Sermon Central
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Almost Dosen't Count
Contributed by Dean Meadows on Sep 22, 2005 (message contributor)
Summary: This is a sermon about almost acepting Christ. Almost doesn’t count. You are either saved or lost. It also encouages Christians to have the heart like Paul, that ALL should come to Christ.
Almost doesn’t count
We all have probably heard the saying, “Almost doesn’t count unless it is with horse shoes, hand grenades, 750 pound bombs, or Nuclear weapons. Now I can understand the horseshoes. You almost make a ringer. You throw the horseshoe; it hits the peg then bounces off. You almost made a ringer. But I never did understand the hand grenades, or the bombs and who knows about the Nuclear weapons. I almost blew up something???
But today we read about something just as confusing. King Agrippa said, “You almost persuade me to become a Christian”.
What a shame to almost accept Christ. It is as confusing to me as the grenades and the bombs. Why would somebody do the right things, and live the right life, only to almost make it into Heaven?
It’s like jumping off the bridge on Bridge Day and almost wearing a parachute. You still get the same results. It is either you are, or you are not. You shouldn’t want to think you are going to heaven. You should know that you are. And His desire is for you to know that you are saved.
1 John 5:12-13, He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life, and that you may continue to believe in the name of the Son of God.
Either you’ve got it, or you don’t. You are either saved, or you are lost. Some one who is almost saved is just as lost as someone who never shows any desire to be. So why are there people who almost make it to heaven?
Many people hear the truth
King Agrippa heard Paul’s testimony. He heard Paul recount his conversion on the road to Damascus. He heard how the light from Heaven came and how he found out that Jesus was the Son of God. He found out that Jesus was who He said He was and that He did what He said He did and how He wanted Paul to be the one to tell others how to get from the darkness to the light.
Trust me, King Agrippa heard the gospel. He heard the truth. And yet he chooses to wait. The NIV Bible says it like this; “Do you think in such a short time that you can persuade me to be a Christian?
He must have thought he had more time to make that decision. And that is still true today. Many people think some day… I will get saved. Teens think they want to have some fun first. Then young men and women want time to start their family first. Then they get caught up in all the things that kids get into and don’t have the time for God. Then they grow up and with grandkids and work and everything else they forget about God. They almost became a Christian.
So many hear the truth then simply don’t respond to it. Then…
Many think they are good enough
Many think that the way to heaven is just to make sure the good out weighs the bad. The problem is that we can never be good enough. It only takes one sin to keep us from spending eternity in heaven with God.
Matthew 7:22-23, Many will say to Me in that day, “Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?” And I will declare to them, I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.
Now I don’t know about you but that sounded like a bunch of good deeds. And Paul himself told King Agrippa that before accepting Christ, he was a very religious man.
Acts 26:4-6, My manner of life from my youth, which was spent from the beginning among my own nation at Jerusalem, all the Jews know. They know me form the first, if they are willing to testify, that according to the strictest sect of our religion, I have lived a Pharisee.
Paul told King Agrippa that he was a very righteous man. He was a good man. But just being good doesn’t cut it. There are going to be a lot of good people who go to hell. And if you think that God would not send a good person to hell; you are right! They send themselves by trying to build their own way to heaven when Jesus said, “I AM THE WAY, I AM THE TRUTH, I AM THE LIFE. NO ONE COMES TO THE FATHER EXCEPT THROUGH ME”.
It is not what you do for Him, it is what He did for you. Being good will almost make you get to heaven because you think that you are good enough to get there by themselves.
