Things I'Ve Learned Along the Way

Years ago, I was at a private party at a Christian's home around Christmas time, and Adrian Rogers was there. Well, everyone there did their best to get in line and shake his hand and get a word in with him. I waited my turn, and as one of the last guests to leave, I slowly approached Dr. Rogers, and I asked him a question about J. Sidlow Baxter, and when he answered me, I remarked, gee, Dr. Rogers, I didn't know that.

And when I said that, Adrian Rogers placed both his big hands on both sides of my face, and he jerked me off the ground to within one inch of his face, and as we were eyeball to eyeball, he announced in his big booming voice, there's a lot you don't know, young man, and he sat me back down. Well, he sure scared the daylights out of me that night, but he was right. I was a young man, and there was still a lot I didn't know.

The years have passed since that time, and Adrian Rogers has gone on to heaven, and now I'm no longer a young man, and there's still a lot I do not know, but I do know that I am an old man, and there are some things I've learned along the way in my Christian journey, and that's what I want to share with you today, friends. I know that most folks are on their way to hell, and they are completely unaware of it. They firmly believe that God is too nice to damn them, and their belief is I'm good enough for heaven because I'm not bad enough for hell.

Most folks don't know what true conversion is. They're strangers to a work of regenerating grace upon the heart by God's spirit. I know a good majority of people mistake church membership for salvation, and I know that many in the church are led by a false spirit and are deceived, and I know that those who are truly converted end up missing out on God's best for them because they fail to grow in their faith, and they are afraid to go out on a limb for God by faith.

I know that many believers miss out on the best work that God has for them to do. They get saved, and they get excited about Jesus for a time, but sooner or later, they take their eyes off of eternity and start staring at the world and its enjoyments. They spend their resources, time, and talents on things of this world.

God has a deep work for them to do, but they are too busy, occupied at their golf game or tennis match or football game or basketball game. Sports and entertainment become their primary leisure activity, and they get satisfied with their families and creature comforts or their careers, and that is what they give themselves up to. Oh, they go to church regularly and tithe and serve in some capacity every now and then, but they fail to get on their knees and end their Bibles and get along with God in nights of desperate prayer, crying out to God over the sins of the land and the souls of their loved ones and lost neighbors.

They live their lives unto themselves and leave this world a good church member who never made their mark upon this world for God and the sake of the gospel. I know that some of us live our lives not fully understanding the difference between stewardship and ownership. We think that because we earned our money, it is our own, and the things we buy with our money become ours to own, and we fail to understand that all we have is given to us by God for his use and for his glory, and we are not owners but only stewards, and we should hold all we have, our time, our talents, our money, our loved ones, our homes and lands, we should hold all of them with open hands because they can be taken from us quite unexpectedly and suddenly.

What we do with what God has entrusted to us will shame most of us at the judgment seat on that great day, and I know that when we finally stand before Jesus, we will give an account to him for how we live for him and eternity, and we will see clearly then what we can't see clearly now, and our eyes will be opened to all our missed opportunities in sharing the gospel with the hell-bound. God shall wipe away every tear, my Bible says, and I believe it says that reference our regrets of what we should have done and we failed to do. It won't be the sins of commission that give us the most heartache on that day, but the sins of omission that will hurt the most and sting the best, and the words of our master will haunt us.

Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it not to me.