Hell and Lollipops | Jonathan "JP" Pokluda

[Applause] [Music] are you scared he should be a guy just say it is I just want you to know and wherever you're listening from whether you're here in Dallas or or at another campus what a privilege it is as I was singing and worshiping and just sitting here with you just thinking and what a privilege that so many young adults would give their life to worshipping God and I know some of you are visitors and and guests you may not know this God that we're singing to and talking to but I just I want you to know that I consider it a great privilege to get to open the word with you this evening how many of you are here for the very first time like it's okay no big deal I'm not gonna make you stand up and sing anything okay there's a lot a lot of you here for the very first time yeah that's awesome and praise God welcome hey welcome home welcome to our home I mean that I pray you'd make it your home and we're so glad you're with us usually when you visit a church you know they talk of one or two things it's either it's either money or hell right they're talking about one of those are they and we're not talking about money so let's go I want to start with just a story that happened to me when when my oldest daughter was two-and-a-half years old and she was kind of going through that terrible to face that I'm sure you guys have heard about and so she's about two and a half there's a good kid but going through a rough phase and and I had had a rough day you know and so really busy back-to-back meetings and then my truck broke down kind of right in the middle of that and so you know I took there's never a good time for your car to break down so I take my truck to the mechanic and I'm sitting there in the waiting room and they they finish doing whatever they need to do so I was gonna be back from the road that was good news the only good news this particular day and as I go to pay the bill there's a bowl of lollipops right there and so this is what's true about my two and a half year old at the time nobody has ever loved anything as much as she loves lollipops I mean it's weird this weird obsession and so you could think about something that you love think about whether you have it or you really want it but she just has this crazy strange obsession for lollipops at this time in her life and so I see that bolon just like any good dad would you you know I grabbed one for her and and I took that and I put it in my coat pocket on this particular day and then I'm on my way home and so I called Monica my wife on the way home and can't answer the phone my wife's usually cheerful and full of joys kinda hello you know I could tell something was wrong it what's wrong so Presley just had a rough day today and I'm like well what do you mean Presley's my daughter two and a half well what do you mean she's like well she just wasn't kind to her sister and she made some bad choices and then she was disrespectful and we kind of have this rule in our home if you get in trouble with mommy multiple times then you get in trouble with Daddy when he gets home and so I'm thinking hey after this long rough day the first thing I'm gonna have to do when I get home is is discipline my daughter which is which is unfortunate right and so I keep going on the way home and I get there and I walk in and I sit Presley down and I and I just say hey you know what what's going on what did you do today and she said daddy I had a rough day and I hit two and a half and I said and it's hard to be two and a half you know and I and I just said well what did you do should I made some poor choices today and I said I hate to hear that so what did you do is she said you know I was I was disrespectful to mommy and I talked back and I was mean to Finlay and and I and I did she begins to list out this thing I mean that's a that's such a bummer man you know and I said cuz look you know right I saw this today and I pulled that out and her eyes got this baby and she's like daddy daddy is that for me I got it for you she's like daddy can I have it can I have it can I have it that's it oh I said you can't have it say I got this for you but I can't give it to you I can't come home and reward you for for your behavior and so I'm afraid you're not gonna get that and she looks at me is because I can do whatever I want really and I'm thinking you know I never learned how to do an exorcism I don't know what just happened what just happened and so let me just pause because I've got some options now as a dad I've got some things I've got I've got like a quiver full of disciplinary actions I can take I'm like business banking is at hand or is it spoon or maybe we go belt for this one or or or maybe you know you can sit in that chair you know for the rest of your life or or or it's corner or quiet time timeout or maybe you're grounded from prom I'm thinking like what am I gonna do but let me as I walked through the options like let me tell you what I didn't do like imagine if I would have been like hey come with me let's go to the front door and I open the door and and I put her on the other side of it and I say it's been really fun being your dad but this is the end yeah this is this is where it stops and so you go that way I'm gonna go this way no hard feelings and you know yeah yeah wouldn't do that right like here's like some of your like how can you say that you know and and that's like I would never do that I would never be like hey you want to do that then we're done no more communication forever because that wouldn't be a loving dad that wouldn't be but but in that what God does didn't that kind of the doctrine of hell that because you've done something wrong here that at some point when you die he cuts you off forever there's their separation no more communication and and not just that but you probably heard some pretty horrific things and lots of pain and an agony and torment and and suffering and fire and and all the things that we think of when we think of Hell and so I want to be really honest with you tonight we're moving into a series called the afterlife what happens to you when you die a my concern for us is we don't really deal with the topic of death a lot like in the in back in the day someone would die right in the living room they would die in the bedroom they would die in the home and you would handle the body and you would dig a hole in the back pasture and you would you would bury them and you would see it and most of us have never even been in the room when someone dies it's very peripheral to our live today it's very marginal from where we're at we've outsourced that to the medical industry here in America so we don't think about death a lot like a lot of you maybe you're in your 20s and the hell or heaven feels like a really long ways off but I tell you that I had a friend die this week an untimely death pneumonia took a turn for the worse nobody saw it coming you have no idea when you're going to die and because you exist now you will exist somewhere forever and we've got to deal with this doctrine and I hate it man I hate I wish we didn't have to I mean we all know I hate that some of you listening to this right now will be in hell one day the weight of that is overwhelming to me and you have friends that will be there we have family that will be there and the weight of that if we really grasped it would be completely overwhelming and terrifying to us but we have to talk about it because the Bible talks about it and so as we start this series we're going to start with option one and that is hell and I want to teach you truth from the Scriptures Jesus talked more about Hell than everyone else in the Bible combined more than half of his parables highlighted the doctrine of Hell he talked a lot about this and so I do as I said I wish I could change this right and if you want to hear that it's not real and there's not a hell and you're not going to go there you don't have to go far people are constantly trying to erase this doctrine Rob Bell wrote a book called loves win love wins that had a lot of traction and people listen to because it was it was popular because there was some confusing ideas in it about Hell and then maybe you heard about the Pope's interview last week that made national news that he said there is no hell now I don't know if he said it or not the Vatican issued a statement after the fact kind of recanting some of that I don't know what happened there but I will tell you if you want to find somebody who says there is no hell you will not have to go far but you will not hear that from Jesus when God was on the earth he talked about Hell a lot he wanted you to know about it and I think we have this obsession in some ways with the afterlife like whether somebody spends 23 minutes in hell or Colton Burpo riding heaviness for real I want you to know that hell is for real - I think this is one of the reasons you know that the movie right now I can only imagine by MercyMe that song was so popular because it's talking about what happens in the afterlife we have an obsession about it and tonight I want you to know what is real there's lots of different beliefs I'll go through some of them real quick there's the the belief of naturalism which is the Atheist worldview that is that you die you go in the ground and worms eat you you decay and that's it you cease to exist there's annihilationism this is kind of what they said the Pope said it's where you go to hell and then you essentially just burn off you you disappear there's universalism which it says that everyone will eventually go to heaven maybe you go to hell for a season but you eventually go to heaven there's reincarnation if you're here and you are of the Hindu faith you believe that you're going to die and then come back is either an animal depending on how you lived or as a person or maybe even someone of nobility there's the idea of the Catholic Catholic doctrine of purgatory this middle ground this place where you go until you are preyed out of it this this place between heaven and hell or someone pays your way out of there purgatory and I can remember when young adults would say hey I don't want to worship God because I don't wanna worship anyone who sends someone to hell and I think the more common belief today is who cares it's apathy Eminem said there's a place called heaven and place called hell a place called prison and a place called jail and daddys on his way to all three of them except one and I think that's really our posturing as it as it as we talk about this place hell it's like yeah maybe I'll go there maybe I won't that's because we don't know what it is you would never have that posturing if you understood what it is I'm gonna be in Luke chapter 16 if you turn there I start in verse 19 of Luke chapter 16 turn to the New Testament Matthew Mark Luke three books and we're gonna look at three questions about Hell from this story that Jesus tells we're gonna look at what it is who should be there and what we do about it Jesus he's teaching the Pharisees these are the religious people at the time he's like hey let me tell you about a story about one of my favorite topics we're gonna talk about Hell and so they're leaning in and and this is what he says in verse 19 there was a rich man who was dressed in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury everyday what he just did is he put the pharisees in the story these were the first they were the originators of the prosperity gospel they believed that if you were rich you had a unique relationship with God that God must love you that's why you're wealthy so this wealthy man who's dressed in purple which was expensive clothes okay he's kind of like Prada Gucci of the time would be purple and so that's what he's draped in and and he says he lives in a life of luxury every day at his gate now there's another man he's a beggar his name dis Lazarus he's covered in sores and he's longing to eat what fell from this rich man's table and even the dogs came and licked his sores Lazarus the name is literally the one who God helped the one whom God helped and he's poor and he's covered in sores and he's hungry and dogs come and lick his sores so two men the time came when the beggar died Lazarus dies and the angels came and carried him to Abraham's side okay so Jesus is talking to Jews and he wants to talk to them about heaven so he talks to them about where Abraham father Abraham all the Jews would have known Abraham he's like hey so now this man Lazarus is there with Abraham Abraham side if you've studied theology maybe you've heard it as Abraham's bosom it's the waiting place it's heaven it's a place with God a place of contentment a place of great joy where we await for Jesus to come back here to make the new heavens and the new earth hear more about that next week the rich man also died and was buried in Hades that's where he's at in Hades where he was in torment you can underline torment he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus by his side so he called him father Abraham have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue because I am in agony underline that word agony in this fire but Abraham replied son remember that in your lifetime you received your good things while Lazarus received bad things but now he is comforted here and you are in agony and besides all this between us and you a great chasm has been set in place so that those who want to go from here to you cannot nor can anyone cross over from there to us the rich man answered then I beg you Father send Lazarus to my family for I have five brothers let him warn them so that they will not come to this place of torment Abraham replied they have Moses and the prophets let them listen to them no father Abraham he said but if someone from the dead goes to them they will repent he said to them Abraham says if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead he says hey they have the Old Testament they have the Torah Genesis Exodus Leviticus numbers Deuteronomy let them read from the prophets they tell of where salvation can be found and if they're not going to listen to the Bible they're not going to listen even if someone raises from the dead so you have two men here two deaths two destinations Abraham's side Hades hell Gehenna the Valley of Hinnom and we're talking about the afterlife you have a place of comfort and a place of torment a place of punishment and a place of peace and goodness we're gonna focus on the one of punishment this evening the first question I want to ask from this text is what is hell what is hell let's talk about it what it is well let me start by saying what it's not it's very simply it's not anything remotely good it is void of anything good joyful blissful Pleasant peaceful nice kind good gentle faithful loving anything that would cross over the positive line it's not there but Abraham replied verse 25 son remember in your life you received your good things you got him here on this earth so now you will have no good things while Lazarus received bad things but now he is comforted and you are in agony and so while anyone who's not trusted in Christ on earth they still even though they do not have God's Holy Spirit still get to experience something called common grace so there is no hell on earth let me explain what common grace is there there are things in this earth that are like commercials for God it's it's things that make you laugh things that give you a feeling of peace and contentment things that that that allow you to feel satisfied simple things like satisfying your hunger or quenching your thirst watching a sunset being generally protected okay this is God's common grace to you and there commercials for God that that shows you how you're being watched over and protected that there's a creator who's looking over you there is none of those things in hell there's there's nothing that remotely resembles that in hell there's nothing to numb your pain in hell so some of you think yeah you know I'm gonna go to hell and party drugs sex and hip-hop oh it's no no none of those things exist in hell and so if you ever like yeah man you know so hey take a shot of patron with Satan in my honor what this text is telling you is there's nothing to even drink in hell he's like hey Lazzara go get me a drink no I'm in agony oh no shots of patron there are none of your sinful pleasures in hell there's nothing that would bring you any relief there's no drugs there is a place void of God's blessing void of joy void of community void of pleasure void of good and then here's the real kicker for ever forever forever it never goes away it's not punishment for a season and then sees it's for ever it's a place of torment and agony verses 23 24 and 25 torment and agony Jesus when he talked about Hell he would use a metaphor it was a literal place called Gehenna or the Valley of Hinnom what it was was essentially the dump it was a place outside the city where you would put garbage and dead people and dead animals it stunk there and not just that but people would practice child sacrifice there by fire to the God of Molech they would take their babies there and set them on fire as a sacrifice to the god of Molech it was a dark place a wicked place a nasty place a dirty place there were worms there and maggots there and you could even stand the smell there and Jesus says hey that's the closest thing I got to explain to you what hell is like remember Gehenna the Valley of Hinnom hell it's worse than that and so to this this story it's it takes place today before Jesus comes back and in Revelation 20 Jesus talks about the lake of fire and here's what I would tell you is what is coming is only worse than what is in this text that what's coming is is only worse so hell is wanting and never being satisfied for eternity hell hell is realizing the goodness that was available and your choice of evil don't you see what's going on is the rich man can see heaven like across this chasm he sees Abraham and he sees Lazarus like the only thing worse than not getting into the party is sitting outside the party and watching everyone enjoy the fun that you could have had forever you can see it it's like eternal FOMO you realize what you missed out on and it's right there in front of you you know that it was available to you and they're having the most blissful incredible time while you suffer forever it's fixed and eternal hell is fixed in eternal verse 26 a great chasm he says and besides all of this between us and you as a great chasm it which has been fixed so that those who want to go from here to you cannot nor can anyone cross over from there to us can I just read to you one of the most horrific verses in all of the scripture 2nd Thessalonians chapter 1 verses 8 and 9 he says this listen he will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus they will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might see it's it's fixed you get you got to hear me on this this is the danger of universalism or the Unitarian movement that says that everyone eventually goes to heaven it's a heresy okay that is not true not supported by scriptures or anything that Jesus said and if and we love it we're really attracted to it I wish it was true because right because then then like we could do away with this idea of Hell and and it's it feels loving it feels loving to tell someone that I liken it to if you anyone traveled internationally okay have you ever been in in like a third-world Airport or somewhere where you don't know the way and no one speaks your language and and I can remember like I can I think back of when I was coming back from Rwanda and I'm in this Airport and I have no idea where to go and I can't find the the guys that I came with and so if you're just kind of going from gate to gate and I'm like okay I can't even make sense of this and imagine you see me I miss my family like I want to get home to my wife and my children I've been gone for ten days and I just want to go see them and I'm like I don't know what to do and you come up to me and you're like JP what are you doing hey man I what's wrong you seem frazzled and so I just want to go home and I just want to go home and I don't know which gate which plane is gonna take me home and you say Oh bro I got you listen just choose a plane you like any of these will take you home just just choose the one that looks the best to you and you'll get there and just say in that hypothetical situation I believed you what's gonna happen is it's gonna feel so loving man are you serious any of these yeah any of them choose one you like though they all go to Dallas Texas DFW oh man we're gonna hug I'm like thank you so much for loving me and showing me the Wade home that's such great news because I do I was scared I was gonna choose the wrong one and it's so great to know that any of them will get me home listen I get on one of those planes it takes me to North Korea or someplace of unrest and I get off and they throw me in a Cell and then they beat me for the rest of my life you know what I'm not gonna think that was so loving I'm like man why did you lead me astray why did you do that why did you tell me something that was uninformed just because it felt good just because it felt right hell is an awful place and any illustration I could give you would fall short of the horse and so how can a loving God send anyone there it's the second question is who should be there who should be in hell what is God's standard for heaven God's standard is perfection he's a holy God and so who should be in hell you ready for this answer everyone everyone has fallen short of God's glory everyone should be there everyone deserves hell we've all worshipped ourselves in place of a holy and mighty God we none of us have met his standards we've all fallen short of his standards and so the second that he put us here on this earth right you you can look backwards on your life who here is satisfied with the way they pursued God today did n did everyone have the quiet time they had hoped did everyone pray as much as they had hoped did everyone study the Scriptures as much as you would like did anybody get jealous of anyone today okay anybody envy anyone situation today anyone think about themselves a lot right what if anybody who's ever googled their own name goes to hell we're all good right anybody who's ever counted their likes on Instagram they go to hell you good you safe right we all want to worship ourselves we don't want to worship God we want to be God none of it I mean how do shared the gospel with everyone they met with today who lived out the beliefs that they say that they have today okay all of their money to the poor today who lived like there's a real eternity to heaven and you're gonna be with God forever and that's what matters most today we all deserve hell we all fall short of what God has called this - and the goal is not that you would leave here and just stop doing those things but that you would begin to ask why why don't I live out what I say that I believe and so who should be there those who cannot see the cross past themselves they should be there those who cannot see the cross pass themselves do you see the delusion meant the disillusionment rather of this rich man he's still giving orders yes Lazarus hey give me a drink I'm thirsty dissolutions sure in hell Lazarus buddy he's in heaven he can't even get to you and there's nothing to drink in hell his teaches us something really scary about sin that it carries us to a place of self-obsession so that we can't even see the gospel right we can't even see the gospel what's dangerous about being where so many of us are kind of the the what is left of the Bible Belt is is so many people here call themselves believers and say that they're Christians and followers of Jesus but who really lives like they believe that this book is true who really dates pursues purity sobriety Christ evangelism missions who really lives like this book is true like your life is really we're singing a sauté my life who does it we've missed God because we tried to become God see this this rich man in the parable he pursued his heaven here and he used his resources to make himself more comfortable and he overlooked the poor man at his gate he said no no he saw the guy with the sign and he said oh well you want money it's my money not your money I'm gonna do everything I can to dress a little better to drive something a little cooler to live in a better place I'm not sharing my stuff with anybody he made his heaven here he got caught up in the world says son verse 25 remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and so what if today portes what if we left this place and we began to live out what we say we believe you guys just you guys in the room and you guys in Fort Worth and you guys in Houston El Paso Tulsa wherever you're at listening you would change the world you you would start a revival you would start a Great Awakening if you just began to live like you say you believed but so many of us were running to hell as fast as we can trying to build our heaven here our own personal Kingdom here Matthew 10 verse 39 says whoever finds their life will lose it and whoever loses their life for Jesus's sake will find it Matthew 16 verse 24 then jesus said to his disciples whoever wants to be my disciple I want to be your disciple Jesus I won't choose me pick me must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me but we're so stuck on ourselves we can't see Christ the rich man in the story never even realized his need for saving he didn't want God and so why would God allow him to go somewhere that the greatest thing about it is that God's there like if you don't like spending time with God here why do you hope that you're gonna go somewhere it's been eternity with God Wow he had his heaven here that this is why CS Lewis said that hell is locked from the inside because we like two and a half-year-old you're saying I can do whatever I want and we don't want to submit to God and God says fine fine I love you I pursued you I've died for you do whatever you want there's those who say to God thy will be done and those to whom God says know thy will be done if you don't want me then go to a place where nothing there will remind you of me in fact the only thing of God in hell is his wrath the only thing of God in hell is his anger towards your sin you know the only thing you can do in Hell pay for your sins you know who doesn't go to hell those whose sins have been paid for it is that simple it's interesting that well we don't like the doctrine of Hell so many of us agree that someone should be there Hitler yeah oh man he should go to hell all right child rapist yeah they should go there right murderer serial killers yeah should go but when we draw the line like so where where should the line stop right in front of me that's where it's just table right like somewhere over there like pornographers about that you know those who have sex outside of marriage maybe not you know wherever you want to draw the line right in front of you I haven't done something as bad as they have right and that's the way that we that we think about it we want God to deal with evil we just don't want him to deal with our evil we want God to deal with wicked deeds not just our deeds here's what you need to know every sin will be punished either in eternity or on the cross and you have a choice God in his great love and mercy towards you has allowed you to choose where you want your sin paid for you can pay for it in eternity or you can acknowledge that it was paid for on the cross and when you acknowledge that it was paid for on the cross you get you get to be with God forever in his kingdom you become the sons and the daughters of God this is what we just looked at it Easter the cross of Easter the empty tomb that happened for you why this the craziest narrative in the world that God would allow his son to die a God who controls everything would allow his son to be brutally murdered and tortured outside of a city to death and he did it for you Christ paying for your sins because none of us are good you cannot be good enough to get to heaven the scripture says mark 10 verse 18 jesus answered no one is good except God alone Romans 3 verses 10 and 12 as it is written there is no one righteous not even one there is no one who understands there is no one who seeks God all have turned away they have together become worthless there is no one who does good not even one and so who can get to heaven not those who are good but those who have been forgiven those who have been forgiven he answered the rich man answered I beg you Father send Lazarus to my family for I have five brothers let him warn them so that they will not come to this terrible terrible place Abraham replied they have Moses and the prophets let them listen to them let them read their Bibles and trust their Bibles no father Abraham he said but if someone from the dead goes to them they will repent and he said to them if they don't listen to Moses and the prophets they will not be convinced even if someone rises rises from the dead just remember Jesus Jesus raised someone from the dead you remember that you know what you guys remember that anybody remember you grew up in Sunday school remember Jesus grace Fleming from the dead come forth is John chapter 11 what was that guy's name oh wow it was Lazarus wasn't it it's like Jesus leaves this story and says okay we'll test your theory and he raises a Lazarus from the dead and you know what happened some people believed but but not the Pharisees in fact they wanted to kill Lazarus it's it's John chapter 12 verses 1011 so the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well for an account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him and so it's so interesting that some people see a dead man walking in the same man that guy these guys got to be God's Son and others see a dead man walking they say hey let's kill him again we're not gonna follow this Jesus character and it's also in this text a foreshadowing of Jesus coming back to life like if you're here and you're like man if God raised someone from the dead I'd worship Him would you look to Sunday cuz he did and you shouldn't even know who Jesus is but he did a pretty amazing thing coming out of that grave and became world-famous and so those who deny the message of the one who came back from the dead will be there those who deny the message of the one who came back from the dead will be there because as I said every sin is paid for either in hell or on the cross you can send that out to your friends right tell people that every sin is paid for either in hell or on the cross the only thing you do in Hell is pay for sins and so what about those who've never heard what about you what about babies what about you sharing the gospel with a guy and you said me I don't believe in God so why not he said because not everybody's heard the gospel I just I can't get my head around that like not everyone's heard the gospel and so I just I reject God like if he's going to send people to hell that have never heard who he is and I what about you have you heard the gospel you really think about your argument it breaks down are you gonna say you know what man I'm not no longer gonna take a paycheck because not everybody gets a paycheck so I'm just gonna stop taking one you know what I'm gonna live on the streets because not everyone has a house so I'm gonna live on streets at that that's crazy that is that is a ludicrous idea and they always say well what about you know the bush man in Africa what about the tribal warrior in the Amazon to which I said you know what man I was in Africa I was I was in the bush and I met a person who trusted Christ in their dream bro in their dream like God showed up in their dream and shared the gospel with them and I've been on the Amazon I've been to the Amazon jungle I went down the Amazon River for six days God off in a village where they've told me hey these people have never heard about Jesus I was so excited I set foot off the boat hey how are you doing have you heard of Jesus and they pointed to a church they had just built and they said yeah yeah we know Jesus we just heard about him we built that church to worship Him and so you want to talk about the person I don't know about the person who has never heard but what about the one who has you're gonna get up there and say hey God the reason I rejected you is because of some other people hadn't heard about you man don't do that don't do that this guy goes on to say here's what I'd encourage you to do buddy I'd encourage you to think about Jesus like Jesus lived I believe that there was a man named Jesus but he was just a man I said really like Jesus Christ he was just man yeah Jesus Christ was just a man born in Bethlehem dad born but lived in Nazareth yeah that Jesus just a man say how do you know about Jesus like how do you even know who he is he says but everyone knows about Jesus I said you just said they didn't I said how do you know about Jesus oh you know I mean it is it's written wait where where's our in nobody in the Bible hold on what does the Bible say about Jesus like why would you embrace the book that says there was a Jesus and yet reject who the book says he was how can you do that you're gonna you're gonna hold fast to some ideas but reject others you get to choose what's true and what's not is that it like you're gonna take this and just kind of cut it apart and choose the the verses you like and get rid of the ones you don't how can you do that and you say okay JP the hell is so horrific how can God send anyone there it's the wrong question how can a perfect loving good God allow any sinful person in his presence how how can a holy righteous perfect God allow anyone who's ever masturbated or been drunk or looked at pornography or had sex outside of marriage they're cursed or stole or lie or cheated how can that God allow any of those people in his presence that we've been running from him since since we showed up on the scene and God I mean we've been running toward hell since we showed up with the scene and God and His mercy has to change some of our hearts and you say well what about me how do I know if he's changed my heart friend would you consider where you are on a Tuesday night you are here's a reality check for you bro God loves you so much that he had you come on hell day you could have came on like justification day but you came on hell day that's how much God loves you that in his sovereignty he has you here he's provided a means for forgiveness he's provided a way for everyone to get to him he's a loving God and it's it's through Jesus I was talking to a young lady yesterday then I just asked her you know did you celebrate Easter she said yeah so what did you do so was when my family was a person I just met at the gym and she said yeah I was with my family went to church and whatnot and I said that's to say you have a face oh yeah so hey can I ask you two questions she said sure I said between one and ten ten being certain one being not so sure if you died today how certain are you that you go to heaven she said oh I'm a ten I say great second question God says why should I let you in what would you say she said because I love everyone I'm really loving I love people I said you think everyone who loves people goes to heaven you say I think that's really foundational to getting there and I said you said you celebrated Easter yesterday this was yesterday so Easter was the day before and she said yeah sober you know I said what happened on Easter said Jesus died for our sins raised from the dead so why not that as your answer that that God paid for your sins says well it just feels so exclusive friends you don't get to choose like if Heaven is God's place he gets to choose how you get there and you don't get there by rejecting his pathway that's foolish that's that's really closed-minded of you I would let the one who created heaven tell you how to get there I would let the one who came from heaven show you the way to get there and it's just like hey you gotta trust she's like well god is love how do you know God is love where did you learn that God is love where does it say the guys up well the Bible says that God is love what else does the Bible say it also says that he's the way the truth the life and no against the Father except through him crying it says this idea there's a hell and you get there by telling people that the way they get to heaven is by being loving like how can you choose what you believe that's in the Bible you you got like if the Bible said hey the way you get to heaven is do with a thousand push-ups every day that I would be completely ripped but that's not what it says it says the way you get to heaven is by believing that Jesus Christ died for your sins and God raised him from the dead see God is just and he will not compromise his character and justice requires a consequence or a payment for sin a sentence but God is loving and he paid the consequence through Jesus Christ and so he is best for us and he will use anything to draw us to him including an ultimatum and you say God's gonna give me an ultimatum and screw it I ain't going there no I'm not worshipping Him and buddy you don't win that's not wise I would not bow up to the creator of the universe you don't get to choose you don't get to choose hmm I think often we think that God hates those that go to hell I love that Abraham calls the man in Hell son and this man this rich man his thirst will never be quenched but Jesus says in John 6:35 Jesus declared he who believes in Me will never be thirsty I want you to know Jesus injured hell so that you don't have to talk to another young lady who I said do you believe in heaven and she said no I said you believe in how she said yeah I said how do you believe in hell and not heaven she said oh I'm I'm going to hell I said why why would you say hey that you're going to hell it's a man I just done some things I've done some really terrible things I said have you heard of Jesus do you think Jesus creator God is big enough to pay for the terrible things you did see and I shared the gospel I said that's what happened on the cross of Calvary is Christ paid for your sins and God raised him from the dead then she she said she you mean that Jesus Christ paid for my sins so that I don't have to I said yeah she said wow that's great news that's you get it you got it like praise God it's great news and so how should we respond if this is hell how should we respond listen some of you need to hear this first part how should you respond this is what you need to hear tonight this is the only thing you need to hear tonight you trust in the one who is pointing you to life you will not be able to endure this life correctly and you will not make it to eternal life with him without trusting in God's provision his allotment in Jesus Christ his son 2018 years ago he came to the earth and reset the time God is after you you're here he doesn't want you to go to hell he is trying to communicate that to you right now he loves you in the morning time he turns on the light for you he's giving you songs a soundtrack played through birds and creation he's giving you the seasons he grows flowers for you in the springtime he brings you flowers he's crazy about you and right here in this text you have a message from hell it's a guy saying hey go tell them that they don't want to be here he said if they do not listen to Moses of the prophets they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead and I'm telling you someone did raise from the dead and that is your way to get to eternal life if you go back to that airport illustration I'm there you come up to me you say hey choose the plane that you like the most it's gonna get you to home but then my other friend comes up and it says no JP not all of these planes that's crazy not all of these planes are gonna take you home it's d7 you want gate d7 that what is good that's what's going to take you to Dallas and that other person says you're telling me just one plane that's so closed-minded why would you say such a thing that's unloving and and here's the deal the person who is saying d7 can say it with the confidence of knowing that I'm going to learn the truth you get to share the gospel with somebody hey you can choose Jesus Christ believing that he died for your sins and God raised him from the dead and if you do not choose that you will go to hell and I don't want you to go to hell so I want you to choose Jesus and when you share that you know that that person is going to learn the truth that every knee will bow and every tongue will confess and they will say wow thank you so much for loving me enough to show me that d7 is the only plane that's gonna take me home or they're gonna say man I wish I would have listened to you but you get to share from the confidence of knowing that they will know the truth and God tells us the truth but we want freedom like Presley and so what do we do we serve others that's how you spend your life serving others like the rich man should have served Lazarus not to be saved but as evidence that you are saved so that they might become saved and the rich man was here with excess when Lazarus had need and he ignored him and so you don't love love others so that you don't go to hell you love others so that they don't go to hell you point them to the way what else do you do you share with everyone you share with everyone with the confidence that they are going to know the truth that Jesus Christ is the way the truth and the life and no one gets to heaven except by entering through the narrow gate that is Jesus Christ believing that he paid for your sins so that you don't have to it's the great exchange Jesus got what you deserve and if you believe that he got what you deserve on the cross then you get what he deserves you become a son and a daughter to God the creator of the heavens of the earth you gain an eternal inheritance you get to be with God forever and so in summary hell is not a place we want to be and everyone deserves to be there but those who have trusted in God's provision through Jesus become sons and daughters of God they get what Jesus deserves trusting that Jesus got what they just and thirdly we respond to hell by trusting in God's Word serving others with our resources and telling everyone we can the good news that Jesus Christ died in our place so that they can be with him so that we can be with him forever what I did with my daughter when she said that is that she said I can do whatever I want that's not really I I just grabbed the trash can say hey I just want you to look at that okay I'll be right back I think she thought I was gonna throw her away which I wouldn't do but I went and I got some things and I came back so I got this for you today but you lost it forever I can do whatever I want this house afraid you're gonna say that see I'm your daddy I love you I'm crazy about you and I've got I've got good things that you don't even know exists this is the good stuff these are seized lollipops I've had him in the utility room I was gonna give them to you at just the right time this is the good stuff but you lost that forever forever and she didn't say anything it began to click that her daddy loves her and has good things for her and her choices are only costing her her daddy's goodness her daddy's Grace and her daddy's provision her daddy does not desire to rip her off but to set her free to show her life she thinks at two-and-a-half that she knows better than her daddy and she doesn't and it's foolish and it's just as foolish when you do it and so she lost out on the goodness that I had for her for ever my here's the deal I'm crazy about my daughter man and I'd love to give her good things this thing comes in its own carrying case this is a replica of the first one that I gave to her because I love her not on that day I saved it for just the right time said hey I know you love lollipops and I love to give you good things so I thought we could share this one together and if you think her eyes were big when I pulled out that Tootsie Pop I mean that you know she was going crazy and I say that because God has good things for you better than you could ever imagine and you're missing out on them by choosing the way that seems right to you but in the end leads to death will you please stop right now as we sing this last song would you just say God all my life I've laid it down I want to be defined by Christ who was crucified for me the life that I live in the body I live by Christ his power his spirit your response to this every one believer and non-believer alike your response is surrender Lord this is my life I want you to take it so let me pray that you would your father I thank you that you're a God of grace your God of good things and you don't desire you you tell us in the scripture that you do not delight in sending anyone to hell and that you're not slow in keeping your promises as some understand slowness but you're patient with us not wanting anyone to perish but everyone to come to repentance father tonight I pray there's a wave through Dallas Texas in Houston Texas in Tulsa Oklahoma and El Paso Texas and Fort Worth Texas and all over the world a wave of young adults saying Lord Here I am I surrender my life to you I surrender my will to you I don't want to be like the rich man who enjoyed his pleasures on earth but missed out on the minute I want to be like the beggar Lazarus Lord make us like the beggar Lazarus begging for bread from your table so that we might dine with you for eternity or would you take our lives we love you we thank you for this text we thank you for your son who spoke these words it's in his name Jesus's name Amen

Channel: The Porch

Views: 13,606

Rating: 4.9133573 out of 5

Keywords: Jonathan, Pokluda, Watermark, Community, Church, The, Afterlife, Jesus, Christ, Hell, Heaven, Sin, Porch, Dallas, Texas, Fort, Worth, Houston, El Paso, Death

Id: A4SXyPtC7kQ

Length: 55min 13sec (3313 seconds)

Published: Thu Apr 05 2018