Independence Baptist Church

The Coming Judgment of God

by Wayne Reynolds, Pastor

It doesn’t make any difference which car I drive as long as I am licensed to drive that type of vehicle. (Isn’t it called auto theft to drive a car without permission?)

It doesn’t make any difference which house I go to when I come home from work as long as that house is the same color as my house. (Can you imagine the confusion caused when a very sincere person enters the wrong house?)

It doesn’t make any difference which spouse I go to bed with as long as that spouse is the same age as my spouse. (I think that is called adultery! WOW! There are a lot of things that make a difference. I need to be more than sincere – I need to be right!)

It doesn’t make any difference which pay check I receive as long as I need the money. (This could be called theft!)

It doesn’t make any difference which bill I pay, as long as I pay the entire bill. (I suppose we would all agree with this scenario, as long as the bill I pay is less than the bill I owe! Of course, the person stuck with my bill wouldn’t like it.)

It doesn’t make any difference which road I take to go home as long as I am sincere about going home. (I might be sincere about getting home, but if I don’t take the right road, I won’t get there. The same thing is true of being saved: I might be very sincere about going to heaven, but if I don’t go the right way -- and Jesus is the only way -- I won’t get to heaven.)

It doesn’t make any difference which doctor I go to, as long as I want to get well. (Does it make any sense to go to a foot doctor if I have a brain tumor?)

It doesn’t make any difference which hospital I go to, as long as I have insurance. (There is a difference in hospitals, isn’t there?)

It doesn’t make any difference which operation I have, as long as my doctor knows what he is doing. (Whoa, now! I would sure hate to go in for a root canal and wind up with a heart transplant! Of course, I’m not too keen on going in for a root canal!)

It doesn’t make any difference which medicine I take, as long as I am sincere, and want the medicine to work. (A person may be very sincere in believing an aspirin will cure pneumonia, but it won’t.)

Well, if all the above things are true, and they are true, it does make a difference! Have you ever taken your car to an automobile mechanic for a battery replacement and wound up with an engine and transmission replacement? If that has ever happened to you, you know it makes a difference where you take your car for repairs. You wouldn’t take your car back to that mechanic because you would be convinced he doesn’t know what he is doing. And you would be right! You wouldn’t recommend that mechanic to your friends (and maybe not even your worse enemy) because you don’t want people hurt. When you find a good mechanic, you happily recommend him to all your friends.

I know you have heard the statement, "It doesn’t really make any difference what a person believes, as long as they are sincere." Sometimes I hear people say, "God will accept any sincere person." Is this really true? It is good to be sincere, but it is not good to be sincerely wrong. It does make a difference what you believe about sin, forgiveness, the blood of Jesus Christ, eternal life, Scriptural service to God, and a host of other doctrines, because what you believe determines your actions toward God and your fellowman.

In Matthew 7:22,23 Christ declares, "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. 22 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? 23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity."

This is a Bible example of people who were as sincere as anybody could possibly get -- yet they were wrong. This passage speaks of people who were every energetic in preaching and in casting out devils and doing many wonderful works. But all these activities were wrong, not because they were insincere, but because Jesus didn’t know them – they hadn’t been saved.

How can a person be saved, and what is the way to heaven? And how can we know we are going to heaven?

Listen to 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."

If you want to go to heaven, if you sincerely want your sins and your sinfulness forgiven, there is no other way than Jesus Christ. If you want to appear before an Almighty God without any sin of any sort, there is only one way -- and that way is Jesus Christ.

Matthew 7:13-14 declares, "Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." There are two gates, a broad gate that leads to eternal destruction in a burning fiery hell, and a narrow gate that leads to life eternal in heaven.

It is such a serious matter: which gate you are entering. We will all be judged by Jesus Christ, and His judgment will be based, not on what we think, but on what God says.

Do you want to know the real truth? Are you searching for true values of life? The answer to all of life’s questions is found in the Bible, the Word of God.