Matthew 7:21-23-“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. 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 then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’
Have you ever watched a magician on T.V. and they did a trick and it look so real, but you know that it was not real, it was a illusion.
That’s the way it is with some peoples lives, their life is just an illusion!
And the truth is!!
You may have sit by them at church!
You may have heard them sing in the choir!
You may have heard them preach from the pulpit!
BUT WHEN YOU GET TO HEAVEN THEY ARE NOT THERE!
They knew all the right words to say!
They knew how to appear like they were right with God!
They worked hard at saying and doing the right things, but they didn’t do the one thing they needed to do and that was to give their heart to God!
Jesus Came To Rescue Us!
It like the family that was down fishing at the pier one day, The dad was busy watching the rods and bobbers while his two sons, a 12-year old and a 3-year old were down playing along the dock. The 12 year old was supposed to be watching his little brother, but he got distracted. The 3 year old, named Billy, thought that would be a good time to see if he could reach the bottom of the water and stretched his little arm down into the water and then just a little further. He lost his balance and fell into the water, which was about 5 or 6 ft deep.
The splash alerted the 12-yr old who screamed for help and Dad came running from the end of the pier, jumped into the water, swam down, but unable to see anything, came up for air. Sick with panic, he went right back down into this murky water, and began to feel everywhere around the bottom. He couldn’t feel anything and had to come back up for air.
On his way up, he felt little Billy’s arms locked in a death grip on one of the posts of the dock, about 4 ft under water. Prying the boy’s fingers loose, they broke the surface of the water and filled their lungs with air.
After 5 minutes of holding when the tears stopped, and nerves had calmed down a little bit, the dad asked his son, “What on earth were you doing down there hanging onto the post so far under the water? And little Billy answer in a 3 year olds matter of fact way, he said, "I was just waiting for you dad. Just waiting for you."
Church, today we celebrate that 2000 yrs ago, the God of the universe left the glory and the splendor of heaven, a place where there was no pain and no sickness, no accidents, no hurt, and no death.
And he plunged into this dark, gloomy world on a rescue mission, a rescue mission for all of us who are drowning, a rescue mission for all of us who are barely hanging on, a rescue mission for all of us who are lost in the darkness.
Why do we need a sermon like this?
There was man the other day who was coming out of Wal-Mart, he was not a young man ( in others words it was not a fashion statement) but he was not elderly man ( in other words he couldn’t use that for excuse) he was probably about 30 to 40 years old and his pants were bagging down so much you could see his back side….ALL HIS BACK SIDE!
Talk About Bad Moon Rising!
In other words we need to check ourselves, our relationship with the Lord, our motives!
You need to make sure all the religious stuff you are doing, that your doing for the right purpose!
Make sure that your not doing for man applause, but that your doing it because you love Jesus!
Depart from Me:
The same lips that said, “Then Jesus said, “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.” Luke 23:34
Will one day say to some people, “Depart from Me for I never knew you!
The same lips that said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” Matt. 11:28
Will one day say to some people, “Depart from Me for I never knew you!
The same lips that said, “But Jesus said, “Let the little children come to Me, and do not forbid them; for of such is the kingdom of heaven.” Matt. 19:14
Will one day say to some people, “Depart from Me for I never knew you!
The One who spoke the world into existence!
Will one day say to ones He created, “Depart from Me for I never knew you!
HAVE YOU PREPARED, WHERE YOU WILL SPEND ETERNITY?
One day, a king died. His servants spread the unbelievable news all over the palace. He had died in his bed of natural causes.
“Where has he gone?” asked one of the king’s wisest counselors
“Why, to Heaven of course!” answered all the others.
“No”, said the other gravely, “I served this king for many years and traveled with him to many places. He loved to travel and would go over the details of each journey. Every element was planned and anticipated. But I have never heard him say a word about traveling to Heaven. It is a journey for which I saw him make no preparation. I am quite sure he did not go to Heaven.”
