04 -- OUR ATTITUDE AND CHOICE WILL DETERMINE OUR ETERNAL DESTINY
According to the teaching of Jesus there are two places prepared for people to go to after death. One of them is heaven and the other is hell. Both of these places are prepared places. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. It is the place where all sin, rebellion, and discord will be forever banished from the presence of God. In fact, Jesus used the word, Gehenna, many times in speaking of this place. Gehenna was a deep valley just outside of Jerusalem where all the filth and refuse was dumped. There was fire burning there all the time. This fire fed upon the filth and refuse that was dumped into this valley. They did not have to haul the fire and put it there. The fire was burning all the time, for it fed upon the refuse. What a striking picture that gives us of hell! All the sin and filth of the universe will be dumped in hell and it will feed upon itself throughout eternity.
Those who go to this awful place will go there because they refused to be saved. God tried to save them, but He could not for they loved darkness rather than light. God will not force anyone to go to heaven if they don't want to. We are free moral agents and have the power of choice and God will not violate our free-will. He will not force us to go to heaven if we love darkness and insist on holding on to darkness and sin. It is our privilege to choose which we will have forever. No sin can enter heaven. If we love sin and hate light and holiness then there is no other place for us to go, but to hell. Heaven would not be heaven to us, even if we could go there, if we hated light and holiness. The soul that loves sin and darkness would never enjoy heaven if they could get there.
Not long ago I tried to preach a sermon on holiness. and after the service a lady came up and said to me, "Mr. Church, I hate holiness. I can't endure to hear such preaching." Her statement did not unduly excite me, for I have met a great many people that did not seem to love this glorious truth so much. I just said to her, "Sister, I hope you don't go to heaven feeling that way." She became very angry and said, "What do you mean? Do you mean to insinuate that I am not fit to go to heaven?" I said, "I am not insinuating anything, but I will say that I don't think you would enjoy heaven in your present state of heart and mind. If one little sermon like this can so arouse and stir your anger, then what would you do if you had to spend eternity in the presence of the holy God? What would you do if you had to spend eternity listening to the angelic hosts as they shout, 'Holy, Holy, Holy,' is the Lord God of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory?" What would you do if you had to spend eternity in the presence of the holy Christ, who suffered without the gates that He mighty sanctify the people with His own blood, and loved the church and gave Himself for it that He might sanctify it? What would you do if you had to spend eternity with all the holy saints and martyrs of all the past ages, and realize that while you hated holiness, they had died rather than bring reproach upon it? You spent your time living in worldliness and sin, and hated the very things they loved and died for. Heaven would not be heaven to you; it would be hell."
You know, friends, the Negroes are right when they sing, "Everybody talking about heaven ain't going there." There are a lot of people that can get sentimental in singing or talking about heaven, but there will have to come a radical change in their nature before they are fit to go to heaven. Many of them cannot stand just a little bit of gospel light down here, but suppose they should have to spend eternity in the white light of God. You know the Bible says, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." It is my firm conviction that without holiness no man will want to see the Lord. Sin separates men from God. It makes men dread the presence of God. When Adam sinned he went and hid himself. He did not want to meet God. Men have been running from God ever since, if they have sin in their hearts and lives. That is why the Bible teaches that men have to be born again if they want to enter the kingdom of God. We have to have our hearts and lives changed before we are ready for heaven. This is a truth that a great many people need to see. We need to see that men and women are going to the place they are best fitted for.
There are two very striking and revealing passages in the Acts of the Apostles. One is that statement where it says, "Judas by transgression fell that he might go to his own place." It does not say that he went to hell. It says he went to his own place. It does not say that he went to heaven, but we know that he did not go there. If he could have gone there it would not have been heaven to him. It would have been hell for him to have to go to heaven and spend eternity with the Christ that he had betrayed with a kiss, and sold for thirty pieces of silver. Just one look from Jesus sent Peter out into the night to weep bitterly over his denial of Christ, but think of having to spend eternity in the presence of this Christ and have Him look at you, when you knew you had betrayed Him and sold Him to His foes.
The other passage is that one where it tells of Peter and John being released by the Jews, and it says, "And being let go they went to their own company." Now, where do you suppose they went? Don't you imagine they went down to the saloon and got them some beer and wine, and then after they had tanked up they went into the back room and gambled until the late hours of the night. Then finally on their way home they stopped at some dance and spent several hours there? No, my friends, we know they did not do any such thing. They would never have thought of doing such a thing as that. There are many people that would do these things that I have suggested, but Peter and John would not. They hated those things and would run from them. The truth of the matter is, there was a place there in Jerusalem where the saints met for prayer and fellowship, and just as soon as Peter and John were let go, they went straight to that place of prayer. They went there because they wanted to go there. That was their company. That was the kind of atmosphere they liked to breathe.
That same thing will be true of us when our spirits leave these bodies of ours. They will go to their own place. They will seek their own company. I don't believe God is going to have to have an angel stand at the gates of heaven, with a club, to keep people out of heaven. This idea that so many people have about Peter standing at the gate and letting some in and refusing to let others in, is not scriptural at all. My Bible says the gates are never shut. God does not have to shut the gates to keep the saints in, and He will not have to shut the gates to keep the sinners out. They would not go in, in a million years. In fact, they have refused throughout their whole life to accept the invitation to go in. If they would not accept salvation in this age when they have the Holy Spirit, the Holy Scriptures, the influence of holy men, and all other means which God has employed to bring men into His kingdom, then certainly they would not go in when all of these things are removed. No, they have already made their choice and have become set in their attitudes. They have loved darkness and sin, and have run from the light so long that they will not change now. The gulf will be too wide to cross. It is not a gulf that God has dug. It is the gulf we have dug by our sin and rebellion. Many are digging it daily by their choices. This truth is being illustrated on every hand. You don't have to wait until eternity to see how men's choices decide their company. It is being illustrated on every hand today. You can take two men and let them move into your community. One of them may come from New York and the other may come from California. You may not know a thing in the world about them, but if you will just watch them for a short while you will find out what they really are. If one of them is a sinner he will find the sinful crowd. If the other is a Christian he will find the Christian people of his community, If one of them loves darkness, drunkenness, gambling, and such like he will find the crowd that does those things. If the other loves light, prayer and the worship of God he will find the crowd that suits him. That same thing will be true in eternity. Each soul will go to the place for which it is fitted. We will find our own company. If we have loved light, holiness and fellowship with Christ, then we will go to heaven to spend eternity with God. If we have loved darkness, sin, and have followed the devil and given our allegiance to him, then we will go to spend eternity with Satan. God has given us the privilege to choose, and our choice will determine our destiny. To blame God for our own choice is the sheerest of folly. He wants us to be saved. He is doing His best to get us to be saved, but He can't save us against our will. Our choice will be final one of these days. "He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy let him be filthy still."
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