The Only Ones

Introduction

A departed saint arrives at heaven’s pearly gates. He is met by the Apostle Peter, who then begins to take him on a tour of heaven. And they approach a door. And there’s a label on the door that says Church of Christ. And as the man is being led down the hall, he tells him, Shh, they think they’re the only ones here. Maybe you’ve heard a story like that in regard to those who have sort of an exclusive concept about who is in heaven. And you I’ve heard that told about people like us. The people behind that door. They think they’re the only ones here. To suggest that there are larger numbers of other religious people who are actually going to go to heaven. Well, here are my thoughts about that, first of all.

This story reflects denominational thinking. That’s the first problem that I have with that this whole story. I do not belong to a denomination called Church of Christ. I can’t vouch for everybody who puts Church of Christ on their sign. And I’m certainly not going to proclaim everybody who worships behind that name on a sign that they’re all going to heaven and pleasing to God. I’m not a part of a denomination called Church of Christ. That’s the first problem that I have with this. The second is that I want everyone to be saved. And to enjoy the describable, indescribable bliss of heaven, just as God does. God would have all men to be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth. 1 Timothy 2 and verse 4.

So I need to want what God wants, as we saw this morning in 2 Peter chapter 3. He’s not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance. I want everybody to go to heaven that can possibly go to heaven. But implied in 1 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 4, those who will be saved, and as implied in 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse 9, those who do not perish in their sins are people who have repented, people who have come to the knowledge of the truth. They must respond to God’s standard of truth in order to be saved on the last day. The third point that I will make about this is in regard to God’s mercy. If more people reside in heaven eternally than I think will, that’s okay with me.

I’m not trying to keep anybody out. And as God said in regard to showing Moses his glory, I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. I will have mercy upon whom I will have mercy. Exodus 33 and verse 19. In his choosing of Jacob to be the son of the promise and the heir of the promise to Abraham over Esau, that passage is quoted. I will have mercy on those whom I will have mercy. And on the last day, if God’s mercy will include a few more people, then I understand are going to be in heaven, I’m not going to have a problem with that. Because I don’t want anybody to be lost. And I want God to show mercy on those whom He can show mercy.

Like in 2 Timothy chapter 1. When Paul said about the house of Onesiphoris, I pray for mercy on him and mercy on his house. And that’s what I want for all of us, that we would be recipients of God’s mercy and thus receive an eternal home with him. But that leaves us with the question then. So who and who will not reside in heaven? They think they’re the only ones here. Well, who are the only ones that are going to be there? And how can I know that, other than a very serious and extensive investigation of God’s word that tells me about those who will be there. So I’m going to say to you affirmatively tonight, who the only ones are that are going to be there if we can rely upon this book.

1. Those Who Walk the Narrow Way

And I believe that we can. But this is indeed the word of God revealed by the Holy Spirit to the apostles and prophets, and that we can know the only ones, and I know this. Jesus Himself said in the Sermon on the Mount, there is a narrow gate and a narrow way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. There is a broad gate and a broad way that leads to destruction, and many will go in thereat. I can’t get around those words. Do you see something differently there than I do? That there is a narrow gate and a narrow way that will involve not a majority of people, but a minority of people. Set that in contrast to God’s desire and mine, that all would be saved and come to a knowledge of the truth.

But again, underscore knowledge of the truth. It is a narrow way that leads to life, and few there be that find it. Only those traversing the narrow way will reap life. What happens today, though, is the broad way, with all of its enthralling appeal, it is so desired even by some who claim to be religious and who claim to be Christian, and yes, even claim to be at times church of Christ. That what people are wanting to do is somehow incorporate aspects of the broad way that leads to destruction, and somehow imagine those things to actually be in the narrow way that leads to life. The narrow way is what God says it is, and what he has described in his word. I want you to look at Luke chapter 13.

We don’t just have one passage in Matthew chapter 7 that deals with this.

Someone said to him, Lord, are there just a few who are being saved? I’ve said many times, I wish we could get more people to ask questions like this. Who’s going to be saved? Jesus’ first words out of his mouth. The very first word is what?

Strive. As we saw this morning, that we need to show diligence and add to our faith those qualities and to be diligent to make sure of God’s choosing of us. He says, the first thing you need to do is strive to enter by the narrow door, because there will be a lot of folks, he goes on to say, who will want to enter. And will not be able. And yet they’re going to claim some familiarity with Jesus. Once the head of the house gets up and shuts the door, you begin to stand outside and knock on the door saying, Lord, open up to us. What a tragedy. I believe that’s the way the day of judgment is going to be. A lot of folks are going to say, No, open the door.

I know you.

And then this is why. Depart from me, all you evildoers, which God has defined in the New Testament for us, what is righteous and what is evil conduct. And he says, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. When you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God. But those people that you revered and loved, you’re not going to be with them. But you yourselves being cast out. And they will come from east and west and from north and south and will recline at the table of the kingdom of God, I think, indicating the influx of Gentiles into the kingdom. And many who are first will be last, and the last will be first. And so it’s not a majority of people, but I’ll tell you who the only ones are that are going to heaven, those who walk the narrow way.

2. The Innocent Will Be There

Secondly, I’ll tell you who’s going to be there, the innocent will be there. As Stephen prayed about the innocent who are slaughtered in our country because of things that are allowed in relation to abortion. And yes, I am thankful that there is one step in the right direction in Austin, Texas. Amazing, really. What’s been astounding to me is the people who have spoken out in opposition to that bill. I mean, some crazy things. Those people are saying, it’s like, do you hear what you’re saying? That’s absurd what they’re saying. Oh, the rights of mothers have been sent back hundreds of years, or whatever. What about the rights of children who didn’t ask to be conceived? Well, anyway, I don’t want to get too far off on that.

But children, Matthew chapter 18, verses 3 and 4. Jesus tells his disciples who are following him, who they the question is asked again, who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven? And he calls a child to himself. And set him before them. And he said, Truly I say unto you, unless you are converted and become like children, you shall not enter the kingdom of heaven. Well, there’s a prerequisite for being one of the only ones. You’ve got to become like a child. And this was not a baby, this was a young child. Whoever then humbles himself as this child, he is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. In a child, you have innocence and humility, and we’ve got to have those attributes. Particularly humility is emphasized.

We’ve got to humble ourselves as children without humility. We cannot please the Lord. God is opposed to the proud but gives grace to the humble. James chapter 4 and verse 6. Those who never advance to the age of accountability, they are innocent. And they will be in the presence of God. But those who have reached the age of accountability, those who have sinned, but if they become converted, as this text says, and become as children, they too enter the kingdom of heaven. And that gives me, I can get to go back to Steve’s point the other night, and I get to reemphasize that. When he was about to say, now I didn’t grow up in the.

3. Everyone Recognized by Heaven as a Member of Jesus' Church

We don’t grow up in the church. We grow up among the church, and we ourselves become members of the church when we are baptized. And that leads me to the final point of those who are going to be saved in the end. Remember our illustration of the beginning? The church of Christ. They think they’re the only ones here. The problem with that is people are thinking denominationally. Oh, this exclusive little group. First of all, I’m not a part of that group. Where everybody who has the name Church of Christ on the sign that I’m somehow affiliated, associated with them and proclaiming all of them safe, doesn’t I not? But I am going to tell you this. Everyone who is recognized by heaven as a member of Jesus’ church.

Those people are going to heaven. And whoever it was that Peter met at the pearly gates, which I’m not even sure the pearly gates is an accurate representation of heaven, but that’s how the story goes. I’m not even sure the person that Peter met at the pearly gates, I know this. If he’s there in heaven, it’s because he was a member of the church. The called out ones. Those that gladly received his word were baptized on the day of Pentecost in Acts chapter 2. And they were added that day about 3,000 souls. And those were being added to their number daily, added to the church, those who were being saved, Acts chapter 2 and verse 47. Everyone that heaven recognizes as saved is in the church that belongs to Jesus, of which he is the head, Ephesians chapter 1 and verse 22.

And those determinations are made by God. I don’t decide who all those people are. In fact, I have a very limited knowledge of who all those people are in the world. How many Christians are there in the world? I don’t know. But I know what they’ve done to become Christians. They have humbled themselves and become converted. They have repented of sins and have been baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sin. And everyone who does that is added by the Lord to his church. And if they continue faithfully, striving to enter by the narrow door, walking the narrow way, if they continue to possess these qualities of humility, shrewd as serpents. Jesus sent his disciples out in Matthew 10. And what? How’s that go?

Innocent as doves. Those who are walking the narrow way, who choose not to touch what is unclean, but strive to live righteously. Those who continue on this path of the narrow way, they will be saved. And so I would just say about the initial illustration. Labels do not necessarily prove anything. I’ve used this illustration before. Some of you know I’m getting ready to leave with my son, my son-in-law, and my father-in-law to go to the annual Gospel Preacher Golf Association, golf tournament in Lindale, Texas. It begins on Tuesday if we don’t get washed out. And I can go and say about I’m the greatest golfer that’s going to be there. I’m the best. I can say that, but Chris can say, he ain’t. I’m better than he is.

We can make a lot of claims. People can claim that they’re Christians. People can claim that they’re a member of Jesus’ church, but that doesn’t make it so. And furthermore, as I noticed recently in a study of the seven churches of Asia Minor in Revelation chapter 2 and chapter 3. Now, here are people who have done what Acts 2 and verse 38 says. They have been baptized into Christ. They have been recognized as Jesus’ church, and then Jesus now is addressing them. Seven churches, seven churches in Asia Minor. What’s the nature of those letters? It’s all wonderful, and our tickets are all stamped for heaven. Don’t sweat the details.

How many of the churches of the seven did Jesus only say positive things? Only positive. Two out of seven. Smyrna, who was rich in Philadelphia. That means the other five churches had significant problems. The church at Thyatira doesn’t get a lot of heat. We don’t talk about that. It’s the only problem that I see in his letter to them was they tolerated the woman Jezebel when they should have not tolerated her. He had a lot of glowing things to say about them otherwise. But then there was the church at Ephesus who had left their first love. And what did he say? If you don’t repent, you’re going to remove your candlestick. I mean, this is serious. And those in Sardis, they had a name, but they were alive, but they were dead.

But not everybody, thankfully. There were a few who had not soiled their garments. So just take Sardis, for instance. You have this group, and a lot of them are not ready to meet the Lord on the day of judgment, and he has to offer a very stern warning to them. Remember from which you have fallen, he tells them, and yet there were a few, and I’ve always liked this passage because of what it teaches us in Revelation 3 and verse 4. I wish it wasn’t so in Sardis. But there were a few who had not soiled their garments. Coming back to that in the conclusion. They had not soiled their garments. And he said, They shall walk with me in wife. He didn’t make that promise to other members of his church.

It’s not just about labels. They had a name that they were like. Everybody around thought, oh, Sardis Christians, that’s a great church over there. They weren’t ready to meet the Lord. There were problems at Purdom.

All of those churches. Laodicea. Other than those two, Laonice. Oh, they had significant problems, didn’t they? They were neither cold nor hot, but they were lukewarm. And Jesus said, I’m going to spew you out of my mouth. Unless changes come. So it’s not just about labels, is it? And I want to say about this. I want to admonish us. Avoid denominational thinking. Don’t start using language that talks about church of Christ as if it’s some kind of denominational group. We give lip service to the fact that wearing the specific title Church of Christ is not necessary. Here’s why I say we pay lip service to that. Because if somebody wants to identify themselves in some other way, and listen, what we put on the sign is a matter of expediency.

What if somebody said, we want to, they’re starting, let’s say they’re starting a new work. We want to be called the bride of Christ. Is that a scriptural designation? The temple of the living God. Is that a scriptural description of the Lord’s people? Absolutely so. But I want to tell you, if those Christians were known by other Christians who put Church of Christ on their side, the first thing that would happen is somebody get written up. They’re ashamed. They’re ashamed of our name. So that may not be it at all. First of all, each local church must decide what is expedient for them in terms of presenting themselves before the community. Now, can we just be called the church? Sure we could. We’re the church. The church.

I want to be a part of that, the one that belongs to Jesus. And so somebody says, well, when you put the church of Christ, people automatically think denominationally. So what we need to do is take of Christ off the sign so we can just be the church. Now, I think you need to think about that. Because if the only thing I’m going to remove from our sign is of Christ, the people in the community see that, well, they must not be of Christ anymore. I’d be a little bit concerned about what that’s conveying, but scripturally, to say we’re the church, that’s correct. And we would mean by that a church that belongs to Jesus Christ. But again, I’m a little concerned about going out and whiting off on the side the two words of Christ.

Because that’s the nature of the church. It’s his. It’s the church of the living God. It’s the church of Jesus Christ.

And I’ll tell you, even if you did that, if you put church on the sign, the first question people are going to ask is what? What kind? What kind? And they’re still going to be thinking denominationally, and you’re still going to have to explain that you’re undenominational. You don’t get around the need for that explanation in our religious culture. Because people generally think in denominational terms. But again, let’s not just automatically assume because some group of Christians, for some reason that they think is expedient, uses some other label that is scriptural to identify themselves. I know people that have been written up and called false teachers. It was not their intention at all to reflect that they were ashamed of the name of Christ. Now, having said all of that, all those who are saved from sin, as recognized by heaven, that is the true church of Jesus Christ.

Now I’ll tell you who’s going to go to heaven. In Matthew chapter 20 and verse 28. Jesus gave his life a ransom for many. Who are they? Another passage that goes right along with that. Paul’s words to the elders at Ephesus in Acts chapter 20 and verse 28. I’ve liked connecting these passages for a long time. He gave his life a ransom for many. And then the elders at Ephesus, the church there, are admonished to guard the flock of which the Holy Spirit had made them overseers, to shepherd the church of God, and that’s this one true church. Shepherd the church of God, which he purchased with his own blood. This is a people ransomed by Jesus Christ, purchased with his blood. And then finally in Ephesians 5, when he is talking about husbands love your wives, even as Christ loved his church, it says he gave himself up for her that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present to himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and blameless.

Sometimes in local churches, like we see in the book of Revelation, in Sardis and Ephesus and Laodicea, you’re going to have people who are not living the narrow way. They were once living the narrow way, but are not living that anymore. Those people are not going to be involved in this presentation. Who he’s going to present according to Ephesians chapter 5 are those who have continued on the course of having been washed and sanctified and cleansed and everything that follows that, he’s going to present them the church in all his glory and all of its glory. Holy and blameless. He said, and Jared will go into this in detail when he gets to Ephesians chapter 5. And so, every soul wearing clean garments, I said I would come back to this, are the people, the only ones who make it to heaven.

In Revelation chapter 19, after these churches are admonished, later there’s a picture made of the marriage supper of the Lamb. And it says in Revelation chapter 19 and verse 7, which I think is indicative of the promise of Ephesians 5, it says, the marriage of the Lamb has come and his bride has made herself ready. And it was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean. For the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And that goes back to our song that we sang before the lesson. Blessed are they who do his commandments.

Conclusion

They think they’re the only ones here. I can only wonder how many percentage-wise who have worshipped behind the name Church of Christ will not hear him say. Well done. I wonder how many groups of people that exist right now who claim to be the Church of Jesus Christ, how many of them will have 100% of the names on their rolls make it successfully to heaven. That’s a sobering thought. Some who are in Christ will grow weary. They will stop overcoming. They will become indifferent and start drifting. And they won’t show perseverance unto the end. In what condition are your garments? I want you to go back to the picture of Laodicea in Revelation 3 and verse 20.

Jesus affirms his love for the Laodiceans.

Be zealous, therefore, and repent. And then he says, Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come into him and will dine with him and he with me. And he who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne. These are the only ones. He who overcomes, I will grant to him to sit down with me on my throne, as I also overcame and sat down with my father on his throne. I have heard Revelation 3 and verse 20 used as an invitation many times. And I think appropriately so. Anyone who is lost in sin, as the latter stages of Revelation will say, the Spirit and the bride say, Come, let him who is a thirst come.

As we said this morning, the leaves of the trees are for the healing of the nations. God wants people to say, He’s inviting people to come. Blessed are those who do his commandments. They shall have right to the tree of life. We read in Revelation 22 and verse 15. And so an invitation at the end of a lesson could say, the Lord is standing, knocking at the door. I stand at the door and knock. But here’s the interesting thing about Revelation 3 and verse 20. It’s not written first and foremost to those outside of Christ. It’s not written to unbelievers. It’s written to Christians who’ve lost their way. Who were once walking the narrow way, but have diverted from the path and are now walking the broad way?

They’ve become lukewarm in Laodicea. Most likely we can say that they have forfeited humility for a course of pride as well. And they have lost their focus as to what it means to be the church. That belongs to Jesus. Behold, I stand at the door and knock is first and foremost not an invitation to people outside of Christ. It is an invitation to those who have already been baptized into Christ to make things right with him and to overcome those things that are preventing a right response to him. Is he knocking at the door with us? If so, let him in. As I thought about this passage this week, I thought about that invitation song that Ed’s about to leave. Let the Savior in. I thought, we can sing that very often.

But I love that invitation song. Are you going to answer is knocked? Is he presently knocking at the door of your heart? Have you put spiritual growth and daily fellowship with him on the back burner? While your love has grown cold. In signs of the destruction of Jerusalem in Matthew 24, it says, and because lawlessness increases, the love of many will grow cold. And I think that principle is true of our times too. Because lawlessness abounds, the love of many grows cold, as it did in Ephesus. Have you put spiritual growth and daily fellowship with him on the back burner? Is it evidenced by a refusal to do what he is instructed in our homes? And the kind of behavior he teaches us to engage in the world, in the community.

Kind of words that we should speak. Kind of attitudes we should display toward others. Are we being Christ like in how we live our lives? Tonight is he standing at the door and knocking, asking you or asking me, let me in. And if you need to let him in tonight, this invitation song is designed to encourage that response. Let’s stand and sing together.