Brother Harvey Starling often preaches in area-wide evangelistic meetings. One of his most powerful messages, to make clear to the audience where they are before God, is a sermon illustrated by using chairs. I have modified his sermon somewhat, but the basic idea is the same. The visual use of chairs helps us to judge for ourselves where we sit concerning the great subject of salvation. I have some chairs that will be placed before you on your right and left. Jesus said that there will be such a separation made in the Judgment as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. (Matt. 25:32.) So both chairs and right and left will be used in a symbolic way. These symbols are easy to understand.

There is a sense in which all human beings really sit in the same chair. We are all equally needy and lost people before God. God is no respecter of persons. This was hard for the Jews in the first century to grasp. They really believed that they sat in a different chair from people of all other nations. The Jews called others, Gentiles, Greeks, barbarians, and even dogs.

Paul argued that everyone is a sinner before God without excuse in Romans 1-3. He concluded by making several quotes from the Jewish Scriptures. He said: "There is none righteous, no, not one. There is none that understands. There is none that seeks after God. They are all gone out of the way. They are together become unprofitable. There is none that doeth good, no, not one. All have sinned and come short of the glory of God." (Rom. 3:10-12, 23.) Solomon wrote that God, in the beginning made man upright, but he sought out many inventions. (Eccl. 7:29.)

We all are in the same position before God. We are in the same boat or in the same chair. Man likes to think that he is better than others are, but he is not. "Except the Lord of Sabaoth (harvest) had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrah." (Rom. 9:29.)

There is a second sense in which there is just one chair. God gave his Son for the sins of all mankind, not just for part of humanity. Jesus is described as "the Savior of the world." (John 4:42.) "God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life." (John 3:16.) God would have all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth. (1 Tim. 2:4.) God is not willing that any should perish. (2 Peter 3:9.) This is the greatness of the Gospel that we preach. This is the good news.

When the Gospel was first sent out among lost mankind, immediately some changes started to occur. Among those who were lost, some responded to the message desiring to be saved. Those whose hearts were tender and reception said yes to the Gospel. The seed fell upon good soil and brought forth a harvest. Some seed fell upon thorny, wayside and rocky soil. Of the four kinds of soils, only one was receptive and productive. (Luke 8:4-8.)

Often in Acts, Luke records that when the Gospel was preached some believed and others did not. Some mocked the doctrine of the resurrection of the dead. Jesus told a parable about a king making a banquet for his son and sent out invitations for many to come. But some who were invited "made light of it." (Matt. 22:5.) Have you ever noticed that expression? Many today also make light of the Gospel.

Paul asked, "But they have not all obeyed the Gospel. . . But I say, Have they not heard? Yes, verily, Their sound went into all the earth and their words unto the ends of the earth." (Rom. 10:18, Psalm 19:4.)

Jesus said, "When the Son of man shall come in his glory and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory. Before him shall be gathered all nations and he shall separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. He shall set the sheep and on his right hand and the goats on his left. Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. . . Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matt. 25:31-46.)

What has your response to the Gospel been? Did you receive readily with a good and honest heart? Did you make light of it and reject it? This happens in every community where the Gospel has been preached. The doctrine of Universalism---that all men will be saved in the end---is not true! In fact, more will be lost than saved.

"Enter ye in at the strait gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in thereat. But strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be that find it." (Matt. 7:13-14.) Did you hear it? Few will be saved!

Things are not quite as simple as right and left, black and white, up and down. With human beings, things get complicated. But God knows all. He will be merciful and just. But there are some distinctions to be made among those who are lost. Many have not obeyed the Gospel, but there are some differences among them. Some are more responsible than others.

One of my Bible teachers, once described the lost as being in two major groups. One group is those who have purposefully and knowingly rejected the Gospel. They have made an informed decision. Another group is like Cornelius and his family. Their hearts are tender toward God and would readily obey if they understood. They do not purposefully and knowingly rebel against God. They are out of Christ like those who have rejected the message of hope, but they are different from them.

Through the years, there has been a lot of discussion about those who have never heard. I have several articles on the subject in my study. There is a recent one written by Apologetics Press. Here are some conclusions that I would make for our purposes today: 1) This is not a matter for us to decide or judge. God is able to handle this. 2) The church may be responsible for some who have never heard. 3) There is surely a difference between those who have not heard and those who have. (Luke 12:47-48.) 4) Don’t get so bothered about this topic! There are other things that we should be concerned about which applies to us. There is no one in this assembly who has not heard the Gospel.

There may be more than two chairs for the lost. There may be several chairs. And yet they are out of Christ. They have not obeyed the Gospel. Justification is based upon faith. "Faith comes by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." (Rom. 10:17.)

There may be several chairs for those who members of churches. Those who do religious surveys use the expression "the churched and the unchurched." They are referring to those who belong to some church and those who do not. There is a difference to be made among those who are members of New Testament churches. Note the Lord’s messages to the seven churches of Asia Minor. (Rev. 2-3.) Some were rebuked; others were commended. It is also evident in Paul’s messages to the Corinthians. The members were not all alike in faithfulness. Some teachers there claimed to be greater than Paul. They claimed to be super apostles.

Jesus explained to his disciples the meaning of his parable about the sower and the seed. He said that the gathering of the tares represented the time when "the Son of man shall send forth his angels and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend and them which do iniquity and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth." (Matt. 13:41-42.) Notice that Jesus said that the angels will "gather out of the kingdom." Some might argue that they were not really in the kingdom. True. But they were like tares growing among the wheat. Tares look a lot like wheat. You can only tell the difference at the harvest time by what is growing on the top of the plant.

James said that there are different kinds of people. Listen to him. He wrote, "If any of you lack wisdom let him ask of God that gives to all men liberally and upbraids not, and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavers is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive anything of the Lord. A double-minded man is unstable in all his ways." (James 1:5-7.)

Many who have been baptized into Christ have fallen away. They endured for awhile, but did not make it all the way to the end successfully. In most communities, there are as many members of the church who have fallen by the wayside as there are those who remain faithful. Peter said that it would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness than to have known it and turned from the holy commandment. (2 Peter 2:20-22.) Why is that so? Because to reject the holy Word of God is to treat it as if there is something wrong with it and you don’t want it anymore. The Hebrew writer described some who "trod under foot the blood of Jesus and count the blood of the covenant an unholy thing, despite the spirit of grace." (Heb. 10:29.)

Many are indifferent about the Gospel. Jesus said to the rich Laodiceans: "I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot. I would that you were cold or hot. So then because you are lukewarm and neither cold nor hot, I will spew you out of my mouth. Because you say, I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked." (Rev. 3:15-17.)

Some in the churches are always dedicated and faithful. They are ready to do whatever they can for the Gospel’s sake. The churches would completely fail were it not for these saints of God. These Christians feel their weakness and failures more keenly than others do. They readily confess their need for God’s help, but others do not. They have never confessed their sins; they have not really tried to turn from them.

Move all the chairs over to the left side, lost side, and leave only one on the saved side. There is only one chair on the saved side because there are not different kinds of saved people. There are not faithful and unfaithful Christians. There are not dedicated and undedicated Christians. If one is a Christian, one is faithful, dedicated and committed to the Gospel. He loves the Lord Jesus with all his heart. (1 Cor. 16:22.)