Three Young Men

I. Introduction

A. In the northern part of Jefferson county, north of Birmingham, there lived three young men. I don’t know if they knew one another. All three of the young men died within a two year period in separate car accidents.

B. They had certain other things in common:

C. Each had at least one parent that claimed to be Christians. Each attended services at a congregation with elders and deacons, faithful gospel preachers, and good, loving members. Each young man probably thought that he would get older, marry, perhaps have children, establish a career, and die old men

D. The stories that I am about to tell are real. The names of two of the men, and any distinguishing facts, have been changed to protect their identities.

E. Each of the young men made choices that affected their lives on the earth and their eternal destinies.

F. Hebrews 9:27 tells us that it is appointed unto men once to die and then comes the judgment. The Hebrew writer does not tell us when we are appointed to die, we must be ready.

II. T.J. – “Someday I will obey”

A. J. was well liked by all who knew him. He was a good looking boy who had a reputation as one who liked to party.

B. He had friends in the church where he occasionally attended with his parents but many of his closest friends were those who didn’t did not worship God or care much about following Him.

C. He was a very good athlete and excelled in shooting.

D. He competed in, and won, many shooting events. Most people expected him to compete in national events and seriously expected him to compete in the Olympics. His beloved sport taught him to precisely aim at his target and carefully direct the shot to the center of the target.

E. In his life his aim was on the target of his sport, not on the greater target of Jesus Christ. He did not have his priorities in the right order.

F. Hebrews 12:1-2 Using a sport analogy, the writer tells us to focus on Jesus, laying aside all weights and obstacles and to run the race with endurance until we can cross the finish line a winner, following the example of Jesus. A person is to set his aim on Jesus and live so that his life reaches his target, Colossians 3:1-11.

G. He would not be able to begin the race unless he first became a Christian.

H. He would have to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the son of God, Romans 10:13-14. He would have to confess Jesus as his Lord and Christ, Romans 10:9-11. He would have to repent of his sins and decide to live like Jesus, Acts 2:38. He would have to be baptized: buried with Jesus in water and raised to walk as a new person, Acts 2:38, Romans 6:1-6. As Romans 6:6 teaches, he would no longer serve sin but would serve God and would transform himself into someone more like Jesus, Romans 12:1-2. A friend who knew him said that when confronted about obeying the invitation to be saved and have his sins washed away, that he would say “I will do it someday.”

I. In his few years on this earth he excelled greatly in his sport, making people wonder, “What might have been?” Why do they wonder?

J. You see, one day he got into his car and while on the road was killed in a car accident. There would be no “someday.” All of his life he diligently prepared to compete before earthly judges, but he never prepared for the great meeting with the Judge of all mankind. His trophies and medals are collecting dust on this earth and will one day be forgotten. 1 Corinthians 9:24-27. He never competed so that he could have a prize in the next world.

III. Don – The Apostate

A. Don was a pleasant boy with a ready smile and a good sense of humor. It was hard not to like him.

B. I knew Don from his childhood. He had two sisters who were not Christians. When the girls became old enough, they quit attending the worship services.

C. His parents were members of the local church but were rarely faithful in their attendance.

D. One could tell the pattern of attendance well:

E. Both parents would attend worship services. Eventually one of the parents would be the only one attending, usually the father. The brethren would encourage the other spouse. Sometimes the spouse would start attending again. Sometimes the spouse would not listen, but when it became know that the church was going to withdraw from the spouse they would return and be faithful in attendance. Eventually the cycle would begin again.

F. Hebrews 10:25 tells us to be faithful in our attendance.

G. The real problem, though, was not unfaithful attendance but no commitment to Jesus. We are sometimes more concerned about the symptom than the disease. We want to “cure” people of not attending.

H. The problem is not a lack of attendance, but a lack of love and dedication to Jesus, Hebrews 10:19-24.

I. When we become Christians we are to be transformed. We are to hold fast to the confession without wavering. We are to encourage one another (consider one another) Worship attendance is obedience to God’s command and a way to stir others up. Remember, the problem with Brother So-and-so is not that he has quit attending worship services, his problem is he has quit the Lord. We need to address that more serious problem.

J. It was hoped that when Don became a Christian he would break the cycle.

K. It was soon apparent that he would need to be reproved often for his unfaithfulness. He moved to another county, started worshipping with another congregation and quickly resumed the pattern of unfaithfulness. He was worldly in his life, he knew what he should be doing but was not committed to Jesus. He did not see a faithful life in his parents and did not develop it on his own. He claimed to be a Christian but his life told a different story.1 John 2:3-6: Instead of loving God, he loved the world and it displaced his love for God.

L. Don had many opportunities to repent. There were many brethren who tried to encourage him to be faithful to God.

M. Sometimes he would listen, come forward at worship services and declare his repentance and ask for prayers/encouragement. We have to take his confession at face value.

N. Let us not confuse “coming forward” with repentance.

O. “Coming forward,” as we call it, is an expedient method that we have devised to provide a time and a way for people to make a public confession of sin that might be known to others in the community and cause the reputation of the church to suffer. The sinner acknowledges his sin and declares his repentance so that if the report comes to members of the church they can tell the accuser of the sinner’ repentance. Walking forward, feeling sorry, or even acknowledging sin is not repentance. A truly changed mind and changed life is repentance. If a Christian repents, he can have forgiveness of sins: 1 John 1:7-2:2; Acts 8:19-24. Only God knows if it is true repentance or if we are just going through some outward motions. We must accept and encourage those who repent and look for the fruits of repentance.

P. Don would sometimes come forward, sometimes after encouragement, sometimes when the church was ready to withdraw from him.

Q. The change, if any took place, was short-lived and he soon returned to his worldly ways. Perhaps in his mind there was always time to repent. After all, there had always been time to repent in the past.

R. Very late one night, his girlfriend called him to meet him at a breakfast house on the south side of town. He was travelling at a high rate of speed from one Interstate merging with another. A man had mechanical problems and had to do some emergency repairs on his disabled truck. Don plowed into the truck killing the man.

S. Don had extensive injuries and lapsed into a coma. This was the first day of a gospel meeting.

T. We he have been at the meeting? Based on his life up to that night, probably not. On Thursday of that week he died. Many mourned him from the community and the local church. We brethren mourned most of all that he died, never having fully committed himself to God. He was “baptized” but he was never fully converted.

U. His parents realized his lost state and it was difficult for they knew that their own unfaithfulness lead to his unfaithfulness.

V. Not surprisingly, they became faithful in their attendance after his death. His father told the congregation of their failure in example and dedication and its influence on their children. Even the unfaithful daughters and a wayward cousin attended for a while. Four months later the wife has become sporadic in attendance, the daughters did not come back, and the wayward cousin no longer attends. Their situation is no less perilous that it was at Don’s death, but apparently they have once again become hardened to their lost condition. Can any event be more tragic to cause them to seek God and genuinely turn to serve Him? It would be hard to imagine.

IV. Justin Nash– A Faithful Servant

A. Justin grew up in the same community as T.J. and Don. However, Justin’s story is different.

B. Justin was a good boy who was well liked by his friends. He had a good sense of humor and had a knack for writing clever cartoons.

C. Justin did become a Christian. He was not just baptized but he was also transformed and tried to live like Jesus.

D. When Justin did sin he sought forgiveness from God.

E. Justin was involved in the work of the local church and encouraged his brethren, even though he was just in high school.

F. His parents did not just go to church but they were dedicated to God and lived the Christian life at home as well as at church.

G. His life exemplified 1 Peter 4:1-11.

H. Justin went on vacation with some friends and a family member. They were stopped in traffic when a semi truck, that didn’t anticipate the stopped cars ran into the car killing all of the occupants instantly.

V. All three men died within a two year period. None of them knew that they would die when they got into their cars or that they would die at such young ages.

A. One young man was ready to meet the Lord, two were not.

B. Ecclesiastes 11:9-10; 12:13-14

C. Matthew 24:42-51