Responding To Heaven’s Invitation

Responding to Heaven’s Invitation

Excerpted from “The Barrier”

Sermon #1590, March 27, 1881

Each one of us has been invited to the most exquisite wedding banquet we could imagine. But it is not enough to receive the invitation; we must respond. When the day of the celebration arrives, will our names be on the guest list?

At midnight there was a cry, “Here is the bridegroom! Come out to meet him.” Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the wise, “Give us some of your oil, for our lamps are going out.” But the wise answered, saying, “Since there will not be enough for us and for you, go rather to the dealers and buy for yourselves.” And while they were going to buy, the bridegroom came, and those who were ready went in with him to the marriage feast, and the door was shut. Afterward the other virgins came also, saying, “Lord, lord, open to us.” But he answered, “Truly, I say to you, I do not know you.” Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour. Matthew 25:6-13

Spurgeon • If Christ is God—if it is true that he, within that infant’s body, contained the fullness of the deity and being thus God and man, took away my sin and in his own body on the cross did bear it and suffer its punishment for me—then I can understand how my transgression is forgiven and my sin is covered.

Short of this my conscience cannot rest. But this truth—Christ instead of me, God himself the offended one in the offender’s place, bowing his majestic head to vengeance and laying his eternal majesty in the dishonor of a tomb—this is the fullness of consolation.

Oh Lamb of God, my sacrifice, I shall enter Heaven now! I shall not be afraid of the eyes of fire. I shall be without spot or wrinkle or any such thing—“washed . . . in the blood of the Lamb”! (Revelation 7:14). This is our first great comfort, brothers and sisters: “Whoever believes in him is not condemned” (John 3:18). He who believes in him is justified from all things from which he could not be justified by the law of Moses.

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Romans 8:1). There can be no knowledge of God, no communion with God, no delight in God hereafter unless all sin is put away and our fallen nature is entirely changed. Can this be done? It can.

Faith in Christ tells us of something else beside the blood. There is a divine person—let us bow our heads and worship him—the Holy Spirit who goes out from the Father. He’s the One who renews us in the spirit of our minds. When we believe in Jesus, the Spirit enters into the heart, creating within us a new life. That life struggles and contends against the old life, or rather, the old death. As it struggles, it gathers strength and grows. It masters the evil and puts its foot upon the neck of the tendency to sin.

Do you feel this Spirit within you? You must be under its power or perish. If any man doesn’t have the Spirit of Christ, he doesn’t belong to him. I would not have you imagine that in death everything is to be accomplished for us mysteriously in the last solemn moment. The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit is not a sort of extreme ritual reserved for deathbeds; it is a matter for the walks of life and the activities of today.

I do not know how much is done in the saint during the last minute of his lingering here, but this I know: that in a true believer the conquest of sin is a matter to be begun as soon as he is converted and to be carried on throughout life. If the Spirit of God dwells in us, we walk not after the flesh but after the spirit, and we deny the lusts of the old nature. There must be now a treading underfoot of lust and pride and every evil thing, or these evils will tread us underfoot forever in the future state where character never changes.

Oh my hearers, suppose we should never enter there! No, do not be surprised, for the assumption will soon be a fact with many of you unless you repent. Suppose we should be in the next world what some of us are now—defiled and untruthful. What remains? That is an awful text in the parable of the virgins: “And the door was shut.” You read of those who said, “‘Lord, Lord, open to us.’ But he answered, ‘Truly, I say to you, I do not know you’” (Matthew 25:11-12).

Will any one of us who has a lamp and is thought to be a virgin soul be among the shut out ones, on whose ear shall fall the words, “I do not know where you come from”? (Luke 13:25). You see you cannot be anywhere else but out unless you are in. And you must be shut out if you are corrupted and corrupting.

I beg you to consider this question. You do not know how short a time you have left in which you may look into it. Some who were here but last Sunday are now gone from us. Eleven deaths reported at one church meeting among our members! We are a dying people. We shall all be gone within a very short time.

I charge you by the living God, and as you are dying men and women: see to it that you are not shut out, so as to hear the fatal cry, “Too late, too late—you cannot enter now.” There shall be no purgatory in eternity and no possible way of entering in among the perfected, for it is written, “Nothing unclean will ever enter it” (Revelation 21:27). No crying, “Lord! Lord!” No striving to enter in, no tears, no, not even the pangs of Hell itself shall ever purge the soul so as to make it fit to join with the holy church above, should it pass into the future state uncleansed.

Shut out! Shut out! O God, may that never be true of anyone among us, for Christ’s dear name’s sake.

Alcorn • Spurgeon’s heart of compassion for the people of his church and the unbelieving masses prompted him to call upon them to examine their lives and their faith. He knew that every person is either Heaven bound or Hell bound.

Spurgeon was frustrated with church attenders who were picky about small things while not taking into consideration larger ones such as people’s desire to hear the gospel or to be taught God’s truth. In Lectures to My Students, he says, “What terrible blankets some professors are! Their remarks after a sermon are enough to stagger you. . . . You have been pleading as for life or death and they have been calculating how many seconds the sermon occupied and grudging you the odd five minutes beyond the usual hour.”

Spurgeon’s urgency in this particular sermon is great because, in that single church meeting, there had been reports of eleven people’s deaths! It was a large church, true, but that is still a staggering number. Spurgeon says, “We are a dying people. We shall all be gone within a very short time.” This isn’t cause for alarm for those who are ready, but it serves as a solemn warning for those who aren’t.

Ancient cities kept rolls of their citizens as a safekeeping measure to keep out criminals and enemies. Guards were posted at the city gates, and they were responsible for checking people’s names against the list. This is the context for Revelation 21:27: “Nothing unclean will ever enter [the city], nor anyone who does what is detestable or false, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.”

Ruthanna Metzgar, a professional singer, tells a story that illustrates the importance of having our names written in the Book. Several years ago she was asked to sing at the wedding of a very wealthy man. According to the invitation, the reception would be held on the top two floors of Seattle’s Columbia Tower, the Northwest’s tallest skyscraper. She and her husband, Roy, were excited about attending.

At the reception, waiters in tuxedos offered luscious hors d’oeuvres and exotic beverages. The bride and groom approached a beautiful staircase made of glass and brass that led to the top floor. Someone ceremoniously cut a satin ribbon draped across the bottom of the stairs. They announced that the wedding feast was about to begin. The bride and groom ascended the stairs, followed by their guests.

At the top of the stairs, a maître d’ with a bound book greeted the guests outside the doors.

“May I have your name please?”

“I am Ruthanna Metzgar, and this is my husband, Roy.”

He searched the Ms. “I’m not finding it. Would you spell it, please?”

Ruthanna spelled her name slowly. After searching the book, the maître d’ looked up and said, “I’m sorry, but your name isn’t here.”

“There must be some mistake,” Ruthanna replied. “I’m the singer. I sang for this wedding!”

The gentleman answered, “It doesn’t matter who you are or what you did. Without your name in the book, you cannot attend the banquet.”

He motioned to a waiter and said, “Show these people to the service elevator, please.”

The Metzgars followed the waiter past beautifully decorated tables laden with shrimp, whole smoked salmon, and magnificent ice sculptures. Adjacent to the banquet area, an orchestra was preparing to perform, the musicians all dressed in dazzling white tuxedos.

The waiter led Ruthanna and Roy to the service elevator, ushered them in, and pushed G for the parking garage.

After locating their car and driving several miles in silence, Roy reached over and put his hand on Ruthanna’s arm. “Sweetheart, what happened?”

“When the invitation arrived, I was busy,” Ruthanna replied. “I never bothered to RSVP. Besides, I was the singer. Surely I could go to the reception without returning the RSVP!”

Ruthanna started to weep—not only because she had missed the most lavish banquet she’d ever been invited to, but also because she suddenly had a small taste of what it will be like someday for people as they stand before Christ and find that their names are not written in the Lamb’s Book of Life.^a

Throughout the ages, countless people have been too busy to respond to Christ’s invitation to his wedding banquet. Many assume that the good they’ve done—perhaps attending church, being baptized, singing in the choir, or helping in a soup kitchen—will be enough to gain entry to Heaven. But people who do not respond to Christ’s invitation to forgive their sins are people whose names aren’t written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. To be denied entrance to Heaven’s wedding banquet will mean being cast outside, into Hell, forever.

In that day, no explanation or excuse will count. All that will matter is whether our names are written in the Book. If they’re not, we’ll be turned away.

Have you said yes to Christ’s invitation to join him at the wedding feast and spend eternity with him in his house? If so, you have reason to rejoice—Heaven’s gates will be open to you.

If you have been putting off your response, or if you presume that you can enter Heaven without responding to Christ’s invitation, one day you will deeply regret it.

^a Ruthanna C. Metzgar, from her story “It’s Not in the Book!” copyright © 1998 by Ruthanna C. Metzgar. Used by permission. For the full story in Ruthanna’s own words, see Eternal Perspective Ministries, http://www.epm.org/articles/metzgar.html.