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Years ago, I heard someone critically described as a man that was ‘‘so heavenly minded that he was no earthly good.’’ Well, today, for every person who is so heavenly minded he’s no earthly good, there are 10,000 people who are so worldly minded they’re of no heavenly good. We live in a secular age.
The word ‘‘secular’’ comes from the Latin saecularis, which means, ‘‘time perceived without any concept of eternity.’’ It is like a smoked glass dome placed over the secular city so that one can see neither up to God nor out to eternity. That describes our society today. They are blinded to the things of God; Satan has even provided governmental protection so that people do not have to hear or see the things of God. It wasn’t always that way. In earlier days, there were thousands of volumes of prose and poetry written about heaven. Newspapers covered church activities, Pastor’s were the spokesmen of the day. But, of course, in those days, sex was taboo; porn, adultery, homosexuality, etc was taboo. Today, you can’t turn on the television without seeing some program about sex…it is an understatement to say that illicit sex is no longer a taboo subject. Conversely, Christianity, death and eternity have become the taboos of our age…and yet that is what I want to discuss today. Hebrews 9:27 says- “…It is appointed for men to die once, and after this comes the judgment.” Lets talk about death a moment. What happens when you die? (I plan on having a special two week study this Summer on that subject called, “The World Beneath”. I will tell you more about that sometime in the near future. But for now lets discuss:
I. When Unbelievers Face Death.
Why do so many ignore God’s Word? Jesus said in John 14:6, “I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life”. So many have and are rejection Christ now and throughout history that God’s word has recorded that, “wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and there are many who go in by it (Matt 7:13). In spite of God’s word telling us that no one can earn their way into heaven over half of all adults (51 percent) believe that if a person is generally good or does enough good things for others during his life, he will earn a place in heaven. —George Barna in 2001 Survey. Yet another reason God’s Word says: There is a way that seems right to man, but its end is the way of death (Prov 14:12).
Did you know that if you “Google” death and seeing hell that you will be able to access over 3.3 Million documented accounts on dying and seeing Hell? And if you do the same with dying and seeing heaven or Jesus there barely 200,000. I am also willing to wager that there are a lot more people who do not tell others about the “hell” visions than there are of those who do not tell about the “Heaven” visions.
A number of times throughout my pastoral career I have encountered people who were agonizing over apparent satanic attack. Most of the time they would describe being afraid to go to sleep, or to be alone, or to be in the dark because they had terrifying experiences, terrible visions and nightmares of being attacked, bitten, poked and stabbed by demons. After counseling with them I found that although some had religion, none of them were true believers but praise God most made a profession of faith trusting Jesus Christ as savior. Every one of them that accepted Christ told me in days and weeks to follow that the attacks and visions stopped immediately and that they finally had peace.
When Professor T. H. Huxley, the father of agnosticism, came to the end of life, the nurse attending him said that as he lay dying, the great skeptic suddenly looked up at some sight invisible to mortal eyes, and staring a while, whispered at last, ‘‘So it is true.’’ And he died. I wonder how many young people in college who are being taught about agnosticism are taught that?
According to Svetlana Stalin, when her father, Joseph Stalin, was dying, he was lying with his eyes closed. At the very last moment, he suddenly opened his eyes and looked at the people in the room. It was a look of unutterable horror and anguish. Then he lifted his left hand, as though pointing to something, and dropped it and died. I wonder how many budding Communists are told how Stalin left the world.
II. When Christians Face Death.
The departure of Christians is far different, and our destination is many light years away. A number of times I have been with departing saints who have exclaimed, how beautiful, or Angels, etc. and I will never forget being by the side of one little lady at Conroe Hospital who had been unresponsive for hours suddenly …she opened her eyes, looked up, a big smile came across her face and said, “Jesus”…and breathed her last! Dwight L. Moody said as he was dying, ‘‘This is my coronation day! It is glorious!’’ The great Puritan, John Owen, having come to the end of life, dictated from his deathbed a final letter to a friend, saying: ‘‘I am yet in the land of the dying, but I hope soon to be in the land of the living.’’
So it is, that those of us who trust in Christ will be more alive at our death than we have ever been before, for we go to a far better place than we have ever known before; a place the Bible calls heaven; the city that comes down from God (Rev. 21:1–4).
III. Two Destinations.
The Bible makes it clear there are two different destinations after death—heaven and hell. Hell is a place of eternal death, eternal torment, eternal punishment. Many people act as if somehow modern skepticism has evaporated hell. But it has not changed at all, as many in the last moment of the cold, clammy sweat of their death agonies have discovered to their unutterable horror. Jesus called it ‘‘Gehenna,’’ the valley of Hinnom which was outside Jerusalem. It was a dump where all manner of garbage burned continually and the smoke of its burning went up everlastingly (Mark 9:44; Rev. 22:15; 1 Cor. 6:9b, 10). I say to you, with heavy heart, that there are some here in this sanctuary who will never see the inside of Paradise. They have deceived themselves into supposing all is well, yet they know in their hearts they’ve never truly repented of their sins or surrendered themselves to Christ. Perhaps they’re waiting for ‘‘someday.’’
We studied just this last week at the men’s Bible study what Christ said to the man in Luke 12:20: ‘‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you.’’
God offers you freely the gift of eternal life, paid for at infinite cost by Jesus Christ. It is a straight and narrow way. The portal to Paradise is as narrow as the Cross. There on the blackened hill of Golgotha, Jesus Christ took our sin upon Himself. If you have never received Him, pray and ask Him to forgive your sin, to come into your life. Give yourself fully to Him, to love Him with all your heart, to follow Him forever… and then…start following Him today and never turn back!
Conclusion:
Have you ever tried to leave a building or room opened a door thinking that it was an exit, only to discover that you had stepped into a broom closet! (Most of us have) Of course you stepped out instantly and closed the door. You may have been in there only one or two seconds at most. Now, wouldn’t it be extraordinarily odd if someone were to spend the rest of their life talking about that little closet…preparing for the next time the were in that little closet? Since it is without doubt that we will spend 99.99+ percent of our lives in heaven, or wherever it is we are going, then why do we spend all our time talking about and preparing for this ‘‘little closet’’ which will be but a moment’s fleeting passing in the prospect of eternity? Many people spend more time preparing for a two-week vacation than for where they will spend eternity! Oh how we as Christina need to prepare for the greatest and longest time of our lives (eternity)…and oh how we need to be telling others how to prepare so that they too may spend eternity with Jesus Christ in Heaven rather than eternal death in a sinner’s hell.
Do you know you have eternal life?
Do you know for sure that you are on your way to heaven?
The Scripture (1 John 5:13) says, ‘‘These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, that you may know that you have eternal life.’’
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