["Pomp and Circumstance"]
Would grab a hymnal and turn to him number
131
Christ is all I need, hymn number 131
Go ahead and sing there right on the first
Christ is all I need
All
I need
Christ is all I need
He was crucified for me
That's why
He loves me so
Good singing will open with a word of prayer
Dear Father, thank you for this opportunity
to gather together as a church this evening Lord
I pray that you would bless the remainder of this service and
Give us ears to hear the message that you've laid on brother Dylan's heart in Jesus name. I pray amen
For our next hymn if you would turn in your hymnals to hymn number
27 the old rugged cross
Hymn number 27
Hymn number 27, we'll go ahead and start there right on the first on a hill far away
stood an old
rugged cross
the
emblem of suffering and shame
And I love an old cross where the dearest and best
for a world
of lost sinners
was slain
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will claim to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown
Oh that old rugged cross
So despised by the world as a wondrous attraction
for me
For the dear lamb of God left his glory
To bear into dark Calvary
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will claim to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown
In the old rugged cross
Saved with what so divine
A wondrous beauty I see
For it was all an old cross
A solid old cross
Jesus suffered and died
To pardon and sanctify me
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will claim to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown
To the old rugged cross
I will never be true
If shame and reproach gladly bear
Then he'll call me some day
To my home far away
Where his glory forever I'll share
So I'll cherish the old rugged cross
Till my trophies at last I lay down
I will claim to the old rugged cross
And exchange it some day for a crown
Good singing, everyone. Good evening. Welcome to Steadfast Baptist Church.
At this time we'll go ahead and go through our announcements.
If you don't have a bulletin, raise your hand.
Brother Cameron will bring you one.
On the front there we have our Bible memory verse of the week,
which we're starting a new chapter here, Hebrews chapter 6.
I highly encourage everyone to give it all you got this chapter and memorize with us throughout the weeks.
And I do actually have the prizes for those who completed the last challenge.
So if you finished the last Bible memory passage, go ahead and come up at this time and claim your prize.
Go ahead and just come up right here and grab it off the pulpit.
No worries. Don't be shy. Come and get your prize.
Everyone stare at them awkwardly. No, just kidding. Good job, guys.
Alright, while they're grabbing those, I'll start going through the announcements here.
On the left-hand side in our bulletin, we have our service times.
1030 a.m. Sunday morning, Sunday evening.
This is going to be the last Sunday that we have our evening service at 530 p.m.
Next week that is being moved up to 430 p.m.
So looking forward to that change. Do remember that for next week.
Wednesday evening at 7 o'clock p.m. This upcoming Wednesday is our first Wednesday service.
So no longer is there going to be a Thursday midweek service.
That's going to be on Wednesday like a regular church now.
So that's great, right?
7 o'clock p.m. on Wednesday.
Sowing times are listed there. All those meet here at the church building.
If you have any questions, you can contact the respective leaders there that are listed.
Speaking of contact information, this morning, I didn't go over this.
In this pulpit copy right here of the bulletin, I wrote down my phone number and my wife's phone number.
If you would, after service, and I'll put this in the bulletin next week or possibly even Wednesday.
But after service, you can just come up here and make sure that you get our contact information.
If you're a man, please send me a text with your name and even a picture of your family would be great so I can learn everyone's names.
If you're a lady, please do the same for my wife. I listed both of our phone numbers there.
So I just want to make sure that we can get ahold of everyone and everyone can get ahold of us if you ever need anything.
We have our nursing home ministry schedule listed there. That's Sundays at 2 o'clock p.m.
We do have our soul winning stats listed there and baptisms on September 1st.
That's going to be the next 5th Sunday fellowship and the theme for that is family favorite dishes.
So definitely looking forward to seeing what you guys got in the cooking department here. It's going to be great for sure.
Upcoming events, like I mentioned, this Wednesday is going to be our evening Bible study.
The men's conference is this Thursday, August 15th.
And like I had mentioned this morning, Evangelist Fur will send out a message regarding logistics for planning rides and carpooling and stuff like that.
So be on the lookout for that if you did sign up for the conference.
And on Saturday, August 24th, there is a ladies fellowship event.
And I was told before the service there is a sign up sheet for that in the back by Brother Hall.
So ladies, if you want to go to that, please do sign up.
October 4th through the 6th is the Heritage of the Lord conference down at Steadfast Baptist Church in Cedar Hill.
Definitely if you can make it to that, that would be great.
And once the schedule comes out for that, that kind of might give you an idea of where you want to stay.
Because here's the thing you've got to realize about DFWs.
When they do events down there, sometimes church could be in Cedar Hill, the softball game could be in Hurst, the ice skating could be in Arlington.
So depending on the schedule and the events that Pastor Shelley decides, that might give you an idea of where you want to stay.
Sometimes it might be better to stay more central to DFW than right by the church.
Because yeah, you're right by the church, but then you've got to drive 45 minutes to Hurst.
So that's up to you to decide, but just be on the lookout for announcements from him as far as where the different events are going to be had.
I think that'll help you guys make an informed decision on that.
That's all we have for announcements this evening. We'll go ahead and go to our next song.
Alright, for our next song if you would, take a hymnal and turn to hymn number 39.
How beautiful heaven must be, hymn number 39.
Hymn number 39, we'll go ahead and sing that right on the first.
We read of a place that's called heaven.
It's made for the pure and the free.
These truths in God's word he hath given.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Sweet home of the happy and free.
Fair haven of rest for the weary.
How beautiful heaven must be.
In heaven no drooping nor pining.
No wishing for elsewhere to be.
God's light is forever there shining.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Sweet home of the happy and free.
Fair haven of rest for the weary.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Pure waters of life there are flowing.
And all who will drink may be free.
Rare jewels of splendor are glowing.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Sweet home of the happy and free.
Fair haven of rest for the weary.
How beautiful heaven must be.
The angels so sweetly are singing.
Up there by the beautiful sea.
Sweet chords from their cold hearts are ringing.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Sweet home of the happy and free.
Fair haven of rest for the weary.
How beautiful heaven must be.
Amen. Good singing as the offering plates are being passed around.
Turn in your Bibles to Romans chapter number six.
Romans chapter number six.
Good evening. Romans chapter number six tonight.
Romans six.
The Bible reads, What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound?
God forbid, how shall we that are dead to sin live any longer therein?
Know ye not that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?
Therefore, we are buried with him in baptism into death, that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father,
even so we also should walk in newness of life.
For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death,
we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection,
knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him,
that the body of sin might be destroyed, and henceforth we should not serve sin.
For he that is dead is freed from sin.
Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him,
knowing that Christ being raised from the dead, dieth no more, death hath no more dominion over him.
For in that he died, he died into sin once, but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.
Likewise, reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Let not therefore reign in your mortal body that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof,
neither yield your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin,
as those that are alive from the dead, as those that are alive from the dead,
and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.
For sin shall not have dominion over you, for ye are not under the law but undergraced.
What then shall we sin because we are not under the law but under grace? God forbid.
Know ye not that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey his servants,
or to whom ye obey rather of sin or of death or of obedience or righteousness,
but God be thanked that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you,
being then made free from sin ye became the servants of righteousness.
I speak after a manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh,
for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity and to iniquity,
even so now yield your members as to righteousness and to holiness,
for when ye were the servants of sin ye were free from righteousness.
What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed,
for the end of those things is death.
But now being made free from sin and become servants to God,
ye have your fruit unto the holiness and the end everlasting life.
For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Heavenly Father, Lord, we just thank you so much for today,
and Lord we just pray that you would bless Brother Oz and just give him the words to speak.
I pray you be with this congregation and help us to focus on what you have for us.
In Jesus' precious name we pray, Amen.
Amen.
Alright, well we are in Romans chapter number 6, and let's read verse 23.
It says, For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.
This evening I want to preach a sermon about one of the aspects of the afterlife,
and the title of my sermon is The Second Death.
You know there's a lot of weird beliefs regarding hell and the second death,
and the afterlife in our country today and in churches today,
and just so you know I'm a guy that kind of likes statistics,
so I like bringing in different surveys and statistics into my sermon,
but I found this Pew research poll, and it was about Americans' views on the afterlife.
Let me just give you some context of like where people are at today in America,
and what people believe about the afterlife,
and if you're a soul winner you know a lot of this you already know,
but if not let me just give you some perspective here.
Of all U.S. adults, 73% believe in a heaven.
Of all U.S. adults, 62% believe in hell,
and if you go out soul winning there's often times people where they believe in a heaven,
but they don't believe in a hell,
or they definitely don't believe in a biblical hell.
I've even heard this all the time.
We're in hell right now,
and you know I'm soul winning around Cedar Hill,
and I'm like yeah I know it's hot in Texas,
but we're not in hell okay,
or I've even said this I've said well those are some beautiful children you have.
I don't think you'd have that in hell,
and I'm like yeah we're not in hell right now regardless of how bad your life is.
By the way, out soul winning you should always ask someone if they believe in hell,
because as you can see a lot of people don't believe in hell,
so what I do when I go soul winning is I present the fact that we're all sinners,
that we're all deserving of hell,
and I ask them do you believe that hell is real,
and then that's when they'll either tell me oh we're in hell right now,
or sometimes they may say yes,
and this is always what I do.
I always say how would you describe hell,
and tell me if they truly believe in a biblical hell or not,
because if they say well hell is just separation from God,
or well we're in hell right now or anything like that,
then I know that okay this person doesn't actually truly understand hell,
and if someone is going to recognize the fact that they need to get saved,
they need to understand what they're being saved from,
so I ask them that question so that then I could show them really quick what the Bible says about hell,
then move on in my presentation,
but if you look at these statistics you definitely should be asking that question.
Of all Protestants polled in America, 93% believe in heaven, 79% believe in hell,
so even of Protestants less than 80% believe in hell.
Historically black churches, 93% believe in heaven, 89% believe in hell,
so more of them believe in hell.
Catholics, 90% believe in heaven, 74% believe in hell.
Republicans, 85% believe in heaven, 75% believe in hell.
Democrats, 64% believe in heaven, only 52% believe in hell.
I'm shocked that it's even that high, that 52% of Democrats believe in hell.
I don't know if that's right.
One in six Americans believe in no afterlife at all,
that just you die, you close your eyes, it's over, you cease to exist.
That's what a lot of people believe.
When asked if people who do not believe in God can go to heaven,
4 out of 10 Americans said yes.
So 40% of Americans say even if you don't believe in God,
you still go to heaven when you die.
58% of Americans identifying as Christians said that non-Christians can go to heaven.
And man, can't you see the result of preachers like Billy Graham,
where he was saying that he believes as long as people just follow the light
that they have in their life, that they'll go to heaven,
to where now 58% of Americans that claim to be Christians
say that you don't have to be a Christian to get to heaven.
It just goes to show the level of confusion that's on this topic
and just the lack of Bible reading that's happening regarding this subject.
And so tonight we're just going to look at a lot of Bible
and we're going to try to get a general nature of what the second death is like.
So we're here in Romans, chapter number six.
Number one, let's talk about the nature of the second death.
Now, what you have to realize about the second death
is that there's actually a physical aspect to the second death
and there's a spiritual aspect to the second death.
Let's read Romans 6 23. It says,
For the wages of sin is death.
Now, just about everybody uses this verse out soul winning,
but oftentimes what I hear people say is they'll say,
Well, for the wages of sin is death.
Now, the first death is physical and the second death is spiritual.
And I understand what people are meaning by that,
and I used to say that myself out soul winning,
but technically that is not correct.
It is not correct to say that the first death is physical
and that the second death is spiritual.
Now, I'm going to show that to you.
Go to Romans, chapter number seven, flip the page.
What you have to understand about the word death in the Bible,
that death could have actually a lot of different meanings in the Bible.
It could be talking about authority.
It could be talking about a spiritual state.
It could be talking about the shedding of your physical body,
dying in the sense that we use it.
Let's look at Romans, chapter number seven, verse one.
It says, Know ye not, brethren,
for I speak to them that know the law,
how that the law hath dominion over a man
as long as he liveth.
For the woman which hath an husband
is bound by the law to her husband
so long as he liveth.
But if the husband be dead,
she is loosed from the law of her husband.
So, what context does dead mean here?
It means the shedding of your physical body.
And as a result of that,
the woman is no longer under the authority of that man
because he's dead.
So then if while her husband liveth,
she be married to another man,
she shall be called an adulteress.
But if her husband be dead,
she is free from that law
so that she is no adulteress
though she be married to another man.
Wherefore, my brethren,
ye also are become dead to the law
by the body of Christ
that ye should be married to another,
even to him who is raised from the dead
that we should bring forth fruit unto God.
So the Bible's saying,
it's using this analogy of a woman
that's married to a man who dies.
He's dead. And so because of that,
she's no longer under the dominion
or the authority of that husband
because he's dead.
And she's now able to be married to another.
Just like because Jesus has come,
because Jesus has died on the cross,
because we put our faith in Jesus Christ,
we've now become dead to the law,
meaning that it just has no authority over us.
Jesus Christ has died for all of our sins
and even though we break the law,
it's not able to subjugate us anymore.
It's not able to keep us in bondage anymore
because otherwise if salvation wasn't by faith,
it would still be keeping us down in bondage
because we would never be good enough
to keep the law perfectly.
So that's kind of the analogy
that the Bible's using there,
but let's keep reading in verse five.
It says, for when we were in the flesh,
the motions of sins which were by the law
should work in our members
to bring forth fruit unto death,
but now we are delivered from the law
that being dead wherein we were held
that we should serve in newness of spirit
and not in the oldness of the letter.
What shall we say then?
Is the law sin? God forbid.
Nay, I had not known sin but by the law,
for I had not known lust,
except the law had said thou shalt not covet.
But sin, taking occasion by the commandment,
wrought in me all manner of concupiscence,
for without the law,
sin was dead.
Now, here's the important verse
I want you to focus on, verse nine.
It says, for I was alive without the law at once,
but when the commandment came,
sin revived and I died.
When people out somebody say,
you know, the first death is physical,
the second death is spiritual,
it's actually not true.
The first death is spiritual
because according to the Bible,
we were alive once before we sinned.
We were spiritually alive.
We were spiritually alive on the eve
and before they sinned,
they were in the same state.
But just like God said,
if you eat of the tree of the knowledge
of good and evil, you will die.
And what kind of death was it talking about?
It was talking about a spiritual death.
And in the very same day that they ate of that fruit,
they did die spiritually.
Just like the first time that we ever sin against God,
we die in a sense.
Our spirit dies in a sense
and we are now dead.
Now, here's the thing.
When a person is unsaved,
they are in a state of death.
They are dead.
That's what the Bible is saying here.
Paul is saying, when the law came,
when I understood what the Bible says
and I sinned, I actually died.
So death actually, the first death,
is spiritual.
Verse 10, in the commandment
which was ordained to life,
I found to be unto death.
For sin taking occasion by the commandment
deceived me and by it slew me.
I mean, listen to the language here
like the Bible didn't get up
and just strangle him to death,
physically speaking, no.
He broke the law of God
and because of his own lust,
because of his own sinful nature
and because of that, Paul became dead.
Same thing for all of us.
The first time that we ever sinned,
we became dead.
And here's what you have to understand about death.
Death is simply a state of being.
Its location can vary.
And I'll talk about this later on the sermon,
but you could be dead spiritually
and be in hell, the center of the earth.
You could be twice dead
and be walking on this earth
and be without hope of salvation ever.
And you could be dead
and be located in the lake of fire.
So what you have to understand about that word death
is it's simply a state of being.
Really, when you think about the second death,
the first death is spiritual
and the second death
that's talked about in Revelation
actually has a physical aspect to it.
Let's go to Luke chapter number 16.
Luke chapter number 16.
Let's talk more just a little bit about the afterlife here.
Luke chapter number 16.
Verse number 19.
There was a certain rich man
which was clothed in purple and fine linen
and fared sumptuously every day.
He was a really rich guy.
Verse 20.
And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus
which was laid at his gate full of sores
and desiring to be fed with the crumbs
of the devil.
Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores
and it came to pass that the beggar died
and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
What kind of death is that talking about?
That's talking about a physical death.
Well, we know it's not spiritual
because he's carried up to Abraham's bosom.
Sorry, dispensationalist.
That's just talking about going to heaven
because that's where Abraham is
and he was brought to his chest.
Okay, that's another sermon for another time.
But let's keep reading.
Now the rich man is not saved.
He had already died once spiritually
the first time he ever sinned.
This one's talking about the shedding of his body.
But notice what happens at the same time.
It says, and in hell he lift up his eyes
being in torments and seeth Abraham afar off
and Lazarus in his bosom.
So notice an unsaved person,
if someone dies being in that state,
that spiritual state of being dead,
immediately they lift up their eyes in hell in torments.
You know, that's the shocking reason
for the reality of the afterlife
that people need to learn in America today.
There's no such thing as purgatory.
Well, if you die and you're unsaved,
there's no hope for you.
You're forever in torments and anguish
in flames for all of eternity.
And yeah, they go to hell
and eventually that's relocated to the second death.
We'll talk about that later.
But they will be in that state of death for all of eternity.
They were when they sinned.
They stay in that state of death for all of eternity.
The location may change,
but they are dead people forever and ever.
And that whosoever liveth and believeth in me
shall never die.
What is that talking about?
That's talking about spiritually, right?
Because once we're born again,
we're a new creature.
Our spirit is revived.
Our spirit is new.
And that spirit will never ever die
because we have eternal life.
We're saved for forever.
But the same cannot be said of the unsaved.
Verse 24 says, and he cried and said,
Father Abraham, have mercy on me
and send Lazarus that he may dip
in the flame.
So notice death, like I said,
is a state of being.
Hell is one of its locations.
And here what this is talking about is hell.
Verse 23 says, and in hell, he lift up his eyes.
What is hell described as?
Well, it's someone there that's being in torment.
It's someone that's crying out in pain.
It's someone that's begging for a drop of water
to cool their tongue.
It's someone that's being tormented in flames.
You know, and I think the reason why
a lot of people don't want to believe
what the Bible says about hell
or about the second death
is because it's just an awful, awful truth
to think about.
You know what?
Just because we don't like something
doesn't mean it's not real.
You know, there's a lot of things in this world
that you may not necessarily like,
but you don't get to just change reality
because you like something or you don't.
The wise person, yeah, they may think,
well, I don't like the idea of hell,
but you should be wise enough to believe
on Jesus Christ so that you don't go there
because a lot of people are hesitant
to believe in Jesus Christ
because they may realize that
a loved one died being unsaved
and that they're in hell right now
and they don't want to accept that truth
and face that truth and so they themselves
sometimes don't want to believe in Jesus Christ.
Who's heard something like that out so many?
It happens, but man, just read the Bible,
read Luke 16 and realize you should never
want to go to this place.
You go to this place, there's no hope
for you ever in all of eternity.
Let's learn some details about hell.
Matthew chapter number 12.
Let's look at verse 40.
Jesus said this,
for as Jonas was three days
and three nights in the whale's belly,
so shall the Son of Man be three days
and three nights in the heart of the earth.
So according to the Bible,
where is hell located?
It's located in the center of the earth
and even secular people acknowledge
that what's at the center of the earth?
Fire, magma, fire.
How you would describe hell is how it is,
but here's the thing about hell.
Hell, yes, it's located in the center of the earth,
but it is a spiritual place.
It is a spiritual realm.
I don't believe that if somehow
we were able to tunnel down
all the way to the center of the earth
and we were able to tunnel into
the center of the earth,
I don't believe you would see people
down there screaming.
I don't think you would be able
to hear the screams.
Why? Because it is a spiritual realm.
It is very real.
Oh, it exists.
People are there.
They're really feeling the pain.
They will for all of eternity.
They're really in the bottomless pit,
but I'm just saying in our human flesh,
in our carnal eyes, us alive,
I don't think that we'd be able to see that.
It does take faith to believe
the promises of the Bible,
but I do believe with all my heart
that that's where it is.
You can stay there.
I'll read for you Acts 231.
That's a really easy verse to understand.
The Bible says very clearly that
Jesus' soul was not left in hell,
meaning that it was there at one point.
A lot of Christians don't like this,
and even a lot of Bible versions
will change the word hell to Hades here
because they want to confuse the reader.
Hell is a very easily understood word.
When I say hell, everyone knows
what I'm talking about.
When you show someone from the Bible,
it's very clear, but Hades is not as clear.
People are like, what is that?
That's not Greek mythology.
It makes me think of Greek mythology,
but no, Jesus was actually in hell.
Go to Psalm chapter number 16.
Psalm 16.
Many people deny this today,
but I'll show you that the Bible
is very clear about it.
Psalm 16 verse 9, the Bible says,
Therefore my heart is glad,
and my glory rejoiceth.
My flesh also shall rest in hope,
for thou wilt not leave my soul in hell,
neither wilt thou suffer,
thine holy one, to see corruption.
Notice Jesus here saying that
his flesh is going to rest in hope.
Why would he need to have hope?
Well, because he's experiencing hell.
I don't need hope if I'm going through
something that's really pleasant
and enjoyable.
No, you need hope when you're going
through something that's really hard,
and you have hope that you're going
through something that's really hard.
He's saying here that he had hope
because, why? Because he was in hell.
Let me read for you.
You can go to Jude.
While you're going to Jude,
I'll read for you Hebrews 2, 9.
It says this,
But we see Jesus,
who is made a little lower than the angels
for the suffering of death,
crowned with glory and honor,
that he, by the grace of God,
should taste death for every man.
We're talking about death here.
We're talking about the death of his physical body,
because here the Bible is saying that
Jesus tasted death for every man.
Tasting is when you are experiencing
something for a very short amount of time.
Look, Jesus didn't just barely
experience a physical death.
He actually had a full-on physical death.
He didn't just taste of death in that sense.
He actually fully died.
He was fully killed.
But when it comes to hell,
Jesus was only there for three days
and three nights.
He tasted death for every man.
So, he experienced the physical death,
but what death is this talking about?
That's talking about actually being in hell.
So, you could be dead on earth.
You could be dead in hell.
You could be dead in the lake of fire.
You could be twice dead while walking this earth too.
Jude, I'm going to talk a little bit
about people that are twice dead.
Speaking of false prophets,
look at verse 11, it says,
For they have gone in the way of Cain
and ran greedily after the error of Balaam
for reward, and perished in the gainsaying
of the dead.
So, we're talking about false prophets here.
It says, These are spots in your feasts of charity
when they feast with you,
feeding themselves without fear,
clouds they are without water,
carried about of winds,
trees whose fruit withereth,
without fruit, notice this, twice dead,
plucked up by the roots.
You know, Jesus talks about being born again
because we're born physically of our mother
and once we believe in Jesus Christ,
we're born again spiritually.
So, in a sense, we're like twice birthed.
But there's people on this earth that are twice dead,
meaning that they sinned once
and because of that they're in a spiritual state
of being dead and then they can get to a point
where they've rejected God so many times,
they've rejected the Bible so many times
where God actually turns them over
to a reprobate mind, he rejects them
and they're now twice dead.
Meaning there's no more hope for them,
there's no way that they could believe
the gospel and be saved,
they've rejected them too many times.
And think about it, everyone that is
in the lake of fire is twice dead.
That's literally called the second death
and God is saying here, look,
you can get to a point even on this earth,
even while you're still alive in your physical body,
where your eternity is already sealed
just like the people that are in the lake of fire.
Just like the people that will experience
the second death someday in the biblical context
of Revelation 20, the same thing could happen
to someone while they're alive
where they're twice dead.
Now go to Revelation chapter number 20,
Revelation chapter number 20.
So I would say the first death
is spiritual and the second death,
all capitals, the second death proper
that I'm talking about in Revelation,
is spiritual.
Revelation 20 verse 1, it says this,
And I saw an angel come down from heaven
having the keys of the bottomless pit
and a great chain in his hand.
So what's the bottomless pit?
That's hell. Verse 2.
And he laid hold on the dragon,
that old serpent, which is the devil
and Satan, and bound him a thousand years
and cast him into the bottomless pit.
So someday the devil himself is actually
going to be bound in hell in the center
of the earth for a thousand years.
It says, And shut him up and set a seal
upon him that he should deceive the nations
no more till the thousand years
should be fulfilled.
And after that he must be loosed
a little season. When it's talking
about the thousand years there,
it's talking about the millennial reign
of Christ. During that time,
the devil's actually bound up,
he's in hell, he's in the center of the earth
and he's not going about deceiving
and healing and reigning on this earth
and his law is prospering, the word of God
is prospering, the devil isn't there
to deceive the nations. He's not there
with his weapons of mass distraction
during this time. The devil's bound up.
Verse 4, it says, And I saw thrones
and they sat upon them and judgment
was given unto them. And I saw the souls
of them that were beheaded for the witness
of Jesus, this is about saved people,
and for the word of God, and which had
not worshiped the beast, neither his image,
neither had received his mark upon their
foreheads or in their hands, and they lived
not again until Christ, a thousand years.
But the rest of the dead, keep this in mind,
lived not again until the thousand years
were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Now in this context, what's the dead
referring to? It's talking about saved
believers that are just sleeping in Christ,
saying, yeah, they've experienced physical
death, but it says they're dead,
they live not again until, meaning they
will live again, right? And that's the good
news, it says, Blessed and holy is he
that hath part in the first resurrection
of Christ, a thousand years. But the rest
of the dead, keep this in mind,
until the second resurrection. On such,
the second death hath no power. But they
shall be priests of God and of Christ,
and shall reign with him a thousand years.
So what is this talking about? Well,
we're going to have the rapture happen,
the catching up of God's saints. God's
going to come back with his saved in the
air, and then the dead in Christ obviously
rise first, then they which are alive and
remain come with him, and then he
establishes the one thousand millennial
saints, and then the dead in Christ
obviously rise first, then they which are
alive and remain come with him, and then
they will reign of Christ, which I already
mentioned. But look at verse number 7, it
says, And when the thousand years are
expired, so after his reign, Satan shall
be loosed out of his prison. So he gets
out of hell. Verse 8, And shall go out,
again, he's going out and deceiving the
nations, and shall go out to deceive the
nations which are in the four quarters of
the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them
together to battle, the number of whom is
as the sand of the sea. And they went up
on the breadth of the earth, and compassed
the camp of the saints about, and the
beloved city, and fire came down from God
heaven, and devoured them. And the devil
that deceived them, notice this, was cast
into the lake of fire and brimstone. So
this is a place that we haven't talked
about yet. He was in the bottomless pit,
which was described as prison. Once he
gets out of that, the battle of Gog and
Magog happens, and he's brought somewhere
else. What is it? The lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false
prophet are, and shall be tormented day
and night forever. And I saw a great
white throne. You've probably heard about
the great white throne judgment. This is
the part of the Bible that talks about
it. And I saw a great white throne, and
him that sat on it, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away. And there
was found no place for them. Notice this,
and I saw the dead. So we already talked
about people that are dead. That's a
description of a lot of different things.
One of the descriptions is people that are
in hell. They could be described as the
dead. And here it says, and I saw the
dead, small and great, stand before God,
and the books were opened, and another
book was opened, which is the book of life,
and the dead were judged out of those
things which were written in the books
according to their works. By the way,
people that believe works-based salvation,
someday you're going to get to be judged
by your works, and it's not going to go
well for you. You know, I thank God that I
never have to be judged according to my
works, because I will fall short every
single time. I am just a complete sinner
and saved by the grace of Jesus Christ,
and I get to be judged by Jesus's works,
because I get his imputed righteousness
by putting my faith in him. Thank God I
don't have to stand at this white, great
throne judgment and be judged by my works.
It would be a bad, bad day. It says in
verse 13, and the sea gave up the dead
which were in it. So what's happening?
The dead bodies that were literally in
the ocean are appearing at this judgment,
and think about it. Heaven and earth just
dissolved away. He said that they were
rolled back as a scroll that was found no
more place for them. So all these bodies
are here. This is a really graphic
description that's being given here. It
says, and the sea gave up the dead which
were in it, and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in them. So all
the people that were in hell or the
prison or the bottomless pit are now
standing before God at the great white
throne judgment, and they were judged
every man, same thing, according to their
works. Notice this, and death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire. This is
the second death. So notice when it comes
to the second death, there's a physical
aspect of this. Their physical body is
coming up from the ocean or coming up
from wherever they died or coming up
from hell, and they're being cast into
the lake of fire. That is the second
death. They already died once when they
sinned. They're in the state of death
when they sinned. They changed locations
when they shed their physical body of
fire. What's the second death? Well,
they're resurrected out of hell. They're
standing before God at the great white
throne judgment. They're judged according
to their works. All of them fall short
because none of them are saved, obviously,
and then they're cast physically into
the lake of fire. That's what the second
death is. Go to, if you would, Isaiah
chapter number 65, Isaiah 65. So what you
have to understand is that when people
die right now, they go to hell. But
ultimately, hell is not their eternal
destination. Technically speaking, their
eternal destination is the lake of fire.
Now, I wouldn't say it's important to get
too worked up about what technical term
you use because hell is cast into the
lake of fire. So I think it's totally
accurate to tell people about soul winning
that the unsaved spend eternity in hell.
Don't feel like you have to explain this
to someone at the door. This is a little
more advanced. But just so that you
understand, just as God's people
die, if they die right now, physically
speaking, they go to hell. At the great
white throne judgment, hell itself is
cast into the lake of fire. To talk about
the nature of the second death, let's
talk a little bit about the location of
the second death. Now, I've thought about
this in the past and I was not dogmatic
about it. I've heard other people say this
too. I was postulating, could it be
possible that the second death and lake
of fire is maybe the sun or some sort of
celestial being? I don't think that's the
case. I don't think that's possible and
here's why. Isaiah 65 or 17 says this.
It says, for behold, I create new heavens
and a new earth and the former shall not
be remembered nor come into mind. Look,
at this stage in the game, there is no
sun. There is no celestial bodies.
Revelation 20 said that literally heaven
and earth gets rolled up like a scroll.
There's no more place for them. What does
that mean? I don't know. But earth is
gone. Heaven is gone. The sun is gone.
All of the people who have ever lived,
where are we? We're in the spiritual realm
where God dwells at this point. We're in
some sort of spiritual realm so it's not
like the lake of fire or some physical
location that NASA is going to discover
someday or SpaceX is going to discover
someday. This is kind of like hell where
I said if we were to go into the center
of the earth, I don't think you would see
people burning there. I don't think we
would find out where this place is. But
it is in a spiritual realm. Look at 2
Peter chapter number 3. 2 Peter chapter
number 3. What does the Bible teach is
going to happen to heaven and earth
someday? It says in 2 Peter 3 verse 7,
But the heavens and the earth which are
now, so our solar system, our moon, our
earth, by the same word are kept in store,
reserved unto fire against the day of
judgment and perdition of ungodly men.
You know it's kind of incredible to
fathom this statement but someday
literally the earth, Jupiter, Saturn,
Venus, Mars, all the moons, all the
galaxies that you could possibly think
of, every single star that's ever been
photographed by these satellites, it'll
all burn someday. That's pretty
incredible just think about how powerful
God is that all of that is going to be
burned and destroyed. Verse 8, But the
earth, beloved, be not ignorant of this
one thing, that one day is with the Lord
as a thousand years, and a thousand years
as one day. The Lord is not slack
concerning his promise, as some men count
slackness, but is long-suffering to
us-ward, not willing that any should
perish, but that all should come to
repentance. But the day of the Lord will
come as a thief in the night, in the
which, notice, the heavens shall pass
away with a great noise, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat. The earth
also and the works that are therein shall
be dissolved. Seeing then that all these
things shall be dissolved, what manner of
persons ought you to be in all holy
conversation and godliness? He's saying,
Hey man, you should get the right
perspective on your life, realizing that
everything on this earth is going to be
burned someday, your business, your house,
all your possessions, in fact the entire
universe is just going to be destroyed
someday. That should make you circumspect,
that should make you careful and prudent
about how you live your life in all holy
conversation and godliness. Why? Verse 12,
Looking for, and hasting unto the coming
of God, wherein the heavens being on
fire shall be dissolved, and the elements
shall melt with fervent heat. Nevertheless,
we, according to his promise, look for new
heavens and a new earth wherein dwelleth
righteousness. You know, all the unsaved
and all the people that spent their whole
life chasing carnality, chasing lust and
just the pleasures of this life, you know,
when all this happens, they're not going
to care about any of those things. They're
just going to be in torture and torments
and just wishing that they had believed
in Jesus Christ. They're just going to
be in torture and torments and just
wishing that they had believed in Jesus
Christ, but it'll be too late. But, you
know, we look for a new heaven and a new
earth. You know, that's, that's encouraging
that someday we're going to live in a
perfect earth, a perfect heaven, and we,
we don't know all the details of what
that's going to look like. We can't fully
understand what the eternal state is
going to be looking like, but it's going
to be amazing. I know that it's going to
be glorious and to be able to be dwelling
with the Lord Jesus Christ and our
Heavenly Father in the holy city of God
is going to be amazing. Go to Revelation
chapter number 14, Revelation chapter
number 14. So the reason I'm bringing
this up is to say, basically, we don't
know exactly where the lake of fire is.
Other than that, it's going to exist in a
spiritual realm because the heavens and
the earth are going to be dissolved
someday. So it's got to be in some sort
of spiritual realm. Revelation 14, 9, it
says, and the third angel followed them,
saying with a loud voice, if any man
were to follow them, they would be
following them, saying with a loud voice,
if any man worship the beast and his
image and receive his mark in his
forehead or in his hand, the same shall
drink of the wine of the wrath of God,
which is poured out without mixture into
the cup of his indignation, and he shall
be tormented with fire and brimstone in
the presence of the holy angels and in
the presence of the Lamb. This is partly
why I believe strongly that the lake of
fire will be existing in a spiritual
realm because it's saying that he's
literally, this is happening in the
presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of the Lamb. So wherever this
spiritual realm is, where God dwells,
where the Lamb dwells, where these holy
angels dwell, in that same realm is where
these people are going to be burning for
all of eternity. And I doubt that we're
going to be able to see this or anything
like that, but obviously God can see all
things and he's controlling this. He's
the one that stokes the flames of the
lake of fire. You know, some people
think that the devil is reigning in hell
and that there's demons, but no, really
the people that are there, they're in the
presence of the holy angels and in the
presence of Jesus Christ. And man, that's
got to be very intimidating and scary
for them to see the face of the Lamb of
God who they rejected, who they despised,
who they didn't believe in, and he's the
one that's going to be burning them for
all of eternity. Revelation chapter 20,
by the way, that's a good verse. I told
you that when you go out soul wanting,
ask them, hey, do you believe in hell?
What do you think hell is like? How would
you describe hell? They give you a bad
answer, I usually just go to Revelation 14
and I just start reading where it says,
and he shall be tormented with fire and
brimstone, and I explain that to them and
then usually they'll agree with me and
say, okay, yeah, that is what the Bible
says, but just some advice on that.
Revelation 20 verse 11 says, so let's kind
of wrap up this point here. Revelation
2011 says, and I saw a great white throne,
there was no place on it, notice this,
from whose face the earth and the heaven
fled away and there was found no place
for them. So that is the verse why I
believe that the lake of fire, it's in a
spiritual realm, it's not something you
can physically find. Why? Because heaven
and earth isn't going to be existing during
the great white throne judgment, we're
just going to be in a spiritual realm
where God dwells. Let's talk about also
the timeline of the second death. Go to
Matthew chapter number 24, Matthew
chapter 24, we talked about the nature
of the second death, talked about the
location of the second death, let's talk
about the timeline of the second death.
Let's give you quickly just a big picture
overview of what the end times is. You
know, the first major event that kicks
off the end times is something called the
abomination of desolation. Matthew 24
15 says, we need therefore shall see the
abomination of desolation spoken of by
Daniel the prophet, stand in the holy
place, whoso readeth, let him understand,
then let them which be in Judea flee
into the mountains. If you read second
Thessalonians chapter number two talks
about how the antichrist is going to
stand up and that he's going to declare
himself God and he said that it's going
to be happening in the temple of God.
Well here it says in the holy place, you
know, just like the antichrist isn't
really God, but he's calling himself God,
this holy place will be called the holy
place, but it's not really the holy place.
You know, I do personally believe that a
third temple will be rebuilt and
Jerusalem where the antichrist will stand
and declare himself God. There's some
people who think that maybe he'll do it
like some G2 summit, some world leader
summit and I'm not completely closed off
to that possibility, but when I read the
Bible and I see the holy place, the temple
of God, to me it really sounds like
there's going to be that temple built in
Jerusalem and that is what the Jews
desire. If you know anything about them
they want that third temple built. So the
abomination of desolation, the antichrist
stands up, he declares himself God, that
kicks off what's called the great
tribulation. Go to Matthew chapter number
24. After the great tribulation is the
rapture, what we refer to as the rapture.
Matthew 24 verse 29 it says, immediately
after the tribulation of those days shall
the sun be darkened and the moon shall
not give her light and the stars shall
fall from heaven and the powers of the
heavens shall be shaken and then shall
appear the sign of the son of man in
heaven and then shall all the tribes of
the earth mourn and they shall see the
son of man coming in the clouds of heaven
in the glory and he shall send his angels
with a great sound of a trumpet and they
shall gather together his elect from the
four winds from one end of heaven to the
other. So this is just a very, very clear
passage of scripture describing the fact
that the rapture, the catching up of the
believers happens after the tribulation.
And it's crazy to me that so many churches
today still haven't changed their view on
this and that they're still pre-trib, they
still believe that we could just be raptured
at any moment, Jesus can come back at any
moment, just completely ignoring 2nd
Thessalonians 2, that the Antichrist has
to come and declare himself God first,
completely ignoring the first part of
Matthew chapter 24 and this part of
chapter 24 where it says immediately after
the tribulation of those days, look this
is why it's so important to read the Bible
for yourself, not just trust that whatever
some preacher is telling you it's true
because he's the preacher, no you need to
actually review the Bible yourself and
believe what Jesus said over any man.
After the rapture is what kicks off the
wrath of God, this is what Revelation 8
and 9 is about if you want to read about
the wrath of God, then Revelation 19 goes
into the battle of Armageddon, that's
right before the 1,000 year reign of
Christ, so that's the millennial reign of
Christ where Jesus physically has come
from heaven to earth to rule and to reign
on this earth for a thousand years and
he's going to be giving the faithful
saints positions of authority and
basically your life now is going to
determine how many people are going to
have in that millennial reign of Christ.
After that you have the battle of Gog
and Magog, the devil's loosed out of
prison for one basically final showdown
between Jesus and the wicked and of
course Jesus destroys them all, wipes them
all out, completely has the victory and
right after that is when you have the
great white throne judgment, this is
where the heaven and the earth flee away
and all that's going to happen is when
you have the great white throne judgment
and you have the great white throne
judgment, this is where the heaven and
the earth flee away and all that's
gone, all the events that just took place
on earth are pretty much vain compared
to what they're experiencing right now
where they're all going to be standing
before God, they'll be judged by their
works and then what's going to happen,
the second death where they're cast
physically into the lake of fire.
After that, God creates a new heaven
and a new earth and us as God's people,
we live in all of eternity on the new
heaven and new earth with God.
That's kind of like the big picture
overview of the end point of the
end. That's kind of like the big picture
overview of the end times. So when I'm
talking about the second death, that's
like right at the end basically of all
these events, that's when the second
death happens. Now, lastly, let's talk
about this. Go to Revelation 20. Let's
talk about the horror of the second
death, the horror of the second death
and it's not a pleasant thing to talk
about but it's in the Bible and it's
there for a reason. Try to put yourself
in your shoes here. Revelation 20.11
says, and I saw a great white throne
and him that sat on it. First of all,
wow, you're going to be seeing God
Almighty. Think about just the gravity
of that alone. Nothing else mentioned
in this chapter but just imagine you're
going to see God Almighty on his great
white throne. That alone is going to be
terrifying for these unsaved people. I
mean, the people who live their whole
life mocking him or saying, oh, he's not
real or calling him a sky daddy, you're
going to be standing before him when he's
on his throne and you're not going to be
laughing then, you're not going to be
mocking then, you're not going to be
scorning then, you're going to be shaking
in fear because of what's about to happen
to you. Think about how terrifying this
would be. It says, from whose face the
earth and the heaven fled away and there
was found no place for them. I mean, us
as human beings, we're so small, we're
so insignificant, we're so weak and all
of a sudden, you're going to be standing
before the Almighty God and his throne
and you're going to see heaven and earth
dissolve away before your eyes. This is a
serious event right here. This is a crazy
event that these people are going to be
going through and what's going to happen?
Verse 12, and I saw the dead, small and
great, stand before God and the books were
opened and another book was opened which
is the book of life and the dead were
judged out of those things which were
written in the books according to their
works. I mean, we're going to see every
saved person who's ever lived get judged
by God according to their works and I
mean, there's no more concept of time
apparently because I have no idea how
much time this would take humanly
speaking and just to think about all the
wicked people throughout history and to
think about all the people that die every
single day in Oklahoma City and about all
the people that die every single day in
America or, you know, there's a war in
Ukraine right now, all those just
thousands, tens of thousands of soldiers
that are unsaved, that die in combat,
we're going to literally see all these
people resurrected from hell or their
dead bodies brought up from the oceans,
from the sea, wherever they were at, stand
before God. You're going to see Adolf
Hitler get judged. You're going to see
Mao Tse Tung get judged. You're going to
see Joseph Stalin be judged by God.
You're going to see all of these sodomite
protesters from Steadfast Baptist Church
be judged by God. I'm looking forward to
that one, I have to admit. You know, it
breaks my heart for some people that are
dead, but, you know, once you've rejected
God, God is just to punish you in hell
because he made salvation so free to you.
And so every single person that goes to
hell, they do deserve to be there. You
know why? Because I deserve to be there
because every single person in this room
deserves to be there, and he just offered
us salvation as a free gift. All we had to
do is just call upon the name of the Lord.
All we had to do was just believe in
Jesus Christ. So if you're too stupid or
too wicked to do that, yeah, you do
deserve to burn in hell for all of
eternity. But look, there's some people
that are much happier that are going to
be experiencing the second death than
others. I'll be very happy when every
single child molester stands before the
throne of God and is cast alive into the
lake of fire. Man, I can't wait for that.
Praise God for that. You know, there's a
lot of times in this world where there is
no justice on this earth for victims of
crime. There's a lot of crimes that are
never even solved. There's a lot of
murders that are never even solved. A lot
of times, people just murder someone in
cold blood, and they're just like,
I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm
going to die. I'm going to die. But
someday, they will stand before God, who
knows every single thing that took place
throughout all of eternity. They'll be
judged according to their works, and
they'll be cast into the lake of fire.
It says in verse 12, and I saw the dead
small and great. You know, the unsaved
grandma and the greatest dictator to
ever live will both be there. Stand
before God, and the books were opened,
and another book was opened, and another
book was opened, and another book was
opened, and stand before God, and the
books were opened, and another book was
opened, which is the book of life. You
know, praise God, our name is in that
book. So we don't have to be judged like
these people, and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written
in the books according to their works.
It's a very grave, it's a very serious
topic that the Bible's talking about
here. And the sea gave up the dead which
were in it. That's got to be a gross sight
to see. Just dead bodies that have been
in the ocean for who knows how many
hundreds or thousands of years. And death
and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them. I mean, this sounds like
something out of a horror film, but this
is the Bible. This is the word of God.
This is reality that's going to happen.
They were judged, every man according to
their works. I mean, imagine being in hell.
Imagine if you died on this earth 2,000
years ago. You died on this earth 4,000
years ago. And you've been in hell for
all those thousands and thousands of
years, and you get out of hell, and you
get out of hell, and you die on this
earth 4,000 years ago. And you get out of
hell, and it's not good. It's not like
things are going to get better for you.
No, you're actually just going to stand
in front of almighty God, be judged by
your works, and then cast into the lake
of fire for all of eternity. Nothing good
happens to them. Verse 15, whosoever was
not found written in the book of life was
cast into the lake of fire. Revelation
chapter 20, we'll go to Revelation
chapter number 20, verse 10. Yeah, let's
go back a few verses. Revelation 20, 10
it says, And the devil that deceived
them was cast into the lake of fire and
brimstone, where the beast and the false
prophet are and shall be tormented day
and night forever and ever, forever and
ever. So notice, the people in lake of
fire, it's not annihilation. It's not
them just being burnt up real quick, and
then their being is gone. It's not soul
sleep, like the Seventh-day Adventists
teach. It's not just separation from God.
What is it? It's fire. It's brimstone.
It's pain. It's agony. It's pain. It's
screaming. It's begging for water. It's
standing before the face of God and being
judged by your works. It's despair. It's
suffering. It's anguish. It's eternity.
That is what the second death is, and
that is what we need to wake people up
into believing today, not like these sad
poll statistics where people don't have a
clue what's actually facing them someday.
And a lot of people say, Oh, it's so
hateful to preach about hell. It's so
hateful to talk about hell. It's so
hateful to preach about hell. It's so
hateful to talk about the second death.
It's like, if this is the reality that
someone's going to face, how is it
hateful to warn them about that? I mean,
if you're driving a car at the edge of
the Grand Canyon and you're the
passenger, don't you think the loving
thing to do is be like, Hey, stop.
There's a cliff right here. You're going
to drive off the edge and die. It's like,
Oh, that's so negative. That's such a
negative message, though. It's like,
Yeah, it is a negative message. You
better believe it's a negative message.
It's the most negative message you can
imagine. In fact, you can't think, if you
tried, you can't think of anything worse
than hell. You try to do it after
service. Think of a worse punishment than
hell. It's impossible. It is the worst
punishment that exists. You know the
loving person would do? They would warn
people about that. It's an ugly reality.
Because it's an ugly reality, people
don't want to talk about it. Go to
Revelation chapter number 21. Let's talk
about our immunity from the second death,
our immunity from the second death.
Revelation 21, verse 1, And I saw a new
heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed
away, and there was no more sea. And I,
John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem,
coming down from God out of heaven,
prepared as a bride adorned for her
husband. And I heard a great voice out of
heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of
God is with men, and he will dwell with
them, and they shall be his people, and
God himself shall be with them and be
the face of God. And God shall wipe away
all tears from their eyes, and there
shall be no more death, neither sorrow,
nor crying, neither shall there be any
more pain, for the former things are
passed away. You know, thank God that God
is going to bring down a new heaven and
a new earth, a new city for us to dwell
in, that we're going to dwell with the
Lord Jesus Christ for all of eternity,
that we're going to be able to see the
face of God. You know, thank God he's
going to wipe away the tears from our
eyes, because man, is this an ugly event
that we're going to see. And man, is it
going to suck when I have to see my
grandfather someday, cast into the lake
of fire. Man, is it going to suck when
you have to see your unsaved loved one
cast into the lake of fire. You know
what there's going to be? Tears. Tears.
Because it's a negative message. That's
the point. But it's reality. It's what's
going to happen. So thank God, hey, he'll
wipe away all tears from our eyes. And
when he does that, there'll be no more
death. What are we talking about? The
second death. There's no more death.
There's no more sin. There's no more
dying spiritually. There's no more hell.
It's already been cast in the lake of
fire. There's no more second death. It's
just eternity with God. No sorrow. No
crying. No pain. You know, that is
awesome. Praise God for that. And we just
got it as a free gift. How crazy is that?
I mean, just, you have, you have God who
is just offering us just eternal riches
and goodness and mercy and glory for
free to people that don't even deserve
it. And yet people have the audacity to
blaspheme a God that, that, that is that
good to people. And they have the
audacity to complain about hell and to
complain about the lake of fire. Well,
it's like, look at the opposite that he
offered us. All you had to do was take
the free gift. Just take the free gift.
Go to 1 John 5. Revelation 2 11. He that
hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches. He that
overcometh shall not be hurt of the
second death. Hey, if you overcome, you'll
never be hurt of the second death. What
does it mean to overcome? Look at 1 John
5 4. For whatsoever is born of God
overcometh the world. And this is the
victory that overcometh the world, even
our faith. Hey, take that work
salvationist heretics. What is it that
overcomes the second death? What is it
that overcomes eternal damnation?
Believing in Jesus Christ. Trusting in
Christ. Having faith. Verse 5. Who is he
that overcometh the world? But he that
believeth that Jesus is the Son of God.
Thank God salvation is that easy.
Believing, trusting that Jesus Christ is
the Son of God. I'll read for you
Revelation 26. Blessed and holy is he
that hath part in the first resurrection.
On such the second death hath no power.
Thank God for that. So we talked about,
you know, the nature of the second death,
the location, the timeline, the horror,
our immunity. You know, what's the
application for us? Well, you know, it's
a very obvious application, and it's that
we need to preach about hell. We as a
church need to preach about hell, and
this world is getting all confused about
it. There's so many false prophets out
there that don't want to tell you the
truth about hell or about the second
death or about the lake of fire. Why?
Because they're of their father, the
devil, and you know where the devil wants
people to go? Right where he's going, the
lake of fire. So he wants to confuse
people on that. So what do we need to do?
We need to continue to preach the truth
about this subject, even though it's a
negative message. It's not a fun sermon
to talk about. I'm not, it's not like I
was studying for this sermon. I was like,
oh, I feel so encouraged, you know. It's
hard to preach about because a lot of
times you're reading the Bible, and
you're not really putting yourself into
the story. You know, and that's a really
good thing to do when you're reading the
Bible, is like really slow down and
visualize this. Like, oh yeah, they stood
before a great white throne, a hymn that
sat on the throne. It's like, that's
insane when you actually think about it.
God Almighty in front of them. You know,
another thing, of course, we need to go
out and preach the gospel to the lost,
because this is the place that real
people with real souls are going to spend
eternity if they don't believe in Jesus
Christ. And if you don't warn them about
it, no one else will. Don't think that if
Steadfast Baptist Church doesn't take our
job seriously, preaching the gospel in
Oklahoma City, that just everyone else is
going to pick up the slack for us. That's
not going to happen. That's a fantasy
world. No, there's very few soul winners
in this world, and we need to do what
Jesus said and pray for more laborers,
because there's so few people in this
world that are going to believe in Jesus
Christ and pray for more laborers.
Because there's so few people doing this,
we need to pray for more laborers.
Go to 2 Corinthians 5. This will be the
last place we go to this evening.
2 Corinthians 5, verse 18 says,
And all things are of God, who hath
reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ,
and hath given to us the ministry of
reconciliation. Verse 19, To wit, that God
was in Christ, reconciling the world unto
himself, not imputing their trespasses
unto them, and hath committed unto us the
word of reconciliation. You know, don't
believe the Calvinist that God's just
going to save whoever he wants to save.
God's just going to choose the special
chosen elect, and they're going to
automatically go to heaven. The Bible says
that God has given to us the ministry of
reconciliation. It is our job to get
people saved. Jesus is not going to come
down and preach people the gospel. That's
our job. Verse 20, Now then we are
ambassadors for Christ, as though God did
beseech you by us. We pray you in Christ's
stead, be ye reconciled to God. You know,
the Bible is describing here, God is
sending human beings as ambassadors for
him, standing in the place of him, begging
people to be reconciled to God. You know,
when a church sends out a source of
soul winner, you know what that is? That
is God sending a soul winner. When
someone gets a knock on their door from
a Christian with a King James Bible
that's ready to preach them the gospel,
you know who sent them there? God, Almighty
God, sent them there. That is what the
Bible says. And so don't ever disparage
soul winning. Don't ever think it doesn't
work. The Bible is saying here that we're
ambassadors for Jesus Christ. We are in
Christ's stead, in the place of Jesus
Christ, he's not going to come here knocking
on people's doors. He told us to do that.
Verse 21. Why? Why did he have us do this?
For he hath made him to be sin for us.
See, we get the easy job of knocking on
people's door and offering up the gospel,
but you know what Jesus had to do? He had
to become sin for us. Which one's harder?
Jesus is the one that had to go to hell.
For he hath made him to be sin for us who
know sin, that we might be made the
righteousness of God in him. You know,
praise God for him being so just and so
righteous and so merciful that he would
actually give his only begotten son, who
never knew sin, and actually allow him to
become sin for us, to become accursed of
God, to die on the cross in a slow,
agonizing, painful death, to descend to
hell for three days and three nights, to
have the punishment that we deserve to
give us everlasting life for free as a
free gift by putting our faith in him.
What a great deal that is for us. And you
know what he just asks us to do? Nothing
in the context of salvation. You know
what Jesus wants us to do? Just help other
people get that free gift. You know, he
would say to us, he's like, look, you got
the free gift. I gave it to you for free.
Can you just help other people get that
free gift? That's it. You know, what this
message should inspire you to do is
realize, wow, the Lake of Fire is
terrible. See, this would be the bad
attitude. Wow, the Lake of Fire is
terrible. Good thing I never have to go
there. Let me live the rest of my life.
No, the right attitude is, wow, this is
terrible. This is a real place, and I'm
going to spend the rest of my life as a
soul winner for Jesus Christ. Let us have
that attitude tonight. And yes, thank God
that we don't have to go to the Lake of
Fire. Thank God that the second death has
no power on us. You know what? Let's let
that motivate us to work hard so that
we don't have to go to that Lake of Fire.
Let's pray. Lord, thank you for this
church. Thank you for your son, Jesus
Christ, and for the sacrifice that he
made for us. Let's pray that we would
realize that anything that we do is
nowhere near as hard as anything that
Jesus did for us. Let's pray that you'd
help us to endure hardness in our lives
as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and
that we would do the difficult thing of
going out and being a soul winner, not
just today while we're inspired, but
every single day and every single week
for the rest of our lives. In Jesus' name
we pray. Amen.
We'll start there right on the first,
hymn number 24.
And can it be that I should be
an interest in the Savior's blood?
Die before me, my Savior.
For me, amazing love, how can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
He left his Father's throne above, So free, so infinite, his grace
Empty himself of all but love, And bled for Adam's helpless praise.
Tis mercy all, immense and free, For, O my God, it found out me,
Amazing love, how can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
Long my risen Spirit lay, Fast bound in sin and nature's night.
Thine eye did fears afflict me great, I woke, the dungeon flaked with light.
My chains fell off, my heart was free, I suppose went forth and followed thee.
Amazing love, how can it be That thou, my God, shouldst die for me?