Life in the Fast Lane
Salvation: Is This Vehicle Safe To Drive?
Luke 18:26
Woodlawn Baptist Church
December 12, 2004
Introduction
Is safety an issue with you when you jump in a car to go somewhere? There was a time in my life when it wasn’t. I have always been the kind of guy who figured that I could get where I needed to be, and what sort of ride it took to get me there wasn’t a concern. I can remember times when I would take off on trips with no tread on my tires. I would let the steel belts show through, stick out, and I would ride on, figuring that I was going to get every last mile and dollar out of what I had. I drove my little Nissan pickup for almost a year with some bolts missing out of the front end that held one of the control arms to the frame. I drove that same pickup without 1st or 3rd gears for about two years, managing to shift through the other gears without too much trouble. You remember the blue Ford pickup I had last year. After I bought it something started squealing and grinding in one of the rear wheels. I knew it had brake trouble, and the sound kept getting worse until one day I was driving down the road and something snapped and broke with a loud clang. I thought I had been blessed since the noise was stopped! After the noise went away, I didn’t see any need to fix it.
I’ve driven some fairly unsafe vehicles since high school, but the worst was a little Ford Tempo that my brother got from my mother, and after he wrecked it I decided to fix it and drive it for a little while. He had run over a cement curb and tore the front end up on it: the CV joints and drive shaft that turned the wheel. I had never repaired one of those before, but I gave it a shot and took it for a drive. As I left the shop I began picking up speed, and then before I knew it, what I thought I had fixed popped out of place, and I went straight through the ditch and into a pasture. Needless to say, that car wasn’t safe to drive.
It has been my hope and prayer as we have worked through this series of messages that the Lord has challenged you in some key areas of your lives, and that as a result you have been willing to bring your lives into greater conformity with Him and His Word. But the reality of it all is that no matter what you do with God’s instructions on marriage or time or money or any of the other subjects, if you have never received Him as your personal Savior nothing else matters. It is one thing to take a chance by getting in an unsafe car and hoping it will get you where you want to go, but it is another thing altogether to gamble on your eternal destiny by trusting in things that will without a doubt fail you when you stand before the Lord. Jesus assured us of this truth when He said,
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven…”
That brings me to the question that the disciples asked Jesus in our text in Luke 18:26. It is a simple question, but it is one of the most important questions you will ever ask. Do you see it? Looking into the searching eyes of Jesus they said,
“Who then can be saved?”
Think about it with me for a moment. If not everyone who thinks they are going to heaven is in fact going to heaven, then who can be saved? and who will be saved? What I want to do this morning is back up in this chapter, and along with some other Scripture I’d like for us kick the tires so to speak. In other words, let’s take whatever it is that you’re trusting and make sure it is going to get you where you want to go.
Tremendous Freedom
I want you to take your bulletin and answer that first question for me. In as few words as possible, write down what it is you’re trusting in for salvation. Are you sure of what you’re trusting in? Are you sure that it’s going to get you where you want to go?
Now one of the great things about the Lord God is this: you have the freedom to believe what you want to believe. It is up to you whether you believe in heaven and hell or Jesus and sin and the cross and so forth. You have the freedom to choose whatever savior you like. You are at liberty to take the claims of Scripture and do with them as you please, but when it is all said and done, you are the one that must lie in the bed you have made. You can trust that…
Heaven and hell are not real
There are a multitude of people that believe that there is no such thing as heaven and hell. In a study done by the Barna Research Group, only 31% of adults thought of hell as an actual place. Some would say that heaven and hell were thought up by the creators of Christianity as a way to manipulate us into behaving the way they wanted us to behave. Many believe that when we die we simply go out of existence, that there is no afterlife, or eternal life. Heaven and hell simply don’t exist.
Now what I want you to see is this: believing that heaven and hell aren’t real is more than a belief. If you believe that they aren’t real, then that’s what you’ve placed your faith in. You’re trusting that you won’t need a Savior, trusting that after death there is nothing, and that it really doesn’t matter what happens on this earth. You’re trusting that…
“There is no heaven of glory bright, and no hell where sinners roast. Here and now is our day of torment! Here and now is our day of joy! Here and now is our opportunity! Choose ye this day, this hour, for no redeemer liveth!”
Think about it – if there is no heaven or hell, if there is nothing after death, then what difference does it make what you do with your life in the here and now? Make it count! Do what you want! Isn’t that exactly what our culture is screaming to us? Isn’t that exactly what the masses are banking on? Is it what you are trusting in?
All people will go to heaven
When Jesus died and paid the sin debt, He paid it for all of humanity. “Jesus is the Savior of all men,” we read in 1 Timothy. A good and loving God wouldn’t send anyone to hell, for we all belong to Him.
All religions lead to heaven
I was reading an article written by a Buddhist who was asked the question, “Do Buddhists go to heaven?” His answer? “Yes, but not the Christian heaven.” With all the religions and denominations in the world, it is little wonder that people have accepted and come to believe that all religions, or all roads lead to heaven. “It doesn’t matter what you believe, so long as you are sincere.”
Is this what you’re trusting? what you have placed your faith in? Can it be true that Christians, and Hindus, and Buddhists, and Muslims, and Jews, and Catholics, Mormons, and Jehovah’s Witnesses and even Atheists eventually get to heaven because they sincerely searched in their hearts for the truth of God and found their own truth? Could it be that all these people go to heaven because of their sincerity?
The ecumenical movement says that it doesn’t matter what you believe. You can belong to any religious group. So what if you belong to this church or that church? So what if you follow this creed or that system of doctrine? After all, we’re all in the same family anyway. We’re all headed to heaven!
Your righteousness will earn you a place in heaven
Look at Luke 18 with me again. Here we meet two men who were trusting in their goodness, or in their ability to please God through their good works, through their righteousness. The first is in verse 11.
“The Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.”
But Jesus contrasted this man with another who was also in the room.
“And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased: and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Do you understand how huge this is? This was a good man! He was morally upright, a fine example of biblical living. He was a praying man. He was an honest man. He was a fair man. He was sexually pure. He fasted, supported the ministry with his tithes, and yet Jesus said that he would go to hell!
Now meet the other man in verse 18.
“And a certain ruler asked [Jesus], saying, Good Master, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? And Jesus said unto him, Why callest thou me good? None is good, save one, that is, God. Thou knowest the commandments, Do not commit adultery, Do not kill, Do not steal, Do not bear false witness, Honor thy father and thy mother. And he said, All these have I kept from my youth up. Now when Jesus heard these things, he said unto him, Yet lackest thou one thing: sell all that thou hast, and distribute unto the poor, and thou shall have treasure in heaven: and come, follow me. And when he heard this, he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.”
Here again is another fine, upstanding man. He recognizes Jesus as the One with the answer to eternal life. He seeks Him out. He too is a sexually pure man, honest and kind in word. He loves his parents, and by all appearances is a model of clean biblical living. But when he hears what Jesus demands of him for eternal life, he too walks away, lacking eternal life: another good man bound for hell.
A Narrow Way
Do you remember what Jesus said about the broad and narrow gates in Matthew 7? Listen to His words:
“Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat. Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.”
You see, the way of the masses is to trust in the wrong things. “My good works have to outweigh my bad works.” “I hope I’ve been good enough to get to heaven.” “A loving God wouldn’t send us to hell.” That’s the broad way – and it leads to destruction. When Jesus said that “not every one that said unto Him, Lord, Lord, would enter the kingdom of heaven,” He was talking about good, religious people, but people who had trusted in the wrong things.
So many people are like that Pharisee who went into the temple that day and bragged about himself. We like to look around and justify ourselves. There’s always someone we are better than; someone we live cleaner than; someone who is not as moral, or not as faithful, or not as religiously devoted. It’s like the building blocks I showed you a couple of months ago. We take one block at a time and try to impress God with who or what we are.
· I go to church every time the doors are open.
· I support my church with a tithe.
· I give more faithfully than some of you.
· I read my Bible.
· I pray.
· I talked to that man about Jesus.
· I don’t drink alcohol.
· I love my wife more than you do.
You can keep stacking it up as long as you want to, but eventually your little tower of self-righteousness is going to come crumbling down. You can trust in whatever you please, but no matter how sincerely you believed it or how blindly you followed it, there’s only one vehicle that is safe enough for you to get in if you want to get to heaven. Now look again with me at Luke 18. In three places Jesus tells us how to be saved: how to inherit eternal life. The first is in verse 14, where Jesus, speaking about the Pharisee and the publican said,
“[The publican] (a lying, swindling, crook of a man) went down to his house justified rather than the other (who was religious and morally upright): for everyone that exalteth himself shall be abased (brought down); and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
The next instance had to do with some young children. Jesus said to allow them to come to Him,
“for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein.”
The last clue is found in verse 23.
“And when [the rich young ruler] heard this (that he still hadn’t done enough), he was very sorrowful: for he was very rich.”
Entrance into the kingdom of God is a very narrow way, and so few people relatively speaking ever find it, not because it is difficult, but because it is so profoundly simple that the masses stumble right over it. When the Lord convicts you of your sinfulness, your natural tendency is to ask what the rich young ruler asked, “What can I do?” And the answer to that question is this: Nothing! Absolutely nothing! You can’t do anything to gain eternal life. You can’t obey enough, can’t give enough, can’t be holy enough or perfect enough or sincere enough. All you can do is what the publican did! Cry out to God what all of your self-effort will lead you to, “God be merciful unto me a sinner!”
The point about children is not that they so innocently believe. It is not that they are somehow more pure or more accepting. The point is that a dirty little street kid like the ones in our text had absolutely nothing to offer! Nothing! The rich man went away saddened because he had spent his life trusting in his riches and what he could do for God. The Pharisee had spent his life trusting in how much he had impressed God. The atheist will die disappointed because he denied the convicting of the Spirit. Those that believe that all roads lead to heaven will be disappointed because it is only by coming before the Lord absolutely empty handed crying out for mercy that a person can enter the kingdom of heaven.
Conclusion
It has been my observation that too often people gamble on their eternity like jumping into an unsafe vehicles, but gambling with eternity and gambling with a car are two vastly different things. You might survive the road trip, but you’re only guaranteed this opportunity to trust the right person for salvation. “Today is the day of salvation.”
“Who then can be saved?” You can! I have often told you about when God created man, He created Him for a personal, intimate relationship. Man was created to reflect the glory of God, having been created in God’s image. But Adam destroyed that relationship. He made a conscious choice to choose His own way, to be His own God. He trusted in his own sufficiency and expected that He and God could be equals. “You shall be as gods” the serpent said. But when Adam made this choice he broke the union between him and God. Man was then at enmity with God. He had turned his back on God, and God in effect turned His back on man. Man was unacceptable in His sight, not because He didn’t love him, but because man’s sin kept him from reflecting the glory of God as he was created to do.
Because of God’s great love for His glory though, He made a way whereby the union could be restored. He sacrificed His only begotten Son to break down the wall that separated us from God. In other words, God turned back around with outstretched arms, and now He calls out to you and to me to turn and accept Him on His terms. The ball is now in your court.
If you have never trusted Jesus Christ and Him alone for salvation, then you stand today with your back to the Lord. You can stand there expecting God to accept you on the basis of your goodness; you can keep trying to impress Him with who or what you are, or you can stand there in denial, saying that it’s all a farce or a waste of time, or you can simply give up and turn to Him, accepting the fact that you have nothing, that you are nothing, that you can do nothing, that you can give nothing, repent of your sin, and ask Him to accept you just as you are, and He will. That’s why we love to sing the old hymn so much…
“Not the labors of my hands,
Can fulfill Thy law’s demands;
These for sin could not atone;
Thou must save, Thou alone:
In my hand no prize I bring,
Simply to the cross I cling.”
Will you be saved today?
