False Security

I looked up on the internet to see what kind of thoughts people in our world have about heaven and hell. That's a gist of the text that I want to use today. I saw surveys, a lot of different ones, but maybe the one that seemed the most extensive said that people in the United States who are surveyed about heaven and hell, 75% of the people who were surveyed were sure they were going to go to heaven, 75%. 5% of the people surveyed didn't think they would go to heaven. 9% of the people in the survey weren't sure whether they would go to heaven or not. It's really clear that most of the people in our United States have confidence that when they die, they will go to heaven. There's another survey that was taken asking people about hell. Only 32% of the people who were surveyed believed that there was such a place as hell. And 31% of the people said if you went to hell, it had to be because you'd done something really, really bad, like murder a bunch of people. It seems as if there are a lot of people who have a lot of confidence about what's going to happen to them when they die. I'm afraid a lot of it's a false confidence, a confidence that's not given because of God's direction to them, but a confidence that comes from their own imagination. What a tragic thing to be so wrong about something so important and so eternal. The scripture that I want to read today from Matthew chapter 25, beginning with verse 31, Jesus, who is the one who's going to make the decision about whether or not people go to heaven or they go to hell, Jesus himself is telling us exactly what is going to happen. It might not be something that you would like to hear. It might not be something that would bring you pleasure. But it's very critical that all of us alive in this world understand exactly what God intends to do and what is going to happen when we die and face God or whenever, if we're here, when God returns, what is going to take place. Nothing could be worse than to have important plans in your life only to discover that you had false conceptions about what you were supposed to do. And then to discover that you missed the most important thing that would ever happen to you in your whole life. Jesus said, when the Son of Man comes in glory and all the angels with him, he will sit on his throne in heavenly glory. All the nations will gather before him and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates sheep from the goats. He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my father, take your inheritance. The kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. I needed clothes and you clothed me. I was sick and you looked after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you? The king will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did for one of these, least of these brothers of mine, you did for me. Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. They also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you? He will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me. Then they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. Jesus starts this by addressing the fact that all nations, everybody in the world will stand before him at one time or another. And certainly at his return, all of those who are still here will stand before him and a great division will take place. People will be divided into two groups, those who are acceptable to God and those who are unacceptable to God. He calls them sheep and goats because in that day when a shepherd would take his flocks out on the hillside to graze, the sheep and the goats would mingle and at the evening time the goats needed to be in a place where they could be protected more and so he would separate the goats and put them in a shelter and leave the sheep outside because they enjoy the air more than the goats would do. So this simple picture of what takes place with a shepherd is the picture that he presents to us. All of us, everyone in the world will be divided into two groups. These groups will consist of people that are acceptable to God and unacceptable to God. He starts out with describing what he's going to do for those who are acceptable to God. He says the Father will say to them, take your inheritance. Now this is a very important phrase for what he's describing here is what comes to us. Now an inheritance is not something that you earn. If you go out and work hard and you get your pay, it's your salary or it's your payment. This is described as an inheritance. So what you receive at the end of your life is not the result of the things that you do, your hard work. They don't say you've done a lot of good deeds therefore you get this gift from God of life everlasting in heaven with him. That's not what he says. When you come to stand before him, the Father, notice he uses this language, the Father will say here take your inheritance. Now the Bible describes for us what it means to be a child of God. In John chapter 1, John says about Jesus coming, to as many as receive Jesus Christ as the messenger of God, the one who speaks the words of God, the one who comes to tell us what God wants us to do, who receives him in that way and lives according to that instruction. That is he says Jesus' words will become the guide for my life. To as many as do that, to them he gives the ability or capacity to become the children of God. So you see the children of God are people who come as a result of trust and faith in Christ and as a result of their dependence on him. It is not the result of what they do. So these people are children of God as a result of their faith and therefore they receive the inheritance of the Father. Now it is the Father who works to accumulate the inheritance and the inheritance is passed on to the children of the Father. So he's not talking about preparing for eternal life by doing good deeds. He's not talking about weighing all the good things that you do in your life against the bad things that you do and making sure that you're there. He's talking about a relationship, a relationship that you have with God that makes him your Father in charge of your life and you as his child. And that act of faith brings this relationship, ties you together. So in that day, those who stand before God will be children of God and receive the inheritance that God has to give them. Now he has another phrase here that's interesting. He says, it's the kingdom, that they'll receive the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. Now what they're going to receive is what the Bible describes in the very beginning as the Garden of Eden, this perfect place where God designed for human beings to live. When he made Adam and Eve in the very beginning, he intended them to live in a perfect environment. All provision was made for them. There was no danger in this world that he made for them. There was no, every decision they needed to make, they had God's presence to provide that. Every day he came with them. He talked with them. He walked with them in the garden. This is symbolic of the fact that God and these people were together a lot. In the very presence of God, in a place where everything was provided, in a world where there's no reason for fear or shame or regret. This is what God intended when he made people. This is the world he wanted to put them in. Adam and Eve, as you know the story, refused to live by God's authority, instead said we're not sure God's telling us the truth about all these things he's told us we should do and shouldn't do. And so they began to decide for themselves what they thought was the right thing to do and soon began to make decisions far different than what God told them and were expelled from the garden. At that time, God began to plan to restore a place for the people who belonged to him to live as they had rejected in the first time. That's what heaven really is. It's a place where we can live where every need is provided. A place where there's no fear, where there's no regret and no sorrow. A place where the presence of God is with us all the time so that whatever need we have he is there to provide it. What was intended for us in the beginning is what God has provided for his people in the end and all of his children will live in that place. God started by saying this is what I want for my people and then he had to say not all the people I've made want it, but for those who want to live with me in this harmony I have prepared a place for them and that's what we'll receive at the end of this life. We call it heaven and the Bible at the beginning is called the garden of Eden, called paradise sometimes. Whatever it is called, the name is called, it is a place of absolute perfection for human beings to live in. That's God's plan. Now when he gave them this inheritance, the people who were there in that group, Jesus says he will say to them I'm giving you this for when I was hungry you fed me, when I was thirsty you gave me something to drink, when I was a stranger you took me in, when I needed clothes you gave that to me, when I was sick you looked after me, when I was in prison you came to see me. There's a series of things that comprise a couple of things, the necessities of life, food and drinking and also the clothing to protect yourself and also the companionship. When you're lonely someone was there, when you're in prison because of your faithful service to God he had someone to visit you. All of these things describe the things that human beings need. You did these things God says for me. Now the ones gathered there say to him we didn't ever know that you were in a place where you needed food or clothes or shelter or someone to come and see you. We never realized that. They were aware that this great gift they were given, if it was given for those reasons they were not conscious of it and maybe even concerned that they were given something they didn't deserve. And then God says to them when you did it to the least of these you did it to me. Now what he's describing is another dimension of this relationship that he started out with. Describing the relationship of father and child. Those who accept Jesus Christ as the Lord and are made children of God are gathered into his family so we become family. The Bible describes the people of God as a body too, connected together. Families in the biblical days were far more close than we are today. They would grow up and if a son married he would just build on to the house of the family and when his son was old enough and married they built another extension on the house. They all lived very close together, a very tight group of people and this is an image that the Bible uses for becoming a part of the family of God. What he's describing here is you have been a faithful child of mine. Let me give you an illustration that might help. If I was driving one night and it was late, say one or two in the morning, driving down the road and I saw a car pull over the side of the road and I think well maybe they're having trouble, I should stop. I think well it's kind of dangerous to stop out here, I'll just get on into town and I'll call somebody and have the police look into this and they'll check it out and they'll get some help but it won't be any danger to me. I see some lady standing behind the car as I get closer and I think well there's a lady stranded out here, surely I should help her. I think well you know it might be a trick, she's just a decoy and when I stop my car somebody will jump out and shoot me so I'll just go on and make sure that I don't endanger myself. And then I get closer and in the headlight I realize it's my sister. What am I going to do? Of course I'm going to pull over to the side of the road and I'm going to stop to help her. You see being a sister to me makes all the difference in the world as to whether or not I extend to her the help that she needs in that situation. What God is saying to his people is when you came into my family you became a brother and sister to all the other people who are my children. And I know that you're my child by how you treat all these other people. We have a saying sometimes, you know if you hurt me you hurt my children. And you know that sometimes brothers and sisters fight and quarrel and they may even physically hit each other. But when a stranger not in the family comes up and picks on the brother or sister, the one that just a few minutes ago was hitting the other one will jump in between them and defend that brother or sister because this is my brother, this is my sister. You see the family relationship does something to us, it causes us to see our family as important and a priority for our lives. What God is saying is when you came into my family and you started living and you looked around the church, the Christian community, and you saw someone who was lonely, you got out of your way, moved up from your seat, walked over to them, and sat with them. And whenever you found people who didn't have anything and they needed help, you took something of your own and you gave it to them. You treated my children as if they were your brothers and sisters, from the most important to the least important in the eyes of the world. And this proves to me you are my child. So enter now into the inheritance that I've provided for you. There's a lot of people who read this story and they look at it and say, well, you know, if I help all the hungry people and all the people that are in the hospital and I do these kind deeds, I'm going to get to heaven. That's not what he's talking about. When you say that, you're helping people to get to heaven. You're not helping them because they're your brothers or your sisters. Well, it's true that Jesus told us that we should help anyone that's in need because he cares for everyone, the story of the Good Samaritan, and that's important to do. But the test as to whether or not you're really the child of God is how you treat the people in the church with you. And so those who saw all those church people as their brothers and sisters in Christ have proved beyond a shadow of a doubt to God that he is their father and they are his children. Then he turns to those on the left-hand side and he says to them the very same things except in reverse. Depart from me you who are cursed. Instead of the blessings of God on these people, that's what he said to his children, you will be blessed. You will live in a condition and state of being blessed all of eternity. He says to those who rejected his fatherhood, you will live in a constant state of being cursed. We use this word to describe our life sometimes. We get up in the morning. I had a day like this last week. I got up in the morning and I had a list of things I was going to do and I started every one of them and I'd get so far and then I couldn't go any further because I didn't have the information. I didn't have the response from a person. Something stopped me every single time. And by noon I was so frustrated because I had not been able to achieve anything I felt like, sometimes we say I felt like I was cursed, like everything I wanted to do didn't work out right. That's what a curse means. God has said your life will not be blessed. I will not make sure that it happens the way you want it to be. So those on the left are told that the rest of their eternity will be cursed. There will be no kindness. There will be no love. There will be no grace. There will be no mercy. They will be just living a cursed eternity. Now, when he told the righteous, come to the place I've prepared for you since the beginning of creation, he doesn't say that to the cursed. Come to the place I've prepared for you forever. This is one of the reasons I don't think that the Bible teaches that we're predestined to go to hell before we're born because he says that hell was not made for people. God never intended anyone to go to hell. That was our choice alone. What he intended was the rebels against him, Satan, who was once an angel and rebelled against God and those who followed him, these who rebelled against God and fought against his kingdom, he had prepared a place for punishment for them for their rebellion against him. But as time goes on, people who are born into this world choose between living in obedience to God or living in rebellion to God, being his child or being his enemy. And for those who choose the enemy side against God, they will go to the place prepared for God's enemies. Not that God wants them there, not that he made this for them. They'll be living in a world that was not made for them, but it will be forever. You will be cursed. Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. The Bible uses two words that are powerful words, eternal, which means it has no end. So this choice that you make means that there is no option for reversing it. Whatever kind of terrible world it is, there is no way that you can ever say, I've decided to quit. There's no way anyone can help you from the outside so you can get out of it. It is a choice that you've made forever. And it is brutal, fire, pain, suffering, anguish. The Bible describes it in different ways. It describes it as a place where there's gnashing of teeth. When you get so frustrated, you start grinding your teeth because you're just so frustrated with life. It's a place where there is screaming, terror, fear, anxiety, worry. All of those are wrapped up in this place where those without God live without God forever. Then he says to them something of what he said to the first group. He says, for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in. I needed clothes and you did not clothe me. I was sick and in prison and you did not look after me. They will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison and did not help you? He will reply, I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of those, you did not do for me. Again, he's saying, when you saw the people in my family and you saw the need that they had, you said, what's that to me? They're not my brothers and sisters. Why should I worry about this? And no matter what circumstances you found these of my people, you over and over said to me, these are not my family. You see, what he's describing again is the relationship that allows us to find God and eternity with him based on our relationship to him and those who belong to him. The real test as to whether or not you're a part of a family is whether you act like your family. I have heard of instances where people would say to one another in the family, you're no longer my child. I've known of families in which the siblings would say to each other, I no longer consider you a brother or a sister. You see, we can denounce those who are in our family, and that's what he says. You were all born children of mine, I made all of you in the world. I ask you to live in obedience to me as I'm your father, and listen to my instructions that I've given you, and even the instructions of my son. And you say to me, you're not my father, and these are not my brothers and sisters. Have you ever noticed how much resentment and anger and bitterness that people that don't go to church have against church people? They love to say you're hypocrites, they love to say you're fakes, they love to say they're sinners, they love to say all these bad things. I'm not a part of that bunch. Well, the church is the bride of Christ, that's what the Bible says. Then say we're perfect, no bride is perfect, that we're loved. What the Bible is teaching us is that the relationship we have with God causes us to have a relationship with each other. And it is the basis of this relationship of our trust in him that works out so that day by day those who are in the kingdom of God are living in love with each other. That's why the church is such a critical place. It is the place where we care for one another. And if you care for me, God says you'll care for my children. And if you don't care for my children, then it doesn't matter what you say to me, you're not one of my children. The final judgment comes on all the people in the world. Everyone will fall into one of these two categories. What God asks us to do in preparation for this is to say, God, am I your child? Have I devoted myself to serve you as my father? Have I devoted myself to serve your people as my brothers and sisters? And when you ask that question of God, he'll let you know whether you're one of his or not. Now God's family is always open to anyone. All you have to say is, I understand the story that's here, I believe that you are the ruler of the universe, I understand that Jesus came as your messenger, and I want to make a promise to you that I'm going to put you in charge of my life as my father. And I'm going to live with your children in obedience to you. With that pledge to God, and with the life that fulfills that pledge, you find yourself then a child of God. Not because of what you do, but because of the trust and dependence that you have on the Father. And when you trust your Father, and you do what he tells you, you will care for your brothers and sisters in Christ. You will pray for them. You will help them when they're in financial need. You will help them when they're in emotional need. You will help them when they're in social need. Because your Father says, take care of your brothers and sisters. And if you live a life like that in this world, in obedience to your Father, you will find on that final time, he will say, here, come to the place of my right hand. I have a place prepared for you forever, where you'll find fulfillment for all you've longed for. And for those who steadfastly said, I'm going to do it my way, I'm not going to be doing anything that I don't want to do, there's a place for them. That decision is made by God in one way, but in another, it's made by us, right now. Would you bow your heads, please, for a moment? Jesus gave this story to his disciples because he wanted them to be ready. I'm going to give you the survey. You believe in God? Do you believe there's a heaven? Do you think you'll go there? You can know for sure, right now, by saying to God, I want you to be my Father. And I want to pledge to you, to live as an obedient child to you, beginning now, the rest of my life. And maybe you've made that promise to God sometime in the past. If you're in this community, he wants you to be a part of his church family here. That's what the church is. And you may know this is something God wants me to do. We open the doors of our church each Sunday morning to say to you, if you're ready to become part of this church family, come and say, I know this is the place God wants me. The kingdom doors are always open. Every day of the week, you can always stop and say to God, I want you to be my Father. I want to live as an obedient child to you because I believe in who you are and what you do. And then you'll be sure, both in this world and forever, you'll live in his kingdom. Father, I want to ask a favor of you. I want to ask for each of us that you would direct our minds to what you want us to think about. Let us know for sure whether or not we're prepared to stand before you in the last day. Help us to know whether or not our lives are acceptable to you as children. Help us to know if we've turned our back on you as God. And tell us right now what you want us to do. And get each of us a spirit of obedience and submission to you because when we hear our Father's voice, we will always say, yes, Father. In the name of Jesus, we ask this, amen. We're going to sing a song in just a minute. I'm in the front here. Debbie's here. If there's some kind of a commitment you feel led to make to God today, you just come to the front and tell us what that commitment is, and we'll help you know what to do next. This is a time when the Father speaks to you, and here's how you know it. He will be telling you, this is what you should do. If you listen to His voice, you're His child. He's your Father. If you don't, you're in rebellion against Him. He warns you about this. So would you stand, please, and sing? And you do what God has made clear to you He wants from you. Your only son, no sin to hide, but you have sent him from your side to walk upon this guilty sod and to become the Lamb of God. O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God. O wash me in His precious blood, my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. Your gift of love they crucified, they laughed and scorned Him as He died. The humble King they named a fraud and sacrificed the Lamb of God. O Lamb of God, sweet Lamb of God, I love the holy Lamb of God. O wash me in His precious blood, my Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God. You may be seated, please. You can't see her very well, but this is Carrie. And, oh, they're going to get you a microphone, honey. You can stand right up here. Carrie, can you tell the audience what you said to me? Yeah. What's your concern? I hope everybody's okay. Carrie was concerned that everybody was going to be okay. So, obviously, she listened very closely to Doyle. So what we did today, Carrie and I, is that we prayed to the Lord that everyone would be okay. But we also know, and we talked about, that it's important to be okay. You need to accept Jesus in your heart and live for Him. And then you're for sure going to be okay. Would you stand, please, for a moment to pray? It is a frightening thing to see and to think about life and the end of life and being forever locked away from the good and the joy and the fulfillment that our hearts long for. And, Father, we thank you for the warning that you've given us about this life and the life hereafter. I pray that whatever things you wanted each of us to hear, they would retain in our minds all week long. That we might know your warnings, that we might heed your instructions, that we might find ourselves forever with you in the place you've prepared for your children as an inheritance. In the name of Christ, we ask for your guidance. Amen. ♪ In Christ alone my hope is found. He is the light, my strength, my song. This cornerstone, this solid ground. Firm through the fiercest doubt and storm. What heights of love and depths of peace. When fears roar still, when strivings cease. My comforter, my all in all. Here in the love of Christ I stand. ♪