This was the title of the sermon from Pastor James Meeks of Salem Baptist Church of Chicago a few Sundays ago. For those of you who are regular members of a church you know that sometimes your pastor/bishop/elder has to preach directly to their parishoners to help them get back on track. This could be for any number of reasons to get the people realigned on some spiritual or practical life matters. On this day Rev. Meeks told us visitors and telecast watchers that the “No Exemptions, No Excuses” sermon was for his people, those that call him pastor. The rest of us were welcome to take from it what we would. He had me hooked. No nonsense straight talker.
He continued by saying that there aren’t many statements that cover all the people all the time. There are exceptions to everything except this one thing, that thing being death and its eternal repercussions. He made references to the recent spate of well publicized deaths including celebrities from Farah Faucet to Michael Jackson and Ed McMahon, and the lesser known among us like the people who died in the Washington D.C. Metro train crash, and local deaths including Jada Justice and Chasity Turner here in Chicago.
These were the reference scriptures for the day (New International Version):
John 1:12 (I include verse 13 for context)
12Yet to all who received him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— 13children born not of natural descent,[a] nor of human decision or a husband’s will, but born of God.
John 3:16-18
16″For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.[b]
Romans 10:9, 13 (I include verses 10-12 for context)
9That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved. 11As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”[a] 12For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him, 13for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”[b]
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Rev. Meeks emphasized another key point. The Christian faith teaches us that those who haven’t accepted Jesus as their personal savior will spend eternity separated from God. If you don’t agree, that’s fine but it should be the teaching of every new testament church and any church not teaching this is a cult.
The only possible exceptions to this rule are youngsters who are not able to make profession for themselves. In this case it’s just one of those mysteries of God. There are some things in His infinite wisdom that He keeps to Himself.
Other good reminder thoughts he shared are that we can’t alter the Bible to fit our own personal situations. He also referred to the thief on the cross, I believe in with respect to the timeliness of salvation.
Then he made a really good point about the fact that no preacher (or any other believer for that matter) can put anybody in heaven or hell. The Bible places our final destination squarely in God’s hands…
Hebrews 9:27
27Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment
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So those of you who may have a problem with it, take it up with God directly and not with the person who is trying to help you by witnessing to you.
For you believers who sometimes fall for that particular guilt trip or others that you may hear, don’t use it as an excuse to stop sharing the word. You may just have to find your own unique, effective way of doing it but saying nothing when the urge hits you isn’t an option. The reason why is that the blood of the unsaved is on our hands if we don’t make the attempt (Ezekiel 33). The key verses are 1 – 6 but I encourage you to read the entire chapter to get the full emphasis on the concept.
Next Rev. directed his attention to the under 40 crowd stating that wealth and popularity are not synonymous with peace and happiness. You can have all that and find out that it’s a nightmare. He closed his thoughts on pop culture by reminding us that Susan Boyle was in a mental home for three days after winning Brittain Has Talent. He then reminded us that Jesus is the Prince of Peace. Recall that His first words after the resurrection were “Peace unto you”.
I enjoyed the service overall – Salem has an outstanding choir and praise & worship team – including the sermon that wasn’t intended for us visitors. I got the message he was trying to get across so thank you kindly for the good instruction Pastor Meeks. We will definitely visit again. If you happen to be on the look out for a new church home in Chicagoland I highly recommend that you consider the Salem Baptist family. And where ever you are or where ever you may land in your search, remember what Rev. said…no exemptions, no excuses.