Heaven, Hell, and the Choice We Make // Justin Graves
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In a recent Global Reuters poll about Heaven and Hell:
- 51% believe in some afterlife
- 19%: believe in heaven or hell
- 23%: believe in an afterlife, but not specifically heaven or hell
- 23% believe they just cease to exist
- 26% are unsure  
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In a recent study, Lifeway found that 40% of Americans believe everyone will go to heaven.

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Revelation 20:11-15 (NLT)
And I saw a great white throne and the one sitting on it. The earth and sky fled from his presence, but they found no place to hide. I saw the dead, both great and small, standing before God’s throne. And the books were opened, including the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to what they had done, as recorded in the books. The sea gave up its dead, and death and the grave gave up their dead. And all were judged according to their deeds. Then death and the grave were thrown into the lake of fire. This lake of fire is the second death. And anyone whose name was not found recorded in the Book of Life was thrown into the lake of fire.

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Revelations 21:8 (NLT)
But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.


Matthew 25: 31-33, 41, & 46 (NLT)
But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit upon his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered in his presence, and he will separate the people as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. He will place the sheep at his right hand and the goats at his left. “Then the King will turn to those on the left and say, ‘Away with you, you cursed ones, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his demons. “And they will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous will go into eternal life.


I. If hell isn’t real then the cross was unnecessary.
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John 3: 16-19 (NLT)
For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him. “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil.


"When we see only what we want to see in the Bible, it loses all power to transform us." - Jim Cymbala


II.  Hell isn’t a place that anyone wants to go, but we choose our destination.

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Romans 14:10 (NLT)
So why do you condemn another believer? Why do you look down on another believer? Remember, we will all stand before the judgment seat of God.
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"Your damnation is your own election, not God's." - Charles Spurgeon

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Romans 6:23 (NLT)
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord.

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2 Corinthians 5:10 (NLT)
For we must all stand before Christ to be judged. We will each receive whatever we deserve for the good or evil we have done in this earthly body.


“A man can’t be taken to hell, or sent to hell: you can only get there on your own steam.” - C.S. Lewis


III.  There is a connection between the news we know and the mission we are called to fulfill.

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Matthew 28: 18-20 (AMP)
Jesus came up and said to them, “All authority (all power of absolute rule) in heaven and on earth has been given to Me. Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations [help the people to learn of Me, believe in Me, and obey My words], baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe everything that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always [remaining with you perpetually—regardless of circumstance, and on every occasion], even to the end of the age.
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“You have one business on earth- to save souls.” - John Wesley
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Romans 10:13-15 (NLT)
For “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” But how can they call on him to save them unless they believe in him? And how can they believe in him if they have never heard about him? And how can they hear about him unless someone tells them? And how will anyone go and tell them without being sent? That is why the Scriptures say, “How beautiful are the feet of messengers who bring good news!”

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“The great commission will not be fulfilled with our spare time and our spare money.” - David Kim


Luke 19:10
For the Son of Man came to find lost people and save them.  


IV. Good people don’t go to heaven, forgiven people do.

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"Don't say that a loving God is going to send you to hell - He's not. The thing that's going to send you to hell is that you're a sinner and you don't want to admit it." - J. Vernon McGee


Acts 4:12 (NLT)
There is salvation in no one else! God has given no other name under heaven by which we must be saved.
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John 14:6 (NLT)
Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.

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"Morality may keep you out of jail, but it takes the blood of Jesus Christ to keep you out of hell." - Charles Spurgeon


1 John 1:9 (ESV)
If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.

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