The Right Choice
Mat 7:13-14,6:24,7:24-27,25:32-33,46,27:44, Luke 23:39-43, Duet 30:19
February 16,2003
I. Edwin Thomas was a master actor during the last part of the 1800s. He wasn’t a big man but he had a big voice, and there were none that were better .
A. He played Richard II at the age of fifteen, and he was quickly seen as a superior Shakespearean actor.
B. He played New York and then London and was a hit in both places and his career was on its way, but something happened.
C. It wasn’t something that he chose or that he was responsible for, or even anything that he could control.
D. Edwin had two brothers who were both actors too, but neither one had the success that he did.
E. He and his two brothers performed Julius Caesar together and the fact that his brother John played the role of Brutus who killed the emperor seemed kind of eerie shortly after.
F. In April of 1865 Edwin’s brother John slipped into the Ford Theater and assassinated Abraham Lincoln, You see Edwin’s last name was Booth. His brother was John Wilkes Booth
G. After the night that his brother killed the president of the United States Edwin was never really the same. His shame over what his brother had done forced him to retire.
H. He might have never acted again if he had not been forced into a strange twist of fate at a train station in New Jersey.
I. As Edwin was waiting for his train a young man fell from the platform and landed between the platform and a moving train.
J. Edwin without a thought hooked his leg around a rail and pulled this well dressed young man to safety.
K. Although Edwin didn’t recognize the young man that he had saved, the young man recognized him.
L. Weeks later Edwin got a letter that he carried in his pocket until the day he died. The letter was from General Adams Budeau, who was the chief secretary of General Ulysses S. Grant.
M. The letter was to thank Edwin for saving the life of the son of Abraham Lincoln
N. Robert Todd Lincoln the son of Abraham Lincoln was the young man that Edwin had saved. Edwin’s choice to act changed his life.
O. Its kind a strange though that Edwin and John had the same parents and the same profession, and the same passion for acting, but one chose life and the other chose death.
P. There is no way that we can know how it happened but their story is not unique, it has been repeated over and over again through out history .
II. Cain and Abel were both sons of Adam and Eve, but Abel chose God and Cain chose murder and, God let him.
A. Abraham and Lot were foreigners in Cannan, and for you people my age that doesn’t mean that they were in a band. But Abraham chose God and Lot chose Sodom, and God let him..
B. David and Saul were both Kings in Israel and David chose God and Saul chose power and, God let him.
C. Peter and Judas both betrayed Jesus and Peter chooses forgiveness and mercy and Judas chose suicide and God let him.
D. In world history and in the bible there is one thing that has always been true and evident. God lets us make our choices.
E. And no one has ever said it clearer than Jesus.
(Mat 7: 13-14 NIV) " Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the
road that leads" to destruction, and many enter through it But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it
1. A narrow gate or a wide gate.
2. A narrow road or a wide road
3. Going with the big crowd or going with the small crowd.
F. The choice is ours, and God gives us the freedom to make it!
(Mat 6:24 NIV) "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money.
1. Serve God or riches the choice is plain
(Mat 7:24-27 NIV) "Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house,. yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash. "
2. Build on the rock or sand the choice is yours.
(Mat 25:32-33 NIV) All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate the people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats He will put the sheep on his right and the goats on his left.
3. Make your choice with the sheep or the goats, neither one will smell good but the location of one is much better than the other, but it is our choice and we have been given the right to make it.
G. God gives us the right to make choices that make the difference in eternity.
(Mat 25:46 NIV) "Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life."
H. We have been given the right by God to make eternal choices that have eternal consequences.
III. Last week I talked about one of the thieves on the Cross. Have you ever wondered why there were two crosses by Jesus’? Why not more?
1. Have you ever wondered why Jesus ended up in the middle? Why wasn’t he all the way to the right or the left?
2. Maybe it was another one of God’s signs. Maybe the two Crosses on either side of the savior represented the greatest gift that God has ever given to mankind. The right to choose where we will spend eternity .
A. Just like the other people that we have talked about, these two criminals have a lot in common.
1. They were convicted by the same legal system.
2. The were both condemned to die the same death.
3. They were at the mercy of the same crowd.
4. They were both as close to Jesus as the other.
5. And they both began by hurling insults at Jesus.
(Mat 27:44 NIV) In the same way the robbers who were crucified with him also heaped insults on him.
B. But one of them changed.
(Luke 23:39-43 NIV) One of the criminals who hung there hurled insults at him: "Aren’t you the Christ? Save yourself and us!" But the other criminal rebuked him. "Don’t you fear
God, " he said, "since you are under the same sentence? We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve. But this man has done nothing wrong. " Then he said,
" Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom. " Jesus answered him, " I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise. "
C. There have been a lot of sermons preached about the thief that chose to choose Jesus, but we forget the one who didn’t most of the time.
1. I mean did God make him not choose Jesus? Why didn’t Jesus say "hey buddy you are about to go to Hell You better change you mind about that one."
2. I mean aren’t there stories about the shepherd leaving the ninety-nine sheep and going to look for the one lost one?
3. And the story about the woman who sweeps the house to look for the one lost coin?
4. Yea there are. But, what about the story of the Prodigal son? What did the father of the son do? Nothing!
D. So what’s the difference? The sheep was lost innocently, it just wondered off .
1. And the coin was lost accidentally or irresponsibly.
2. But, The son made a conscious choice!
E. The father in the story of the Prodigal son gave the son a choice, and Jesus gave the thieves on the Crosses the same choice too.
F. There are times when God sends things into our lives to get our attention, and there is never a time that we are to say they are getting what they deserve and not try to introduce them to Jesus. The bible says just the opposite.
G. But, one things is true and always will be, God gives us the right to choose where we spend eternity and he honors our choices.
IV. And you know what, it is a great honor.
A. There are a lot of things about our lives that we are not allowed to choose.
B. I have always wanted to be taller. I am the only boy in my family that is not at least about 6’2" or 6"3". I wasn’t allowed to choose how tall I was.
C. We aren’t allowed to choose whether we are born male or female, and we are not allowed to choose our brothers and sisters. or where we are born.
D. We are not allowed to choose whether we are born rich or poor, and at times it makes us mad. Why can’t we choose our height, or if we can sing or not, or run fast or not, or be strong or not. IT NOT F AIR!
E. But, it is definitely made up for in one thing, and that is that we are allowed to make the most important decision in life. Whether we go to heaven or to hell.
F. We were given the right to decide where we will spend forever. We were created in a way that we get to make the most important choice that we will ever make.
G. Aren’t you glad that its that way? Now, let me ask you a question, would you have wanted it the other way?
H. Would you have wanted God to allow you to choose your height, and weight, and strength, and how fast you could run, and what color you hair was, and if you would be rich or poor and then decided if you would spend eternity in heaven or hell based on a lottery system without giving you a choice?
I. You see these things that we were not allowed to choose and these things that we yell about not being fair, are temporary, but the choice that we are given the right to make, lasts forever!
J. I tend to think that we get to make the most important choice!
K. And you know what, we get to make the one choice right that can remove the consequences of all the wrong choices that we have ever made.
V. What about the thief on the cross? Let’s look at him again for a minute.
A. He made some bad mistakes. He chose the wrong crowd, and the wrong morals, and the wrong behavior but in the end he made one good choice, and it changed all the bad ones that he had ever made.
B. We have all made some bad choices in life, know I have.
C. And, I know that like most people you have looked back on those choices that you wish you hadn’t made, and thought if only I could make up for those bad choices.
D. You can. One good choice that makes the difference in eternity, makes all the difference in ten thousand bad choices made about things here on Earth.
E. How can two boys be born to the same mother and grow up in the same home and family, and one choose life and the other choose death? I don’t know but I know that it happens everyday.
F. How can two men see the same Jesus, and one choose to mock him and one choose to pray to him? I don’t know but they did.
G. And I know that when one chose to pray to him that Jesus loved him enough to save him, and when the other chose to reject him Jesus loved him enough to let him.
H. He allowed him the choice, and he allows you the same choice too.
I. I hope that you make your choice well because eternity rests on it.
Deu 30: 19 NIV) This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life....
J. And, remember that it is never too late. Edwin Booth made a good choice and it changed the rest of his life.
K. You have the same ability, but don’t wait too long, because none of us know how long we will have the chance to make the right choice.
