Full Transcript

I invite you this morning to open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 20. If you’ve been with us the last few weeks, I’ve actually been asking you to open your Bible to the first page, now we’re close to the last page of the Bible.

Let me say at the outset this morning, this is not a message that you necessarily want to take notes on. How many of you are notorious note-takers; you feel like you’ve been cheated if you miss a blank, and you feel like you’re going to flunk out of church because there’s going to be an exam? Well, this is not a message you necessarily want to get all the answers in the blanks. This is a message you want to lean into, and let your heart hear from the Lord.

How many of you, over the last twenty-four hours, have been a little spooked? Have you been a little scared? This morning, I want to set your heart at ease. The Bible says—Jesus actually tells us—that there is nothing to fear but one thing.

Every so often a survey will come out that lets us know what people fear the most? Do you know what the number one fear that people give in surveys is? It’s the fear of public speaking! Number two on the list is death. That means that most people would rather die than do what I am doing right now. Lest you think the preacher’s job is easy! There’s some fear that we need to overcome!

But Jesus said this in Matthew 10:28: “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.” That’s a command from Jesus. Jesus gives us one thing to fear. By the way, that is not a reference to Satan. Who is it that can destroy both soul and body in hell? It’s not Satan, it’s God. So, there is a healthy fear we should have of this place called Hell.

How many of you have ever seen this sculpture before? [Picture of sculpture on screen.] It’s a very famous sculpture called The Thinker. Have you ever wondered what that guy was thinking about? Is he contemplating a football game, or stuff going on in his marriage, or his finances? What’s he thinking about?

That sculpture was introduced to the world in 1904. The sculptor’s name was Auguste Rodin. He created that sculpture to represent a fictional character named Dante that was introduced to the world through a poem titled Dante’s Inferno. Do you know what the subject of that lengthy poem is? What’s going on right now in Hell.

So, The Thinker gives us the posture of every person who should contemplate his destiny—whether or not he will end up in Heaven or in Hell. As we go through this message this morning, rather than writing notes, that’s the posture that we should take, as we consider the certainty of judgment and the possibility of Hell.

We’re going to answer four questions this morning. These are the questions:

 

• What happens after I die?
• What is hell?
• Why is there hell?
• Who is going to hell? (Maybe the most important.]

 

Let’s deal with this first question:

1) What happens after I die?

Before we dive into the Scripture to get God’s answer to that question. .. If you were to ask and survey people on the street, you might get a lot of different answers to this question.

If you were to ask an atheist, like Bill Maher or Penn Gillette, or some of the neo-atheists that are writing books, they would tell you basically, “There is no heaven, there is no hell, there are no roads that lead anywhere but the grave. And if you are a sincere person, you must be intellectually honest to understand that once you die, that’s the end of the road.” That’s what an atheist would say in answer to that question.

If you have a Catholic background or if you were to ask some of your Catholic friends, “What happens after I die?” they might bring up the subject of purgatory. Unfortunately, the concept of purgatory is to be found nowhere in the Bible. As a matter of fact, purgatory was an invention of Pope Gregory in the 6^th century—almost five-hundred years after the Bible was completed. The Roman Catholic Church invented this idea of purgatory—kind of a time-out for disobedient children who weren’t ready to go out and play with the big boys. They had to kind of pay a little penalty in the corner, and then one day maybe they would be able to graduate and get into the place called heaven.

Conveniently, that was a great campaign tool for building the Catholic church, because indulgences were given by people who had lost loved ones, who feared their loved ones would be in purgatory. If you would pay up a little to the church [indulgences] that would accelerate their progress to get out of purgatory. That concept’s not found anywhere in the Bible. . .good building campaign. . .bad theology!

If you were to ask a Seventh Day Adventist, “What happens after I die?” they might bring up the subject of soul sleep, the idea that when we die our bodies and our souls go into the grave and they lie there dormant until the final resurrection. . .just kind of unconscious, checked-out, no consciousness until the final resurrection.

That’s a misinterpretation of some metaphors in Scripture. A lot of times in Scripture “sleep” is used as a metaphor for those who have died. In the same way that we would use a metaphor. . .we don’t like to talk about death, so we use replacement words like, “a person has passed away,” or, “upon their passing,” or “they’re asleep.”

But the Bible tells us, we’ll see this in just a minute, that upon death, everyone goes immediately to one of two places, we’ll see those two places in just a minute. If you were to ask someone that may have a very broad kind of religious spirituality—not based on the theology of Scripture—a pluralist, they would say, “Well, Islam and Buddhism and Christianity and all these religions—even Eastern mysticism—they’re a lot of roads that all lead to the same place. . .and as long as you’re sincere in your faith, it doesn’t really matter what you believe, but that you’re sincere that you believe. . . eventually you’ll make it to the place where God is.

If you were to ask a lot of people, they would say, “God eventually works it out for you. God’s not a god of judgment and torment and hell. He really wants to live forever with you, so eventually everybody’s going to get on the right road to the right destination.” We would use the term “universalist” for that opinion. And interestingly, that shows up in media-type people and it shows up in some very religious-type people.

Very recently, Pope Francis was quoted as saying this, “The Lord has redeemed all of us, all of us, with the Blood of Christ: all of us [three times—he wants us to know], not just Catholics. Everyone! And then he imagines somebody giving him the push-back on that. ‘Father, the atheists?’ Even the atheists. Everyone! “. We must meet one another doing good. And he imagines someone saying, ‘But I don’t believe, Father, I am an atheist!’  But do good: we will meet one another there.” The Pope needs to read his Bible! Not everybody’s going to be there.

Rob Bell and Oprah Winfrey have a new friendship, and in Rob Bell’s latest book Love Wins, he suggests this, “…given enough time, everybody will turn to God and find themselves in the joy and peace of God’s presence. The love of God will melt every hard heart, and even the most ‘depraved sinners’ will eventually give up their resistance and turn to God.” That may be a good prayer to pray for everyone, but that’s not the reality of what we find in the Bible. So, let’s open our Bibles and find out the answer to the question, “What happens after I die?”

Let’s begin reading. Let me just say first of all, here’s what the Bible says: Everyone will face God in judgment. Revelation 20:11-13 (ESV) says; the apostle John is writing this; it’s a vision, a revelation, that God gave him—a prophecy– of what one day will happen. These are things yet to come. John records what he saw. “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 [what happens after I die?], great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened…” Everybody underline the word “books.” Is that singular or plural? It’s plural. “Then another book was opened, which is [called] the book of life.” Singular or plural? Singular.

So we have two sets of books, and you can kind of imagine it. . .You’re there in the throne and you’re overwhelmed by the One Who is seated on His throne.. .and then John saw, somewhere in this throne room, there was a set of books. We don’t know how many books—maybe a library of books.

But let what he saw be represented by this set of books. Are you wondering what’s in the books? We’re going to find out in just a minute. But then John also saw, apart from those books, another book—separate from the other books. This particular books was called—what?—the Book of Life.

So, here we are, seeing God’s judgment, and He’s going to judge based on what He’s written in these two sets of books. Scripture says here at the end of verse 12, “. . .and the dead were judged by what was written in the books…” Singular or plural? Plural. He’s referring to this set of plural books. What’s written in these books? He tells us, “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 [again] what they had done.” 

            Modern attempts to try to erase the infinite justice of God, and the coming judgment of God for every person, is an attempt to make God a little more likable—a little more tolerant. The idea is that if somehow we can make God a little less judgmental and a little more tolerant, then maybe people would like Him more.

Maybe people would respond to Him better if we just thought of God only—and exclusively—as a loving God. And what people who try to erase the judgment of God are doing, and what they don’t understand, is that you cannot fully appreciate the love and the mercy and the grace of God unless you understand that it is in contrast to His infinite judgment, His infinite justice, His infinite holiness! Without the holiness of God, the love of God has no meaning.

Unless you understand that God has rescued you by His grace from His judgment, you will not be overwhelmed with the amazing grace of God! So mark it down: you and you and you and me—all of us—will face the certainty of the judgment of God. Some people will go to Heaven.

The Scripture tells us that immediately upon dying those who have believed, those who have repented, those who have trusted Christ, those who have been redeemed by God—immediately upon their death will go into the place where God is. That’s probably the best and most simple definition of Heaven. What is Heaven? It’s the place where God is, where God is most fully known—without distraction, without temptation, without the limitations of our flesh. We will know God in this place called Heaven in a way that we don’t fully know Him now.

One day all those who are redeemed will be in His presence. In Philippians, the apostle Paul is facing struggles and heartaches and doesn’t want “to be here anymore.” Can anybody identify with that? “Man, I just wish I could go to Heaven!” That’s what he was facing in Philippians 1:23, “My desire is to depart and be with Christ. . .”

Paul understood that departing from here means that he would be with Christ there. There’s a sense in which, only then and only there, will we fully know the redemption that is ours in Christ.

In 2 Corinthians 5:8, Paul again says, to “. ..be away from the body [is to be] at home with the Lord.” On the day that you die, the body stays here but your soul goes on living in the presence of God—if you are a believer. Isn’t that great news! That death is not the end! On the day that you die, you get an upgrade!

Some of you are waiting for the latest upgrade of your technology or of your smartphone. The greatest day of your life will be the day of your death, because you can an upgrade of actually who you are, if you are in Christ.

We remember the conversation that Jesus had with the thief on the cross, in Luke 23:43. That thief looked at him and said, “Jesus, [would you] remember me when you come into your kingdom?” Do you remember what Jesus said? “He [Jesus] said to him. . . ‘Today you will be with me in Paradise.’” What happened on that day? They died! Both of them!

On that day, that thief was with Christ after death because he had repented and believed. What great news for those of us who have believed! This world is not our home! We are living for a better place, to be with Christ. Do you know what that means? That means, for the believer, this world is the closest thing to Hell you will ever experience.

Did you have a bad week? Did it feel like you were going through Hell? You weren’t, but if you’re a believer, that’s the closest thing to Hell you will ever experience. But do you also know what that means for the unbeliever, for those of you who don’t trust Christ, who don’t believe, who don’t surrender? That means that this world is the closest thing to Heaven you will ever experience.

Did you have a good week last week? I hope you enjoyed that, because that’s the closest thing to Heaven you will ever experience—unless you believe. So, some people will go to Heaven (and here’s what the Bible teaches…what happens after I die?), some will go to Hell. Do you know that for every person who believes that upon death they’re going to Hell, one-hundred-and-twenty people believe they’re going to Heaven? Yeah, ask the average person, “Are you going to Heaven or Hell?”

[Answer:] “I hope I’m going to Heaven.”

“Uh, I’m hoping somehow I can slip in the back door.”

“My mom was a really good person; I’m just going to kind of shadow my way through the line and get into the place. . .”

“I want to go to Heaven!” But do you know?

Rarely do you meet a person who believes they’re going to Hell. Actually, I met one a couple of weeks ago. We took our entire church staff for a fun day in Chicago. We had some teaching time and some ministry time, and then we had some fun time.

We found ourselves, at the end of the day, in downtown Chicago and we went to a local restaurant there called Pizano’s. As we were in a back room getting our pizza ordered—we were having a great time—the owner of the restaurant came back and engaged us in conversation.

He was a really jovial Italian guy. In the conversation he mentioned that he was a skydiver. He loved to jump out of airplanes! He had done it over four-thousand times. As he was telling this story, and joking with us and having a good time, I just looked at him and said, “Hey, did you ever have a buddy who jumped out of an airplane, pulled the ripcord and the ‘chute didn’t open? Have you ever known someone that died in a skydiving accident?” (I have a great way of ruining a party, by the way, if you want to invite me over to your house. . .)

And he looked at me and he said, “Yeah, I have.” I said, “Well let’s just  suppose the next time you jump out of an airplane, you pull the cord, and the chute doesn’t open. Where would you go?” And he said, in a laughing, jovial voice, “I’d go straight to Hell!” And he seemed like he was excited about it. He didn’t know that he was talking who had given their lives to actually rescuing people from Hell!

I looked at him and said, “That’s the saddest thing I’ve ever heard!” And he said, “Don’t be sad! All my buddies are there, too, and we’re just going to have a blast!”

We all just kind of groaned around the table, and I looked at him and said, “I’ve found a lot of people like to joke about this because it’s such a serious subject. Do you know how to get to Heaven?”

You know what he did? He said, “Oh, yeah, Jesus died on a cross and if you trust Him you’ll get there.” I looked at him and said, “Have you repented of sin and have you placed your faith in Christ?”

He looked at me and said, “I’m Catholic!” [laughter] I have no idea why you’re laughing right now. When he realized that we weren’t Catholic, and when he realized we weren’t laughing, he found a quick way to exit the room.

Hell is not a joking matter. It is something that you and I must contemplate. Are you absolutely. . . one-hundred percent. . .for sure that if you died in the very next breath you would escape the judgment of God in this place called Hell? It’s not a place to laugh at. Maybe you don’t even know what Hell is, and that’s why you’re laughing.

2) What is Hell?

The theologian, Charles Hodge, lived in the 19^th century, and he said this, in considering this doctrine: “It is a doctrine which the heart revolts from and struggles against. The doctrine of Hell is a doctrine to which the heart submits only under the stress of authority.”

We want to laugh about it, we want to make jokes about it, we create holidays to make light of the judgment of God! Only under the weight of the authority of God’s Word and the conviction of God’s Spirit will our heart even be willing to grapple with the seriousness of hell.

Hodge said, “The church believes the doctrine of Hell because it must believe it or renounce faith in the Bible and thereby give up all the hopes founded upon its promises.”

What is Hell? We see it here in this verse, Revelation 20:14, “Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” First of all, Hell is the second death. Do you understand that we are all going to die, at least once?  Hebrews 9:27 says, “It is appointed for man to die once [some of you don’t even want to consider that you are mortal. We create stories about immortality because we don’t want to face the reality there is a termination date, there is an expiration date on you], and after that comes judgment.” Then it will be determined whether you die a second time, and Hell is the second death, Hell is the eternal death for all those who refuse to repent and believe.

So, what dies the second time? Let me tell you: your opportunity dies, your hope of Heaven dies forever. The teaching of Scripture is simply this: If you are born once, you will die twice; but the good news of Scripture is this! If you are born twice, you will only die once.

You are born naturally into this world as a little bitty baby. And then throughout the course of your lifetime you have an opportunity to be born again spiritually. If you are born again spiritually, you will only die once and not have to face the second death. Have you been born again? If you have not been born twice, you will die twice, because Hell is the second death.

Hell is a place of fire. Again, look at it in Revelation 20:15, “If anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.” Jesus Himself, in Matthew 18:9 says, “It is better for you to enter life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into the hell of fire.”

Some people like to think about Jesus as being this soft, compassionate, merciful, loving Person—which He certainly was—but we forget that Jesus was the One in the Scripture Who talked about Hell the most. Jesus talked more about Hell than He did about Heaven, and He identified Hell as a place of fire.

Again, in Matthew 13:49, showing that there would be a judgment, He said, “[Some will be thrown] into the fiery furnace.”

Some of you might ask the question, “Are the flames of Hell that I read about in Scripture literal flames?” We take the Bible seriously and very literally, but we know that the flames of Hell are different than the flames of fire we experience here, because we think of the flames of fire here as something that consumes. We think of fire here as something that gives light.

But we read in Scripture that Hell is a place where we will never be consumed. So, are the flames of Hell literal? It’s quite possible that the flames and the fire that we read about here is actually allegorical—symbolic—something that is infinitely worse than the fire that we think of here. But Hell is a place of fire.

Hell is a place of conscious torment. In Luke 16:23, Jesus tells a story about a rich man who died, “. . .and in Hell, he lifted up he lifted up his eyes as he was in torment.” He was actually aware of where he was and what was going on. In some sense, he had a knowledge of what was taking place in Heaven and he regretted his decisions and the choices he had made in his life.

He thought about his family members who needed to be warned about what was happening here in Hell. So this man was conscious of what was going on. He was in eternal torment.

Hell is a place of weeping and pain. In Matthew chapter 13, again, Jesus speaking about a place where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There will be tears in Hell, gnashing of teeth. What is that? That’s gritting your teeth. Have you ever gone to the gym and seen people working out, when they are in pain? What are they doing? Physical exertion results in people gritting their teeth, gnashing their teeth, and that’s what is going on in Hell.

Hell is a place of darkness. Scripture says in 2 Peter 2:17, speaking of false teachers leading people into Hell, “For them the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved.” So this is not a place where partying is going on with disco lights. This is a place of isolation and darkness and doom.

Hell is a place of destruction. Romans 9:22 talks about how God “has endured with much patience [these] vessels of wrath prepared for destruction.” It’s a place where you will be destroyed over eternity.

And then, Hell is a place that is eternal. Matthew 25:41. Again, Jesus is speaking, “Then he will say to those on his left [those who are unredeemed, those who don’t believe], ‘Depart from me [what is Hell? It is departure from God for eternity], you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.” What does the word “eternal” mean? Do you believe in eternal life? It means “never ending.”

We rejoice in the fact that there is the hope of eternal, never-ending life with God. Jesus actually speaks about that in the previous verse, about how those on His right will enter into an eternal life with God. And yet, somehow, people want to change the word eternal, in the next verse, into something that is less than never-ending. This is a theory called “annihilationism ” that somehow Hell is a place that people go and they’re just kind of somehow [snaps his fingers] wished out of existence. And yet Jesus talks about it being a place where there is eternal fire. Hell is eternal.

Finally, Hell is more populated than Heaven—sadly. Jesus says in  Matthew 7:13-14, “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” Mark it down: Most people will live and die and go to Hell. Only a few will surrender to the Lordship of Christ, embrace the forgiveness that is theirs, and make their way into Heaven. Hell is a place that is more populated than Heaven.

Here’s the third question:

3) Why is there a Hell?

We see that in Revelation 20:13. “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 [note this] what they had done.”

What was written in these books? Let me tell you. At the judgment, everything that you have ever done, everything that you have ever said, everything you have ever thought, every motive of your heart has been recorded in the annals of these books. These books will be opened.

Do you remember the worst fifteen minutes of your life? Do you remember the most wicked thing you’ve ever done. . .the deceit and the selfishness and the violence and the hatred…the stuff that you would like to forget? That’s been recorded and it will be opened. What you have done will be opened at the judgment seat of Christ. That’s why there’s a Hell.

You say, “But I just really can’t conceive of that!” Listen, it’s because our finite minds cannot conceive of the infinite holiness and justice of God! What we have done is summarized in a little three-letter word called “sin.” Have you heard of this concept? Whatever happened to sin? We want to think of sin as a mistake or a personality flaw or a weakness or, “I wouldn’t be this way if I would have been born in a different place, had different parents.” We like to excuse, justify, rationalize and blame other people for our sin.

But there will be no excuse—it’s recorded. What is sin? Sin is an infinitely rebellious thing to God. It deserves infinite judgment. You say, “Well, I can’t conceive of that.” It’s because you don’t understand the infinite holiness of God. Here’s the way that we summarize that: Infinite love (grace) rejected, demands infinite justice.”

The reality is this: There is consequence for what’s written in these books. There will be a payday someday for the worst fifteen minutes of your life, and you will not escape it.

The reality is this: Sin burns—and you know that! Has someone else’s sin ever burned you, and have you longed for the day that what they did to you will one day burn them the way it burned you? You see, that’s a sense of justice—it’s a finite sense of justice stamped in your soul that says, “You know what? That person ought to pay for what they did!”

Yet, rarely do we turn the mirror on ourselves and realize, “What I have done to burn others—and what I have done to burn God—I should pay!” We don’t think in those terms.

But, sin burns. I could just call on several of you right now, “Would you just stand and tell me how your sin has created negative consequences in your life?” How many of you would be able to do that (I will not call on you!)?

How many of you would say, “You know what? I was an idiot in college, I was an idiot in my first marriage, I was an idiot when I was a teenager, and I did things that I am still paying the consequences for.” What you’re saying is, you have scars from the burn of sin. You know that! Sin burns now.

My son, Zac, when he was one year old, he was crawling across the living room floor. We had one of those steam vaporizers on the floor, and he was enamored by the steam coming out of this thing. (Have you noticed they don’t make steam vaporizers anymore? Do you know why? Because one-year-old children have a tendency to crawl up on the steam vaporizer with their hand and burn their hand.) Today, as an eighteen-year-old young man, my son has scars from crawling up and being burned. Some of you have scars like that.

Do you know what Hell is? Hell is the place for those who have refused to run to God for the healing where sin has burned them. It’s a place where God says, “If you’ll not come to Me for healing, then you will experience the full force of the burn of sin. Have at it!” Because infinite love, rejected, demands infinite justice. What is written in these books is your sin.

You say, “I don’t know how to explain that.” The only way I know how to explain that is this: I remember Brooke, my oldest daughter, and Zac, my son—they’re a year apart. I remember this day when Brooke and Zac were four and three years old. . .

We were travelling with Life Action, which meant that we went to a different church, basically, every week. One of my responsibilities in these churches was that I was teaching the people a parenting seminar—much like the one that we have coming up with Laine Johnson—I invite you to come to that. For six hours on a Saturday we would teach parenting principles.

Now there is something intrinsically dangerous in doing that when you are the father of a four-year-old and a three-year-old and they people are actually in the vicinity where they can observe the three-year-old and the four-year-old who are the offspring of this father!

So, here I am for six hours, teaching parenting principles. . .how your children can obey everything you say, every time you say it, with a happy heart! How many of you would be interested in that seminar, right? [laughter] So, here I am, trying to teach them all these biblical principles. . .and the perception is that I am a good, good father, right?

So, I remember at the end of that long day, we walked out into the church parking lot, and all the people exited the church like, you know, a hundred people out into the parking lot, to get into their cars. . .

. . .only to find my four-year-old daughter and my three-year-old son in the parking lot (the church had just laid down new aggregate in the church parking lot—not just gravel, but these big white chalky stones. . .). . .

Someone in the church had been kind enough to loan our family, during the week we were there, a car to drive. It was a brand-new royal blue Buick. We had been driving the car throughout the week. And I had warned my children, “Please don’t throw up in the car! Don’t even breathe on the car, okay? We need to give the car back in good shape to the gracious generous person who’s allowing us to use it.”

So when we walked out of the seminar, all of the people who attended the seminar are observing four-year-old Brooke, three-year-old Zac picking up stones and launching them through the air, only to watch the stones land on the hood of the brand-new blue Buick. And people realized, “I don’t think this guy knows what he’s talking about as a parent!” Do you know what Brooke and Zac were doing? They were completely invalidating the truth that I had just delivered.

People were not going to believe me because of the actions of them. Do you know why there’s a Hell? Because our actions are causing people not to believe that He’s a good, good Father.

So I walked up to my children, who are worthy of Hell at this point [laughter] and I’ve got options, right? I could look at them and say, “You have no idea what you’re doing! You’re causing such incredible damage to this vehicle this person has been so gracious to lend to us! You are abusing the grace and the love and the generosity of this person. . .”

“. . .Not only that, you’re invalidating everything your father just taught to these people! People are not going to believe because of your actions!” I could have walked up to them and demanded, “That’s at least a thousand dollars’ worth of damage. Pay up!”

They had no ability to pay, did they? They had no resources from which to repair the damage they caused by their behavior. So I’ve got one of two options. If I exercise religion on them, this is what I could do. I could say, “You’re going to work it off! I know you have no ability to do it, but you’re getting jobs and the first thousand dollars that you make is going to repair the damage!” That’s religion, and that’s what most people think they have to do to escape Hell. . . pay off what’s written in the books.

They need some other books—of the good stuff that’s been written. And somehow, if we can have the books of the good stuff outweigh the books of the bad stuff, then somehow God’s gonna get us. . .that’s not it, because that doesn’t erase what’s in the books. That’s religion.

But here’s what a good, good father does: He looks at them and says, “Your sin has incredible consequences! You have caused irreparable damage—from which you can never recover!”

“But out of my own resources, I am going to pay the debt that you owe! Not because you are good, but because your father is good.” That is the offer of infinite love and grace that God gives to those who have sinned against Him in ways unimaginable to us! We are like three-year-old kids, and every time we sin—every bad attitude, every lustful thought, every deceitful thing that we do to cover our sin—is an incalculable rebellious act against the holiness of God. That’s why there’s a Hell. . .for people who reject the offer, and turn to religion to try to pay their debt.

Do you understand, everyone who goes to Hell chooses it? We have this idea in our head that people in Hell are down there just remorseful and regretful and are thinking about the times they were in a church service like this…and they should have gone forward, they should have given their lives to Christ.

Do you know that that scene is nowhere in Scripture? Nowhere in Scripture do we see that anyone in Hell is repentant. People in Hell are rebellious to the end. And people in Hell are people who have said to God (and continue to say to God), “Leave me alone!” And that’s exactly what God does to them in Hell. He leaves them alone.

They are people who want to maintain their sovereignty, people that don’t want to bow, people who want to act like God and expect everybody else to worship them and bow to their ideas. People in Hell have chosen it.

1. S. Lewis said it this way, “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.” Because we want our own will rather than God’s will.

So, if your will is to live as sovereign, if your will is to play God, if your will is to do your own thing—to enjoy the pleasures of sin now, to not turn, to not repent—God says, “Sin will burn, and it will burn you forever.”

Here’s the last question, probably the most important question, 4) Who is going to hell? If you’re a smart person, at this point you are asking the question, “Am I going to Hell? And if so, how can we change that destination?” Look back at the Scripture; it says here in Revelation 20:15, “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.”

The simple answer to the question, “Who’s going to hell?” is this; ”Everyone whose name is not found in the Book of Life.” “So what is this Book? And what’s written in it, and how can I know if my name is in there?”

You can know! You don’t have to hope, you don’t have to wonder! You can know if you’re name is in here? “How can I know?” It’s simply this, you can know if your name is in here if you have repented from sin and placed your faith in Jesus Christ. Everyone who will not [boldly] repent is going to Hell.

I want you to see this verse –Revelation 3:3, just a few chapters prior to chapter 20, that says (Jesus is speaking), “Remember, then, what you received and heard. Keep it, and repent.” You’ve heard the truth this morning. You’ve heard the truth before. This is probably not the first time that you’ve heard about Heaven and Hell and the offer of salvation through the grace of Jesus Christ.

But have you kept it, and have you repented in response to what you’ve heard? “The one who conquers will be clothed thus in white garments. . .” (Revelation 3:5) You’re like “What in the world. . huh?. .. I don’t think I even own anything white, and if I did I wouldn’t wear it, because we’re past Labor Day now. . .What’s the white garments?”

Do you realize that your garment. . .what you have done. . .has caused you to be stained with sin? The picture here is that of a wedding. In ancient times, the father of the groom would hand out white wedding garments to everyone who attended the wedding.

The symbolism here is the wedding that one day will take place—the coronation, the ceremony, of Jesus as the Bridegroom—Who will enter into permanent presence and covenant relationship at the wedding feast of all those whose names are written in the Book of Life.

Our garments have to be changed! We have to exchange that which has been stained by sin for that which only God gives. . .white garments. He said those coverings, those white garments that have covered your sin, is what’s required for you to be in the presence of God—without being incinerated!

He said, “If that is true, if you have repented and the stain of your sin has been covered by the white clean garments, I will never blot your name out of the Book of Life.”

And because your name is in there, Jesus says—in the judgment, in the courtroom of God, before the Throne—notice what He says, “I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels.” . . .in the courtroom of God.

Your only hope of Heaven is that you will be judged—not by what’s written in the books—but that your name is found in the Book of Life. “How can I know my name is in there?” Have you repented from your sin? Do you understand that Scripture says that the Lord is not willing that anyone should perish, but that all would come to “repentance.” It’s the only way you can know that your name is in the Book?

Is your name in the Book? Do you have absolute confidence, if you died in the next second you would be with Jesus Christ in Heaven? Do you know it? You say, “Well, now that I’ve heard this message, I think that I’ll be there.” No, no—it’s not hearing the message, it’s what you do in response to what you’ve heard.

Have you kept it? Have you repented? (What does it mean to repent? It means to turn. The direction of your life has changed.) Has there ever been a moment—in response to the holiness of God, in response to the certainty of judgment—that you have cast your hope of Heaven. . .not on religion, not on your family, not on your money, not on your good performance. . .not on your good behavior. . .

. ..but you’ve cast your hope of Heaven on what Christ has done for you? What has Christ done for you? Listen! Do you know what was happening on the cross? Jesus went through Hell on the cross, so you wouldn’t have to! That’s the hope that Jesus absorbed the wrath of God so the wrath of God would be diverted from you and you could have the white garments of forgiveness and grace and love, even though you deserve the infinite justice of God.