INTRODUCTION
1. What’s Next? After We die – What’s Next? When our heart stops beating – when we take our last breath – What’s Next?
2. My intent, from the very beginning of this study has been for us to understand that Heaven is an Awesome Place and that Hades and Hell is an Awful Place.
• I’ve wanted us to know the Rewards of Heaven and the Reality of Hell.
• That through our study, we would grasp that Heaven is Far better than anything we have known or understand or could imagine and that Hell is far worse than anything we have known, experienced, or could even imagine…No one in Hades would ever want anyone to experience what they are now experiencing…
3. No joke intended at all – If I could scare Hell right out of us and inspire Heaven right in to us – It would be a good study together!
• I want you to be more excited about Heaven than you are frightened by Hell…
4. What’s Next? Today, We may be asking the most important question of this entire series… I think this is the most important question of our life – How do we get to Heaven?
• If Heaven is an Awesome Place – and it is! And Hell is an Awful Place – and it is!
• How, then, do we avoid Hell and get to Heaven?
• Have you asked that question? That question has been asked by so many over so many generations and within every heart… one of Jesus’ followers asked it…
5. Remember these beautiful words from Jesus -- John 14:1-6 – 1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. 2In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going." 5 Thomas said to him, "Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?" 6 Jesus answered, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.”
6. Eternity is not left to Chance – Eternity is decided and determined by your Choice… Your Choice to Live FOR Jesus in this life so you will live WITH Jesus in the life to come…
• How sad it would be – for us to being thinking of Heaven for the last 7 weeks – and then have some not go there…
• What you and I decide today – determines our Eternal Destiny!
• Don’t leave it all to chance – Eternity is determined by your choice…
• The choices you make before you die… once you die – the decisions have been made.
7. (eg) A recent Survey of Americans showed that 85% of the American People believe they are going to Heaven and most of those believe they are going because they are pretty good…
• Another recent survey indicates that 52% of American Christians say they believe that other religions can lead you to Eternal Life…
8. Although in Heaven, there is going to be a number greater than we can count, the Bible teaches that there will be more people who don’t make it to Heaven than those who do.
• Jesus makes it clear – MOST people are NOT going to Heaven… Everyone is not going to Heaven…
• Jesus said from the Sermon on the Mount -- Matthew 7:13-14 – 13 "Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. 14 But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
9. So it’s very important that we just don’t Believe in Heaven but we know how to get there…
• Jesus said, “I am the way. To get to the Heavenly Father – you must Come through Me. According to Jesus -- there is only 1 way. There are not many ways. There are not many equal ways. There is only one way… Jesus says - I am the way to Eternal Life!
• No other religious founder can make that claim… Not Mohamed. Not Buddha. Not Moses. None of them came back to life from the grave.
• Only Jesus can say, “I am the Way. I am the Truth. I am the Life. Follow me and you will get to Heaven.
• I want to follow someone who knows --
10. (eg) Now, I understand that this is very narrow, very exacting, very politically incorrect and seemingly very intolerant…
• These are not my words --- It’s what Jesus said! I believe what Jesus said…
• But know this – God wishes that none would perish – He wants everyone to get to Heaven… That’s why God sent Jesus into the World…
John 3:16 – “For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life.
• God has never forced anyone AND God will never force anyone to choose Him…
• God will never force us to embrace His love for us. God will never force us to Love Him, to Serve Him, to Obey Him or to Live for Him!
• God chooses to let us choose. Eternal Life, Heaven is a choice you must make. He will never violate His gift of your free-will…
Let me put this in a way that should be easily remembered… A B C
A = Admit you’ve sinned and separated yourself from God.
1. The Bible says Romans 3:23 -- for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
• Romans 3:10-12 -- "There is no one righteous, not even one; there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God. All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one."
2. “Sin” is our personal choice to disobey and disregard God’s will for our life. Your life to this point has been all about what you want and not what God wants…
3. You might say – “Well, Dennis – I’m not all that bad – compared to a lot of other people – I’m not all that bad…” but you know and I know – we’re not all that good…
• “It’s not that we can’t do good. We do some good. It’s just that we can’t keep from doing bad.” (Max Lucado – He Did This Just For You, p15)
• We miss the Goal. We keep coming up short…
• So instead of comparing yourself with other people and smugly thinking you’re pretty good… compare yourself to God’s law…
• Look at just the 10 commandments and you realize that you’ve broken and I’ve broken just about every one of them multiple times… Have you lied? Taken anything?
• No – We all have sinned. We all have disobeyed God. We all have turned away from God’s way and tried to live life our way…
4. So humbly admit it – “I am a sinner…” I have sinned. I have sinned against God. I’ve have done what I’ve wanted to do and not done what God wants me to do.
• I’ve lived my life, my way and not God’s way and didn’t care…
• I am a sinner and I need God’s forgiveness.
• I am hopelessly lost unless the Lord does something…
B = Believe Jesus is God’s Son and that He died for your sins.
1. John 3:16-18 – 16 "For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through Him. 18 Whoever believes in Him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the Name of God’s one and only Son.
2. Believing in Jesus is more than a mental agreement. Believing is more than simply saying -- “Sure, He’s the Son of God.” “Sure, Jesus lived a good life.” “Sure, Jesus rose from the dead.”
• Believing is more than all of that.
• Believing in Jesus involves both your head and your heart…
• Believing is putting your faith and your trust in Him.
• Believing is swallowing your pride and humbly trusting in Him and not in yourself.
• You Believe that Jesus died on the cross for your sins.
• You Believe that God raised Jesus from the dead on the 3rd day.
• You Believe that Jesus is the Way and the Truth and the Life – that the only way any of us can come to the Father in Heaven is through Jesus.
• You Believe that and you are promising your life to reflect that…
3. The Bible says -- Ephesians 2:8-9 -- For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God—not by works, so that no one can boast.
4. We could never be good enough or do enough good things to earn Heaven or the forgiveness of our sins.
• It’s is only by putting our trust and faith in Jesus Christ and what He did for us that we can be saved.
5. How we get to Heaven has nothing to do with any of our good things – our good things are not good enough. Getting to Heaven is all about the Good things that Jesus has done to get us to Heaven.
• He did what we could not do – He lived a completely pure, perfect, righteous, loving, obedient, God-centered life.
• And then He gave His life to pay the price of our sin. He took our place. He took our punishment. He took our penalty.
• He took what we deserved so we could receive what we never deserved because of our sin.
• Because of this Sacrifice, we get Eternal Life. Because He took our place – we get the Hope of Heaven.
6. The righteous requirement of the Law justly demands that every sin be punished. Our sin debt must be paid for. And Jesus Paid it All… Our greatest debt ever was paid for! What an Amazing Bailout – and we don’t deserve at all…
• Jesus paid it all… Why? Because God loves you that much…
• God loved when you didn’t love Him and when you didn’t care about Him.
• God loved you when you resist Him and rebel against Him. He still loves you!
• God so loved you that He gave His one and only Son that whoever believes in Him will not perish – suffer the agony of Hades and Hell but have Everlasting life – in Heaven with Him!
• You must Believe in Him! Believe in Who He is and in What He has done!
• You must Believe it and you must Live it!
So Admit you are a Sinner. Believe in the Lord Jesus Christ
C = Commit your Life to Jesus!
1. (eg) in our children’s ministry, our children hear it this way --- committing is turning from your sin to live God’s way…
• To Turn from your sin is the Bible word – Repent. It means to Change. To Change your mind… to think differently. When you think differently – you will live differently.
Committing your Life to Jesus means Repenting of your Sin
• Repentance means you change direction. You’ve been living only for yourself… Your selfish pleasure, your selfish ways. Your selfish intent, your selfish desires
1. But now there is a Change. You Repent. You are sorry for what you’ve done - You Change your mind – You realize – Your way is not the best way and it’s not the right way.
• You want to live God’s Way… No longer following the Crowd – you want to follow Christ…
2. When you Repent – You are saying, I want to Live God’s Way not My Way!
• In my relationships – its God’s Way not My Way.
• With His Word! In my Family. At work, with my schedule, at school…
• With my finances and with my stuff – all that I would worry about…
• With my Goals, my Dreams, my Ambitions, my desires – it’s all God’s Way – it’s not my way…
3. This doesn’t mean you will live a perfect life from this point on but it does mean there is a change in your life-direction, a change in your life-focus and there is a change in your life-priorities,
• If Jesus is the Way --- then I want my life to go His Direction. I will surrender My ways to His Way!
• I must turn from my sin, my habits, my addictions, my ways and I turn to God… God’s ways. God’s Word. God’s Will for my life.
• You make the choice and God will help you make the change.
Committing your life to Jesus also means Confessing Jesus as Lord
1. If you believe it – then you must say it! Jesus is Lord!
2. Romans 10:9 -- That if you confess with your mouth, "Jesus is Lord," and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.
• And when you make the choice to commit your life to Jesus – you make your good confession. Your confession of WHO Jesus is and WHO you want to be,
• So you will confess – Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the Living God and I accept Him as my Savior and as my Lord.
3. (eg) When you get married, you stand in front of people and you make a public pledge and promise to the one you are marrying – you will be faithful to your husband or your wife until death separates you.
• It may make you nervous, but if your heart is right and when you so love that other person - you’ll do it…you’ll say it…
4. As you commit your Life to Jesus, God asks you to publicly pledge and promise your allegiance to Christ. You promise your faithfulness and your commitment to Jesus for all of your life…
• When you Believe it – you will say it! When you Believe it – you will Live it!
• When you Believe it - others will see it in your life. Nothing hidden. Nothing cloaked. When you make a Commitment to Jesus – you talk it and you walk it! You say it and you Live it!
Committing your life to Jesus means being baptized
1. Listen to how simply Jesus says this -- Mark 16:16 -- Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.
2. In Acts 2, The apostles are preaching on the Day of Pentecost (the Birthday of the Church that Aaron mentioned last week). The message was simple – Jesus is the Son of God. Jesus is the promised One of God. And Jesus died for your sins, was buried and on the 3rd Day was raised from the dead through the Power of God.
• Notice the response of those hearing that message…
• Acts 2:37-39 – 37 When the people heard this, they were cut to the heart and said to Peter and the other apostles, "Brothers, what shall we do?"
• That’s an important question! If we believe your words that Jesus is WHO you say He is – What do we do?
• All through the Book of Acts – that question is asked… it’s like the question we’ve asked today – How do we get to Heaven?
• 38 Peter replied, "Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. And you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. 39 The promise is for you and your children and for all who are far off — for all whom the Lord our God will call."
3. Baptism becomes the benchmark, a marking place. The defining moment, the dividing line between the old life of sin and the new life resurrected with Christ…
• Romans 6:3-5 – 3 Or don’t you know that all of us who were baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? 4 We were therefore buried with him through baptism into death in order that, just as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, we too may live a new life. 5 If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection.
4. (eg) this last week, I heard a story that Jeff Walling, a Church of Christ preacher, tells about his home church preacher when he was growing up.
• When it came to baptism -- Brother Johnson always wanted baptism to resemble a death, a burial and a resurrection just like this text says…
• So when Brother Johnson baptized people he didn’t say, “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and then lower them under the water.”
• No -- He lowered them under the water and THEN SAID – “I baptize you in the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit for the remission of your sins in order that you might receive the gift of the Holy Spirit…”
• And by this time, everyone’s on the edge of their seats wondering if this guy is going to come back up and the guy under the water has his eyes wide open wondering if He’s gonna come back up…
• And finally Brother Johnson says, “I now bring you back up to rise and to walk in newness of life… and he comes up spittin’ and sputterin’, gasping for air just grateful he’s alive!
• Now we don’t do that to you here at this Church…
• But we do want you to understand that baptism is a Beautiful picture of Christ’s death, His burial and His Resurrection.
• And Baptism is a picture of your death to sin, your burial with Christ, the washing away of your sin and your rising up to walk and live in a new life…
Committing your life to Jesus means Loving and Living for Jesus everyday…
1. You Love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength
• With everything you have. With everything you are. With everything you ever hope to be – you Love Him Completely. You Love Him Fully. You Love Him Totally.
2. Commitment to Jesus means your Life is all about His Life in you and His life working through you. Get this – Live FOR Jesus now and you will Live WITH Jesus then!
3. Jesus says -- John 14:1-6 – 1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me. 2In My Father’s house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me that you also may be where I am.
TRANSITION to Song – “There Will Be a Day”
1. Aaron and our Worship Team are coming to share another song for us. It’s entitled, “There Will Be a Day”.
• As you listen with your ears, I want you to listen with your heart to what’s being said about that Day… about the Hope and the Promise…
• And I want you to think about what I’ve said about How do we get to Heaven through Jesus Christ…
• As you meditate in these moments -- Ask yourself this question – Is that Day my Day? Is this Place going to be My Place? Am I sure?
Song – “There Will Be a Day”
CONCLUSION
1. (eg) Just this week… there were 5 deaths of people I am connected with… Death is inevitable. We will die… All of us… we will die…
2. We will all die -- What’s Next? When you die – what’s Next for you?
3. What’s NEXT is determined by What’s NOW!
• If You choose to Live FOR Jesus Now – you will Live WITH Jesus Then! Live for Jesus NOW and Live With Jesus LATER…
• What’s Next is Determined by What’s Now!
4. (eg) I can’t even tell you the number of people I know that know what they should do – but are resisting the Holy Spirit and Rejecting His Word…
5. Why would anybody want to take a chance on what is determined by your choice…?
6. Why would anybody turn down or turn away from this Eternal Life? Why would you?
