You're going to live forever.  Everybody is.  Bodies die, people don't, and you will live forever as you.  Annihilation again is a lie, soul sleep is a lie, reincarnation is a lie, evolution is a lie, you're not evolving into somebody else and you're not cycling back as somebody else, you're you and you'll be you forever somewhere and you have only two places as possibilities. 1 Timothy 4:8   Paul says, "Bodily discipline is only of little profit."  You spend all your time fussing around with your physical body, it has little profit because it's a perishable commodity.  "But godliness is profitable for all things."  Why?  Because " since it holds promise not only for the present life but also the life to come."  If you're going to work on something, work on the part of you that lasts forever.  See, this society in which we live, maniacal about the perishing flesh and indifferent to the eternal soul.

All evangelism, beloved, begins here.  It is not about this life.  It is not about prosperity in this life.  It is not about health in this life.  It is not about happiness in this life.  It is not about healing in this life.  It is not about success.  It is not about money.  It is not about possessions.  It is not about freedom from trouble. That's junk-bond evangelism.  It's not about that.  That bilks people out of their souls on false premises.  Run from people who sell that; they're false teachers.  And so, if you're going to do some evangelism, you've got to move people from “Jesus is going to fix me here,” to “Jesus is going to deliver me in the life to come.”  Until the sinner really understands that, evangelism can't even start.

So the enemy loves to propagate the lie that there is no eternal destiny. You die and you just become protoplasm that turns into manure and that's it.  You fertilize the soil you're in and that's the end.  So live it up while you can.  This is the dominant lie in our society propagated by evolutionists and humanists and materialists and atheists who refuse to believe in a Creator because if they did, He would be the supreme Judge, and if He was the supreme Judge they're in serious trouble.  You will live forever: either in the presence of God or as 2 Thessalonians 1 says, "away from His presence."  And you will be conscious and all of your faculties heighten to their maximum capability so that you will feel all the pain of hell and all the joys of heaven.

And again, this is very unpopular in evangelism today because talking about hell is unpopular.  It's sort of uncouth.  And talking about heaven is unpopular because everybody would rather stay here.  We don't talk about that.  We just want to talk about how things could be better in this life, how Jesus can be the fixer of this life. You remember how often Jesus talked about hell, weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, outer darkness where the fires never quench, the worm never dies, graphic language, Matthew 8:12, Matthew 22:13, Matthew 24:51,25:30. etc.  If you're going to do any evangelism that's legitimate, you have to clarify the reality of eternal destiny.  This is the first task of the evangelist.  This is the first task of evangelism.  Nobody is going to come to ask the question, “What do I do to inherit eternal life?” if eternal life isn't a compelling issue.  How do we get there?  We've got to stop talking about the issues in this life and motivate people for the life to come.

I talked to somebody yesterday for a long conversation.  He told me of just a horrendous experience, his personal experience in his life, all kinds of pain, suffering, no way out, bad relationship.  He said, "What do I do?"

I said, "Hope in heaven."  I said, "I don't think you can fix it.  Put it aside, it's part of this world.  And remember that Jesus said: “These things I have spoken to you, so that in Me you may have peace. In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33.  Consider it for what it is, it's the world. 

That's where you have to go in this matter of evangelism. I'll try to make it as practical as I can.  When you evangelize someone typically in this environment, when the church evangelizes in this environment, the whole idea is to work with felt needs, right?  Let's find out what their addictions are.  Let's find out what their little quirks are, their disappointments are.  What their challenges in life are, what they feel isn't the way they would exactly like it to be in their life.  You know, maybe they don't look like they think they should look and maybe they're heavier than they think they should be.  You know, maybe they've got a bad smoking habit, drinking habit, an addiction, blah, blah, blah, on and on.  Let's find out what their little deal is and we'll slide in there and we'll say, The driving motivation for salvation has nothing to do with this life, nothing.  There is no promise in the gospel that you're going to have a trouble-free life.  There's no promise in the gospel that you're going to have a pain-free life and that you're going to have a happy, successful life.  The message of the gospel takes care of what happens in the next life.  And while you're here, you endure in hope.  And that's what I told the person I talked to, I said, "This is where hope kicks in."

You may be successful in this life. You may be wealthy in this life.  You may be healthy in this life.  You may be content in this life.  You may have a great marriage, a great partner, good kids, nice home, good career, and so do many who have no knowledge of Christ at all.  And you may, on the other hand, be miserable in this life, married to a jerk, married to somebody who is unfaithful, with lousy kids who just do nothing but drive you crazy.  You may get cancer and fight it for fifteen years.  You may always wish to be something and do something and never do it.  Some of you may wish to get married and wind up single your whole life, much to your dismay.  And so do many other Christians.  You never measure the issues of salvation by what's going on in this life.  It's about the life to come.  In this world you're going to have tribulation. But what's going to give you the upper hand in your suffering is the hope of the life to come, and that produces present joy.

We've got to stop offering a gospel that intends to help people buy a bigger SUV. That is absolutely absurd...or any other temporal thing.  We're talking about forever here, not now.

You say, "Well, are you saying that Jesus doesn't do anything now?"  Sure He does.  He gives you the grace and the peace and the joy to endure now with all of its disappointments, and to turn some of its sorrows into joy because trials do perfect us.  Why?  They drive us to Him.  They make us love Him more, hope for heaven more, and that makes us a more healthy Christian.  We've got to deal with people on the basis of eternal issues.  And I don't see that happening in evangelism.