Golden Opportunities Lost Forever — E.A. Johnston

The Reality and Peace of Heaven

I have been wondering about heaven lately, what heaven may be like. Have you ever done that? Think about heaven and what it's really like. I know Jesus is in heaven. The presence of God is in heaven. Our saved loved ones are in heaven.

Our friends who were saved are also in heaven. Angels are in heaven. I remember J. Sidlow Baxter saying that when it came time for him to die, he didn't want to be raptured, he wanted to die a physical death.

Sidlow Baxter said, I'd rather just die and have Jesus all to myself, for at the rapture there will be such a crowd there on that day. I know when we die, angels carry us into the presence of Jesus. I recall a story I read about the famous British preacher Charles Spurgeon, when Spurgeon lay dying in a hotel in Menton, France.

His aide and secretary, Mr. Harold, looked out the window and saw a bevy of angels hovering under the clear blue sky, as if they were waiting for someone. Spurgeon died shortly thereafter. I believe that when we die, angels carry us to heaven.

Jesus said of the beggar Lazarus that when he died, angels carried him to Abraham's bosom. Heaven is a wonderful place because Jesus is there, and the older I get, the more friends I have on the other side, and I often wonder what they are doing up there.

Do you ever wonder about heaven? My Bible says there is a rest for the people of God. There is no anxiety in heaven, no bills to pay, no physical pains, no mental anguish. It's a place of perfect peace where we are safe in the arms of Jesus.

This world in which we live is filled with pain, worry, extremity, and grief. I remember a Puritan writer, William Grinnell, who compared death to a walk in a thunderstorm where you step into a dry building to get in out of the rain.

He said, one more step and you are out of the rain. I like that illustration, one step and you are out of the rain, and death comes suddenly to some. Sudden death is all around us these days, and when a person dies, their soul goes back to the God who gave it.

That's what it says in the book of Ecclesiastes. Then shall the dust return to the earth as it was, and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it. God will then allow you into his heaven, or he will bind you and cast you into hell.

The Necessity of the New Birth

Do you know Christ, friend, and do you know him savingly? Are you born again? You must be born again to get to heaven. I recall a story I heard about heaven. Allow me to relate it to you. An evangelist was traveling through the city of St. Louis on a Sunday.

He decided to stop and attend church there. So he parked his car and entered a downtown church. As soon as he got inside, he realized he was the only white person in an all-black church. He sat himself down on the back row and began to listen to the preacher who was up on the platform in the midst of his sermon, which was about the subject of heaven.

The pastor was an older man, and he was excited about his subject, and he said, Some folks call heaven paradise. Others call it Abraham's bosom. I think heaven is like this. Here is Jesus. He has just entered heaven, fresh from his earthly ministry, and he is greeted by Gabriel at the pearly gates.

Gabriel bows and says, Hello, Jesus. Sure is good to see you. We sure missed you, Jesus. Welcome home, Jesus. Now, wait a minute, Jesus. Who is that with you? Is that that thief? That thief on the cross?

Now, we can't have any thieves up here, Jesus. No, sir, we can't have no thieves up here. Just then, Jesus placed his arm around the thief and said to Gabriel, Never you mind, Gabriel. Never you mind.

He's with me. I like that. When we die and we stand before the Father, and we have no right to be there in that holy place or in his holy presence because we are just sinful wretches who deserve hell.

And as we stand there, Jesus will place his nail-pierced hand in ours, his arm around us, and say to the Father, He's with me. She's with me. That's what heaven is like, friends. But when I think of heaven, I can't help but think of the regrets I'll have for how I lived my life here, how I will regret all the time that I wasted, all the opportunities I missed, my Bible says in Ephesians in chapter 5 and verses 15 through 16,.

See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time because the days are evil. I must be honest and ask myself, Have I redeemed the time that God has given me, or have I squandered it on other things, on things that do not pertain to eternity?

The Call to Redeem Time

Only one life, which will soon be passed. All that's done for Christ will last. Is that true of my life? I have been around a long time, and I have missed so many opportunities for God that it makes me weep just to think about them.

All the time I've wasted in my life, sitting in front of a television, hours upon hours, and calling it relaxation. All the time I used to spend on golf courses, chasing a silly white ball around, losing it most of the time.

I've wasted so many days on golf courses, I cringe when I think about it. One day, God in his mercy spoke to my heart about what he thought about my golf hobby. G-O-L-F, Golden Opportunities Lost Forever.

And that's what they were. Opportunities where I wasted the time God gave me and spent it selfishly on myself. And that's the title of my message today, friends. G-O-L-D-E-N-O-P-P-O-R-T-U-N-I-T-I-ES, Lost Forever.

And I want us to make a practical application in our lives today. I want us to be honest with ourselves. Have we made good use of the time God has given us? Life is short. We are here briefly, and then we are gone.

Our opportunity to serve God and our generation is only for a set period of time. And then we enter eternity. How are we spending the time that we have? On what things do we squander the time God has given us?

When you die, friend, and stand before Jesus, and he reviews your life, will you have regrets of not making better use of your time for him? Will you regret the hours you wasted on worthless things? Things that don't count for eternity.

Time is a commodity that cannot be replaced. And I want to quote my friend Richard O. Roberts here, where he wisely wrote on the subject of redeeming the time. In his massive work, Whitefield and Print, he wrote the following regarding the wise use of time.

Let me read it to you now. Many of the resources at our disposal are at least to some extent renewable. Numerous persons have squandered fortunes, and then, through the exercise of better judgment, accumulated others.

By arrogant misconduct, a man may drive out of his life both family and friends, and then, with a contrite spirit, win them back again. Even that broken health which often accompanies a dissipated lifestyle may be restored when prudent conduct is pursued.

But the most precious resource that God gives to man is absolutely unrenewable. A minute lost can never be regained. An hour tossed away can never be drawn back. Those who waste days, weeks, months, and even years can never, even with repentance and strong tears, recover a tiny sliver of the time they have wasted.

The wise use of allotted time has been the mark of faithful men of every generation. All those who live with a consciousness of the brevity of life seek to find valid purpose for all that consumes their time.

I like that, and that's so true, friends. I remember reading a sermon by Jonathan Edwards called The Preciousness of Time, and in it he wrote the following. Let me read you what Jonathan Edwards said.

That upon time we should set a high value and be exceeding careful that it be not lost, and we are therefore exhorted to exercise wisdom and circumspection in order that we may redeem it, and hence it appears that time is exceedingly precious.

Entertainment Versus Prayerful Devotion

Listen, friends, if television had been invented in Jonathan Edwards' day, I can assure you he would not have owned one. He just would not have wanted to waste his precious time on such nonsense. How can we sit and watch television and still expect to do great things for God?

How can we waste our time on things of this world and expect God to do great things through us? I've known men in ministry who were more focused on lowering their golf handicap than lowering their head in prayer.

Men today who stand in our pulpits, a good many of them, don't have a clue what a close walk with God is. My late mentor Stephen Olford shared with me that he knew it to be a fact that the average pastor only spent about ten minutes a day in prayer.

Ten minutes? How can a man spend ten minutes a day in prayer and get to know the eternal God? He cannot. It's a superficial walk, and that's what many have today who call themselves Christians, a superficial walk.

They just won't make the sacrifice to spend time with the God of the Bible. They'd rather spend their time being entertained by Hollywood actors and celebrities. They would rather play golf than walk with God.

They would rather sit on the couch in front of their favorite reality TV show until their eyes grow the size of saucers and their brain the size of a pea. Rather, they should be in the next room on their knees in prayer, weeping over the sins of this nation and the loss in their community.

Many Christians have lost loved ones, but they won't take the time to really lay hold of God in prayer for their salvation. Other than a cursory prayer for them now and then, they won't take the time to lay hold of the altar in glory in desperate prayer and keep those prayers of intercession continually ascending to the throne room on behalf of a lost loved one.

They say with their lips they care about their salvation, but they say with their lives by living their time that they just really don't care. We live for ourselves and not others, but my Bible tells me, and that he died for all, that they which live should henceforth live unto themselves, should not henceforth live unto themselves, but unto him which died for them and rose again.

I like what's on the gravestone of Leonard Ravenhill. It reads, Are the things you are living for worth Christ dying for? Allow me to share with you friends the following story. While reading David Wilkerson's book, The Cross and the Switchblade, I was impressed by a facet in Wilkerson's life.

David Wilkerson's Sacrificial Prayer Life

Early in his ministry, he was a country pastor who spent the hours of midnight to 2 a .m. watching television to unwind and relax. Well, one evening, God challenged Wilkerson to give that time to him in prayer.

Wilkerson sold his TV and never replaced it. He never owned a television after that. And from that point forward, he gave God midnight to 2 a .m. And it was during this time that God called Wilkerson to New York City to minister among the teen gang members eventually starting Teen Challenge.

I realize that God did not reveal this wider ministry opportunity to David Wilkerson until he chose to go deeper with God in a sacrificial daily quiet time. I personally had maintained a daily regular quiet time for many years.

But lately, my time with the Lord was missing something. There was no sacrifice attending it. And the God of the Bible delights in sacrifice for he sacrificed his only begotten son for sinful man. After reading Wilkerson's story, I made a covenant with God to rise earlier after that and give that time to God in prayer.

I now rise at 4 a .m. each day. And before the sun has risen, I've spent quality time with the sun. My life's different because of this sacrifice of time. It's worth it, friends. You go deeper with God and you'll draw closer with God.

Wesley, Whitefield, and Disciplined Time

If we really want to make a difference in our generation for God, then why do we waste a sliver of time? John Wesley and George Whitfield were called Methodists. They were called Methodists because they lived their lives by a certain set of methods regarding the time God gave them.

I have been to London and I have sat in Dr. Williams' library with a page of George Whitfield's personal diary in my hand. Whitfield regulated his entire day to half hours where he was actively employed in things of eternal worth throughout the entire day.

He would not let a moment pass carelessly without a focus on eternity ever set before him. And I've been in John Wesley's home in London, down in the basement in the archives, and I've seen a page from John Wesley's diary as well.

It looks exactly the same as George Whitfield's. Evidently, John Wesley taught George Whitfield how to regulate his day for God by not squandering a fragment of time. Both Wesley and Whitfield rose early every morning of their lives to be alone with God.

They each rose at 4 a .m. every day of their lives until their deaths. They knew the sacrifice involved in denying their bodies to be with their master. Spending time with God meant something to those men, and God made sure that their lives meant something for their generation in which they lived.

Listen, friends, what cost counts and what counts costs. If you want God to get serious with you, then you must get serious with God. There's no other way. How many of us miss golden opportunities that God has for us to join him in his work, but we're too busy on other things that we thought were important, but in the end, they really didn't add up to much of anything worthwhile in regard to eternity.

Judgment of Each Believer's Work

Oh, friends, it will be the missed opportunities that will grieve us the most when our lives are rebuked on that day. My Bible declares in 1 Corinthians 3,. Therefore the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire, and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is.

If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward. If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet so as by fire. Wonder, friends, how we will feel on that day when our own life is reviewed.

Will we regret how we wasted so much precious time on silly, worthless things, things that are wood, hay, and stubble? Let me put it to you this way. When our life is reviewed and we stand before Christ, will our life reflect the gold, silver, and precious stones of a life lived on the full stretch for him?

Or will we stand there knee-deep in the ashes of a wasted life and bend over and with shame press those ashes into his nail-pierced hands? How we spend our time in this world is of great importance.

How we redeem the time is of eternal importance. Dear friends, if we lived our lives in light of eternity, how much would we change? I got rid of my television two years ago, and it was the best thing I ever got rid of.

All the time I wasted on that blasted evil thing shames me. Turn off your TV, friend, and get on your face before God and ask him to show you how to make better use of the time he has allotted to you.

A Final Exhortation to Live for Eternity

What are the golden opportunities in your life which are lost forever and cannot be recaptured? For you only have so many days left to spend them for God before you die and go to be with him forever. Let us prayerfully consider the following passage as I close our message today.

This is from Romans, and it states, Let us walk honestly as in the day, not in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ and make not provision for the flesh to fulfill the lust thereof.

Dear friend, pray to the Lord that the golden opportunities in your life will not be lost forever.