Four Truths that Will Change Your Life

Wow, yesterday was over the top, was it not? What can I say about our choir? The new arrangement of Fannie Crosby’s “Near the Cross” was so beautiful. Of course anything Bryan’s worship leaders sing is excellent.

For some reason I am compelled to print the manuscript to yesterday’s message. This is the version I used when speaking to the Mortimer Jordan football team. You can also listen to an audio version of this message by clicking here.

Four Truths that Will Change Your Life

Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to speak to your football team this afternoon. I consider it a privilege that your coach will afford me the benefit to speak to his team.

Instead of talking to you about football, I want to speak about something of greater importance, something of lasting importance. I realize football is the central part of your life right now, yet some day football will not always be there for you. So, what I want to speak about something that will be there for you always, no matter what, long after your football days are complete.

Let’s begin with two central sentences from the Bible—the first sentence in the Bible and the last two sentences in the Bible.

The first sentence in the Bible is Genesis 1:1, which says, “In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.”

The last two sentences in the Bible read, “He who testifies to these things says, "Surely I am coming soon." Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you all. Amen” (Revelation 22:20-21).

It is between these fundamental statements at the beginning of the Bible and at the end of the Bible I have learned four powerful truths about life:

Truth #1: There is a God.
Truth #2: God’s Son, Jesus Christ is coming soon.
Truth #3: There is a place called heaven, and it is real.
Truth #4: It is my privilege as a born-again follower of the Lord Jesus Christ to help as many people as possible hear the good news that they can spend eternity in heaven with Christ.

Let’s talk about each of those truths.

Truth #1: There is a God.

God created you. He created every one of you. Every person in this room, every athlete on this team, every student in this school, every person in Alabama, every citizen of this country, every human on this planet and every being born of human history, was created by God.

God created you. You did not create yourself, and you did not bring yourself into existence. Someone beyond you, someone above you, and someone bigger than you created you and place you on this planet. That someone is God.

Every human is a part of God’s creation. We are all created by God. As a result of being created by God, we are all creatures of God. As creatures of our Creator, He is not bound or obligated to give us anything—not life or health or anything. He gives, he takes and he does no injustice. Why? Because He is God and we are not; we are His creatures.

That is why the Bible says, “Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked shall I return. The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord” (Job 1:21).

Truth #2: God’s Son Jesus Christ, is coming soon.

Two thousand years ago, God sent His only Son, Jesus Christ, to this earth. Jesus came to us in the flesh, the Bible says, to die for the sins of those who would repent of their sin and believe in Him to be their Lord and Savior. The first time Jesus came, He came to us as Savior.

He was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and He was born of the Virgin Mary. While on this earth Jesus lived a perfect, sinless life. He suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried. Three days later He was resurrected from the dead. After that, He ascended back to heaven were He is presently seated at the right hand of God, the Father.

Sometime soon, and I suspect it to be very soon, this same Jesus will return again a second time to this earth. The first coming of Christ, He came as Savior. The second coming of Christ He will come as Judge. And when Jesus comes again, He will come again to judge the living and the dead.

Are you ready for His return? He is coming and coming soon. And when He comes, He will come to judge the living and the dead.

Truth #3: There is a place called heaven, and it is real.

There is a place called heaven, and it is real. Jesus spoke of this place many times. Heaven is a real place, where real people reside and where they do real things.

Heaven is not a fallacy. It is not some place of misleading notion. Heaven is not something concocted by fairy tales. It is not a fantasy land imagined in the small, finite minds of humans. Heaven is a real place, with a real name, where real people live, worship, serve and learn more about God Almighty.

The dimensions and dynamics of this real place called heaven are precise.

The Bible says heaven is laid out like a cube. Its length is the same as its width and its height is the same as its length. It is 1500 miles wide—approximately the distance from New York City to Dallas, Texas. It is 1500 mile high and 1500 miles long.

There is a wall surrounding this city that is 216 feet thick (Revelation 21:17).
Heaven itself is made of pure gold (21:18).
The walls surrounding the city are made of priceless jewels (21:19).
Within this place called heaven are twelve gates. Each gate is 300 miles apart. There are three gates to the north, three to the south, three to the east and three to west. What makes these gates so phenomenal is that they are each made of one singular pearl (21:21). And what makes that fact even more interesting is to realize the size pearl necessary to create an oyster that size.
There is a street running through heaven called the great street (21:21b). It is made of pure gold (21:21b).
There is no temple in the heaven, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb is its temple (21:22).
There is no sun in heaven, because the Father and the Son are the source of its light (21:23).
Heaven is always open, the gates are never shut (21:25).
Only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life will be allowed in there (21:27).
There is river flowing from the throne of God called the River of Life which flows through the city (22:1).
On each side of the river stands a tree called the Tree of Life which will bear twelve different kinds of fruits, for every month of the year (22:2).
The curse of sin will be lifted in heaven (22:3).
In heaven there will be no more death, mourning, crying or pain (22:4).
In heaven everyone there will see God face to face (22:4).
In heaven there will be no more night (22:5).
In heaven truth will be found there (22:6).

I could say so much more about heaven. What is important from all that I said is this—heaven is a real place, where real people live and where real things take place.

Truth #4: It is my privilege as a born-again follower of Jesus Christ to help as many people as possible hear the good news of God’s salvation so that they can spend eternity in heaven with Christ.

And what is the good news? In order to hear the good news we must know the bad news.

The bad news is that every human being has sinned against God (Romans 3:23).

The bad news is that the soul that sins shall die (Ezekiel 18:20).
The bad news is that every soul that sins is by nature children of God’s wrath (Ephesians 2:3).
As a result of being objects of God’s wrath, we deserve death and hell (Romans 1:18).
Additionally, and perhaps the worst news of all, there is nothing we can do to save ourselves from God’s judgment (Ephesians 2:8-9).

You will agree with me that is bad news, really bad news.

And now I want to share with you the good news.

The good news is that God did something for us that we could not do for ourselves. God sent His Son to die in our place, to pay the penalty for our sins, to absorb His wrath on our behalf so that we are no longer objects of His wrath and judgment.

The Bible says, “…but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God” (Romans 5:8-9).

Through Jesus Christ, God did something for us we could not do for ourselves; He justified us by His blood and saved us from His wrath.

A few pages later in the Bible we read what is necessary for someone to be saved from their sins, to be delivered from God’s wrath, to be born-again so they will spend eternity in heaven with Jesus Christ:

…because, if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes and is justified, and with the mouth one confesses and is saved.
Romans 10:9 – 10

The Bible is explicitly clear, we must confess with our mouths Jesus is Lord and believer in our heart that God has raised him from the dead, then and only then are we saved.

We are not saved because we are good (Romans 3:12).
We are not saved because we sound like a Christian (Matthew 7:21).
We are not saved because we do Christian things (Matthew 7:22).
We are not saved because we asked Jesus into our heart.
We are not saved because we are baptized.
We are not saved because we walked an aisle.
We are not saved because we prayed a prayer.

We are saved because we obeyed the will of God by repenting of our sin and humbling before God so as to acknowledge Jesus is Lord.

Conclusion

For simplicity sake let me repeat the four truths I have been building on throughout this talk:

Truth #1: There is a God.
Truth #2: God’s Son, Jesus Christ is coming soon.
Truth #3: There is a place called heaven, and it is real.
Truth #4: It is my privilege as a born-again follower of Jesus Christ to help as many people as possible hear this good news so that they can spend eternity in heaven with Christ.

I am curious, who is this room senses God working in their mind and speaking to their heart? I am curious who in this room is compelled by God’s Holy Spirit to repent of their sin and place their faith in Jesus so that they can have their sins forgiven and spend eternity in heaven?

I am speaking only to those who are dead serious about submitting to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I am calling only on those who are willing to reject the world and its way, to repent of their sin and to place their abiding faith in Jesus Christ. If you sense God doing that great and mighty work in your heart, then I want you to call out to Him know and surrender to Him as your lifelong Lord and Savior.

Will each of you join me on your knees as we call out to God? Those of you who are already redeemed and regenerated in Christ, I ask you to pray for those who are now calling out to God for their salvation. As we pray, we want to give anyone in this room the opportunity to call on the Lord God for their salvation.