Believe: What Happens Next? John 14:1-2

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1 Believe: What Happens Next? John 14:1-2 Over the past 10 weeks we have been looking deeply into ten of the core, essential beliefs of Christianity as presented in Pastor Randy Frazee s book called, Believe. We have considered the existence of God, the nature of God, what the Bible tells us about salvation, the authority of scripture, our identity in Christ, this reality called the Church, as well as the Christian s conviction regarding humanity, compassion, and stewardship. With each one of these subjects, we have been reading and considering copious amounts of scripture, because that is what our beliefs are based upon. Now, this morning, we will address the last core belief which addresses a question every human being asks: What happens next? In other words, what do Christians believe regarding life after death? Our scriptural answer to this hugely important question comes from John 14:1-2, where we find Jesus speaking to His disciples shortly before his own death. Let s read what Jesus said, Do not let your hearts be troubled. You believe in God; believe also in me. My Father s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you? Let us also say together our belief statement for the week, I believe there is a heaven and a hell and that Jesus will return to judge all people and to establish his eternal kingdom. Now I recognize that many people here today might not agree with this belief statement. You may agree with some parts of it and not others, or you may disagree all together. The afterlife is a difficult subject because, for the most part, we simply cannot go and see it for ourselves, right? Whatever is true about life after death is something that we must accept on faith. And here s what I want you to think about: we are all every day living our lives based upon some conviction about what comes next we are all living by faith regardless of whether we consider ourselves religious or not. Most people in America, according to recent surveys, believe that there is a heaven of some kind. And, according to that survey, most Americans believe they will be going to heaven when they die because they believe themselves to be good people who would be accepted into the place where good people go, should such a place exist. There are many who believe that nothing awaits us after our last breath so they live only for today. Still others believe that we will somehow be reincarnated that we will return to life in another form with a new identity, and we will go through another lifetime before being reincarnated again and again based upon how good we have been in this current life. Regardless of how religious you think that you are, how you answer the question of what comes next has a far greater impact upon your daily life than you might know. Such is why this is a critical question, and a critical component to what we believe as Christians. So I will attempt to unpack this subject of eternity under three subheadings: 1) a biblical answer to what comes next; 2) the logical necessity of Hell; 3) the hope and assurance of Heaven. 1 P age

2 I. First, what does the Bible say about what happens when we die? There is so much material within the Bible that speaks to this question, so please know that I am simply summarizing what could be an entire sermon series in itself. For the sake of time, I will simply bullet point some of the key things we learn from the witness of scripture when it comes to this subject. 1) First of all, we need to acknowledge that, according to a biblical worldview, human beings were originally created to live forever. In Genesis 1 and 2, human beings are created in God s image, both male and female, and they are placed in a position of dominion over all the creatures of the earth. The plants and trees of the newly created earth are to serve as food for both humans and animals, and there is no concept of death in that original setting. Death comes about as a result of the fall when Adam and Eve disobey God. In other words, according to the biblical narrative, death is our doing. Death is the consequence of sin; death is a curse that follows sin, and so death becomes a regular part of life on earth not only for humans, but also in terms of animal sacrifices, killing animals for food, and so on. Biblically speaking, then, death is an intruder. However, one day, at the end of this age, the original intent of creation will be restored, all that is wrong will be made right, and death will be no more. I ll come back to that in a minute. 2) Secondly, bodily death is not the end for human beings. According to the Bible, human beings created in the image of God are spiritually immortal creatures that continue to have consciousness and a body of some kind, and thus all human beings continue to live on for eternity either in heaven or in hell. In Luke 16, Jesus tells a story that clearly answers our question regarding life after death. Here s what Jesus said, 19 There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. 20 And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus, covered with sores, 21 who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. [f] The rich man also died and was buried, 23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side. 24 And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame. 25 But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish. 26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us. 27 And he said, Then I beg you, father, to send him to my father's house 28 for I have five brothers so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment. 29 But Abraham said, They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. 31 He said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. Jesus makes clear that when these two men died a physical death on earth, they continued to live on with the same identities, and even recognizable features, such that the rich man in hell recognizes Lazarus as the beggar who sat outside his gate. In this story, the poor man who endured terrible suffering during his earthly life is comforted in the presence of the saints, and the rich man who lived a life of indulgence is suffering agony in flames, tormented and languishing with thirst. Notice that the place where human souls spend eternity is assigned to them based upon that which took place while they lived in the flesh on earth. This picture of 2 P age

3 what happens next for human beings is consistent throughout the Bible. Remember that a few weeks ago we read what Jesus said about the final judgment in Matthew 25 when all the nations of the earth will be gathered before King Jesus and He will separate people one from another, welcoming those on his right into the kingdom that was prepared for them since the beginning of the world a place of eternal life; and consigning those on his left to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels a place of eternal torment. There are many, many scriptures that speak to what happens next, and they are in redundant agreement: human beings do not cease to exist when they breathe their last. Instead, they go on either in heaven or in hell, and where they spend eternity is determined by what they did while living on earth (see John 5:25-29). Now can you see why our answer to the question of what happens next is so important? If human beings live on after our bodily death and if the destination of our eternal existence is somehow determined by the life we live now then it stands to reason that we should live our lives with the end in mind, right? If heaven and hell are real places where people end up after their lives on earth are over, then we will all want to give considerable attention to what is required of us to escape hell and secure our reservation in heaven. That s common sense, and to a large degree, this notion that humans live on and that we will be accountable for how we lived our lives is MORE common in human history than the notion that we only live a short time on earth and then all existence is over, end of story, no accountability, no life to come. Historically speaking, that is a relatively new concept and one that has been made popular through atheistic enlightenment philosophies and Darwinian philosophies that would have us to believe that God does not exist and that there is no life after death. I should remind you that neither philosophy or science has disproved God or the reality of an afterlife; in fact, one could argue quite the contrary. I ll come back to that in a minute. So what do you believe happens when we die? Heaven or hell? Or do you believe that we simply cease to exist altogether? Now, let me ask you a really important question: on what authority are you basing your beliefs about what comes next? The Bible, your intuition, your friends at school, your own intelligence, some atheist professor in college? Remember, we re all living in faith when it comes to our answer regarding what comes next so what is your faith based upon? For the Christian, our faith is based upon the scriptures and the words of the Only One who was crucified, dead, buried, and then rose again on the third day. According to Him we will go on, we will live forever in heaven or hell, and what we do now during this life matters for all eternity. If, by some chance, you are interested in examining evidence other than the Bible regarding the afterlife, I suggest you look into the significant studies that have been conducted regarding neardeath testimonies. I have looked deeply into the evidence, including numerous studies of those people who were clinically dead and then somehow resuscitated and the evidence is overwhelmingly in favor of a biblical worldview. Thousands of people have had their hearts stop their brains stopped functioning due to a lack of oxygen and according to their 3 P age

4 physicians and medical records, they were often pronounced dead. But later, when they were resuscitated or (in their words) sent back, these people regularly report, I never stopped being aware of what was happening. My spirit lifted up out of my body, I was looking down at my body, I saw everybody in the room, I heard what the physicians were saying, I was fully aware of my identity, and I was fully aware that the body on the table was not me. Many of those people bear witness that they were not alone in those minutes away from their bodies. Some claim to have had a conversation with Jesus, some claim to have seen heaven, and some many claim to have been in hell. There are a wide variety of testimonies, and there are people right here in this church who have those very testimonies themselves...but all of these people and their stories have this one thing in common: much to their surprise, these human beings never died even when their bodies were dead. There was never a gap in their consciousness. They never ceased to exist for even a second. Which would suggest that the Bible is accurate in describing our existence as eternal we all go on. Death is not the end. II. OK, let s pause for a moment and address one of the hardest doctrines of the Christian faith, and that is the existence of hell. Again, this could be an entire sermon series, so please allow me to make a few general observations and then unpack Why Hell is a logical necessity. 1) First, the Bible reveals that hell is a real place where many people will end up after their lives are over here on earth. It is a place of utter darkness. It is a place of eternal torment. It is a place prepared for the devil and his angels. It hosts a lake of fire. In hell the worm never dies, there is constant weeping and gnashing of teeth; there is no rest, no consolation, and no possibility of escape. All that is good, all that is from God, is absent in this place of torment which means no sleep, no water, no food, no friends, no good conversations no hope at all. Everything I ve just said comes from scripture, and if you are interested to research what the Bible reveals about Hell, I would point you to author and speaker, Bill Weiss. In his book, 23 Minutes in Hell, Weiss tells the story of how Jesus unexpectantly sent him into Hell one night for 23 minutes and then commanded him to write down what he saw and share it with the world. At the time, Bill was a real-estate agent and a regular church-goer like many of us. Bill s testimony is horrifying, and if true, it s will literally scare the Hell out of you! Following the night of his vision, Bill undertook a scholarly study of hell that would put any Ph.D. to shame. So, regardless of what you think about his testimony, I encourage you to read his book and investigate all that the Bible has to say about hell if that is of any interest to you. 2) It would be inconsistent for us to say, I believe in Jesus, but I don t believe in the existence of hell. To believe in Jesus is to believe what Jesus believed, and Jesus most certainly believed that hell was real, and that many people...if not most people will end up in hell. We ve already read the story Jesus told about the rich man and Lazarus. A few weeks ago we looked at the final judgment in Matthew 25 as I mentioned earlier where Jesus separates souls into two groups: those who are welcomed into the kingdom, and those assigned to eternal torment. If we continue to study the New Testament, here is what we will find: Jesus speaks and teaches about the reality of hell more than any other voice in the New Testament, and that is consistent in all four gospels. Jesus believed that Hell awaits all those who sin against God. Consider Mark 9:43-48: 4 P age

5 43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, [a] to the unquenchable fire. [b] 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, 48 where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. You will find scholars who try to dissuade us from believing that Hell exists, or those who claim that Jesus never taught on Hell. But you have seen clearly this morning that Jesus did, in fact, teach with a sense of urgency that Hell is real, and Hell awaits those who sin against God and remain unforgiven. 3) It is Hell not heaven that serves as the default destination of all people. Now I know that is offensive, but listen to what Jesus said in Matthew 7:13-14: Enter by the narrow gate. For the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard that leads to life, and those who find it are few. In his book entitled Heaven, Randy Alcorn writes: If we understood Hell even the slightest bit, none of us would ever say, Go to Hell. It s far too easy to go to Hell. It requires no change of course, no navigational adjustments. We were born with our autopilot set toward Hell. It is nothing to take lightly Hell is the single greatest tragedy in the universe. God loves us enough to tell us the truth there are two eternal destinations, not one, and we must choose the right path if we are to go to heaven. I agree whole-heartedly with Alcorn Hell is our default destination Hell is MY default destination. Leave me alone never confront me with the Gospel never warn me about the justice that is coming never teach me about Jesus and the cross and I will absolutely end up in Hell. I know my heart there is not a doubt in my mind that Hell would be what I deserve. None of us go to heaven by default we all need a Savior. I ll come back to how we find assurance in heaven in just a minute. 4) I want to briefly comment on why Hell is logically necessary. C. S. Lewis once wrote this about Hell, There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specifically, of our Lord s own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason. Why does Hell have the support of reason? Let me give you a few reasons, though if time allowed, I could provide more. a) Justice demands the existence of Hell. Think about it. Justice demands punishment, and many who are guilty of horrendous crimes and violence escape justice in their mortal lives. Countless dictators, drug lords, crooked politicians, rapists, and liars die fat and happy in their sleep every day. Their crimes brought pain and suffering to the lives of countless thousands, but they were never caught, never arrested, never served jail time, never received what was coming to them, and never repented. They lived in luxury and indulgence at the expense of others, and then they died. If that is the end, there is no justice. However, if God is just if justice matters at all then Hell is a logical necessity and that is exactly what we find in the Bible. Hell is God s prison without parole and it s worse than any prison we could ever imagine. God will have His justice, because God is holy and just, and no sin will be left unpunished. 5 P age

6 b) The cross of Jesus Christ makes no sense whatsoever if Hell is not real. In other words, God did not spare His own son, but gave him up as a sacrifice the Passover Lamb for us all so that sinful human beings might be forgiven and reconciled to God. The extreme, violent, agonizing sacrifice of Jesus Christ for the souls of sin-sick people makes perfect sense if those same sinsick people are on a collision course with Hell. However, if Hell does not exist and all people get a free pass to enter into heaven, then the cross was unnecessary and absurd. c) Hell is the logical alternative to an eternity serving Jesus as Lord. If human beings do, in fact, bear the image of God and are thus immortal, eternal creatures, it stands to reason that those who reject God those who mock Jesus and reject Him as their Lord those who refuse to repent and continue to justify their sinful behavior are souls who would not enjoy an eternity in God s presence. In fact, as we learn in Isaiah 6, unredeemed people would be consumed and destroyed in His presence. Yet, because these souls have been created to be eternal, they will go on forever. Thus, Hell is the logical alternative for humans who reject Jesus as Lord and worship themselves as lord, or even worse, worship someone or something else as their lord. Stated simply: we will all live on forever and whoever we serve as the lord of our lives when we breathe our last will continue to be our Lord for all eternity. That choice is ultimately ours to make and it is a choice with tremendous consequences. We must remember there is only One Lord who loves you enough to die in your place. All other lords will not forgive you. It is as C. S. Lewis once wrote, There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. To those who knock it is opened. Let us now turn our attention to the hope of heaven. III. The Hope and Assurance of Heaven Although all human beings by default should go to Hell, and all are deserving of Hell based upon God s holy and just law, God made a way for human beings to be forgiven and thus pardoned from the sentence that they deserve. In order to maintain Justice, God placed the punishment of our sin on His one and only Son, Jesus, who was then whipped, crucified, and died the death we deserve. In 2 Cor. 5:21 Paul writes, For God made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God. In other words, Jesus took on our Sin, and in exchange, we received His right-standing before God. Because Jesus paid our debt and served our sentence, those who repent and place their faith in Jesus now stand before God as those who have never sinned. We have been forgiven. We have been redeemed. We have been reconciled to God. This is the Gospel, and the Gospel is the hope of the world! Amen? Now, for those who are redeemed, for those who have been forgiven and pardoned in Christ, the end of our earthly lives means the beginning of our life in Heaven. So what is Heaven like? How should we think of our existence in Heaven? Once again, I would point you to a resource that is both thorough and extremely helpful on this subject. Randy Alcorn has written what I would consider to be the most thorough, helpful book on the subject, and the book is literally entitled, Heaven. Alcorn s biblical research and description of Heaven is so powerful and 6 P age

7 moving that you will be ready to get there as soon as possible when you finish his book! And look I think we all need to read his book because many of us have a very distorted view of Heaven. I ve been amazed how my own sons have expressed concern about going to Heaven! In their imaginations, Heaven is going to be boring! They are worried about sitting around doing nothing for all eternity. They are worried that there won t be any fun things to do no Fortnight God forbid! They are actually worried about going to heaven and these are the preacher s kids! So what does the Bible say Heaven will be like? I ll give you just a taste, just enough so that you ll want to go home and read your Bibles and maybe Alcorn s book as well! 1) Heaven will be like earth, but perfect! Paul writes in II Corinthians 5:6-8 that to be absent with the body is to be present with the Lord. So when we are with the Lord, we are in heaven, which will be for a time but not time as we know it. Heaven exits outside of time, even as time on earth continues to march on to its inevitable end. The end of this age will be the long predicted, Day of the Lord. Jesus speaks of that day in Luke 21: And there will be signs in sun and moon and stars, and on the earth distress of nations in perplexity people fainting with fear and foreboding of what is coming on the world. For the powers of the heavens will be shaken. And then they will see the Son of Man coming in a cloud with power and great glory. At the end of the age, what we call the Parousia, the King will return, the heavens and the earth will be dissolved, every wrong will be made right, everything corrupted will be restored, there will be a new heaven, a new earth, and death will be no more. This will be the time when all those in Christ are resurrected and we will receive new bodies like that which Jesus took on after His resurrection. Paul writes in 1 Cor. 15, In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall be changed! So, when the redeemed die on earth, we are in heaven, in God s presence which will be amazing. Then there will be something new, something wonderful, that will physically and spiritually take place at the end of the age there will be the time of Resurrection and a new earth. How all that works in terms of timing and so on is hard to say, but that s what the Bible reveals. In the vision that he received while on the island of Patmos, the Apostle John writes, I saw a new heaven and a new earth Our new residence in the age to come will be the very best of earth, with no corruption. No pollution, no evil people, no violence it will be earth perfected, and God Himself will dwell among us. 2) Heaven will be like home. For most of us, home is a word of comfort. We long for home when we are away. Home is where we feel safe and valued home is where we belong. There are comforts of home that we truly enjoy comforts such as a favorite chair, a fireplace, and the company of those we love. I can assure you that there is nothing about home that we enjoy here that will be lacking in heaven. In fact, most of us have an unmet longing for home that can never be satisfied in this life because our true home is not of this age our true home awaits us in the next age when we will be with Jesus and we will inherit the custom-built HOME that He has prepared for us. Jesus said in John 14, I go to prepare a place for you Can you imagine what kind of place Jesus has tailor designed for His Bride the church? For those who endured for His name in this life, for those whom Jesus died to save, Jesus has designed a 7 P age

8 HOME that will blow our minds a home for each of us with our unique desires and personalities in mind. So I m absolutely confident that my heavenly home will look out over the water, there will be a roaring fireplace, and I ll be able to watch ducks and deer from every window! Every piece of furniture will recline, and the blooming ice-maker will never break down! Can I hear an amen! 3) Heaven will be a place of learning. In 1 Corinthians 13 Paul talks about a then He writes, For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known. The then that Paul is referring to is Heaven it is a place of learning and knowing at a level of learning and knowing we cannot even fathom in this evil age. Think of all the questions you have about how the universe was created what about all those other galaxies and planets? Are there other civilizations out there how does that work? Was the whole universe created just for humans on planet earth? What about our lives? How did God work all things together for the good? What has been the impact of our simple obedience, or our suffering, or our generosity how did God use our lives to affect the lives of countless others throughout multiple generations? And what about chiggers? Are they actually agents of Hell or not? I don t know about you, but I have a lot of questions and Heaven will be a place of great learning. 4) Heaven will be fun! I don t know if you get this, but FUN is God s idea. Everything good comes from God, and fun is a good thing! So please don t think of Heaven as boring or one long, excruciating church service! Instead, take your best day with the people you love doing something you enjoy more than anything else in the world multiply that feeling times a billion, and that will be your first minute in heaven. Heaven is a place where evil can no longer rob us of our joy. And here s a truth for you to consider: The JOY that we crave the deepest joy of the human heart, is Jesus Himself. You may not know that yet, but it s true. What our hearts long for more than anything else is not stuff, it s not pleasure, it s not money or power or even rest. The deepest longing of the human heart is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit and once we find ourselves in the presence of our Source, in the arms of our Savior, we will finally be home and it will be perfect. So Christians, be encouraged. We need not fear death. We know what happens next. So let us not live as those without hope. And do not grow weary of sharing the Gospel with those who are perishing. Everyone needs a Savior. That should motivate you every minute of every day, just as the promise of heaven should give you the hope you need to persevere under all circumstances. Church, let us close with what we believe: I believe there is a heaven and a hell and that Jesus will return to judge all people and to establish his eternal kingdom. Now go, and act accordingly. Let us pray. 8 P age