Heaven is Real....

This has been a lot of excitement generated by the movie “Heaven is Real.”  I do not know enough about the book that it is based on nor do I know about the movie.  However, I have the Scripture telling me that Heaven is real.  That is enough for me.  However, lost among the hoopla is another dynamic truth about eternity: Hell is real also.  Very little is ever said about hell among God’s people and God’s preachers.  Even I am guilty of not preaching on hell when I should.  Sometimes we preachers are guilty of selective preaching for the sake of popularity or fear of punishment.  Then you have the other end of the spectrum: some preachers use hell as a fear tactic to motivate people to salvation.  It is important to realize it is not fear that saves us, but faith.  Christ saves us from sin which in turns keeps us from hell.  It may surprise some people to know that in the four Gospels, Jesus refers to hell more than he did Heaven. 

                In Luke 16:19, Jesus begins the parable of Lazarus who was a poor man and a rich man.  It is a tale of two different eternal experiences.  Lazarus is in heaven while the rich man is in hell (Luke 16:23).  I cannot help but notice what the rich man endured in hell.  There are a few who believe you live your life and then you die.  The Bible teaches something else.  It is hard to ignore the emotional, mental, and physical torment experienced by the rich man while he was in hell. 

He was aware

"In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and *saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. (Luke 16:23)

He was afflicted

"And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.' (Luke 16:24)

He was in agony

"But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. (Luke 16:25)

He was alone

'And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you will not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us.' (Luke 16:26)

He was apologetic

"And he said, 'Then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house-- for I have five brothers--in order that he may warn them, so that they will not also come to this place of torment.' (Luke 16:27-28)

Yes, Heaven is a very real place, but so is hell.  You are given a chance to accept the gift of eternal life.  A gift given freely and willingly and lovingly to all who will believe (John 3:16, Romans 5:8, Romans 6:23).  It is a gift that is accepted by faith.  Faith is the ultimate conviction and belief that something is real even if you do not see it.  It is that faith and only by faith that the gift is accepted.  Look at the rest of the parable:

But Abraham *said, 'They have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them.' But he said, 'No, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent!' But he said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.'" (Luke 16:29-31).

The responsibility of rejection of God’s truth lies within the individual.  There will be no excuses.  You either believe or you do not.  Yes, sometimes God’s people in the way they act and with the things they say make it difficult, but it is not them you are accepting, it is Christ.  God will also hold us Christians accountable for the way we act.  It may be wise to quit pointing fingers and laying blame and simply look at ourselves. God is not going to talk to us about others at the judgment, He is going to talk to us about us.

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this comes judgment (Hebrews 9:27).

I want to close with a few questions we must ask:

Are we living our life in which eternity will be a time of regret?  It is virtually impossible to imagine the rich man not being in regret especially in light of Jesus’ parable.  The rich man was living for self and it came back to haunt him in eternity.

 

Are we actively being a witness?  Jesus left the disciples a mission which has been handed down throughout the generations.  That mission has not changed.  The purpose of the church is to be actively involved in allowing God to use us to transform people by showing and sharing the love of Christ and God’s good news.

The most important one is this:

If you were to die today, where would you spend eternity?  Why do you believe that?  Is it your opinion or God’s?