Sermon Tone Analysis

HEAVEN AND HELL:

ARE THEY REAL?

8~/17~/2002 AND 8~/18~/2002

 

 

*/FAMOUS LAST WORDS/*

*/ /*

-I have written down here some of the last words of famous people.

LADY NANCY ASTOR-“*/Am I dying or is this my birthday/*?”

THOMAS CRANMER, ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY*/-“I see Heaven open and Jesus on the right hand of God.”/*

*/ /*

JOHN WESLEY-“*/Best of all, Jesus is with us.”/*

*/ /*

*/ /*

SOME LESS FAMOUS PEOPLE:

 

*/“Nice Doggie/*.”

*/“I wonder where the mother bear is?”/*

 (A man was gored by a buffalo in Yellowstone this week trying to get a better picture.

They are prosecuting the man to add insult to injury.)

*/“It can’t possibly rain for forty days and forty nights.”/*

*/ /*

 

-Jesus had some very important last words.

-We looked at some of them last time.

Acts 1

*/4 /**/On one occasion, while he was eating with them, he gave them this command: “Do not leave /**/Jerusalem/**/, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about.

5 For John baptized with a water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

/*

*/6 So when they met together, they asked him, “Lord, are you at this time going to restore the kingdom to /**/Israel/**/?” /*

*/7 He said to them: “It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.

8 But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

/*

 

 

 

-We talked about that.

The tapes are free back there.

In order to be effective and fruitful Jesus said we should be baptized in the Holy Spirit.

-That is normal Christianity.

It isn’t some fringe movement of weirdoes who live out in the hills.

This is orthodox Christianity.

-That is our */POWER TO WITNESS TO OTHERS ABOUT JESUS./*

-Today I want to focus on our */MOTIVATION TO WITNESS./*

*/ /*

-Why do this?

Isn’t someone’s faith a private thing that is between them and God?

 

-Isn’t it offensive to talk about hell and judgment?

-A very well known minister in Tulsa is now teaching */“UNIVERSALISM/*.”

-That is the view that all people will eventually be saved.

-There is also a view held by Jehovah’s Witnesses and Seventh-Day Adventists that the wicked will just cease to exist.

In other words they will just be */annihilated /*and only the righteous will live on.

-The */Buddhist/*/ /believes in “Nirvana” which is a state of nothingness.

-*/Muslim terrorists/* believe that if they become suicide bombers they will be ushered into bliss where 72 virgins await them.

It is kind of an eternal harem where your flesh is totally indulged.

-The */Hindu /*has an extended vacation between reincarnation.

-The only problem with both of those is that they aren’t Biblical.

Jesus said:

Mark 16

*/15 /**/He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.

16 Whoever believes and is baptized will be saved, but whoever does not believe will be condemned.

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-Jesus spoke about being saved or being condemned.

John 3

*/16 /**/“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, f that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.

18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because he has not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son/*.



 

 

-I hear about people who have gone to heaven and hell.

-I can’t prove or disprove that anyone has ever gone.

-I’ve heard some incredible stories and I don’t know whether to believe them or not.

-They are motivated to die because they believe the next world will be better.

-*/According to a Newsweek poll 76% of Americans believe in heaven.

71% think it is an “actual place.”/*

*/ /*

-Paul said he was taken to the “third heaven.”

 

2 Corinthians 12

*/12/**/     I must go on boasting.

Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord.

2 I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.

Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know—God knows.

3 And I know that this man—whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows— 4 was caught up to paradise.

He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell.”/*

*/ /*

-First Heaven-sky~/atmosphere.

Second heaven-Celestial heaven of sun-moon-solar system

Third heaven-the place where God dwells

*/ /*

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*/ /*

Hebrews 6

*/6/**/     Therefore let us leave the elementary teachings about Christ and go on to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, a and of faith in God, 2 instruction about baptisms, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment.

/*

*/ /*

-The resurrection of the dead and eternal judgment are fundamental doctrines of the faith.

-They are part of orthodox Christianity.

-Let’s look at both of them.

HELL

 

-We get some negative feedback for telling people about hell when we host the drama.

-People like to believe that it isn’t real.

But Jesus talked about it a lot.

*/EXAMPLE WITH COMEDIAN/*

*/ /*

-The way I am going to present this is as judgments.

-Hebrews talks about “eternal judgment” but there are other judgments.

*/1-JUDGMENT OF BELIEVER’S SINS/*

*/ /*

John 5

*/24 /**/“I tell you the truth, whoever hears my word and believes him who sent me has eternal life and will not be condemned; he has crossed over from death to life./*

 

1 Timothy 5

*/24 The sins of some men are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them/*.

-When you became a Christian your sins were judged.

*/2-JUDGMENT OF BELIEVER’S SELF/*

*/ /*

1 Corinthians 11

*/28 /**/A man ought to examine himself before he eats of the bread and drinks of the cup.

29 For anyone who eats and drinks without recognizing the body of the Lord eats and drinks judgment on himself.

30 That is why many among you are weak and sick, and a number of you have fallen asleep.

31 But if we judged ourselves, we would not come under judgment.

32 When we are judged by the Lord, we are being disciplined so that we will not be condemned with the world.

/*

*/ /*

-If we are honest and walk in the truth we bring our sins before God and adjust our lives to His Word.

*/3-JUDGMENT OF BELIEVER’S WORKS/*

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2 Corinthians 5

*/9 /**/So we make it our goal to please him, whether we are at home in the body or away from it.

10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may receive what is due him for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad.

/*

 

1 Corinthians 3

*/11 /**/For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.