Why Men Miss Heaven

Now, if you will, open your Bibles
to the book of Job, chapter 14. We know by experience that death
comes to all men. Also we know that man's days
are determined by God who gave him life. If you look at chapter
14, verse 5, God says, Man's days are determined. The number of his months are
with thee. Thou hast appointed his bounds
that he cannot pass. God said, I kill, I make alive. So death comes to all men. It's
appointed unto men once to die. Life, at its longest, is their
brief. And each one of us has a determined
number of months, a set number of months, set by God, by His
sovereignty, by His purpose, by His plan. Then we're going
to die. We cannot pass beyond that set
time. Now, if a man die, shall he live
again? That's what Job asked in verse
14. We're going to die. The time
is set. It's appointed. It's determined.
Now if I die, will I live again? He says in verse 7, there's hope
of a tree. If a tree's cut down, there's
hope that it will sprout again. A little moisture, a little rain,
a little water, and it buds and brings forth. But what about
man? If a man dies, shall he live
again? Man, his body dies, Job says
in verse 10, and wasteth away. We put it in the ground. There
are men who have been buried hundreds and hundreds and hundreds
of years, and we see no evidence of their coming back again. But God's Word says that death
is not the end. Let me read you several verses
of Scripture. Solomon wrote in Ecclesiastes
12, verse 7, the dust returns to the dust as it was, but the
Spirit unto God who gave it. Our Lord said in John 14, 1 through
3, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also
in me. In my Father's house are many
mansions. If it were not so, I would have
told you. I go to prepare a place for you,
and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will return again
and receive you unto myself. I will come back for you, that
where I may am, there you may be also. Our Lord said in John
11, 25, I am the resurrection and the life. He that believeth
on me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. 2 Corinthians
5, 1, Paul wrote, for we know that if our earthly house of
this tabernacle, this tent, were dissolved, we have a building,
a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. And John
wrote in Revelation 20, and the sea will give up the dead which
are in it, and death and hell shall deliver up the dead which
are in them, and every man shall give an account of himself unto
God. So the word of God says death
is not the end. That there is a resurrection.
That there is a resurrection. There is life after death. Then
men for ages have sung of heaven when I can read my title clear. To mansions in the sky I'll bid
farewell to every tear and wipe my weeping eye. There is a land
that is fairer than day, and by faith we can see it afar,
for the Father waits over the way to prepare us a dwelling
place there." Now, if death is so certain, and there's no question
about it, if eternity is so long, and the Word of God tells us
that it is, If heaven is so certain and so blessed, and that's what
the Scripture proclaims, if hell and separation from God is so
terrible, and it is, then I'm asking this morning, why do men
miss heaven? If a man dies, shall he live
again? Yes. He will live in heaven or he
will live separated from God in eternal condemnation, then
why do men miss heaven? Why do men miss heaven? I think
I can give you seven reasons, and I want you, if you care to
study this later, I think it's a very important subject. I don't
think we could have a more important subject. I think these answers
that I shall give to you are answers that God has by his word
given to me, not by some special announcement, but these are the
answers that I believe the word of God teaches. And I want you
to consider them. There are seven reasons, I believe,
why men miss heaven. The first of which is this. Men
miss heaven because they love this present world and cannot
part with it. They loved this present world.
Paul said, Demas hath forsaken me. Demas was a close friend
of Paul. In 2 Timothy 14, Demas loved
Paul, I believe. Paul loved Demas. Paul wrote
an epistle and mentioned Demas' faithfulness and companionship.
Demas heard something about Christ in the gospel for a while. He
walked with Paul and those who believed. He gave evidence of
being converted. He gave evidence of being a child
of God. But then Paul wrote in 2 Timothy
4.10, Demas hath left me, he's forsaken me. Why, Paul? Because he loved this present
world. In John 3.19, our Lord said,
this is condemnation, this is it. Light is coming to this world,
there's no question about that. Christ is that light that lighteth
every man. He's that light of whom John
spoke, of whom he prophesied. He's that light of whom the whole
Word of God is written. But this is the condemnation,
this is the judgment, this is the problem. Light is coming
to this world, but men love darkness rather than light. because their
deeds are evil. They love darkness. They love
this world. I want you to look at Matthew
14 with me. Now let's look at a few examples.
In Matthew 14, John the Baptist came preaching. There was a ruler
by the name of Herod. Herod admired John, appreciated
his message. He did many things, the scripture
said. He sought to defend John. But
John condemned his relationship with his brother Philip's wife. Herod had stolen his brother
Philip's wife. He had left his wife and married
Philip's wife. And John said to him, it wasn't
lawful. It wasn't in God's will. He could
not have God and have Herodias. That's what John told him. Herod,
Matthew 14, 3, Herod had laid hold on John and bound him and
put him in prison for Herodias' sake, that's the woman's name,
his brother Philip's wife, for John had said to him, it's not
lawful for you to have her. You've got to choose between
God and Herodias, you can't have both of them. So Herod chose
Herodias. When those people stood before
Pilate, he said, you have a choice. Will you have Barabbas or Jesus?
They said, give us Barabbas. In Matthew 19, turn there if
you will, here's a rich young man who had some interest in
eternal life. He had an interest in heaven.
He'd like to have had it. So he comes to Christ and asks
him, what shall he do that he might inherit eternal life, that
he might go to heaven? And Christ said in verse 21,
Matthew 19, if you would be perfect, go and sell what you have and
give it to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven,
and you come follow me. But when the young man heard
that saying, he went away sorrowful. He had great possessions. He
loved those possessions more than he loved God, more than
he loved Christ, more than he loved eternal life. He wanted
eternal life. He wanted God. He wanted heaven.
But no man can serve two masters. You cannot serve God and mammon,
and mammon is nothing in the world but riches, material things,
material possessions, this present world. And then in John 12, turn
over there, in the twelfth chapter of John. Now there's more to
this present world than just what we eat and what we drink
and what we wear. There's the praise and honor
of this world. In John chapter 12, verse 42,
the approval of this world. In John 12, 42. Nevertheless,
among the chief rulers also many believed on him. They were interested
also in eternal life. Nicodemus was interested in eternal
life. He came to the master and talked
to him about heaven. And these chief rulers believed
on him. But what's the next line? But
because of the Pharisees, they didn't confess him, lest they
should be put out of the synagogue, for they loved the praise of
men." Now watch this four-letter word here, more than the praise
of God. It doesn't say they weren't interested
in the praise of God, they weren't interested in the benefits of
God. It doesn't say they weren't interested in the blessings of
God. It doesn't say they weren't interested in heaven. They loved
the praise of men more than they loved the praise of God. Plenty
of men are confronted with the person of Christ and admire him. Plenty of men are confronted
with the claims of Christ and delude them. But they refuse them because
of attachment to this world. They also love this world. And it so happens that they love
this world more than they love Christ. Like Esau. Esau was interested in having
the birthright and the bowl of beans. But he couldn't have both. So he was forced to choose between
the two. Future joy and future glory are
present comfort. And he chose present comfort.
And the scripture says, choosing present comfort and the present
world. He showed he despised the birthright. Now people who love Christ, who
believe on Christ, who are redeemed by Christ, all who will be honest
and deal honestly with us, They admit they love comfort, they
love ease, they love honor, success, fame, they love family, they
love flesh, but they love Christ more. They love Christ more. The scripture says, if any man
love not our Lord Jesus Christ, And our Lord identifies that
love and describes that love, he says, more than mother and
father, more than husband and wife, more than brother and sister,
more than your own life also. He cannot be my disciple. So
if any man love not our Lord Jesus Christ in that fashion,
let him be accursed when Jesus comes, anathema. Lord, lead me
to seek Thee, and loving Thee, Loving thee more than this present
world, and loving thee to find thee, finding thee to trust thee,
trusting thee to rest in thee, resting in thee to find my delight
in thee. When our Lord sat on the well
and sent his disciples into town to get some food, he was weary
with the journey, and he sat on the well, and they went to
town to get some food. While they were gone, he talked
to the woman there at the well, The disciples came back and they
gave him the food and he said, I don't want any. They said,
has somebody fed you? He said, I have meat to eat of. I have meat to eat that you know
not of. I have a joy that you know not
of. I have a rest that you know not of. I have a comfort of which
you know nothing. And that's what I'm talking about.
Men miss heaven. It's not that they're not interested
in it. It's not that they do not appreciate the claims of
Christ, and even believe on the person of Christ, and believe
in future blessing, but they love this present world more. And they're more concerned with
it, they're more taken up with it, they're more excited about
it. And that's perfectly evident,
it's evident on every hand, it's evident as much in the church
as it is out there in the world. People in the church love the
world too. And they love it, I'm afraid,
many of them, more than they love Christ. And they find their
ease and their comfort and their rest in the things of this earth,
in the material things, and in the philosophical things, and
in the fame and the honor and the approval and the opinions
of this world. That's why men miss heaven. Not
that they don't believe it, not that they don't want it. It's
not that they couldn't appreciate it. But they have made a choice. They've chosen the bowl of beans.
At least it's handy. They walk by sight and not by
faith. They measure their success by what they have or what they
know or what they've gained or what they've accomplished, not
by who they know. And so few of us can say, I have
meat to eat that you don't know anything about. I have a joy
that you know nothing about. I don't have to be entertained.
I don't have to have the approval of this world. I have the approval
of Him whom the world does not know. And then secondly, turn
to 2 Corinthians 4. I'll tell you why I believe.
Men are missing heaven. They miss it, first of all, they
love this world. They don't want to be different.
They conform because they're afraid of this world. They love
the praises of this world. They love the ease and comfort
and attachments of this world. and know nothing of that one
which is to come." Abraham lived in tents, he looked for a city
whose builder and maker is God. His whole mind was on that, his
affection, his object, his goal was on that city. And then secondly,
men miss heaven because Satan has blinded them. In 2 Corinthians
4 verse 3, if our gospel be hid, it's hid to them that are lost.
You can be lost in the church as well as lost on the street.
This is a loss of soul, in whom the God of this world hath blinded
their minds. That's where the blindness is,
the blindness of mind, of them which believe not, lest the light
of the glorious gospel of the gospel of God's glory, the gospel
of the glory of Christ, should shine unto them. The gospel of
redemption is actually, by Satan, hid because men are blind. Now, what are they blind to?
Well, first of all, men are blind to the nature of sin. They confine
sin only to outward acts. Christ said, You've heard it
said by them of old, I shall not kill, but I say unto you,
to hate is to be guilty already of murder. You've heard it said
by them of old times, I shall not commit adultery. I say unto
you to lust is to be guilty already. Men are blind to the nature of
sin. They have confined sin to the
outward act or the outward word or deed. And they forget that
sin is also an attitude. And then they compare themselves
with others. The Pharisee stood and prayed, Father, Lord God,
I thank you I'm not like other men. Why not like this publican? They confine sin not only to
outward acts, but then they compare themselves with others, and they're
blind to the real nature of sin. And then they're blind to the
holiness of God. Who shall stand in his presence?
Do you hope to stand in God's presence? Do I hope to stand
in God's presence? Who shall stand in his presence?
Well, the question answered in the Scripture, he that hath clean
hands and a pure heart According to Paul in Colossians, he that
is unreprovable and unrebukable, who shall stand in his presence?
He that hath no sin. We are blind to the holiness
of God, and the only way to have no sin is to be in Christ, is
to be purified by his blood, is to be cleansed by his sacrifice,
is to be presented by him. justified in God's presence,
in God's sight. Men are blind to the gospel of
God's grace. They're compelled to mix works
with grace. Turn to Romans 3. Look at this,
Romans 3, verse 23 and 24. For all have sinned and come
short of the glory of God. being justified freely by his
grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. Not
of works, not of morality, not of ceremony,
not of deeds of the law or obedience to standards and rules, but freely
by the grace of God through the redemption that is in Christ
Jesus, being a blind to the sufficiency of Christ. Scripture says we're
complete in him. Lord, open my eyes, let me see
the true nature of sin, that I may be able with the Apostle
Paul to say, O wretched man that I am, that I may be able to say
with Isaiah, my righteousness is our filthy rags, that I may
be able to say with the Apostle Peter, I am a sinful man. Open my eyes to thy holiness,
let me see that I cannot stand in thy presence except as I stand
in Christ, except as I am washed in the blood of Christ, except
as I am justified by the sacrifice of Christ. Lord, teach me that
in my hands no price I can bring, simply to the cross of Christ
I must cling, that could my tears forever flow, genuine tears. Could my zeal and enthusiasm
know respite? No. These for sin could never
atone. It's Christ that saves and Christ
alone. Open my eyes to the sufficiency
of Christ, to the total completeness of every believer in Jesus Christ
and in Christ alone, whether he's saved an hour this short
of heaven or ten years or forty years. But our sufficiency in
every year is Christ's. But men are blind to that. They're
going to make themselves acceptable before God by their own deeds. And consequently, they miss the
sacrifice of Christ. And missing Him, they miss heaven.
All right, here's the third reason. Turn to Proverbs chapter 1. This
is true. Men miss heaven because, first
of all, they love this world. They love the things of this
earth. They miss heaven because they're blind to the way of heaven.
Christ said, I'm the way. Satan has blinded them. All right. Thirdly, men miss heaven because
they refuse God's counsel and God's call. They refuse God's
counsel, God's wisdom. The preaching of the cross to
them that perish is what? Foolish. To us who are being
saved, it's the power of God, the wisdom of God. Men refused
God's counsel. He said in Proverbs 1, 24, listen,
I have called and you refused. I stretched out my hand, no man
regarded. You said it not my counsel, you
would not have my reproof. What is God's counsel? He says,
all have sinned and come short of my glory. And we say, we be
not sinners, we be not like this publican, we be not guilty. What does God say? Kiss the sun,
honor the sun. And we say, we'll not have this
man reign over us. What does God say? Behold your
king. What did the crowd reply? We
have no king but Caesar. What does God say? Christ is
the door. By him, if any man enter in,
he shall have life. He shall be saved. Go in and
out and find pasture. We say the church is the door.
Baptism is the door. Good works is the door. You have
refused my counsel. You said it not my counsel. I
called you. God calls by the law. He calls
by providence. He calls by nature. He calls
by conscience. He calls by the gospel. He calls
me into repentance. He calls me into faith. He says,
come to me. I'll give you rest. You will
not come that you might have life. I stretched out my hand.
In mercy, in grace, in pardon, I stretched out my hand. And
no man regarded. They turned and walked away.
One said, Lord, I've married a wife. I'll come later. I stretched out my hand. Another
said, well, I've got some land over here. I've got to go look
at it. Another one said, I've got to go bury my father another
time. When I have a more convenient
season, I'll come to you. I stretched out my hand. No man
regarded. You said it not, my counsel.
You would not listen to my reproof. I stretched out my hand. You
wouldn't regard it. I call, and you have refused."
All right, look at verse 26, "'Now then, I'll laugh at your
calamity some day. When your fear comes, I'll mock.'"
Verse 28, "'Then you shall call on me, and I will not answer,
as when I called on you, you didn't answer.'" me. You'll not find me as I sought
your obedience and you gave it not. Men miss heaven because
they refuse God's counsel, they refuse God's word. Just as a
lady said last week, don't preach to me, and that's the opinion
of this world, don't preach to me, or we won't preach to you.
Brother Ralph Barnard was holding a tent meeting one time up in
the northern part of our country. And he said he finished preaching
one night. He was under a big tent and a big crowd of people
there, and he finished preaching one night. And there was a young
lady sitting down on the second or third row, and he noticed
she was visibly moved and concerned. She was weeping. And he said
the congregation was singing the parting, closing hymn, and
he couldn't help but look at that young woman. She was crying,
sobbing. And he said, so he just walked
off the platform and walked down the steps and out this way. He
said, I didn't do this rarely ever, but somehow I felt constrained
to go and speak to that young woman. She looked so concerned,
so troubled, and said, I went out there and I walked up beside
her and I put my arm under her arm and I said, can I help you?
And he said, she turned and looked at me And her eyes sparked with
fire and hatred, and she said, for Christ's sake, you leave
me alone. He said, I backed off, and I
said, all right, ma'am. For Christ's sake, I'll do anything.
And for Christ's sake, I'll leave you alone. And he said that young
woman died in an automobile accident in the next two or three days
and went out in eternity to meet the Christ, for whose sake she
told the preacher to leave her alone. You refuse my counsel. God warns men. Men don't dial
and warn. God warns men by providence.
He warns them by conscience. He warns them in many ways. He
warns them through a preacher, a preacher they may not care
for. But God warns men. He said, I have called, I have
stretched out my hand. And for one reason or other,
you've refused it. For Christ's sake, leave me alone.
We will, for Christ's sake, leave you alone. And God will, for
Christ's sake, leave you alone. And God will, for Christ's sake,
never speak to you again. All right? The fourth reason
why men miss heaven In Deuteronomy 29, this is an interesting scripture,
I'd like for you to look at it. Deuteronomy 29, men miss heaven
forthly because they have a false view of God's mercy. A false
view of God's mercy. Now my friend, this is a pit
into which most people fall. They picture God in their minds,
they picture God as a loving God, as a merciful God, and He
is. He is love. He is mercy. He's
plenteous in mercy. He delights to show mercy, the
Word of God says. But they picture God forgiving
sin by simply putting it aside, by simply forgetting it. They
picture God putting away sin by simply overlooking it. But
that's not the way God puts away sin. God Almighty not only will punish
sin, He must punish sin. If He's going to be a righteous,
holy God, He must punish sin. Every transgression must receive
a just, recompensive reward. God cannot forgive sin without
it being paid for, without a sacrifice. His mercy must be in accord with
His justice. And if Christ has not died for
our sins and paid for our sins, we are fools to even hope for
forgiveness of our sins. Now, that's right. Look at Deuteronomy
chapter 29, verse 9. And it come to pass when he heareth
the words of this curse. Now, what is the curse? Cursed
is everyone that continueth not in all things written in the
book of the law to do them. Christ hath redeemed us from
this curse being made a curse for us. You see that? It's the curse of the law, the
judgment of law, the judgment of God against sin. That's the
curse. God will punish sin. The soul that sinneth, it will
die. Be sure your sins shall find you out. Then when it's
finished, bring it forth death. God said, I will in no wise clear
the guilty. That's the curse, the curse of
sin. Now when he hears this curse, listen. He blesses himself in
his heart and says, I shall have peace though I walk in the imagination
of my own heart. I still have peace. I shall have
peace though I walk in the imagination of my own heart. I shall have
peace. There's a way that seemeth right
unto me, and in this way I shall have peace. I just believe if
a man does the best he can that God will accept it. That's the
imagination of my heart, and I have peace. I believe if a
man goes to church on Sunday, pays his debts, lives a halfway
decent, respectable moral life, that he'll be all right. That's
the imagination of my heart. I just believe that if a fellow
reads the Bible and prays once in a while and gives a little
bit to charity, it'll be all right. That's the imagination
of my heart. Though I walk in the imagination
of my heart, I'm going to have peace. All right. The Lord will
not spare him. The anger of the Lord and the
jealousy of God shall smoke against that man, and all the curses
that are written in this book shall lie upon that man, and
the Lord shall blot out his name from under heaven. You don't
have peace by walking in the imagination of your own heart.
You have peace by walking in the Word of God. What does the
Word of God say? The Word of God tells us that
We are redeemed not with corruptible things, but with the precious
blood of Christ. The Word of God tells us He was
wounded for our transgressions, and by His stripes we're healed.
The Word of God tells us, not by works of righteousness which
we have done, but according to his mercy hath he saved us. The Word of God tells us, the
blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth us from all sin, and only in
that blood can you have peace. He made peace for us in his cross. That's where the peace is. You have a false view of
God's mercy. and a false view of God's grace
and a false view of God's love, you're going to miss the way.
You're going to walk in the imagination of your own heart, and God says
you'll perish. Look at Psalms 85. Psalms 85,
verse 10. This is an important scripture
here. An important scripture. Now, God is love, but God is
just. God is mercy, but God is righteous. And you can't have God's mercy
apart from God's righteousness. You cannot have God's love apart
from God's truth. And he says, I'll punish sin. Alright, look at Psalms 85, 10.
Mercy and truth are met together. That's where I want to be, where
mercy and truth met together. Where God's mercy was shown and
where God's truth was shown. Look at the next line. Righteousness
and peace have kissed each other. Oh, where is that? That's where
the sinner will find hope, where God's peace met God's righteousness,
and they were both satisfied, for they both kissed each other.
Where God's love met God's justice, and they met together in harmony. Where God's grace met God's truth,
and they met together in peace. Where was that? On Golgotha's
hill, on Calvary's cross, where Jesus Christ, God's Son, satisfied
His righteousness, satisfied His justice, and paid for our
sins that God might be just and justify this old sinner. That
God might be holy and show His love met at the cross. Now you
can say I'm fanatical and radical and just say anything you want
to. But my gospel satisfies God's attributes. And your gospel doesn't,
if it's the gospel of works, or it's the gospel of church
membership, or it's the gospel of morality, or the gospel of
something else. My gospel, and I call it mine
because God saved me by it, because God revealed it to me, and because
Paul called it his. It satisfies mercy and justice. And that's the only way God can
pardon you, and you'll go to hell with a false view of God's
mercy. Well, God's a loving God. He
sure is. You're right, my friend. Oh,
I thank God for it. But something you're missing.
He's a just God, too. Now, I believe God will show
mercy. You're dead right He will. He sure will. Anything this side
of hell is mercy. The fact that you're not in hell
right now is mercy. That proves God's merciful. The
fact that you eat the bread God gives you and never thank Him,
the fact that you breathe the air God gives you and you curse
Him, the fact that you walk on the legs God gave you when you
could be paralyzed from your neck down and never thank Him,
that's mercy. But I'll tell you this, He's
not only a God of mercy, He's a God of righteousness. And he's
going to deal with your sins. And if they're not dealt with
at Calvary in the person of his son, he'll deal with them at
the judgment. And you'll be judged according to the things written
in the book. According to the things written in the book. And
the book is not wrong. It records every secret thought,
every idle word, every evil imagination, every dream you ever had. And
it records your association with Adam in the garden. And it records
your companionship with those who nail Christ to the cross.
In the fifth place, hurriedly, men miss heaven in the fifth
place because they lean on their own righteousness. In Romans
10, Paul tells us this, Romans 10, brethren, my heart's desire
and prayer to God for Israel is that they might be saved.
I bear them record they have a zeal of God. They're not ignorant
of God. They're ignorant of God's righteousness. It's not according
to knowledge. They're being ignorant of what?
God's righteousness! They're going about to establish
their own righteousness. It was said in the old days,
if there are two men in heaven, one of them will be a Pharisee,
one of them will be a Sadducee. But Christ our Lord said, except
your righteousness exceed theirs, you won't enter the kingdom of
God. In the flesh dwelleth no good thing. In the flesh no man
can please God. We need a righteousness the flesh
can't produce. We need a holiness the flesh
knows nothing about. Our righteousnesses are filthy
rags. That's the reason Paul, the greatest
of men, cried, O that I may win Christ and be found in him, not
having mine own righteousness. But the righteousness of God
which is by faith through Jesus Christ my Lord. Men are trusting
their own righteousness, they're leaning on their own righteousness,
they're building a righteousness of their own, a holiness, a godliness
they hope will be pleasing to God, but it won't. We've got
to be found in Him, oh that I may know Him and the power of His
resurrected life. I am sick to death, and I know
most of you are, of present-day religion. It reeks with hypocrisy
and a false piety and a corruption that is found in no other profession. Oh, that I may know Christ and
the power of His genuine resurrected life, a life of truth and honesty
and righteousness and love and godliness. and not a show, an
outward veneer of nothing. All right, the sixth reason why
men miss heaven, turn to Isaiah 28. Isaiah 28, men miss heaven
in the sixth place because they establish a false refuge. In Isaiah 28, verse 15, because
you said, Isaiah 28, 15, you said, we have made a covenant
with death, With hell are we at agreement. When the overflowing
scourge, the wrath of God, shall come through, it won't come unto
us. We have made lies our refuge. Under falsehood have we hid ourselves. We've got a hiding place. Are
you a Christian? Yeah, I'm a Christian. You go
into heaven when you die? I'm going to heaven when I die.
I saw a television preacher this morning. He said, everybody here
that knows your Savior, And if you died right now, you'd wake
up in heaven and you're sure of it and positive of it, raise
your hand. Practically everybody in that
huge, vast congregation raised their hand. I wish I'd have had
the time to go to each of them and say, on what are you depending
for that hope? What are you trusting? What's
your refuge? What's your hiding place? What's
your foundation on what you're building? Well, my friend, good
works is a false refuge, but the deeds of the law shall no
flesh be justified. Church membership is a false
refuge. We have Abraham to our father,
and old experience is a false refuge. We are being saved. We are being conformed to his
image. Our salvation is nearer now than
when we believed. Baptism is a false refuge, whether
it's administered to you as a child or as an adult. It will not justify
you. Christ is our refuge. I wonder
how many of those people that raised their hands so quickly,
if you said to them, asking a reason, asking an answer for the reason
of their hope, how many of them would have said, Christ is my
hope. Christ is my hope. Christ is
my Redeemer. Christ is my Lord. Christ is
my Master. Christ is my Savior. Christ is
my refuge. My hope is built on nothing less
than Jesus' blood and His righteousness. I dare not trust the sweetest
frame, but I wholly lean on Jesus' name. Dear dying lamb, thy precious
blood shall never lose its power till all the ransomed church
of God be saved to sin no more. Christ is my hope. What's your
refuge? What's your refuge? Well, preacher, back yonder years
ago I joined the church, I made a profession, I hope it's all
right, that's a pretty sorry refuge. Whatever your confession is now
will be your confession at the judgment. When you stand before
God and the books are open, what are you going to say? The scripture
says they shall be speechless. except those who are able to
say this, unto him who loved us and washed us from our sins
in his own precious blood, be praise and glory unto him forever.
Those are the ones who will speak. If you can't say that now, will
you be able to say it then? And then in the seventh place,
and I close with this, turn to John 3. Men miss heaven because because they're filled with unbelief.
Unbelief. John 3.36 says, He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life. And he that believeth not the
Son shall not see life. In Hebrews 3.19 talked about
those Israelites who did not enter the promised land. It says
they could not enter in because of unbelief. Unbelief. What happened in the garden?
As by one man sin entered the world, death by sin, so death
passed upon all men for all sin. You believe that? What happened
back yonder before the councils of eternity, in the councils
of eternity before the foundations of this world? God gave his son
a people. He determined to save a people.
Old Brother Barnard said, God loved his son so much, he wanted
the whole house full just like him. So he determined to save
some of Adam's fallen race. Do you believe that? In the fullness
of time, God sent forth his son, made of a woman, made under the
law to redeem those born under the law, that we might in Christ
have the righteousness of God. Do you believe that? In the fullness
of time he went yonder to Calvary's cross and bearing our sins in
his body on that cruel tree, satisfied God's justice and died
that we might live. You believe that? He was buried,
he rose again, he ascended to the right hand of God where he
ever liveth to make intercession for us. You believe that? From
whence he will come again. and reign forever, and those
that trust Him and believe on Him will reign with Him, and
He's worth more than this whole world can give. Ten thousand
worlds just like it. If I gained the whole world and
lost my soul, what would I gain? Nothing. You believe that? You believe that? Lord, I'm going
to say with that old centurion of whom Christ said, Great is
thy faith, Lord, I do believe. help my unbelief. God give me
faith, increase my faith. Let me turn my eyes on Christ
and look full into his wonderful face and then the things of this
world will grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and
grace. You can't fall in love with a myth, only with a person.
You can't be devoted and consecrated to an idea only to a person. You can't cast your life and
your hope and your future into the hands of a philosophy, only
a person. But when he becomes real, when
he becomes more real than these things, that's the reason he
said to Peter, you love me more than these things. When he becomes
real and precious, then he'll become most important. And when
you're able, with eyes of faith, to see that city, you'll quit
just talking

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