The Ultimate Destination

10,000 Sermon Illustrations Procrastination

Procrastination

The devil and his cohorts were devising plans to get people to reject the Gospel. “Let’s go to them and say there is no God,” proposed one. Silence prevailed. Every devil knew that most people believe in a supreme being. “Let’s tell them there is no hell, no future punishment for the wicked.” offered another. That was turned down, because men obviously have consciences which tell them that sin must be punished. The concave was going to end in failure when there came a voice from the rear: “Tell them there is a God, there is a hell and that the Bible is the Word of God. But tell them there is plenty of time to decide the question. Let them ‘neglect’ the Gospel, until it is too late.” All hell erupted with ghoulish glee, for they knew that if a person procrastinated on Christ, they usually never accept Him.

And the gates of hell are wide and all the people are stampeding to get in. But the way to heaven is a single stairway with people one another behind each other going in.

[Opening prayer]

Let us pray. Father open my mind to your Holy Spirit’s word. Let nothing come out of my mouth that belongs to me, but only of the Holy Spirit. Open all here to be receptive to accepting your word of knowledge and truth. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

What’s next?

The big question is, Once you die and move on to the next life where do we go to spend eternity? There are three possible answers, and they are:

I would go to hell to be with all my friends

I might go to heaven, I have been good

I know I will go to heaven

This can be boiled down into three points

I won’t go

I might go

I will go

1. I won’t go

Romans 3:22–23 “even the righteousness of God, through faith in Jesus Christ, to all and on all who believe. For there is no difference; for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”

Romans 3:10 (NKJV)

As it is written:

“There is none righteous, no, not one;

If you do absolutely nothing, then your default location will be hell.

You may say well I don’t mind because I’ll be with all my friends. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way.

Amos 5:18 “Woe to you who desire the day of the Lord! For what good is the day of the Lord to you? It will be darkness, and not light.”

Mt 8:12 But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Outer darkness seems to symbolize pain, death and separation from all that is good, including God. Think of it as a sensory deprivation tank. There is no feeling, no hearing, and no light. There is no outside stimulation at all. Some people who go through this experience in a tank cannot take the experience for very long. Now imagine the exact same thing for all eternity. By the way this is an experience for one person only, no friends here.

Matthew 22:13 NKJV

Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, take him away, and cast him into outer darkness; there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’

When you are in the darkness of hell that literally means the absence of God. When you are away from the pure light of Jesus, you will not be able to see or hear anything, therefore no friends will be around you. Just in darkness, and a burning torment. And then after the great White Throne judgment, you will be thrown into the burning pit of fire. Still no friends around you. Imagine spending all of eternity, all alone with burning skin and no way to get it quenched. Scary isn’t it. But sorry, that is straight out of the Bible.

Luke 16:19–31 NKJV

“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’ But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’ “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’ And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’ ”

This is what you have to look forward to for all eternity.

So maybe going there is kind of a bad idea.

Let’s look at the next possibility.

2. I might go

I have lived a good life. Ever since I was a real young child my parents have sent me to Sunday school and church.

I am on three committees, I go to the prayer group all the time, and I am in many small groups.

As far as I know my sins have been few if any at all.

I’m sure we have all seen the senior citizens sitting in church listening to the sermon and never going to sleep, they must be going to heaven, aren’t they?

Romans 3:10 NKJV

As it is written: “There is none righteous, no, not one;

Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way.

There’s a saying that goes, When you get to heaven. There are going to be great surprises waiting for you. There will be people missing that you thought sure were going to be there, and people that will be there that you thought sure would never have made it.

Romans 6:23 “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

10,000 Sermon Illustrations (Most Lamentable Thing)

Most Lamentable Thing

It is a most lamentable thing to see how most people spend their time and their energy for trifles, while God is cast aside. He who is all seems to them as nothing, and that which is nothing seems to them as good as all. It is lamentable indeed, knowing that God has set mankind in such a race where heaven or hell is their certain end, that they should sit down and loiter, or run after the childish toys of the world, forgetting the prize they should run for. Were it but possible for one of us to see this business as the all-seeing God does, and see what most men and women in the world are interested in and what they are doing every day, it would be the saddest sight imaginable. Oh, how we should marvel at their madness and lament their self-delusion!If God had never told them what they were sent into the world to do, or what was before them in another world, then there would have been some excuse. But it is His sealed word, and they profess to believe it.

Richard Baxter

John 1:12 “But as many as received Him, to them He gave the right to become children of God, to those who believe in His name:”

So being a good person is maybe not such a good idea after all.

Lets see if we can fix that.

3. I will go

So let’s see what the Bible says about you definitely will go to heaven.

John 3:16 “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.”

Jesus left heaven and came to earth to become fully God and fully man to help us get to heaven.

In Bethlehem, where Jesus was born, he did not just suddenly come into being at that time. Jesus came down from heaven, and took on the form of a baby to be among us on earth. Jesus has always been around in heaven with God, He even created the world. (John 1:1) He was and is the Son of God. At just the right time God sent his son into the world to take on the form of a man and die on the cross. The whole plan from the very beginning, was to save us from our sins.

10,000 Sermon Illustrations Permission to Backslide

Permission to Backslide

As a teenager, J. Stephen Conn sensed God calling him to be a preacher. But he felt a certain disadvantage. Because he had been saved when he was 7 years old, he would never be able to hold an audience spellbound with stories of a wicked past. So he asked God for permission to backslide—just long enough to get some experience in a life of sin to “enhance” his preaching later on. Deep within he knew that God would not answer such a request, so he decided just to preach the Bible without a dramatic testimony.

Some time later Conn wrote, “For the past 11 years I’ve been pastoring a church. I realize now what a great testimony I really have. God not only has the power to deliver from sin, He has the even greater power to keep from sin. God not only saved my soul—He saved my entire life!”

1 Corinthians 15:3–4 “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures,”

If Jesus never rose from the dead than his bones would be buried somewhere. And if his bones were buried somewhere, believe me, Satan would’ve found them and displayed them for the whole world to see. But Satan knew there were no bones because he saw Jesus ascend to heaven to be with God.

But the tomb was empty. Jesus died and he arose again on the third day and 40 days later, He went to heaven.

So no matter what you have done in your life and how good you have been it all comes down to this, you have to believe on Jesus Christ and let him become Lord and Savior of your life to be saved to get to heaven.

Revelation 3:20 “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.”

The funny thing about this door is that there’s only a door handle on your side. There is no door handle on Jesus’ side, you have to open it yourself. Jesus will never ever force you to accept him as Lord.

Romans 10:13 “For “whoever calls on the name of the Lord shall be saved.””

If you think that this all applies to you, now is the time to make a decision. Everybody bow their head with all eyes closed. I’ll be the only one with my eyes open, Jesus to of course, and silently say this to yourself. Repeat this prayer after me.

Confessing to God that I am a sinner, and believing that the Lord Jesus Christ died for my sins on the cross and was raised for my justification, I do now receive and confess him as my personal savior.

All eyes still close, if you just prayed that prayer then I asked you quickly put your hand up in the air and drop it again, I’m not gonna say a thing.

[After all hands are down, wait a few seconds and then:] God bless you all. For those of you who raised your hand quietly on your own, later get with the pastor or me or any of the leadership team and let us talked to you. We will do our best to answer all of your questions and pray with you.

[Closing prayer:]

Let us pray. God in heaven, we all know now that we have fallen short of your glory. But we know Lord, there is a remedy for this. By accepting Jesus as Lord and Savior, we know we will get to heaven. As we prepare for that final destination Lord help us to do your work on earth to get more people to come along with us. Lord help us to talk to just one person today about your saving grace. And maybe we can be hands and feet to get your word out to the whole world. In Jesus name I pray, amen.

Closing hymn