Sermon given for Deion

As we begin, I want to say that I appreciate our Pastor, Troy George. He called me last week, and I believe this was God's will and I right away accepted and I'll tell you about that in a minute.  But I thank him for the privilege of leading me though he's here today, to tell me to go ahead with it.  Again, I believe this is God's will yet again, and I'm going to ask our beloved Pastor George, to come, if he will, and lead us in an opening prayer....
(Pastor Troy George says a short prayer)
Our scripture this morning is going to be taken from the Book of Matthew.  I'd like to read to you from Matthew 25, Verse 31... and on through the rest of the Chapter. 
When the sun of man shall come in his Glory, and all his Holy Angels with him, he shall sit upon the throne of his glory and before him shall be gathered all Nations &he shall separate them one from the other as a Sheppard divided his sheep from the goats and he shall set the sheep on his right hand and the goats on the left.  Then shall the King say unto them on the right hand, Come Ye Blessed of my Father inherit the Kingdom of Heaven prepared for you from the foundation of the world. 
And this is the heart of our message.  For I was en-hungered, Ye gave me meat.  I was thirsty, Ye gave me drink.  I was a stranger, and You took me in.  Naked and you clothed me.  I was sick, and you visited me.  I was in prison......(pause)..... and You came unto me.  Then shall the righteous  answer him saying, Lord, when saw we be a hungered and fed thee and thirsty and gave thee drink, when saw the a stranger and took thee in and naked and clothed thee or when saw the sick or in prison and came unto thee?  Then the King shall answer and say unto them, I say unto you, in as much as ye as done it on to one of the least of these my brethren, you have done it unto Me.  Then he shall say unto them on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the Devil and his angels.  For I was a hungered, he gave me no meat, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger and you took me not in, naked you clothed me not, sick and in prison and you visited me not.  Then shall they also answer him saying Lord when saw we being hunger and in thirst or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not  minister unto Thee?  Then shall He say unto them, saying, Barely I say unto you, In as much as you did it not unto one of the least of these, you did it not unto Me.  And thee shall go away into everlasting punishment but the righteous into life eternal. 
These few verses - I believe it was 31, on down through that portion of the Scripture, is the heart of our message this morning.  And you will find that He as the King, talks to this group of  people.  Now people designate this of course as relating to the last days but as Troy said in one of his messages recently, I believe what he said to those folks then, are applicable to you & I today.  (Amens are heard in the background)  I believe that God's word is God's word and what was right for those people, what's going to be right for them in that day, I believe, is going to be right for us in this day and age.  I believe - now you'll find where He starts to tell them in Verse 35, He said I was hungered you gave me meat, I was thirsty, you gave me drink, I was a stranger and you took me in, naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison..... and you came unto me.
Now He lists - if my math is correct, He listed 6 things there.  Now bare in mind we don't all have the same abilities or the same talents.  And I do believe in most of these things He spoke of, in most Christian circles we are quite zealous to do these things.  As far as the hungered, the ones who need food, our Churches an example,  is very zealous in this.  I believe the ladies of our church do a wonderful job with supplying food and taking baskets, I know how they take baskets out on Christmas Eve and feed those who are poor.  We have no problem with that.  The food and the drink thing.  Then he talks about naked and ye clothed me.  I can't imagine anyone being in need of clothes that it wouldn't be provided by  most Christians that I know.  We are zealous about those things.  And He said sick, Oh yes, we're good on that and you know this is appreciated.  I know how I felt when I was in the hospital a few years ago, I remember Brother Troy was there.  One of the first ones I saw.  And I remember how Jim Harmon & Linda stopped in the room and saw me.  You know, this means alot to a person that's sick.  And I believe our Church is good on that.  We're good on alot of these things. 

And then the last, which is going to be the primary thought in my lesson today, He said, I was in Prison and you came unto me.  Now I believe in most Christian circles - not just necessarily in our church - but in Christian circles all over I believe we are quite zealous on those first 5 things.  But you know what?  I believe this matter, coming onto them that are in prison, we sort of put on the back burner.  In fact, we've done more than that.  We've not only put it on the back burner, we've turned the power completely off.   And I don't know why but I know one thing, I know that the Lord has given me that thing about prison.  I think that the worst thing that I can possibly imagine happening to me, outside of being in constant pain, would be to be confined in a prison.  Now I don't know how you feel, you might feel you'd enjoy it.  But I don't think you know what a prison's all about.  I have always had a soft spot for the person that is confined.  I always said I wouldn't make a good Governor because I'd spend too much time writing Pardons.  And that would not be a good thing because there are people in there that would be a danger and a menace to society if they did get out.  But I do have a very soft spot for those in prison, especially for those who have come to know the Lord and have changed their life.  I've always had this burden upon my heart. 

A few weeks ago, well, before I say that, I want to say this.... that if you want to serve the Lord, He has a way of letting you know where the opportunity  is to serve and He will let you know.  I believe He lets you know through people.  That's the only voice that God has.  For example, if Rick calls me on a Friday or Saturday night and asks me "would you take over the Sunday School class for me and teach the adult class?"  Absolutely.  That's not a call from Rick, that's a call from God.  Brother Troy has called on me several occasions, on short notice, Praise the Lord for those short notices!    That's a call from God.  This is what I'm here for.  Praise the Lord for the opportunities to serve Him. 

 

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But God uses another person to tell us this. 
A few weeks ago, I received a call from my oldest daughter in Nashville, just outside of Nashville.  And she said, "Dad, I want to run something by you."  She said, "Awhile back, I befriended a young woman in prison.  She's been in there for 16 yrs.  She's now a born-again Christian.  She is serving a life sentence, without parole, on a murder she did not commit."  She said, "Dad, she's very, at times, very depressed.  I told her that my dad was a preacher, Dad, would you write to her".  I don't know if I told her in these words, but I wanted to say, "Sue, that's right up my ally".  I believe we ought to be attentive to God's call.  It didn't take me 24 hours before I had a letter off in the mail to that young woman.  She is the young lady who I've requested prayer for in Sunday school for the past 2 or 3 weeks.  And in a letter, she gave me the most wonderful experience of her walk with Christ.  One thing she said, touched me very deeply, she said If I could leave prison for one day, I'd like to go to Church with my family.  I want you to remember that people, the next time you wake up on a Sunday morning and say, I wish I didn't have to get up and go to church.  (Amen from congregation) You have a wonderful privilege.  I don't know how many of you think you know what prison life is all about  But I'm going to read you a little paragraph from the documentary she put out.  She said this... and I'll just read part of it.... she said "No one can completely explain what prison is like.  It's something that must be experienced fully to comprehend.  But for someone that doesn't know, and I hope you never will, it is a secluded place at the end of the earth where authority controls you're every movement.  It's a place regardless of the guilty, innocent, good, the evil, the abused, the neglected, the sick, the healthy, the mentally ill, the courageous, the cowardly, the rich, the poor, the intelligent, the dumb, the disabled are all herded together surrounded by razor wire and left to survive."  And she said, "I wake up every morning to the banging on my door, keys rattling, the loud pop of metal doors opening and closing.  I look out my narrow window to catch a glimpse of the top of buildings far away and hope that the sky is clear for a beautiful sunrise.  It's a little taste of freedom, until I look down and see the razor wire below me to remind me of where I am.' 
Now, if you think it's a picnic, you'd better think again.  Now I don't know how many of you are familiar with prison life, I know John Wyatt has told you a little bit about it when he was here, he's in that work.  I have had a little bit of experience in it.  I visited several different prisons.  If you've ever been to the Federal Prison Camp in Alderson and I have, you will know that that is more like a country club than it is a prison.  That's a minimum security prison, the gates never close.  You can just walk out.  But that's not what some of these other places are like.  So my heart goes out to these people.  In my correspondence with her, I've learned that she's a true Christian.  This is an opportunity this isn't a work that I want to do for the Lord, this is not a work, this is a pleasure.  It's a joy to be able to comfort, talk to someone about the Lord, and to enrich,  You know, one of the devil's greatest tools, Christians, is discouragement.  Now he can discourage people, and he discourages people - has he ever discouraged you with your life style?   (laugh) Tell me about, he's there all the time.  And he's there to throw his poison darts at you and all of that.  But before I go on, I wanted to say one thing about that, then we'll go on. 

 

But it wasn't until a certain point that I learned...   I've read all the documentation on this case, right from start to finish, and I believe I know what I'm talking about.  But when I started learning a little about this, I thought to myself, I believe I can construct a message out of this.  I started putting my thoughts together and I didn't have everything quite together and I thought well Lord I don't know and I fought the devil on it for awhile.  And then last week when Brother Troy asked me to speak I thought, well this is God's answer.  This is the answer, that's the way the Lord works.  As I said, He works through people.  So I said, well absolutely.  And I would've said absolutely anyway.  But to me, this put the cap on God's approval.  And that's why this particular message has come this morning.  I'd just like to say that this message is inspired by that certain young lady....named.... Teresa Deion Harris... in a Nashville, TN state prison. 
It wasn't until I read some of the documentary and some of the things  I learned that due to the publicity of this case and the replays on TV and all of that - that I learned of some of these things about the letters that she had received while there in prison.  And among those letters was a good amount of hate letters.  Now you know, we have a strange way we do, we people, I believe that one of our greatest faults in Christian circles even, is the condemnation of others.  Oh how ready we are, to doubt someone, to condemn them for what they did.  Terrible.  I'm going to bring you one of these thoughts that stood out in my mind as one of the notations that she was sent.  Why are we so quick to condemn - leave it alone - I have talked to some Christian friends that I had and told them about this thing I have for feeling sorry for prisoners.  When one comes my way I'll work with them.  And you know what my response was in most cases?  Well if their in prison they did something wrong and deserve to be there and I'd just leave that alone.  Now I believe that God has a mission for you there as He does here in Hominy Falls.  And I believe that this is just as important as some of the rest of these things and it's not a work, it's a joy.  It's a joy to be able to lift someone's moral spirits and bring them a little closer to the Lord. 

 

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I quoted for her in one of my letters, the verses in my favorite song, which is on 91, where it says He shall give his Angels charge over thee to keep thee in all your ways, they shall bare thee up on their hands less thou dash thy foot against a stone.  In her next letter, she thanked me saying, "I have another one for you, in the 4th verse of that song, it talks about being under His wings shalt thou trust.  She said "What a safe place to be!" 

Well, these letters, these hate letters, oh it's so easy for you and I to hate.  We need more love in this world and a little less hate.  One of the letters she received contained this statement, quote... "You deserve to be where you are.  I hope you rot in hell lady."  It wasn't until I read that statement by someone, man, woman, who knows, I decided, there and then, I believe I could construct a message out of this.  In the first place, that person didn't have any conceptions of what Hell is.  Now Deion has told you what prison life is like,   Now I'm going to take a minute and tell you what Hell is like.  Now we hear that word used universally and frequently about Hell.  Most of the time we hear it, it's used in cursing or as a bi-word.  But I believe there is a literal Hell, they used to tell me "well you don't know what you're talking about"  - I have studied Theology, Bible Theology, and I believe I know a little bit about what Hell is because the Bible tells me.  (Amens heard from congregation)  Now, I believe Hell is a literal lake of fire that's prepared for the Devil and his angels.  It's not prepared for you and I but at the end - we talk about the Judgment Day - The Judgment Day, the time at the end of the 1,000 year reign and the great tribulation and all of that, it's at the end of that time that will be the final judgment of the Great White Throne.
I want to tell you something, if you are saved today and you know Jesus Christ as you're Savior you'll never see the Great White Throne.  Do you know why?  Because it says we shall be delivered.  We will be passed from  death onto life.  The judgment of the Great White Throne or what we know as the judgment and I think that's what most people have in mind when they refer to the judgment day, there will be no more hope at that time.  It tells us in the book of Revelations that whosoever is not found written in the Lambs book of life will be cast into the Lake of Fire with the Devil and his angels.  That's not a very bright future, is it?   But no, we don't have to go there you know, God doesn't send anyone to Hell, we send ourselves there.  He has offered a way of escape.  John 3:16 tells us For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten son that whosoever believes in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.  That's a wonderful gift. 
How many of you know that sometimes a gift isn't appreciated?  I saw an instance one time back at Christmas time or someones birthday, I'm not sure, doesn't matter.  This young fellow gave this man a gift of a little razor or shaving device - had it all wrapped up, the man opened it up and said "I don't need this, I've got one at home"  - there are some people who do not appreciate a gift.  I don't know how you feel but if someone gives me a ball point pen or a handkerchief I'm grateful for it.  And I'll tell you, I'm grateful for the gift God gave me of Salvation.  That is a wonderful, wonderful feeling.
But you know, there's another thing in this.  That person didn't know at all what Hell was.  And if we don't accept that gift of Jesus Christ that God gave so freely we are in danger of that.  Deion told you what prison was like, I just told you a little bit about what Hell is like well I really haven't finished that.  If you want more information on that, in Luke 16 I believe it is, there's a beggar who died and a rich man died.  The Beggar was carried by Angels into Abraham's bosom - the rich man was in Hell... he lifted up his eyes and he still had his feelings and he said "I'm tormented in this flame.   He still had his  thirst, he was still thirsty, he begged for a drop of water to be put on his tongue that it might cool his tongue.  He still had his memory.  He remembered that he had 5 brothers that he didn't want to come to that place.  You see, he had all of his facilities but he was helpless to do anything about them, he said, Abraham, send Lazarus Abraham said we can't do that, there's a great  gulf between us, you can't pass from one side to the other, you can't do it.  You know, that's a sad situation. 
Someone said one time, "Well all of the Hell that I get is here on Earth".  I answered that with this, "I'll give you 3 reasons why that's not true.  For one thing, there's water here and there's none in Hell.  Another thing, there's fire in Hell and it's not here.  The 3rd thing, is I'm here and other Christians by the millions are here and we're not going to be in Hell.  (Amens)  Praise the Lord for his gift of Salvation.
That's a little story about Hell. Now, another thing I derived from this statement that this person wrote to Deion.  In order to say something like that, "you are where you belong...you deserve to rot in Hell"... In other words, now I can read between lines pretty good, and what was really in this person's mind was...I am alright but you are going to Hell.  You know we have alot of self-righteous people - self righteous Christians if you will, I have met them and so have you.  In our world and in our Churches today.  "I don't do any wrong!"  Let me tell you something, all of these things here - you say "well like that person that wrote that he didn't do any wrong or whoever wrote that,
probably lived a good life".  Let me tell you something and I'll give you my experience.  All of my life, from the time I was a very young child on I was in Sunday School & Church, continually as I was growing up and in my teens, we were there 3 times a day in church and  Wednesday in prayer meeting.  I was raised in church.  I never did anything bad, never got in trouble with the Law except for 2 traffic violations some years ago, I think most everybody has that.  Outside of that I was always considered a good citizen,  I've served my community, never did any harm, never kicked my Grandmother or anything like that.  But you know what?  All of that goodness doesn't cut a bit of ice with God.  (Amens)  I'll tell you what he said in Romans, believe it's the 3rd Chapter, I don't have it written down I can just tell you.  Around verses 22, 23...  "He said for there is no difference for all have sinned and come short of the Glory of God."  Now I don't know how you feel but that puts me right in the same bracket with Deion or with you or with anyone else.  You see, sin in our life is a common denominator for all people.  We are all under sin. 

 

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Even Job said that he was born in sin - in sin did my mother conceived me.  So sin is the natural thing in the  human body but to conquer that you need Jesus Christ. 
People have such a warped idea today of sin.  But that letter - the 3rd thing I noted about it... "lady you deserve to go to Hell", this in my book is one of the Devil's poison arrows.  As I told you a few minutes ago, he loves to throw poison arrows and discouragement is one of his favorite toys.  And if this young lady or anyone else becomes a Christian he's right out to shoot his arrows.  Now I don't know if he's ever shot you with some of his arrows but if he hasn't yet, he will.  He's on the job all the time.  And believe me, he's shot his arrows at me, oh brother.
Maybe this whole scenario did something to get thoughts off of me for awhile and get them on somebody else.  But you know what, the Devil does have poison arrows.  But you know what?  That poison arrow was canceled out by God's love.
We are way over on time, so I'll close it with this.  You are 10 minutes late getting home, I am sorry.  I want to close with this little drama... just fantasize with me for just a moment if you will, and bare with me, supposing at this moment, the Governor of Tennessee would walk through those doors and he would come up forward and he said to us right here.  I have a prisoner with me, she is in restraints and shackles - she is sentenced to life imprisonment, even though she is innocent of the crime.  Now, I cannot pardon, she was sentenced to life in prison, but... there is one way that I could grant her a pardon.  If I could have a volunteer that will step forward that will take her place.  Now bare in mind, when that would happen, those shackles would be removed from her and she would go free.  But, those restraints would be put on you and you would be escorted back to Nashville and you will serve out her time for the rest of your life.  My friends, I dare say, that that little scenario were true, I dare say, that this carpet down here would not be worn out from the rushing forward of volunteers.  But you know something, that's exactly what Jesus Christ did for you.  Now there were no shackles on his hands & feet, but nails were driven through his hands and he was hung on the cross and at point you and I were made free through his death.  How could you reject such love that God has shown for you & I?  All of the shackles of sin that was on us, and the blame that was on us all went immediately to him when he suffered your penalty upon the cross of Cavalry.  God saw  our sins as being on him and he took our sins and our shackles were transferred to him and by acceptance of Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. 
If you don't know Jesus Christ as your Savior this could be a good time to come to him. Now I would just like to make one request, before I end, I would like you in this church to put Deion on our prayer list and pray for her.  She needs all of the encouragement and feeling she can get.  I'd just like to make that request. 
(closing Prayer)


* This sermon, in it's entirety, was used with permission by the Rev. Paul Gibson, Baptist Church, southern W.V.
** Please forgive any/all typos!