“The Promises of Heaven and the Agonies of Hell”
Living with the Reality of Heaven and Hell Series
Luke 16:19-31 & Revelation 21:1-22:5
(verses taken from NKJV unless noted)
Wakelee Church ~ October 3, 2004
Theme: In Christ, we have the way of escape from the agonies of hell and the only way to the promises of heaven. This is what we celebrate during communion.
I. Introduction – A letter from a departed husband…
A couple from north Oklahoma decided to go to Florida for a long weekend to thaw out during one particularly icy winter.
Because they both had jobs, they had difficulty coordinating their travel schedules. It was decided that the husband would fly to Florida on Thursday, and his wife would follow the next day.
Upon arriving as planned, the husband checked into the motel. He decided to open his laptop and send his wife an e-mail back home. However, he accidentally left off one letter in her address, and sent the e-mail without realizing the error.
In Houston, a widow had just returned from her husband’s funeral. He was a pastor of many years who had been called home to glory. The widow checked her e-mail, expecting messages from relatives and friends. Upon reading the first message, she fainted and fell to the floor.
The widow’s son rushed into the room, found his mother on the floor, and saw the computer screen which read:
TO: My loving wife
FROM: Your departed husband
SUBJECT: I’ve arrived!
MESSAGE: I’ve just arrived and have been checked in. I see that everything has been prepared for your arrival tomorrow. I am looking forward to seeing you then! Hope your journey is as uneventful as mine was.
P.S. Sure is hot down here!
(source: www.sermoncentral.com)
Where we go relies entirely on our decision making. 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.[C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, ch. 9]
And I would go one further to say that without that self-choice there would be no Christianity. It amazes me that some preachers, who claim to preach the Good News message every Sunday, will neglect warning their congregations about the bad news.
Think about it…if there was no bad news would we need the good news?
II. The Agonies of Hell (Luke 16)
It may or may not surprise you to know that the person in the bible who spoke the most often (and in the most graphic terms) about hell, was not one of the fiery Old-Testament prophets, or John the author of Revelation, but Jesus himself. 12 times in the gospels Jesus talks in explicit terms about hell. (More than any other single Bible person).
A Place of Suffering – (vs. 23-24)
A Place of Fire – (v. 24)
A Place of Punishment – (v. 25)
A Place of Abandonment with No Hope – (v. 26)
Reading from Revelation 21:1-22:5
But there is a different option…and our lay speakers would like to share with you what the Bible has to say about that option… (Lay speakers read Rev. 21:1-22:5 responsively)
Did you see it? Did you see what heaven is going to be like?
III. The Promises of Heaven (Revelation 21:1-8)
A Place of Newness – (vs. 1, 5)
A Place of Togetherness (v. 3)
A Place of Overcomers (vs. 4, 7)
A Place of Providence (v. 6)
But it’s a place reserved. While all have received the invitation, not all will make the reservation.
IV.Conclusion –“The Thinker”
THINKING ON HELL- COMMUNION MEDITATION
Maybe you’ve seen the famous sculpture "The Thinker." The statue was originally created in 1880 as part of Auguste Rodin’s larger work ’The Gates of Hell’, an ornamental door for a proposed Palace of Decorative Arts.
What is the thinker thinking about? According to the artist "the Thinker" is sitting in mute amazement as he contemplates lost people in hell.
When we come around the Lord’s Table, we become "Thinkers" also. We contemplate the Body of Jesus that was broken for us and the blood that He shed for our forgiveness. We remember that "...Having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him."
[SOURCE: Timothy Peck, edited for communion by SermonCentral staff. Citation: Larry Dixon, The Other Side of the Good News, pg. 11. (Bridgepoint, 1992)]
The choice remains ours. And it is our responsibility to share that choice with others.
It is in Christ, we have the way of escape from the agonies of hell…
and it is in Christ that we have the only way to the promises of heaven.
Let us prepare ourselves for the celebration of the heavenly promise by singing together…
V.Service of Communion
Song of Preparation - #337 – Only Trust Him (vs. 1 & 2)
Invitation
Christ our Lord invites to his table all who love him, all who earnestly repent of their sin and all who seek to live in peace with one another.
None of us can come to this table by our own accord. We come because we have been invited to come.
This is not my house. This is God’s house. I cannot tell God who is welcome and who isn’t.
This is not my table. I do not sit at the head as host. It is the table of Christ. He is Host.
I cannot tell the Host who can sit here and who cannot.
This is not my food on this sacred table.
I did not prepare it. It is not the symbols of my blood or my body.
It is the very life of Christ represented here.
I cannot tell him, this one who constantly ate with sinners,
Who is worthy to partake of it and who is not.
The table of Christ is long and it has many chairs.
There is always room for one more, for those craving the fellowship of the sacred table,
A place to belong, to be somebody…
Anyone who accepts the invitation may come.
The food, simple yet divine, is abundant, ample for all, especially those who are hungry and thirsty for what mere bread and drink cannot supply. The portions, though they small, are served by the very hand of Christ. No one is sent away hungry or thirsty here.
We are all unworthy…we are all unfit…yet by the very grace and mercy of God, we are welcomed, seated, and fed anyway.
Confession and Pardon
Humbly we come, and just as we wash our hands before a physical feast, we also need to cleanse our hearts before this spiritual banquet.
Therefore, in order to confess our sin, I ask that anyone who has ever sinned raise their hand.
Thank you. Now those who wish to be forgiven of that sin raise their hand. Amen.
Hear the good news: Christ died for us while we were yet sinners…that proves his love for us. In the name of Christ, we now come together as a forgiven people.
And the church says, Amen.
Remembering the Last Supper
Prayer over the Elements
We do not presume to come this your table, merciful Lord, trusting in our own goodness, but in your unfailing mercies.
We are not worthy that you should receive us, but give your word and we shall feel welcomed.
Pour out your Holy Spirit on us gathered here, and on these gifts of bread and wine.
Make them be for us the symbols of the body and blood of Christ,
That we may be for the world the body of Christ, redeemed by his blood.
By your Spirit make us one with Christ, one with each other, and one in ministry to the world,
Until Christ comes in final victory, and we feast at his heavenly banquet.
Through your Son Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit in your holy Church. All honor and glory is yours, almighty Father God, now and forever. Amen.
Sharing the Bread and Cup with One Another
Prayer of Blessing –
Bountiful God, we give you thanks.
We thank you for the world you have created, for the gift of life, and for the giving of yourself to us in Jesus Christ, whose holy life, suffering and death, and glorious resurrection have delivered us from the agonies of hell into the promises of heaven.
We thank you that in the power of your Holy Spirit, you have fed us this morning.
Keep us united…united in Christ…united to one another.
So that the honor and glory will be yours, now and for ever; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Closing Song - #337 – Only Trust Him (vs. 3 & 4)
Closing Blessing
You are a child of creation, a reflection of God,
No one can steal your beauty or reduce your worth,
Unless you let them…don’t let them!
You are a miracle of God’s love…
Never look at yourself and see anything less!
Your life is not a random stroke of chance,
You are part of a sovereign plan,
Loved into existence…loved for an eternity.
So, let the fire in your soul live,
And laugh and leap with joy!
And for the short time you walk upon this earth remember…
That you are the light of the world!
[adapted from a poem written by Terri McPherson]
