Summary: When we confront our eternal destiny, our perception changes.

“If I Were to Die Tonight…”

Living with the Reality of Heaven and Hell Series

Matthew 24:36-44 (verses taken from NKJV unless noted)

Wakelee Church ~ September 26, 2004

Theme: When we confront our destiny, our perception changes.

Introduction - The Old Revivals

Illus. Remembering the old revival services with teh preacher always asking...“If you were to die tonight…do you know where you are going?” - Would that work today???

Illus. Dad was counseling with a man high on drugs and alcohol. The guy wasn’t being responsive to

dad’s invitation because he had to get to the bar across the Michigan Ave. in downtown Lansing. Michigan Ave. is a five-lane street that leads right up to the capitol building. There are no crosswalks except at the corners, and Dad knew that this guy planned on j-walking to get across. So he asked the guy a rendition of this familiar question… “If you get hit by a car and die as you cross that street, where do you think you’re going from there.” The guy shrugged it off and started to make it way over to the bar, but for some reason, probably heightened by his physical state, he couldn’t bring himself to cross the street. And even though, it took a couple of days…that man eventually accepted Christ and is now a brother in the faith, no longer on the streets, but working a full-time job with a family.

The old technique may still work because when we confront our destiny, our perception changes.

I. A Lost Passion

Are we so involved in this world that we have lost our concern for the next? It may just be…

The reality is that even some believers have lost the immediacy in the reality of heaven and hell. Our culture trains us to think for the here and now, and for others in our culture who know almost nothing about our Christian heritage, the question is almost useless.

The naturalists (who deny any Creator) don’t’ think there is a heave to be gained and a hell to be shunned. When you die you die.

Others think, somewhat vaguely, that whether you call it heaven or Nirvana or whatever, it doesn’t matter. It is simply important to live a pretty good life. That’s the best anyone can do.

As we talk about realities, let me give you stats this morning….two-thirds of Americans don’t believe in the existence of a personal Satan. More than half of professing Christians are in the same camp, according to Barna Research.

The existence of hell, with its threat of conscious, eternal torment, has prove so repugnant in recent decades that a rising number of evangelical thinkers argue that the Bible really teaches annihilation: which is, after a time, those who are lost simply cease to exist…that is their eternal punishment.

And as for heaven, according to Barna’s statistics, if we are not under persecution, or impoverished, or sick than we who are well fed, enjoying comfortable homes and relative security, don’t have the passion that Christians of every age before us has had to cry out, “Even so, Lord Jesus come.”

In Matthew 24:38-39 – we find the phrase “…they did not know…” Just like in the days of Noah, they had lost their passion for their eternity, and the flood came.

When we confront our destiny, our perception changes.

II. What’s At Stake?

The Bible tells us what’s at stake…Matthew 24:37 – “…But as the days of Noah were, so also will the coming of the Son of Man be.”

“The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.” – A.W. Tozer

As a culture, we spend so much time eating and drinking that we do not even notice the floodwaters rising.

I made a phone call this morning down to Bonnie. Bonnie is a psuedo-member of the Buchner family. She and her husband, Rene, with her cats, Simba ant Maggie, are at this moment experiencing the effects of Hurricane Jeanne as it heads west toward their home in Tampa. Their floodwaters are arising.

Steve Boyer and his crew were set to come back home this week, but now he finds himself heading to West Palm Beach, waiting on yet another storm to go through Florida. The Boyer’s floodwaters are arising.

And there are others…

For the single mother who hasn’t seen a child support check in months, and is trying to figure out which past due bill she needs to pay first…she’s in the midst of floodwater.

For the husband who receives the pink slip from his employer, because his job has gone overseas…he’s in the midst of floodwater.

For the wife and kids who deal with a drunk, angry, and abusive father…

For the grandmother who has prayed for the salvation of her children and their children for years…

For the family who is in the midst of watching their loved one slowly die of cancer…

For the one who can find no hope…

For the one who lives in constant fear…

For the one who has never heard the good news of Jesus Christ,

because the people who sit in the churches from Sunday to Sunday are to afraid to offend someone…

…they are in the midst of the floodwater.

What’s at stake? People’s eternal destiny is at stake.

Paul told the Corinthians, if there is no final resurrection from the dead, then the hedonists are right, and we should join them in their refrain, “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die” (I Cor. 15:32).

Instead, Paul said, “Awake to righteousness, and do not sin…” (15:34) for we have the knowledge of God. And it is to our shame if we do not live it and share it.

When we confront our destiny, our perception changes.

III. The Final Reckoning

People love a grace-filled, loving God. But our Bibles tell us that God is also jealous, judgmental and, most importantly, just.

Chuck Colson is quoted saying, “Without ultimate justice, people’s sense of moral obligation dissolves; social bonds are broken. People who have no fear of God soon have no fear of man, and no respect for human laws and authority.”

And we see this Matthew 24:40-41 – “…the other left…”. Do you see the phrase…two men in the field, one taken, the other left…two women working in the mill, one taken the other left.

The reality of heaven and hell help to establish our Christian world-view. We presuppose that history is going somewhere, that our actions are morally significant, and that on the last day justice will not only be done but that justice will be visible to all.

Contrast this vision of reality with the view that says history just keeps going round and round, without a goal, without a final sense of justice. In this world where each person has their own point of view, and no one has the right to say another is wrong, without anyone having any consequences, then morality, how we live rightly or wrongly, is dependent on situations instead of standards.

Eventually, evil is rationalized. Instead of putting a focus on what is right and what is wrong, we instead twist the facts to fit particular situations. If you need evidence of this, watch our politicians in this week’s debate. Instead of standing up for what they did right and what they did wrong in the past, each of them will be trying to find that particular rationalization that you and I will buy into.

But God doesn’t buy into it. You see…the one who created us has the right to say what we are doing is right or wrong. In fact, he gave a whole book of instructions to get the right answers…and folks, God’s voice will be final.

When we confront our destiny, our perception changes.

IV. Be Ready…we have everything to gain, everything to lose.

And if you’ve heard nothing else, please hear this, we need to be ready.

Matthew 24:42-44 – “But know this, that if the master of the house had known what hour the theif would come, he would have watched and not allowed his house to be broken into. Therefor you also be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour do you not expect.

Folks, we have everything to gain, and everything to lose.

Next week, we’re going to look at Revelation 21:1-22:5 a little closer, but in short.

What we will loose…the old order, everything impure, everything that curses God’s creation. What we will gain…the ability to see God’s face, and we will reign with him forever.

When we confront our destiny, our perception changes.

V. Conclusion – The Old Revivals

Maybe the old revivals had it right after all.

Remember it is our Lord Jesus who, in the New Testament, has the most to say about hell and employs the most colorful pictures. But he also showed John a new heaven and a new earth which is being prepared for those who have found their repentance and their leadership in the One who sits on the throne.

Billy Graham once said, “What is heaven going to be like? Just as there is a mystery to hell, so there is a mystery to heaven. Yet I believe the Bible teaches that both are literal places. I’m not worried about where they are, beause I know where Jesus is and he told me to meet him there."

When we confront our destiny, our perception changes. And the church says…Amen.

Closing Song # 714 – I Know Whom I Have Believed

Benediction…

Watch, for the hour of our Lord is coming…

Be ready, for we do not know at what hour…

Trust, that he has gone to prepare a place for you…

Live, in God’s abundant power.

In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, we pray…Amen

[Source: “Living Without Heaven or Hell” Moody Magazine – May/June 2001