Departure

 Greetings to you all in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ,

     Matthew 7:21-23 says, “ 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.”

     The dementia wing in which we live now, has 12 rooms and we are in number twelve.  Most of two occupants, some just a single and two empty rooms.  Recently, two more passed into eternity.  As I preached yesterday to the group, most of them were from my wing with a couple from the other wing which houses those who do not have any form of dementia.  As I was leaving my room yesterday to head to the service, I stopped and prayed over the occupant of one of those rooms and this morning, she was gone forever from our presence.  You can almost hear the “clicker” as two people die every second in the world today.  When you read an obituary, it will often tell something about the individual and some will say they went to be with the Lord or they got their angel winds or some other sentimental thought as they went to the big garden club in the sky and they are looking down and smiling at us from up above.

     They might be nice thoughts for those of us down here on earth, but often they are frar from the truth of the matter.  Earthly platitudes mean very little when it comes to death.  It is a final thing and no second recourse is available.  One’s destination will already have been made by their decision here on earth.  There will be many Baptists, Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans, Catholics and all other kinds of religions that will hear those three words, “Depart from me.”  We may try to plead our case but it will be in vain as the judgment is pronounced.  We might be able to fool the person sitting next to you in church or your spouse, or your deacon or even your pastor.  One pastor of a prominent church in Dallas, Texas once made the statement that about three out of five were actually saved while 40 percent were not saved although they were members and heard the gospel message three times a week.  We can do a large amount of “wonderful works” and miss the whole point of salvation.   Apparently, we don’t think God is serious about His simple requirement for salvation, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.”  What will it be for your neighbor or your coworker or your classmates?  Will they have heard the gospel message?  Praise God for His calling, but the final call is coming!