Who will be in heaven and who will be in hell? Have you ever thought about those questions? And what happens to you one minute after you die? And how does the study of last things, the technical term eschatology, how does that impact our lives today? These are some of the questions that I'll be addressing in this sixth and final installment of our series on end times. Which by the way, next week, you won't want to miss next week. We're gonna begin an extensive study in the New Testament book of James. And I know it's 4th of July weekend. So if you're not in the room, make sure you're online with us. But you know what, it's so great to see all of you. Let's just double the amount of people we're in the room next weekend on a holiday weekend. That would be fantastic. So why don't you come back, show up for that? Because we're gonna kick off this series on the book of James with something called Faith Works. Faith works. And you know why Faith works? Because I believe this as related to end times, when you know where you're going in the next life, you know how you want to live this life. Amen? Because it provides context and perspective. You know what really matters. And here's what you do. Any thinking rational human being begins to evaluate and prioritize in light in view of eternity. And guess what? Throughout the course of your life and every season and stage, this process repeats itself. This process of evaluation and reprioritization, that is so critical when it comes to examining the thoughts and actions and motives and resources and time that you give. You know why? Because you want to be a healthy human being. So in every subsequent stage of life, you're asking yourself this question. Here's the question. Am I leveraging my life toward things that are eternal or things that are temporal? And gaining an eternal perspective earlier in life is healthy for us as human beings. Because here's what it does. It helps us make wise decisions versus impulsive decisions. How many of you know that a wise decision oftentimes is far better than an impulsive decision, right? And you think about that. Any impulsive decision usually gets you in a difficult or a challenging spot. But a wise decision that is thoughtful, that is weighed against God's word, that is shared among friends who are Christians to make, you make better decisions when you do that. And here's what I know. You don't drift in the good directions. You don't just one day wind up in a good spot in a good direction, you don't drift toward that. You know how you get to a good direction? You discipline and you prioritize yourself through God's wisdom found in God's word. That's why an eternal perspective is so valuable for you and me. Now, if you go all the way back to week one, how many of you guys remember week one of this sermon series? Good, no hands are up 'cause I don't remember it either, okay? I had to actually look at my notes and think, okay, now what did we talk about week one? I did say this though, week one, and I just wanna bring it to your attention because I wanna say thank you. I wanna say thank you for being a great conversation, giving me the space to explore this critical subject matter for the Christians walk in life in Jesus Christ. Week one, I told you that in 10 years as serving as the lead pastor of Pathways Church, I've never done a complete and comprehensive message series on end times. And I wanna say thank you because I've received so many texts and emails and lobby comments from you. And if I were to categorize those comments, I'd put them in one of two kind of buckets. The first bucket is this. It's the thank you, Adam. Thank you because of my religious background or bringing my church to church. We never talked about end times or it's thank you, Adam. We need to continue to keep this in the forefront of our minds because you know what, end times is a big deal. And in my view, we're kinda like in the ballpark of the end time. So that would be the first bucket. It was a thank you. The second bucket would be this. Here's the second bucket. Hey, Adam. When you announce that we were gonna do a series on end times, I was nervous. Now anytime as a pastor, somebody starts looking around like that and they start talking to you in the hush tones, like, "Hey, Adam." (audience laughing) You know, that usually isn't good, okay? (audience laughing) So for the first couple of times, they said that, they said, "I was nervous." I'm thinking, "I'm nervous right now. My armpits are sweating. What are they gonna say next?" (audience laughing) But you were so gracious because what came next was simply this. And it was by longtime Christians who really have heard end times spoken on in terms of guilt for your shame. I said, you know, I'm really glad the way in which you lifted up the content of these messages because it really gave a balanced perspective on this and it was filled with hope. So thank you for doing that, Adam. Now, regardless of wherever you are or what your take is on this message series, I think what we can all agree on is one thing. And that thing is simply this, that the Bible does talk about end times. In one of my messages, I quoted a statue about 28% of the entire scripture discusses biblical prophecy about future events. So as a congregation, I would be cheating you if we were to talk about end times. I'd be gutting a large portion of scripture. But the problem is, while that's an undeniable reality that the Bible talks about end times, the problem is that for most of us end times creates a lot of confusion, doesn't it? Dragons, book of Revelation, apocalyptic literature, like the beast. What is all this? We can't really know what this all means. And while many of us are intrigued, maybe we're skeptical in some ways. We've heard this before, and we know how it's going to play out. We're going to have this low-grade, guilt and shame around end times. I think the most important thing for us to remember. I want you to walk away with this. The word that is synonymous with end times as related to the Bible is the word hope. Hope. How many of you like hope? I like hope. When we think about end times as related to scripture, the key term when it comes to end times is hope. Where does the Christians hope lie in terms of a hope for our souls, a hope for our body, a hope for our world? A hope that while the world, there's a lot of beauty in our world, and a lot of you are doing good things to make the world better and brighter. You're living out the command of Jesus to be salt-light. The reality is that this world is sick, and it's sin-stained, and it's decaying, as Paul says in Romans 8. It's groaning to be renewed. And the hope is that your body, your soul, and your physical body in our world will be recreated and renewed. This is our hope when we look at end times, according to the Bible, amen? Now, here's the thing, when we get past all of the ideas of hope, the reality is you jump into the details, this is where people divide into camps. theologians and scholars and pastors and conservative and liberal and moderate, and, you know, I am this, and you're pre, and I'm post, and I'm I'm millennial, and it's like, oh, my word, your head starts spinning. And while I think it's good, and I've tried to do my best job in presenting multiple views and saying, this is not the view, but our approach does determine our destination. What I've tried to help us to understand is there's a lot of different views, and this is very healthy for us to really study end times. I do believe there's a, now, catch this, a level of mystery that God has allowed, even while revealing His plans for end times in Scripture. God kind of breaks all the paradigms. God is so vast, and so we can't even fathom His greatness. He can reveal, and yet He can cloak the full plan for our lives, right? And that's how it is as related to end times. But we must remember when we're talking about end times, we're talking about hope. That's why I've tried to hammer this one line to you throughout the course of this series, and that is this, end times is not meant to scare us, but now, can we personalize that? Can we substitute the word me for us, and can we say this again? End times is not meant to scare me, but to, yeah, let's say it again. End times is not meant to scare me, but to prepare me. This message series is preparation. In fact, if I didn't give you this message series as a pastor, I would be hurting your entire Christian existence. If I didn't talk about end times, if I didn't talk about what Jesus talked about, what Paul wrote about, what John the Revelator had a vision around, you know what? I would be doing you a disservice. It would be dishonorable in terms of me leading and being a shepherd and a spiritual leader of our congregation if I didn't talk about the subject matter of end times. So, if you're new with us, I'm going to give you a three-minute recap on all of the messages that I gave the first five weeks. Yeah, right. No way. If you're new with us, I try to give a recap. It is next impossible. I thought about this multiple different times this week. How am I going to do that? And I just decided I give up, go to YouTube, check out all the previous messages, and you can catch up on the content, and then you can hop in with us. Now, if you want to dive deeper, you've been tracking in this series week one. I tossed up this resource on the screens for you. You can purchase this online at Amazon. You can check out at Connect. There is a study guide on the end times. I feel like this would be a helpful resource for you if you want to continue on, or you can go to RightNow Media and grab free content as being a part of the church family here at Pathways Church. Go to PathwaysChurch.us and you can find the information on RightNow Media. Grab a user and a password and go from there. All right. So, here we go. You're ready for some content today. We're going to dive in, and I want to start with three foundational truths as related to the eternal state of humanity. Now, that sounds real technical, the eternal state of humanity. Like, what are you talking about, Adam? Well, let me give you three foundational truths, and then I think you'll have a frame of reference, whether you're a first-time guest or a long time Christian here at Pathways Church. Number one, here's first foundational truth. Unless Jesus returns during your lifetime, you will die. Agreed? Yeah, you're going to die. Yes, you will die one day. By the way, welcome to Pathways Church if you're a guest. We love to give inspiring messages here that are encouraging and full of life. You will die. Well, no, seriously, that's what Scripture says. Psalm 90, 10, Moses writes these words, "Our days may come to 70 years or 80 if our strength endures." Is that right? Yeah, 70 or 80 years. I checked it on Google. Do you know the average life expectancy from men in the United States of America as of, I believe, 2022? It's 73 years old. And women, the average life expectancy is 80 years old. You women always try to outdo us. So I heard a whoo. Actually, first service that was hilarious. When I said that the average life expectancy of males is 73 years old, you know that little sound on your phone that goes like, it sounds like a detonator? It went off. As soon as I said that, I'm like, man, I was like, I hope somebody just didn't die right there. I'm like, oh, my word. Well, that's the first foundational truth. The second one is this. Have you ever thought about this? All of us has a desire to know about our future. We do. Don't we, Mike? We all think like, man, I wonder what it's going to be like the minute after I die. What is my future? What is eternity? Like, why is that? Is it because we have some anxieties? Is it because you know why it is? It's because according to Ecclesiastes 3.11, God has set eternity in the human heart. Inside of your spirit, your soul, God has designed you such that you want to know about eternity. And that's not a bad thing. That's a God thing. So it leads us to the third foundational truth and it's in the form of a question. What happens one minute after you die? One minute. Boom, done, dead. What happens? What happens in that next 60 seconds? Well, I want to pause and I want to answer that question because that third foundational truth is so relevant for you and me today. First, for the believer in Jesus Christ, the Bible tells us that after death, the believer's souls are taken into eternity with Christ because they've received the forgiveness and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. For believers, death means being, quote, away from the body and at home with the Lord, according to 2 Corinthians 5 verses 6 through 8. However, as we studied in week two, when we talked about the rapture, the key text is 1 Thessalonians 4. When Jesus comes back for His church, our souls are united with our bodies and we have a glorified body and we live in eternity with this glorified body. So what's the purpose of the resurrection? Well, you know, the souls go immediately to Christ after death, but then the resurrection, this time where we are glorified and you reunited, it shows us that one minute after we die, our soul is important to God, but also at the time of the rapture, our body is important to God. As I said earlier, hope for the soul, hope for the body. One minute after you die as a Christian, you are with Christ in eternity. For those who did not receive Jesus Christ as their Savior, death means everlasting punishment. However, similar to the destiny of believers, it seems that unbelievers go to a temporary holding place according to Scripture. The Old Testament refers to it as Sheol. The New Testament talks about Hades. That's the technical theological term for those places. Now, if you were raised in a church branch or wing, for example, Catholicism, we talk about purgatory. This is not purgatory, it's not found in Scripture. There is no biblical reference to purgatory. So, I'm not talking about purgatory. What I'm talking about is an eternal state, almost like a holding tank, if you will. The closest thing we have to a description of this is found in the Gospel of Luke. Luke chapter 16 talks about Lazarus and the rich man. Not Lazarus, Mary and Martha's brother, but Lazarus, another Lazarus, and a rich man. The rich man, there's a great reversal in the story. Rich man is, he's like killing it in life, and yet when he dies, he's now killing it in this temporary hell place. And Lazarus, who is a poor beggar, now is in eternity with Christ. And there is this conversation and dialogue that takes place. You can read that on your own time. So, what happens one minute after you die? If you look at our third foundational truth, I believe, according to the Bible, you have the knowledge of where you're going to spend eternity. And you will key idea. You will wait the end. You will wait the end time events unfolding at which time you will stand at judgment. On the screens, here is a slide of the end time events, the five end time events that we've been looking at, one through five. And if you look on the right-hand side, you'll see the eternal state of humanity. Of every single human being, you'll see the eternal state. What precedes that is the end of the millennial reign and then judgment. And the Bible is clear that all of us will face judgment. We read these words in Hebrews, chapter 9, verse 27, just as people are destined to die once. And after that, to face judgment. So let's talk about something that is a little uncomfortable. Let's talk about the Great White Throne Judgment. The Great White Throne Judgment is designed for unbelievers. In one of the most chilling scenes in all of Scripture, this is what John writes. John is the apostle who writes the book of Revelation as well as the Gospel of John and the letters of John for 2nd and 3rd John. He's exiled to the island of Patmos under Nero's reign and he has a vision of end times. A vision of the revelation of Jesus Christ. And this is what he records around the Great White Throne Judgment in Revelation, chapter 20. John says, "Then I saw a Great White Throne and him who was seated on it. The earth and the heavens were filled with his presence and there was no place for them. And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne. And the books were open." There are lots of books there. Another book was opened, which is the book of life. Maybe you heard of it. "The dead were judged according to what they had done as recorded in the books." Now, verse 13 is interesting. "The sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead that were in them. And each person was judged according to what they had done." Now, I don't want to get into nitty gritty detail here, but you see the term Hades. That's kind of like the holding, the temporary place of holding for those who are unbelievers. They actually experience a second resurrection themselves. Just like when Christ returns and raptures the church, our bodies are now connected and united with our souls. Here, scripture in verse 13 of Revelation 20 talks about how Hades will give up the dead so that they will stand before the great white throne judgment. Verse 14, "Then after the judgment, then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. The lake of fire is the second death. Anyone whose name was not found in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire." Let's stop there for a second. What is the great white throne judgment about? Well, first of all, it's about unbelievers standing before Jesus Christ. This judgment is specifically for unbelievers, okay? Are we clear? Now, the judge on judgment day, the great white throne judgment, is Jesus Christ Himself. There are two exhibits, exhibit A are all the books. What do all the books contain, Adam? All the books contain every word, thought, action, motive of every unbeliever throughout all of human history. And in the Supreme Court of God at trial, there is no defense attorney because the defense attorney, Jesus Christ Himself, has now become the judge. And those who are standing before the judge are aching with remorse and regret that they denied God in this lifetime because now all of their actions will be laid bare before Jesus. It will be that internal, you know that feeling when we were kids and our mom or dad found out that we did something wrong and you walked around and you thought, "I hope they don't find out. I hope they don't find out. I hope they don't find out. I hope they don't find out. I hope they don't find out. I hope they don't find out." And then you hear Adam Charles and you're like, "Dad, go in it." They found out. You've got that pit in your stomach and you're like, "Oh, no. Mom's going to bring the heat." Jesus is going to bring the heat like we've never felt it before. If we stand before the Great White Throne Judgment, there are going to be these books. That's Exhibit A. Exhibit B would be the Book of Life. This book contains names recorded there of individuals who will spend eternity without God because their name is not recorded in that book. If your name is in the book, you spend eternity with God in heaven. If not, you spend eternity in the lake of fire. And if your name is not in that book, friends, those individuals will hear the most dreaded words ever to reach the human ear. Depart from me. You who are cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Those are words that I never want any individual to ever hear. I don't want anybody to hear those words because the lake of fire is a place of unimaginable torment. The Bible describes it as a place where there's unending billows of smoke as well as brimstone. In the lake of fire, there is no light for God is light and where God is there is light, but in the lake of fire there is only darkness and torment. It is a place as the New Testament describes the Gospels, a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth, and it lasts forever. It's constant, it's eternal, it does not stop. Who will be in hell are those who deny and defy God and his grace in this lifetime. Now let's talk about heaven. Who will be in heaven? I'll tell you'll be in heaven. You know who will be in heaven? It's forgiven people. Only people who are forgiven will be in heaven. Good people don't get to heaven, forgiven people get to heaven. You know why? Because your goodness according to Isaiah the prophet, your goodness is like the worst filthy rags. Hey guys, do you know yesterday when you were doing a bunch of yard work or women when you were doing a bunch of weeding and you walked in and you stank? You took off your shirt, your armpit stains were nasty, your socks were dreaded, you're like, "Oh my word, I should go burn this stuff." That is your best goodness on your greatest day. Are those clothes right there? It's only through the blood and the forgiveness and Jesus calling you to a place of repentance that you experience his grace and now you have become the righteousness, the goodness of God because God sees you through the perfection of Jesus Christ. Amen? Man, that's beautiful. That's the gospel. That God chooses to see us and to forgive us of our sins. But before we experience eternity with God, believers, we have to stand before judgment as well. Because Hebrews 9, 27 says, all of us are going to stand before judgment. Our judgment though is different. It's called the judgment seat of Christ. Say that with me, judgment seat of Christ. So, review, two judgments, the great white throne judgment and the judgment seat of Christ. Which one do you want to be at? Yeah, judgment seat of Christ. You don't even know what it's about, but you know you don't want to be there. Like, I don't know what that one's about, but I ain't picking that one. Great white throne, man. Whoo, if that is the sign above that judgment, get me out of there. All right. Let's go talk about the judgment seat of Christ. What's that about? Well, it's designed for believers. Paul talks about it in two specific places in Corinthians, the first references in 2 Corinthians, chapter 5, verse 10. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ. He's speaking to the believers at Corinth. And here's the purpose. So that each of us may receive what is due us for the things done while in the body, whether good or bad. This judgment is where our works are tested so that we can receive rewards. And so Jesus is the judge at the judgment seat of Christ. And he tests. He conducts this judgment of our works. How does he do that? By fire. Let me show you. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 says this. If anyone builds on this foundation, what's the foundation? The foundation is the foundation of the apostles' teaching about the death, burial, and resurrection. The foundation that we build our lives on is on Jesus Christ. How do we know who Jesus Christ is? Because of his life, his ministry, which is recorded in the New Testament. If anyone builds on the foundation on Jesus using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, or straw, their work will be shown for what it is because the day will bring it to light. It'll be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person's work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. In other words, what Paul is saying is, you're going to be rewarded for the work that you do while you have this life and this gift and this grace of Jesus Christ. Now, let me make a fundamental theological distinction here. You are not saved by good works. You are not saved by good works. However, you are saved for good works. See, according to Ephesians chapter 2, it says that we are God's handiwork. He is shaping you. He's molding your life. He's beginning to transform the way you think in your perspective and your disposition. You can look back on the old you and say, you know what, two or three months ago, I would have lost it right there. Ten years ago, I was a completely different person. How many of you think about your life ten years ago? I know some of you. I know what you were like ten years ago. And you look, and now today you're like, man, Jesus has been gracious. I am growing. And you're growing. You're having this vibrant relationship with Jesus. Why? Not only so that you can be in fellowship and relationship with Him so that you can do good works to spread His glory and His fame and His goodness in our world. And He creates those things. He sets them up. We call those divine appointments. Moments. But He's like, I got this, I got this for you. I got it right here, right now. And you're like, and when you step into one of those moments and you're like, man, that was awesome. Those works will be tested. Paul says we can use gold, silver, costly stones or we could use hay or straw. See, if the motives are wrong, the motives are what are the building materials that you use to do your work unto God? And they will be tested. And then you'll receive. We'll receive words as we looked at last week in the Millennial reign. We'll get to live those out in the goodness of God. Then judgment comes and then all of eternity. How do I describe eternity? Well, friends, I can't. You know what? Neither could Paul. He said this in 1 Corinthians 2-9. He says, "What no eye has seen and no ear has heard. What no human mind has conceived. The things that God has prepared for those who love him." Our best description. It's inconceivable. Our best description is only what John gives us in Revelation chapter 21. He said, "Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away. And there was no longer any sea. I saw the holy city and the new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven for God prepared as a beautifully dressed bride for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne. Here's what the voice was saying. Look. God's dwelling place is now among the people. And he will dwell with them. And they will be his people. And God himself will be with them and be their God. And he will wipe away every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death, no more mourning or crying or pain for the old order of things has passed away. Can you even imagine, friends, what heaven will be like? The day that we're face to face with him, when he wipes away every tear. The pain, the suffering, the experiences of this life will be light and momentary troubles in times of his greatness and his glory. And what you and I need to know about it in times is that God is not into escapist theology where he's trying to pull this out of all bad things. No, he's into taking all the bad things and recreating them and reforming them into a new heaven and a new earth. It's a divine do-over. It's a place where we spend eternity in heaven, where we fellowship without fear, where we learn without fatigue, where we rest without boredom, where we worship without distraction, where we serve without losing any of our energy or capacity or capabilities. And I want you to be there. I want you to be there. So as we close our time together, there's a song that really impacted me. And if you're part of our online church family, while we have licensure for this song, you know, sometimes YouTube and Facebook, they get fussy in, so they might pull it down. So let me give you the title of the song. It's called "Face to Face" by Zach Williams. And it really, it summarizes, it paints this picture of what it'll be like to be an eternity and be face to face with Jesus. Watch this. Oh, how much revenue, far from home, I get lost, but I'll press on, 'cause there's a major in street to go, where I belong. And yes, there's a day coming soon, where the year will be made new. And heaven's glory shines like the morning. For our eyes, when we all see Jesus, when we all see Jesus, no more sickness, no more madness, no more pain. When we all, when we all see Jesus, face to face. And then we will sing, 'cause there's a danger now for us. There will be a great rejoicing, holy, holy, worthy, worthy. Is the land, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, where we all see Jesus, yes, when we all see Jesus, no more sickness, no more madness. No more blindness. When we all, when we all see Jesus, face to face. Yeah, we all see Jesus, face to face. I want you to miss that moment when we're face to face to Jesus. Can you imagine what that's going to be like? Can you imagine we're going to look around, we're going to get into heaven, we're going to see each other. We're going to be like, it's true, it's real. Yes, we're face to face with Him. We're going to be giving each other high fives and fist bumps. We're going to be like, yes, I remember that moment. I remember, I remember how Jesus changed my life. I remember how His faithful and committed. I made wise decisions, not impulsive ones. And now I'm here. It really, in all of eternity, for all of eternity, we'll be worshiping and we'll be together serving. Wow. It really puts things into perspective, doesn't it? Not only that heaven is real, but hell is also real. And I don't want any of your friends and any of your family members. I don't want you to ever spend a Christless eternity in a lake of fire. It motivates us. It helps us to reprioritize. It sets things into context and perspective. And you know what it does, no matter how hard life gets or how good life is, we realize that this world is not our home. Our home is in heaven, amen? And we live in light of eternity. Would you bow with me for a word of closing prayer? Heavenly Father, I pray that you would speak to our hearts this weekend, God, that you would continue to shape us so that we can live in light of eternity, to have this eternal perspective. God, I thank you for every single person, a part of pathways. And I thank you for people who are not yet part. And God, as they come into contact with friends and individuals here this weekend and the weeks to come, God, I pray that you would continue to grow us deeper and wider in you. God, that we would populate heaven with people who are in love with you, Jesus, those who have experienced and tasted of your grace. God, we thank you for your Son, Jesus Christ. We pray this in His matchless and His mighty name. And everyone who agreed this prayer said, amen. Amen. Amen. (applause) (audience clapping)
What hits you when you hear this phrase...END TIMES. Fear, excitement, confusion?
Jesus said, “But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.“ Matthew 24:36 NIV
If no one can possibly know...why even talk about End Times? Because while we don’t know the specifics, we do know there is an end to this age. We know the scriptures have relevancy and the potential to inform our worldview. So how do we live faithfully and expectantly knowing that we have a message and a mission? Listen in!
