Let me ask you a question. What is your favorite type of dream car? Is it the Lexus or the Mercedes-Benz? Perhaps your dream car is the Maserati, the Jaguar or the Lincoln. How about the Cadillac, the Porsche or the BMW? Some of these vehicles are pretty pricey. In 2018 the Mercedes-AMG E43 has a price tag that starts at $72, 000. The Porsche 911 Turbo S starts at $162, 850. Do you know that there are some people who are so caught up with dreams of the material things on earth that they are willing to become a drug dealer or a thief just to be able to drive or ride in a big-name car?
Some car lovers might even say, I might not get to ride in a car of my dreams right now but one day that will happen. They can’t feed their children properly because their money is spent on the Lotto and Scratch-offs, hoping to hit it big. Their babies are neglected, going without the things they need every day because of their parents’ selfish dreams about a luxury car.
Now here’s a twist, just out of curiosity, I looked up the names of some of the most popular vehicles for funeral hearses in 2018. The first funeral hearse that was based on the car design went on the market in 1909. Today the most popular design for a hearse is the Cadillac and the Lincoln. So, if you have never had an opportunity to ride in a Cadillac or Lincoln while you are alive, you might get your wish to make that ride after you die. Just imagine. There you are, lying in the back of that cool shiny hearse with your best suit on and your toes turned upward. Man, you’re doing it. You’re chilling in a Cadillac or Lincoln. Man, you are styling. But wait. What’s wrong with this picture? Do you realize that I’m talking about a time after you are dead?
Mark 8:36-37 King James Version (KJV) 36 For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? 37Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
Now, I have shared this rather morbid scenario for two reasons: First of all, you should realize that putting importance on material things like cars is ridiculous in comparison with the idea of taking care of your family and considering where you are going to spend eternity. I don’t care if you drive a $162,000 Porsche or a $1500 Hooptie, the bottom line for all of us is that one day we are all going to die. The most important thing to remember is that the dead body lying in the back of a hearse is only your shell. We are spirits, that have a soul that lives in a shell called our bodies. The real you is the spirit with your unique personality or soul that lives inside of your body. By the time that body is lying in the back of a Lincoln or Cadillac hearse, you, the real you, will either be in Heaven or Hell, depending upon the decisions you make while on earth. Yes, the Bible lets us know that your soul is going to spend eternity in one of two places. That will either be in Heaven if you accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior or in Hell if you reject Jesus as your Lord and Savior.
Come on now, let’s talk for a minute. Just me and you. We as human beings have about 70 years of life on Planet Earth. Some people have more. Jeanne Calmet of France died in 1997 at age 122 years, 164 days. She was the longest living person on earth in recent history. But Ms. Calmet had the same outcome that you and I will have and that is she died. If her soul was right with Jesus Christ, she’s in Heaven, a place of eternal life. If not, then she is in that other place called Hell, a place of eternal death or punishment. It is not how long you live that is important, it’s what you do with Jesus Christ between your birth and your death. Cars, houses, drugs, alcohol, all of these things are just distractions from what is important.
The Bible tells us in Titus 2:11 (KJV) that The Grace of God that bringeth salvation has appeared to all men.
This lets us know that God is going to make sure that every man or woman hears the salvation message at least once in his or her life. Some of you right now would like to run away screaming to avoid the salvation message. Others of you would like to put your fingers in your ears and go “la, la, la, la la” because you don’t want to think about death. You want to pretend that you are going to live forever. But I encourage you to grow up, put on your big girl panties or your big boy drawers, and get real with yourself. You are going to die. If that were all there is to it, then that wouldn’t be so bad, would it? But there is more to the story than that. The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 (KJV) “And as it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment:”
Yes, there is going to be a Judgment concerning everything that you have done while in the body. God knows how much alcohol you drunk, he knows every lie that you ever told. He knows every midnight creep you ever made and every sin you ever committed. He knows about the baby that you aborted or the abortion that you helped to pay for. He knows about the secret murder you think you got away with and the many times you cheated on your spouse. Yep, God knows all about it. And, when you stand before God in Judgment and you even try to lie your way out, the Bible says that liars will not even be able to tarry in God’s sight. You may be slick here on earth, but standing before God your lies won’t even be heard.
Now I’ve talked to you about the bad stuff, like putting material things such as cars before your children and before your own soul. I’ve talked to you about your doing harm to other people by selling drugs and getting them hooked. I’ve even talked to you about your death, the outcome of sin, and how God is going to get you for your sins. Know this one thing. Romans 3:23 (KJV) 23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;. Without Jesus’s substitutionary death we were all goners. But now I have some good news for you. That same Bible that we have been speaking of says in Romans 6:23 (KJV) 23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Titus 2:11 (KJV) says For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, That Grace of God comes in the person of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.
John 3:16 (KJV) says for God so loved the world that he gave His only begotten son so that whosoever believeth in Him shall have eternal life.
Hell represents eternal death, but Heaven represents eternal life. You can have eternal life today. When Jesus came to earth to establish his kingdom he came crying, in Matthew 4:17 (KJV) “repent for the Kingdom of heaven is at hand”.
To repent means to ask God to forgive you for the abortion, the theft, the murder, the lies, the drugs. All you have to do is repent, turn from those sins and intend to never do them again. You then unreservedly give your life to Jesus and ask for the power to live like you should. That power comes in the form of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost will help you so that you are pleasing to God. Isaiah 1:18 (KJV) 18 Come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord: though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.
Jesus will clean you up and make your life brand new. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (KJV) Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new. Your repentance, your turn from unrighteousness to righteousness and being filled with the power of the Holy Ghost will make an eternity of difference for you. Don’t let the hearse be the only thing that gets you to go to church.