NO SHOES, NO SHIRT, NO SERVICE

Luke 23: 32-33, 39-43

We’re now in the last part of our sermon series called RESERVATION. Basically, the idea was taken from making a hotel reservation. When you do the booking, either by phone or internet, there are many things that you want to know. You want to make sure that you’ll get the best rates; that you’ll get the nice bedrooms with TV and free internet. You also want to find out what’s included and you want to know all about the amenities that they offer. One of the important amenities that you don’t want to forget asking before making the reservation is if it includes the continental breakfast. If there’s no breakfast, you might think again before booking in your reservation.

For every hotel you go to, there are certain policies that all the guests must observe. One of the usual rules would be: NO SHOES, NO SHIRT, NO SERVICE. And it’s interesting that this rule is restricted only when you go to the dining area. You would never be allowed to sit and eat in their dining (Buffet) area if you are barefooted and shirtless. Sorry, no shoes, no shirt; no service for you. To give us a quick overview, the primary idea of the whole message series is about some issues that hold people back from pursuing their relationship with God. We’ve learned that there are some reservations in our lives that keep people in making a commitment to the Lord: issues like skepticism, conflict of interest, poor image and peer pressures. I like Pastor Jerry’s statement on one of his introductions that says “Satan will never run out of techniques in keeping people from committing their lives to Jesus Christ.” That is true, if Satan sees someone who is getting ready to make a serious step to follow Christ, he’s ready to throw a snag to make you think, if it’s worth it to make a commitment with God.

The last issue we will cover under this theme is about not being good enough and not being worthy to receive God’s favor. I tell you, Satan will do his best to make you feel that you do not deserve a personal and intimate relationship with God. He will say, “You’re not as good as you think you are; you don’t deserve to be forgiven. Your God is good and you’re not.” But if you believe those words, then, you will become a victim of Satan’s trap.

There’s a book titled “How Good Is Good Enough?” by Andy Stanley. In his book, he stated the logical view that flows in the mind of everyone that says “Good People Go to Heaven”. How many of you agree with that statement? Does this mean bad people don’t go to heaven? The author also didn’t believe in the view that “only good people go to heaven” He uses it as a way for people to understand that no matter how good or bad you are, God’s standard for entering heaven remains the same.

With this concept, I want to us to look at one specific story in the Bible which I believe would give us the understanding that not being good enough is not the basis to secure heaven but the relationship we have in Jesus. Our text will be found in Luke 23:32-33; 39-43. As you can see, this story is about the two criminals who were crucified at the right and left of the cross of Christ. I want to tell you in advance you have nothing to worry about regarding the cross which I’m using as my props today; I’m not going to ask anyone to volunteer to be crucified on this cross. But if you insist, you can come.

Picture with me the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ and the two crosses beside him. The two criminals have much in common. Scripture tells us that they were both robbers. They stole things from others. According to some commentators, they were like a public enemy because they were a threat to the community. Fortunately, they were caught, convicted and condemned to suffer the same death. Like Jesus, they were surrounded by a great crowd. Being on the sides of Jesus they joined the crowd in throwing insults to him If you’ll read Mark 15:32 says “…even the men who were crucified with Jesus ridiculed him”

If we continue follow the story, one of the criminals began to throw insults at Jesus “Aren’t you the Christ? Then save yourself and us.” To paraphrase what he said “So you are the Messiah! You can’t be a Savior! You can’t even save yourself!” But the other criminal after hearing him, rebuked and stopped him and said “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence. We are punished justly, for we are getting what we deserve for what we did. But this man has done nothing wrong.” Then he looked at Jesus and said “Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom.” Then Jesus answered this man “I tell you the truth, today you will be with me in paradise” I want us to focus on the repentant thief because we can learn some great truths about him. In this story Jesus has proved to this man and showed us that a person doesn’t have to be good enough in order to get to heaven. I find it even more interesting that even at the end of his life; he didn’t allow anything to keep him from believing Jesus. And because of that, he received the guaranteed place in paradise. I wish I would have more time to explain with us what and where the paradise is? It is nice to talk about our journey in life but I think it’s much better to talk about the destiny of our lives.

How do people go to heaven? I’ve ask this question time and time again whenever God opens the door of opportunity for me to talk to someone about how to go to heaven. But no one has ever asked me if I could show them how not to go to heaven. Well, that’s what I would like to do today. I want to take a different route try to accomplish the same goal. I hope and pray that after this message, if there’s anyone in our midst who is not sure of their eternal destiny, he or she will leave this place with full understanding that our relationship with God determines our eternal destiny. Are you ready? Let’s begin talking about how not to get to heaven, and then after that, I’ll show you how to get there.

1. TRUST YOUR GOOD WORKS

When I begin to ask people something spiritual, like if they were to die and went to heaven and stand before God and God would ask them, “Why should I let you into my kingdom?” What would you say? The majority of the responses I get are often about people depending upon their good works. Unfortunately, that’s not what God says. Look at this verse with me. Ephesians 2:8-9 says “For it is by grace you have been saved through faith-and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God. Not by good works, so that no one can boast.”

Folks, it’s not by good works, no amount of charities, no amount of community services, and no amount of kind words that will ever add up to be enough to get us to heaven. I’m not saying we should never do good works. In fact, we are commanded to do them. Let’s continue reading vs. 10 “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so that we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” Just because a person do not get to heaven by good works doesn’t mean he should not do them. That’s not what it means by that. In fact, as we can see from this verse, we are to do them all the more. They simply don’t get us to heaven.

Now, if the basis of getting to heaven is by good deeds then the Bible will contradict itself or we should question and ask God why he let this worst criminal to enter heaven. If we’re going to look and check his background and lifestyle, we will find that he was a convicted criminal, a scoffer and a robber. We can assume that stealing would be his way of living. He’s not a good man, but Jesus accepted him to heaven.

If being good enough is the way to heaven, then, think about answering these questions: did this criminal have the time to do good works even when dying in order to get to heaven? Did he still have the chance to get down on the cross and start charities? NO WAY! He was nailed down and was about to die. But when he turned to Christ for forgiveness, Christ accepted him into his kingdom. This shows that our deeds don’t save us.

2. TRUST YOUR RELIGION

I think this is another way most people think that they can get to heaven is by trusting their religion. Once a person begins to have knowledge about God, go to church once in while, begin joining to church, begin practicing some rituals and learn spiritual songs and listens to the messages and following the Golden Rule, then they have the tendency of making the conclusion that because he practices religion, his destiny in heaven is secured. But the problem is, many are now confused about religion because there are hundreds of different kinds of religion in this world and each has their own sets gods and beliefs.

In the case of this criminal, the bible has not mentioned anything about his religion or any church background. In fact, he probably didn’t belong to any based on the life he lived. For the sake of what I’m trying to point out here, let’s assume that he has one and had experience hearing some laws of Moses like “thou shalt not kill, thou shalt steal and thou shalt not covet your neighbor’s house” All these things, didn’t matter to him. Why? because he kept breaking the laws.

A good example of this was the rich young man who was really trusting on his religion as a way to heaven. One day, he came up to Jesus and asked “What good thing must I do to get eternal life” (Matthew 19:16-22) Notice that this man was not only depending on his wealth in order to get to heaven, he also trusted on his religion. (vs. 20) But Jesus corrected him that it’s not that he obeyed the 10 commandments that he can inherit eternal life.

Why should we not trust our religion? You see there are people who think that because they’re members of the church, that they were baptized, they take communion, etc; and yet they never had a personal encounter with the Lord Jesus Christ that if they die, they’ll go to heaven. Unfortunately, that’s not what God says. In fact, there is no religion that God has offered to us to bring us to Him. Jesus himself did not offer us a religion. Instead he offered us a relationship.

Every time I sit down with anyone who wants to join BCI, I would tell that person that becoming a member of any church doesn’t give them the assurance to get to heaven. I would honestly say to that person that if he or she wants to become a member of the local church, he or she must consider a personal relationship with Jesus.

3. TRUST YOUR SELF

We all have the tendency because of our sinful nature to be self-righteous. Sometimes it’s difficult to admit it but the truth is: it’s really there. Oftentimes, we don’t see it but others notice it from us. And when this comes out, people have the tendency of saying, “Without me, this would not run, without me, this would not happen. I worked hard for this; I should deserve to be in this place.” Have you seen the I/Me person. Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying that we shouldn’t believe in ourselves. We need to believe and have confidence in ourselves to be able to reach our goals in life, to be productive at work, to accomplish many things. In fact, if a person would always think that he can’t do other things beyond his or her capabilities, he or she would not succeed in life.

But what I’m saying here is this; we should not rely on our own understanding, on our own strength, and our own ways in terms of salvation. Look again on this repentant thief. He could have bragged about himself like other criminal. In fact, that’s exactly how he started mocking and insulting Jesus. However, later he realized that he could not do anything but trust in Jesus.

Look at Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.” In other words, this verse suggests that man’s ways, our own way apart from the wisdom of God, our sense of what is right and wrong apart from God are not always reliable. We have nothing to brag about ourselves. We are in no way to say, “I’m in heaven because of me”

Proverbs 3:5-6 says “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not in your own understanding. In all your ways, acknowledge him, and he will direct your path straight” Trusting ourselves can’t get us to heaven.

Now, how do we make the steps to having a right relationship with God which would lead us to heaven? Let’s look at this repentant thief again and see how he made his way to heaven. It’s not by his own good works, not by any religion, not even by trusting in his own self and strength but to God.

1. ADMIT YOUR SINS TO GOD

The main difference between the two criminals was that, the first thief cannot admit his sins. He depended and believed in himself that he doesn’t deserve the punishment he got. If a person does not see himself as sinner then there is no need for him to be saved.

But the second thief has acknowledged his sins. (vs. 41) “We are punished justly, for we are getting what our deeds deserve.” Acknowledgement of one’s sin is the first step of getting saved. It is written in the Bible “For all have sin and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). The issue of not being good enough is right when you admit that you are a sinner. This reminds us that even the worst sinner can be saved.

2. ASK GOD’S FORGIVENESS

This criminal after admitting his sin, confessed it and asked Jesus for forgiveness. He believed Jesus can forgive the sins of everyone. He heard Jesus saying “Father, forgive them, for they do not know, what they are doing.”

3. ACCEPT GOD’S OFFER OF SALVATION

This man was saved simply by asking the Lord to save him. As he thought about the fundamental issues of life and death, of right and wrong, he felt and confessed his need of salvation. Listen again to his request “Then he said, Jesus, remember me when you come into your kingdom” (vs. 42) Two things were involved when he made this request.

First, he believed that Jesus was a Master, a King that owns a kingdom.

Second, he received Jesus by trusting that Jesus has the control of his final destiny.

This is a very important part for us to know with regards to our eternal security. The criminal did more than just admitting his sins. He did more than just asking for forgiveness. More importantly, he reached out in faith by asking Jesus to remember him. And because of his faith, he received the guarantee of having a place in paradise. What is really interesting is his willingness to recognize that he was a sinful man and he did not allow anything to keep him in committing his life to Jesus Christ. Would you also consider making a step of faith for Christ?