I had the wonderful opportunity to preach last night in downtown Buffalo at the Buffalo Sabres vs. Dallas Stars NHL game last night. Buffalo lost 3-1 to the top team in the league.
Ironically the game had a Buffalo NO-Goal.
The message the Lord put on my heart was this. If you are not saved, no matter how many good works you did in your life, you will basically hear, “No goal” on Judgment day and be cast into hell. Or perhaps “Wide Right”! The actual words Jesus uses in the Bible to many are “Depart from me, for I never knew you.”
The words we want to hear simply are “Enter!”
I preached until just after game time. People were running faster and faster the closer it was to the puck drop. Think of heaven like that. People will rush to the door, and an Angel could ask for “your ticket to enter”. Jesus is our ticket to heaven. The bible says to many who do not know Jesus, that “the door was shut.”
Imagine if the arena owners did that if you didn’t enter by 7:00pm. 7:01, a minute late, and the door was shut. You went home, and didn’t get a refund. What would be even scarier is if you were a minute late, then you were sent to jail. And the arena had 50 doors and loud boastful people pulling you to enter each door. But only one door, a worn out beat out door near the back of the arena was the only acceptable one.
The bible says “whosover’s name was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
It wasn’t the only thing that was preached, but I believe I was to convey the urgency of Judgement Day. I had addressed the idea of how quickly we can have a face-off with eternity in my tract, Game 7 Sudden Death Overtime. The idea was that life was like a Game 7 game in overtime, meaning it can go on for several more “periods” but at any instant it will be over. And there is no next season in the game of life.
The NO Goal and Wide Right are famous phrases in Buffalo. The Buffalo Bills lost to the NY Giants in Superbowl 20 by 18 inches. A last second field goal by Scott Norwood sailed wide right. And Buffalonians lived a “what if” ever since.
Eighteen inches is the distance from the head to the heart.
If you only have a head knowledge of Jesus Christ you don’t have Christ. Jesus said YE MUST BE BORN AGAIN. We need to be saved God’s way. And that is when we believe in and with all our hearts. Ye shall seek me and find me when ye search for me with all your heart, promises God.
God also promises at salvation to put a new heart in us. A heart that has a love of God.
It is great someone has the talent to shoot a hockey puck past a goalie. It is wonderful someone has the talent to stop a hockey puck before it goes in the net.
However, Jesus Christ made the sun out of nothing. A million times bigger than the earth. Perhaps we are looking at the lake of fire and don’t even realize it. Maybe we aren’t. But Jesus Christ is who we need to be in awe of.
Salvation straightens out our priorities out pretty fast. It is not a new leaf, but a new creature. When you are saved, God changes your desires, your direction, and your destiny.
Watch a hockey game. But realize it is a distraction. Not only for life in general, but it keeps us from thinking about eternal matters too.
Eternity is a long, long time and you cannot afford to be wrong.