Choose Wisely 

Matthew 7:21-29 

PSBC-10/13/02 

Biker Weekend

In a nutshell: Most people who hope to get to heave when they die line up behind one of three doors-Optimists; Over-achievers; or Graced Ones. Two are headed for Hell. Only those who rely on grace will receive heaven as their reward.

I. Introduction

I'm sure most of you have seen the Indiana Jones movies, starring Harrison Ford. I love them. But I have a favorite. My favorite is Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade.

If you remember the movie, the thing that the good guys and the bad guys were searching for was the Holy Grail-or the cup that Jesus used at the Last Supper. According to the story, it was believed that whoever drank from that cup would live forever.

The climax of the whole adventure was when Indiana Jones, his dad (played by Sean Conary), and some bad Nazi guys entered this cave where the Holy Grail was supposed to be hidden. But to get to the secret room, there were three tests that a person had to go through.

1. The first test was that you had to be a penitent man. In this case, if you crawled on your knees through this particular narrow passage, two spinning saw blade would just miss cutting your head off. But if you stood up, they would.

2. The second test was that you had to proceed in the name of God. In this case, it meant that you had to walk on a stone walk where all the stones were labeled with letters on them. And to successfully walk on the walk without falling hundreds of feet to your death, you could only walk on the rocks that spelled out the name of God.

3. Finally, the last test was that you had to take a step of faith across a mile deep canyon that had no bridge going across it. But when Indiana Jones took the step of faith, he discovered that an optical illusion hid a narrow bridge across the canyon to the other side where the secret room was located.

Finally, when Indiana made it into the secret room, he met a 700 year old knight who was guarding a whole table full of goblets and glasses, all in a variety of shapes and sizes. But what Indiana didn't know was that an evil Nazi had followed him through the three tests and now into the secret room.

Then listen to what the old knight says… (movie clip) ("Choose wisely. For the true grail will give you life, but the false grail will take it from you.")

Well, the evil Nazi chooses the most ornate, gold cup he can find and drinks from it, hoping to get eternal life. But, instead, he starts to age, and in about 15 seconds turns into a corpse, explodes and becomes a pile of dust. The old knight says, "He choose poorly"

Then if you've seen the movie, you know that Indian chooses the most rustic looking cup and drinks from it and doesn't die. And the old knight looks at him and says, "You have chosen wisely." Then he fills the cup again and takes it to his dying father whose received a gun shot wound from the Nazi, and heals him and saves the day.

B. Transition

Well, friends, that story isn't too far from the truth that we're going to be looking at this morning from the book of Matthew. If you have your Bibles, you might want to turn to Matthew 7. That's where we'll focus most of our attention this morning.

Most of the people you know want to have eternal life and go to heaven when they die. But how we choose to get there is something like that table full of glasses and goblets that the old knight in the movie was guarding. There are a lot of choices, but there is only one right choice. And the words of Jesus to you this morning are the same words that the old knight spoke to Indiana Jones. "The true choice will give you eternal life, but the other choices will take it from you. So, choose wisely."

II. Consequences

Before we get into what the choices are, let me point out one big difference between the movie and reality. In the movie, the old knight wouldn't tell anyone which was the real cup. The characters had to guess and deduce for themselves. But in reality, Jesus tells us exactly which choice is wise and which choices are poor. That's one of the things we'll understand this morning from this passage in Matthew 7.

A. We'll All Face the Judgment Day

1. Running a stop sign

But before we get into that, I will tell you that this subject of the Judgment Day is a topic that some of you would much rather avoid. We don't talk much about it in the course of most casual conversations. In fact, for some of us, when this subject is brought up, we'd say, "Judgment Day? No thanks! I'm planning on having something else to do on that day!"

But, with all due respect, that won't be an option! Our attendance is required-no exceptions granted.

2 Corinthians 5:10 10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

Now, we can understand this pretty easily when we think of how our legal system works.

Illustration: The summer between my junior year and senior year in high school, I was coming home from a date. It was late. I knew I was going to be in trouble for breaking curfew, but I rationalized that I had just enough time to make it home…as long as I didn't catch any red lights.

I was lucky. I got a green light at every traffic signal. But then there was this last stop sign just before home. It was late. I was on a country road. There wasn't any traffic, so I slowed down, and looked both ways and kept going without stopping. That's where I started to learn about our legal system. You see, in the dark, hiding in a driveway on this country road, sat a Cook County patrol officer in his squad car. He turned on his lights and had me pull over, almost as soon as I went through the intersection.

He gave me a ticket for running the stop sign-that became the charge against me. And for that I had to appear before a judge and answer to the charge that I ran a stop sign. Two weeks later, I did stand before a judge, pleaded guilty and paid my fine. That was the consequences for breaking the law. That's how our legal system works.

2. Same system in the spirit realm

Now, what you may not realize is that the same sort of system exists in the spiritual realm. The Bible says that over the course of our lifetime, we all amass a list of charges against us for each time we violate one of God's laws.

The truth about each one of us is that we've all run more than our share of moral stop signs. We all (to use the Bible's word for this) sinned.

Now, let me ask you all a question, and I'd like you to be publicly honest. But wait until my question is completely asked… Have you ever told a lie? Or Have you ever passed on an unflattering story about someone (that's called gossip)? Or Have you ever cheated on a test? Or Have you ever lusted sexually after a person? Or Have you ever lost your temper and verbally spoke the name of God or damned something?

Now be honest…Have you ever done any of those things, even once in the course of your life? Then raise your hand. That looks like pretty much everyone.

Now, the point is that this is just a quick short list of the charges that are against us. In fact, if we're honest we'd not only have to admit to those violations, but also to much, much worse.

B. Three Groups of People

The Bible also says that there is a day coming when God is going to deal with every single violation we've ever committed. He is the holy Judge. And our appearance in His court is mandatory-no exceptions.

Now, with that as a backdrop, let's look at this passage from Matthew 7, where Jesus fast forwards the video tape of our lives to that final Judgment Day. He shows us that there are three groups of people. Each group has made a choice. Two have chose poorly. And one has chose wisely.

III. The Two Poor Choices

A. Optimists

The people who make the first choice are in a group that I call the "Optimists".

Spiritual Optimists are people whose theme song would be Bobby Mcferrin's innocuous hit song from 16 years ago: "Don't Worry! Be Happy!" Here are the words…

Here's a little song I wrote You might want to sing it note for note Don't worry, be happy In every life we have some trouble When you worry you make it double Don't worry, be happy Don't worry, be happy now

This is the group Jesus is talking about when He says…

Matthew 7:21 21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.

People who hang their hopes on this choice, simply cruise through life saying: -I don't think there are any moral absolutes, -I don't think there is anything called sin -I don't think there will be a Judgment Day -I don't think God is going to hold me accountable for my actions -I don't think there is such a thing as hell.

And if by some chance, there is a God and a Judgment Day, then I am optimistic that things will work out OK and I'll wind up in heaven.

Now, I've talked to a lot of Optimists during my 51 years, and I've asked many of them where they came up with this rosy picture of the future. Almost to a person they same something like… …I haven't done any deep research on the subject; …I haven't read books about it to see what wise thinkers had to say; …I haven't read the Bible to see what it has to say about it; It comes down to the fact that these optimists make this choice entirely based on their limited intuition.

Illustration: I played golf one time with a man who was a very successful business man in the San Bernardino area. As we rode together in the cart, I purposefully turned the conversation to things about heaven, eternity and salvation.

By his own admission, this successful business man had , to that point in his life, rejected Jesus, but admitted that he was still seeking answers about faith. So I decided to press the point after our round was finished. So I asked him, "So what are you going to do when you die and are standing before a holy God? What will you do without a Savior?"

And he laughed and said, "Tom, believe me, when I get there, I'll find a way."

But Jesus is very specific about this choice of optimism… He says, "Not everyone who says to me Lord, Lord will enter the kingdom of heaven."

B. Over-achievers

But then Jesus tells us about a second group of people who make a different choice about handling the Judgment Day. It's different from the optimists. But it turns out, that this too, is a poor choice. I call this group, The Over-achievers. Jesus speaks about this group in verse 22…

Matthew 7:22 22 Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and in your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?'

One of the big foundational differences between spiritual Over-achievers and the Optimists is that Over-achievers understand that there is a list of charges that will be brought against them on Judgment Day. They know they are guilty. And they know that justice is going to be handed out by God.

So, what do they do? They try to do something about their condition, on their own.

Basically Over-achievers say, "I know I've run some moral stop signs, and I know I'm guilty of sin, so I'm going to make a homemade plan to get rid of the charges. And they make a list of things they're going to do. Things like… …I'll go to church more. …I'll pray more. …I'll be nicer to my husband or my wife …I'll volunteer for charity activities …I'll be kind to small animals

You see, the reasoning that an over-achiever uses is, "Maybe my goodness will be good enough to erase the charges against me, or at least balance the scales."

So, they get on a kind of religious treadmill-piling up mile after mile of moral goodness and religious activity so that they can balance the list of charges against them with another list of good things that they have done.

Illustration: "I may have cheated on my income tax, but I participated in the Ride for Jason and the Toy Ride. So, those sort of cancel each other out." And the reasoning goes on to include, "Since no one is perfect-if I can just be a little better at working the moral treadmill than most people, and rack up more miles than most people, then I should be OK."

But look at what Jesus says to Over-achievers…

Matthew 7:23 23 Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'

C. The dilemma

So, do you see the dilemma behind these first two choices?

Jesus is saying here, "There is a list of all the moral stop signs that you ran in your lifetime-the big ones that you'll never forget, and the small ones that you can't remember. You and every other member of the human race is going to stand before a holy God on Judgment Day, and this list of charges is going to be dealt with one way or the other."

1. Those of you who are Optimists will say: "Don't worry, be happy. I really believe that it will all work out OK for me in the end." 2. Those of you who are Over-achievers will say: "I'm going to get on my moral treadmill and run like crazy because I think that if I run enough miles, do enough good things, or I'm just a little bit better than most of the people I know, I can balance the scales."

But God says, "Both of you are dead wrong. If you build your life on optimism or over-achieving, you're building your life on sand, and you're headed for a great crash!" Look at verses 26-27…

Matthew 7:26-27 26 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. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash."

In the words of the old knight from the Indiana Jones movie, "You have chosen poorly!"

IV. The Wise Choice

Then there's the third group-the group that chooses wisely. I call them the Graced Ones.

Graced Ones are those who hear about God's grace, mercy and forgiveness thru faith in Jesus' death on the cross and His resurrection from the dead, and make that belief their own. Faith in God's grace is how they plan to handle Judgment Day.

Matthew 7:24-25 24 "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. 25 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.

According to God, this third choice is the only choice that will give you life on Judgment Day. The other choices will take life from you. In fact, this third choice is God's ONLY choice for taking care of the sin charges against you. With grace, God takes your sin-those charges against you-and He nails them to the cross with Jesus, where His death pays for them once and for all.

B. Charges Completely Erased

So, take that list of charges I mentioned at the beginning of the message-lying, gossiping, lusting, etc.. When you put your trust in Jesus and what He did on the cross, that list is completely erased, and wiped clean. The price for our sin is paid in full. Justice is served. And we get a new beginning.

Let me tell you Jesus' personal words to you this morning… "Choose wisely. It's not Optimism and it's not Over-Achieving. Those things only lead to disaster! Instead, build your lives on the rock solid foundation of God's grace and God's forgiveness. That's a gift for you from Jesus."

C. How to Receive it

1. Receive the gift

OK, Tom, if that's the only choice and it's a gift, how do I get my hands on it? I'm glad you asked. You simply talk to God, and pray a prayer similar to this…

"God, I know I have a list of violations against me. I know now that it's unwise to prepare for eternity through optimism or religious achievement. I want to ask for Jesus Christ's work on the cross to be applied to my life to erase my sin, and I want to be able to place my hope in that grace."

And do you know what the Bible tells us? If that's your Judgment Day plan, the Most Holy Judge-God, Himself, will get off the judicial bench, walk to you, put His arms around you and say, "Welcome home, my son. Welcome home my daughter. On the merits of my Son, Jesus, your sins are wiped away. Welcome home.

2. What's your choice

So, what's it going to be? Which choice are you choosing to get you through the final Judgment Day?

Optimism? Hoping against hope that if any of this turns out to be true it will all work out?

Over-Achieving? Running on the treadmill, never knowing if you have run far enough or fast enough?

Or Grace? Underserved favor offered by God when you put your faith in Jesus alone for your Judgment Day plan.

It's your choice, today. Invite people to receive grace.