It's Real
Notes
Transcript
I tell you, in the same way, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who don’t need repentance.
INTRO— In preparing for this message, Johnny Hunt (Pastor of FBC Woodstock in the Atlanta, GA, area) made the following statement:
“Everyone who has ever lived is still alive.” Let that sink in. It’s true…biblically speaking, the statement is absolutely true. AAANNNDDD, biblically speaking, only two eternal destinations exist. To each one of these, we must say, “It’s real.”
HEAVEN! []
A Perfectly PREPARED PLACE. (14.2a, 3a)
In the Presence OF GOD. (14.2b, 3c, 6)
With an Additional PROMISE. (14.3b)
[Now, when we approach the consideration of Heaven and Hell, too many of us want to see the extended-edition, feature-film portrayal of Heaven…and the infomercial (at best) and more honestly the 30 second commercial on Hell. Well, as you might be guessing, today I want us to flip that emphasis for today. Turn to .]
HELL. [; It’s a real place of real...]
HOPELESSNESS (16.22; Dante Aligheri, Inferno - “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.”
ETERNALITY (; )
And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.
For the word of the Lord rang out from you, not only in Macedonia and Achaia, but in every place that your faith in God has gone out. Therefore, we don’t need to say anything, for they themselves report what kind of reception we had from you: how you turned to God from idols to serve the living and true God
when he takes vengeance with flaming fire on those who don’t know God and on those who don’t obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. They will pay the penalty of eternal destruction from the Lord’s presence and from his glorious strength
TORMENT (16.23, 25, 28; torment, agony, torment…severe pain)
…and an eternal awareness of having loved sin more than the Savior.
The worst burn you’ve ever had…abscessed tooth…road rash…broken leg…migraines…kidney stones...
ISOLATION (16.24; on me…I am…; definitely still quiet myopic in focus)
“…me…I...”
SEPARATION (16.26; ‘a great chasm fixed’)
“You can’t get there from here.”
DESPERATION (16.24, 27-28, 30; for relief…for others to be warned…for substantial, irrefutable testimony)
Fear
For relief
For others to be warned
For substantial, irrefutable testimony
CONCL—
Remember, “everyone who has ever lived is still alive.” reinforces the truth of this statement. The parable of the sheep and the goats talks about consequences for actions in one’s life borne either out of righteousness or unrighteousness...
Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
matt 25.
…or...
“Then he will also say to those on the left, ‘Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels!
matt 25.41
…with the bottom line for everyone being (what you see on the bottom of your outline page from the bulletin)...
“And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
Matthew 25.