SA Ep95 - Articles of Faith #18 The Eternal State

SA Ep95 - Articles of Faith #18 The Eternal State

In this episode, we examine the doctrine of the eternal state. The Bible teaches that after death and final judgment, the saved will dwell forever with the Lord in heaven, while the lost will face everlasting punishment separated from God. We will look at the reality of eternity, the hope of heaven, the seriousness of hell, and the certainty of final judgment. This episode is both a comfort to the believer and a warning to the unbeliever. Eternity is not theory. It is reality.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:03

Welcome to the Seeking Approval Podcast. I'm Dr. Chris Smelster from Iliad Baptist Church. You know life moves fast, and faith is not meant to be rushed. I want to take some time and slow down with you and have some honest conversations from the Word of God about daily living. So join me here today on Seeking Approval. Every funeral, every cemetery, every passing year reminds us that there's one unavoidable truth. Life on this earth is temporary. The Bible teaches that eternity is not. Every person that is hearing this today, every person who has ever walked or is walking or will walk the face of this earth will be headed to somewhere for eternity. The question isn't whether eternity exists, the question is where will you spend it? And there's many people who are rolling the dice, you might say, that there is no heaven, there is no hell, there is no eternity. But on the simple fact that there might be, there could be, are you willing to risk it all? Are you willing to risk eternity? Because the life that we live here is just a whisper compared to an eternity. When we come to the 18th and the final article of faith, we come to the idea of the eternal state. This is the final destination for every human life. Every soul that is born will live in eternity somewhere. Some in eternal life in heaven, some in eternal damnation and death in hell. And the Bible makes it very clear that this life that we are living now is not all that there is. Man was made with eternity in view. God made Adam as an eternal companion, one who could uh fellowship and and walk in the garden with him for a lifetime. But that's not what everybody sees it as. But there's gotta be something inside of us that knows that this world is temporary. No matter how many people may try to ignore it, death will eventually force the question on us of what's after death? What happens when we leave this world? Well, God says very plainly in Hebrews chapter 9 27, he said, and as it is appointed unto man once to die, but after this the judgment. Death is not the end of our existence, it's only the end of this mortal flesh. It's the doorway to eternity, and death is merely the doorman. Every person will one day stand before God, the rich, the poor, the religious, the rebellious, the powerful, the unknown, and all alike will leave this world and enter into eternity. The great divide between the groups is not wealth and status and success and popularity. The great divide is whether the person knows Jesus Christ as a personal Savior or not. For the believer, eternity means heaven, an everlasting presence with God. Jesus said in John 14, 1 and 3, in my father's house are many mansions. He says, And I'm going to go and prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I'll come again, I'll receive you unto myself that where I am, there you may be also. Heaven is not imaginary. It's not a state of mind. Heard a man preach one time that heaven could be just over behind the thicket of bushes there outside the church. No, that's not the case, my friend. Heaven is a very real place, prepared by a very real Savior for very real people. The Bible describes it as a place of no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain. Revelation 21 says that the former things are passed away, and every burden of this fallen world will one day be gone. But the greatest joy of heaven is not the street of gold or the gates of pearl, twelve hundred square miles of city to enjoy. The greatest joy is being in the presence of Christ. Greatest joy is being able to literally stand before the throne of God. Heaven is heaven because he's there. Heaven is not heaven because of the walls of jasper, the foundation of diamond, walls of ruby. Fellowship with God with without being hindered by sin or weakness or sorrow, that's heaven. It'd be perfect joy and peace, perfect righteousness and holiness forever. Bible teaches us about the reality of hell. Matter of fact, Jesus taught more about hell than anybody else in all of Scripture. It's not a popular doctrine today to preach on hell or to talk about hell, but it is very a biblical one. He described it when Jesus talked about it as a place of judgment, of separation, of everlasting punishment. The greatest punishment of of hell is not the flames or uh the gnashing of teeth or the torment. The greatest pain and torment of hell is being separated from God. Matthew twenty five, forty-six says, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into everl into life eternal. The same word used for everlasting life is used for everlasting everlasting punishment. If heaven is eternal, then hell is eternal as well. Hell was not originally created for you and I, though. It was created for devil and his angels, but those who reject Christ remain under judgment. It's not because God delights in punishment, but it's because sin is a very serious egregience in the sight of God who is holy and has enmity, is in enmity with sin, who has no place for sin. He can't be in the presence of sin. And the rejection of Christ leaves a person without hope. And hell is the only final destination and the final expression of separation from God. So many people today struggle with the idea of the doctrine of hell because they try to measure it by human emotion instead of divine holiness. They say, well, why would God be so cruel as to send a man to hell? God doesn't send people to hell. That's a choice of man. You can choose. Choose you this day who you will serve. Now, the Calvinists of the world, they won't say that. They will say that you've been predetermined to either to salvation or to damnation. You have no choice in the matter. I don't believe that. Not one bit, not at all. The Bible doesn't teach that. Not one bit, not at all. Choose you this day who you will serve. Jesus stood outside Jerusalem and he wept. He said, Oh Jerusalem, Jerusalem, how often would I gather you under my wings? How often would I have done these things for you? But you rejected me, you turned away, you you wouldn't come to me. But for the believer, the the the thought of eternal life brings comfort. Because it reminds us this world is not our home, this is not the best we've got. We're not going to live our best life now. Our best life is coming on the other side. It should bring us comfort and hope. We we looked at it with uh the the the doctrine of the return of Christ and number uh 17 last time. And this thought of heaven should bring us the same thoughts of comfort, of hope, of joy, of peace, of urgency. It shows us that God is both loving and he's just, and those two don't don't intermingle with one. He doesn't overlook sin just because he loves someone, and he doesn't cast judgment upon someone who has accepted Jesus Christ as a savior because he loves those so much. And so therefore God's personality or his gu God's uh uh uh um uh qualities, they they don't affect one to the other like as we might. Sometimes we need to get on to our our child or or really um you know uh you know bring punishment to him, but our heart gets the best of us and we don't. That's not the way with God. And so in this final episode of the 18 Articles of Faith, dealing with the eternal state. I hope that this study has reminded you of the joy, the peace, the goodness of God, how it should affect our daily living, knowing these things, as Paul wrote to that church of Colossians, that we should we should live in thankfulness. We should be giving thanks continually because God has already done these things for us. The work has been done. We don't have to try to be better and do better in order to earn the things. It's already been done. We need to live according to it. We live below our inheritance, we live below our status in heaven. And we pour mouth and we oh, I don't know if this is gonna be a good day or not. Of course it's gonna be. It's the day that the Lord made. Be joyful in it, be happy. Walk in the light of God's love today. And if you take these 18 articles and apply them to your life, it's I'll say it's almost impossible. Almost impossible not to let a smile sneak across your face at some point to say, you know what? Even though things may seem bad down here, I sure am loved. Sure am taken care of. And even if this world is upside down, and even if it seems like everything in your life is falling apart, there's an eternal hope that's laid up for you and I that one day all these things will be over, and we'll have perfect peace and perfect joy in the presence of God for an eternity. Thank you for joining us today on Seeking Approval. You know our faith oftentimes grows in quiet places. I hope today's conversation gave you something worth carrying throughout the rest of this day. And join me, Dr. Chris Smelser, again next time as we continue thinking, learning, and walking together. Until then, grace and peace to you from Seeking Approval at Gilead Baptist Church.