Life and Eternity

Matthew 7 verse 13. Enter ye in at the straight gate for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. The Gospel of Luke please.

Chapter 23 verse 33 Luke 23 verse 30 33 and when they were come to the place which is called Calvary there they crucified him and the malefactors one on the right hand and the other on the left then said Jesus father forgive them for they know not what they do. The Gospel of John please. Chapter 1 John 1 verse 9 that was the true light which lighteth every man that cometh into the world he was in the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not he came unto his own and his own received him not but as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born out of blood nor the will of the flesh nor the will of man but of God in a final reading in the book of Revelation chapter 3 Revelation chapter 3 verse 17 I'd like to take the application here the little phrase that I'm after because thou sayest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poor and blind and naked and the Lord will bless to us the reading of his word very simply tonight I've just got four things to for us to consider their eternal things I'd like to look at men and we don't know where we're going men in general they don't know where they're going as far as it is eternity is concerned and we come to Revelation chapter 3 verse 17 the Lord Jesus said you don't know what you are men who don't know what they are in the sight of God they think they're all right they think they're good but they really don't understand what they are in the sight of a holy God we come to Luke 23 and we read these words father forgive them for they don't know what they do they know not what they do when it comes to the person of Christ and receiving him and and what he has accomplished there at Calvary men and women and boys and girls tonight don't realize what they're doing in rejecting the Lord Jesus and in the gospel of John he came into the world and the world received him not they knew him not they didn't know who he was and so those are just a simple points tonight when we come to Matthew chapter 7 two roads and two destinies it's often been said there's a heaven to gain and a hell to shun this our text says this straight as a gate and narrow as a way that leads to life and few there be that find it and oftentimes when we visit with people we would ask them if you would die tonight where would you be and most of the time the question is I'd hope I would be in heaven I would hope you see we need to really understand tonight where we're going to be at the end of life this matter of hoping so and and and thinking so isn't enough when it comes to eternity we need to know beyond a shadow of a doubt when we leave this world where we're going to be and why we're going to be where we're going to be several years ago I took my first trip to Canada and I learned this this lesson kind of firsthand I flew to Canada for the first time and I thought everything was in order I was going to Taylor site Saskatchewan for their conference and I never been to Taylor site and my friend Ron lives there and the plan was that he was going to pick me up at the airport and so I'm going through customs there everything was going good and the customs agent and you know how they are they look you right in the eye and it's almost like they can see the back of your head it's like they're staring right through you they're all business and so he looks me in the eye and he says where you going son and I said I'm going to Taylor side and I was happy to go to Taylor side and he said I've never heard of Taylor side where's Taylor side well for those of you who have never been to Taylor side it's a gospel hall in the middle of about 30 square miles of field there's nothing there but a but an assembly and I said sir I don't know my friends gonna pick me up that was the wrong thing to say he says to me as he leans over the counter he says son you're going to a foreign country and you don't know where you're going what do you say no come with me so we went to the back and they interrogated me and another guy come in interrogated me the same questions different order and the third guy came in and he went through all my stuff and an hour later I got out of customs but really what was the worst thing that they could do to me well they could send me on the next plane and send me back to Minneapolis but friend I've got a question for you tonight and you need to be honest and sincere in your heart you're going into eternity do you know where you're going you're going out into the great beyond a place that'll never end and where will you be something I would say I don't know where I'm going I'm not sure I don't know friend there's a road that leads down and many there be which go in there let there at it's going to destruction and I could ask some of the Christians children here tonight about hell if they died where would they be and if they were like me they would say well if I died tonight I would be in hell and it rolls off our tongues just like it was pounded into us time and time and time again but if you've never considered it friend in your life yet I want you to be honest with yourself and understand this a place of destruction is an awful place it's an inescapable place it is an eternal place and many there be which go in there at many there be do you know where you're going tonight there's many in this audience and they do they know they're going to be in heaven at the end of life beyond a shadow of a doubt not because anything that they have accomplished in their lifetime not because of anything that they have done but they're resting alone and wrestling solely on the work of the Lord Jesus Christ and his shed blood at Calvary and they know for sure where they're going to be and so I want you to think about you if that answer just rolls off your off of your tongue if I died tonight I would be in hell and it doesn't move you friend please consider carefully what you're saying please consider carefully where you're going because the Lord Jesus says this if you die in your sin where I am you cannot come you cannot come men are living their lives and all the madness of life and all the excitement of life and all the all the events of life and they don't know where they're going to be when they die we had an accident back home in our town about a month ago two boys were out early morning and they were going hunting and and shooting their gun and the boy was passing the gun to this friend and it went off and shot him in the lungs and he died 16 17 years old never expected to go into eternity that morning just going to go out and have a little fun and I'll tell you it shakes the town of a small town of 400 people he's in eternity and where is he do you know where you're going to be heaven or hell where will you be and we come to Revelation chapter 3 the Lord Jesus says you don't know what you are you don't know he's speaking to Christians there he's speaking to an assembly at Laodicea an assembly that was neither cold nor hot and they were lukewarm but you know we can apply that to us tonight if we're not saved that we really don't know what we are in the sight of God you know it on our phones I should have said this earlier but sometimes on my phone it pops up that Google Maps wants to use my location we've got a locator service don't we on our phones and it wants to plug in the little blue beeping light where we are on the highway you know what I'm talking about it's to show us where we are and route to where we want to go is the locator service been turned on as far as eternity or maybe people just aren't thinking about that tonight and then we come to Revelation we don't know what we are poor and naked and miserable and wretched and blind speaking of the Christian but I'm wondering tonight friend if we're not saved do we know what we are in the sight of God it doesn't matter what we what what we are in the sight of men tonight we can fool men men will look on the outward appearance but God looks on the heart and in the sight of God do you know what you are I'd like to give you three scriptures to maybe help you find out what you are in the sight of God Corinthians tells us this if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost do you understand what the gospel is talking about if you've heard it before how that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures and was buried and rose again the third day according to the scriptures do you understand who that message is for do you understand why Christ died if you don't tonight you can find out what you are in that verse if our gospel be hid it is hid to them that are lost in whom the God of this world has blinded the minds at them to believe not you're lost if you don't understand the gospel tonight what about John first John chapter 5 these things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God that you may know you have everlasting life that you might know and so we can understand from that text that if I don't know where I'm going to be that I've never trusted Christ I'm not a believer I'm an unbeliever that's what we are naturally in the sight of God we're lost we're blind we're unbelievers and there's another one the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness but unto us which are saved it is the power of God maybe a meeting like this is foolish to you it was foolish to me for a lot of years I would go and sit and listen to the gospel in my mind to be somewhere else maybe it would be on the ball diamond playing baseball or maybe it'd be in on the stream fishing but a meeting like this really an honest it was foolish to me I would go and I would sit there but my mind was miles away and it was foolishness to me friend if the gospel is foolish to you you can understand what you are in the sight of God you're perishing you're perishing and that means that you will be separated from God for all the endless ages of eternity if you die in your sins what does the gospel mean to you what does the person of Christ mean to you tonight is it foolishness there's some out there tonight and it means everything to us as doesn't it the Lord Jesus means everything because he is the one that on the cross of Calvary satisfied a holy God as far as our sin is concerned when he offered himself without spot to God a sacrifice for our sin what are you in the sight of God tonight what are you that's a question that only you can answer because it's personal between you and God we need to be located on where we're going to be for eternity we need to understand what we are in the sight of God and it's not that one person is telling another person this is from God himself he says you don't know what you are you don't know Jonathan Edwards that great Puritan preacher when he preached sinners in the hands of an angry God men and women were grabbing the pillars of the building for fear of falling into hell why why would people react that way because they understood what they are in the sight of God and they understood where they're going and friend tonight if that really gripped your soul in a real way if you heard it from God tonight that if you died tonight in your sin you'd be in hell where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched I'll tell you we wouldn't want to leave this building you'd want the matter of your sins forgiven to be settled tonight tomorrow would be too far away if God would show you tonight what you are in his sight and where you'll be for eternity friend tonight you'd be moved in your soul as a spirit of God would take up dealings with you do you understand what you are I remember the night well when God showed me what I was I was 17 years old and I was not saved and I went to a gospel meeting and art ward preached on the that the plowing of the wicked is sin and like many of you I grew up on a farm we were dairy farmers and I went home from that meeting and I'll just put it this way I was disgusted with God I was aggravated with God because what is sinful about plowing one's field it's an honorable occupation it's hard work it's feeding the multitudes farming is isn't it and so I went home and I was I was I was upset with God and so I asked my mom I said mom I don't get it there's something I'm not understanding about this how can it be sin to plow my field and this is what God gave her to tell me she said Brandon every moment you reject the Lord Jesus Christ is sin it doesn't matter what you're doing let that sink in young people that have heard the gospel and you've taken the gospel lightly and it's been in one ear and out the other every moment you reject the Lord Jesus Christ is sin and so I did the math real quick figured I was 17 if I was old enough to understand at 7 and it was probably before that 10 years how many days in a year how many minutes in a year and all this how many seconds in a year times 10 it was over 315 million opportunities I had to be saved and I rejected the Lord Jesus Christ and for the first time in my life God showed me what I was and that if he put me in the very farthest corner of the lake of fire on the chart that we preach off of that's exactly what I deserved do you understand what you are in the sight of a holy God friend you're a sinner that needs salvation and we don't know what we are and we come to John chapter 1 he came into the world in the world knew him not and he came into his own and his own received him not he wasn't recognized and he wasn't received they didn't know him you know that's the case in the world tonight we're where you go visit people and you'll be surprised how many people really don't know anything about the Lord Jesus Christ they don't understand that he is a creator they don't understand that he's a son of God that come from heaven born in the Virgin he came from the heights of glory to take upon him flesh and to walk among men and the purpose to go to the cross of Calvary but they don't recognize him for who he is the son of God they don't recognize him as the savior of sinners they really have no clue who he is and you say well this is a Christian nation everybody knows about Jesus it's not everybody knows about Jesus and friend if you're not saved tonight you don't know him either you don't know him you don't know him as your substitute there at the cross you don't know him as the one who bore your punishment the punishment for your sin you don't know him as the one that suffered the wrath of God that your sin deserved and if you never come to know him as your Savior you don't know him you don't know him is he your Savior tonight what does it say he came into the world and the world was made by him and the world knew him not they didn't know him my grandma she's gone now but she had dementia and Alzheimer's and you would go to see her and she wouldn't know who you she didn't know you I'm sure you've experienced that and you could leave and go back five minutes later she wouldn't know it she wouldn't have a clue who you were it's really sad and I was just a grandkid I wasn't one of her children but she didn't have a clue and you know I was thinking about that and I was wondering about the Lord Jesus as he came into the world and the world had no clue who he was he came unto his own he came unto his chosen people the children of Israel and they received him not but our text says this but to as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God even to them that believe on his name which were born not of blood not of blood not family ties nor the flesh nor the will of man but of God friend do you know Christ tonight do you know him I'm not talking about the Christmas story although that is good but I'm talking about one that died at the cross who bore the wrath he suffered their waves in the billows of the wrath of God for your sin do you know him as that Savior do you know him as that one that shed his blood so that you could live the one that gives eternal life the one that is satisfied God's eternal throne forever do you know him tonight have you received him as your own to as many as received him to them gave you power to become the sons of God to know him not just know about him oh we all believe in and Jesus you hear people say no we don't all believe we all know about him but when was the time in your life when he became your Savior when you became to know him personally as a lamb of God it takes away the sin of the world we don't know where we're going we don't know what we are we don't know him we don't know the Lord Jesus and we come to Luke 23 and he says father forgive them for they know not what they do they don't know what they're doing you know sometimes you can watch someone do something they can maybe they're running a piece of heavy equipment and they're really good and they're really smooth and they're an operator you know they're not just a driver they're an operator they can handle that they know what they're doing and then there's other times you watch someone and it's like they've never put their hands on a joystick before they don't have a clue what they're doing they're totally ignorant to what what is going on with that machine and for me it would be a sewing machine anything like that be ignorant to it but here's the Son of God and he's nailed to the cross and his prayer to God is this father forgive them for they know not what they do what were they doing that they didn't know what they were doing they were rejecting the Son of God they were refusing him they were putting the Son of God to an open shame they were reviling him they crucified him and they didn't know what they were doing they didn't know friend if the Lord Jesus Christ was on earth tonight how would you treat him it's a fair question isn't it if the Lord Jesus was here how would you treat him let me just ask a couple questions how often do you enjoy him in your Bible how often do you enjoy the gospel you'd reject him too wouldn't you and that's really what we're doing God's begotten only begotten Son upon the cross of Calvary nailed through his hands and through his feet came there for the purpose to die for the sinner and sinners don't know what they're doing by rejecting the Lord Jesus you know what we're doing we're sealing our doom we're setting it not God's way of salvation we're rejecting the express image of God for that's who the Lord Jesus was he came and revealed God to mankind and the heart of man is revealed at Calvary we're not only they reject him they put him to an open shame but they crucify him he was numbered with the transgressors and friend tonight if you're not saved and you're rejecting the Lord Jesus Christ you don't know what you're doing you don't know I hope you think about these things tonight the Lord Jesus Christ was praying for those men that were crucifying him and I wonder tonight I really do I wish I could be in heaven and listen to the intercessory prayer of the Lord Jesus tonight I wonder if he isn't praying for those in this audience that don't know what they're doing I wondered how often he approached God's throne on my behalf father forgive him he doesn't know what he's doing what about your sin tonight friend that sin that has separated you from God that sin that is taking you to a lost eternity just as fast as time will take what are you doing with Christ I want to tell you something he's all together lovely for those of us that are saved that one who died on the cross means everything to us not that we loved him but that he loved us that's the key God sent his son into the world to be the source of life God sent his son into the world to be the satisfaction for sin he sent him into the world to be the Savior of the world and friend he come to be your Savior what will you do with him understand very clearly where you're going to be if you die in your sins you'll be in an awful place called hell friend you know that's where you're going understand what you are tonight in the sight of God as God looks down from his holy throne and he sees our sin and he sees everything about us understand what we are we're sinners that need a Savior we're lost and we're condemned and we're undone come to know him for who he really is the Lamb of God it takes away the sin of the world and don't be like those that rejected him that he prayed for father forgive them for they know not what they do friend he wants to save you tonight don't run the risk of going out another time unsaved understand why he came Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners