BUMPER STICKER RELIGION

1. Introduction.

Statistics are really amazing, and sometimes they reveal some startling information. For an example, I want you to listen to this poll from ABC News. I apologize because I did not see the year, but I do know that it was taken within the last 10 years.

According to ABC News, 75% of all Americans believe they will go to heaven.

There is something rotten somewhere because the Bible says this.

Revelation 21:8 NASB 2020

But for the cowardly, and unbelieving, and abominable, and murderers, and sexually immoral persons, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.”

Either God’s Word is wrong, or the vast majority of that 75% is wrong.

Listen to what else this ABC News poll said.

Of that 75%, 72% of them define heaven as a place where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded.

That just proves the lack of knowledge that people have because the Bible says this.

Romans 3:10–12 “as it is written: “There is no righteous person, not even one; There is no one who understands, There is no one who seeks out God; they have All turned aside, together they have become Corrupt; There is no one who does good, There is not even one.””

Once again, either the respondents to this question are wrong, or God’s Word is wrong.

I hate to burst your bubble, but the majority of people that ever existed are not going to heaven, and definitely not 75% of the people living on earth now. Here is what the Bible says.

Matthew 7:13–14 ““Enter through the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is narrow and the way is constricted that leads to life, and there are few who find it.”

Jesus Himself said there would be more people on the road to destruction than on the road to life.

People have this idea of what it takes to get to heaven, and most of them are dreadfully wrong.

Most of what they believe can be found on bumper stickers. I call it bumper sticker religion, and bumper sticker religion is leading many to hell.

Most reject Christ and embrace catchy little phrases that can be found on bumper stickers and t-shirts thinking those catchy little phrases lead to heaven, but the reality is only Jesus Christ leads to heaven. There is no catchy little phrase or saying that can be the substitute for what Jesus did on Calvary.

This morning, I would like to examine the bumper sticker religion and see how that religion is leading so many to hell.

2. Follow Your Heart.

The first bumper sticker or t-shirt I want us to examine is Follow or Trust Your Heart.

Have you ever heard someone say that you have to follow or trust your heart?

When a person gives you that advice, what assumption are they making?

That person offering such bad advice is presuming your heart is good, and that your heart will lead you to do the right thing.

The logic of their advice is that since you are a good person that if you trust your heart that your heart will lead you to do more good than bad which will result in you getting into heaven.

There is a major problem with that logic.

Matthew 15:18–19 “But the things that come out of the mouth come from the heart, and those things defile the person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, acts of adultery, other immoral sexual acts, thefts, false testimonies, and slanderous statements.”

Since He created it, I would say that Jesus is an authority on the human heart. He is the Master Cardiologist. Would you not agree?

Jesus says that all bad things originate in the human heart. If that is the case, how could the heart ever lead you to good, and why in the world would you ever want to trust it? Matt. 15:18-19.

Listen to what is written in the Book of Jeremiah about the human heart.

Jeremiah 17:9–10 ““The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it? “I, the Lord, search the heart, I test the mind, To give to each person according to his ways, According to the results of his deeds.”

In your heart, your sinful nature has taken root.

If you follow your heart, you are going to follow it straight to hell. It sounds so good to say trust or follow your heart because in our souls we want to think that man is capable of being good. If man just follows or trusts his heart, everything will turn out roses, but that is not true.

Solomon, supposedly the wisest man ever, said this about the heart.

Proverbs 4:23 “Keep thy heart with all diligence; For out of it are the issues of life.”

Solomon says that all the issues that come up in our lives spring forth from the heart, and his advice to all of mankind is to guard your heart with all diligence.

Following your heart leads to irrational, emotional decisions. If you following Jesus comes from your heart only, you will not follow Jesus very far because you will trust and follow your heart more than you will Jesus.

3. Just Do It.

Everyone is familiar with the Nike slogan, “Just do it.”

Just do what?

What are you supposed to just do? Just doing for the sake of doing has no eternal value and does not get a person into heaven.

Ephesians 2:8–9 “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast.”

You can do until you can do no more, but then you will die and go to hell because just doing is not enough.

Matthew 7:21–23 “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. 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? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.”

Just doing is not enough. How much would you have to do to erase one sin from your record? How much doing would you have to do to erase forever your sin record? ____________________________________

Just doing will cause you to swoosh your way into hell. Yes, it sounds great. It sounds great to say, “Trust Your Heart.” It sounds great to say, “Just Do It.” Eternity, however, depends upon more than a bumper sticker or a t-shirt.

4. Try It. You Will Like It.

This is bumper sticker religion 101. Try it; you will like it.

This is the oldest form of bumper sticker religion. It has been around since the Garden of Eden as Satan tempted Eve with TRY IT YOU WILL LIKE IT!

Genesis 3:4–5 “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die: For God doth know that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.”

Satan did not tempt Eve with evil. He tempted her with religion. He tempted her with the possibility of her becoming as god.

Eve fell for it and tried it, and she ate Adam and her slam out of the Garden.

Do you know how every alcoholic and every drug addict begins their journeys to alcoholism and drug addiction? By trying it!

They try it and like it, and their minds become warped and molded by Satan. A mind warped or molded by alcohol and narcotics is a mind that is opened to all kinds of evil.

Trying it can lead you straight to hell, and shame on Christian parents and grandparents who think it is okay to drink a good cold beer in front of their grandchildren. If that child or grandchild turns into an alcoholic, will you accept the role you played in that journey? You played a role by setting the example.

I am telling you dear friend that the messaging that Christians send regarding alcohol consumption and drug use is a dangerous message. Listen to me.

Addiction is one of the “Big 4” sins found in the Book of Revelation during the Tribulation.

Revelation 9:21 “Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.”

Sorceries in the Greek is the same word that is translated into pharmacy. The danger of addiction is that leads to a mind that can be controlled by Satan.

As a matter of fact, you can study cult after cult, and you will find at the heart of those cultic practices lies some kind of substance. Study Charles Manson and his family. Study Adolf Hitler and his fascination with narcotics.

Drugs and alcohol are no good.

“Well, Jimmy, Paul told Timothy to take a little wine for his stomach.” Yes, he did, and if your water, tea, or soda gets so bad that you need a little wine for your stomach, help yourself, but just remember this. Every time you sit down with that sparkling embalming fluid in a can, bottle, or wine glass remember what Paul said.

Romans 14:13 “Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.”

Matthew 18:6 “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in the depth of the sea.”

If you want to try it, go ahead, but if it causes one of these little ones to fall that you are supposed to be an example for, Jesus says it would be better for your if someone tied a great stone around your neck and threw you in the river.

We need to be very clear in our messaging. Alcohol has no redeeming value, and the only way you can avoid falling victim to it is to not try it.

The same should be said about drugs. We treat marijuana today like it is chewing gum, but dear friend, it is dangerous. It is the gateway to other drugs, and even marijuana clears your mind to the point that it can be controlled by Satan.

Listen to me.

Trying it is dangerous. If you try it, you might like it, and the road to recovery from addiction is a hard road and impossible without Jesus Christ.

Trying it has led many to dabble in sexual experimentation as well, and that can lead to sexual perversion, unwanted pregnancies, sexually transmitted diseases, and a distortion of God’s created and established order.

God’s order and God’s plan was for one man to share his life with one woman, and I do not quite know how to put it into words, but it seems that sexual sins are eternally dangerous.

Romans 1:26–27 “For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet.”

Romans 1:28 “And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;”

Trusting your heart, just doing it, and try it are great bumper stickers, but they are not great to live by if you want to go to heaven. Trusting your heart, just doing it, and trying it will put you on the broad path that leads to eternal damnation.

5. A Saving Slogan.

Instead of a bumper sticker, let me give you something that will save you from the broad path of eternal destruction. As a matter of fact, I am going to give you two of them.

John 14:6 “Jesus saith unto him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”

John 3:16–17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved.”

The only way to heaven is Jesus Christ. The only reason He came to earth was so that you could go to heaven.

Philippians 2:5–7 “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: But made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men:”

Jesus Christ was obedient unto death so that you would not have to be judged for your sins, but His doing that for you does you no good unless you put your faith and trust in Him.

Matthew 22:37 “Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”

That verse describes the kind of love and faith you need.

With all your heart, soul, and mind, you need to know that Jesus Christ died for your sins and was resurrected three days later. If you do that, you will be saved if you ask Him to save you, to forgive you of your sins, turn from your sins, and confess Him publicly.

Matthew 10:32–33 “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven. But whosoever shall deny me before men, him will I also deny before my Father which is in heaven.”

Romans 10:10 “For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”

Getting to heaven requires more than trusting your heart. It requires more than just doing, and it requires more than trying it. Getting to heaven requires something that you could not do, so Jesus had to do it for you. Jesus had to come to earth and die for your sins, and getting to heaven requires your complete faith and trust in what Jesus did for you.