Close Is Not Enough

CLOSE IS NOT ENOUGH

INTRODUCTION

A. HUMOR: TEETH MARKS

1. A wedding was taking place. The bride’s maids came up the aisle one by one. The flower girl came spreading her flowers. Instead of a ringbearer, the couple opted for a toddler nephew to carry up a Bible, representing the basis of their marriage. Last, the bride reached the front and the wedding was performed. Afterward, someone handed the new wife the wedding Bible. She detected deep marks on its leather cover. On examination, she realized they were teeth marks left by the nervous toddler!

2. We’re all supposed to leave our teeth mark on the Bible – since it’s our daily bread. “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” [Daily Bread, 8-11-24]

B. THINGS THAT ARE CLOSE. Many things have to be exactly right; close is not good enough. If companies were only 99% right...

1. The IRS would lose 2 million documents this year.

2. 22,000 checks will be deducted from the wrong bank account every hour.

3. 1,314 telephone calls would be misdirected every minute.

4. 2,488 books will be shipped with the wrong covers on them each day.

5. More than 5.5 million cases of soft drinks would arrive at stores flat.

6. Over 3 million drug prescriptions would be incorrect.

7. 12 babies will be given to the wrong parents each day.

8. There are times when close is not good enough.

9.This is true of your salvation; you can’t take a chance of being wrong for eternity! You don’t want an imitation, replica, counterfeit, or duplicate. Only Jesus will get you into heaven.

10. Researcher George Barna has discovered that “half of all adults who attend Protestant churches on a typical Sunday morning are not Christians,” according to what Jesus said.

11. They’re as similar as horse shoes and hand grenades.

C. THESIS

1. Many Christians think that if they do SOME of what God wants then that entitles them to ignore other areas of obedience. They’d say, “Well I’m closer to being a Christian than 99.9 % of other Christians!” “I’m a SORT-OF CHRISTIAN.” Is that what Jesus described?

2. We’re looking at 3 people who were close to going to Heaven, but missed it. The title of this message is “Close Is Not Enough.”

I. THE EXAMPLE OF DEMAS

A. PAUL’S CHANGING ASSESSMENT

1. “And so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas and Luke, my fellow workers” Philemon 1:24. “Our dear friend Luke, the doctor, and Demas send greetings” Col. 4:14. “...for Demas, BECAUSE HE LOVED THIS WORLD, has forsaken me and has gone to Thessalonica” 2 Tim. 4:10.

2. All 3 three letters mention Paul’s 3 key friends: Luke, Demas, & Mark. All stuck with Paul during his first trial before Caesar and were friends, trusted and faithful!

3. But at Paul’s 2nd trial before Caesar, something snapped in Demas. Unlike Moses who “regarded [suffering] for the sake of Christ as of greater value than the treasures of Egypt” (Heb. 11:26), Demas decided he’d done enough; he put down his cross, and went back to the world! He sold his birthright for a bowl of beans, like Esau!

4. Paul said “having loved THIS PRESENT WORLD” as opposed to the future one. “Forsaken” is the same strong compound verb used in Matt. 27:26, “Why have you forsaken Me?”

5. Nothing more is known of Demas; this scripture is his grave marker, the final thing we remember about him! What a shame his good start ended in disgrace. His epitaph says, “He loved the world more than God.”

B. ILLUS. Boomerang of Ted Turner

1. Ted Turner, who founded CNN and was owner of the Atlanta Braves, said he was raised in a strict Christian home and at one time considered becoming a missionary. He said, "I was saved seven or eight times."

2. But he became disenchanted with Christianity after his sister died, despite his prayers. Turner said the more he strayed from his faith "the better I felt." [Spokesman-Review, May 1, 1990]. He became a hardened atheist and anti-Christian.

3. That changed in 1997. Turner came back to his roots; he said that he no longer considered himself an atheist or agnostic. "I regret anything I said about religion that was negative. [Christianity] is one of the bright spots as far as I'm concerned,” he told AP. He then donated $200 million to fight Malaria in Africa.*

4. If you’ve walked away from God, there’s still hope for you; God wants you to return to Him! NEXT IS...

II. LOT’S WIFE

Gen. 19: 16 When [Lot] hesitated, the [angels] grasped his hand and the hands of his wife and of his two daughters and led them safely out of the city, for the Lord was merciful to them. 17 [They] said, “Flee for your lives! Don’t look back!... 26 But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Luke 17:28 30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 32 Remember Lot’s wife!”