18 Inches to salvation!
7/16/02
Do you realize that most accidents that occur could be prevented by just a few inches? There are automobile accidents every day and many times you can see that the person was trying to avoid whatever had happened, and if there had just been a few more inches, the accident would have been avoided. A few more inches of pavement, a tree a few more inches away, a few more inches to get by that car. Just a few inches.
Hand gun accidents or hunting accidents could usually have been avoided by just a few inches.
I used to work with a man that for many years worked on a barge. He was in charge of keeping the engines running. He told me one day that one of the things that bothered barge workers most was when a man needed to make repairs underneath a barge. He said many times there would be many barges tied together and a man could go under the water at one point between two barges and then the water would move and a barge would shift and then the opening where the man went under the water, was no longer there. This man told me he had seen men drown because once they loose that opening, they panic. He said the water may be murky and with all the barges tied together a man may have to travel a long distance under water to get back to the surface.
I remember over the years hearing of stories of people who have fallen through the ice on a frozen pond or lake. At times when they fall through they move away from the opening and they struggle to get back to the surface. And many times, people loose their lives because they can not get back to safety.
It is unsettling to hear stories like this, and every time I hear something like this, one thing always comes to my mind,
These people were only inches away from safety.
Inches.
And yet they just could not get there.
Friends, did you know that there are thousands of people today that are only 18 inches away from safety?
There may be some here with us this morning.
There are thousands of people that have gone to hell because of this 18 inches of space.
There are thousands of people today that are 18 inches away from salvation.
There are thousands of people today that because of this 18 inches they are going to go to hell for all eternity.
What is the 18 inches of space?
Who are these people?
What can be done to close this gap and get to safety?
We will answer these questions and a few more in this mornings message.
First, I want you to take your Bibles and turn with me to the book of Luke.
I am going to be reading from the 23 chapter of Luke.
While you are turning there let me just set the mood a little bit.
Our savior Jesus Christ had had performed many miracles throughout his approximate three year ministry.
We can look at the example of Jesus Christ and see that a man does not have to have a long ministry to serve God’s purpose.
Jesus started his ministry at about the age of 30 and he was crucified at about the age of 33 so we know that he had an approximate three year ministry.
Now, I want you to picture in your mind and think with me while I discuss just a few highlights here.
We remember that Jesus had been praying in the Garden of Gethsemane. I want you to remember that Christ was 100 percent God but he was also 100 Percent man. This is something that is hard for us to comprehend but it is true.
The Bible tells us that he had sweat drops of blood that fell from his face as he prayed in the Garden.
Now, many people will tell you that this was a figure of speech, but I want you to know that this was an actual physical occurrence, drops of blood literally came from his face, the blood actually oozed out of the pores in the skin of our savior.
The medical term for this is “hemitidrosis” .
This can occur when a person is under severe stress and duress.
So this is an actual physical action.
Picture our savior in the Garden with drops of blood falling from his face while he prayed “Father, if it be possible let this cup pass from me, but not my will, but thine be done”
Picture in your minds with me----
The guards come, Judas betrays
Illegal night trials
Peter denying three times
Beatings,
Beard plucked out
Crown of thorns
Forced to carry his cross
Nailed to the cross on Golgotha
sign hung over his head, “The King of The Jews”
And picture the two men that were on each side of Jesus as he was crucified.
We always refer to these men as thieves, but as we will read here in a moment, the Bible calls these men Malefactors,
Now, the Greek word for this is “kakourgo”
It means, an evil doer.
Folks these were wicked men that were being crucified alongside of the only man that ever lived that had no sin.
Now, we are at the point of which I want to read in the word of God.
Luke chapter 23:39-43
Read Luke 23:39-43
Notice now that one of these men accepted Jesus Christ for who he was, and one of them did not.
They were both in the presence of Christ,
One man accepted Christ and went to heaven.
The other man rejected Christ, and went to hell.
These men were close enough to Jesus Christ that they could speak to him.
The man that went to hell may have only been,
Oh,
Say some 18 inches away from the savior of the world.
This man may have just been 18 inches away from salvation.
But this is not even the 18 inches of space I wanted to discuss this morning.
I have a friend who is a doctor.
He told me one time, and I will never forget this, that the average distance from the human brain to the human heart,
is 18 inches.
I called him this week just to verify the distance.
The average distance from the Human brain to the human heart, is 18 inches.
Friends, that 18 inches is going to send a lot of people to hell.
Because knowing of Jesus Christ, and accepting Jesus Christ into your heart as Lord of your life, is two different things.
Many people have known who he was and never accepted him.
Many people now know who he is, but have never accepted him into their heart.
In Matthew 7:21-23 Jesus himself said,
Matthew 7:21-23
21 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven. 22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
Now, I do not want to get side tracked here but I just want to make a point,
Many people would come and say the this shows that you can loose your salvation, well you can not loose your salvation and I will bring a sermon on that some day.
Jesus Christ does not say in this last verse,
“depart from me I knew you and then forgot you”
No,
He says depart from me, I never knew you.
He is talking to people that have never received salvation,
He is talking to people that have the knowledge of who he is, but they have never accepted him into their hearts.
18 inches from salvation.
The knowledge alone will not do any good at all.
James says in James 2:19
James 2:19
19 Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.
Mark 1:23-24 says,
Mark 1:23-24
23 And there was in their synagogue a man with an unclean spirit; and he cried out, 24 Saying, Let us alone; what have we to do with thee, thou Jesus of Nazareth? art thou come to destroy us? I know thee who thou art, the Holy One of God.
Mark 5:1-8 says,
Mark 5:1-8
And they came over unto the other side of the sea, into the country of the Gadarenes. 2 And when he was come out of the ship, immediately there met him out of the tombs a man with an unclean spirit, 3 Who had his dwelling among the tombs; and no man could bind him, no, not with chains: 4 Because that he had been often bound with fetters and chains, and the chains had been plucked asunder by him, and the fetters broken in pieces: neither could any man tame him. 5 And always, night and day, he was in the mountains, and in the tombs, crying, and cutting himself with stones. 6 But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshipped him, 7 And cried with a loud voice, and said, What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God? I adjure thee by God, that thou torment me not. 8 For he said unto him, Come out of the man, thou unclean spirit.
Now, I am not bringing a sermon this morning on demon positions, but the point I want to make is that even the demons of hell know who Jesus Christ is, and they are going to spend eternity in hell.
Knowing who Jesus Christ is is not enough friends.
I remember when I was growing up, I was always in Church. I learned all of the lessons about who Jesus Christ was and I even walked the isle at the Church.
I knew who Jesus was.
I believed that Jesus was the savior of the world, I did not believe the Bible was a fairy tale like so many do today.
But I shudder to think of the fact that if I had died before November of 1992, I would have spent eternity in hell.
Before November of 92 I was 18 inches away from salvation.
We all have heard over the years about scientists.
Their are many fine Christian scientists out there and I mentioned here recently that every time a scientist has ever set out to absolutely disprove the existence of God,
when they determine to put every ounce of their energy into it and find all the facts they can, they always find the truth, and they become Christians.
But it is disheartening to hear about most scientists.
I heard a survey one time and don’t quote me on this because I am not sure how accurate I am,
But I believe the survey showed that about 90 percent of all scientists are not Christians.
Some of the most knowledgeable people in the world are not Christians.
Some people would say, well, that should show you something,
It sure does, it shows me that they are to smart for their own good.
They put their faith in science.
They say that science is proven factual occurrences.
But folks, scientific facts are changing every day.
Science taught at one time that the earth was flat and that if you went to far you would fall off the edge.
Science taught at one time that the world was held in place by resting on the shoulders of a giant man.
Do any of you here today know how our famous first president, George Washington died?
I read one story that said He became ill, and he was treated by some of the finest physicians of his day.
The physicians used leaches to bleed him.
And when he became worse, they used more leaches.
Until ultimately, the first president of the United States, bled to death.
That is what science did for him.
Of course science has changed a lot since that day.
And science changes every day.
If you keep up with it, you will see that more and more the things that the scientist are finding out, are coming back to what the Bible has said for thousands of years.
Hebrews 13:8 says,
Hebrews 13:8
8 Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.
The Truth in Jesus Christ will never change.
In Matthew 5:18 Jesus said,
Matthew 5:18
18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.
Jesus Christ will never change,
The Word of God will never change,
But science changes every day.
Scientist who put their faith in science and not in Jesus Christ,
Some of the most brilliant people on the face of the earth,
Are 18 inches away from salvation.
I think back to the times that we read about so often in the Word of God. The Bible tells us that even Jesus’ own brothers did not believe him to be the Messiah.
You know I have heard people say, well, maybe if I had been with him if I had walked with him like the disciples did, maybe I would be able to believe a little more than I do now.
I don’t think so.
Jesus had family members that grew up with him, they knew how he was teaching scripture at the age of 12,
They knew of the miracles he performed when he started his ministry.
They lived with him, and yet they did not believe.
Judas , one of the original 12 disciples.
Judas walked with Jesus Christ.
Judas was mentored by Christ himself.
Judas was there to see the miracles that Jesus performed.
Judas had the knowledge of Jesus Christ, first hand knowledge I might add,
and yet he never accepted Christ as Lord of his life.
Judas let 18 inches of space send him to hell.
We can look back at all of the religious leaders of that day. The upper echelon.
The cream of the crop.
The scribes and Pharisees.
These people knew the scriptures.
The scribes re wrote the scripture by hand.
These people knew of the foretelling of the coming Messiah.
These people knew the works of Jesus Christ.
They sat before him as he performed miracle after miracle.
And yet their knowledge did not lead them to accept Jesus Christ.
The Jewish nation of today.
They still know the scriptures.
Memorizing scripture is a part of their everyday life.
By the age our children in America are learning their ABC’s, Jewish children are reciting entire chapters of the Old Testament.
They do not believe in the New Testament because they do not believe that Jesus Christ was the Messiah.
They know the scripture better than most seminary professors here in our country.
Again, they know of how the birth of Christ was foretold, they have the proof in front of them that Christ was the prophesied savior of the world.
The knowledge is their folks, they are more knowledgeable about the subject than I am.
But they refuse to accept Jesus Christ.
They are 18 inches away from salvation.
That 18 inches will send many of them to hell.
Most all of us at one time or another have heard of someone that says that they are a Christian, yet they do not believe in the Bible.
Folks,
The Bible, the word of God is our foundation.
It tells us all there is to know about life,
In it God is revealed to us,
In it Jesus Christ is revealed to us,
And I am not saying I am right and they are wrong, but I do not see how anyone can call themselves a Christian and not believe in the Word of God.
We have heard people say that they are saved yet they do not believe in miracles.
We have heard people say that they are saved yet they do not believe the Bible applies to our lives today.
I am afraid that these people may be 18 inches away from salvation.
Friends, there are many people in the world today that say they are Christians, yet they are actually 18 inches away from salvation.
Knowing who Jesus Christ is, is not good enough.
John 3:36 says,
John 3:36
36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him.
The word believeth in this verse actually means to commit to. To trust, to rely on and to be committed to.
It is not just head knowledge, it is heart knowledge.
If you are here today and the holy spirit has helped you to realize that you are 18 inches away from salvation,
If you know who Jesus Christ is but you have never committed your life and entrusted yourself to him, now is the time.
We will all most likely remember the news of that Russian submarine a month or two ago that sunk 500 feet to the floor of the ocean.
I remember the first reports we got said that they had determined that there was life on the submarine but that they needed help quickly.
Then we were all stunned when the Russians refused help for days and then finally they decided to ask for aid from other countries.
Of course by the time the other countries could get help to the site, all of the men had died.
Over one hundred men on board that submarine.
There was much speculation as to why the Russian officials refused to seek help sooner.
It could have been because they did not want to appear weak.
It could have been because they did not want to be embarrassed because the accident may have been caused by their own people.
It could have been because they did not want anyone else finding out the truth about some of their weapons and defense systems.
Either way, over one hundred men lost their lives, when many of them could have been saved.
If you are here today, and you have now learned that you have never truly accepted and committed your life to Jesus Christ,
Don’t wait,
Don’t hesitate.
You may be embarrassed because you have walked the isle and been baptized, or you have told all of your friends that you are a Christian.
You may be ashamed and you don’t want any one to think you are weak.
You may not want anyone to find out the truth , the truth that you are not a Christian.
Don’t wait,
None of these things matter,
Don’t let 18 inches send you to hell.
Come this morning, as we have a hymn of invitation, would you come.
