Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Morning, guys.
[00:00:03] Awesome to see you.
[00:00:05] Welcome to the last week of our Asking for a Friend series.
[00:00:12] We're gonna make it. I know it's been important, but not always fun.
[00:00:18] And if you're a guest with us today, thank you so much for being here.
[00:00:23] You've picked a really important but heavy day to be here because today we're going to be looking at an aspect of the world and of Christian beliefs that we don't like to think about.
[00:00:37] We're going to make it.
[00:00:40] Let's first acknowledge that there's a lot of things that we don't like to think about. There's a lot of little things that I don't like to think about. I don't like to think about the acne that I got before my senior year of high school that could be described as medically significant.
[00:00:58] I don't like to think about balsamic vinegar.
[00:01:03] I don't like to think about the Scott's Tots episode of the Office.
[00:01:07] Has anybody seen the Scott's Tots episode? Yeah, not as many in the 8am service that I knew that the.
[00:01:14] Oh, that's not for me.
[00:01:16] Some things make me uncomfortable and I'd rather my mind dwell elsewhere.
[00:01:22] Then there are other things, though, that we don't like to think about that actually break our hearts.
[00:01:28] Like the picture of the man in the suit jumping off the tower at 9 11.
[00:01:34] We've all seen it. It hurts our hearts. It hurts our minds.
[00:01:39] I don't like to think about my wife's ectopic pregnancy that ruptured, that killed the baby and nearly killed her.
[00:01:47] I don't like to think about what my grandpa was like after the stroke took his mind away.
[00:01:54] And you all have things in that same category. There are things that break our hearts. There are things that we can't really understand. And we rarely linger on topics like this because some realities are painful and they lead us to ask questions about why the world is the way that it is.
[00:02:16] But just because something makes us uncomfortable or even heartbroken doesn't mean it isn't real.
[00:02:23] As humans, we don't like to think about hard things, but that doesn't make them go away. And we're going to consider one such thing together today. Today we are going to remember the reality that those who reject the good news of Jesus will suffer, separated from God forever.
[00:02:46] And although I believe there is nothing more painful and difficult to contemplate than this, it's still real.
[00:02:56] We can't make it go away by ignoring it. In fact, it is Massively important. Today we're going to be answering, really two questions to finish the series.
[00:03:05] What happens when I die?
[00:03:09] And how can hell exist if God is love?
[00:03:14] Today we're going to talk about hell and Heaven. And if right now you're thinking this is way worse than the Scott's Tots episode of the Office, I hope you will stay.
[00:03:26] Because for all of us, this topic is not only real, it's significant. It's so important that it was one of the major themes of Jesus teaching when he was walking this earth.
[00:03:39] If there is someone here who doesn't have a relationship with God through the work of Jesus, what we look at can change everything for you. You can move from eternal heartbreak to eternal joy. It's that big of a deal. And Christians, we get to live in light of this truth. We have the opportunity, the calling, to help people avoid everlasting loss and instead experience everlasting joy in Jesus. It's kind of the whole reason we're still alive.
[00:04:08] And. And we have the opportunity right now to remember and rejoice that Jesus has rescued us from hell, that we deserved and brought us into an experience of peace with him for all time.
[00:04:25] So the stakes are huge.
[00:04:28] Let's allow our hearts to recall the uncomfortable.
[00:04:32] And to do that, I want us to see three things from Revelation 19, 20 and 21 that show us what will happen in the end.
[00:04:42] The first is this.
[00:04:44] Guys ready?
[00:04:46] I knew you would be. We can do this.
[00:04:48] We're gonna do this. The first thing is Jesus will judge justly. Jesus will judge, and he will judge justly. Let's read from Revelation 19.
[00:05:00] Then I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse. The one sitting on it is called Faithful and True.
[00:05:08] And in righteousness he judges and makes war. His eyes are like a flame of fire, and on his head are many diadems. And he has a name written that no one knows but Himself. He is clothed in a robe dipped in blood, and the name by which he is called is the Word of God. And the armies of heaven, arrayed in fine linen, white and pure, were following him on white horses. From his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. And he will rule them with a rod of iron. And he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has a name written King of Kings and Lord of Lords. First of all, that's intense.
[00:05:52] Second of all, I'm going to read three passages from Revelation today, and I want to encourage Us, for our purposes, to focus more on the actions of than the descriptions of the actions.
[00:06:06] Revelation is apocalyptic literature. It is vividly and at times even poetically illustrated. And please believe me when I say that it is more important for us to understand what this portion of the Bible says will happen than to understand how it depicts what will happen.
[00:06:28] For example, the text says of Jesus that in the end, in righteousness, he judges and makes war. Other translations say with justice, he judges. That is a divine action that is infinitely more crucial than the shocking description that we just read of the action.
[00:06:50] In the end, Jesus will judge Jesus justly. And I want to help us understand a few things about this uncomfortable concept.
[00:06:58] First, we need to see that God must judge.
[00:07:04] Think back through the passage, who is this judge in the end?
[00:07:11] Verse 11 says, he's called faithful and true. You saw, that's capital F, faithful and capital T, true. Because Jesus is the source of the very concept of faithfulness. Jesus is the author of truth, literally the author of all truth.
[00:07:29] Verse 12 says he has a name written that no one knows but Himself. And I couldn't tell you what all that might mean, but it's certainly a reminder that God knows what no one else knows. He understands what no one else understands. He sees what no one else sees.
[00:07:48] Guys, when we struggle with the concept of God's judgment, it's often because we've brought God down to our level like the divine Creator, and we make him like the best version of a human.
[00:08:02] He's better than me. And we think, we might think God should just let everything slide because life is so hard. And of course, life is absolutely so hard. But remember why it's hard. It's hard because humanity rebelled against the faithful and true God of the universe, and we broke the world that he made. He didn't make it to be hard. We did.
[00:08:29] Guys. Jesus is justice.
[00:08:34] He is the source and the means of it. Jesus is truth. He is the source and the revealer of it. And the original humans turned against Him.
[00:08:49] The more we understand the majesty and perfection of the God who created all all things, the easier it is to understand God as the Judge of all things that oppose him.
[00:09:03] Verse 16 reminds us that he is the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords. He has power and authority over everything. We've talked about this several times in this series because of the content. We are His. The world is His. Everything is in it. It's all His. This is his, which helps us see the fact that that in some way we understand that God must Judge we as his children that he made have gone against the infinite creator, God.
[00:09:35] Those of us who have been parents sort of get this, at least on a finite scale, which is what we have. For example, I have three amazing daughters, and I have a son. I think he's going to be amazing.
[00:09:49] But my daughters are just sweet and fun and wonderful to parent. Before we moved to Tyler, we lived on a farm. We had quite a few animals, and they had animal chores every day.
[00:10:01] And most of the time, they just took care of business.
[00:10:05] But every once in a while, one of them would make it clear that they didn't want to do what they were supposed to do.
[00:10:11] And as parents, you've been there.
[00:10:17] Even in a small way, in that moment, a parent's heart can feel some measure of injustice because our kids have life because of us.
[00:10:30] They have everything in their life because of us.
[00:10:34] They have the house and the animals and all the good things that need to be taken care of because of us. And the heart behind the command is a command of love, because we just want to help them learn how to do life well.
[00:10:47] Parents, I know you feel what I'm feeling in those moments, just a tiny hint of injustice. And we have to take that hint and try as best we can to imply it to infinity.
[00:11:00] Because God is infinitely perfect. He is holy and set apart and different and above in ways we can't completely understand. He is perfect power, perfect purity, perfect love. And in love, he made us. But humans have lived as rebels against him for millennia.
[00:11:26] We sometimes feel the sense of, how can this be happening when our kids push back on us?
[00:11:33] What must a God? What must the God who made all things out of nothing for the good of his people? See, when we shake our fists in his and say, we're not going to do the chores and we don't want anything to do with you. King of Kings and Lord of Lords. That's crazy.
[00:11:56] He's the holy, holy, holy God of the universe of Isaiah 6, and he has to judge.
[00:12:04] And if you remember, we discussed this last series in the Book of Hebrews, we actually want judgment to happen, remember? Because into a world of injustice, Jesus will bring justice. Sometimes we think we don't want judgment to come into the world, but we do, because we want justice. And there is no justice without judgment.
[00:12:27] We want justice for all the sadness and all the brokenness in this world. A few years ago, my wife Scarlett and I were in a small group with a couple who had a friend who was murdered. And it actually became a national news Story, you probably heard about it here in Texas.
[00:12:42] A young woman in LA was randomly murdered. She was working alone in a furniture store and somebody walked in and stabbed her and killed her and left a 24 year old stabbed to death for seemingly no reason.
[00:12:57] That's not right.
[00:12:59] We know it.
[00:13:01] We know we know it.
[00:13:04] And not only can we recognize injustice, but we want it to be fixed. We want Brianna dead on the floor of a furniture store to have justice. There's something wrong with our world. And anyone who has suffered at the hands of evil has a longing for Jesus to come and judge evil. Somebody's got to come and judge evil. Like we see in Revelation 19, Jesus will. But we need to remember that before a perfect God who created everything good, every rejection of his good, every evil must be judged.
[00:13:42] And that's where we're in the same boat.
[00:13:50] Verse 15 says, he will tread the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.
[00:14:00] We don't like to think about it, but this is how it should be and how we need it to be and how it will be.
[00:14:07] Jesus will judge this world justly. The second thing for us to see that will happen in the end is those who die without Jesus will remain without Jesus. You guys are doing great.
[00:14:20] This is the most important, heartbreaking truth in the universe.
[00:14:24] Jesus will judge justly. And part of that means that those without him in the end will remain without him, suffering the separation from the joy we were created to experience. Let's read verses 11 through 15 of the next chapter. This is one of the most difficult passages to think about in the Bible.
[00:14:43] Then I saw a great white throne, and him who was seated on it. From his presence, earth and sky fled away, and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And books were opened. And then another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the Lake of Fire. This is the second death, the Lake of Fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the Book of Life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
[00:15:23] What we find here is the judgment promised in the previous chapter.
[00:15:28] And those being judged in Revelation 20 are those who have rejected.
[00:15:33] And we need to remember. We need to remember that Rejecting Jesus is the default position of the human heart.
[00:15:43] Many people believe that hell is something we work our way into.
[00:15:49] In fact, the verse we just read says they are judged according to what they had done. Right?
[00:15:55] But what we need to understand is that we are all born with all we need to end up at this judgment.
[00:16:03] You don't earn hell.
[00:16:06] It comes pre earned because of our sinful nature.
[00:16:12] We tend to think of the. The hockey playoffs are happening right now. We tend to think of hell like a penalty box in hockey, like too much high sticking gets you sent to the box.
[00:16:24] Or people think of hell like prison. Like if you would just done a little less armed robbery, you could have avoided jail. But that's not how hell works.
[00:16:35] Ephesians 2. One says, we are dead in our trespasses and sins.
[00:16:41] That's what we are without Jesus. Romans 3 says, we naturally reject God, oppose God, even hate God. Which means hell, the state of being separated from God, is our natural state. Future hell is not something we work our way into. Rather, it's something Jesus worked our way out of.
[00:17:02] We are born telling God, no, no.
[00:17:10] The default mode of our heart, and so many of you have felt this, is to. Is to push against, to reject the presence of God, to continue to reject, to push against the goodness and the rightness of God, to run from the rul and the presence of God.
[00:17:30] And unless we experience the work of Jesus on our behalf, that will always be our posture. Without Jesus, we will always be against God. We see this reflected in verse 11.
[00:17:43] From his presence, earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them.
[00:17:49] So the people being judged here, the people being sent away to suffer without the presence of God, are the people who have always chosen to reject the presence of God. And we see there continue to reject the presence of God from the very beginning of sin, right? Adam and Eve, and Adam and Eve, they ran from God's presence.
[00:18:09] When Jesus arrives at the end, those who have rejected him will want to flee because they never wanted to be near him in the first place.
[00:18:17] How many of you have been to Disney?
[00:18:21] Great. I knew we'd have great coverage there.
[00:18:23] Our family's been to Disney several times and we've waited in line to see Mickey.
[00:18:28] Waited in line to see Piglet. Like the first time we went, I was like, we got to see Piglet.
[00:18:33] Why do we wait in these lines?
[00:18:37] Because we want to be with Piglet, to meet him, to have our picture. We had our picture taken with Piglet.
[00:18:47] We want to be near Piglet.
[00:18:51] But when you think about this passage. Doesn't it make you think about meeting Jesus?
[00:18:55] Coming, think about being near him, having your picture taken with him?
[00:19:07] Can you imagine? Like I'm getting tears. Can you imagine how long would you wait in line to see Jesus?
[00:19:18] That'd be the longest line on earth.
[00:19:22] For those of us who have a relationship with us, we would be sobbing with joy just waiting for a single moment with Jesus. And I can tell some of you agree Jesus means more to me than anything possibly could. I would sprint to that line. I think it would be uncontrollably, as many of you would if Jesus were here. It'd be the longest line on earth. And yet at the same time, billions of people would be running the opposite direction, wanting nothing to do with him, afraid of him, angry with him.
[00:19:58] How do you feel when you think about seeing Jesus?
[00:20:03] Those who want to be in the presence of Jesus will run to him.
[00:20:10] And in the end, those who have always rejected Jesus will continue to run away from him.
[00:20:17] In a very real sense, those who reject Jesus will get what they've always wanted.
[00:20:28] In the end.
[00:20:30] Those who go to hell are those who don't want God's presence, whether they know it or not.
[00:20:36] Sin is essentially telling God to go away.
[00:20:41] And hell is the fulfillment of continually telling God to go away. C.S. lewis called hell the greatest monument to freedom.
[00:20:50] It's for those who don't want God, who don't want his forgiveness, and God lets them have what they want. Lewis said this. There are only two kinds of people. Those who say thy will be done to God, and those to whom God in the end says, thy will be done.
[00:21:07] God made us, made humanity to enjoy life with him forever. That was the whole point. That was the original design with God, enjoy forever. But we sinned.
[00:21:24] We rejected God, choosing to be his enemies instead of enjoying him. And yet the reality of hell is that even though all humans are now born, set against God in our sin, we we are still made for forever.
[00:21:39] And forever is what we will have with or without God. Over and over again, the Bible talks about hell with words like eternal, everlasting, forever. We are too permanent to cease. God is too perfect to welcome us without justice. That is why hell is real.
[00:21:58] It is the reasonable home for someone who rejects the joy of the God of the universe. In rejecting God, they suffer the loss of Him.
[00:22:14] It's awful and we don't like to think about it.
[00:22:21] But guess what, guess what, it doesn't have to be that way.
[00:22:33] There's another option that takes us to the third thing I want to see. Hey, you did it.
[00:22:41] Because Jesus will judge justly. Those without Jesus will remain without Jesus.
[00:22:48] But after that, Jesus will give heaven to those for whom he experienced hell. There is a way out of this.
[00:23:00] Jesus will experience heaven with those for whom he experienced hell. Yes, of course our sin must be dealt with. God would contradict his own goodness if he did not judge, judge, rejecting his perfection.
[00:23:17] But the good news of the Gospel is that because God is justice and gracious, he was willing to punish our sin in Himself for those who are willing to accept him him rather than push him away. Christian in this room or non Christian in this room? Or not? Sure, in this room. The most amazing news in all the world is that the sin that must be punished has been punished in Jesus on the cross. The suffering that must be endured and the separation that must be endured has been by Jesus on the cross. Augustine, the early church father, said it this way. It takes a sinner and eternity in hell to satisfy the wrath of God. Or it takes Jesus six hours on the cross.
[00:24:11] I have a good friend. He's the best man in my wedding.
[00:24:15] And his son's been battling leukemia for two years.
[00:24:19] And in our first phone call after the diagnosis, he told me that he wished he could take the leukemia for his child, but he can't.
[00:24:30] I'd rather have the cancer myself, but he can't.
[00:24:35] Guys, God not only has that heart, he has the power to make it happen.
[00:24:42] So that's what he did.
[00:24:45] Jesus experienced hell for us on the cross. Jesus was separated from God the Father and he suffered our punishment that our sin deserved. The price must be paid because God is just. But he was willing to take it on Himself because God is love and church. As Jesus was on the cross, dying for the sin of the world, he cried out, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
[00:25:14] And the reality is that either Jesus can cry that for us or we will cry it out for all of forever. My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? But God's heart is for justice, for our rejection of him to actually be supplied in his death, not ours.
[00:25:35] Romans 5.
[00:25:38] But God proves His own love for us. And that while we were still sinners, still rebels, still rejecting, still hating, still shaking fists, still saying, no, Christ died for us.
[00:25:53] How much more than since we have now been justified by his blood, will we be saved through him from wrath? So many people ask the question, how can Hell exist if God loves? But there's another question that should always go with that question, how can the cross exist if God doesn't love?
[00:26:17] Something's gotta give.
[00:26:20] And what's gotta give is our understanding, our view of our sin and God's goodness. Let me paraphrase the great Tim Keller. The reality of hell should tell us that we are far more sinful than we ever thought possible.
[00:26:36] And the reality of the cross should tell us we are more loved than we ever could have imagined.
[00:26:45] Jesus will judge justly the sins of mankind, but he will only judge the sins of those who have not already accepted his willingness to have those sins judged in his own body, in his own suffering, death in our place.
[00:27:03] And that's not all, not even close. This is where the Christian life sounds like a shopping network sales pitch, because it's actually way better than that.
[00:27:17] Have you ever gotten a speeding? Have you ever been pulled over for speeding?
[00:27:23] And the officer, when he pulls you over, he sees your wife and your four kids in the car with you, including your six month old.
[00:27:32] That happened to me with my family last year.
[00:27:37] He decided not to make me. He saw that baby, didn't make me pay the penalty.
[00:27:42] No ticket forgiven.
[00:27:47] But you know what he didn't do?
[00:27:50] He didn't say, brandon, I'm forgiving your offense and I'm paying your ticket and I'm inviting you to move into my house where I will personally make sure you live in incomparable joy for eternity in everlasting life. He didn't say that that is what Jesus actually wants for you.
[00:28:21] That is what God originally designed for us. As humans, we rejected the joy of the king, we ruined his world. But Jesus not only offers forgiveness and he not only pays for what we did, but he's bringing a joy and a new earth forever.
[00:28:45] The same writing that tells us of the sadness of hell tells us of the joy of heaven. Revelation 21.
[00:28:52] You're not going to believe this.
[00:28:55] Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven. And the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the salt throne saying, behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people. And God himself will be their God. It's happening again. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes. And death shall be no more. Neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore. For the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, behold, I am making all things new Christian. You were made for forever and forever is what you will have. And death will be no more, and pain will be no more, and crying will be no more. And you will be back in joy with Jesus forever.
[00:29:58] The next line says, if that you today, let's rejoice. But you beat me to it.
[00:30:07] What a thing.
[00:30:08] And if that's not you today, let's make it true.
[00:30:15] If you're not a Christian, if you don't have a relationship with God through the work of Jesus on the cross, it's awful, but you could have it right now.
[00:30:28] You will live forever in heartbreak or joy.
[00:30:35] Please let me plead with you to believe that God so loved you that he gave his only Son that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have everlasting life. If you want to trust in the love of Jesus to forgive your sin today, you can do that right now.
[00:30:57] And I'm gonna help you.
[00:30:59] Please let me lead you in a prayer.
[00:31:02] You probably can already know what to say.
[00:31:04] I'll help you along. Let me lead you in a prayer.
[00:31:08] God, I am a sinner.
[00:31:11] Say this in your heart. Believe it in your heart.
[00:31:15] I rebelled against you. I need you.
[00:31:19] You love me.
[00:31:21] Believe it.
[00:31:24] Confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, Jesus is love, Jesus is in my place.
[00:31:36] And ask God to help you follow him, to enjoy him and be with him forever.
[00:31:48] Amen.
[00:31:50] Christians new and old, we're going to sing together of our hope in Jesus right now. And let me lead us in a prayer of worship. Father, there is no one like you.
[00:32:05] You are perfect.
[00:32:07] Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts. And the whole earth is filled with your glory.
[00:32:14] May our whole hearts be filled with your glory. May our whole lives be filled with your glory. May our whole church be filled with your glory. God, I pray that every day you would help us to believe a little more that you actually love us.
[00:32:32] Of course we don't deserve it.
[00:32:35] That's why it's called rescue.
[00:32:38] That's why it's called grace.
[00:32:41] Thank you for your amazing grace.
[00:32:45] Thank you for our hope in heaven. We can't wait to see you between now and then. I pray that you would help us to help other people turn from their sin and turn to your goodness. We pray in your name. Amen. Let's stand and let's sing together.
