WHAT ARE THE
GREATEST THINGS OF LIFE?
PART 2
If you
were not here last Sunday morning, I began talking about some of the greatest
things of life from a Christian’s perspective. First, I said one the greatest
things in life is love because love caused God to give us His Son and love
motivates us to live for God. Second, I talked about how our greatest purpose
in life is to glorify our Father in heaven in everything that we do. As I said
last week there are certainly more things you can to my list, but I think you
will agree with the ones I mentioned last week and the ones I will be
mentioning this week.
I
believe one of the greatest privileges we have in this life is the honor of
being children of God. As John says:
1 John 3:1 Behold
what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called
children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know
Him. 2 Beloved, now we are
children of God; and it has not yet been revealed what we shall be, but we know
that when He is revealed, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He
is. 3 And everyone who has
this hope in Him purifies himself, just as He is pure.
I can
read through my Bible from cover to cover over and over again. I can see the
great love that God has always had for mankind and how mankind has failed over
and over again to give themselves over to God. No
matter how many times I read about God’s mercy and grace and everything He has
done for us especially through His Son, it is almost unbelievable from a human
viewpoint that anyone would want have anything to do with mankind because of
how we are. Yet, we know that God our creator and that He continues to love us
and have great mercy on us. Otherwise, He would have never allowed His Son to
die for us. He would have not made a plan of salvation for us who are willing
obey it.
I have
said it many times before, I will continue to say it, we do not deserve the
love of God or His great mercy, yet He allows us to have anyway. This is why it
such a great privilege and honor to be allowed to become a child of God and
have the confidence that we will be saved through Him.
As Paul
said:
Galatians 3:26 For you are all sons of God through faith in
Christ Jesus. 27 For as many
of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. 28 There is neither Jew nor Greek,
there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are
all one in Christ Jesus. 29
And if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's seed, and heirs
according to the promise.
Paul is
saying that it does not matter who you are, what your gender is or where you
live, God has made it possible for us all to become children of God through
faith in Christ Jesus. Paul is not talking about mere belief or faith alone as
some like to teach, no he is talking about an active faith, one that will obey
the gospel call. While belief in Jesus is certainly an important part of
becoming a child of God, the Bible also teaches that we must repent (Lk. 13:3), confess Jesus as our Lord (Rom. 10:9-10) and be
baptized for the forgiveness of our sins (Acts 2:38). In fact, verse 27 of text
shows that the faith Paul is talking about includes baptism because he says
that baptism is the point that we are put into Christ. If you are not in
Christ, that means you our outside of Him. If you are outside of Christ, then
you cannot children of God. You must be a child of God in order to be an heir
to inherit heaven:
Romans 8:16 The Spirit Himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of
God, 17 and if children, then
heirs -- heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if
indeed we suffer with Him, that we may also be glorified together.
When we
choose to accept the plan God has set before us and we embrace His love by
obeying His plan then we can know that once we are baptized we become a new creation
and our old self is to be done away with and we are to live our lives as
children of God. As Paul says:
2 Corinthians 5:17 Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old
things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.
Paul explains this in more detail in:
Romans 6:4 Therefore we were buried with Him through baptism into death, that just as Christ
was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should
walk in newness of life. 5 For if we have been united together
in the likeness of His death, certainly we also shall be in the likeness of
His resurrection, 6 knowing this, that our old man was
crucified with Him, that the body of sin might be done away with, that
we should no longer be slaves of sin.
Whenever we open our eyes to the truth that is found in
God’s Word and we see that God is for us and not against us we can rejoice
because we can take care of our sin problem by obeying the gospel. We can know
that God loves us so much that He has given us the opportunity to become His
children. We can know that when we obey the gospel that we can be united with
Christ in baptism and become a new creature, a child of God in Christ. We can
know that our past sins will be forgiven no matter how many there may be and we
are to live for Christ because are now children of God. If we remain faithful
to God and His Word, we can know that we live with God forever in heaven. So,
being a child of God is the greatest privilege we could ever have and it could
be the greatest mistake we could make if we choose not to take advantage of the
wonderful privilege God has given us.
What would you say is the greatest knowledge of this
life? Some might say knowing everything that this world can offer such as
obtaining college degrees in your field of study. While education is certainly
helpful in this life, I can say from Christian perspective that the greatest
knowledge of this life is to know God through His Word.
Jesus talking about the Father and Himself said:
John 17:3 "And
this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only
true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.
Of course, the way we obtain this precious knowledge
about God is by using His Word. Now some today will claim that they can know
God by simply loving Him and listening to their heart of hearts, but the Bible
teaches us a different story: John writes:
1 John 2:3 Now by this we know that we know Him, if we keep His
commandments. 4 He who says,
"I know Him," and does not keep His commandments, is a liar, and the
truth is not in him. 5 But
whoever keeps His word, truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we
know that we are in Him. 6 He
who says he abides in Him ought himself also to walk just as He walked.
I understand that sometimes our emotions can get the
better of us and cloud our judgment. If we want to believe
something strongly enough, we can convince ourselves that it is true and this
can be deadly. In the last 10 years I have heard stories on the news
where people did horrible things all because they truly thought that God wanted
them to do it. While God gave us emotions and we should be thankful for them,
they can be used for evil while at the same time we feel like we are doing
something good.
However, John has just taught us that the only way we can
know our Lord and have eternal life is by knowing, accepting and obeying the
Word of God. Saul is a great example of what I am talking about. He was a smart
man. He knew the O.T. and the way of the Pharisees very well. To his credit,
Saul was living during a unique time when the covenants had changed. The truth
had to be preached that Jesus was the Son of God. This was no easy task during
those days, but it was being done and Saul would have been exposed to this new
truth, but he was ignoring the things he heard and holding on to his Pharisee
roots, which is why we read about his zealous nature of trying to destroy
Christianity.
How do I know that Saul was hearing the truth, yet
resisting it? The answer comes from his encounter with Jesus:
Acts 9:1 Then
Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the Lord,
went to the high priest 2 and
asked letters from him to the synagogues of Damascus, so that if he found any
who were of the Way, whether men or women, he might bring them bound to
Jerusalem. 3 As he journeyed
he came near Damascus, and suddenly a light shone around him from heaven. 4 Then he fell to the ground, and
heard a voice saying to him, "Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?" 5
And he said, "Who are You, Lord?" Then the Lord said, "I am
Jesus, whom you are persecuting. It is hard for you to kick against the
goads." 6 So he,
trembling and astonished, said, "Lord, what do You
want me to do?" Then the Lord said to him, "Arise and go into
the city, and you will be told what you must do."
This
expression Jesus used of it being hard for Saul to kick against the goads tells
us that he had indeed been hearing the truth and resisting it with great
difficulty. A goad is used by a shepherd to encourage animals move along, but
these goads were also used on carts that oxen would pull. Young oxen had a
tendency to kick backwards and with no goad in place could damage or destroy
the cart they pulled. However, when they would kick back against the cart and
find this pointed stick jabbing them, it would not take long for the Ox to
figure out that is not good idea to kick backwards. So, Saul had kicked against
the truth for a while, but this encounter with Jesus finally broke through his
thick skull and made him realize the importance of not resisting the truth.
Thankful
Saul got the message and we know what kind of man he became. The things that
Saul did before he was converted would be enough to make anyone cringe, but
because of the greatest knowledge a person can obtain, he was able to become a
child of God, an apostle and was able to use the rest of his life to bring
glory and honor to God while at the same time being confident that he had
finished his race of life with heaven being his ultimate destination. As he
wrote Timothy with confidence:
2 Timothy 4:6 For I am already being poured out as a drink
offering, and the time of my departure is at hand. 7 I have fought the good fight, I
have finished the race, I have kept the faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but
also to all who have loved His appearing.
If we want to be able to make heaven our home and be able
to spend eternity there then we must realize what Saul did. We must realize
that just because we were raised up a certain way and taught a certain thing
does not mean that is right. We certainly cannot and should not base morality
or what we think God wants based on an emotional response. No, we must train
ourselves to always go to the source, which is God’s Word to find the truth.
Even if ever ounce of our being says something is right, we must have
understanding with ourselves that if God’s Word says it is wrong then it wrong
no matter how bad we want it to be right.
We should be thankful that we have God’s Word as our
guide because it take the guess work out of
determining what is right and what is wrong. I am so thankful that God is not
the author of confusion, but we must not take this wonderful knowledge we have
at our fingertips for granted and not learn and use it because it has the power
to set us free or the power the condemn us because we will be judged the Word
of God because it is our authority:
John 12:48 "He
who rejects Me, and does not receive My words, has
that which judges him -- the word that I have spoken will judge him in the last
day.
We would do well to take the advice found in the Psalm 1:
Psalm 1:1 Blessed
is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in
the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; 2 But his delight is in
the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. 3 He shall be like a tree Planted
by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in
its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall
prosper. 4 The ungodly are
not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. 5 Therefore the ungodly shall not
stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation
of the righteous. 6 For the
LORD knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.
The only way that you and I can take full advantage of
the knowledge that God has provided for us through His Word is by us making it a
priority in our lives. Yes, there are more entertaining things to do that
require little or no brain power, but nothing else in this life gives you
eternal rewards like God’s Word will. Of course mere knowledge of His Word is
not enough as James clearly states:
James 1:21 Therefore
lay aside all filthiness and overflow of wickedness, and receive with meekness
the implanted word, which is able to save your souls. 22 ¶ But
be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. 23 For if anyone is a hearer of
the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a
mirror; 24 for he observes
himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was. 25 But he who looks into the
perfect law of liberty and continues in it, and is not a forgetful
hearer but a doer of the work, this one will be blessed in what he does.
So, don’t just read the Word of God and just know it,
live it.
If I asked what your greatest vocation in life is what
would be your answer? Some might say their jobs. The word vocation can mean
your main calling in life. Again, someone that loves their job might say that
their job is the main calling in their life. There is certainly nothing wrong
with loving what you do and getting paid for it, but from a Christian
perspective no matter how much you love your job, the greatest calling of any
Christian is to serve God.
Ephesians 4:1 I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the
calling with which you were called, 2 with all lowliness and
gentleness, with longsuffering, bearing with one another in love, 3 endeavoring to keep the unity of
the Spirit in the bond of peace.
There are a lot of people that like to throw around the
phrase “the Lord called me to do….” This or that. That
gets back into our previous point where people use their heart of hearts to
determine that God is pulling them in one direction or another, but when the
Bible speaks about calling you, is talking about being called by the gospel as
Paul explains in:
2 Thessalonians 2:13 But we are bound to give thanks to God always for you, brethren beloved by
the Lord, because God from the beginning chose you for salvation through
sanctification by the Spirit and belief in the truth, 14 to which He called you by our
gospel, for the obtaining of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ. 15 Therefore, brethren, stand fast
and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.
When we were called by God through the gospel, God called
us to be Christians and servants of the most high. Again Paul says:
Ephesians 2:10 For we are His
workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand that we should walk in them.
1 Corinthians 4:1 Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ
and stewards of the mysteries of God.
God created us for this very purpose so that we could
choose to serve Him by doing good deeds and living a righteous life. As a
Christian, we should consider serving God as a privilege and one of the greatest
things we can do in this life. God deserves everything we can give him because
He has given so much to us besides being our Creator.
If you really love God with your whole heart, mind and
soul then there is no greater vocation in this life than serving God in every
way that we can. Please understand, I am not saying we should quit our jobs or
stop doing things that we enjoy, but I am talking about having our priorities
straight. Too many times, we lose our focus on serving God and we end focusing
on ourselves and on life in general. It is easy to do, but we need to wake up
and a look at that person we have become.
We need to have the attitude expressed in:
Psalm 100:1 A Psalm of Thanksgiving. Make a joyful shout to the LORD, all you
lands! 2 Serve the LORD with
gladness; Come before His presence with singing. 3 Know that the LORD, He is God;
It is He who has made us, and not
we ourselves; We are His people and the sheep of His pasture. 4 Enter into His gates with
thanksgiving, And into His courts with praise. Be thankful to Him, and
bless His name. 5 For the
LORD is good; His mercy is everlasting, And His truth endures to
all generations.
This
Psalm is full of enthusiasm and thankfulness for the Lord. Notice,
it said serve the Lord with gladness. Imagine if all Christians would
take those few words to heart and have the zeal of serving Lord as expresses in
this Psalm. Imagine how much work would get done for the Lord and how people
would be praising God for the opportunity to do so. But what do we find
ourselves doing sometimes when it comes to serving the Lord? Sometimes we
complain or drag our feet. Sometimes we make excuses of why someone else should
do the work. Sometimes we talk ourselves out of doing the work by saying it
will never work or maybe we are so lazy sometimes, we will actually try to hide
or even run away when work for Lord needs to be done kind of like Jonah did.
We
should not be this way. We should have a better work ethic when it comes to
serving God. We do all kinds of things we would not normally do for our loved ones, and we are supposed to love God more than everyone
else, so why would we not try new things or continue to look for ways we my
serve our God? I believe everyone in this room including me knows we can do
more for the Lord than we have been doing. If we can focus ourselves and have
this positive thankful attitude that we just read in this Psalm, then we will
find great joy in serving the Lord and have no problem doing so. I can say without doubt that every
Christian’s vocation should be serving the Lord. Let it be your number 1
priority and then let everything else come in second and third and so on.
In
conclusion, there are certainly more things I could add to this list of the
greatest things in life because we only looked at three of them in this lesson
which were: the greatest privilege in life is being children of God, the greatest
knowledge in life is to know God and His Son through His Word, and the greatest
vocation in life is to serve God.
WHAT ARE THE
GREATEST THINGS OF LIFE?
PART 3
Tonight
will be our final lesson on this short series of what are the greatest things
of life. In the last two lessons we have looked at 5 of the greatest things and
they were:
1. Love
2. Our
greatest purpose in life is to glorify our Father in heaven in everything that
we do.
3. The
greatest privileges we have in this life is the honor
of being children of God.
4. The greatest
knowledge of this life is to know God through His Word.
5. There is no greater vocation (main calling in life) in
this life than serving God in every way that we can.
We ended
our lesson last week with the greatest vocation in life, which I just said was
serving God in any way you can. One of the ways that we can serve brings us to
our first point tonight that I believe is the greatest work a Christian can do,
which is winning souls for the Lord.
Proverbs 11:30 The fruit of the righteous is a tree of
life, And he who wins souls is wise.
Notice what is written in the Book of Daniel:
Daniel 12:1 "At that time Michael shall stand up, The great prince who
stands watch over the sons of your people; And there shall be a time of
trouble, Such as never was since there was a nation, Even to that time.
And at that time your people shall be delivered, Every one who is found written in the book. 2 And many of those who sleep in
the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting
life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt. 3 Those who are wise shall shine
Like the brightness of the firmament, And those who
turn many to righteousness Like the stars forever and ever.
This is
a prophecy that points to the destruction of Jerusalem, but also talks about
the general resurrection at the end of time, but I want mainly want to focus on
the beautiful language used in verse 3 because it compares those who are able
to reach the sinful and turn them to God as being like stars forever and ever.
There is one thing you can always count on. As long as the sky is clear, you
will be able to see the starts shining brightly in the night sky. In the same
way, a faithful Christian will continue to shine until he dies and his memory
has faded away because when we as Christians serve our Lord with all heart,
mind, and soul and we reach out to the lost and offer them hope through Jesus,
we are like a star that shines brightly and is always there.
A lot
people find solace is working with their hands. The farmer enjoys seeing his
labor produce a field of corn, wheat, or whatever he planted. An artist loves
to see the final product of hours drawing, sculpting or painting. The builder
likes to sit back and admire whatever he has taken the time to build from
scratch. The cook loves to see the joy that his food brings to those who eat
it. More could be said, but you get the idea. We take great joy from the things
we do with our own hands, but I can promise there is not greater joy than when
you can you turn a sinner that is destined for hell toward God. Not only does it make you feel good that you
were able to make difference in someone’s life, you know that you were able to
rescue them from the eternal abode called hell. You also know that you were
doing God’s bidding and it make you feel good when think about how you played a
part in making all the host of heaven rejoice as Jesus points in these 2
parables:
Luke 15:3 So He spoke
this parable to them, saying: 4
"What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he loses one of them, does
not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness, and go after the one which is lost
until he finds it? 5
"And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders,
rejoicing. 6 "And when he
comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbors, saying to them,
'Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep which was lost!' 7 "I say to you that likewise
there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over
ninety-nine just persons who need no repentance. 8 " Or what woman, having ten
silver coins, if she loses one coin, does not light a lamp, sweep the house,
and search carefully until she finds it?
9 "And when she has found it, she calls her friends
and neighbors together, saying, 'Rejoice with me, for I have found the piece
which I lost!' 10
"Likewise, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God
over one sinner who repents."
As a
Christian, we understand what God did for us. We understand that He gave us His
best, His only begotten Son. We know that He loves us and is always there for
us. We know that continues to watch out for us and takes care of us through His
providential care. We know that He wants us to be with Him in heaven. If we did
not understand such things, we would not be a Christian. Since we do, His great
love and sacrifice for us should motivate us to win as many souls as we can for
Him. Yes, His Word and His will are carried out by us.
I have
said it many times before, God expects to water and plant His Word and He will
give the increase, but His way and His Word cannot do what it supposed to do if
we do not actively water and plant it. I am very thankful that we are not going
to be graded on how many people we actually reach with His Word because for
some of us may not see the results of what we have done, but I can promise you
this. The more you plant and water God’s Word in the heart of man, the greater
the chance will be that you will see the fruit of your labor. Remember the parable
of the soils? One out of every four seed that was planted fell on fertile soil
but the other three seeds did not make it because they were rejected or chocked
out.
Just
like a farmer knows that all his seeds he plants and waters will not grow, we
must realize that that same principle, but at the same time realize how
important is it that we roll up our sleeves daily by taking advantage of
opportunities in our life to reach the lost with the love of God.
When I
talking about reaching out the lost, I am not just talking about those who have
never obeyed the gospel, I am also talking about those who have known the truth
and have forsaken by living like the world once again. Peter says:
2 Peter 2:20 For if, after they have escaped the pollutions of the world through the
knowledge of the Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, they are again entangled in them
and overcome, the latter end is worse for them than the beginning. 21 For it would have been better
for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than having known it, to
turn from the holy commandment delivered to them. 22 But it has happened to them
according to the true proverb: "A dog returns to his own vomit," and,
"a sow, having washed, to her wallowing in the mire."
I have
used the section of Scripture many times in my sermons because it clearly
points out just how destructive it is when a Christian knows the truth and then
turn back to a life of sin. As Peter, it worse for them when they do this
because they knew the truth, they knew what they had and they threw it all away
to go back to lifestyle they know will lead them to eternity in hell.
People
who do this can be harder to reach because they already know what God has to
offer and they turned their back on it already. Though people like this are
harder to reach then one who has never tasted the grace of God, it is still a
great work that we are to do. As Paul says:
Galatians 6:1 Brethren, if a man is overtaken in any trespass, you who are spiritual
restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, considering yourself lest you
also be tempted.
There
are all kinds of ways a person can get a job done. However, there is a right
and wrong way to do it. For example, if you and your buddy were paid to move
someone from one house to another, you could take all their furniture and just
shove it into the truck scratching and breaking things along the way. Did you
get the job done? Yes, you did. Do you think the people you moved are going to
happy with your work? No, they will not. Now if you took the time to carefully
move everything and you protected the furniture and moved everything with care,
you get the job done, but you also will make the people that hired very happy. So, while you can accomplish a job, there is a
good and bad way to do it.
Same
thing is true when it comes to restoring a falling Christian. You could go
threaten to kill them if they do not come back to the Lord or you could destroy
them with harsh words until they give in. Sure, that might get the job done at
least for a short while, but Paul says we are to restore a sinner like this
with the spirit of gentleness. As we go out and do the greatest work of winning
souls for the Lord, let use wisdom of how we approach people in the best way
that we can. Just like with any job, you learn from experience. You will
probably mess from time to time and if you do learn from it and do it better
the next time. Just keep reminding yourself who you work for and what you are
trying to accomplish because souls are on the line and we know that one soul is
worth more the all the world. We should have the same attitude as Paul as read
in:
2 Corinthians 5:9Therefore we make it our aim, whether present or absent, to be well
pleasing to Him. 10 For we
must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive
the things done in the body, according to what he has done, whether good
or bad. 11 Knowing,
therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men;
So,
let us never forget that one of the greatest works we can do for the Lord is
planting and water His word in the hearts of men and women so that their souls
can be saved from eternal punishment in hell.
Now
let’s talk about the greatest victory we can have in our personal lives. I have
already said that one of the greatest privileges we have in this life is being
sons of God. However, I believe one the greatest victories we have in our lives
is when continue overcome ourselves and the world.
As
Christians, we are in a constant struggle with ourselves and how we deal with
the temptations the world throws our way. There is a reason Jesus said the
following:
Matthew 7:13 " Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the
gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many
who go in by it. 14
"Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which
leads to life, and there are few who find it.
We
all have our weaknesses and we know what they are. Some have no problem with
letting others know what their weaknesses are, but I guessing that many of us
have some weakness that only we know about it because we are good at keeping
them hidden from everyone else. Even our spouses or siblings probably do not
know some of the weaknesses that some of us deal with inside our heads. Since
we all have our weaknesses, the devil has no problem exploiting those
weaknesses by trying to get us to sin.
However,
when we are rooted and grounded in God’s truth and we have ourselves focused,
we are more than capable of resisting Satan’s preverbal carrot he dangles in
front of us. Every time we resist the temptation of the world especially those
temptations that pull at our weaknesses we are experience a great victory in
our lives because we did not give in.
Though we may win many battles in
this life, let us not become over confident in our victories because we are
fighting a war that will not end for us until the day we die. There is no time for us to let
our guard down because I can promise you the world will never stop throwing temptations
your way. However, you can be victorious in the end by aligning yourself with
God and strengthening yourself daily. Every battle that you will over self and
the world will make stronger and more capable of defeating whatever your
adversary the devil throws at you.
I
know all of have experienced how good it feels to say no to a sin that has
overpowered us in the past. We do not have to let those weaknesses we have in
lives to have control over us because we can control ourselves we apply
ourselves keep our eyes on the goal of heaven.
John
writes:
1 John 5:2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we
love God and keep His commandments. 3
For this is the love of God, that we keep His commandments. And His
commandments are not burdensome. 4
For whatever is born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory that
has overcome the world -- our faith. 5
Who is he who overcomes the world, but he who believes that Jesus is the Son of
God?
1 John 2:14 I have written to you, fathers, Because you have known Him who is from the beginning.
I have written to you, young men, Because you are
strong, and the word of God abides in you, And you have overcome the wicked
one.
If want to experience the wonderful victory of overcoming
your weakness and the world, then you must be strong in the Word of God. The
more you put God’s Word into your heart and live by it, the more victories you
will have. So, let us never forget that we are fighting a war and the only way
that we can win the battles of this life is by fighting with fight of faith
because with God on our side who can stand against us.
As Jesus proclaimed:
Revelation 3:5 "He who overcomes shall be clothed in white garments, and I will not
blot out his name from the Book of Life; but I will confess his name before My
Father and before His angels.
So far in our series, I have focused on positive things,
but now let’s take look a few negative things. The greatest lost in life is to
lose one soul. Jesus said:
Matthew
16:26 "For what profit is it to
a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul? Or what will a man give in exchange for his soul?
As Christians we know what God has done for us and has
made available for all, but many do not care. They just want to live their
lives for themselves and enjoy the passing pleasures this life can offer. They
are rooted and grounded in their carnal nature and they are blinded by what
their future holds. As Jesus said, gaining the whole world is not worth losing
your soul. Eternity is forever and it will not end.
We all have a choice of what path we will choose, but
only one path leads to heaven. Many people will travel the other path that
leads to hell. This is a horrible place to go. Notice a few things about it:
Mark 9:47 "And
if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the
kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell
fire -- 48
"where 'Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.'
So, the worm does not die and the fire will not be
quenched.
Matthew 10:28 "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.
But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
2 Thessalonians 1:7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus
is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels,
8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know
God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with
everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His
power,
It is a place of destruction, but not annihilation
because the torment will continue for eternity.
Matthew 8:12 "But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness.
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
Matthew 25:41 "Then He will also say to those on the left hand, 'Depart from Me,
you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his
angels: 42 'for I was hungry
and you gave Me no food; I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink; 43 'I was a stranger and you did
not take Me in, naked and you did not clothe Me, sick and in prison and you did
not visit Me.' 44 "Then
they also will answer Him, saying, 'Lord, when did we see You hungry or thirsty
or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison, and did not minister to You?' 45 "Then He will answer them,
saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one
of the least of these, you did not do it to Me.' 46 "And these will go away
into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
Those who will be cast into hell will be there forever
and will face everlasting punishment. Can you think of a greater loss than
this? I cannot. Hell is a real for real people. I wish people would wake up and
realize the choice they are making when they choose to live a life of sin. It
is not worth it to have to face this horrible place that is called hell.
However, it is worth living for God and embracing the love He has for you. It
is worth making sacrifices of not indulging in the sinful pleasures this world
has to offer. Even if you have to face persecution or death for standing up for
the truth it worth the temporary pain and heartache knowing that eternal life
in heaven will be yours to have. Paul certainly understood this idea when he
said:
2 Corinthians 4:17 For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a
far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 18 while we
do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen.
For the things which are seen are temporary, but the things which are
not seen are eternal.
So, don’t ever buy into what the world is selling because
it is only temporary, but eternal life heaven only comes to those who live for
the Lord.
There are many more points I could make, but I want to
make one last one. The greatest prize that we can have is enteral life with
God. That should be the goal of every Christian. As the writer Hebrews said:
Hebrews 12:1 Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of
witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us,
and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, 2
looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the
joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat
down at the right hand of the throne of God.
You cannot possibly make it to
heaven without running the race. Again, Paul said:
1 Corinthians 9:24 Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the
prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. 25 And everyone who competes for
the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a
perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.
Unlike the many infomercials
on TV that offer us easier ways to do things and tells us that we can
accomplish great results with little effort on our part, living for God takes
complete dedication. You have to keep your eyes on Jesus and keep moving
forward. There are no shortcuts or secret ways to only spend a short time
fighting your way toward heaven. Everything we do and say is important as Paul
says:
Galatians 6:7 Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for
whatever a man sows, that he will also reap.
8 For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap
corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting
life. 9 And let us not grow
weary while doing good, for in due season we shall
reap if we do not lose heart.
Living the Christian life is not easy, but is worth the
fight as Paul said:
1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life, to which you were
also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many
witnesses.
Paul did not give this advice to Timothy or to us alone.
He lived by this very principle and when it came to the end of his life, he was
confident in the end that he had finished his race and fought the good fight of
faith:
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the
faith. 8 Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the
Lord, the righteous Judge, will give to me on that Day, and not to me only but
also to all who have loved His appearing.
We can all say same thing that Paul did when we keep our
eyes on the goal of heaven and fight the good of faith everyday by winning as
many battles as we can against the devil so that we can win the war by crossing
the finish line of our lives with the confidence that greatest prize to be had
will be ours, which is eternal life in heaven.