100:00:00,840 –> 00:00:08,260I have no doubt that there will be people in heaven who you may talk to one day who200:00:08,260 –> 00:00:17,440would be able to say to you, I came to faith through the ministry of Judas Iscorea. I have300:00:17,440 –> 00:00:22,100no doubt there will be such people and that should make us think.400:00:22,100 –> 00:00:26,280Welcome to Open the Bible With Pastor Colin Smith. I’m David Pick. I’m glad you could500:00:26,280 –> 00:00:31,379be with us today and Colin, that’s a surprising thought that there may be people in heaven600:00:31,379 –> 00:00:34,740who are there because of the testimony of Judas.700:00:34,740 –> 00:00:41,080Yeah and I think that points to two very important things. One is that we are not saved by the800:00:41,080 –> 00:00:48,020life of the person who shared the gospel, but by the power of the gospel that was shared.900:00:48,020 –> 00:00:52,880And some folks really struggle with the fact that hey, the person who led me to Christ1000:00:53,080 –> 00:00:58,480ended up doing something very strange, even abandoning the faith as Judas did. Where does1100:00:58,480 –> 00:01:03,240that leave me? Well, the answer is, it leaves you in Christ because you’re not saved by1200:01:03,240 –> 00:01:08,379the person who led you to Christ, but by the gospel itself. That’s the foundation.1300:01:08,379 –> 00:01:13,360The other thing it makes me think is that we must never have the assumption that simply1400:01:13,360 –> 00:01:18,059because we’re doing Christian work, that that somehow is a reflection that all is well1500:01:18,220 –> 00:01:24,660with our souls. Nobody is saved by doing Christian work. We’re saved by the gospel of Jesus Christ.1600:01:24,660 –> 00:01:30,580And we’ll see what Judas was missing in today’s message. It’s entitled, Never Give Up Hope.1700:01:30,580 –> 00:01:36,379And so I hope you’ll join us in Matthew, chapters 26 and 27. Here’s Pastor Colin.1800:01:36,379 –> 00:01:42,019Well we come today to the last of our series, Deckchairs on the Titanic and I want us to1900:01:42,720 –> 00:01:48,500of a man in the Bible who really took the ultimate plunge to disaster. I’m referring2000:01:48,500 –> 00:01:55,180of course to Judas, the disciple who betrayed the Lord Jesus Christ. And I want to suggest2100:01:55,180 –> 00:02:01,040to you a little later on, that that was not the worst thing that he did.2200:02:01,040 –> 00:02:08,039It’s easy for us to picture Judas as some kind of a dark-eyed villain. But the truth2300:02:08,639 –> 00:02:12,619is that actually he was a man very much like us.2400:02:12,619 –> 00:02:18,000If you had been asked to guess at the time which of the disciples would betray Jesus,2500:02:18,000 –> 00:02:22,580you would never have known. And when Jesus said to his disciples in a group round the2600:02:22,580 –> 00:02:28,059table that one of you will betray me, they all said, Lord, is it I? None of them said,2700:02:28,059 –> 00:02:31,619Lord, is it Judas? They would never have guessed.2800:02:31,619 –> 00:02:36,619There was something desperately wrong in Judas’ heart but there were only two people who knew.2900:02:36,639 –> 00:02:42,779One was Judas and the other was Jesus. So I want to tell Judas’ story in three very3000:02:42,779 –> 00:02:49,779simple snapshots and then to move from there to the reason that we can have hope today.3100:02:50,740 –> 00:02:56,339Number one, I want you to notice that Judas was a man who was given incredible, incredible3200:02:56,339 –> 00:03:03,339privileges. Think about this. He actually physically walked with Jesus Christ. He was3300:03:03,899 –> 00:03:10,899invited by Jesus to be one of the twelve most intimate close associates. His personal companions3400:03:11,720 –> 00:03:18,419are the word that Jesus used, his friends. Remember that the first reason that Jesus3500:03:18,419 –> 00:03:23,460called the twelve to follow him according to Mark’s gospel was not to do ministry.3600:03:23,460 –> 00:03:30,460The first reason he called them was that they should be with him. He was looking for friendship.3700:03:30,759 –> 00:03:37,839He sought companionship and he chose Judas. Jesus liked this man. Jesus loved this man.3800:03:42,600 –> 00:03:49,600Jesus enjoyed his man’s company. Jesus would have smiled and shared many stories, many3900:03:53,740 –> 00:03:57,699special moments with Judas.4000:03:57,720 –> 00:04:04,720Not only was he one who walked with Jesus, but he was one who was trusted with responsibility.4100:04:06,479 –> 00:04:12,339Judas was the one who managed the money for the group of disciples. Donations were given4200:04:12,339 –> 00:04:18,279to sustain Jesus and the disciples in their ministry, and they were handled by Judas.4300:04:18,279 –> 00:04:23,420And we can assume that Jesus gave this important job to Judas for the simple reason that he4400:04:23,420 –> 00:04:25,739was the person best equipped to do it.4500:04:25,920 –> 00:04:29,500I mean, if you think about it, if you had made Peter the treasurer, he would have been4600:04:29,500 –> 00:04:34,179so impulsive we would have blown the whole fund on one impulsive project, wouldn’t he?4700:04:34,179 –> 00:04:40,859And John was so compassionate that he would have given it all away when seeing one immediate4800:04:40,859 –> 00:04:42,540need.4900:04:42,540 –> 00:04:47,420But Judas had the gifts and the temperament to do this very important job, and Jesus trusted5000:04:47,420 –> 00:04:49,040it to him.5100:04:49,619 –> 00:04:53,899Thirdly, he had spiritual gifts for ministry.5200:04:53,899 –> 00:04:59,200Matthew tells us, Matthew chapter 10 and verse 1, that Jesus called the 12 disciples5300:04:59,200 –> 00:05:00,160to him.5400:05:00,160 –> 00:05:07,019So the 12, that includes Judas, and then he says he gave them authority to drive out evil5500:05:07,019 –> 00:05:12,040spirits and to heal disease and sickness of every kind.5600:05:12,040 –> 00:05:15,320And then just so we’re absolutely clear about who the 12 are, they’re all listed5700:05:15,320 –> 00:05:20,839by name in Matthew 10 and verse 4, and the last name to be listed there is Judas Iscariot5800:05:20,839 –> 00:05:23,019who betrayed Jesus.5900:05:23,140 –> 00:05:24,720So here is a man, as we build a picture6000:05:24,720 –> 00:05:30,339of him, who walked with Jesus Christ, who was trusted with responsibility in the community6100:05:30,339 –> 00:05:34,480of believers, and was given spiritual gifts for ministry.6200:05:34,480 –> 00:05:39,100God used Judas to release other people from the power of Satan.6300:05:39,100 –> 00:05:44,600I have no doubt that there will be people in heaven who you may talk to one day who6400:05:44,600 –> 00:05:53,480would be able to say to you, I came to faith through the ministry of Judas minus Iscariot.6500:05:53,480 –> 00:05:58,140I have no doubt that there will be such people.6600:05:58,140 –> 00:06:00,220And that should make us think.6700:06:00,220 –> 00:06:07,920See, Judas warns us about becoming complacent in our privileges.6800:06:07,920 –> 00:06:12,279Are you known to be a follower of Christ?6900:06:12,359 –> 00:06:14,600Let’s have some response on this one.7000:06:14,600 –> 00:06:17,019You could just say yes, okay?7100:06:17,019 –> 00:06:21,239Are you known to be a follower of Jesus Christ?7200:06:21,239 –> 00:06:22,339Okay.7300:06:22,339 –> 00:06:27,859Have you been trusted with responsibility in the church?7400:06:27,859 –> 00:06:32,040Has God given you spiritual gifts?7500:06:32,040 –> 00:06:37,459Have you seen evidence of God using your ministry?7600:06:37,540 –> 00:06:44,559Say yes to all of these things, and everyone of them were true of Judas.7700:06:44,559 –> 00:06:46,799And yet he took a plunge to disaster.7800:06:46,799 –> 00:06:50,160Now, that makes me stop and think.7900:06:50,160 –> 00:06:52,760It makes me ask the question, okay, Colin?8000:06:52,760 –> 00:06:59,160If that’s true, and you could say yes to all of these questions, but Judas could say8100:06:59,160 –> 00:07:04,480yes to all of these questions too, and he took a plunge to disaster, better be careful.8200:07:04,480 –> 00:07:06,399How could that be?8300:07:06,440 –> 00:07:09,140How could that be?8400:07:10,640 –> 00:07:13,339So let’s come secondly to his choice.8500:07:13,339 –> 00:07:18,779A man greatly privileged, a man who made a series of choices that very clearly took him8600:07:18,779 –> 00:07:20,660to the edge of disaster.8700:07:20,660 –> 00:07:25,339Now, it’s important for us to grasp this, because there are some people who get themselves8800:07:25,339 –> 00:07:29,940all confused as soon as they come to the character of Judas.8900:07:29,940 –> 00:07:35,079They have this idea, well, but poor Judas, he couldn’t help himself.9000:07:35,700 –> 00:07:40,220They noticed that the Old Testament prophesied that someone would betray Jesus, and they9100:07:40,220 –> 00:07:45,260draw the conclusion that somehow Judas, uniquely in all human history, must have been operating9200:07:45,260 –> 00:07:50,079under some kind of compulsion, that he didn’t have any choice, that he was kind of born9300:07:50,079 –> 00:07:55,920pre-programmed to betray Jesus like a robot and that his actions were somehow beyond his9400:07:55,920 –> 00:07:56,920control.9500:07:56,920 –> 00:08:02,079If you’ve ever thought that, that is a complete misunderstanding of the Bible story.9600:08:02,079 –> 00:08:04,600You need to put that right out of your mind.9700:08:04,600 –> 00:08:08,959The story of Judas is not the story of an unfortunate man who was pre-programmed to9800:08:08,959 –> 00:08:10,720betray Jesus.9900:08:10,720 –> 00:08:17,399It is the story of a man who was greatly used by God but lost his way through a series of10000:08:17,399 –> 00:08:20,660disastrous choices.10100:08:20,660 –> 00:08:24,459A great deal has been written about why Judas betrayed Jesus.10200:08:24,459 –> 00:08:28,179Perhaps he was disillusioned, perhaps he was a zealot, perhaps he wanted Jesus to revolt10300:08:28,179 –> 00:08:29,440against Rome and so forth.10400:08:29,440 –> 00:08:35,039And all of that may very well be true but none of it is stated clearly in the Bible.10500:08:35,039 –> 00:08:42,559The Bible only identifies one issue at the core of Judas’ betrayal.10600:08:42,559 –> 00:08:45,320And that is money.10700:08:45,320 –> 00:08:49,979He was gripped by the power of money.10800:08:49,979 –> 00:08:55,299Turn to John chapter twelve, six days before the Passover.10900:08:55,340 –> 00:09:00,500We read in John chapter twelve that Jesus arrived at Bethany and there was a great dinner11000:09:00,500 –> 00:09:06,020that was given in honour of Jesus and Judas was there of course along with the other disciples.11100:09:06,020 –> 00:09:15,200We’re told a beautiful story of how Mary poured a pint of pure nard, a very expensive perfume,11200:09:15,200 –> 00:09:16,320over Jesus.11300:09:16,320 –> 00:09:23,260This was a lavish, beautiful and wonderful gift but it was incredibly expensive.11400:09:24,039 –> 00:09:28,820And if you look at verse 4 of John chapter 12 you’ll see there that Judas became very11500:09:28,820 –> 00:09:34,460frustrated by this, he immediately said why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given11600:09:34,460 –> 00:09:39,059to the poor, this was worth a year’s wages he says.11700:09:39,059 –> 00:09:44,020And then John records he did not say this because he cared about the poor but because11800:09:44,020 –> 00:09:45,859he was a thief.11900:09:45,859 –> 00:09:52,320As keeper of the money bag he used to help himself to what was put into it.12000:09:52,320 –> 00:09:58,599Jesus and the disciples received gifts of money and they were managed by Judas, this12100:09:58,599 –> 00:10:03,880money was used for two purposes to sustain Jesus and the disciples and their ministry12200:10:03,880 –> 00:10:07,380and at times to give to the poor.12300:10:07,380 –> 00:10:12,900And John is telling us, though he would not have known this at the time, that Judas was12400:10:13,080 –> 00:10:18,979stealing from the fund that he managed.12500:10:18,979 –> 00:10:24,479Not entirely something we’ve never heard of before.12600:10:24,479 –> 00:10:28,820And of course, if you’re stealing from the fund that you manage, you want the fund that12700:10:28,820 –> 00:10:32,919you manage to be as big as possible, isn’t that right?12800:10:32,919 –> 00:10:37,599More money in the fund, more that I have access to.12900:10:38,500 –> 00:10:45,919So, Judas was interested in maximizing the fund he managed.13000:10:45,919 –> 00:10:50,299And when you see that, you’ll also see that he must have become very frustrated indeed13100:10:50,299 –> 00:10:54,059at what he would’ve regarded as Jesus missed opportunities.13200:10:54,059 –> 00:10:59,880Like, for example, the rich young ruler, remember he came?13300:10:59,880 –> 00:11:06,219And Jesus said to him, well, sell all that you have to give to the poor, and then come13400:11:06,219 –> 00:11:08,700and follow me.13500:11:08,700 –> 00:11:13,080And Judas must have been positively salivating at that moment, don’t you think?13600:11:13,080 –> 00:11:17,619Oh, if he sells all this money and it’s to be given to the poor, we’ll manage that13700:11:17,619 –> 00:11:22,859as part of our fund, that’s one of the things we do here.13800:11:22,859 –> 00:11:26,219But the man goes off and Jesus didn’t even go after him.13900:11:26,219 –> 00:11:27,760What a missed opportunity.14000:11:27,760 –> 00:11:32,559What a donor he would have been.14100:11:32,559 –> 00:11:35,940Then do you remember Zacchaeus?14200:11:36,099 –> 00:11:40,859That waxman who had been creaming off extra money into his own pocket by adding a little14300:11:40,859 –> 00:11:44,080surcharge that was his personal little thing?14400:11:44,080 –> 00:11:49,659And he’s convicted by the presence of Jesus in his home and he says, I’ll tell you right14500:11:49,659 –> 00:11:50,659now, Lord.14600:11:50,659 –> 00:11:53,080I’m going to repay back everything I’ve taken fourfold.14700:11:53,080 –> 00:11:59,299And, he said, I’m going to give half of everything that I own to the poor.14800:11:59,299 –> 00:12:02,979Judas thinks, hey, that’s what our fund can be used for.14900:12:02,979 –> 00:12:04,179This is going to be marvelous.15000:12:04,179 –> 00:12:05,739This is more money we can manage here.15100:12:05,739 –> 00:12:08,820Let’s bring it in.15200:12:08,820 –> 00:12:12,700Jesus makes no attempt to do so.15300:12:12,700 –> 00:12:16,099Now we have perfume that is worth a year’s wages.15400:12:16,099 –> 00:12:18,119Think, what is a year’s wages to you?15500:12:18,119 –> 00:12:23,719A year’s wages, that’s a big donation.15600:12:23,719 –> 00:12:32,119Think of how that would swell the fund and Jesus allows it to be poured over him, running15700:12:32,119 –> 00:12:36,520down him onto the floor.15800:12:36,520 –> 00:12:41,440And this is the last straw for Judas.15900:12:41,440 –> 00:12:50,679He had seen that there was tremendous potential in this ministry to bring in money and Jesus16000:12:50,679 –> 00:12:54,679was making nothing of it.16100:12:55,119 –> 00:13:04,119What happened to this man was he started out pursuing ministry, but he ended up pursuing money.16200:13:04,440 –> 00:13:08,960You’re listening to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith and a message called Never give16300:13:08,960 –> 00:13:14,280up hope, Looking today at the life of Judas and how he ended up plunging to disaster.16400:13:14,280 –> 00:13:21,239The message is part of our series Debt Chairs on the Titanic how to avoid plunging to disaster16500:13:51,239 –> 00:13:57,479Somewhere in the recesses of his mind and his heart, there was a fundamental movement16600:13:57,479 –> 00:14:02,900from his early life where he said Lord Jesus, my life is about serving you and he got to16700:14:02,900 –> 00:14:10,640the place somewhere where he said, Lord Jesus, my life is about walking with you and making16800:14:10,640 –> 00:14:13,679money.16900:14:13,679 –> 00:14:18,859And so of course when he found that walking with Jesus wasn’t making the money, he looked17000:14:18,859 –> 00:14:23,359to see another way that he could make the money without Jesus.17100:14:23,359 –> 00:14:28,460And so it is very significant that Matthew tells us that it was immediately after this17200:14:28,460 –> 00:14:33,280incident with the pouring of the expensive perfume over Jesus, immediately after that17300:14:33,280 –> 00:14:39,080incident that Judas went to the chief priests and to the elders in the temple and he said17400:14:39,080 –> 00:14:47,599what will you give me if I hand Jesus over to you?17500:14:47,599 –> 00:14:53,820As money became more to him, Christ became less to him.17600:14:53,820 –> 00:14:59,700Because as Jesus put it so clearly, you cannot serve God and money.17700:14:59,700 –> 00:15:02,900He didn’t say you cannot have God and money.17800:15:02,900 –> 00:15:04,659He said you cannot serve God and money.17900:15:04,659 –> 00:15:09,179You will find that both of them make great claims upon you.18000:15:09,179 –> 00:15:14,479You have to decide which one you’re going to serve.18100:15:14,619 –> 00:15:21,119If Jesus wasn’t going to make money for Judas, then Judas was going to make some money from18200:15:21,119 –> 00:15:24,020Jesus.18300:15:24,020 –> 00:15:32,739And you know the decision to make some money from Jesus has been the cause of one of the18400:15:32,739 –> 00:15:39,460greatest plunges to disaster in Christian ministries throughout the centuries.18500:15:39,460 –> 00:15:43,739And it still is.18600:15:43,739 –> 00:15:46,400And that was Judas’ choice.18700:15:46,400 –> 00:15:52,219I want to make money from Jesus.18800:15:54,500 –> 00:15:58,799Now it’s very interesting that it’s immediately after he makes this choice that we’re told18900:15:58,799 –> 00:16:04,140that Satan enters into his soul – we find that in Luke’s Gospel chapter 22.19000:16:04,140 –> 00:16:07,000You see, Satan comes in when a door is opened.19100:16:07,000 –> 00:16:12,479He can’t come through closed doors, but he’s very eager to come through open doors.19200:16:13,159 –> 00:16:19,679And when a man sells his soul to the pursuit of money, Satan enters in.19300:16:19,679 –> 00:16:25,520And it was Judas’ first great step, on a plunge to disaster.19400:16:25,520 –> 00:16:29,020He’s great by the power of money.19500:16:29,020 –> 00:16:34,460Secondly, he resisted the love of Christ.19600:16:34,460 –> 00:16:38,760You see, after he had made this decision, and after the chief priests had agreed to19700:16:39,419 –> 00:16:46,059him, and had given him 30 pieces of silver to hand Jesus over, he then came to what we19800:16:46,059 –> 00:16:47,859call the Last Supper.19900:16:47,859 –> 00:16:52,039We read about that in John, Chapter 13 and Chapter 14.20000:16:52,039 –> 00:16:58,440And all the way through the Last Supper you find Jesus reaching out to Judas in love.20100:16:58,440 –> 00:17:05,099And all the way through you find Judas pushing back the Jesus who reaches out to him.20200:17:05,780 –> 00:17:09,680Judas having taken the money could not have looked forward to the Last Supper.20300:17:09,680 –> 00:17:11,520Can you imagine what that must have felt like?20400:17:11,520 –> 00:17:16,040Okay I have got to go for an evening with Jesus now, better keep a straight face, better20500:17:16,040 –> 00:17:19,640not let him know anything’s going on here.20600:17:19,640 –> 00:17:24,719Not easy to come into the presence of God when you’re hiding a big guilty secret.20700:17:25,719 –> 00:17:28,359But he comes.20800:17:28,359 –> 00:17:32,280He’s got a show face.20900:17:32,280 –> 00:17:38,099And when he gets there Jesus comes and kneels at his feet and begins washing this man’s21000:17:38,099 –> 00:17:40,300feet.21100:17:40,300 –> 00:17:44,400And there’s love that’s being extended to him from Jesus.21200:17:44,400 –> 00:17:45,400What did he think?21300:17:45,400 –> 00:17:46,400What did he feel?21400:17:46,400 –> 00:17:49,979Did he say to himself, oh my goodness Jesus mustn’t know, he wouldn’t love me like21500:17:49,979 –> 00:17:53,640this if he knew.21600:17:53,640 –> 00:17:57,780But Jesus knew.21700:17:57,780 –> 00:18:02,599Then they gathered at the table and Jesus again begins to reach out to Judas, he says21800:18:02,599 –> 00:18:06,680one of you is going to betray me.21900:18:06,680 –> 00:18:08,880And the disciples all began to look at each other.22000:18:08,880 –> 00:18:11,359John tells us they didn’t know what Jesus meant.22100:18:11,359 –> 00:18:15,319There was only one person in the room who knew what Jesus meant and that was Judas.22200:18:15,319 –> 00:18:16,880And that’s why Jesus said it.22300:18:16,880 –> 00:18:22,060He was reaching out to Judas even at this moment.22400:18:22,300 –> 00:18:23,660Grace was being offered.22500:18:23,660 –> 00:18:29,560An invitation back into the circle.22600:18:29,560 –> 00:18:35,939Matthew tells us in his account that Judas then spoke up and said surely it’s not me22700:18:35,939 –> 00:18:39,040Lord.22800:18:39,040 –> 00:18:42,260Now here he’s taking another step towards disaster isn’t he.22900:18:42,260 –> 00:18:44,339He’s now lying to Jesus.23000:18:44,339 –> 00:18:47,979He knows fine it’s him.23100:18:48,060 –> 00:18:52,959But he’s gone so far down this path that he’s beginning to lie to cover his tracks and he23200:18:52,959 –> 00:18:59,579thinks he can come into the presence of God and lie there too.23300:18:59,579 –> 00:19:03,680Jesus takes the bread that’s been dipped in the gravy and the bread’s going to be passed23400:19:03,680 –> 00:19:10,619around the community of disciples and Jesus says that the one to whom he gives the bread23500:19:10,619 –> 00:19:16,819will be the one who will betrayed and he holds out the bread and think of the poignancy of23600:19:16,959 –> 00:19:21,739this moment, Judas lifts his hand and he takes it.23700:19:21,739 –> 00:19:25,339You see it’s another moment of decision.23800:19:25,339 –> 00:19:28,959And again, John tells us that at that moment Satan entered into him.23900:19:28,959 –> 00:19:31,099You see what’s happening?24000:19:31,099 –> 00:19:35,060He’s made a choice to give himself up to the pursuit of money.24100:19:35,060 –> 00:19:37,260I want to make money out of Jesus.24200:19:37,260 –> 00:19:41,500And Satan enters in.24300:19:41,500 –> 00:19:46,640He then experiences the love of Christ reaching out to him to draw him back in, but he’s pushing24400:19:46,640 –> 00:19:47,640Christ away.24500:19:47,640 –> 00:19:50,680He’s pushing Christ away and he makes his final decision.24600:19:50,680 –> 00:19:54,979He takes this piece of bread and again, as he makes that choice, Satan enters in.24700:19:54,979 –> 00:20:01,680Satan comes in through doors that are open.24800:20:01,680 –> 00:20:09,380And that is why the New Testament gives such strong warnings to folks like us.24900:20:09,380 –> 00:20:11,959Do not let the sun go down on your wrath.25000:20:11,959 –> 00:20:12,959Why?25100:20:13,859 –> 00:20:17,599the devil a foothold.25200:20:17,599 –> 00:20:21,280Don’t open the door of your life to him.25300:20:21,280 –> 00:20:24,979Don’t give opportunities to him.25400:20:24,979 –> 00:20:28,979Don’t go down tracks in which you’re going to meet him.25500:20:28,979 –> 00:20:34,079Be very careful.25600:20:34,079 –> 00:20:41,060I know whenever we come to this issue, folks begin to ask this question so quickly, you25700:20:41,060 –> 00:20:42,939know, what does this all do to eternal security?25800:20:43,920 –> 00:20:48,199What does all this do to once saved always saved?25900:20:48,199 –> 00:20:57,060Listen, the Bible has no promise of eternal security for those who live according to the26000:20:57,060 –> 00:21:00,339sinful nature.26100:21:00,339 –> 00:21:10,079The doctrine of eternal security is for those who have declared war on the sinful nature.26200:21:10,079 –> 00:21:16,959Such people Christ keeps and brings through the battle.26300:21:16,959 –> 00:21:20,140And I need to hear that.26400:21:20,140 –> 00:21:25,380One of the problems amongst a community of folks like us is that we hear so often that26500:21:25,380 –> 00:21:29,119we are not saved by our moral choices.26600:21:29,119 –> 00:21:36,439That’s true, but we therefore draw the wrong conclusion that therefore our moral choices26700:21:36,819 –> 00:21:40,280matter, and that’s not true.26800:21:40,280 –> 00:21:44,199Your moral choices do matter.26900:21:44,199 –> 00:21:48,660If you live according to the sinful nature, you will die.27000:21:48,660 –> 00:21:56,760And that was the word that God gave to the church at Rome.27100:21:56,760 –> 00:22:00,680Because it’s too easy, you see, to say, well I’ve made a decision, I believe these certain27200:22:00,680 –> 00:22:05,400things, and then to live this kind of a double life in the insurance that all things are27300:22:05,979 –> 00:22:09,119and that’s the route to a plunge to disaster.27400:22:09,119 –> 00:22:13,079He was gripped by the power of money.27500:22:13,079 –> 00:22:18,660He resisted the love of Christ reaching out to him.27600:22:18,660 –> 00:22:25,660A man so privileged made such desperate choices.27700:22:26,500 –> 00:22:31,040You’ve been listening to Pastor Colin Smith on Open The Bible, and it’s great to be reminded27800:22:31,160 –> 00:22:36,119that just because we’re not saved by making the right moral choices in life, it doesn’t27900:22:36,119 –> 00:22:38,900mean that those choices don’t matter.28000:22:38,900 –> 00:22:43,280Our message is called Never Give Up Hope, and it’s part of the series Deck Chairs On28100:22:43,280 –> 00:22:47,319the Titanic, How to Avoid Plunging to Disaster.28200:22:47,319 –> 00:22:51,300Don’t forget if you ever miss one of our messages, or if you want to go back and listen to any28300:22:51,300 –> 00:22:58,040of them again, you can do that by coming online to our website, OpenTheBible.org.uk or by28400:22:58,180 –> 00:23:08,959finding Pastor Colin’s messages as a podcast, and those are on all the main podcast sites.28500:23:08,959 –> 00:23:13,420You know, Open the Bible is supported entirely by our listeners, and if that’s something28600:23:13,420 –> 00:23:17,859you’ve been considering doing but haven’t done up until now, this month if you’re28700:23:17,859 –> 00:23:23,500able to support Open the Bible financially in the amount of £5 per month or more or28800:23:23,500 –> 00:23:29,520a one-off of £50 or more, we’d love to say thank you by sending you a copy of Colin’s28900:23:29,520 –> 00:23:35,099book Heaven How I Got Here The Story of the Thief on the Cross and also the booklet How29000:23:35,099 –> 00:23:40,660Can I Be Sure of Heaven?, and a special open the bible pen and bookmark.29100:23:40,660 –> 00:23:45,140Colin, how will people be helped by reading Heaven How I Got Here?29200:23:45,140 –> 00:23:50,300It’s a small book, very easy to read, and it tells the story of the thief on the cross29300:23:50,380 –> 00:23:56,180in the first person and the mission of the book, the reason for writing it, is that this29400:23:56,180 –> 00:24:03,280story really explains grace better than any story that i know or could think of.29500:24:03,280 –> 00:24:08,420Many people have the idea, that if you’re going to get into heaven, you’ll do that by29600:24:08,420 –> 00:24:12,459living a good enough life, and obviously the thief on the cross didn’t do that, and he29700:24:12,459 –> 00:24:16,420did get into heaven, and he got there by God’s grace.29800:24:16,439 –> 00:24:22,939So for anyone who needs to grasp what the grace of God is, this is a very simple story29900:24:22,939 –> 00:24:24,699that explains that.30000:24:24,699 –> 00:24:29,000So this is a book you can read and enjoy and, I hope, a book that you’ll think about passing30100:24:29,000 –> 00:24:31,459on to a friend who needs to discover God’s grace.30200:24:31,459 –> 00:24:36,380Well, this book, Heaven, How I Got Here, along with a booklet How Can I Be Sure Of Heaven?30300:24:36,380 –> 00:24:42,300and a special Open The Bible pen and bookmark, are our thank you gift if you’re able to set30400:24:42,900 –> 00:24:48,579a new direct debit in the amount of £5 per month or more, or a one-off gift of £50 or30500:24:48,579 –> 00:24:52,180more to the work of Open The Bible in this month30600:24:52,180 –> 00:24:56,920For full terms and conditions and to give online, come to our website www.openthebible.org.uk30700:24:56,920 –> 00:25:02,780For Open The Bible and Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pick30800:25:02,780 –> 00:25:06,319I’m glad you were with us today, I hope you’ll be able to join us again tomorrow30900:25:12,400 –> 00:25:17,540No matter how great is the darkness, there’s always hope in Jesus Christ31000:25:17,540 –> 00:25:20,660Find out why, next time on Open The Bible