The Consequence of our Choice

Welcome

Quarterly Business Meeting right after service today

This “may” be our last service at this location (Can I get a Hallelujah?)

We are possibly going to move our stuff tomorrow!

Door to door evangelism at 2:00 today

We are going to create some way for people to account for gospel conversations each week.

TESTIMONY OF A GOSPEL CONVERSATION?

MUSIC

What a beautiful name

You were the Word at the beginning, One with God, the Lord most high Your hidden glory in creation, now revealed in you our Christ

What a beautiful name it is, what a beautiful name it is The name of Jesus Christ, my King What a beautiful name it is, nothing compares to this What a beautiful name it is, the name of Jesus

You didn't want heaven without us, so Jesus, You brought heaven down My sin was great, Your love was greater What could separate us now

What a wonderful name it is, what a wonderful name it is The name of Jesus Christ, my King What a wonderful name it is, nothing compares to this What a wonderful name it is, the name of Jesus What a wonderful name it is, the name of Jesus

Death could not hold You, the veil tore be - fore You You silenced the boast of sin and grave The heavens are roaring the praise of Your glory For You are raised to life a - gain

You have no rival, You have no equal Now and forever God, You reign Yours is the Kingdom, Yours is the glory Yours is the Name above all names

What a powerful name it is, what a powerful name it is The name of Jesus Christ my King What a powerful name it is, nothing can stand against What a powerful name it is, the name of Jesus

How Great is Our God

The splendor of a King, clothed in majesty Let all the Earth rejoice All the Earth rejoice

He wraps himself in light And darkness tries to hide And trembles at His voice Trembles at His voice

How great is our God, sing with me How great is our God, and all will see How great, how great is our God

Age to age He stands And time is in His hands Beginning and the end Beginning and the end

The Godhead Three in One Father Spirit Son The Lion and the Lamb The Lion and the Lamb

How great is our God, sing with me How great is our God, and all will see How great, how great is our God

Name above all names Worthy of our praise My heart will sing How great is our God

How great is our God, sing with me How great is our God, and all will see How great, how great is our God

INTRODUCTION

This is the final message from the Sermon on the Mount. This is message about decision. It lays out life as we know it in only two categories and removes any possibility of middle ground. Everyone falls into one of these two categories in each of these four illustrations. And this message should open our eyes and force us to see where we stand with Christ.

Here is the temptation we all face: Ignoring what Christ is saying in this passage and coming up with our own form of assurance because of an experience or what we think. Let Jesus define for us what it means to be saved.

THERE ARE ONLY TWO ROADS IN LIFE

Matthew 7:13–14 NASB95

“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 small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few who find it.

The road leading to eternal life is narrow and difficult

The broad road (v 13)

The word means ‘broad, spacious, roomy’. The image being given is one of comfort. Like a big lazy boy recliner, that is the way of this road. There is plenty of room on it for any and all opinions and are morals are excepted.

It is the road of tolerance and permissiveness. It has no curbs, no boundaries of either thought or conduct. Travellers on this road follow their own their own desires. Self-love, hypocrisy, mechanical religion, false ambition, wordiness describes the way of this road. this Is the road where anything goes and all ways of life are accepted and even praised.

People find themselves on this road with little or no effort because this is the road of least resistance. It is the easy highway without effort or thought, simply drifting with the crowd.

Notice that “many” are on this road. The Majority of people that you come into contact with everyday are traveling this road and calling each of us to come along with them.

The narrow road (v 14)

This word “narrow” mean to be “pressed” or to be “constricted”. The idea being communicated is “pressure”. This road is the opposite of the broad road because it is going in the opposite direction of the world And all the pressure that is involved with going against the grain presses against the traveler on this road.

The one on the narrow road will feel the pressure of living a totally different life than the rest of the world.

It is the pressure of continuously resisting the temptation to sin And be like everyone else around you.

It is the pressure to resist the darts of the evil one because he travels this road trying to detour those few who find it.

It is the pressure to think differently than the world and to think with the mind of Christ.

And it is by far the road less traveled. It is at times lonely and there times when you feel like you are the only one walking down this narrow path.

THE DESTINATION OF THESE ROADS

What matters most is not how we travel but where we are going. And the consequence of our choice have eternal significance. The broad road leads to destruction. Those who remain on this road can expect nothing less than to lose their lives when they draw their last breath. What Jesus is talking about is the judgement.

Heb 9:27 “it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment”.

This is the road that leads to hell! It is the place that Jesus describes as “weeping” and “gnashing” of teeth. And the reason it leads to hell is becuase it totally disregards the Christian life.

QUESTION

What road are you on? There is no single point in our lives where we can determine this. One must look over his entire life to recognize the road on which he is traveling. You are free to choose your road, but you are not free to choose the consequences of your choice.

The broad road is the road leading to destruction and MANY are traveling down this road.

THERE ARE TWO KINDS OF TREES

Matthew 7:15–17 NASB95

“Beware of the false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. “You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes nor figs from thistles, are they? “So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit.

Trees are identified by the kind of fruit they produce

When you look into the forest of trees they all look very similar. All of them have brown trunks, all of them have leaves, and all of them are shaped the same. But when they begin to produce fruit you can easily identify them.

You can tell an oak tree from a Maple tree because Oak Trees produce acorns.

You can tell a Walnut tree from an oak tree because a walnuts tree produces walnuts.

You can tell a peach tree from an apple tree because a peach tree produces peaches.

Jesus compares people to trees. And the way to know if someone is a good tree or a bad tree is by the fruit that we produce.

What kind of fruit do people produce?

Our fruit is our character and our conduct.

And this is not measured by the world, but by the Word of God.

Our words and actions reveals what kind of tree we are

Bad Trees

If you take advantage of people financially and then you have a bad heart. If you curse and say things you should not say on a regular basis with no remorse then you have a bad heart. If you have hatred toward other people for any reason then you have a wicked heart because you do not even recognize your own sinfulness. Our actions and our words determine our true nature.

Good Trees

Good trees on the other hand produce good fruit. What does good fruit look like. It manifests in things like loving your enemy. It forgives those who do you wrong Even when they do not deserve it. Good trees say things that please God and edify people. They turn the cheek when someone insults you. They demonstrate faithfulness to God’s Word in both Word and deed.

Matthew 7:18-20

Matthew 7:18–20 (NAS)

“A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. “Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. “So then, you will know them by their fruits.

THE DESTINY OF THE TREES

Bad trees are thrown into the fire and are burned. Those that produce rotten fruit, fruit that is inedible. Fruit that hurts other people and does no good in this world. They are thrown into the fire and burned.

Some people try to water down the reality of hell. Notice how it is described in this verse: burning. Hell is a reality. It does not matter if this world does not believe in hell it is a very real place. No man has ever crossed over into eternity and lived to tell about it except Jesus. And the price to pay for living a life that disregards God and practices sin could not be higher.

We are free to choose how we wish to live. But we are not free to choose the consequences of our choice.

QUESTION:

What kind of fruit are you producing? It takes an oak tree two years to develop mature acorns. It takes 3 for a peach tree to produce peaches. It take 5 years for a fig tree to produce figs. Fruit cannot be determined by a single point of day in time. It must be considered over the length of our ChristIan walk.

TWO KINDS OF CONFESSIONS

Matthew 7:21–23 NASB95

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter. “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ “And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’

The superficial confession

This is the person who says one thing and does another thing. Notice Jesus says many wil say to Me, “Lord, Lord” but Jesus says to them that He never knew them. There was never a personal relationship with Jesus. There was never any real commitment to Christ. There was merely lip service, but no heart deep allegiance to Jesus as Lord.

These people were actually involved in the ministry of a church or practiced spiritual things. Today we would say these people tithed, taught Sunday School, and even preached in pulpits Yet their hearts never truly belonged to Jesus.

There are two aspects of salvation. There is belief and there is lordship. Belief involves faith or trust and lordship is about obedience. What I see far more than anything is a lack of lordship. Most people, even lost people believe in Jesus. But they are not willing to make Him Lord of their lives. They are not willing to follow Him as Lord. They are not willing to turn from their sins and live obedience to Him. They are not willing to pay the cost.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer said what ruins more Christians than anything else is cheap grace. Cheap grace is grace without the cost of discipleship. And what I mean is many want the Kingdom, but are not willing to pay the costs for that on earth.

Luke 14:28-29 “For which one of you, when he wants to build a tower, does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if he has enough to complete it? “Otherwise, when he has laid a foundation and is not able to finish, all who observe it begin to ridicule him,”

2. The True Confession

Jesus says these are the people who actually do the will of God.

Only those who confess and do the will of God will enter the kingdom of God

What does it mean to do the will of God?

Obedience

A committed heart to Jesus is an obedient heart! It is the heart that hears the ethical teachings of Jesus and puts them into practice. When they hear, “love your enemy” they actually begin to love their enemies. When they hear, “turn the cheek” they actually turn they cheek. When they hear, “god the second mile” they go the second mile. In short they have no longer practice LAWLESSNESS!

John 14:15 “If you love Me, you will keep My commandments.”

How do we demonstrate love to Jesus? By living our lives according to His Word.

This is exactly what a disciple is! It is someone who spends time with a teacher, learns to become like them, and then reflects their image to the whole earth.

Participating in the Work of Christ

Listen to what Jesus told His disciples when He was preparing for the cross:

John 14:12 “Truly, truly, I say to you, he who believes in Me, the works that I do, he will do also; and greater works than these he will do; because I go to the Father.

Jesus told them I am leaving, and now you pick right up where I left off. And this pattern has continued for 2000 years. Christians coming to faith and getting involved in the wonderful work of God.

Part of doing the will of God is to do the work of God. And the one who does not take up his cross and get involved in the mission of God is not doing the will of God.

APPLICATION

Think about this. If God has told us what to do on earth, and we have not submitted to that, then why in the world should we think God is going to let us into His eternal Kingdom? If we were unfaithful on earth, why should we think we can go to heaven. He who is faithful in the least of these, will also be faithful with much

TWO KINDS OF BUILDERS

The Wise man builds his life upon the Word of God

Matthew 7:24–27 NASB95

“Therefore everyone who hears these words of Mine and acts on them, may be compared to a wise man who built his house on the rock. “And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and yet it did not fall, for it had been founded on the rock. “Everyone who hears these words of Mine and does not act on them, will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. “The rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and slammed against that house; and it fell—and great was its fall.”

THE WISE BUILDER

There are only two ways to build. This is where the world seems to be the most confused today. They say there are many religions and all lead to the same God. But Jesus said, “I am the way the truth and the life, and no one can come to the Father except through me”. Christianity is exclusive! It singles people out to the ONE TRUE WAY AND THE ONLY WAY.

How does the wise man build? He builds by hearing and doing.

He uses material that He know will last the test of time. He chooses to build His life upon the eternal Word of God. Jesus said, “Heaven and Earth will pass away, but My words will never pass away”. The only thing that is permanent in this world is what Jesus says.

This is what it means to build upon the rock. Hear the Word of God and do the Word of God.

THE FOOLISH BUILDER

The foolish builder hears but does not listen. He sits in church services and hears the word of God but never obeys what it says. He builds his life upon what he thinks and believes rather than what God says. The Bible is not His compass, it is a relic that every decent person possesses. He looks at the Bible like a buffet and what he picks and chooses what he likes and discards the rest. He builds foolishly.

THE DESTINY OF THRE BUILDERS

The wise man will be able to weather any storm. The rains will come and the floods will rise but this man’s life will stand the test of time. The foolish man will fall and when he falls, GREAT WILL BE HIS FALL. No one can build upon the sand and expects the house to weather the storm.

CONCLUSION

Everyone has a choice. Jesus presents to us not many choices, but four different pictures of one choice.

And we are all free to choose how we would like to live this life, but we are not free to choose the consequences of our choice.

And some think they can get by if they simply do not participate, but to NOT choose is still a choice. And EVERYONE WILL MAKE THAT CHOICE.

Do you know what blessed assurance of salvation is? It is to have your life confirmed by Word of God. It is to come across passages like this today and say yes that is me!! And if these four passages do not describe you, my question is will you ignore this, or will you do all you can to get right with God?

What is your destiny and what are you going o do about it? If you want Christ, He will not turn you away. Jesus said, “Anyone who desires to come to ME, I will by no means turn Him away”. But it is your choice and only you can make that choice.

~PRAYER~

Business Meeting

Prayer

Call this meeting to order

Reading of Last Meetings Minutes

Vote to approve?

Treasurers Report

Vote to Approve?

Old Business

armed chair

New Business

Pass Articles of Incorporation

Mileage Reimbursement (.50 per mile)

Laptop

Committee for background checks

Meeting adjourned