THE REALITY OF ETERNITY
Matthew 7:13,14
INTRODUCTION: One Sunday morning a preacher noticed a little girl standing outside her Sunday School classroom holding a book in her hands. He asked her what she was doing and she replied, "I am waiting for my parents so we can go to big church." "Oh, okay," he said. "Well what’s that you have in your hand?" "This is my storybook about Jonah and the Whale," she answered. "Tell me something then. Do you believe that story about Jonah and that whale?" The little girl said, "Yes I do!" The preacher then asked, "Do you really believe that a man can be swallowed up by a big whale, stay inside him all that time, and come out of there still alive and OK? You really believe all that is true?" She declared, "Yes sir! This story is in the Bible and we studied about it in Sunday School today!" Then he asked, "Well, little girl, can you prove to me that this story is the truth?" She thought for a moment and then said, "Well, when I get to Heaven, I’ll ask Jonah." He then asked, "Well, what if Jonah’s not in Heaven?" She then put her hands on her little hips and sternly declared, "Then YOU can ask him!"
Heaven and Hell are not new subjects to us. They are in fact two of the elite topics that receive the greatest discussion in Christianity along with salvation, faithfulness, and grace, to name a few. Eternity was also a hot topic in the time of Jesus. There was as much religious confusion then as there is today, and it no less affected man’s concept of the afterlife. (Expound on the times popular conceptions of eternity) In Matthew 7, Jesus makes it quite clear concerning the reality of eternity and the paths that lead to it. READ TEXT
I. HEAVEN
A. There is within every man, woman and child a yearning for peace, tranquility and happiness. Some say it comes from living in a world that is sin-fallen, others say it is a product of our salvation. Personally I believe it to be a yearning of our God-given soul to return to its place of origin.
B. Whatever the cause, the fact remains that the desire to be in a place and condition of peace and joy is an inherent part of each of us. Some people may live in denial and or open rebellion to it, but the facts remain the same.
C. As God’s people we know of such a place, a place Jesus calls Paradise, Heaven, My Father’s Home. This is where God lives, a perfect place filled with His glory and His majesty. Throughout the New Testament heaven is portrayed as a place of peace, perfection, joy, and praise where God will wipe away all our tears and there will be no more sorrow, or pain.
1. It is the place where we, the saved, will live in the very presence of God, seeing Him as He is, and basking in the radiant glow of His love. Jesus made us that promise in John 14 when He said, "I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come back and take you to be with me for eternity."
2. II Corinthians 5:1, "We have a building from God, a house not make with hands, eternal in the heavens."
3. Revelation 21:2, "The New Jerusalem"
D. This is what the saved have to look forward to. This is the eternity that man finds at the end of the straight and narrow path. But, there is another place, a place called Hell.
II. HELL
A. The word Jesus uses to describe this place is "Gehenna." To His original audience it referred to the Valley of Hinnom, a place just South of Jerusalem where the city dumped its garbage, household waste and dead animals. It was their incinerator, to use a modern term, and it burned continuously and the wind carried the stench for miles.
1. When you think about it, this is a fitting image for the place where the wicked and the sinful would be sent. Every foul, unclean, nasty thing was sent to Gehenna in the 1st Century, and so it is with the eternal place we call Hell.
2. Yet, in spite of the Biblical fact of Hell, it might surprise you to know that more people believe in Heaven than they do Hell. Why? Well, maybe it is because modern day theology has made the preaching about Hell unpopular, or not politically correct.
3. Maybe it is because some feel that Hell is not possible because God is an all-loving God and would not send people to a such a place because He loves them too much.
B. Yet, whatever the excuse may be or the one you might choose, the fact remains that Hell is a real place, just as Heaven is a real place, and Jesus promised that mankind would end up in both. For the next few minutes I ask that you take a look at the reality of a Biblical Hell and what it will be like.
1. Revelation 20:14, "Lake of Fire" Matthew 25:41, "Everlasting fire" Revelation 21:8, "Lake that burns with fire and brimstone"
2. Matthew 13:41-42, "Furnace of fire, wailing and gnashing of teeth"
Matthew 25:30, "Outer darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth"
3. II Peter 2:4, "Chains of Darkness" Jude 1:13, "Blackness of Darkness"
4. II Thessalonians 1:9, "Everlasting destruction" Revelation 20:14; 21:8 – "Second death"
5. Inhabitants of Hell – I Corinthians 6:9,10, Revelation 21:8 KJV - "Effeminate", II Thessalonians 1:7-9.
C. In contrast to Heaven, which a place that Jesus promised to prepare for us and Paul witnessed to it as our home prepared with God, Hell is the place "Prepared for the Devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). We do not belong in Hell! We belong in Heaven, which I believe will make Hell all the more painful.
CONCLUSION: Many years ago a man conned his way into the orchestra of the emperor of China although he could not play a note. Whenever the group practiced or performed, he would hold his flute against his lips, pretending to play but not making a sound. He received a modest salary an enjoyed a comfortable living. Then one day the emperor requested a solo from each musician. The flutist got nervous. There wasn’t enough time to learn the instrument. He pretended to be sick, but the royal physician wasn’t fooled. On the day of his solo performance, the impostor took poison and killed himself. The explanation of his suicide led to a phrase that found its way into the English language: "He refused to face the music." Today you can pretend to be a part of God’s orchestra by just blending in with the crowd and going through the motions. No one notices here, because you say the right things, go to the right places, and hang out with the right people. And you can enjoy the comfort of being accepted by the crowd of your choice. But there will come a day when you must face the music, one day you will be separated from everything. On that day you will stand alone before God and give an account for your life, your decisions, and whether or not you were taped into the living water.
