Community Church Service 2023

Introduction

Do you have a pulse at this moment? Is your heart beating in your chest? Is air going into your lungs and carbon dioxide leaving your body? Good news, you are physically alive. Yet, none of us knows how long we will be alive. Moses would write in Psalm 90:12 “So teach us to number our days, That we may gain a heart of wisdom.” We are not promised tomorrow, we are not promised the rest of today. On Friday night across the Atlantic a massive 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck the country of Morocco killing over 2000 people. Friday night they went to bed confident that they would wait up Saturday morning, but in the night their pulses would cease, their heart would stop, and their last breath to enter their lungs would be taken. Then they were no longer here on this earth. Are they just dead or is there something else after death? Yes, very yes. Physical life and physical death are not all there is. Let us see what the Bible has to say about our lives and after lives, so “that we may gain a heart of wisdom.”

We are Mortal

Most people don’t like the subject of our mortality. Death can be a taboo subject for some. We often do not want to think about, but as a theologian from a past generation, Jonathan Edwards once wrote in his resolutions: “to think much on all occasions of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.” Now there could be a very unhealthy obsession with death, but the question is: how would you live today if you knew today was your last day? What would you do? What would you say?

The more important questions is, what will happen after you die? Will you go to Heaven or Hell? Is there a Heaven and Hell? How do I know I will go to Heaven? These are the questions I want to answer this morning.

Life After Death

The first questions is: Is there life after death? Is there more than just these years on planet earth? The answer is YES. There is life after physical death. In fact, we are born with an eternal soul. You as a person will live forever.

The Bible says in Hebrews 9:27 “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment,”

The problem is, every person is condemned to die not just physically, but also spiritual death. Eternal separation from God, because of something the Bible calls, sin.

Sin is something that has been passed down from our original parents, Adam and Eve. You can’t take an Ancestry DNA test and see your sin nature come up on the results, but it is there. Anything we think, say, or do that is against God. Romans 5:12 “Therefore, just as through one man sin entered the world, and death through sin, and thus death spread to all men, because all sinned—” The Apostle Paul writes to his letter to the church in Rome, Romans 3:23 “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” Fall Short means we have missed the mark. We have missed the perfect standard of God. If I were to give each of you a ball and told you that you need to throw this ball and for it to land on the 86 floor of the Empire State Building in Manhattan, could you do that? No matter how far you were able to throw that ball it would still fall short of that standard. You would miss the mark, all of us would. That includes me. It does not matter how many good works we may do, we have still sinned and fallen short of God’s glory and His standard.

Paul would go on and say a bit later that “The wages or payment for sin is death” and that is both physical and eternal death. Our sin condemns and judges us and that the judgment that each of us is doomed to suffer. If we are all condemned to suffer that judgment what about Heaven and Hell? Is only one real or are both real?

Heaven and Hell: Are they Real?

The Bible tells us that both Heaven and Hell are both very real places.

Hell is described as a Lake of Fire.

Revelation 20:11–15 NKJV

Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

It is a place of torment. Hell is not going to be a party. It is going to be loneliness, pain, torment.

“cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matthew 8:12)

Heaven is also real.

Revelation 21:22–22:5 NKJV

But I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light. And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it. Its gates shall not be shut at all by day (there shall be no night there). And they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it. But there shall by no means enter it anything that defiles, or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s Book of Life. And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding from the throne of God and of the Lamb. In the middle of its street, and on either side of the river, was the tree of life, which bore twelve fruits, each tree yielding its fruit every month. The leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. And there shall be no more curse, but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and His servants shall serve Him. They shall see His face, and His name shall be on their foreheads. There shall be no night there: They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light. And they shall reign forever and ever.

These are just a couple of the passages that describe these very real places.

Yet, if we are condemned to eternity in Hell because of our sin (even one sin condemns us to Hell) how can anyone go to Heaven?

How Can I Know I will Go to Heaven?

So you know that you are going to die physically. You know that you have sinned. Maybe you believe that both Heaven and Hell are real places, but if I said that even one sin condemns me and you to Hell, how can anyone go to Heaven? That is where Jesus Christ comes into the picture.

So back when I was saying the wages or payment for sin (even one sin) is eternal death, well the Apostle Paul went on. The whole statement is Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

You see there was no way I could or you could escape the judgment of our sins by any work that we could do. So God made a way for us by coming to earth in human flesh, Jesus Christ. He was the only perfect person to meet God’s standards. No sin nature, no sin, no condemnation, no hell. Yet, He came to pay the bill that we could not pay for ourselves. Romans 6:10 “For the death that He died, He died to sin once for all; but the life that He lives, He lives to God.”

He once told a very religious person this.

John 3:3–8 NKJV

Jesus answered and said to him, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” Nicodemus said to Him, “How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter a second time into his mother’s womb and be born?” Jesus answered, “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I said to you, ‘You must be born again.’ The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from and where it goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit.”

As one person sums up these verses. Born once, die twice. Born twice, die once. If you are only physically born, you will die both physically and spiritually. If you are born physically and spiritually (by Jesus Christ) you will only die once, physically.

Jesus would tell of the death He would die a bit later when talking to Nicodemus.

John 3:14–21 NKJV

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed. But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God.”

Jesus Christ would willing be crucified on a piece of wood called a cross shedding His blood and taking on Himself all the sin of the world: past, present, and future. He would be buried and rise again.

Romans 5:8 “But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” God showcased His love not just with words, but with actions that while we were still sinners, that is when Christ died for us to save us from our sins! But we have to accept His free gift.

It is a gift that has to be received. If you received a gift on Christmas morning, but refused to open it or accept it, the gift would not be yours. Christ offered Himself for you and for me, and we have to accept it.

Each one of us has to admit that we are a sinner. We have messed up, not just our great-great grandparents, but we ourselves have sinned. We have missed God’s perfect standard. Because of our sin we know that we are condemned to spend eternity separated from God in Hell. We admit that nothing we do can earn salvation. None of our works can save us. Ephesians 2:8-9 “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.”

Romans 10:8–13 NKJV

But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Call upon Him and accept His free gift of salvation. Admit! Believe! Confess! Confess Him as Lord, as your Master. The One who is in charge of your life now. The One who is in the pilot’s chair of your life. When you do that, you become a child of God. Adopted into His family. Your life is changed in this life and forever. It is not an easy road and most days it is very hard to be child of God, but I would not trade it for anything.

Conclusion

So as I said at the beginning. Check your pulse. Check your heart beat. Check your nose as it breaths in air. You are still physically alive. You still have time to accept Jesus Christ as your Savior as your redeemer. For those who already know Him as your Savior and your Lord. When you check your pulse, heartbeat, and breathing you still have time to tell someone else that needs to know the truth. Let’s pray.