Where Am I Going? - Destiny

3 Fundamental Questions  •  Sermon  •  Submitted
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A third question asked by those who are seeking meaning.

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3 fundamental questions everyone asks in the search for meaning
Who am I? - Identity
Why am I here? - Purpose
Where am I going? - Destiny
First we answered Who am I?
Created in the image of God
I am a child of God
It is no longer I who live but Christ lives in me!
Second we answered Why am I here?
I am created God and not by a random unguided process
I am loved by God who sent His Son to the world to die for the forgiveness of sins
He has given me a purpose and a place in His kingdom, for His glory!
Everything I do I do for Him!
Today we want to answer the final question regarding meaning - Where am I going? - Destiny
Pew Bible pg. 753
Romans 2:1–11 NASB 2020
1 Therefore you have no excuse, you foolish person, everyone of you who passes judgment; for in that matter in which you judge someone else, you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things. 2 And we know that the judgment of God rightly falls upon those who practice such things. 3 But do you suppose this, you foolish person who passes judgment on those who practice such things, and yet does them as well, that you will escape the judgment of God? 4 Or do you think lightly of the riches of His kindness and restraint and patience, not knowing that the kindness of God leads you to repentance? 5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will repay each person according to his deeds: 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life; 8 but to those who are self-serving and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, He will give wrath and indignation. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of mankind who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek, 10 but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who does what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. 11 For there is no partiality with God.
Are you ready for the message God has for us today?
Cool let’s begin!

The Postmodern Future

For postmodernism the future is nothingness
We are all part of a random chance and there is nothing after this life.
Aldous Huxley: ““There is only one corner of the universe you can be certain of improving, and that’s your own self.”
Buddah: “You can search throughout the entire universe for someone who is more deserving of your love and affection than you are yourself, and that person is not to be found anywhere. You yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe deserve your love and affection.”
Carl Sagan: “The Cosmos is all that is, or ever was or ever will be.”
When this life ends there is noting more. That is our destiny.
Who am I? - I am nothing, part of a random unguided process
Why am I here? There is no reason for my being here, I am worthless, have no dignity or value!
I am left to define for myself my worth and value based upon what others may say and what my experience tells me!
I define truth, morality, ethics, and my place by myself!
I am going to live my life my way until it is over because that is all there is!
Romans 2:8–9 NASB 2020
8 but to those who are self-serving and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, He will give wrath and indignation. 9 There will be tribulation and distress for every soul of mankind who does evil, for the Jew first and also for the Greek,
Me, myself, and I are the idols on the altar of my life!
My destiny is nothingness!
Any wonder why anxiety and depression are rising exponentially in our society!

Destiny of Hope!

We have spent enough time on the hopeless future of random evolution and postmodernism.
Dennis E. Johnson Professor Emeritus of Practical Theology, at Westminister Seminary in Escondido, CA. wrote: “We need to focus instead on the endpoint where all Christians’ hopes converge, the ultimate future, God’s final ‘good place,’ the ‘new heavens and the new earth,’ the climax and consummation of the new creation.”
2 Peter 3:13 NASB 2020
13 But according to His promise we are looking for new heavens and a new earth, in which righteousness dwells.
We are all on a journey that is preparing us for a place in eternity.
How we live our life matters for that eternal destiny.
Every one of us are unceasing spiritual beings!
In our passage of Romans 2 Paul reminds us that our actions and life choices here determine our eternal destiny.
We are not allowed to redefine what God has already determined
Romans 2:5–8 NASB 2020
5 But because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, 6 who will repay each person according to his deeds: 7 to those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life; 8 but to those who are self-serving and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, He will give wrath and indignation.
There is no hidden agenda with God, this passage is straight forward!
Our eternal destiny based upon how we live is made clear!
IF we seek to live a life God can bless then we are driven by the eternal destiny of Hope in God’s grace!

Hell: Wrath and Indignation

So one eternal destiny is hell, a place of wrath, loneliness, and indignation!
This is the place for all who lived by selfishness, unrighteousness and evil as defined by God!
God’s word is the standard by which we will be judged!
The place is revealed in God’s word:
Pew Bible pg. 836
Revelation 20:11–15 NASB 2020
11 Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat upon it, from whose presence earth and heaven fled, and no place was found for them. 12 And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened; and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds. 13 And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them; and they were judged, each one of them according to their deeds. 14 Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire.
Revelation 19:20 NASB 2020
20 And the beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image; these two were thrown alive into the lake of fire, which burns with brimstone.
Revelation 20:10 NASB 2020
10 And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
This is not a pleasant place.

Heaven: Eternal Life with God

As Christians we have hope because our destiny is with God
God has prepared a place for us that is beyond anything we can imagine.
His word has given glimpses for us of what it will be like.
There will be a wedding feast there:
Revelation 19:9 NASB 2020
9 Then he said to me, “Write: ‘Blessed are those who are invited to the wedding feast of the Lamb.’ ” And he said to me, “These are the true words of God.”
Then there is the beauty of a land unlike anything we have seen with our eyes!
Revelation 22:1–7 NASB 2020
1 And he showed me a river of the water of life, clear as crystal, coming from the throne of God and of the Lamb, 2 in the middle of its street. On either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3 There will no longer be any curse; and the throne of God and of the Lamb will be in it, and His bond-servants will serve Him; 4 they will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads. 5 And there will no longer be any night; and they will not have need of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun, because the Lord God will illuminate them; and they will reign forever and ever. 6 And he said to me, “These words are faithful and true”; and the Lord, the God of the spirits of the prophets, sent His angel to show His bond-servants the things which must soon take place. 7 “And behold, I am coming quickly. Blessed is the one who keeps the words of the prophecy of this book.”
The curse of sin will be gone, there will be healing, there will be no more night, no more darkness!
Revelation 21:22–27 NASB 2020
22 I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their glory into it. 25 In the daytime (for there will be no night there) its gates will never be closed; 26 and they will bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it; 27 and nothing unclean, and no one who practices abomination and lying, shall ever come into it, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life.
This is the eternal destiny of the followers of Christ.
Those who have lived a life God can bless!
Conclusion
Eternal destiny with hope brings meaning to this life!
God is clear on who gets eternal life and who doesn’t
Revelation 22:12–14 NASB 2020
12 “Behold, I am coming quickly, and My reward is with Me, to reward each one as his work deserves. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.” 14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they will have the right to the tree of life, and may enter the city by the gates.
Come Lord Jesus come!
What is your eternal destiny?
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