"Biblical Worldview on the Afterlife" Part 2 // Revelation 20:7-15-21:1

alright let's talk about health obscure theists we started a actually we've been doing biblical worldview just going through you know some of the basics on getting our mind squared away with what the Bible actually has to say and we've been doing that for about six months and last week we started a study biblical worldview on the afterlife and how you know I always think I'm gonna get further than I do and so we talked about heaven last week and so all we got left is Hell so that's where we're at so Revelation chapter 20 got your Bibles and if you don't have your Bible what's up with you Revelation chapter 20 we're gonna read from there let's start in verse 7 let's all stand I'll read out law loud and you guys can read along with me it says now when the thousand years have expired Satan will be released from his prison and will go out to deceive the nations which were in the four corners of the earth Gog and Magog to gather them together to battle whose number is as the sand of the sea they went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the camp of the Saints and the beloved city and fire came down from God out of heaven devoured them the devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was no found no place for them and I saw the dead small and great standing before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books the sea gave up the dead who were an inn and death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them and they were judged each one according to his works then death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire now I saw heaven a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away also there was no more sea let's pray get started thanks Jesus for your provision for us thank you Lord dead hells not for us you specifically said that hell was for the devil and his angels and Lord as we talked about the subject this morning we we God I just pray that you'd help me to be clear Lord that your heart would be clear on this matter and father that many would come in merely because of it but we love you we just give you the time and ask that you do this all in Jesus name Amen you can have a seat you know like a like I was saying last week we were we started in on the heaven thing and I want to explain a couple things before we get it just get into this you know I kind of read a little bit earlier because in verse 10 it talks about the devil being cast in the lake of fire there's a whole series of events that are taking place in Revelation 19 and 20 that we're not going to be able to get to I just want to give you a quick overview this is what the Bible says happens at the second coming of Christ when Jesus comes back it comes back to a world that's in turmoil that's been destroyed basically by the Antichrist and by another guy called the false prophet he's kind of like the PR guy for the Antichrist and by the way I think these guys are alive right now the Bible says that these guys are going to be added for the last seven years of history before Jesus comes back and they're going to deceive the world actually most of the people in the world there's a lot of people who are going to be saved but those who are deceived are going are going to be destroyed because of it Jesus when he comes back he takes the beast and the false prophet and he casts him in the lake of fire and the lake of fire is the ending point for everybody who's rejected Christ that's that's what the Bible calls Gehenna the lake of fire outer darkness all that stuff then what happens is Jesus reigns for a thousand years and Satan is bound for that same thousand years and during that thousand year reign there's people who were on the earth when Jesus came back with us we team came back with us there are people who are still on the earth and they have children those children don't have a choice as to doing right and wrong they're under the the rule in the reign of Christ they have to do the thing you know it's just don't have a choice there are they're there in the kingdom of God and they're subject to the kingdom of God and God doesn't leave it that way what he does is he gives him a choice and so Satan is released at the end of the thousand years and many of them do not choose wisely and they end up rebelling against Satan that's the last hurrah the devil basically it's his last chance to deceive as many people as possible and then he's cast in the lake of fire where it says in verse 10 the beast and the false prophet are this is a thousand years after they've been thrown in there and they're still there and the reason that I read that one is because there are people who talk about the fact that maybe you know you're destroyed in hell and that kind of thing that kind of thing in that it's not what happens with the beast and the false prophet and so it's one of those incidents where incidences where that becomes clear in the passage and then it goes on and talks about the great white throne judgment the old creation is destroyed at that point and God's gonna make a new creation after the great white throne judgment and when we started last week I was talking about the the afterlife just in general and the you know base basic short version of what happens after people die is this when you die if you are a Christian you'll go straight to heaven if you're not you'll go straight to hell God doesn't like that it was never the plan the Bible says that hell was just was made for the devil and his angels in fact Jesus is the one who said that the that hell was made for the devil and his angels and God's done everything he can to keep you from going there except for making you a robot and so people have free choice and so there's two two and only two destiny it's either heaven or hell and we talked about Nirvana and we talked about reincarnation we talked about purgatory and all those things and and that's just not something that you see coming from Jesus that's not something that you see in the Bible it is it is not what the Bible says about the afterlife everything that we know about God everything that we know about the afterlife Heaven Hell everything that we know about that is something that's been revealed in Scripture it's not something that you can know outside of dealing with somebody like Jesus if you're going to get an accurate picture of what happens after a person dies you have to have somebody who will speak accurately who will not deceive you and who does not have an agenda to you know wipe you out basically and so when when we're looking at what the Bible says about heaven and hell the reason that I trusted is because I trust the people who are speaking and there's not a whole lot of other people that I would trust about these things including people who read books about dying okay they don't know for sure or not all kinds of things can be a deception Jesus doesn't deceive anybody and so we talked about what happens with a believer after they died it's a really cool thing there are some people who think that when you die you your spirit goes to sleep inside your body or stuff that you're planted in the ground for a couple of thousand years with the case of Paul that's what it would be for a couple of thousand years and then at the resurrection you wake up all of a sudden and you get this you know you get the life that Jesus talks about but what the Bible says is that you leave your body so to be absent from the body second Corinthians five says this when you're absent from your body which means I can be absent from my body is to be present with the Lord Paul said he was in a straight between to two situations either to stay in his body and be with the people he was ministering to or depart and be with Christ which he said is far better so to me to live is Christ and to die is gain is what Paul said and so I don't think hanging out in the grave for 2,000 years as gain at that point and so again the Bible talks about leaving in fact in that passage in 2nd Corinthians 5 it says that your body is a tent so you are in a tent right now it's just a dwelling place and you're getting getting something bigger and better when you go home to be with the Lord 10 camping versus having a home in heaven and you know we talked about some of the questions that people have about heaven including you know are you gonna be able to know your loved ones and do you have a body when you're a heaven and and those kinds of things do you do animals go to heaven you know we talked about that and again if you if you don't know the answer so that there are animals inhabit you right back on horses here's what the Bible says and so you have that in Scripture and I think if you're if you can if you can't imagine heaven with your you know your little poodle foo-foo I think God's got you covered right and so I've had an I've always had a dog ever since I've been on my own and so in my mansion there's gonna be lots of doggie beds you know you have that we ended up with fullness of joy the Bible talks about when you go home to be with the Lord that there's fullness of joy Psalm 16:11 says you will show me the path of life in your presence is fullness of joy and at your right hand are pleasures forevermore and that's just a short version of what the what the scripture says about heaven we're not going to be bored in heaven you're gonna be so overwhelmed actually every every description that you have of guys in heaven when things are going on they're overwhelmed they're hitting their knees all the time they're hitting their faces all the time because they're just so blown away by the events that are going on including stuff where God's just doing radical things judging and and that kind of stuff and not to mention all the things that he does when he's blessing people you know last week I was I was talking about what CS Lewis had to say one of my favorite quotes it's up on the screen it's a he said this if we find ourselves with the desire that nothing in this world can satisfy the most probable explanation is that we were made for another world and we all go through life whether you're a Christian or not you will we all go through life thinking that there's something bigger that there's something better but there's something deeper and and it's just on the on the edge of our experience and I'm not quite reaching it and I'm not quite understanding what it is and it's because there is something bigger there is something better and there is something that you were made for and that's what Lewis was talking about when he was saying that and that's what Jesus flat out set when he taught on the subject of heaven and on the subject of Hell one of the things one of the points said I made last week was that Jesus talked about Hell more than anybody in the Bible so everybody looked loves to loves to think that Jesus is on their side loves to think that Jesus is a great guy who's who's always saying nice things you know he's he's the Good Shepherd he's always walking around with a lamb on his shoulders and smiling right you know and that kind of thing and Jesus again talked about Hell more than anybody else and the reason is because Jesus came to save me and Jesus came to save you too and he came to save you from something and as something that he came to save you is so over-the-top awful that he had to come down to the earth to do and you know when when you when you look at that whole thing we're gonna talk about this at the end why would God make a place that's so awful this is what's awful about it it's where God is not that's what's awful about it you were made to be in the presence of God you were made to worship God were made to experience all the glory of God and everything every good thing that God has for you you were made to breathe heaven that's what you were made for and what people are doing is making choices angels and men angel and I mean it in the general generic men and women are making choices as for whether or not they want to be with God well guess what if you want to be with if you want to be good with God where he where he dwells is in heaven it's it's what you were made to made to be it's where you were made to be it's what you were designed for and if you want to be without God well guess where he is he's in heaven and so there's no heaven without God there's no heaven without God there's no there's no God without heaven and so that that relationship that we have with God puts us in the place where God is and if you don't want him he will accommodate you and he has already that's what the that's what the Fallen Angels were about we want a place where you're not we do not want you they had heaven they decided that they didn't want it and God said okay and when you get into a place like that you're not designed to be there you're not designed to live there and it would just be like taking out a taking you out of the place where you're designed to live right now you are designed to breathe you're designed to have one one gravity as as far as your weight goes you are designed to eat you were designed to sleep there are certain things that you are designed to do as human beings and when those things are fulfilled in your life you have a pleasant life if you can't breathe it's not pleasant if you can't sleep it's not pleasant if you can't eat it's not pleasant if you go and you go through the list of things where if you withdrew everything that God designed you for you would be an absolute torment that's what hell is the place where God is not and so people who don't want him get accommodated they get to go to the place where God is not and again it's not that God made a place of torment it's got God made a place where people could be on their own so you want to be on your own that's where that's where it is in any case in this passage it goes through and it talks about the great white throne judgment like I said that takes place after the Thousand Year reign of Christ and it says in verse 11 then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them and I saw the dead small and great standing before God and books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and so they're standing before this great white throne white being a symbol of purity the throne is a place where it's the seat of the king they're in court here and you you have to remember that when we think of going to court nowadays we think of a judge sitting up on a bench and you know you have a place where the people sit you have a place where the jury sits originally court came from Kings in fact you see this in the Old Testament when somebody wanted judgment they wouldn't they would go and stand before a king they didn't have judges even even the term judges in the Old Testament is a term that is designed to point to a guy who's leading the people and so they're not a judge in the way that we think so book of Judges is not about judges it's about the rulers of the people of Israel who also judged them and in the same way these people who are at the great white throne judgment are going to be standing before the judge of all the earth he's also the ruler of all the earth so he wants good before kings or he went stood before elders when it says that they they went stood before the elders and the gates of the city they literally had a bench in the gates of the city where were elders of the city basically the governors of the city would come and sit and when people had problems that they need to needed to have a question solved about they would come and stand before the judges in the courtyard and they would be judged that's where we get our term court from and that's what's again happening here so God's holding court and all the people who are left after the judgment end up there you know when the when they stand before God here the verdicts that precede are righteous and true well the white represents purity God always does it right he always does it perfectly and so the judgments that come from that throne are righteous and true the facts that the the facts and only the facts are going to be presented there will be no perjury there will be no opportunity for sinners to argue their case when the books are opened and the facts are revealed they'll stand speechless before Christ there's gonna be a prosecutor and no defender there's gonna be an accuser and no advocate an indictment but no defense the evidence of guilt will be presented with no rebuttal or cross-examination a judge no jury and his verdict will be binding for all eternity that's what's happening here and this isn't the case for believers a lot of times people get confused about the the judgments that you have in the Bible by the time we get to the great white throne judgment all the believers everybody who has been saved and given their life to Christ have already been raised they've already been to heaven there they've already been judged and you are going to be judged but you're not going to be judged by your works your works are going to be judged and I know I know that that's a distinction a lot of times that people don't understand let me put it this way you know the Bible says that when you become a believer what happens is you enter into the family of God and so God becomes your father right Jesus becomes your brother in in other illustrations Jesus becomes like the husband and we become like the wife it's all a family thing that's what happens when you get saved okay so I have a family I have a son and a daughter and then they never come up to me and say you know okay dad I've got all these works can I be your son that would be twisted that's that's messed up and that would be messed up either on my part where it's messed up on their part and it's not that I don't judge their works because I do judge their works they come up to me and go Dada you know I did this whole this whole thing and either I go well done wow that was awesome good job or I go yeah I could have been done better buddy and so I'm not judging him as to whether he's in in my family by his works I'm judging his works he's already in my family you get the distinction there if somebody wanted to be in my family what they you know like if you if one of you guys I know I don't know why you would want to but cuz that's kind of weird but if you wanted to be in my family and you came up to me and said Steven really be like to be part of my family there's a process that we'd have to go through and I'd have to adopt you and then your family right but if you said Steve I want to be in your family here's my stuff I go what well I got all these things I got all these things that that I've done I've got all these things that I can give you just let me be in your family you understand what I'm talking about you understand how weird that would be and that's what people think about getting to heaven I want to be in your family here's my stuff Let Me In that's weird and that it's not what the Bible teaches and so there's a judgment that believers go through but that judgment has to do with their work so again it's like me me judging something about my son did he comes up to me says dad I did this what do you think of it and I go wow this is really good this is really good this is really good this stinks right that's what dads do and they do it just like that I'm just I'm just messing around but the Bible talks about the fact that we're gonna stand before the throne of God and we're gonna and God's gonna judge our works in the passage we read last week 2nd Corinthians chapter 5 it says that we're all gonna be a peer to peer before the judgment seat of Christ to receive in our bodies what we have done whether good or bad and you know people freaked out about that whole thing but that's what's taking place in your life right now I've already given my life to Jesus and part of the family of God and there are times when I do good things and God comes up and you know you just get the touch of the Holy Spirit and God speaks to your heart he goes out words well done oh yeah that is exactly where I want you bud good job and he'll do that and then there are other times where you do something stupid God's like was that really seriously that's what's coming out of your mouth right now really that's that's your attitude right now what do you do it and then you know you try to go with just just just move on God and God goes nope I'm not gonna move on and he's relentless does he do this with you makes you feel guilty you just feel feel guilty until you go and get it right and all that kind of even happen does that happen to you now okay okay I'm not just it's not just me because I wouldn't be fair all in any case you're gonna stand before God and your works are gonna be judged and so I expect that when I stand before God there's going to be things that God's got to correct me on I know he's gonna be correcting me today at some point and you know at other points I know that he's gonna he's gonna be you know saying well done you know at some point but there's gonna be Corrections and that's the way that it goes and so you're gonna stand before God your judge your works are gonna be judged if you're a Christian not you your works are going to be judged and so they're gonna be words that God goes well done and there's gonna be works that he goes that yea really stinks that's not what it's not exactly what we were going for there and what the Bible says is that it's like passing through the fire and so you're good good works make it through the fire and you're bad works get burned up good works or gold and silver and precious jewels bad works or wood hay and stubble actually it's not actually like that the reason your words go through the fire is because they're mixed up there's wood there's wooden hand stubble in your works and there's gold and silver and precious jewel and jewels in your work so here I am I'm doing a work right now and I'm doing it for Jesus and what I'm doing is I'm sharing the Word of God with you and what agendas do I have and I don't know that I have any agenda right now I think I think that what I'm doing here is I just want to share with you because I want you to know it and I want you to be blessed by it I want some of you to get sick that's my agenda that's what I'm thinking I'm just telling you straight out up front okay that's my agenda but I don't even know my own stinkin heart there may be other things going on there and so I get through through a point I'm going to tell you a joke and it's a really good one maybe I want the laughter right it's okay you know I go through and this word comes up before God he passes it through the fire and he goes really Steve you know you thought you were Robin Williams what was that about dude burnt up you know that kind of thing and so God keeps the good and gets rid of the bat and that's what's going to happen with us on the other hand unbelievers they're G being judged by their works that's that whole idea that people have where God's got a scale up in heaven if you got forth and you know 51% good works and 49% bad works and tips the scale and you're in as if you could buy your way into the family of God as if you could and again that's that's that's messed up so we talked about what happens when a believer dies so what happens when an unbeliever dies and what's cool about the Bible is that Jesus lets us know exactly what happens actually the passage that we have in chapter 20 is something that was revealed to John by Jesus and the passage I'm taken to you Luke chapter 16 when you turn there this is a passage that was spoken by Jesus tells us what happens after you die and so this is a this is the story of Lazarus and the rich man and my Bible here says the parable of the rich man and Lazarus Jesus never spoke a parable where he spoke where he gave somebody's given name and so I think that there was really a guy named Lazarus and we don't know the rich man's name actually church history says as its deivis is what his name was in verse 19 it says there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day but there was a certain beggar named Lazarus full of sores who was laid at his gate desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table moreover the dogs came and licked his sores so it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom the rich man also died and was buried and being in torment in Hades he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom being in the in the bosom of Abraham's the idea of somebody being uptight with you so when when somebody's weeping in your you're holding them that's the picture they're you know they're in your bosom where it's a place of comfort and so verse 24 it says then he cried and said father Abraham have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame but Abraham said son remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and likewise Lazarus evil things but now he's comforted you're tormented and besides all this between us and you there's a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot nor can those from there pass to us then he said I beg you therefore father that he would send him to my father's house for I have five brothers that he may testify to them unless they also come to this place of torment neighbor ham said to him they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them and he said no father Abraham but if one goes to them from the dead they will repent but he said to him if they do not hear Moses and the prophets neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead and so you have this story of Lazarus and the rich man and this is Hades being described before the death of Jesus before the death and resurrection of Jesus and this is what's going on here Hades is just the place of the dead that's that that's what it meant in in Greek philosophy and that's what it means in the Bible - you're in the Old Testament you see the word Sheol and you see the grave those things it's talking about the place of the dead that's what Hades was but Hades before Jesus died was a little bit different than it is now because when Jesus died our sins were paid for when you see sin deep being dealt with in the Old Testament it's dealt with with sacrifice and so they'd sacrifice a lamb or an ox or or whatever and what the Bible says is that they were atoned for but the word itself in Hebrew actually means covered their sin was covered and so last Wednesday we were talking about this back in the old days before vacuums if you were going to clean up your house you usually had wood floors and so you go and sweep your sweep your wood floors and if somebody's coming over real quick and you don't want to get the dust banned what you do is you lift up a rug you sweep it under the rug and then you drop it down that's where sweeping it under the rug came from that's the idea and so yeah you do that I can tell you guys are talking about this right now okay so anyway you sweep it under the rug and that's what happened with sin in the Old Testament it got cupboard and so the rug is like sacrifice and the the dirt is like sin and it gets covered when you get to the New Testament though the same word in English atonement is different in Greek and it means that it's been taken care of care of it's been paid for it's gone now and so when Jesus dies on the cross he's the ultimate sacrifice all those sacrifices are pointing forward to what Jesus did and so now sin is paid for before sin was paid for what happened with people as they went to this place of waiting where they were comforted until the death of Jesus on the cross and then the Bible says that Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth and he led the captives captive Lazarus is one of the captives Abraham is one of the captives they were captive captivated by their sin was covering their sin now it's paid for and they're taken in they're freed and now they're in heaven with the war and so because your sin has been paid for if you're a Christian you immediately go into the presence of the Lord there is no waiting place there's no in-between place of comfort now we can just go straight into Jesus's presence so that's cool but the other part is still there so there's a place of waiting for the unbelievers to and that place of waiting was not until the death of Christ on the cross that place of waiting is until the Last Judgment that place of waiting is going to be there until the great white throne judgment when death and hell are all brought up and they're cast in the lake of fire everybody who is in Hades that was not removed when Jesus died on the cross and took them home to be with Lord is going to be there until the Last Judgment everybody who's in Hades is going to end up in the lake of fire now when you when you whenever I talk about this stuff I compare Hades to like County Jail so you do you know say you get you get busted for something the cops arrest you and what they're gonna do is they're gonna take you down to county jail and you're gonna sit there in the lockup until your trial date if you can't make bail you sit there until your trial date and then when your trial date comes up they bring you before the judge and they determine whether or not you did the thing that you're being accused of you know a first service I said they determine you you are either pronounced innocent you know let me determine your innocence or your guilt and in that kind of sense in the sense you prove that you're innocent or whatever and that's not true in American jurisprudence they have to prove your guilt unless you're a Supreme Court judge and then it's different in any case your your guilt is proved at that point and you don't go back to the lockup what you do is you go to prison and so this is like County Jail for unbelievers they're there until the last judgement and then you know where they go where do they go No they go to heaven and then they're judged and then they go to help so have you ever heard the phrase all roads lead to heaven it's a lie but it's not a complete lie it's a half truth because all roads do lead to heaven the problem is what happens when you get there everybody's gonna see heaven everybody's gonna see God every is gonna everybody's gonna see the angels everybody's going to experience the purity and the joy and the peace that's there everybody's going to experience that and some of them are going to experience it for a very short time and then they're gonna stand before the judge of all the earth who knows everything that they've ever done and they're going to be excluded you didn't want me and so here's the place for you and out they go I think that Satan is really smart I think that that he's he's he's wicked on levels that are over the top there I think that there be going to be people who stand there and say I was told that all roads lead to heaven and if Satan could stand there beside you he'd go you're here aren't you and then he left and I think that's the kind of guy that he is in any case that's what the what the Bible teaches about what happens with unbelievers in this place people in Hell suffer is what the what the what Jesus said verse 24 father Abraham have mercy on me send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame and torment has mentioned four times in this passage and so people in Hell suffer once you're in hell here's another thing there's no chance of leading you current you can't cross over to heaven look at verse 26 Abraham says to him and besides all this between us and you there's a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot nor can those from there pass to us there's no getting out you're just there the fact that Jesus said that there was no possibility of crossing over suggests that the decisions you make in this life determine your eternity and there will not be some hope for a second chance in the afterlife there's no there's no other chances I'm making choices right here and right now that determine where I'm gonna be for the rest of eternity and they all have to do with what I do with Jesus and I said Jesus not Abraham Jesus is telling the story okay people in health thirdly are conscious and fully of we're aware of where they are and why they're there we already saw it in verse 24 father Abraham have mercy on me I'm tormented in this flame and so he knows where he's at verse 20 27 he says I begged you therefore father that you would send him to my father's house for I have five brothers that he may testify to them unless they also come to this place of torment and so he knows why he's there he knows that his brothers are in the same boat and they're going to be there to knows why he's there know where he's at and knows where he's out there fully conscious and what that is pointing out is that you know when you when you think about Hell it's no party place so I had friends of mine that would say that kind of stuff I don't want to go to heaven have to wear a white bow you have a gold harp and you're just singing songs and and that kind of thing I want to go to hell where they're all partying that's where the stones are and so that's where I want to be you know well they're not there yet except for actually we did one of them die you don't want to tell them Rolling Stones if Keith Richards still around who knows what I'm talking about who doesn't okay anyway hell's no party place now though again when when you look at this story the the rich man isn't talking to anybody else it looks like the only conversation he's having is with Abraham and and well just with Abraham and that's it he sees Lazarus and uh assumably he sees other people over there but it looks like he's in by himself in hell in fact the Jesus says that the final place Gehenna he calls it outer darkness if it's outer darkness it's the idea that you can't see anything you're just in the dark no way you're in the dark because God is light and in him is no darkness all that's why you're in the dark it's the absence of everything that God is and you go through all the other attributes of God and you have that whole thing too and so you have that here's another thing the guy is not repentant and in the end what he does is he blames God for being there this is what I mean by that when you see the conversation that he has with Abraham he says I beg you therefore father that you would send in verse 28 or 27 to my father's home or my father's house for I have five brothers that he may testify to them unless they also come to this place of torment Abraham had says they have Moses and the prophets let them hear them that's this the other word god but I'm here and he goes no it's not good enough somebody raise us from the dead then they'll repent it's not good enough and the implication he's making is I had the I had Moses in the prophets and I'm still here it's not good enough and so if somebody raised from the dead then they would believe there was just a miracle you hear these guys say if God's real then one of his he pain his name on the moon if God's real then why isn't it why doesn't he do something why does he do a miracle for me that kind of attitude and that's the attitude that he continues to have even though he's being punished first and what Abraham says is if they don't hear Moses and the prophets they're not going to believe or be persuaded even though one rises from the dead out of the mouth of Jesus who rose from the dead and so guess what you're here to this morning and you have Moses or the prophets there's a good chance you have a Bible sitting in your lap if you don't you can get it on you know you can google it you can get it on your phone yeah the you have Moses and the prophets you also have someone a guy who rose from the dead and you've probably been dismissing that see what I mean I found out what I mean it's what Jesus is talking about there and so you have that so who's gonna be at this judgement back over to Revelation chapter 20 who's gonna be at the judgment and basically you haven't you know have a number of people I think that a lot of times people think it's just a radically wicked and so Mormons teach that the only people who are gonna go to hell are you know fallen angels and murderers and people who leave more masks and those are the only ones who are going did you know that yeah that's that's what they teach you leave Mormonism you are bound for hell do not you know pass go do not collect $200 it's where you're going and so you know if you have other groups that do that kind of stuff but what the Bible teaches is that it's anybody who's rejected Christ all those who've rejected Jesus those who've rejected God's free payment for their sins through the sacrifice of Jesus and that's who's going to end up there in fact the Bible talks about the the fact that my sin is taken care of because Jesus has taken my place and you really need to understand that this whole thing with works getting you into heaven doesn't work because the Bible says that your works aren't good enough and so the picture that God gives in the in the Bible is you know their own works that you can get you into heaven if you keep the commandments you go to heaven but the standard that the Bible gives is you keep them and you keep all of them and you never break one and not only do you keep them keep all of them never break one you keep them in your heart - so you're absolutely pure on the inside and you look good on the outside it's not one or the other it's it's all of it and you know we've talked about this before when I talk to people about this sigil in a heaven I'm a good person and I'm not saying that you're not a good person if you compare your life to me then maybe you are maybe you're nicer than I am maybe you're cuter than I am maybe you do more things for people that I do maybe that's exactly who you are the problem is is that good enough to get you into the family of God again you're paying your way dude is that good enough to get you into the family of God and it's not good enough for me and again the Bible says that you do this without fail so when people tell me I keep the commandments you know what I always say to them is what are they and no one in the whole time I've been a Christian since 1975 I've had people say that to me over and over again and so when they say I keep the commandments I go what are they not one of them has ever been able to list them not one and in fact usually they're coming up with commandments that aren't even in the Ten Commandments you don't love your neighbor as yourself that's not in the Ten Commandments you know and so the Ten Commandments you don't put your on God don't put anybody before me don't do any idols don't take my name in vain honor my day honor your father and your mother don't kill don't commit adultery don't lie don't steal don't be greedy you know I'm those are the those are the commandments and they're pretty straightforward greedy is being covetous they're pretty straightforward and you know people don't even know them there's no way you're gonna keep them and that's not even all the commandments there's not just ten there's 613 the Jews counted them all so if they were you and a Jew wears a prayer shawl he's got 613 little little tassels little threads on their tassels and when they're praying they're going through and they're touching all the threads it represents every one of the commandments these guys counted up and so I don't know 613 commandments I do know 10 you know actually I know 12 or 13 maybe you know so I'm not even getting close there and then people will say well you know it's nothing can name it's a you know a New Testament Christian I do the Sermon on the Mount do you know what the Sermon on the Mount is Jesus takes them the 10 commandments and he makes him worse and so don't murder anybody and then he says but by the way if you're angry with your brother without a cause you've already done it and so you're in danger of the judgment and don't commit adultery by the way if you lust on a woman in your heart then you've already done it Bucky and so what Jesus did was he took the commandments from the outside and outside performance and I made it an inside thing so not only am I supposed to be perfect on the outside I have to be perfect on the inside too and that's why you're going to hell because you're not that's why I was going to help cuz I'm not and so what God had to do was he literally comes down from heaven and he does what my life is supposed to be he does what my life is supposed to be and then he takes my punishment on himself so that I could get his reward and that's why I'm going to heaven and if you're going to heaven that's why you are and so who ends up in in hell who ends up at this judgment and again it's those who've rejected the free payment that Jesus gives and so that's your basic sinner that's like what I was a guy who's going around and going along in life and you know I don't mind talking about religion every once in a while you know it's a pretty uncomfortable subject and every time somebody starts mentioned in Jesus I started freaking out well I didn't freak out but I was uncomfortable I didn't really want to talk about it and so I got something from you know my family you don't talk about religion and politics and so don't want to talk about religion that kind of stuff is because I'm uncomfortable with a subject in Jesus he's a great guy but once you start quoting the dude I get really uncomfortable really quick we had a couple with when I was when I got into the whole thing with Jesus paying for your sin and stuff they were sitting right up front and they got up and he walked out because I'm talking about Hell and sin and forgiveness I understand why they walked out that's exactly what I would have done I wouldn't have been up in the front row yeah and actually when I first went when I first went to church I heard this stuff for the first time I sit in the back row well you know second from the back otherwise if I could have I would have climbed over a chair to get out but I was stuck in the middle of a row with some Christian dude helping me you know with my Bible and all this stuff and so I politely waited until the end this is what took place maybe that's what's going on with you but when people would talk about Jesus I would go you know I try to be nice to him depending on who they were if I if I knew them well enough or if I if I didn't care about what they thought I might say something to shut them up and that kind of thing but I was uncomfortable about anything that had to do with God that was just your basic you know as your basic even I was a pretty good guy on some levels and other people wouldn't like me I know it so it's like if somebody was picking on somebody else I'd go pick on them and I you know I thought it was awesome for doing that but most of the stuff that I was doing was I was doing it to look good did everybody around me that was who I was and I didn't want to have anything to do with church why would I go to church when I said that you know you've heard my testimony before when that when uh when the guy asked me to go to church with him that's what I said that's how I said why would I go to church and then he tried to convince me and he did so as your basic sinner Joe Sixpack run through life not doing anything awful or bad necessarily second second group of people are people who are self-righteous and I was talking earlier about trying to get to heaven based on your works you got 51% 49% bad picked 1% good you're in to the family of God you just bought your way into somebody's family and those are people who are moral to some degree and they think that they don't need Jesus they've decided that they're good enough to stand before God on their own merits and that's how they're going to get in you know have a joke here man dies and goes to heaven of course Saint Peter meets him at the pearly gate st. Peter says here's how it works you need at other points to make it into heaven you tell me all the good things you've done and I give you a certain number of points for each item depending on how good it was when you reach a hundred points you get in okay the man says I was married to the same woman for fifty years and never cheated on her even in my heart that's wonderful says Peter that's worth three points three points he says well I attended church all my life and supported its ministry with my tithe and service terrific says Pete st. Peter that's certainly worth a point one point Wow how about this I started a soup kitchen and Mike in my city and worked in a shelter for homeless veterans fantastic that's good for two more points he says two points the man cries at this rate the only way I'm getting into heaven is by the grace of God 10,000 points you're in and again that's the point nobody goes to heaven based on on their good deeds in fact you know what there's gonna be bad people in heaven and there's gonna be good people in hell and that's the way it goes bad people in heaven this is what I'm talking about I you know I'm a pastor I I go on Hospital visitations pretty routinely and a lot of the hospital visitations I've gone on are people that I don't know and they're dying and and many times they're about to die in the next couple of days sometimes even on the day and when I get there I start talking to them and they're all scared everyone that I've ever run into in that situation they're afraid that's why they're they ask for some guy that they don't know anything about a lot of these people I don't know them they don't go to our church and so that's why I'm there because they're afraid and I start having a conversation with them and they're listening you know but at first they're not really listening because they think that what they're gonna get is something that they've seen on TV or something and then they start listening and they start glomming onto everything that I'm saying and then usually by the end of the conversation in every conversation I've had except one in the whole time that I've been a pastor every single one of them asked Christ to come into their life and when they do at the end of it it's not like oh you know you see to say this prayer you're gonna get into heaven because I talked to about sin and repentance and forgiveness and making things right and all of that I talked to him about the whole thing and every one of them to a man because they were all men these are all men that I'm talking about every one of them to a man started weeping immediately after the actually during the prayer they started crying and they lose it and then after the prayer they're always saying this I wasted my life I hit Steve I have all these people that I have to make things right with and I don't have time I don't know what I'm gonna do and we talk about that you'd be able to those things bad people and sometimes the stuff that they've done it's just been awful bad people but repentant people you know with the qualifications for coming to Jesus are being ungodly God gives the righteousness of Christ the pot the Bible says in Romans to the ungodly and if you're not ungodly you don't get to have the righteousness of Christ that's where we all start out so there's gonna be bad people heaven and there's gonna be good people people this you know I would've hung out with people that I would even hang out with right now people that you know that I would like who reject Jesus and end up in hell and that's the case for crass manners that's another group of people people who just put it off every time every time that they hear this every time that anybody talks about coming to Jesus they just go well you know what I got some time and I can put it off and that kind of thing and usually the reason that they're doing that is because they're afraid because they know that if they make a choice to follow Christ and they're gonna have to change their lives things are gonna have to change most people know what it looks like to be a Christian they know what they have to give up they know and it's true you do have to give things up but they put those things off because they're afraid you know who else ends up in the lake of fire the Cowardly you know why because they're afraid they're so afraid that what they will do is they will live their life by anybody who says anything to them except for God God says one thing and all their friends say another thing God says one thing and their boss says another thing God says one thing and her husband says another thing God says one thing and their wife or their children or their or their parents say another thing and they will do anything that anybody else says except for God because they are afraid coward end up in the lake of fire so procrastinators then you have unsafe unsaved churchgoers you're the worst place to be if you're not going to repent is it's right here you're in the worst place you could ever be you're not gonna repent and give your life to Jesus this is the worst you should be running out of here so what should happen you know the and the reason is because what happens is you come in here and I'm teaching you the Bible we read it every Sunday every every Sunday night every Wednesday night we're going through reading the Bible you are accountable for everything that's been read here you have Bible sit in your laps you're accountable for everything that you've read and you're in your Bible and then on top of it I'm talking about how life is supposed to go and what Jesus says about things and there are some of you who've given your life to Christ and you are all excited every time I do that stuff because what's happening is it's being confirmed that God's at work in your life I didn't even know that was in there look Jesus is already doing this stuff in me this is so cool you know and you get all excited about that stuff sometimes you're sitting there you go oh I knew that and I haven't dealt with that God would you please help me and you move that way but every single one of us is getting a challenge every single time that we open up our Bible and you are either responding to what God has to say or you're trying to cover it up you're trying to suppress it suppress the truth in unrighteousness is how it's phrased in the book of Romans there's a passage in Proverbs that says he who is often rebuked and hardens his neck will suddenly be destroyed and that without remedy not a good verse and so you have that all these people have rejected Jesus and you know what that is the issue it's not an issue of if you've sinned everyone in the room is sinned it's not an issue of if you've sinned it's if you've rejected God's payment for your sin so you reject God's payment for your sin guess who gets to pay for it you're on your own buggy you get to pay for it and the payment is separation from God in for that and again we already talked about that John 3:18 Jesus speaking again he said he who believes in him talking about himself is not condemned but he who does not believe is condemned already because he's not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God it's not a sin issue it's a son issue what have you done with the son in 1st John chapter 5 it says he who has the son has the life he who does not have the son of God does not have the life God's made it really clear it's really really crystal clear in these things and finally you know people will ask me how kind of God of love condemns somebody to hell how can a God of love send someone to hell what the what the Bible again teaches is that God had has never done that there there isn't anybody who's been made for help um none of the Angels know of none of mankind was made for hell the problem was God gave people a free will and they either want to beat with him or they want to beat without him and so with the angels God accommodated these guys once again he accommodated them and what's happening was Satan is he's trying to drag as many people away from God as he possibly can the reason that you got you got snowed by Satan is because Satan hates the one who loves you the most and he doesn't want you to be with and again that's what's going on people are making their choices and the choice that you make on this earth matters Jacob J I Packer said this scripture sees hell as self-chosen hell appears as God's gesture of respect for human choice all receive what they actually chose either to be with God forever worshipping Him or without God forever worshiping themselves GK Chesterton said this hell is God's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice you know I like CS Lewis and CS Lewis made the point that the gates of hell are not locked from the outside they're locked from the inside and he said this the demand that God should forgive such a man while he remains what he is is based on a confusion between condoning and forgiving to condone and evil is simply to ignore it to treat it as if it were good but forgiveness needs to be accepted as well as offered if it's to be complete a man who admits no guilt can accept no forgiveness and he went on and said this there are only two kinds of people in the end those who say to God thy will be done and those to whom God says in the end thou will be done all that are in hell choose it without that self choice there could be no help no soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it those who seek find those who knock it is opened that's the promise of God made so everybody who ends up in help ends up there because of their own choice in fact there's a passage in the Book of Ezekiel where God is speaking to mankind and he says why will you die why won't you turn and be saved and it's the the cry of a father to his lost child that's what he wants and that's where God's heart is at so where's your heart now when we look at all this stuff there should be a response to these things and for a Christian the response to what hell is it's so awful it's so dark it's so it's so final that our response should be that we care about the people who are around us we should be willing to tell someone I know that most of you guys do that but you need it you need to look at people and see them as people who are going one place or the other because that's what's happening everybody's going one place or the other and if I know that somebody's going to end up in hell I'm not okay with it I'm not you know I'm not indifferent about it I want to do something about it that's called compassion and that's what God did for you God did for me he did something about the other thing if you're not a believer is you need to receive Jesus as forgiveness you know first time I heard this stuff you guys I was a freak I was freaked out as anybody else could be I was sitting there squirming in my chair wanting to get out wanting to leave I totally understood the people who left for service I get it I wanted to leave but by the time I got to the end of it I realized that something was going on that God was real really real there were things going on in my heart it wouldn't be it wouldn't have been that big a deal if none of it was real it would have just been a story that some dude upfront was telling but it was a big deal and I understood that and I gave my life to Jesus the first time that I heard this stuff first time because I'm smart I think that people who understand this and walk away that's not smart not smart this is what you need you know I was talking at the beginning of the study we were talking about that yearning that people have for for something bigger something better I know that you have it everybody does gods placed eternity in their hearts that's what he said everybody knows this there's a hole that's inside you you're trying to fill it with something and it's not gonna be filled with anything except for a relationship with God or you're part of the family where you're with him forever that's what he wants for you so we're gonna do communion you guys can come on up we're gonna do communion and if you are not a Christian you don't have any part in this this is none none of you you don't get to have this unless you give your life to Jesus so that you can have it you can have heaven you can have God you can take communion with us and so before we do communion I'm going to give you a chance to do that maybe you've followed Jesus before and you're trying to get back with them and now there's a reason that you're in the room and maybe maybe you're in the room because you've walked away you know that you need to come back and I think that's a good thing God sees it but you need to come back maybe you're in the room because some Christians been hassling you for weeks and you want you just want to get them off your back and you're finally here it's like okay I'll go to church I'll listen to the bald guy okay you know and you you wound up here and you just heard all of this stuff and I can tell you you know almost for sure that nobody in this room knew what I was going to tell you but God did and you just got set up to God knew what I was gonna say he knew who I was gonna say it to he knew who was gonna be in the room and he was speaking directly to you he loves you he's saying exactly the same thing that he said in Ezekiel why would you die why won't you just talk and that's what I would say to you too so I'm gonna give you a chance to do exactly that I'm gonna pray and then give you an invitation to come to Christ and what that means is you need to ask God to forgive you for your sin you need to repent you need to stop going the direction you're going turn around do a 180 that's what repent meets and you need to give your life to Christ so I'm gonna give you a chance to do that right now let's pray God again we thank you for your love thank you for thank you for communion however you everything in this represents what you did for us you took it you took the beating that we deserve you took the stripes that we deserve you took the nails that we deserve you took the separation from God that we deserve and you spilled blood that we should have been spilled and all so that you could take our place and so that you could give us a way into heaven there's a ticket paid for everybody in this room to go straight to hell and it's crazy when people don't know so father I just pray for those who are here this morning that don't know you they don't know what they walked out in the in the parking lot he got run over by a truck whether or not they'd go to heaven in fact they kind of think that they do know where they go and it wouldn't be glory I just want to pray for them that you'd help them to finally make a choice to finally make a stand and finally turn around and just give their life to you while your heads are bowed your eyes are closed if you're here this morning and that's you you want to know that your sins forgive you want to know that you're going to have you want to be part of the family of God and you're done trying to buy your way in if that's you and you want that and wanted to raise your hand up I'm gonna pray over on my right god bless you anybody else back in the back to get us back there lady back there god bless you anybody else raise it up high back in the back on my right last moment you're adults I'm not gonna do a big emotional plea you you heard what the Bible has to say all the stuff that I was talking about words of Jesus you guys that's what Jesus had to say anybody else okay because that raised your hand why don't you look up at me I'm gonna pray a prayer with you and it's a prayer asking Christ into your life and you need to mean this from your heart this is what this is what it means to repent this is what it means to ask for forgiveness and that's what you're doing and you're gonna be doing it between you and God and I'm gonna give you the words to say I'm gonna say a prayer out loud and I want you to pray it out loud after me but it's a prayer asking Christ to come inside and for Jesus to forgive you okay you mean this from your heart the Bible says that if you call him the name of the Lord that he'll save you that's what he's doing right now so why don't you close your eyes with me and pray this prayer Lord Jesus come into my life I know that I'm a sinner and then I've sinned against you I'm sorry please forgive me please write my name in your book and make me part of your family I thank you that you loved me that you died for me which arose from the dead that you're coming for me please fill me with your power and help me to live for you I give my whole life to you now in Jesus name all right [Applause]

Channel: Calvary Chapel Tri-Cities

Views: 828

Rating: 5 out of 5

Keywords: Gospel, The Bible, Worldviews, Jesus, God, Calvary Chapel, Steve Whinery, Being Like Jesus, Having A Biblical Worldview, The Bibles View on Things, What does the Bible have to say

Id: JNeBo4JlmzA

Length: 63min 54sec (3834 seconds)

Published: Mon Dec 10 2018