Sermon # 22 - Lose Anything But Gain Heaven Series

We read in Mark 9:43-47, "If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.]” If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.]” "If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, (NASB)

At the outset the above mentioned verses may seem hard and frightful to read. However, we must pay close attention to these words as these are the words of Jesus Himself. There are two destinations mentioned in Mark 9:43-47, which we can end up in after we die; one where the presence of God is, which is the kingdom of God or heaven, and the other is hell, where the worms never die, and the fire is never quenched, a place actually meant for the devil and his angels. A majority of people don’t want to believe in hell, as this would mean that they would have to alter the way they live. There are others, who comfort themselves with the thought that since God is a loving God, He will never cast anyone into hell, both of which are erroneous and contradictory to what Jesus taught.

Jesus’ admonition in the above mentioned verses is that if someone’s eyes, hands or legs causes them to stumble, it would be better for that person to sever that part while here on earth, rather than have their whole body thrown into a place of eternal torment. It is not that Jesus is commanding us to literally sever all those limbs that cause us to sin, but is an exhortation to deal severely with those sins that cause us to stumble and fall.

It is for certain that the Lord has finished everything for us on the cross of Calvary with regards to our salvation and redemption, but the things that could still hinder us from entering the kingdom of God could be our own eyes, hands or feet. There is a misguided teaching that since Jesus has paid for all of our sins on the cross, a person who is saved is saved forever, and is assured of entry into heaven irrespective of what they do or how they live. It is true that Jesus has completed His work to redeem us from our sins, but there are still obligations on our part that we must fulfill. This is explained vividly in the parable of the wedding banquet mentioned in Matthew 22. Many were invited to the wedding, but when the king came to inspect the guests and found one man not dressed in appropriate wedding clothes, he commanded that he be bound and cast away in to outer darkness. We are therefore cautioned that is not only important to accept the Lord’s invitation to be His children, but equally important to walk in holiness and obedience to His word.

The Lord Jesus did not come to the earth to grant us material blessing only as some think, but He came to forgive our sins and save our souls from hell. Jesus came to change the course of the direction of our lives, from heading towards destruction, to steer us towards an eternal life in heaven, to live with Him forever.

For those who may be confused as to what are the things we can sever, here are a few examples. When the television set in our house becomes a nuisance, and a constant source of distraction, it could mean cutting off the cable connection. If we were to explain it the way Jesus did, it would go like this; it is far better to cut off the cable connection than to go to hell with the cable connection. Another example, is if we find our mobile phones a source of diversion, tempting us to view things that are detestable to God, it would be far better to discard our phones than to end up in hell.

The Lord does not desire that we live a holy life on Sunday, and then go out to live any way we want to for the rest of the week. Our attendance at church, bible reading, prayers and offerings don’t qualify us to go to heaven. It is Jesus alone who can do that, and we must be willing to give up those things that deter us from being all that He wants us to be. The thing that Jesus rebuked in the Pharisees and the Sadducees was their dichotomy and hypocrisy. Our testimony should be such that everyone who knows us, our spouse, our children, our neighbors, our relatives or colleagues will testify that we are children of God. It is only when we have such a testimony, that many will turn to the Lord.