Every religion claims its God or gods, and of course that includes Christianity as well

Every religion claims its God or gods, and of course that includes Christianity as well. There is obviously a stark difference between the God that Christianity claims, as opposed to every other religion. That difference is that Christianity claims the "the only true God, and Jesus Christ [God's Son]" (Jn. 17:3). But when it's all said and done, there is a measuring stick that measures it all, and it measures it all to perfection. Every religion that does not name the name of Jesus Christ, and his death and resurrection; as well as his Lordship of heaven and earth is out of the running from the get-go. Nonetheless I am including them in this measuring just to make the point that 'being a Christian' will not gain eternal life for us any more than the other religions if we don't measure up. So what is this measuring stick that I'm talking about here? It's really simple, and according to Jesus it sums up everything that the entire faith is about: "Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets" (Mat. 7:12). It really does make sense when you think about it. Everyone knows how they want to be treated by other people, so it is totally logical and rational that we would treat others in that manner. I mean, the way we deal with someone else really does motivate them to return the same to us. Like one plus one equals two. If someone in a public place by you drops something and you pick it up and hand it to them, they're probably going to say "thank you." On the other hand if you walk up to someone in a public place and curse them out, they will probably return the favor, and maybe then some. But it is more than just a good idea and philosophy to deal with others like you want to be dealt with. Immediately after making the quoted statement above, Jesus said this: "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Mat. 7:13,14). The 'strait gate' that Jesus refers to here IS dealing with others as you would like to be dealt with by them. The 'wide gate' is practicing anything APART FROM that 'golden rule.'

Every religion apart from the faith of Jesus Christ inevitably falls short of that mark because NOBODY CAN truly and consistently practice that manner of living unless they are empowered by God's divine love that can only be experienced by faith in his Son Jesus, that he died for our sins and rose again on the third day; and is still alive today to redeem us from sin (Rom. 5:5; I Cor. 15:1-4; Heb. 7:25; Rev. 1:18). If we are not born again by faith in Jesus, then we are still sinners with a self-serving nature that will prevent us from fulfilling the commandment of Jesus of "loving one another as he has loved us" (Jn. 13:34). The reality that 'being a Christian' and naming the name of Jesus Christ will not save us if we fail to make the grade with the golden rule is more than evident in this same sermon of Jesus that I've already been quoting from: "Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven" (Mat. 7:21). Jesus declared this golden rule to be the way of truth at other times in the following terminology: "And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these" (Mk. 12:30,31). There it is again, loving our neighbor as ourselves. Note also that this commandment is inexorably tied to loving God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength. That is why it is the summation of the law and prophets, because it exemplifies the heart and love of God. After all, it was for OUR sake that God sent his Son to suffer a brutal death to pay the price for OUR REDEMPTION. And it was for OUR sake that Jesus took a horrific beating and mocking, and hung on the cross of Calvary in unfathomable pain and anguish for six hours. Neither of them needed that. That can only mean that if God or his Son theoretically had been in a lost and damned state, they would have hoped that someone would have done what it took to get them out of it and give them hope.

So then the evident fact of the matter is that there simply is nothing apart from the faith of Jesus Christ that makes any sense at all, because this truth is not at the heart of any other religion; or in any other vein outside of the heart of any other religion for that matter. The most glaring example is certainly Islam, which religion in fact calls for the execution of everyone who does not accept and embrace its principles. We are seeing that in living color in today's world, and it is not a new thing at all. That is exactly what the Islamic 'Bible,' the 'Kuran' instructs its adherents to do, and the religion's 'true' followers have been doing that for fourteen hundred years to the tune of about 270 million murders. But just as many to most of those who profess faith in Christ are not practicing the 'golden rule' in reality and consistency, so many to most 'Muslims' are not practicing the principles and instruction of its Bible the Quran, which tells them to execute everyone who doesn't go along with its 'beliefs.' Isn't it ironic that the "captain of [our] salvation" gave his own life for those who were at enmity to him, and instructed his followers to do the same; whereas the leader and founder of Islam killed everyone in his path who wasn't in agreement with his religion, and instructed his followers to do the same? (Heb. 2:10; Rom. 5:6-8; I Jn. 3:16). That's what I've been saying here. That is the measuring stick that will measure every soul, whether we have treated other people the way we want to be treated, or not. Jesus made it abundantly clear that on the day of judgement it would be how we treated others that would decide our eternal fate, whether for good or for bad (Mat. 25:31-46). So there you have it, the ultimate measuring stick of not only all religions, but of all men. May God help us one and all to measure up. What Jesus did for us is highly sufficient to enable us to do so, and what he did, he did for all men. Therefore all men, especially us who believe in his name, have no excuse to be found otherwise. Amen.