Why Some Won't Make It

You know, whether you like it or not whether you like it or not, the Christian religion teaches that some are going to heaven and some are going to hell. Not a nice thought, you know, not a popular thought for sure, but that's what the Christian religion teaches. Some are going to heaven and some are going to hell. You know, Jesus himself spoke of this possibility more than anyone else in the New Testament. You know, some people say, Oh, you Christians, you know, you're a bunch of hypocrites and so on and so forth.

I was talking about hell and so on and so forth. But they don't realize that the individual in the Bible who speaks the most about hell is Jesus himself. He is the most quoted individual in the New Testament that talks about, and describes, and warns against the idea, the reality, of this place called hell. For example, he says, It is better for thee to enter into light, meaning heaven, maimed, than having 2 hands to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched. Here Jesus says, Hell is suffering, and hell is suffering forever.

Now, one of the reasons that Christians were so persecuted in the early centuries was because of this teaching. They didn't persecute them just because they were nice people. The Christian church wasn't persecuted in the 1st century because, they sang a cappella. No, they were persecuted because no other religion was so exclusive and explicit about its demands. People would hear the Christian religion, you know, there's only 2 groups, 1 going to heaven, 1 going to hell.

And they'd say, How dare you judge us in that way? How dare you put such a decision before us? How dare you say that some of us who don't believe in your God and your Jesus will go to hell? How dare you? They said in the 1st century.

And of course the persecution was justified in many instances because of this reason. I mean, even today, 1997, this idea gets people upset, gets people all bent out of shape, even causes people who are Christians to leave Christianity because they don't want to seem narrow minded to the rest of the world. So they'd rather quit Christianity because of this teaching, than stay in it and support this teaching. So they quit. And yet, the bible is very specific about the ones who make it to heaven and the ones who don't.

You know, it's not as if there's any doubt that this is what the bible teaches. This is not some obscure kind of teaching that you have to really sniff out to find. This is a very basic, very open, very clear teaching in the New Testament. For example, in the bible, in the New Testament, for those who make it to heaven, the bible says, they go to be with Jesus Christ. 1st Thessalonians chapter 4 verse 17 says, The people who are going to go to heaven are going to be with Christ.

Not to be with someone else or some being or some spirit being. They're going to be with Christ. That's what heaven is all about. In 1 Corinthians chapter 15, it says that those who are going to heaven are transformed into glorious and powerful spiritual bodies in order to enable them to live in the spiritual realm called heaven. The Bible also says that they will consciously exist forever.

They're not going to be absorbed into the great mind. They're not going to be disappeared into the great spirit above, and lose themselves, and lose consciousness. That's not what the Bible teaches. The Bible teaches that heaven is a place where you will exist consciously. Well, Mike will be Mike, and Bob will be Bob, and Jeannie will be Jeannie forever.

But perfect forever. In Matthew 16 and in Revelation 21, the bible teaches that the only ones who will experience this are the members of Christ's body, the church. Only the church belonging to Jesus Christ will go to heaven. That's what the bible teaches. It's not what I teach.

It's not a church of Christ doctrine. Any superficial reading of the New Testament will reveal that to anyone who cares to read through it. In Mark 16:16 Jesus says, that the primary reason that people who make it to heaven will make it to heaven is because they have faith, and faith expressed in belief and in baptism. Very clear. Jesus himself says, Those who believe and are baptized will be saved, therefore go to heaven.

And those, he says, who disbelieve and therefore reject baptism will be condemned. It's pretty straight. It's pretty clear. The Bible also provides equal information concerning those who don't make it to heaven. Those who go to hell, those people are described as well.

In Matthew chapter 10 verse 28, Jesus says, They go to a place called hell, which is a reference to eternal suffering. In Romans chapter 9 verse 22, the Bible says that they are able to go there because just as the faithful person's body is transformed into a glorious body, enabling that person to dwell forever in transformed into a glorious body, enabling that person to dwell forever in heaven. The person who goes to hell is also prepared for that place by God himself to dwell in that place. Romans 9:22. In Mark chapter 9 verse 48, the Bible says, Jesus says that the purpose of hell is not to teach a person a lesson.

It's not to prepare people for another life. It's not like purgatory or something like that. Jesus says that the only purpose of hell is to cause and to contain suffering on an eternal basis. That is its only purpose. And in Matthew chapter 18 verse 8, Jesus says that, Just like heaven is forever, so is hell.

There is no respite. There is no second chance. And note all the scriptures that I've mentioned are Jesus. In the gospel, Jesus is the one that refers to hell. Not the apostles, Jesus.

And then the Bible even gives a partial description of the people who go there. Just like it describes the people who go to heaven, it also describes the people who go to hell. For example, and I mean there are many scriptures, but I've just chosen one. In Galatians chapter 5 verse 19, it says that the sexually immoral will go to hell. I mean adulterers and fornicators and homosexuals and lesbians and pornographers and child molesters and impure and the lascivious, they will go to hell.

That's not a church of Christ doctrine. That's not a, you know, fundamentalist doctrine. That's a bible doctrine. That's what the bible teaches. It says that idolaters, those who worship false gods, those who worship any other god other than the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, they will go to hell.

It says that violent people, people who use violence to achieve personal gain, they will go to hell. It says, Those who are jealous and greedy and envious and divisive and proud and drunks and worldly, they will go to hell. I don't think I've ever said go to hell so many times in this sermon. I don't think I've ever said go to hell so many times in my life. But I can say it because the Bible says it.

That's all. I'm just teaching you what the scriptures teach about this particular subject. Now, finally, and most importantly, the Bible gives the number one reason. If I were to give top ten reasons, you know, the number one reason why people don't make it, why they go to hell. You know why it is?

It's because of disbelief. Disbelief is the number one reason why people go to hell. The writer of the book of Hebrews uses the Jewish nation in a figurative sense when he says that they didn't make it to the promised land. They didn't make it to the promised land. And why he says in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 19?

Because they didn't believe. They didn't believe. They didn't make it to the promised land, which was figurative of heaven. In Romans chapter 1 verses 18 to 23, Paul explains that the downfall into sin and the eventual destruction begins with disbelief. The first step to hell, he says, begins with disbelief.

And in Mark 1616, a passage which I've quoted already, Jesus states emphatically, that the difference between heaven and hell is belief. That's the pivotal point between heaven and hell, belief. Disbelief. Now, when you think about disbelief, when you think about it, it seems at first to be a rather slim reason to send somebody to hell forever. Boy, a guy just didn't believe and he's going to hell forever.

It seems kind of harsh, don't you think? But when you examine carefully, you find out that when it comes to salvation, belief is the one thing that everyone can do. And God has provided ample opportunity for everybody to believe. You see, if salvation were based on something only that some people could do, it wouldn't be fair. I mean, if the only ones who could be saved belonged to a certain culture, You know, the only ones who could be saved were Jews or white people or, you know, it wouldn't be fair.

If the only ones who could be saved were men, as in some religions, the only ones that have a secondary life, a heavenly life are men. Women don't even have a chance. That wouldn't be fair. If only those with special secret knowledge. If only those people could go to heaven.

That would not be fair. But God has based going to heaven, making it, on something which is universal. Something which is accessible to every single person in every generation. And that is the elite. God created us in such a way that we are predisposed to recognize him and believe in him.

That's what it means when it says in Genesis chapter 1 verse 27, that we are created in his image. In his image we are predisposed to search for him, to find him, because he and I are the same. And it is on this basis that our salvation is decided. Something everybody can do and that is believe. Because all people have been created in the image of God.

The only exception, of course, are those who are children, those who can't believe because of maturity sake, psychological maturity. Those who are injured mentally, the intellectual process to bring them to belief. Yes, they're not responsible. But most people, if they're not injured in those ways, can believe. Now, in order to cultivate and encourage this belief, God has provided a lot of proof.

It's not as if He's just thrown us out there and says, Okay, find your way back. He's provided lots of proof to help us believe. For example, He has provided creation to help us believe. You know, by its very nature the creation inspires belief in God. I mean, it demonstrates intelligent design by a divine designer.

You look around and say, Man, this is so complex. This is so wonderfully made. Who made this? Some wonderful designer must have made this. It provokes us to ask the key question, Where does all this come from?

And when you ask yourself the question, Where does all this come from? It'll ultimately lead you to one logical conclusion, God. When you see the wonder and the complexity and the beauty of creation, it helps us to understand the wonder and the complexity and the beauty of the God who created all of us. But you see, unbelievers go to hell because they prefer to believe in evolution, where the world creates itself. And man is simply a product of time and chance, and has no destiny beyond decay and death.

That's a choice that people make, to believe in the Creator or to believe simply in spontaneous creation. God has also provided the conscience to help us believe. You see every person regardless of culture or time possesses this thing called a sense of ought. Oh, you g h t, ought what I ought to do. Every person is born with that psychological equipment.

And we know because of this equipment that there are certain things that we ought to do and certain things that we ought not to do. And this sense of odd is trained differently by different people in different cultures. But everyone possesses that basic psychological equipment, a sense of awe. But you know what? God gave us that sense of awe because it naturally moves us towards belief.

It naturally wants to move towards God. That's why small children find it easy to believe in God. They're not cluttered with a lot of things. Their sense of awe, their gyroscope is working very well, and easily points them to God. Well, you know, unbelievers go to hell because they suppress this natural inclination.

And they replace it with rationalization or self justification or dark reasoning. Just as Paul says in Romans chapter 1, They profess to be wise, but they become foolish. I remember 1 fellow, 1 preacher saying, It's just too easy to believe in God. And for some people if it's just too easy it can't be true. They have to find something complicated or else they're not satisfied.

God also provides the Christ. He provides the creation. He provides our conscience. He provides the Christ. Now, the creation and the conscience help us to know that there is a God.

They help us to know what God is like. They help us to know, his beauty and his strength. But Jesus Christ came to reveal God's character, and God's word and God's will. Jesus' life and his death and his resurrection are an historical witness of God's person and his plan for mankind. You see, God comes in person in order to offer to man the opportunity to go to heaven.

And then He preserves this offer and its condition in an inspired text, which is recorded and made available to every single person in the world forever. I mean, it just doesn't get any better. It doesn't get any easier. But unbelievers go to hell because they prefer to believe in themselves. They prefer to trust the world.

They prefer to enjoy sin rather than believe in Jesus Christ and his offer of heaven. Jesus himself said in this regard, And this is judgment, that the light is coming to the world, and men love the darkness rather than the light, for their deeds were evil. What he's saying is that if the light came into the world, people could see the way to heaven, but they just didn't want to come to the light. Because they enjoyed being in the darkness. They saw the light, they said, Yeah, I see the lights over there, but I like being in the dark.

And Jesus says, That's the judgment. Not that they did bad things. That's not the judgment. The judgment is, they saw the light, they saw the way they ought to go. But they said, No, I'd rather stay in the dark.

And for that reason, he said, they'll be judged. God also provides a call. From the very beginning God has called man, mankind, to believe in him. At the beginning of time the call was through, the life and the example of the patriarchs. People like Adam and Noah and Abraham.

Their lives made a witness to the God of creation. And then God provided a witness of himself through his chosen people who were a light. The bible says the Jews were a light unto the Gentiles. And they were a way for unbelievers to glimpse the true and the eternal God, Jehovah. Good example, we've been studying Daniel in Revelation.

Here's Daniel, a Jewish slave in the court of Nebuchadnezzar. The greatest king of the greatest kingdom during that time. And through his example, through his light, Daniel is able to bring this pagan king, Nebuchadnezzar, to belief in God. That's how God witnessed of himself in that time. And then finally, with the appearance of the Messiah Jesus Christ and his apostles and the disciples throughout the centuries, God has called on generation after generation to believe in Him in order to have eternal life.

Today, 1997, the church preaches Christ in every country. Every single day, somehow the gospel is preached and it will be preached every day and every year until the end of time. And yet, unbelievers, unbelievers, refuse this call and they go to hell because they prefer to accept the philosophy of other men as truth. They prefer the fellowship of the world for its identity. They prefer the pleasure of materialism instead of having the word and the church and the comfort of the Holy Spirit to protect it.

And then finally, God has provided the cemetery. The cemetery. You know, if nothing else brings a man to belief, the undeniable death of every single human being since the beginning of time should send people searching for God. If you looked around and saw that everybody you ever knew for all time died, the natural conclusion is that you yourself are gonna die. And that conclusion should send us scurrying after God, and after life, after this death.

Karl Barth, a famous German theologian said it this way, he said, Death is the birth pang of faith. Death is the birthpang of faith. And yet, unbelievers go to hell because they prefer to trust in stories of UFOs and alien beings. They prefer to hope in medical miracles rather than accept God's answer in Christ Jesus, so plainly displayed before their eyes for their entire lives. You see, unbelievers don't make it.

Because in the face of a mountain of evidence, in the face of a mountain of encouragement, they choose to ignore all of it and believe what is clearly untrue. And even what I have just said is not my own conclusion. This is what the scripture says. This is what Paul says in Romans chapter 1 verse 18. He says, For the wrath of God The wrath of God is hell.

He says, For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who suppress the truth. In other words, men suppress the truth. They keep it down because if you don't keep it down, the truth will pop up like a jack in the box. If you don't forcefully keep the truth down, it'll just pop up. And he says unrighteous men, unbelievers, suppress the truth, they keep it down.

And Paul says, Because that which is known about God is evident within them, the conscience, for God made it evident to them. The world, the cemetery, the call, the gospel, the Christ, in every way, inside and out, God has made the truth evident. And you have to work at it to keep it down. And Paul says, Evil men work overtime to keep the truth down. In other words, with all that God has provided to stimulate belief, it takes a greater effort to disbelieve than to belief.

Believe, rather. And for this initial sin, disbelievers don't make it. And the bible says, God is justified in sending them to hell. Now, if this is so, if this lesson accurately teaches what the Bible says on the subject of heaven and hell, what does it mean for me and you? What does this mean?

Not a fun lesson to hear. I'd rather hear a lesson about love and fellowship. But the task of the preacher is to preach the whole truth. The entire word of God. And heaven and hell is very much part of the whole truth.

And so what does it mean to us? Well, first of all, it means that we shouldn't feel responsible for those who are already dead. Some people refuse to become Christians because they think that in doing so, they are condemning family members, or loved ones, or friends who have died without Christ before them. I certainly know about that. My relatives, my father died many years ago even before even I became a Christian.

The Bible says that every person is judged based on what they themselves do. Ezekiel chapter 18 verse 20. Your Father will be judged based on his faith or lack of faith, not you. And you will be judged on your own faith. One does not affect you whether I believe or disbelieve has no effect on my Father.

And whether he believed or disbelieved has no effect on my salvation. 2 wrongs do not get you to heaven. You know, some people say, Well, I don't want to do this because if I do this, you know, maybe in some indirect way I may be condemning my grandmother. Because she didn't believe and she never did anything. And I tell you, if she didn't believe God will judge her for that.

And if you don't believe God will judge you for that. But two wrongs will not get you to heaven. Our belief or our disbelief will only affect us. It will not change anything for those who have died and gone on. Secondly, if this is true, what I'm saying, then don't feel sad about those who don't make it.

When I was a very young Christian, I foolishly prayed for the devil. Well, you know, it says pray all the time. Maybe I should pray for the devil. I found out better later on that his judgment has already been pronounced. See, I hadn't read the word completely as a young Christian.

I didn't understand that God has already pronounced the judgment on Satan. There's no use praying for him. It's finished. His judgment is done. Nothing I can do to change that.

I shouldn't feel sad about that. You see, unless you had a chance to share your faith with someone who's gone on, and you didn't, then don't feel sad about those who don't make it. The Bible tells us that God searches every single heart and he finds every single one that has a spark of interest in making it. No matter who they are, and no matter where they live, and no matter when they live. Romans chapter 3 verses 9 to 18.

Remember that those who don't make it do so because they refuse all of what God offered them. And how do you know what God offered them? How do you know? What makes you the judge over God deciding that God did not offer enough opportunity to someone who didn't make it. Who are you to judge what God does?

Paul in Romans chapter 1, verse 20 says that they are without excuse. If the Holy Spirit says they are without excuse, who are we to question that? And he says they are without excuse because whether they are heathens, or criminals, or even our own relatives, they don't make it for one or more of the reasons that I've talked about. They don't make it because they don't honor God as creator. They don't make it because they violate their own consciences in what they do.

They don't make it because they reject Christ as their Savior. They don't make it because they refuse to respond to God's call to believe and be saved. They don't make it because they ignore the fact that they too will die, and they have to deal with their judgment. They don't make it because they refuse the rescue that God has offered them from the beginning of time. So don't feel sad.

And finally, if this is true, make sure that you are not one of the ones that are not going to make it. See, that's the only thing that you have in your hand. You don't have in your hands the power to save anybody who's dead already. You don't have in your hands anyone who has already been condemned. That's not in your power.

What is in your power is to save you. That's your only power. And I'll tell you something, if you're sitting in this auditorium this morning and if you're hearing this lesson, I know, I know that you have heard the call of God to believe in order to be saved. I know that. I know that you have seen the work of God in creation.

I know that you've heard your conscience. I know that you've listened to the gospel of our Savior and Lord Jesus Christ. And I know that you are now hearing the invitation to repent of your sins and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ in order to be saved. Because that's how we express our belief. The bible says, in order to be saved we must believe.

And in order to express our belief, we repent of our sins, we confess our faith in Christ, and we're immersed in the water of baptism in order to wash away our sins. That's how we express our faith and we live a faithful christian life. I encourage you, choose this day which group you will belong to, those who make it or those who don't make it. If you're among the saved, rejoice and give thanks and keep on keeping on in Jesus Christ. And if you recognize this morning that you're among those who are not gonna make it, it's not too late to change that by coming forward now as we stand and as we sing our song of invitation.