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The Burning Question - Revelation 20:11-15

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Hell is an eternal and biblical reality that has been relegated to the junk pile of modern myths. Woody Allen once said that hell is the abode of all people who annoy him. The word hell is used on a daily basis in people's dicey language patterns—usually as a fill-in expletive. Of all the Christian doctrines unfolded in Scripture, hell is the toughest one to handle. Most love the notion of a blissful heaven awaiting them; few cling to the idea of a literal hell to punish the lost.

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7/6/2003
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The Burning Question
Revelation 20:11-15
Skip Heitzig
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Hell is an eternal and biblical reality that has been relegated to the junk pile of modern myths. Woody Allen once said that hell is the abode of all people who annoy him. The word hell is used on a daily basis in people's dicey language patterns—usually as a fill-in expletive. Of all the Christian doctrines unfolded in Scripture, hell is the toughest one to handle. Most love the notion of a blissful heaven awaiting them; few cling to the idea of a literal hell to punish the lost.
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Rediscovering Our Foundations

Rediscovering Our Foundations

We live in an age where truth has become a relative term. But the Bible leaves no room for doubt when it comes to the absolute nature of truth. Unfortunately, our culture is vastly biblically illiterate. In this series, Pastor Skip Heitzig gets back to the roots of our faith, looking at what the Bible has to say about God, Christ, the Trinity, mankind, the church, heaven, and hell. Learn to stand on a firm foundation in the midst of an unstable culture.

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  1. Death is Inevitable (vv. 5-6, 11-15)
  2. Judgment is Unavoidable
    A. God Presides Over It (vv. 11-12)
    B. None Escape It (v. 12)
    C. Fairness Governs It (vv. 12-13)
    D. Eternity Accommodates It (vv. 14-15)

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Well, good evening. Kick back, sit down in the enjoyable air conditioning on a day like this.

Wednesday nights we're going through the book of Ephesians, and it's a great study. It's so, so enjoyable. We who have been there have enjoyed ourselves every week. And we invite you to come out Wednesday nights and go through the Bible, and make that a priority to go through verse by verse, chapter by chapter what the Bible says to us today. And it's a study where we just take it that way, one verse at a time until our time's up, and we close the book, and start again the following week.

This Wednesday night, it's sort of a special, we're going to have a little bit of fun this week. I've got a friend with us from Scotland, and I'm going to interview him about the state of the church in Scotland, sort of the history of that, and what opportunities exist for those of us who may want in the future to go and be there.

But Jim and his wife are here tonight, Jim Nichol. Where are you? Stand up, would you? Jim and his wife Caroline are there. Just stand up and wave in Scottish to us. Thank you very much.

Would you open in your Bibles to Revelation chapter 20. We're going to begin in a minute in verse 11 through the end of that chapter.

Oh, by the way, we are being eave's dropped upon by 300 some radio stations around American right now. So give them your greetings. Tell them hello. Good job.

Well, there were two men that were from the same subdivision. In fact, they were next door neighbors. One was a pastor. The other guy was a salesman. And the pastor died at the same time during the same week that the salesman took a trip to Florida. Now, it was the summertime, so when the salesman arrived in Florida he sent a telegram back to his dear wife, but it got delivered to the wrong house. It got delivered to the house of the wife of the pastor who had died, and you can imagine how chagrined she was when she saw a telegram from "Your Dear Husband" saying, "Arrived here safely. Heat is awful."

Tonight we're going to consider what is the most difficult, the most unpalatable, and truly the saddest doctrine in all of Scripture. It is the doctrine of hell. It is the fate of the unbeliever who rejects Christ.

Now, you know this, but people use the term as a fill word, don't they? An expletive for all sorts of descriptions. It seems like when a person can't think very well, they just use fill words, and so they'll use phrases you've heard of like, "What in the hell are you doing?" "How in the hell are you?" or even as bad as "Go to hell." And that shocks some of us. Well, I was shocked. I wasn't expecting that kind of a compliment when it was a Sunday morning service, and some fellow came up to me well meaning and obviously moved by the message. Put his arm on my shoulder and was dead serious when he said, "Skip, that was a hell of a sermon." And I didn't know what to say to him. I didn't know if I should thank him, or rebuke him, or what.

There was a USA Today poll that tells us 67% of American adults believe in a hell, but less than 25% believe they will go there. While 25% believe their friends will go there. I think these people need better friends, don't you?

If you read popular books about dying, they seem to leave out hell. I've noticed this. Books that talk about near death experiences, dying temporarily on the operating table, seeing a bright light, warm fuzzies, going through a tunnel, and seeing angels or saints or Jesus, buy there's not any mention at all it seems of the other possibility.

Now, honestly, I wish I could stand before you tonight and say there isn't a hell. Everybody who dies is going to heaven. There's just many roads to God, but there isn't a hell. But if I were to do that, I would be a liar. And the last time I checked, hell is still in the Bible. And the same Savior who loved the world and was sent by the Father, For God so loved the world, the same Jesus who said that, spoke about hell more than any other person in the Bible. In fact, if you count them up, more than all of them put together. Our Savior spoke about it.

Well, let's look at our text. Beginning in verse 11, John says, 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 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 in it. 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 into the lake of fire.

Now, where do we get the notion to begin with of hell? Well, you'd be interested to know that it is spoken about in the Old Testament. There's a trace of it all the way through the Bible, but it comes to its fulness, you might say, it is mentioned more frequently in the gospels. As I mentioned, Jesus Christ speaks about hell more than all other places and people in the Bible combined, and the way Jesus speaks about it, the words that he uses are words that would strike terror into peoples' hearts. Descriptions from Jesus like weeping and gnashing of teeth, outer darkness, the worm that doesn't die, a fire that is not quenched, Gehenna, the great gulf that is fixed. All of these from the words of Jesus.

A few years ago, Dr. Morris Rawlings, a cardiologist who up to that point in his life did not see any verification at all for the Biblical renderings of heaven and hell, he said. He saw no scientific proof. He said all of that began to change when he started examining near death experiences, the kind that aren't written about, because they wouldn't make the money that the others do.

He examined a hundred patients, and he wrote in a book, Beyond Death's Door, these words, "I am thoroughly convinced that there is a life after death, and that there are at least as many going to hell as going to heaven. The turning point in my own concept occurred when a patient experienced cardiac arrest and dropped dead in my office. Of course, that alone didn't change my thinking, but the fact that this 48 year old was screaming, 'I'm in hell! Keep me our of hell!' each time he responded to resuscitation efforts did cause me some concern."

He wrote, "About 50% of the revived persons told of having gone to a place of great darkness filled with grotesque moaning and writhing bodies crying out to be rescued from this place with overwhelming feelings of eeriness and nightmarish terror."

When he was asked why these are not reported like other near death experiences about heaven, and bright lights, and warm fuzzies, he says, "Because people are too embarrassed to admit them, and doctors are too embarrassed to make inquiries into such matters. But," he says, "no one can afford to ignore these reports."

"I'm convinced there's a hell," he says, "and that we must conduct ourselves in such as way as to avoid being sent there at all costs."

Would you agree with that? Wouldn't you think it was worth it to avoid being sent there at all costs? So did Jesus. That's why, that's why he died for our sins, because of what it would mean to die in our sins. In fact, tonight folks, unless you understand hell, you can never understand the cross or the depth of Jesus' love. This is absolutely warp and wood, intertwined with the great love of God, what he rescued people from.

Now, I want you to go back to verse 5 and just notice something with me. We didn't cover that yet, but I'm going to give this to you in three slices tonight, very simple statements. Number one, death is inevitable. Number two, judgment is unavoidable. And number three, hell is escapable. So the news gets better as we go.

In verse 5, but the rest of the dead did not live again until the 1000 years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that has part in the first resurrection over such the second death has no power.

And then if you look at our text, notice how often death is mentioned in it. He saw a great white throne. It says in verse 12, I saw the dead, small and great. It says, And the dead were judged according to their works. Verse 13, The sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And verse 14, And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

So the obvious point to be made is that death is inevitable. Solomon said in so many words, To everything there is a season, a time and purpose for everything under heaven. A time to be born and a time to die. Everyone who ever is born dies. We know that. It's been said the statistics on death are very impressive. Every one out of one dies. People are dying who have never died before. It's amazing.

Now, I know that's very, very obvious, but you would be amazed at either how many people deny it, don't want to talk about it, try to postpone it, or get mad at God because of it. Yet death is inevitable.

In our culture death seems to be so unreal, because we, we look at television and movies, and we see people who die in the movies, but they're not really dead in real life; or they're dead in real life, but they live on in the movies. John Wayne is still in the movies. Elvis, we wonder will he ever die. He's always out there. And Marilyn Monroe and other actors, we still see them immortalized by film.

Some people deny the fact of death. Did you know that? I saw a television report that talked about aging and death, and they interviewed three people who claimed to have eternal life. They said bold faced into the lens of the camera, "We will never die. We will not age, and we will not die." Now, I hope they do an interview with these three in about 25 years, don't you, to see if they've changed their thinking at all. But they claimed that they would live forever in their present bodies.

There's an old saying, "Death and taxes are inevitable." Somebody once heard that and said, "Death and taxes may be inevitable, but death doesn't get worse every time Congress meets." However, it actually can get worse. Death can be worse if you die and meet God and you're not prepared to do so.

We see a great white throne in our text, and him who sat on it. Now, we get a hint as to who this him is. In John chapter 5, Jesus said, The Father judges no one, but has committed all judgment unto the son. Now, think about that. The very one sitting on the throne of judgment is the very one who walked the shores of Galilee and paid for the sins of the world so that no one would have to go into the lake of fire. He's the one who will cast people into it who have rejected him. That's an amazing thought.

Now, the Bible tells us, teaches us, that death isn't an accident, it's really an appointment. It is appointed, Hebrews tells us, It is appointed unto every man once to die, and after this the judgment. Every single day of the year about 147,000 some odd people die, go into eternity to stand before God at judgment. It's a sobering thought. Everyday 147,000 people.

What does that mean to us? We've heard things like that before, but what does that mean to us? It means, number one, we should be aware of it. It means, number two, we should prepare for the inevitable, doesn't it? We should prepare for it. Now, I've heard people say, "Why should I prepare for death? Because, after all, this life is all there is and after death it's all over, right?" Wrong. You've only just begun. In fact, listen carefully. Every single person, saved or unsaved, has eternal life. Not in the sense of heaven, but in the sense of longevity, living forever and ever. Every person. Jesus put it this way, The hour is coming in which all who are in the grave will hear his voice and come forth, those who have done good to the resurrection of life and those who have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation.

So, once we cross the threshold of death, our bodies decay, our souls live on forever, and our conscience lives on forever. So everybody lives forever. The question is where? Where will you spend eternity? If you haven't thought about that carefully, cautiously, deliberately, it's now time to do it. Now is the opportunity, and perhaps God has given you that opportunity because he loves you.

You see, this inevitability of death and eternality and judgment is what bothered that man who was in a car accident. His car veered off the road, and he hit a sign post. Now, he happened to hit a Shell gas station sign post so hard the s fell off. And imagine what it was like for him to wake up and see that blinking sign, "Hell open 24 hours."

He thought, "Oh no, this is it." The inevitability of death.

Second, judgment is unavoidable. We're going to get into our text a little more carefully now, and the scene before us is called the Great White Throne Judgment. It is without a doubt the most sobering scene in all of Scripture, in all of the Bible. It's a courtroom scene. It's a vivid description of the final judgment of all unbelievers, mark that, unbelievers of all ages. There's not many verses. There's only, what, five verses, six verses, five of them. It's short, and it's plain, and it's straightforward, and it's simple, and there's no embellishing the text. There's no gory details, just the facts. This is what Jesus refers to in John 5 when he said, the resurrection of condemnation, or the resurrection of damnation.

As I see it, if you like to place this chronologically, it seems to take place between the end of the present universe, between that and the re-creation, or the creation of the new heavens and the new earth. If you look back to verse 11, he said, from whose face the earth and heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. Verse 1 of chapter 21, Now I saw a new heaven and a new earth. For the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and there was no more sea.

So, between those two events in eternity future comes this Great White Throne Judgment of unbelievers. Now, this is the very event that Satan has tried to dupe people over and deceive them abut since the beginning of history, is it not? This is the very thing he's been telling people they'll never face. "Oh there's no God. There's no judgment."

"Imagine there's no heaven, no hell below us, above us only sky."

I imagine there's going to be an awful lot of surprised people on this day, don't you think?

Now, a few things about this judgment, four of them to be exact. Number one, God is the one who presides over it. Aren't you glad that no earthly judge or court will make these determinations. People talk about and wonder about what's going to happen in the future. I take solace in the fact that God is on the throne now ruling the universe and will be on the throne of judgment in the future.

Look at verse 11. I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, from him whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found not 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 the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books.

Almost 50 times in the book of Revelation alone is a throne that appears. And this throne is the throne of judgment. This is God's throne. He's the only one qualified to sit on it. It's called the Great White Throne. Great because all unbelievers of all ages since the fall of humanity will stand there, and because it is the final judgment. It's called the Great White Throne. White, as you know, represents holiness, loftiness, uniqueness, purity, impartiality. So, the Great White Throne Judgment.

Unlike an earthly court, it will be different. It will be similar but different in many respects. What will make it different is that in heaven there will be no debate. You'll have a prosecutor. You'll have no defender. You'll have a judge. You have no jury. You have a sentence. You have no appeal. You have punishment. You have no parole. You have imprisonment, jail, with no, absolutely no escape.

Now, think about this. God is the only one presiding over judgment, because God is the only one qualified to preside over judgment. Who else is omniscient, knows everything? Knows every thought, every action, every motive of every person who has ever lived? Only God. Who else is omnipresent, thus the best eyewitness who was there at the scene of every crime, every sin, every thought? He saw it all. He is everywhere present. And who else is omnipotent? Who else created the heavens, the earth, people, angels, Satan, and even hell itself?

By the way, God created hell. It's not like hell is this unfortunate thing that Satan came up with on his own. He, like, took a part of heaven, was a bad boy, and trashed it. So God said, "Okay. That's hell." God created hell, but not for people. He never, ever, ever in his mind wanted people ever to go there. Jesus described hell as saying everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. So it was never meant for human habitation. If a person goes to hell, it is because a person chooses to do so by rejecting Christ. You see, you might say when it comes to heaven and hell, God is pro-choice.

G.K. Chesterton wrote, "Hell is God's great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice." God says the choice is up to you. The way to heaven has been paved. You can avert hell all together. Choose life. You have people who go, "I don't want to choose life." But that is a choice to end up in hell.

Not only does God preside over it, but look more carefully. None will escape it. Verse 12, I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God. And the books were opened.

You see the word dead. This refers to unbelievers. Unbelievers only. No Christian will be at the Great White Throne Judgment. None. Not a single one. I'll tell you why. By this time, the godly have already been resurrected. They have already received their heavenly rewards at the judgment seat of Christ, the bema seat of Christ that we talked about last week, and they have already reigned for 1000 years with Jesus Christ.

I want you to see that. Go back to verse 4. I saw thrones and they sat on them. And judgment was committed to them. And I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded for their witness to Jesus for the word of God and had not worshiped the beast or his image and had not received his mark on their foreheads or on their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ for 1000 years, but the rest of the dead did not live again until the 1000 years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection, over such the second death has no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him for a 1000 years.

So believers will not stand or be present at the Great White Throne Judgment. Why? Simply because our judgment has already taken place. When? On the cross. Our judgment for sin has taken place 2000 years ago on the cross. For Jesus your Savior said in John 5, He who hears my word and believes in him who sent me has everlasting life and does not come into judgment but passes from death into life.

So these are the unbelieving dead. And notice small and great. That means the somebody and the nobody, the rich and famous, the poor and obscure, kings, queens, and peasants, presidents, and voters, everyone alike. God is no respecter of persons when it comes to those who have rejected him for whatever reason. And they're standing. This is sort of like a courtroom. "Will the accused rise and approach the bench." They're standing in a judicial sense, in a guilty sense, like condemned prisoners before the bar of justice.

This isn't a happy scene, folks. This is what the writer of Hebrews meant when he said, It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

Now, think about the scene for just a moment. The dead are there. There's this mention of death, and the dead, and death and Hades giving up their dead and being cast into the lake of fire. There's something obvious again, you can't miss, death is the last chance. You don't get other chances after death. You don't go to a certain holding tank and get prayed out of it. In the game of life, you might say, death is your final answer. Death is it. It's the great chasm. And there's heaven and there's hell.

Sometimes I will hear people say, I bet you've heard it as well, "I'm looking forward to hell. All my buddies are there." Well, that may be true. They may be there. But that doesn't mean you want to be there, because it's not going to be like some great party, lots of fun going on. It's not party time. This is judgment time.

Ted Turner, Turner Broadcasting, who called Christianity a religion for losers, you may remember a few years ago, said, "I'm looking forward to dying and going to hell."

Can you imagine saying that?

"Because," he said, "that's where I'm headed."

Okay?

He goes on. "Heaven is perfect. Who wants to go to a place that's perfect? Boring, boring, boring," he said. He spoke of hell, and he said, "We're going to have a chance to make things better, because hells supposed to be a mess."

Listen, there's no tenant improvement plan in hell. There's no investment incentive to up the quality of the property down there. You know, the way some people are living, you know, you'd think hell got air conditioned in the last 20 or 30 years or something. Like, "Ah, no big deal."

Look at verse 12 again and into verse 13. There's something else about this judgment, and that is the fairness. I want you to notice. Fairness will govern it. It says, The dead were judged according to their works, by the things that were written in the books.

The books were opened. Now what are these books? We don't know exactly. Some heavenly inventory, more than one. There's the book of life, but there's the mention of these books. Well, the books could refer to the record of everything we've ever said, everything we've ever done, everything we've ever thought. Jesus, you remember in Matthew 12, said, Every idle word that men will speak, they will give and account for on the day of judgment.

Another book might be the book of conscience, because God has placed, imbedded within man a consciousness, a basic idea of right and wrong. You know that the easiest thing to get a child to do is to get that child to believe in God. It comes so naturally. You have to plant a lie deliberately in the heart of a child for that child to reject Christ. Somebody's got to do that. The Bible says in Romans 2, The work of the law was written in their hearts, their conscience bearing them witness, their thoughts accusing or excusing them in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men by Jesus Christ.

Another book may be the record of all the times you've heard the gospel and decided to put it off, to reject it. Maybe the time your wife came forward in a altar call and said yes to Jesus, and you said, "Well, that's for women." Or a friend did it and you glibly basked in your own intellectualism and said, "Well, they need a crutch."

But then there is this and the book of life. The book of life. Did you know that in ancient times, courts not only had a log of criminals, but they had their own log of loyal citizens. I think that's the idea here. Here's the book of life. It's the names of everyone saved. Imagine the nail scarred hands of the Savior breezing through the pages of the book of life, and as he scans through your name is not found. And the books are closed, and he says, "Your name is not here."

And a person hearing that starts trembling and starts saying something like, But, Lord, we prophesied in your name, and we did many good works in your name.

And Jesus will say, I never knew you. Depart from me.

Imagine having that ring in your ears forever.

Perhaps then, perhaps one of the reasons that believers are not present at the Great White Throne Judgment is it would be impossible to bear that sight and hearing those sounds of people you worked with or lived with for eternity.

Speaking of eternity, look at verse 14 and 15, because this is an eternal thing. This isn't a temporary thing. Eternity will accommodate this judgment. And death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire.

Now, I got to tell you that from my study death and Hades are synonyms. They mean the same thing. Hades is a word for the grave. You might look at it this way. Death is the condition. Hades, the grave, is the destination. But they're both cast, notice, into the lake of fire. This is the second separation, or the second death.

The lake of fire is a metaphorical name for an eternal hell. Whatever has been up to this point has been temporary, and both of those are deposited into this, what is called the lake of fire, a place of eternal judgment. The Old and the New Testament refer to it sometimes as Gehenna, which was actually a valley outside of Jerusalem. You can still see it today, but a couple thousand, 3000 years ago, it was the garbage dump. And people threw trash on this garbage dump, and because there was a constant trash collecting, and trash dumping, and trash burning the fire never went out in the Valley of Hinnom, or the Valley of Gehenna. So it became a metaphor of this eternal burning and judgment.

It's no news, but if people have a problem with hell, and they do, they have an even worse problem with the idea of an eternal hell, an eternal hell. And because of that, they have developed new teachings. Like universalism that says no one is lost, all will eventually be saved; or annihilationism, there won't be an eternal judgment. We'll just cease to exist as if we never existed, never were born at all. I can't believe that. I can't buy either one of those for this simple reason- Jesus. The same Savior who said, For God so loved the world; the same Savior who spoke about eternal bliss in heaven used the same word to describe punishment for the lost.

In fact, the word that he used for eternal was ionios, which means "perpetual". In Matthew 25, Jesus said, And these will go away into everlasting, ionios, punishment, but the righteous into eternal, ionios, life. Same word, same description, two experiences. If hell isn't eternal neither is heaven.

There's a t-shirt, it's very popular, it's called "No fear." Have you seen it? I just thought about it this week. I don't know why, but I kept thinking about that, and you know, the idea that I'm so bold. I wear this t-shirt, and I put the sticker on my truck, "No fear." Imagine how silly that would look on judgment day to wear that t-shirt. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God.

Now look at verse 15. We're going to close with a thought. Death is inevitable. Judgment is unavoidable. But hell is escapable. Hell is escapable. In verse 15, and anyone not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Now this would prompt a question, and it would imply something. It would imply that if your name is written in the book of life you won't be cast into the lake of fire. Hence, the second question, How do I get my name written in the book of life? That's the question God wants you to ask. Listen, there's only one person who wants you in hell. It's not Christ. The only one who wants you in hell is Satan.

Jesus described the devil by saying, The thief does not come except to steal, to kill, and to destroy. But I have come that they may have life and that they may have it more abundantly.

Folks, do you know why Jesus spoke so much about hell, more than any other prophet or person in the Bible? He spoke about hell because number one, he created it. He had seen it. He knew what it was like. And number two, that's why he came to this earth, to save us from that.

Listen, if there's no hell, if we're going to sit by glibly and say, "Oh, I don't believe in hell," then I'll ask you the question, Why did Jesus die on a cross?

If there's no hell, what are we being saved from? What is the point of going out and preaching the gospel to every creature at the point of persecution and the risk of death? Jesus said to do it because he knew better. That's why he went to a cross. That's why we need salvation.

Can we escape? Oh, yes. You see, we read so much about death, and the second death, and the first resurrection, and the second resurrection. And we start seeing that when the Bible speaks about death and life, it goes beyond physical death and physical death, doesn't it? It means something deeper, something more, doesn't it?

There's a simple formula, if you haven't memorized it you can memorize it tonight. "Born once, die twice; born twice, die once." Let me explain. If, if you're born physically, and I can see that you are, but you are not born again as Jesus said you must be to enter the kingdom of heaven, then you will die twice, physically and eternally perish. But if you're born twice, physically, and you are, and spiritually by receiving the solution for our sin which would lead us to hell, in that state of being born again, you're going to die once at best, but you won't face the second death, because you will live forever and ever. So, "Born once, die twice; born twice, die once."

Again, I wish I could say there is no hell. In fact, there's a lot of things in the Bible I wish I could say, "Eh, it's not really true," but then I would be a liar. And I would not have discharged my sacred duty as a truth bearer and gospel preacher.

I'm going to read to you a parable as we close.

At the end of time, billion s of people were scattered on a great plain before God's throne. Some near the front were talking heatedly in groups. They were not doing so with cringing shame, but with belligerence.

"How can God judge us? What a ripoff."

"How can he know about suffering," snapped a cynical brunette. She jerked back a sleeve to reveal a tattooed number from a Nazi concentration camp. "We endured terror, beatings, torture, death."

In another group, a black man lowered his collar. "What about this?" he demanded, showing an ugly rope burn. "For now crime except being black. We have suffocated in slave ships. We've been wrenched from our loved ones, toiled until only death gave us release."

Far out across the plain were hundreds of such oppressed minorities. Each had a complaint against God for the evil and the suffering he had permitted in this world.

"How privileged God was to live in heaven where there was no repression. All was sweetness and light, no weeping, no fear, no hunger, no hatred. Indeed, what did God know about the hassles man had in the world?"

So each of these oppressed minorities sent out a leader chosen because he's suffered the most. There was a Jew, a Black, an untouchable from India, an illegitimate son, a prisoner of war, an Indian, one from a Siberian slave camp. In the center of the plain they consulted with each other. At last they were ready to present their case.

It was simple, before God was ever qualified to be their judge, he must endure what they endured. Their decision was that God should be sentenced to live on earth as a man, but because he was God they set certain safeguards to be sure that he would not use his divine power to help himself.

"Let him be born a minority," they said. "Say a Jew. Let the legitimacy of his birth be doubted so many will question who his father really is. Let him champion a cause so just, so radical, that it brings down upon him the hate, condemnation, and eliminating efforts of the establishment and traditional religious authority. Let him be the object of putdowns and ridicule. Let him be spat upon and labeled mad. Let him be betrayed by his dearest friends. Let him be indicted on false charges, tried before a perjury, a prejudice jury, pardon me. Let him experience what it is to be terribly alone and abandoned by every living thing. Let him be tortured. Let him die. Let him die the most humiliating death. Let his name live on for centuries and be used as a common curse word in moments of rage."

As each leader stepped forward and announced his portion of the sentence, a loud approval went up from the great throng of people to be judged. When the last had finished pronouncing the sentence, there was a long, long silence. No one uttered another word. No one moved-- for suddenly they all knew that God had already served his sentence.

Have you ever had someone say,"Oh, there's no hell. Hell is what I'm going through now. That's all the hell there is."

Oh, no. It can get far worse. It can get far worse. If you're worst days are ahead of you, you're lost. If your best days are ahead of you , you're saved.

What are you looking forward to? You're all going to live somewhere. Where will it be?

What an opportunity to think hard and clearly about the most important matters.

Heavenly Father, as your people we pray that this truth would motivate us to live and to speak in such a way that loved ones, relatives, friends, coworkers, and anyone who would listen would make it to the place you came to open up-- heaven, your Father's house. And we pray Father for those who may be listening by radio, or internet, or television, whatever; or right here in this room who've gone along with the crowd. They've come to church, but that's as far as they've come. They haven't stepped into the realm of eternal life. Lord, that's what we want more than anything else tonight. Death is inevitable. Judgment is unavoidable. But Lord, as we've seen, hell is inescapable, because you came to take our punishment. Jesus, you were treated like we deserve to be treated so that we would be treated by your Father like you deserve to be treated. That is the deal. Let not anyone here pass that up.

I want you to pray right now for those who might be sitting around you that God would speak to their heart. It's not a sermon or an emotional story that saves a person. It must be a sovereign work of God in a person' heart. Jesus said, No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draw him.

So pray that God by his Spirit would draw some to the convicting reality of their need for Jesus.

Additional Messages in this Series

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9/15/2002
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Does the Truth Really Matter?
2 Timothy 4
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Today I begin a new series I am calling Rediscovering Our Foundations. I am concerned about the vast biblical illiteracy that exists in our country in general and in our churches in particular. Truth is commonly seen by our culture as relative and not fixed. Often sentiments such as, "Well, that is your truth, but it's not my truth," are expressed by many. But if truth is absolute, then why not stand up for it? Why be embarrassed about it? What do you really believe about God, the Trinity, Christ, mankind, the church, heaven, and hell?
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9/22/2002
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Is Anybody Up There?
Hebrews 11:1-40;Romans 2:1-29
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We all remember the scene in The Wizard of Oz when Dorothy and her three friends come to approach the Great Oz. Out of the corner of their eye they notice a man pulling levers behind a curtain, working the mechanical, smoke-breathing Oz. The man then reacts by announcing, "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" But how can they not? The man is the explanation for everything to them. They discovered that Oz didn't really exist! So how do we know that God exists and isn't a fabrication or projection of our own imaginations?
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9/29/2002
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The Bible - From God or From Men? - Part 1
2 Timothy 3:15-17
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In this series, Rediscovering Our Foundations, it's time to consider your own personal foundation. What is the final resting place for your cares, concerns, griefs, surprises and sorrows? Where do you turn for answers to life's deepest questions? What is your authority? How sure are you that the Bible is the inerrant and inspired Word of God? Can you articulate to others the difference between the Bible and other "sacred" religious works?
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10/6/2002
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The Bible - From God or From Men? - Part 2
2 Timothy 3:15-17
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Last week, we discovered exactly what the designation "Scripture" referred to and how books of the Bible were considered as part of the inspired text. We also learned what inspiration means and how God used humans in His process of having exactly what He wanted written down. But anyone can claim inspiration for their work. Yet how do we know that the Bible is the authentic Word of God? Moreover, how can we share with others its uniqueness so they, too, may listen to its message and apply it?
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10/13/2002
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The God Who Knows It All!
Psalm 139:1-6
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A little boy climbed his neighbor's apple tree when he saw their car leave. He didn't realize that while he was stuffing his pockets full of apples, another neighbor was watching through a pair of binoculars and saw the whole thing! God isn't spying on people, trying to catch them doing something wrong; but God is aware of everything. Such a truth has a profound effect on us: it can either be very comforting or else extremely unsettling.
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10/20/2002
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Are You a Big-Godder or a Little Godder?
Psalm 139:7-24
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11/10/2002
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Wholly Holy!
Skip Heitzig
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In this current series, Rediscovering Our Foundations, we've considered some key attributes of the God we know and love. He is omniscient (knows everything); He is omnipresent (everywhere present); He is omnipotent (operates at full power). But there is another key attribute that is seldom considered, yet is fundamentally key in understanding the Bible—God's holiness. Let's observe one man's encounter with this holy God and what it means to us.
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11/17/2002
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Good Man, Mad Man, Con Man, or God-Man?
Matthew 16:13-17
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No other person from history has generated so much controversy and speculation, as well as written literature, as Jesus Christ. Theologians, philosophers, poets and pundits have all weighed in concerning who Jesus is. What is often forgotten is that Jesus can never be overestimated! John said that the, "world itself could not contain the books that should be written" (John 21:25) about His accomplishments.
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12/1/2002
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A King Among the Critters
Luke 2:1-7
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In our current series, Rediscovering Our Foundations, we've come to the person of Christ. Last time, we considered His identity; today, we contemplate His nativity. For the next few weeks, we'll look closely at Jesus' birth, His early years, ministry, and death on the cross, which was the very purpose of His birth. It's my hope that we'll all emerge with a fuller understanding of Jesus and a deeper desire to worship and serve Him. Today, let's look at the strange circumstances of His birth.
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12/8/2002
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Jesus - The Boy With a Purpose - Part 1
Luke 2:1-52; Matthew 2:1-23
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Jesus' upbringing and boyhood has been the subject of much speculation and endless controversy throughout the centuries. Myths have developed about Jesus based (interestingly enough) on what isn't written. The Bible gives us five cameo glimpses of Jesus from early boyhood to age 30. We'll look at three of these today and then two more next week. We discover that Jesus' whole life was marked with purpose.
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12/15/2002
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Jesus - The Boy With a Purpose - Part 2
Luke 2-3
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We don't give much thought to Jesus growing up, developing into adolescence and then into manhood. But of course He did. Luke is really the only New Testament author who gives us information about these early years. He speaks generally about Jesus' growth as well as specifically about Jesus' capacity as a young boy of 12. At each stage of His life, Jesus demonstrated He knew His purpose for His life on earth.
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12/22/2002
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A Lamb at the River
Matthew 3:1-17; John 1:1-51
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When Jesus turned 30, He presented Himself to the nation of Israel in public ministry. His first appearance, however, seemed so out of character for the kind of Messiah that people were anticipating. What was He doing getting baptized in a river with everyone else? John was about to find out—and so was everyone else.
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1/12/2003
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The Holy Spirit: Invisible, Personal, Powerful
John 14-16
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Today in our series Rediscovering Our Foundations, we consider the Holy Spirit. Most of us have heard of Him, but who is He exactly? What does He do? How important is the Holy Spirit to your personal life, your family life, your work or your leisure time? Perhaps A.W. Tozer was right when he said, "For multitudes of Christians profess today the Holy Spirit is not a necessity. They have learned to cheer their hearts and warm their hands at other fires." It is my sincere prayer that will change for us in the few weeks ahead.
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1/19/2003
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The Gracious and Holy Hound of Heaven
John 16:5-11
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Having understood Who the Holy Spirit is (Person, not just power; Deity, not just dignitary), we now find out what He does, specifically what He does in the world of unbelievers. Since the greatest gift God ever gave to the world was His only Son (John 3:16), it stands to reason that the greatest sin one can commit is to reject the Son (John 16:9). How does the Holy Spirit both sentence the world as prosecutor and yet lead people away from judgment? And what role do we play in all of this?
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1/26/2003
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I Need Somebody, Help! Not Just Anybody
John 14-16
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To live one's life for God in an ungodly world sounds like mission impossible, right? It would be as if we had to do it without help. But be strengthened by this thought: God never intended for us to do it alone! That's why He has provided His people a Helper, the Holy Spirit. This ever-present divine Person is very busy helping God's people become all He wants them to be.
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2/2/2003
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Brand-Spankin' New Apostles!
Acts 1:1-8
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The legendary missionary to India, William Carey, didn't see obstacles; he saw opportunities. He was the "Let's go for it!" kind of guy. In fact, one of his most famous sayings was, "Attempt great things for God; expect great things from God." Carey did both and saw results! The Holy Spirit can take ordinary men and women and do extraordinary things with them. He is the God who "makes all things new" (Revelation 21:5). Such a truth can only create a sense of wonder and excitement in the heart of a child of God. After all, what new thing could God do through you?
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2/9/2003
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Unholy Responses to the Holy Spirit
Ephesians 4:30
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You might say that we live in the "Age of the Holy Spirit." Jesus promised Him to us after He was done with His own earthly ministry. We have seen that He is very active both in the world among the unconverted and in the church among God's own people. But He has one overriding goal-to bring glory to Jesus Christ in every life. What does that mean to us? It means a total surrendering to Him. As Oswald Chambers said, "The Holy Spirit cannot be located as a guest in a house. He invades everything." But what happens when people don't respond to Him rightly? Then what?
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2/16/2003
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How Can Three Be One?
Matthew 28:16-20
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1+1+1=1. Is this new math? No, it's the doctrine of the Trinity. The Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God. At the very heart of the Judeo-Christian faith is the belief that there is only One God. Yet the Bible clearly teaches the plurality within the Godhead—three persons who are distinct from one another yet perfectly One in essence. What are we to make of all this? Why is it important? And more fundamentally, how should it affect us personally?
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2/23/2003
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The Exceedingly Un-Holy Spirit
1 John 5:19
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Satan, the prince of darkness, has been around a long time. He has studied mankind for thousands of years, marking his strategies according to what he sees in us and what God's plan for the world is. He hates what God loves; he fights what God establishes. And let's remember, he's got help! Other spirit beings have joined his rebellion and control the system known in Scripture as the world. John even said, "the whole world lies under the sway of the wicked one" (1 John 5:19). What should we know about this arch-nemesis of God in order to stand against him?
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3/2/2003
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Touched by an Angel
Luke 1-2
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As even the title suggests, angels have become popular in modern culture. But whether we know it or not, we've all been "touched an angel." Martin Luther helped us to understand their role by remarking, "An angel is a spiritual creature created by God without a body, for the service of Christendom and of the church." He was partially correct, but angels serve an even greater role than being strictly for the church. Their ministry goes beyond us and is principally concerned with the glory and majesty of God.
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3/9/2003
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Man, Has God Got a Plan For You!
Genesis 1-3
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Alexander Pope once remarked that, "the chief study of man is man himself." That may be true, especially in our culture, but this could also be the reason why mankind is so desperate and spiritually thirsty. Looking only to ourselves rather than beyond ourselves can get pretty lonely! But why are we here? What is the purpose of mankind inhabiting this planet? How can I fulfill the God-given destiny that He originally designed for me?
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3/16/2003
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From Creation to Corruption
Genesis 2-3
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How did we, as the human race, get into the colossal mess we find ourselves in? Was it always this way? And what do Adam's actions, acted out so long ago, have to do with us in this modern technologically advanced age? Am I at all responsible? Can the effects ever be undone? Let's look at these issues in the opening chapters of Genesis.
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4/27/2003
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Church-Building 101
Matthew 16:13-20
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The church was God's idea; it was never man's notion. Jesus Christ is the founder, director, architect, owner and builder of the church. But there is an awful lot of confusion about what a church is supposed to look and function like. Today, we look at the first New Testament mention of the church and look at our spiritual origins. As we are Rediscovering Our Foundations, let's also rediscover our spiritual roots as the people of God.
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5/4/2003
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What Jesus Wants His Church to Be - Part 1
John 17
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The church is not a place, but a people (a called-out assembly of people who gather together and whose heartfelt conviction is that Jesus is Lord). Jesus laid claim on the church—it belongs to Him ("I will build My church"). So then, what does He want His church to be like? What should mark us overall? In Jesus' longest recorded prayer before His crucifixion, He prays for four characteristics that are to mark the people of God. Today we look at the first two.
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5/25/2003
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What Jesus Wants His Church to Be - Part 2
John 17
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Church shopping and church hopping have become one of American Christians’ favorite pastimes. We want a church that suits us, helps us, and pleases us. But since Jesus paid for it, it’s His church (Acts 20:28). So what does He want from us? What should the people of God be like? What ingredients and activities ought to be part of our makeup? In this series, Rediscovering our Foundations, we must rediscover the foundational purpose for our existence as His church.
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6/1/2003
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How to Build a Beautiful Body
1 Corinthians 12:3-22
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6/22/2003
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The Last Days
2 Peter 1-3
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On October 30, 1938, the day before Halloween, the novel War of the Worlds was made into a radio broadcast featuring Orson Welles. As millions of Americans were listening, the play was performed so it would sound like a news broadcast about an invasion from Mars. Many thought they were hearing an actual news account of an invasion from Mars and concluded this was the end. Some even committed suicide as their final fatal act! In Rediscovering Our Foundations, what can we know about the last days of this world and what can we do to prepare?
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6/29/2003
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I'll Be Back
John 13:31-14:6
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A little boy was trying desperately to tell his friends about what Jesus' return would be like. He described Jesus' coming in glory as being "greater than Superman, Batman, and the Power Rangers put together!" Of course even that would be an understatement. Jesus came here 2000 years ago and then left; but He promised to return. What will it be like? What difference should it make to us right here, right now?
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7/13/2003
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Heaven: Our Final Frontier
Revelation 21:1-27
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Captain Kirk and his starship Enterprise weekly traversed the galaxies on the famed Star Trek episodes. That was fiction! But one day you will inhabit the recreated millennial earth in a glorified body and then explore the vast kingdoms of heaven in the eternal state. That is reality! It will be so different than what you're used to that it's linguistically impossible to convey its vastness. But there's enough here to whet the appetite for heaven!
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There are 29 additional messages in this series.
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