The Afterlife
WELCOME TO THIS SERMON ON THE AFTERLIFE. ALL CAMPUSES. After Earth concept
This is a huge topic these days! Not enough time to cover here, ONLINE class THIS TUES night, get into the nuts and bolts with you live in the chat!
I want to warn you, not all things that we’ll talk about are going to be palatable. Not all things are going to sit well with you. Not all things are going to seem fair to you. Some of you may be upset with what I have to say. Rest assured, I’m accountable for more than some of you. James 3:1 says preachers and teachers are held more accountable. With this in mind, understand that I don’t take that lightly.
What I say in this sermon needs to be prefaced with this: God demands I speak His truth weather you like it or not…and I fear GOD’S disapproval more than I fear YOURS. I won’t sugar coat it no matter how uncomfortable it gets, you are all adults and I will merely state the facts and let you all make your own decisions.
Let’s start with the moment of death. The Bible is clear on what happens the second you die both as a Christians and a non-Christian.
As a Christian, the body dies but the soul goes on to be in the ‘presence of The Lord’. 2 Corinthians 5:8 (today you will be with me in paradise, amongst others)
Paradise sounds nice:) Let’s talk about that!
Facebook question I asked: Many questions about Heaven…let’s just get right to it with some Biblical answers.
Will we have relationships with our spouse in Heaven? YES, will they have the same nature as our relationships do in this life? No. Let me explain.
You won’t be married to your spouse in the same way you are here…IT WILL BE BETTER. Randy Alcorn “Heaven” The joys of our marriage with our spouse will be so much greater! Your focus won’t be on making marriage work, it will be on praising God, together in perfect harmony!
ILL – So it’s like marriage….but without any of the bad stuff. No nagging fella’s! No insensitive jerk comments, ladies! BOOM
What about children, unborn children, children who die at a very young age, friends, family? There’s no reason to believe we won’t just pick up where we left off here on earth. Our relationships will be richer, deeper…again, unified under the same banner of praising God. Paul encouraged the Thessalonians a lot by telling them he would see them in Heaven and they would all be reunited with their loved ones!
I wish I could spend our entire time talking about the inscrutable glories that await us in Heaven!!! Paul says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 He could never even begin to describe the glory of Heaven in human terms! Paul says we just couldn’t comprehend it!
Imagine all the people you’ll meet. Theologians, Biblical authors…To literally sit down with the apostle Paul and thank him for his tireless efforts! To high five Ruth and thank her for staying faithful in the lineage of Jesus Christ, for helping to set up the book of revelation all the way back in the Old Testament! To put an apple on my head and make David hit it with a sling shot. (What, I can’t die). To hang out with angels who saw the earth created. To talk to Abraham Lincoln just to see how well Daniel Day Lewis got his accent down. (PAUSE) To hang out and have perfectly communicated conversation with your loved one who had a serious disability on earth.
No pain, no suffering, no tears, no worry, no anger, no frustration, no sin, no lying, no jealousy. Oh how indescribable Heaven is going to be. We just can’t possibly wrap our minds around it. EVERY PIECE OF BROKENESS INSIDE OF YOU WILL BE HEALED. NO MORE SUFFERING, NO SIN, NO HURT…ALL THAT YOU ARE, MADE PERFECT THROUGH JESUS CHRIST!
It’s funny but so many people want to know if their pet will be in Heaven.
ILL – Lee likes to say “All dogs go to Heaven but cats go to the lake of fire!” Except when I go over to his house to hang out….HE’S GOT CATS! You’re playing with fire buddy. I’ve got a 190 lb Great Dane. I’ve got a whole different set of problems. In my backyard. Piles of problems.
There’s really nothing that says we won’t enjoy them for all eternity…Animals do have ‘NEPHESH’ the breathe of life. God created them, made Noah put save them on the ark…while inferior to humans in every way…who’s to say NO? The Bible says with God all things are possible….but with the people you’ll meet and the awesomeness of God, you won’t care:)
Can people in Heaven see what is going on here on earth? I believe YES, to some extent. Many times in scripture angels and multitudes are said to SHOUT in Heaven when something happens here, someone giving their life to Christ amongst other times. 1 Is your loved one that passed on watching every move you make, did they see you slam into that automatic door at the gas station that didn’t open the other day? …doubtful.
Now that’s Heaven, just a small sliver of it …what about …HELL?
Post on facebook (I had prepared most of my sermon and it went to a heavy, theological place…a place of the JUSTNESS of God…of the nature of HIS being, the doctrine of HELL, and then 90% of your questions on Facebook were about Heaven! We don’t generally like to talk about Hell. Even my autocorrect on my iPhone wants to change Hell to HE’LL (He Will). Hell is slowly being erased. From our verbiage. From our society. From our willingness to allow ourselves to push the concept away until its existence no longer makes any sense.
We talked of the Christians soul being immediately present with the Lord, conversely the soul of the unbeliever goes to a place of eternal punishment, Hell. Matthew 25 and Matt 7
There are no second chances. That’s why God got so serious about sending His OWN SON. If there were second chances then there would be no need to take such an extreme measure.
In John 19:30 Jesus said the most important one letter word in all scripture “T T Les Tie”…IT IS FINISHED, this was actually an accounting (accountants HOLLA) term in the Greek language that literally meant THE DEBT IS PAID IN FULL. You cannot add to that debt. You cannot subtract from the debt. IT IS FINISHED
Greater sin leads to greater punishment in Hell. We see this in many verses including Matt 11, Luke 12 and John 19 to name a few.
What is Hell like? Matt 13 says there is ‘weeping and gnashing of teeth’. Revelation says some of it is utter darkness and endless torment. Mark 9:43 Jesus Himself says the fires of Hell are never quenched. Jesus says in Matthew 25:41 Hell is an eternal lake of fire.
It gets uncomfortable because our human minds immediately start thinking of friends and loved ones that have dies and we’re not sure if they knew Jesus as their Lord and Savior or not. It’s not easy, I know. NO ONE KNOWS THE HEART BUT GOD. I’m not giving false hope to you but we simply don’t know this side of Heaven.
Look, everyone is betting their life on something. The atheist = that there is no God. The Buddhist = betting on Budha. Others, reincarnation, Nirvana….Me? I’m betting my life that Jesus wasn’t a liar and I’m going to my grave with all my chips in! I’m placing all of my bets on Jesus! What if I’m wrong? Who cares! What if YOU’RE wrong! Is that worth it? C.S.Lewis LIAR LUNATIC or LORD.
Jesus says “I am THE way, THE truth and THE life! No one comes to the Father but by ME”.
He didn’t say I’m a good way, I’m ONE of the ways, He didn’t say “I’m a viable option” HE SAID I AM THE WAY.
To not accept Him is to reject Him. To reject Him and die gets you Hell.
It’s not pretty. You might not like it. So some people, even Christians have taken Hell out of the equation. YOU CAN’T DO THAT.
Just because there are things we don’t WANT to believe about God, We therefore decide that we can’t believe them. THAT’S BAD THEOLOGY.
It’s incredibly arrogant to pick and choose what we like in the Bible.
It’s time for Christians to stop apologizing FOR God and start apologizing TO Him for being embarrassed at the ways of an almighty God! We need to stop questioning the ways of God!
Friends understand this: God isn’t looking for you to like everything He chooses to do. He isn’t asking if you think it sits well with your friends, He isn’t concerned that you may not think it’s fair and He absolutely, positively, unapologetically doesn’t need you to try to run interference and soften the blow of the concept of Hell because it’s not seen as politically correct in this day and age!
Goodness Gracious we have softened the hard edges of scripture to accommodate our feelings and society and I refuse to be part of it. These words need to spoken in true love and compassion but the fire and Indignation and gritty-ness MUST remain to save a lost world! For once friends, it’s not about the pursuit of YOU BEING RIGHT> G.K. Chesterson said What we need is a religion that is not only right when we are right BUT RIGHT when we are wrong.
And there is no righter right, there is no truer truth, there is no saving savior than Jesus Christ, Jehovah, The King of Kings, The Lord of Lords and the Lion of the Tribe of Judah.
Who goes to Hell, Kyle? Those who have denied Jesus on this earth. Those who refuse to except Him into their heart as Lord and Savior. THIS SEEMS LIKE A SCARE TACTIC TO GET ME INTO YOUR RELIGION!
It is not, Jesus didn’t make it a scare tactic. He talked about hell more than all the Biblical authors PUT TOGETHER!!!!, yet the majority of times He spoke on Hell, He did so to BELIEVERS. To Christians. WHY?? Because He wanted to make sure WE understood that we have a job to do. Tell the world about the Grace of Jesus. His sacrifice to save us from Hell. To save us from our own sin. THAT’S WHY WE DO WHAT WE DO AT CEDARCREEK! Everything we do is filtered through this idea that the world needs Jesus. Their eternities hang in the balance!
Big Push coming up, INVITE. Everyone matters. Sept 14/15 ADVERTISING…YOUR LIFE IN 3D! The concept that there is something more to life than a one dimensional, black and white existence! God will transform their hearts! Everyone deserves at least a chance to find Jesus! Get them here, let God take care of the rest.
I can’t imagine why we get stuck, with all eternity at our grasp…and we’re worried and attached and CLINGING to this FINITE, FRAGILE, FLEETING life???
So many people spend so much money, so many efforts looking, searching for where they belong on this earth. Tireless efforts to find home. To be comfortable. When home has been in front of you the whole time. Home is NOT here, it’s eternity in Heaven!
Don’t waste another minute trying in vein to make this your home, stop clinging to this earth, look beyond yourself and tell the world about the saving grace of JESUS CHRIST.
Conqueror of the grave. Creator of the Universe. Builder of our eternal HOME.
PRAYER
