same.  The Bible, God's inerrant, infallible Word bears clear and undeniable testimony to the fact that Jesus alone provides the way for sinful man to enter into an eternal relationship with God, The Father.  Jesus' testimony clearly proclaims, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." --John 14:6  

With this divine affirmation in place, there is no doubt that it is only through a personal relationship with Jesus that eternal life in heaven will be realized.

The most important part of this question is never really asked and that is this: "Who deserves to go to heaven?"  Once again, it is imperative that we look to the scripture for the answer to this, and all, questions.

The idea of deserving something is always based on a certain performance.  The bible makes it clear that NO ONE can earn a place in heaven for heaven is a free gift.  Scripture teaches "For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." Rom 6:23  Maybe the idea of a free gift causes you to stumble because you think that certainly there must be a way to work for or work toward the prize we desire.  The prize, in this case, would be a home in heaven.  So, you might ask, why can't I just work harder, be more religious, or something that will cause God to reward me?  Here are the fundamental problems with that suggestion.

There is only one true God.  While many people proudly proclaim that "the God of the Christians is but one of many gods," this belief is completely outside the realm of scriptural authority!  The Bible, as a whole, and the Lord Jesus specifically, proclaims the truth of only one God. "Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one." --Mark 12:29   "You believe that God is one. You do well; the demons also believe, and shudder." --James 2:19  (also see Deut. 6:4)

God is holy and completely free from sin.  The concept of "holiness" is one that has lost both its meaning and understanding in the modern world.  Unger's Bible Dictionary reads, "Holiness is a general term used to indicate sanctity or separation from all that is sinful, impure, or morally imperfect; i.e., it is moral wholeness.  The term is used with reference to persons, places, and things."   This is the hallmark characteristic of God.  God is completely free from all sin, evil, impurity, and the like, because He is, by very definition HOLY.  As Holy, He has a self-imposed limitation upon himself that He cannot tolerate anything that is sinful.  "You shall be holy, for I am holy." --1 Peter 1:16-17

Man is sinful and cannot save himself.  The word of God tells us "For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God," --Rom 3:23-24  This single verse of scripture reveals to us that there is no one that is now, or ever will be, good enough to get to heaven through any work of their own. Some will contend with this statement and suggest that "sin is an obsolete concept" or that sin is certainly to be categorized and thus sin does not automatically preclude one from heaven. Remember God demands perfection to be accepted to heaven "Therefore you are to be perfect, as your heavenly Father is perfect." --Matt 5:48  "There is no one righteous, not even one;" --Rom 3:10. The bible makes it undeniably clear that there is no one perfect. 

God loves us and wants us to experience a love relationship with Him that is real and personal.  One word that is rightly used to describe God is love.  The nature of God includes love; 1 John 4: 8 and 16 openly and simply state, "God is Love."  

However, God is also just which means that while He loves the sinner, He hates the sin!  Remember, sin is anything that is "less than perfect" and all sin separates us from God.  There is another characteristic of God that is of monumental importance.  God is grace!  This means that while we deserved immediate and complete punishment for our sin (which would be eternal separation from God) He provided a way for our sins to be forgiven.   "But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him.  For if while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of His Son, much more, having been reconciled, we shall be saved by His life.  And not only this, but we also exult in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom we have now received the reconciliation."--Rom 5:8-11
 

God sent Jesus to earth to provide the solution for our sin!  Scripture affirms that Jesus is the Son of God, the second person of the Trinity, and the Creator of the Universe. "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God.  All things came into being by Him, and apart from Him nothing came into being that has come into being.  In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.  And the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. (v14) And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." --John 1:1-5, 14 

 
But why did Jesus come to earth?  He came to be the sacrificial lamb for the sins of the world.  The Bible says,   "All of us like sheep have gone astray, each of us has turned to his own way; But the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him. --Isa 53:6.  God the Father, because of His great love for us, allowed our sins to be placed upon His son, Jesus who became sin for us.  "He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him." --2 Cor 5:21
 

So the answer to the question "Why is Jesus the only way to Heaven" is this, only the perfect, sinless, Son of God could satisfy the requirements of God for the sins of the world.  But now I have a question for you

What will you do with Jesus?  The Bible says that God has offered us a free gift of eternal life, but how do you receive this gift?  Scripture testifies, "For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith - and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God- not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God's workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." --Eph 2:8-10

Faith is more than an intellectual decision.  It is more than a confident belief.  Faith as used in the above verse of scripture means placing your whole and complete hope for eternal life and salvation in the work of Jesus Christ. It means realizing that JESUS alone has paid the price for your sins through His death on the cross, resurrection from the grave, and promise of His returning to claim all His followers to Himself.  In addition to placing your trust for salvation in the completed work of Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that we must be willing to repent of our sins.  This means, turning away for those things that separate us from God and ask Him to give us the strength to abandon them in the future.