Thursday, June 1, 2006
My wife and I were out for a Sunday afternoon drive and we saw a very strange contradiction. It was this church, and there were long stairs leading up to the entrance and one lone lady at the door. She was trying every door to get into that church, and they were all locked. She looked very frustrated. Now what was the contradiction? It was the name on the church, "Our Lady of Perpetual Help." Well, my wife said, "You know, this reminds me of a scene I saw when I was in Haiti." She said, "I was right near a church, and there was this very gaunt woman, probably almost starving to death and weeping at the door of this church. She looked like she was desperate to get in and every door was locked." That lady was literally beating her fists bloody on the door and there was no response.
I'm Ron Hutchcraft and I want to have A Word With You today about "Pounding On a Locked Door."
Our word for today from the Word of God is one of the most unsettling passages in the Bible, I think. It's in Luke 13, beginning with verse 23. Listen to these words. Someone asked Jesus, "'Are only a few people going to be saved?' He said to them, 'Make every effort to enter through the narrow door, because many, I tell you, will try to enter and will not be able to. Once the owner of the house gets up and closes the door, you will stand outside knocking and pleading, 'Sir, open the door for us.' But He will answer, 'I don't know you or where you come from.' Then you will say, 'We ate and drank with you, and you taught in our streets.' But He will reply, 'I don't know you or where you come from. Away from Me, all you evil doers!' There will be weeping, and gnashing of teeth, there when you see Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets in the Kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out." Boy, this is said at the door of eternity. People are trying to get into heaven, expecting to get into heaven, but it says many will not be able to. Jesus will say, "I don't know you." They'll end up weeping and being thrown out.
This is about real people locked out of heaven, people like our neighbors, our coworkers, like you and me. They're surprised; people who have been around Jesus a lot, know a lot about Him, but somehow they missed a personal relationship with the Savior.
In the crunch and demands of our lives, it's easy to neglect eternity, to postpone God, to mistake having Jesus in your head for having Him in your heart. But each of us has a non-cancelable, non-postponeable appointment with our Creator. "It is appointed to man once to die," the Bible says, "and after this the judgment." And in that instant, when God decides we have taken our last breath, our heart has beaten for the last time, only one thing will matter. Not our religion, not our title, not our net worth, or our fitness, or our references, not even our Christian activity. One issue, "What did you do with My Son, Jesus?"
This is a picture of the greatest eternal tragedy of all - being locked out of heaven. God doesn't want it that way. He did all that He could to remove the sin that will keep people out of heaven. When Jesus was dying on the cross, He said, "Why have you forsaken Me, God?" Well, why would God, the Father, turn His back on His one and only Son? Because He was carrying all the guilt and all the hell of my sin and your sin. Your sin has been paid for. You don't have to pay for it, but you do have to take this eternal gift that was purchased with the blood of God's Son. You have to surrender the self-running of your life and tell God you're putting all your trust in Jesus. The wall will come down, and the gate of heaven will be wide open for you.
You have nothing more important or more urgent to do than to be sure that you've settled things with Jesus. This could be that day, and if you would like to open your heart to Him and say, "Jesus, I'm Yours." I would love to be able to help you know how to begin that relationship with Him and be sure you belong to Him. In fact, our website is set up to do just that. Would you visit us there? It's yoursforlife.net. I'd be glad to send you Yours For Life in printed form if you'll just call us at 877-741-1200.
Jesus said there would be many, who like that lady we saw at the church, will be pounding on the door of heaven, desperately trying to get in. It will be too late then. It isn't too late today. Won't you open your heart to Jesus now?