INSIGHTS ON HEAVEN AND HELL

Sermon of the Week #200526-July 8, 2005

Ladies and gentlemen, the Bible tells us that when the centurion came to Jesus, Jesus said, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel. I say unto you that many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the sons of the Kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Here was a man who came to Jesus who had great faith. Jesus said, “I have not found so great faith, no not in Israel.”

This man had the proper perspective into his own life. He saw himself as he really was. What would you see if you could see yourself as you really are on the inside? I don’t think I could have made a good surgeon because I am too squeamish. When I see an open-heart operation on television, it is gross. To look upon that slimy heart and to see the beating of that heart amidst all that slime and goop-eeks, yuk! Think also of all the rest of that nasty stuff inside of you that is hidden from view by that thin layer of skin. You are full of dung and all kinds of noxious juices, phlegm and blood. Yuk, yuk, yuk! I can’t bear to look at your insides. But suppose you could see yourself as you are on the inside spiritually before God. It would be enough to nauseate you even more. To see all those snakes, worms, scorpions and the abominable filth in your heart. Your brain would be a slimy mass of corruption. I am not overdrawing the picture. Listen to what the Lord Jesus said, “For out of the heart proceeds evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornication, false witnesses, thefts, railings; these are the things that defile the man.” Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked; who can know it?”

The people there came to the Lord and said, “He is worthy. Lord, do you know what this man did for God’s people? This man all by himself built us a synagogue.” Note that, the centurion did not build them a gymnasium with a swimming pool, bowling alley, treadmills and barbells. He built them a synagogue.

You know, there is nothing that looks better in the eyes of the people than to lead the Church in a great building program. Sometimes when we look at a Church that has a tremendous building, our eyes bug out as we look at the preacher and we say, “What manner of man is this that he could lead his people in such a building program!” This centurion man was a man who had helped in the building program. Not only helped, but also it seemed that he had done the whole thing single-handedly. A plaque in the vestibule told how this building was dedicated to the generosity of this Roman centurion. When this man came to Jesus, he did not mention the fact that he had been instrumental in the building program. No wonder Jesus would say, “I have not found so great faith, no, not in Israel.”

Now think about that synagogue. He really did not build a synagogue. A synagogue is not a building of stone; it is the people who constitute the synagogue. In a similar manner the building that we call the Church is not the Church, the people are the Church. And yet Jesus did not correct these elders of the Jews for calling the physical building a synagogue. If the Lord did not make a big deal of it, I won’t either. I will still refer to the physical building as the Church.

However, there is a difference in the two. Jesus did not die for our Church building; not one pane of glass, one shingle, one brick or one nail was on His mind when He died on the cross. Sometimes we get more sentimental over the physical building than the spiritual building that Peter referred to as a spiritual House with living stones.

We like to improve our physical buildings. If we choose to do so we can take out a window here and a door there. We can put in a partition here and add a room there. But in the spiritual House of which we as members are living stones, there are no changes that will be tolerated. The Church in matters of doctrine must be the same as it was in the New Testament. We cannot change the ordinances of baptism, the Lord’s Supper and the Lord’s Day.

There was something else about this man’s faith other than the fact that he had not mentioned his part in the building program; that was when he said, “Lord, I am not worthy that Thou should come under my roof. Only say the word that my servant be healed, Lord.” The word is enough, the bare-naked word. Speak the word, Lord; say the word; that will suffice. Is that enough for you? Is the word of Jesus enough?

Are you willing to say in all spiritual matters, “Lord, say the word?” Have you noticed that people today are more concerned about carrying out man-made religious customs than the program of the Bible? Think of Lent. You might think that Lent was found on every page of the Bible, when in fact there is no such idea in the New Testament. You might think that Peter and John ran around with ashes on their faces on something called Ash Wednesday. Yet men celebrate Lent as though their soul’s salvation depended on it, and then completely reject what the Lord said to do to be saved.

Jesus marveled at the faith of the centurion and then made this statement, “I say unto you many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the sons of the Kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

Jesus had something to say about Heaven. He said, “Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down in the Kingdom of Heaven with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.” Heaven is going to be a place of rest. Now, of course, we’ll be given jobs to do—work that may be keeping with the talents and working here on earth. But Heaven is going to be a place of rest. Because the Bible says, “We will sit down.” It not only will be a place of rest, but we’ll sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

Sometimes people ask, “When we get to Heaven will we recognize each other?” That seems like a natural conclusion since we know each other down here, why wouldn’t we know each other in Heaven? Here it says that we’ll sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Evidently when we get there, we are going to recognize Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It follows that we’ll recognize all the others too.

Not only that, but we have this insight into Heaven: when it says that many shall come from the East and West; Heaven is going to be a crowded place. There will be many who will get there. Now, of course, we are aware of the scripture where Jesus said, “Few there be that find it, and many shall go in through the board way.” True, there will be more people in Hell than Heaven. But Heaven will be a crowded place. Many shall come. Think of the children, every child shall be there. Think of that! Not a single child will be in Hell. All of the babies that have been murdered in cold blood by abortion will be in Heaven. Think of all the people who have accepted Christ through the ages. No wonder the scripture says, “John saw a number that no man can number from every tribe and tongue and nation.” Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven.

Not only that, but it says that they shall come from the East and West. If He meant geographically, all people from all over the world, all races, all nationalities will be there. And then, of course, we might apply it to the fact of the difference in people. There will be people who had a very little sin to repent of, if indeed we can refer to such a thing as a little sin. Some young person who has just reached the age of accountability and some older person who was steeped in sin will be there.

There will be people in Heaven who were repentant homosexuals. Repentant drug dealers will be there. Repentant murderers will be there. Repentant child abusers will be there. No wonder Jesus said, “They shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven.”

Not only that, but He said, “They shall come.” He didn’t say that they might come, but He said, “They shall come.” I tell you, when I say that I shall do something, maybe I will and maybe I won’t. Sometimes circumstances keep me from keeping my word. But when Jesus says that something shall happen, it shall happen. He said, “He that believed and is baptized shall be saved.” He didn’t say, “He might be saved” or that he’ll be saved if he’s lucky. He said, “HE SHALL BE SAVED.” Peter on the Day of Pentecost gave us those memorable words, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ, for the remission of sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” He didn’t say, “….you might receive it, if you’re lucky” but he said, “…you shall receive it.” And Jesus said, “They shall come from the East and West.” And when Jesus says, “They shall come”, they shall come. And nothing in Heaven, on earth or in Hell will keep them from coming. However those words of Jesus about the casting out into outer darkness demands our attention.

We can see that Hell is an awful place as the Lord mentions what the unsaved can expect. He said, “…The sons of the Kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” I cannot soft-pedal this thought when the Lord Jesus Christ had so much to say about it. Here is a short list of some of the things Jesus said about Hell:

Number one: “And whosoever shall say, Thou fool shall be in danger of the hell of fire”.

Number two: “And if thy right eye cause thee to stumble, pluck it out and cast it from thee; for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not thy whole body be cast into Hell.”

Number three: “And be not afraid of them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both body and soul in Hell.”

Number four: “It is good for thee to enter into life maimed or halt, rather than having two hands and two feet to be cast into the eternal fire.”

Number five: A similar passage states, “It is good for thee to enter into the Kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into Hell; where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.”

Number six: Jesus said to the scribes and Pharisees, “Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of Hell?”

Number seven: “The sons of the Kingdom shall be cast out into the outer darkness, there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”

Number eight: “The Son of Man shall send forth His angels and they shall gather out of His Kingdom all things that cause stumbling and them that do iniquity and shall cast them into the furnace of fire, there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth.”

Number nine: “Depart from Me ye cursed into the eternal fire which is prepared for the Devil and his angels.”

Number ten: “And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”

           You have just heard some of the words of Jesus about Hell, and I make no comment. Do with them and deal with them, as you will. We all know that Jesus is the kindest, loving, most compassionate person who ever lived. When the One Who is the incarnate Son of God makes such declarations, it is a horror beyond imagination. Why would He say such things? After all He did come to save us, did He not? Save us from what? A larger question for everyone is, “Am I saved?”

People are peculiar today. I saw where there is a society of people who are going all out to save the lobsters. They say that putting lobsters in boiling water is cruel. Maybe it is, but they surely do taste good. I haven’t got time to preach the gospel of saving lobsters from boiling in water for a few seconds. I am preaching a message to keep people out of Hell forever and ever.

Jesus said, “The sons of the Kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness.” Notice He said, “…the sons of the Kingdom.” I always knew that Hitler and his crew were going to Hell, but here He said, “the sons of the Kingdom.” Today those sons of the Kingdom are the Christians. Jesus said that some of those who are in the Church are going to Hell. “The sons of the Kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness.” In other words, it’s not all in what you’re called, but what you are. There are some people who have been baptized and have taken the Lord’s Supper every Lord’s Day and who are members of the Church and have given great sums of money and are still going to Hell because, “…the sons of the Kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness.”

“The sons of the Kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness. “There shall be weeping and the gnashing of teeth.” There are going to be people in Hell who are going to gnash their teeth at the preacher. They will see a preacher there and they will say, “Preacher, I thought all you had to do was to be sincere. After all, we are all going to the same place, but in different directions; we will all make it.” I thought as long as we followed what the preacher said we were all right. “Preacher, I’m glad you are here because of what you told me!” Many a person will gnash his teeth at the preacher when they go to Hell because the preacher told them to bow their heads and ask Jesus to come into their hearts. On the Day of Pentecost, Peter never said any such thing.

James said, “Be not many of you teachers for ye shall receive the heavier judgment.” The more degrees a preacher has the heavier his judgment will be—the bigger the title the heavier the judgment. Those who bear such titles as reverend, most reverend, right reverend, arch bishop or pope carry an awful lot of baggage into the Judgment.

“They will come from the East and West and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the sons of the Kingdom shall be cast forth into the outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” Some said, “Suppose you don’t have any teeth to gnash.” Don’t worry the Lord will supply you a new set.

Evidently from this insight of Heaven and Hell Jesus gave us, we have a choice. We can decide which direction we want to go. On the Day of Pentecost, when Peter gave the terms of pardon to repent and be immersed, he went on to say to the people there, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation.” “Many shall come from the East and West and shall sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the Kingdom of Heaven, but the sons of the Kingdom shall be cast forth into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”

I sat along with my conscience, in a place where time was o’er, and we talked of my former living, in the land of evermore; and I felt I should have to answer the question put to me, And to face the answer and question throughout eternity. The ghosts of forgotten actions came floating before my sight, the things that I thought had perished were alive with awful might. And the vision of life’s dark record was an awful thing to face, Alone with my conscience sitting in that solemnly silent place. And I thought of a far away warning, of a sorrow that was to be mine. In a land that then was the future, but now is the present time.

And I thought of my former thinking of the Judgment Day to be, but sitting alone with my conscience was judgment enough for me. Then I awoke from my timely dreaming, and the vision passed away. And I knew the far away warning, was a warning of yesterday. And I pray that I may not forget it, in this land before the grave, that I may not cry in the future and no one come to save. So I sit along with my conscience in the place where the years increase, and I try to fathom the future in the land where time will cease. And I know of the future judgment, how dreadful what’er it is, that to sit alone with my conscience, will be judgment enough for me.