The Right Choice

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. "