"Luck is when the guy next to you is hit with the arrow, and not you." So said Aristotle. What he meant by that was that we see things happen to other people, but because it doesn't happen to us, we not only consider ourselves lucky, but immune. We live in denial. So we see someone get a terminal disease, or die in a car crash, but we work very hard at not thinking it could ever happen to us. Ernest Becker wrote a Pulitzer Prize–winning book a few years ago, simply entitled The Denial of Death. And in it, he said the biggest lie of modern times is the denial that everyone has an appointment with death that we cannot cancel. Everyone. I was fascinated to find in my research last week that people are actually trying to buy eternal life. It's called being cryogenically frozen. And what that is, people pay for their body to be frozen at death, so that their body and their brain is preserved until science finds solutions to whatever killed them. The plan is that when science solves whatever their problem was, then they can be thawed out, revived, and live again. Hall of Fame baseball player Ted Williams is at this moment in the deep freeze, frozen, and he's waiting for science to save him, to give him eternal life. Billionaire Peter Thiel is signed up for this deep freeze of being frozen till science can save him. And so is Simon Cowell, and Larry Flynt from Hustler magazine. The list is very long, with notable names on it, of people who are planning to be frozen at their death until science can give them eternal life. Annie Dillard, in her book For the Time Being, reports about Mao Tse-tung, you know, the leader of the Chinese Communist Revolution, and who was a cruel dictator in that country for decades. He believed that the way he could defeat death and never die was to have sex with young virgins. And as long as he had sex with young virgins, he would live forever. And he practiced this live-forever health routine for many years on young Chinese women. Then he died. Didn't work. You know, that's the question right now. The door is wide open. But what happens when the door closes on your life? Because everyone has an appointment with death. So says the Word of God. What happens when you die? Well, there's no shortage of ideas about that. All kinds of ideas about what happens. Freud said that we become fertilizer. He said there's no life after death. It's just a wish that never comes true. It's a myth that people believe to bring comfort to them while they're alive on earth. We just become fertilizer. Death is the end of you. But what would you guess is the question that should be asked of Freud, that he must answer, but he cannot answer? What is the question he must answer, but he cannot answer? And this question should be asked of every Hollywood starlet and every so-called intellectual who assures us death is the end of us, and there's no life after death. What question do you think that would be? It is this: How can you say there's no life after death? You've never died before. So how do you know what happens? That's just logic. How do you know what happens? You've never died before. They're talking about something they could not possibly know, because they've never died before. Remember that the next time someone assures you that heaven does not exist. They cannot possibly know that. There's one reason I know for sure that there is life after death. It's a gigantic reason, and it's this: Jesus is my reason. Jesus tells me there is life after death, and therefore there must be life after death, because Jesus tells me it is so. And He's been there and back, and back again. He rose from the dead, and therefore He's been on the other side of the door. He actually came from the other side of the door, from heaven. In John 3:16, Jesus is speaking to this Pharisee by the name of Nicodemus. And He says this very famous verse, 3:16. Really, the numbers of eternal life, 3:16. He says, "For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son," that is Jesus, "that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life." So Jesus assures us there is life on the other side of the grave. But He says heaven is not the only destination in eternity. Did you notice that? He says not everyone goes to heaven. Did you notice that? He says some people perish. Now, this, in Greek, is a very specific word. It does not mean cease to exist. It's not like you burn a piece of paper and it's no longer there. That's not what this word means. It's the same word that Jesus used in the parable of the prodigal son. Remember that story, where the son tells the father that he wants to leave his authority? He no longer wants to be with the father and live the way the father wants him to live. He wants to go into the far country and enjoy himself and live however he wants to live. And he does. He takes his inheritance, and he goes to the far country. Las Vegas. I'm just kidding. And he takes all that money, and after a while, he's spent it, it says, on wild living and women. And he's totally broke. And he ends up working for a Gentile on a pig farm, and actually becomes so poor he lives with the pigs in their pigpen and begins to eat the food pigs eat. It's a horrible existence, all because he left the father and no longer wanted to be under his authority. "Perish" is the word used to describe the pigpen. "Perish" doesn't mean cease to exist. It means to live in the pigpen of the universe. It's Jesus's description of hell. It's a pigpen. It's an actual place in the universe where people live forever. They're not extinguished, but they don't want the Father God to be any part of their life. And so God the Father says, "Have it your way." And He no longer struggles with our conscience or with our life. Hell is the pigpen of the universe. But we can't afford to get this wrong, because eternity is forever. And to just illustrate what that means, on the screen, I have a graph. This dot represents your life. It might be 30 years; I've buried people 30 years old or younger. It might be 40 or 50. It might be 60 or 70. This dot, for you, might even be 80, or even 90. But eventually, the door closes. Everyone has an appointment with death. Then what happens? Well, Jesus says in John 3:16, eternity begins. And eternity represents this line that has no ending. There is no ending to eternity. And the question is... a lot of people are not giving any thought to this line. They give no thought to where they're going to spend forever. All they're focused on is this tiny little dot, which ends so quickly. Life flashes by. It's so short. And then forever comes. And the question Jesus is asking Nicodemus is, "Where are you going to spend eternity?" Forever. Sometimes people tell me they don't care what happens when they die. Really? You really don't care where you're going to spend forever, or those that you love are going to spend forever? I visit people like that sometimes. I've had this experience in the hospital, before a really risky surgery, and I look into their eyes. I'm experienced. I look into their eyes. You know what I see? Not indifference. I see fear. Fear as to what's going to happen if I die in surgery. They're just bluffing. Hell, I know, is a hideous topic. And it's really very few preachers that will speak about it, because people don't want to hear about it, and I don't blame them. But the question is, even if we don't want to hear about it, does it actually exist? Is it a real place in the universe? There are people who try to use hell to scare people into becoming believers. Jesus never does that. And I never do that. On Easter Sunday, I will not preach about hell to try to scare people. I preach about hell to those of us who are believers, and say to us, if it is a real place, how can we not share faith with those who don't know Jesus? It's just a matter of caring. So what's the evidence? Well, the first evidence that hell exists is that Jesus teaches us hell is real. And that's really big. Jesus is the one who teaches us this. You've heard of people who died and were brought back to life, who say they went through a long tunnel, and they saw light at the end of the tunnel, and they ended up in heaven, where everybody was happy. Well, Dr. Maurice Rawlings is a cardiologist and a professor of medicine. And he was one of the first professional physicians to investigate this and report these near-death testimonies of people who died in surgery and were resuscitated. He interviewed more than 300 of these resuscitated people who claimed they went to heaven and came back, and he found that more than 50% of them changed their story in a private interview with him. He writes about this in his book Beyond Death's Door, which I read 10 or 15 years ago. And it's all about these interviews. More than 50% changed their story. And he found that instead, these people went to a place of unbelievable darkness and suffering. They went to hell. And because their destination was hell, they were actually embarrassed to say this was the consequence of their life. And so they had heard this story about the tunnel and the light from others, and they claimed it as their own. But actually, that's not what they experienced. Rawlings says he was an atheist, but after these interviews, he became a Christian. He wrote, and I quote, "These patients changed my life. There is life after death. And if you don't know for sure that you're going to heaven, you're in big trouble." So the things that the media reports to us, so often, you don't hear the whole story of what really happened. Do you know for sure that when you die, and the door closes on your life, that you'll be in heaven? Do you know with ironclad certainty that will happen? Or do you only hope so? Do you only say, "I'm as good as anybody else. I've been pretty good. I hope I'll be in heaven"? You can't afford to get this wrong. Nicodemus had never heard about hell. A lot of people don't realize that as they read this passage. And the reason is, the Old Testament doesn't have a word about hell. It has a place called Sheol, which is kind of darkness. Not even about heaven. But it's really significant that the Pharisees, as opposed to the Sadducees, who didn't believe in life after death, the Pharisees believed in heaven. But they didn't believe in hell, because they'd never heard of it. Here, Jesus, with this inquirer, turns the conversation to eternity and introduces him to hell. Perishing. He says, "Whosoever believes in Me shall not perish." In other words, Nicodemus, God sends nobody to hell. The door to heaven is just wide open right now. Whosoever will walk through it in Jesus Christ will be saved. But it is possible for a person to reject Jesus and step over His crucified body and say, "I want nothing to do with this Jesus." They can't be in heaven, because Jesus is on the throne. And if you want nothing to do with Him, you can't be in heaven. In Milton's epic poem Paradise Lost, Satan says, "Better to reign in hell than serve in heaven." He captures there that our destiny is our choice. Invite Jesus's salvation into our life, or reject salvation. But if we reject the salvation of Jesus, we aren't saved. There's a pastor back east who wrote a New York Times bestseller, and it made him a lot of money, because it was a book about what people want to hear. He called it Love Wins Out. And he argues in this book that everyone goes to heaven when they die, because God is love. And because God is love, He would never allow hell to exist. Everyone goes to heaven. Before he wrote the book, a lot of people would say that. But he has a very big problem, doesn't he? What do you think that problem is? He says hell doesn't exist because Jesus is love. But it is Jesus who teaches us about hell. It is Jesus who warns us about hell. Not threatens us. He just warns us that our decision and our relationship with Him has eternal consequences. You can't afford to get this wrong. It's Jesus who teaches us. In fact, 13% of Jesus's teachings speak about hell. Two-thirds of His stories, or parables, warn about hell. It's Jesus who teaches us. Jesus used this Greek word, topos, that you see on the screen, to describe hell. Now, this topos is a geographical place. It's a very specific word in Greek. And the same word is used of heaven: that heaven is topos. It's an actual place in the universe, not a state of mind. It's a place, a geographical place. And the same word is used of hell. It is not a state of mind. It is an actual geographical place in the universe, where Satan and his demons, and anybody else who has sinned and refuses to repent, is quarantined. It's a place of quarantine. I hear people say they do not believe in hell because God is love. But the love of God is exactly why hell must exist. God loves people so much that He wants to protect them from people who are unrepentant in their hurtful, destructive behavior. He doesn't want you hurt anymore. He doesn't want Satan to be able to get to you and tempt you anymore, and destroy things in your life. He quarantines them in hell to protect the rest. And that's why, when you come after your death, you must be willing to be rid of all sin that remains in your life, because you cannot take any souvenirs of sin into hell, or you turn it into more life on earth. You know, people tell me, "There's so much suffering, pain in this world." And I always ask them, I said, "Well, tell me about the suffering in this world that you've experienced." They haven't been through an earthquake that killed their family. They haven't been through hurricanes. You know what the pain people experience is? It's what people do to them. Most of the pain in this world is what people do to people. And that's why, before you enter heaven, you must be willing to be completely de-sinned. There are people who refuse to get rid of their anger problems, their selfishness, all these things. There has to be a place where they are quarantined and no longer get to other people. And that's hell. I should say this: hell was not part of the original creation of the universe. Did you know that? In the beginning, hell did not exist. It only came into existence when one of God's most beautiful angels rebelled against God. No longer wanted to be under His authority. Wanted to be his own god. An angel turned himself into Satan. God never created Satan. He created a beautiful angel who rebelled. And that angel was thrown out of heaven, because you can't be a rebel and be in heaven. No, you can't. He was thrown out of heaven. So where did he go? Where was he thrown to? Yuma. [laughter] No, I'm just kidding. That's when hell came into existence. There had to be a place of quarantine. We have to think logically about this. God never wanted hell to exist, but it has to, to quarantine unrepentant rebels. Jesus describes the length of hell with the same word as heaven. He says in Matthew 25, "They will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life." Same word. Both are eternal, forever and ever. Think about it. If hell does not exist, then I ask you, what did Jesus save us from? What did He save us from? If only heaven exists, there's nothing to save us from. Think about this. If Jesus said hell exists, but in fact hell does not exist, was He bluffing? Or worse, was He lying to us? Or even worse, was He just plain wrong? Those are really the only logical alternatives you have. But if Jesus is wrong, He's not God. Because God is never wrong. He knows everything. Incredibly, surveys have found that 58% of people who believe in Jesus do not believe Jesus when He teaches about hell. They believe in Jesus, but they don't believe Jesus when He teaches about hell. That is not only stunning, it's illogical. How can you believe Jesus is God, and yet believe He's wrong and lying about hell? That's the big question any Christian who says they don't believe in hell must answer, and they can't answer it. Saying Jesus is wrong about hell is just a sneaky way to deny that He is God, because God knows everything, and He's never wrong. The second reason hell must exist is because of human freedom. Human freedom requires it. God has created us free. We're not animals, just living by instinct. We have real choices. We can love or hate. We can help or not help. We can give or be selfish. We have choices. It means we can reject Jesus as Savior. God doesn't force anyone to be saved. We can actually reject Jesus. And therefore, Jesus has given us this freedom to not be saved. And legions take that freedom and reject Jesus. But if you reject salvation, how can you expect to be saved? You probably know a lot of people who do not love Jesus. They've made a choice. C. S. Lewis, my favorite author, and he's devastatingly logical about hell. In his little book The Problem of Pain, he says, and let me quote this to you: "The answer to all those who object to Jesus's teaching about hell is a question: What are you asking Jesus to do? To forgive people of their sins? I ask, against their will, or with their will and cooperation? What if they refuse to admit they need forgiveness? What if they insist Jesus leave them alone, and they don't want to hear any more about Him?" Don't you know people like that? "I'm afraid that's what Jesus does. He leaves people alone who insist." And that place is called hell. It is where Jesus is entirely absent. It is where Jesus no longer struggles with our conscience. It is utterly dark, because the light of Jesus is totally absent. Finally, Jesus says, "Have it your way. Thy will be done." And He leaves us alone. Hell is where people become worse and worse, because Jesus stops struggling with them. Bitter people become even more bitter. Selfish people, even more selfish. Angry people, angrier and angrier. Don't you know people who've gotten worse over time, because they don't want to hear any more, anything against what they're doing? Revelation 21 emphasizes this. It says, "Let the evildoers still do evil, and the filthy still be filthy." He takes His hands off of us, and He says, "Have it your way." Spend a lifetime of telling God to leave you alone, and at death, He does. Jesus sends nobody to hell. You have to step over His dead body in order not to go to heaven. So at the end of our life, the door is going to close, because everyone has an appointment with death. Where will you spend eternity? You can't afford to get this wrong. On the screen, you see a picture of what sin does to us. It separates us from God. And we need to know this. It breaks the relationship with God, because He's a holy God. And so this deep chasm develops between us and God. People will say, "Well, I feel very spiritual, and I feel God with me." But if they're living in sin, they're just having an illusion, because sin breaks the relationship. We try different things. We try rituals. There are people, they take Mass, they take communion, they do just different religious rituals. That doesn't save you. You can do rituals and live like an atheist, can't you? Good deeds. That doesn't make any sense. You know, a man is unfaithful to his wife. He admits it, and says, "But honey, I'm going to continue to be unfaithful, but I'm going to do the dishes every night I'm home." Good deeds don't make up for rebellion and sin. Being religious. Lots of people will say, "I'm very religious. I do this and this." But being religious doesn't mean you have a relationship with Jesus Christ and a bridge across a chasm, because the Mafia is very religious. So what actually does bridge the gap? Only one thing: the cross of Jesus. That's what you have to walk across to get to God. If you reject the salvation of Jesus, Him dying for your sins, you have no bridge across to God. When you walk across this bridge of the cross, then the righteousness of Jesus is exchanged for our sinful life. The Bible says you're clothed, or robed, in the righteousness of Jesus. You are cleansed of all of your sin. All these other things do not cleanse you or change you. Only walking across the bridge of Jesus. Again, if you reject the salvation God has provided in Jesus, how can you expect to be saved? If you reject Jesus, how can you expect to be in heaven? Because He's on the throne. Tomorrow is guaranteed to no one. You never know when the door will close on your life. And my question is, if this door were to close tonight on your life, which side of the canyon would you be on? Have you walked across the bridge of Jesus? You can't afford to get this wrong.