I was gonna say if he had kept going with that contest, David and I think would have been embarrassed because my wife has twice as many here as is normally in her Sunday school class, so she would have beaten us very badly. And if it weren't for the visitors that were here tonight that would be in my class age group, I think I'd I'd not quite had as many as I had Sunday. But we're so glad if you're visiting particularly that you're with us. That includes all the kids. So the children can be dismissed for their time with brother Drew at this time.

So come on. We talk to you ahead of time. That would be Tally Tori not Tally, but Tori and Tira. And so TrueQuest and Gael and Taryn. Alright?

Come on down. Alright. Come on, Taryn. Alright. Amen.

Well, I hope you're looking forward to hearing from God's word. Brother Mike, would you come on up? Amen. Thank you, pastor. Let's stand together if you don't mind and we'll let you stretch but also look at the scripture verse for tonight.

The scripture tonight, I'd like us to turn to Matthew chapter 25 if you have a Bible. If you don't, there's one in your pew. But Matthew chapter 25 and we're gonna read just one verse as our text and it's been a great week and God is working and we're so thankful for that. Alright. Matthew 25 is our chapter and we're gonna look at verse 46 as our text.

Matthew 25 and verse 46. It says, and these shall go away to everlasting punishment, but the righteous to life. And it says to life eternal. And I want life eternal, I don't want everlasting punishment, I want heaven. I obviously would not want hell and and God is wanting that for us as well.

So he puts in the Bible these things so we would think about them and we would make decisions that will affect eternity for good and not for bad. Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we ask for your blessing now as we look in the word of God. I pray that your Holy Spirit will work again tonight and lead and help. And we pray Lord that each person here tonight that needs to prepare for eternity would do it.

And that each one that already is prepared would be stirred by the word of God to to better service for the Lord and to tell others of their need. In Christ's name, we ask your Holy Spirit to move into work in each of us. Amen. Thank you and you can be seated. When you hear words like forever, you've heard those words.

Right? How many obviously heard eternal? How many have heard that? Everlasting, these kind of words. Do you really think about what they're talking about?

Now some people use the word forever today when they're selling something. They'll say this carpet will last you forever and then you read the fine print, not guaranteed if you use it. So when man talks about forever, they don't always mean forever, but they mean for a decent amount of time. There's abuser of the word forever, it would be a young man who's talking to a young lady, and Hank the hunk might say to that girl, I will love you forever. And then the next week, he meets another girl and he says, I love you till the sea runs dry, till the sun stops shining, until time stands still, and he'll say, I love you forever.

Then the next week, that little sixth grade boy likes another girl. Okay? Now, when man says forever, they don't always mean it. But when God says forever, he's not playing around, he means it. And he says there is everlasting punishment that would be hell and there is everlasting heaven.

And what God's desire is that no one would perish but everyone would come to salvation, everybody could understand how to get to heaven. God wrote in this Bible, these things are written that you may know you have eternal life. And so, emphasis is I want you to know you can go to heaven. But, he does put in there so people understand there is also eternal damnation in hell so that that will get our attention. Now, it's sort of like some doctor warning, if you don't take care of this, you will die.

If you don't take care of this, you will have a problem. Jesus is saying, if you don't take care of this and you die in your sin, you will end up in a terrible place, hell. And you know, people say, well, why would God ever send anybody to hell? And let me just explain. God does not send us to hell.

We're already going to hell because of our sin. When we sinned, the Bible says the payment for sin is death and hell. The devil brought that in. But here's what the Bible says about Jesus. Jesus said, I am come that you might have life and have it more abundantly.

So Jesus didn't come to the earth to condemn the world, but to save us. And so there is a heaven that God wants us all to be in, and there is a hell. And so tonight, I wanna talk to us about this important issue and I want you to be sure that you're going to go to heaven. And I want you to see how important it is and I want you to understand how it's done. Now, the first thing that I wanna draw our attention to is I wanna look at the condition of the dead.

Now what happens when people die? The Bible teaches some very serious things about that. Now people are wondering about what happens to people when they die. The Seventh day Adventists teach that you go on to soul sleep. There are others that teach you're entirely unconscious.

There are others, Andrew Carnegie, he said I'll give a million dollars to anybody who could prove there's life after death. I wish I could have talked to him because I'd be a millionaire today. I can prove it. But the point is people don't really know what's gonna happen after death. Now here's what the Bible teaches very quick.

Number one, every one of us is a soul. Genesis two seven, the Lord God formed man out of the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul. Now the soul is who you are. It's your mind, it's your emotions, The things that you love. It's the decisions that you make.

Every one of us is a soul. Now, the Bible teaches that when we die, our bodies go to a grave but our souls return back to God for judgment. Ecclesiastes twelve seven, then shall the dust, the body, return to the earth as it was and the spirit shall return to God who gave it. Now number three, the Bible teaches that we all have a body after we die. Now in the Bible, it talks about in Luke 16 a rich man who he died in his sin and he ended up dying and going to hell and it wasn't because he was rich.

So some people think it's wrong to be rich. Now I am not rich but I have more than I need. So if I go to a third world country I think I'm rich and I think most of us are pretty blessed. But I'm saying there's no sin in having that but the point is he went to hell because he died without preparing so he could go to heaven. Now, in that, the Bible says that as he went to hell that he was given a body showing that there's a body after we die.

Now, what does the Bible teach about that? If you wanted to follow on, it's in Luke 16 beginning at verse 19. It says, there was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day, meaning he had a lot of material blessings. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. So this poor man was living next to a rich man, and he wasn't really sleeping under his table.

But what it's saying is he would lay there at the street, and the rich man would drive by, and the poor man would say, I hope he'll give me some food. And this rich man sometimes would. So he was desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. So he's not only poor, but he's got sores all over his body.

But then it says, that it came to pass that the beggar died and he was brought to Abraham's bosom or heaven. The rich man also died and was buried. And then it says, in hell, he lift up his eyes being in torment and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and he cried and said, father Abraham have mercy on me, send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in the flame. Now I said a lot of verses real fast, but here's what it's all about. In after death, he had a body.

After death, we will have a body. And after death, the body that he had was a lot like the one you have today. You could see, you could hear, you could feel, you could think, and you could talk. It's not a little story that was made up like a nursery rhyme, but it's a true story. And the reason we know is that Jesus didn't say it was a story.

He said this is, there was a certain rich man. And then he said there was a man, a beggar named Lazarus. And so he was saying this is a real thing. Now he lifted up his eyes and he saw Abraham afar off. So in the body after death, the person can see.

Now nobody likes to see terrible things. And I'm telling you this why it's important. When I was a boy, I heard about a lady who has whose husband committed suicide. Horrible thing. And when he did, his wife saw it when he did it.

And her mind snapped and they put her in a mental institution that day because nobody likes to see terrible things. Now in the body after death, this is why it's important to make sure you're going to go to heaven, not hell. You'll be able to see. And what would it be like to see a demon? Not in an already movie, but for real.

What would it be like to have to look at all the ugly things in hell forever instead of the beautiful things in heaven? You want to make sure you see the beauties of heaven and not the horrible things in hell. Now in the body after death, the person can hear there was a conversation between the man in hell and Abraham. Now I've never taken a plane to hell. So I really don't know exactly what it would sound like except it says he cried and the bible says that there are screams in him.

Now nobody likes to hear terrible things and so this is why it's important that you don't have to go to hell. One, you wanted to see it. Two, you won't have to hear it. Now, I can remember taking emergency medical training. I was trained to work in an ambulance and they took me to a hospital and they brought in a man who was in a knife fight.

He was so cut up and we had to work on him, but I could handle all the cutting and all the bleeding. But what bothered me was another ambulance they brought in with a woman who had a broken hip. Now she was in so much pain and the way she was screaming made me nauseated. Now imagine taking it lightly. No big deal.

I don't know I'm going to heaven, but no big deal. And then ending up going to hell one day because you don't prepare. I think a lot of people today passed away. Many went to heaven, but the Bible seems to indicate more probably went to hell. And that is not that God doesn't love, but it's just they don't take it seriously, and they woke up and they heard people screaming.

And they would hear themselves screaming and the screams get louder as more people die without Jesus. And God doesn't want anybody to go there. But people die in sin. They go there. So they have to prepare.

And so this is why it's such an important thing. Now, don't wanna be over the top and overly wear you out, but it says in the body after death, the person can feel. And we all know the worst way to die would be to die by flames. I have gone to a candle. I have just touched the flame and just couldn't take my hand there very long.

And we all know how painful that would be. And we all know that we would never want to have to go there. Now there's so much horribleness in hell and God didn't put it in the Bible because he wants us to go there, but he doesn't want us to go there. And we've got to see this so it's like somebody warning and saying, turn around, the bridge is out, turn around, you're in danger. And God says, some having compassion make a difference, but others say with fear, snatching them out of the fire and this is in the book of Jude.

There's some people that you just can't get them to think about God until they get scared enough about their situation. And there's a fine line between overdoing it and not doing it enough. And I think usually we don't do it enough today because everybody's afraid that if they do it somebody's gonna call them fool or some old fashioned hellfire brimstone preacher. Well, look, I am not ashamed if somebody calls me a hellfire brimstone preacher as long as they'll have this, but that guy sure loves people and doesn't want them to go there because I don't. I don't want one person to go to hell.

And I preached on it very hard last night about forgiveness and people choosing the wrong way. And you've got one way to get to heaven, and it is not a Baptist preacher. It is Jesus. And we have got to prepare and if you do not know you're prepared, you probably are not. I'm just telling you, I was in Heath, Ohio and there was a man, a policeman who told me about a situation.

He was driving and he got a call. There was an accident. So he went to the scene and there was a fuel tanker, true story, and there was a man who was pinned in. And when he was pinned in, kids, look up this way, okay? I want you to listen because I wanna help you, okay?

Look up this way, you're great, just stay with me, and this little guy, this truck driver was pinned in and they tried to get him out and they couldn't get him out. And so then, as that happened, the policeman went in and he tried to get the guy out but he couldn't because his legs were pinned in and so he saw that there was a fire in the engine and he knew that any minute there would probably be an explosion so he turned and ran and there was a fire explosion, he felt it in his back and then he turned around and he looked and he saw this man burning, true story, and he said I ran up and I tried to help him but the flames were too big. And so I stepped back and all they could do was watch the man burn, and the man looked at me, saw I was a policeman, and was in so much pain, he started screaming, shoot me, shoot me. And he said, I grabbed my gun, I pulled it out, aimed it at him, and was gonna pull the trigger, but I just couldn't pull it and make an innocent man die.

I didn't know what to do. And all I could do was watch that man burning in so much pain that he just wished he was dead. Now if somebody goes to hell, that's the kind of pain but more. Now we don't want anybody to go to hell, and so I'm preaching on this tonight. Now if you think for one second I'm saying that you're a worse person than me, I'm not.

Okay? The Bible says that all of us are sinners, but the Bible says that each of us are going to go to heaven or hell and we need to prepare to meet our God. Amos four twelve says, prepare to meet thy God. Now, first, the condition of the dead, you have a soul, your soul dies, you die physically, your body goes to the grave, but then your soul goes back to God for judgment and you get a new body. So you don't float around like a ghost, you live and you think and you feel and you taste and you smell, just imagine tasting and smelling charred bodies in hell.

And that's the most horrible thing. But listen, God created this body not so we would have to go suffer, but so that we could see the beauty of heaven, hear the angels saying and all of the beautiful things in heaven. And so we wanna make sure that our body after death will be in heaven. Amen. Now the next thing I wanna look at are the are the destinations for eternity or the places for eternity.

Now, look again at Matthew 25 and verse 46. It says, these shall go away to everlasting punishment, that's hell, but get this, the righteous to life eternal. Now, notice something and don't don't don't misunderstand it, don't think that I'm wrong, there are two places that people go. Everlasting punishment, that would be hell. Life eternal, that would be heaven.

And you know what Jesus said? I want you in heaven. John 14, I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there ye may be also. So I want you in heaven. But in the Bible, listen, it says there are two places.

There's a heaven and there's a hell. And there's no mention, and I'm not attacking anybody. There's not one mention of purgatory. So you know what I would say? A Baptist preacher does not determine if you're in heaven or hell.

A Methodist preacher does not determine if you're in heaven or hell. An Episcopalian doesn't, but God does. Any any religious leader has said something and the Bible says something else, I would go with the Bible. Okay? Now here's what it says, two places, not three.

I wish there were three, but there are two places according to the scripture that you're looking at in all the scripture. There's heaven and then there's hell. I want us all to be in heaven. Now let's take a look at heaven. First thing I wanna look at real quick, and I'm not gonna be long, stay with me, we'll be out of here by eight.

First, heaven is a place. John fourteen three, Jesus said, behold, I go to prepare a place for you. I had a lady come up to me and she said, there's no place called heaven. I said, yes, there is. And then she said, well, how do you know?

And I said, well, there's a place called heaven. She said, well, you've never been there. So how do you know it's real? So I said to her, Melody, have you ever been at my house? She said, no.

I said just because you've not been there doesn't mean it's not a real house. And just because we've not been in heaven doesn't mean it's not there. And so here's why we say there is a heaven because Jesus said there is a heaven. So John fourteen three, Jesus said, in my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you.

So he's saying it's really there and I want you to be there. He goes on and he says, and if I go and prepare a place for you I will come again and receive you onto myself that where I am there you may be also. So I'm going to heaven and I want you to get there too. So this is what he said. Now then, what is heaven like?

The Bible teaches in Revelation chapter 21. There's a new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, and it's one city in heaven. And it teaches it has streets of gold. That's what it teaches. It teaches that there's no pain.

You could stick your thumb out and you can hit it with a hammer and you would not even feel it. Be kind of fun, wouldn't it? It teaches that there's no sin. It says that there are walls that have 12 different kinds of jewels, amethyst, burl, chalcedony, and there's one that is actually a ruby, and all of these are there. And it says that the walls are are 12,000 furlongs high, 12,000 furlongs long, and 12,000 furlongs wide.

And so what that calculates to is if everybody had ever lived since Adam and Eve were to die and go to heaven and they won't, everybody would have 72 square miles to themselves. So heaven's not gonna be crowded, heaven's gonna be beautiful and God wants us there. In the Bible that where I am there ye may be also. He wants you there. Now if anybody here doesn't get to heaven, it'll be because you don't look to see what the Bible says will get you there.

You go with what a person says or what a grandma said and or you go with what you think. And I'm telling you, our eternal soul is at stake. We do not want to mess around with what we think mama said, grandma said, the pope said, the Baptist Pope said, the Episcopalian said, the Methodist said, the Mormon said. We cannot base our eternity and be secure that we're doing the right thing unless we can say the Bible says. Amen?

Does that make sense? So we look in the Bible as what my opinion is, and so I don't wanna take you long, but there is a heaven, but the Bible also says that there is a hell. Okay? Now, in the body after death, a person can see. We know that, feel, we know that, but what are they gonna see, what are they gonna feel?

I am in hell a person has a place where there is fire. He said I am tormented in the flame. I know it sounds like, come on, But here's what we've got to go with. If the Bible says it, then evidently it's true. And why would we take the part that says there's heaven but not take the part that says that there's a hell?

Why would we take the part that talks about heaven when Jesus preached 12 times about hell to every one time he preached about heaven and he says it is fire, it is brimstone, Revelation twenty nineteen twenty, whosever was not found written the book of life was cast into the lake of fire, it's called a lake, And then it says in Revelation, the smoke of the dam descends forever and ever and they have no rest day or night. Now, imagine taking one little finger and going home and lighting up a little tiny birthday candle. Get the smallest birthday candle you could find and take one little finger and stick it in that birthday candle for five minutes. You wouldn't be able to do that. And if you and I can't handle one finger in a birthday candle for five minutes, we would never be able to spend an eternity in hell.

A birthday candle will burn out, but the flames of hell will not. Now, the Bible actually teaches that there are two hells. Did you know that? Revelation twenty fourteen, and death and hell were cast into the what? Lake of fire.

So hell is cast into lake of fire and that means and there are two hells. So the first hell is where people go right now who die in their sin. But the second hell is so bad, nobody's been there yet. It's called the Lake Of Fire. I don't personally believe the devil's even been there yet.

But there are terms in the Bible that talk about how horrible this place is. Now there's a just picture this if you will. One second, you're walking, maybe at work, maybe at home, and the second later you die. It's gonna happen sometime. And immediately you're taken by beautiful angels and you see these beautiful pearly gates.

Have you ever heard somebody say I thought I'd died and gone to heaven? Usually that's after Dairy Queen. Okay? But when people say I thought I'd died and gone to heaven. Well, when you see the pearly gates, you're not going to guess, you're gonna know it could be nothing but heaven.

And so you go into heaven and you're surrounded by beauty. Everything is so bright. For the first time in your life, you're breathing fresh heavenly air. No pig farms and no pollution. And you're surrounded by friends and they say, welcome home.

Welcome home. You should see the place Jesus made for you. And they take you down this gold street and they take you by the river. The bible says there's a river crystal clear, and you go by that river. And then you see the trees of life.

Did you know the bible says in heaven there are trees that have 12 different kinds of fruit on them. You could stand up to a tree, take you an apple, take a bite out of it. If you don't want the rest, throw it in the river and reach up on the same tree and get you a mango and then get a different branch and get an orange And they don't bear fruit once a year like ours do on earth, but it's a fresh crop every month. And then they take you by the tree of life and they see the mansion that God has made for you. In my father's house are many mansions.

If it were not so, I would have told you. And they say, there it is. Jesus made it for you. And you say, beautiful. Beautiful.

Is that really for me? Yes. Jesus made it for you. Wow. Where's Jesus?

Take me to Jesus. And they take you down a gold street around another corner. I don't know. And they go into the most beautiful place in heaven and you see Jesus sitting there on the throne. And you talk to him.

Do you know that if you get to heaven, you're actually gonna talk to Jesus face to face one day? Now it'll be beautiful. You're in the presence of Jesus. No more wicked men are ever gonna hurt you again. No one's ever gonna lie again, and nothing but peace and beauty and wonderful things.

Now stop. The hard thing is to put this in a serious perspective to where people say, okay, I take this guy serious. Okay? Please take me serious. I do not want anyone in hell, but sometimes I talk to people and I try to get them to see the seriousness in me.

They get it, but other people, they just kind of scoff it. Do not please scoff it. I talked to a truck driver and I said, you know you're going to heaven? He said, no, I'm going to hell. I said, do you wanna go to heaven?

He said, no, I wanna go to hell. I'm gonna party with my buddies. How many ever heard somebody say that? I said, no, you do not wanna go to hell. He said, I do.

I said, no, I'm gonna prove to you you don't wanna go to hell. I said, look, I noticed you're a smoker and do you happen to have a cigarette lighter? He said, okay, yeah, I do. Why? I said, me borrow it.

So he gave it to me and I said, I wanna show you, you don't wanna go to hell. And I said, now you're not you're bigger than me, so don't punch me in the face. But I just wanna show you and you speak it and you do it in love and I'm trying to do that tonight And I lit that puppy up and I said, if you wanna go to hell, prove it. Let's get started. I said, stick your finger in there.

He goes, preacher, you can't scare me with that. But then I did scare him as I shoved it a little closer to his face and I said, I'm not kidding. Stick your finger in there. Prove it if you wanna go to hell. And sometimes I can be a little more tense.

I need to be for some people. So anyway, he goes, uh-uh, you're crazy aren't you? You're crazy. And he began to think I'm talking to a crazy man, he's gonna hurt me. So when I got his attention, I slowly put it down, I said, look, I'm not gonna hurt you and I'm not crazy.

I am not gonna burn you, but I'm trying to make a point. You tell me that you wanna go to hell and you can handle it, but you can't stick one finger in a cigarette lighter and if you can't handle one finger in a cigarette lighter you are not gonna be able to handle whole body burning in hell. And I said this cigarette lighter will burn out but hell won't. Now, how are we gonna get to heaven? How is it all going to get determined?

The Bible says it very clearly, and I want you to see it with your own eyes, and I will not be long. I will seek to get you out of eight. It might be 08/2002. Okay? But let's bow our heads and I want you to look not bow your heads.

I want you to turn your Bibles to John chapter 14. Now, in John 14, I talked about this just a little bit, but I want you to see it with your own eyes. John 14, with your own eyes. Alright. Now, if somebody knew you doesn't have a Bible, then you open your Bible and you show it to them and just let everybody see it.

Okay? Now, John 14 beginning at verse one. Let not your heart be troubled. I don't want you to be all worried and afraid. Ye believe in God, Jesus said, believe also in me because I am God.

That's what he's saying. And here's where he says, there is a heaven and God has a place that he wants you to be at in heaven. In my father's house are many mansions. It's true. If it were not so, I would have told you.

I go to prepare a place for you that where I am, there ye and if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you unto myself. Sorry. Now look at verse three, that where I am, there ye may be also. I'm going to heaven and I want you to be there. And notice what he says in verse four, and whither I go ye know and the way ye know.

So he's saying to these people, I'm going to heaven and you do know how to get there, don't you? Now notice what Thomas said back, and a lot of people can relate to him in verse five. Thomas saith unto him, Lord, we know not where the thou goest. No, we don't know where heaven is. And how can we know the way?

No. We don't know where heaven is, and we don't know how to get there. How do we get there? Now, there are a lot of different religions, folks, and here's what people get all mad about. You say this, I say that, they say that and we all will sometimes say well whatever you want to believe is fine.

No, it is not. It is not fine to believe something that will make you miss heaven. And the only way that we'll get to heaven is if we do what God says will get us to heaven. I hope you understand I'm saying truth here tonight, and it's nothing to do with anybody being in this church, let alone any church. Though we do go to church, but not to get to heaven.

Now here is what Jesus is saying. I'm going to heaven, and you do know how to get there, don't you? Now notice verse five. Thomas saith to them, Lord, we know not whither thou goest. How can we go know the way?

I don't know how to get to heaven. And then he says, how do we get to heaven? And he tells them. Now notice John fourteen six, Jesus saith unto him, I am the way. I am the truth.

I am the life. And then he adds this, no man cometh under the father but by me. Now, some people think they're going to get to God by their own works. Jesus said not by that. Ephesians two eight, not by works, it's by me.

Some say it's going to be Allah. The Bible says no man cometh under the father but by me. Some say the Virgin Mary. No man cometh under the father but by me. Some say the Baptist church and the Baptist Street, no man cometh under the father but by me.

You cannot get to heaven any other way than by Jesus. And I cannot get there and we want to all get there and the only way we get there is by Jesus. The Bible teaches he died on the cross to save us all from our sins. Our sins are in all of us and our sins condemn us to hell, but then Jesus blood washes away our sins. And the only way we get that is not by the water in a baptistery, not by a wafer in a Catholic church, not by the good deeds of those good people that do good things in a Methodist church, but if they trust those good deeds, never get there.

Faith in Jesus alone. Whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. I close with one illustration. Years ago, and it's supposedly true story, there was a ship that had a storm and a huge sail was up and the sail got ripped. And so a sailor had to go work on it, and there are two parts to the story, And so when he was up trying to sow it, a huge wave came and hit the side of the boat and it shot him off and into the water.

Literally would have drowned and somebody hollered man overboard and someone threw him a lifeline and brought him in and he was saved. Now as he was holding that rope, he was so afraid and scared that in a state of shock, he just kept holding it even though he was already safe. And he said, you're safe now. Let go of the rope. And he didn't say a word.

He just stared into the sky, holding on to the rope, and he wouldn't let go. And so finally, the captain came. What happened? Well, he fell over, sir, but we saved him. He's here, and everything's fine.

But he won't let go of the rope. So the captain looked and he said, oh, okay. He's afraid. He said, sailor, you're safe now. This is your captain speaking.

Let go of the rope. And he didn't say a word. So the captain, knowing in a state of shock, got down on a knee, put his hand around his mouth, and he said, sailor, this is your captain speaking. Let go of the rope. Nothing.

So finally he said, I order you, let go of the rope and you do not disobey an order of the captain without big consequences. So, that shocked him out of it enough that he able to turn and look his head and he said, sir, I can't let go. He said, let go. I can't let go. He said, I and he finally said, I can't let go, sir.

I crapped it for my life and I can't let go. How many of you have ever had a cramp in your hand and you can't straighten out your fingers? When I threw that rope to him, he grabbed it with such intensity, his muscles cramped around the rope and he could not let go. And he realized if he didn't get that rope, he was dead. And here's what I'm doing in essence, I'm throwing you the lifeline.

The lifeline is Jesus Christ and you better grab him. And you can do that tonight. Now there was a fellow. This is the second part of that and it's over. It's more than eight.

It's 08:05 and I'm done with this. He threw a lifeline. He grabbed the lifeline, but he still died. Let me explain. He was a drunk.

He was on a boat with other drunks, and one of those drunks was on the boat intoxicated, and the waters came. True story. I found about it last year. And a guy is going around back and forth and being drunk. He's walking around and he fell off the boat and he fell into the water and one of the other drunks, he knew what had happened.

So he picked up a lifeline and he and he threw it out to his buddy and he was intoxicated. And it went out and it went out and his buddy grabbed it and it went out and it went out and it slipped right through his fingers And it went out and it went out and he grabbed the rope and he held onto the rope and he sunk and he sunk and he sunk and they couldn't find his body. Friend of mine has a son who's a diver and he went over there and he dove and he looked for the body. Expert in it. They brought him in from a couple hours away and they found the body.

He found the body. Nobody else could but he did. And when it was done, you know what he told his dad? His dad's name is a junior friend of mine. He said, dad, I found his body.

He said, yeah, I know. I'm proud of you, son. You're you're an expert at this. No one else could find it, but you did. He said, dad, when I found his body, he was still holding on to the rope that his friend threw him and let go.

And you know what happened to him? He grabbed a rope but he grabbed the wrong one. And what I'm saying is trusting your good works is the wrong rope. Jesus is the right rope. Trusting the Baptist baptistry is the wrong rope.

And I'm a Baptist. Do I hate Baptist? No, I am one. Trusting the Virgin Mary, wrong rope. Trusting the Methodist good deeds, wrong rope.

And you've gotta make sure you're grabbing the right rope. The lifeline is Jesus Christ and and you need to grab him. Okay? Now, I want you in heaven. We all wanna be in heaven.

I sometimes preach harder than this. Sometimes, I just try to get it just right with God's help. I want you to see the danger you're in without Jesus, but I want you to see the hope you can have with Jesus. Let's bow our heads. Now, with our heads bowed and our eyes closed this evening, how many of you this evening would say, brother Mike, if I were to die today, I know that I would go to heaven and I have a bible reason why I'm sure I'm gonna go to heaven.

Now if you don't know you're gonna go to heaven, all it means is you don't know. It doesn't mean you're terrible, worse than anybody, but you don't know. So don't lie about it because it won't help you to lie about it at all. This is where we get help. Now how many would say I absolutely am positive I'm going to heaven and I have a Bible reason why I'm sure of it.

If you do, raise your hand. If not, don't be embarrassed. Okay? Alright. Thank you.

Thank you. Thank you. You can put your hands down. So there is a heaven, but there is a hell and it's hot and it's fire and it's brimstone and it is everlasting according to Lord Jesus. And he does not want you to go there.

But you have something to do with it if you will take the lifeline instead of trusting that you're a Baptist church member or whatever you might be. And put your faith in Jesus only. And is there anybody here tonight who would say, brother Mike, I do not know that I'm on my way to heaven, but I want to and I want to put my faith in Jesus the best that I know how to save my soul. God bless you there. Thank you.

God bless you there. Thank you. Is there anybody else along with these two? God bless you there. There's a third.

There's a fourth. Is there anybody else? I do not know I'm going to heaven, but I don't wanna go to hell and I want help. Four have raised their hand. Is there another?

Is there another? Now, I wanna ask one more question. Is there anybody here who would say, brother Mike, I know that I'm going to heaven, but I can think of people that aren't. And in light of this message, I've got some more people that I wanna try to keep from going to hell. Would you pray for me that I could help these friends of mine and family?

Would you just lift up a hand if you've got someone on your heart like that? Okay. Good. In a moment, we're gonna invite you to get help, and we're also gonna invite you to pray for these that you're burdened for. Father, I pray now this invitation time for those who do not know they're on their way to heaven but want to to get the help that they need and that we could explain it and that they could be sure they're going to go to heaven by faith in Jesus and know how it happens.

And then Lord, for these who cannot raise their hand but don't know they're going to heaven, to know that with all the love in our hearts, we want them in heaven, not hell. And until they do business and prepare for eternity, in spite of how religious they are, how nice they are without Jesus only as their only hope, they will never get into the gates of heaven. Help them to see it and to see their need. Now with our heads bowed, there were four that raised their hand, and I like to help you four if I can with no one looking if you don't mind, but these four so they feel comfortable and not intimidated. Now you four that raise your hand, you want help, if you're comfortable, just look at me just a second, you four.

Alright. Good. Did you mean you want help? Alright. I'm gonna help you.

Did you mean you want help? Did you mean you want help? And over here, did you mean it? Now here's what I like to do. We've got people that can take in the back two rooms in ten minutes, open a Bible, show you how to go to heaven.

It might take ten minutes. It might take fifteen. Would you be comfortable talking with a lady about it? Okay. Would you be comfortable talking with a man about it, boys?

Good. Would you be comfortable with a lady? Why don't you just, if you're comfortable, slip out right now and go back to a pastor if you're comfortable and we'll get somebody to help you. So if someone's in your way, they'll move, but you just come and go back and we'll get somebody to help you. That's right.

If you'll go, we'll help you. God bless you there. God bless you there. Young person, if you'll just go, we'll help you. But here's what we're gonna do.

We also wanna help us and get us a chance to pray. So let's all stand to our feet. And as we stand to our feet, I'm going to invite in just a moment those who others who would like to be saved. You don't know you're gonna go to heaven. I'm gonna invite you to go toward the back and pray and get somebody to help you.

And then those of you have someone you wanna pray for for their soul, I wanna invite you to come and just kneel at the front and say, Lord, I'm praying for this person, I'm praying for that person, and just give you a chance to pray to God. But let's do this. With our heads bowed, I want to is there anybody who would say there's someone in the building? I'm not sure they're saved, and I want you to pray for them. Okay.

So here's what I want you to do. I see some heads nodding. I'll pray also during this invitation. And if you have someone you wanna talk to, just go to them and be kind and say, if you don't know for sure, I'll go with you. But across the room, I'm gonna ask, miss Katie to play.

And as she plays, I'm gonna invite you slip out if you have anything you wanna pray about. You wanna pray about an unsaved soul, then come and pray for them.