All right. So Luke chapter 16. I want to start off with the title of this message. The title
of this message is The Real Hell. This subject is a subject that I don't like to talk about
and I don't even like to think about. This is a subject that most people don't like to
think about or talk about. And arguably so. I get it. I understand. It's hard to hear
these truths. We are going through our statement of faith for the next couple of weeks. And
in our statement of faith, we first went through the doctrine of sin. We've all sinned and
we've all come short of the glory of God. And when you have time, you can go and listen
to that message. We explain that when bringing the good message of salvation to someone,
we first have to explain the doctrine of salvation. As sinners, we deserve to be punished
for our sins. The Bible says in Romans chapter 6 verse 23, for the wages of sin is death.
We deserve to die because of our sin. But when we die, it is not lights off. There is
a false teaching out there, a false doctrine known as soul sleep. The Bible does not teach
soul sleep or you cease to exist. As a matter of fact, you have a red letter edition of
Bible right here. This is the words of Jesus Christ to the Pharisees explaining to them
the teaching of the real hell. So when we explain to them the truth of sin, when we
explain to them the truth of hell, number one, I have an hour long message that I'm
going to be going through. It's not our job to go and explain the horrors of hell in an
hour to someone. They just need to acknowledge that according to the Bible, if you died in
your sin, you will open your eyes in hell. That's what the Bible clearly teaches. Now,
a lot of people think they don't deserve to go to hell. Well, I'm not that bad. I've not
done murder. I've not done that bad of things. And it's true. 90% of people aren't necessarily
murderers or like horrible people, but nevertheless, in the sight of a perfect God, we have all
sinned elsewhere. It talks about in Romans chapter three, verse 10, there's none righteous.
No, not one. I'm not righteous. You're not righteous. None of us are righteous, but not
only that, we can be made righteous. And there's a way that the Lord lays out for us to become
righteous. But if anyone dies in their sins, they will open up their eyes in hell period.
That is the fact of what the Bible teaches. Now, I know a lot of people are like, well,
I'm not that bad. Turn if you would to Revelation chapter 21, and I'll give you an example really
quickly of what the Bible teaches will condemn someone to hell. And that's what I first wanted
to mention was who it is that ends up going to hell because not everyone will, but the
Bible does clearly teach most people end up in hell. And I don't say that lightly because
we don't want people to go to hell, but we'd be doing them an injustice if we don't tell
them the truth that if they don't put their faith in Christ, they will end up in hell.
Look at verse eight. This is a list of sins that will condemn people to hell. Let's see
if you, me or anyone has fallen under any of these sins. First sin, it says, but the
fearful I've been afraid. Now it says, and the unbelieving and the abominable and murderer
and whoremonger and sorcerer and idolater and all liars. How many lies do you have to
tell to be considered a liar? Just one lie. How many people do you have to kill to be
considered a murderer? Just one person. So obviously we've all lied. I've lied. I've
been afraid. Now maybe I've never murdered someone. Maybe I've never committed idolatry
or witchcraft or what it calls a sorcery, but let's face the fact I've done worse things
than lying and being afraid. And I could imagine every one of us can say the same, but notice
the next word. It says, shall you say might? No, it says shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. Go back to Luke chapter
16 if you would. So God makes it very clear. It's appointed unto men once to die and after
this, the judgment. Everyone will be held accountable for the things that they've done
in this world, but you can have your sins forgiven if you believe alone on the Lord
Jesus Christ. We'll get to that doctrine at another time. Today I want you to understand
the real hell. When I go around preaching the gospel, I don't badger them on their sin.
I simply teach them what the Bible says in Romans chapter three verse 23. It says for
all of sin, it comes short of the glory of God. Do you understand that? Oh yeah, I've
sinned. 90% of people will admit, oh yeah, I've done wrong. Well, the Bible also says
right here that according to your sin, the wages of your sin is to die, but when you
die, you will open up your eyes in hell if you do not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.
Well, I don't think I'm that bad. Here's a list of sins that says you are that bad. Okay,
I understand. Yes, according to the Bible, if I, you know, don't put my faith in Christ,
I will open up my eyes in hell. So look down at your Bible at verse 19 because I've given
an analogy. Sometimes people, even though they see what the Bible clearly teaches about
you, we all deserve to go to hell. They sometimes will say, well, you know, I still don't think
that I still don't think I'm that bad. Sometimes the analogy I use is a car driving across
the street. If I were to go walk across the street and I'm blind, I can't see. And as
I'm walking across the street, there's a car coming and it's about to hit me and you saw
me walking across the street and you're all, David, watch out a car's coming. I'm like,
you know what? I don't believe in cars. I don't think cars are real. That is not going
to stop the car from hitting me. You know, because we love people, we want them to know
the truth and we're not there only to park it on bad news, but they have to acknowledge
this truth before they can know the truth. What does it mean to be saved? What are you
saved from? You're saved from an eternity in hell because of your sins. This is what
the Bible teaches. Now look down at verse 19. It reads, there was a certain rich man
which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day. And there
was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores and designed
to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came
and licked his sores and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angel
into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. So notice the story. Lazarus
dies, angels bring them into heaven where Abraham is. The Bible teaches that God is
not the God of the dead, but of the living. Elsewhere, when the Pharisees are challenging
Jesus to understand what he meant by this, he says, Abraham is not dead. He is alive.
Abraham right now in heaven is looking down on every one of us. Anyone who is saved is
alive, conscious in heaven, looking down at us. But the dead are also conscious. Now notice
his body is in the earth, right? It says, and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in
torments and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. So first thing we notice is
he says he lifts up his eyes. Wait a second, his body is in a grave, but he consciously
can see. There is sight. He has eyes. He lifts them up. And being in torments and seeth Abraham
afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, so he can yell. He has a mouth. And
said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his
finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. Now I'm going
to pause here really quick. Could you imagine that you are so thirsty? You're in a barren
desert and the only way you can be quenched is that I dip my finger in water and give
it to you. It's not that necessarily sanitary. It's pretty gross to be licking someone's
finger to get just a little bit of reprieve of water. But he's that much in pain that
he would rather suck someone's finger for water because he's in torment. So that's
the first thing I want us to understand. We don't mention the horrors of hell when we
go to someone's door, but it is for us the saints to understand the truths of hell. If
you do not get the severity of heaven and hell, then we will not be motivated to go
and try to save a lost and dying world. And this is the thing I want you to understand.
The fire is the easiest aspect to hell. Hell is horrible enough without fire. And we're
going to go into what I'm talking about. If there was no fire in hell, it is already severely
horrible enough. The least worst thing about hell is fire that you're burning. But let's
see what I'm talking about. Hell was not designed for us. Hell was not designed for mankind.
Hell was designed for Satan and the angels that followed after him. It says that in Matthew
25 verse 41. You turn, if you would, to Numbers 16. The Bible reads in Matthew 25 verse 41,
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from ye, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. So this place was made for the devil. And
in this story, this is the parable of the sheeps and the goats getting separated. And
it says, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, be prepared for the devil. So it wasn't
for them to go to, but because you're not willing to accept the Lord Jesus Christ, you're
going to end up in there as well. Now, hell is a place of fire and torment. Yes. But let
me go through some other horrors of hell that maybe you have never thought of or that most
people have never thought of, because I'll tell you this. Hell is mentioned a lot more
in the Bible than heaven. Heaven's mentioned. Revelation 21 explains the beauties of heaven.
And, you know, elsewhere in the Bible that says, you know, great peace have they which
love thy law, nothing shall offend thee. It talks about, you know, it's, we look for
what is to come when we're saved, but there's a lot of warning of hell throughout the whole
Bible. Jesus in his ministry, he kept explaining, lest you end up in hell, lest you end up in
hell. This is why I came. He came to seek and to save that which is lost. He went to
come and die for the world, to pay for their sins. And this phenomenon keeps getting mentioned
throughout the whole Bible. This is why another reason we are King James only. You know, modern
translations of the Bible, the ESV, the NIV, these, these perversions of the word of God,
you won't even see the word hell at all in the Old Testament. The word hell doesn't even
get mentioned until Matthew chapter five in these modern translations. And there's a false
doctrine that they derive from that. And they think hell was a New Testament teaching. It
was never in the Old Testament. It's Sheol. It's the Valley of the Sons of Hinnom. It's
Tofet. That is not what the Bible teaches. Our King James, the perfect preserved English
translation of the Hebrew tells us in Deuteronomy right away, first five books of the Bible
about hell, and it explains it to us. But one horrible aspect to hell other than fire
is it's known as a bottomless pit. The Bible reads in Revelation nine verse one and the
fifth angel sounded and I saw a star from heaven. I saw a star fall from heaven under
the earth. And to him was given the keys of the bottomless pit. And he opened up the bottomless
pit and there arose a smoke out of the pit has the smoke of a great furnace and the sun
and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit. So it calls it a bottomless
pit. You know what's amazing about modern discoveries of science? Did you know, not
till not recently, did they even understand that our earth's core is filled with magma
and hot liquid fire? I mean, obviously when the time of the authors of the Old Testament
and elsewhere, they didn't know that the earth was, how would they know the earth is filled
with fire? Now, obviously, if you lived in ancient Hawaii, you may be able to see a volcano
and be like, oh, okay, that's where, you know, that came from the earth. But that doesn't
mean the whole entire planet is full of fire and it calls it the bottomless pit. You go
down into hell. Hell currently today sits into the center of our earth. And there's
an example where I had you turn in Numbers chapter 16 of hell being described right away
in the Old Testament. Now it doesn't use that word hell, but this is obviously what it's
speaking about. And not only that, this also symbolizes the eternal destiny of others.
Notice what it says in verse 28. It reads, and this is the story, just so you know, of
Korah, Datham, and Abiram. These are people who are challenging Moses to say like, oh,
who do you think you are, Moses, to tell us about the things of God? We're Levites. We're
great. And you know, Moses tells them right here in verse 28, and Moses said, Hereby ye
shall know that the Lord has sent me to do all these works for I have not done them of
mine own mind. If these men die the common death of all men, or if they be visited after
the visitation of all men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord make a new thing
and the earth open her mouth and swallow them up with all that appertain unto them and they
go down, go where? Go down quickly into the pit. Then ye shall understand that these men
have provoked the Lord and it came to pass as he had made an end of speaking all these
words that the ground clave asunder and that it that was under them and the earth opened
her mouth and swallowed them up and their houses and all the men that appertain unto
Korah and all their goods, they and all that appertain to them went down alive into the
pit and the earth closed upon them and they perished from among the congregation and all
Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them for they said, Let the earth
swallow us up also. And there came a fire from the Lord and consumed the 250 men that
offered incense. So let me give you an example of what's going on. Moses says if something
new happens, then you'll know that I'm from God. This isn't new like hell just came to
existence. He's saying something new is like how they die. The earth opened its mouth.
They all fell in alive down into the pit. Not only did they fall down, obviously their
bodies got burnt up when they died, but their soul continued on into the lower parts of
the earth and they burned for an eternity. Now it doesn't say, but if you look at verse
34, and all Israel that were round about them fled at the cry of them for they said, Let
the earth swallow us up also. And there came out a fire from the Lord. It doesn't say what
direction this fire came from. It didn't say it came from heaven. It didn't say it came
from the earth. I believe that when it says there came a fire from the Lord, it's talking
about this pit. It's saying fire came out of the pit and consumed them just to prove
and show to them that God means business. He was not kidding when he said that if you
die in your sins, you will burn an eternity forever in a bottomless pit. Did you know
that the earth center core has no gravity? Haven't you heard of gravityless places like
in space when you go to space, right? The astronauts kind of float in place or if you're
in an airplane and it dive bombs towards the earth, you kind of just sit there and float
in place. Imagine the feeling and you know it and I know it when you're about to trip
on your toe, right? And your stomach goes up into your chest or in your mouth or you're
about to fall over on a wave or you're about to fall over on something. You've all had
that dream where you're falling and you're just about to hit the ground, but you wake
up, right? Obviously, if you fall, you're eventually going to hit the ground. Could
you imagine a bottomless pit? The feeling of falling never stops. That feeling of like
the anxiety of like, oh, you have no control doesn't end. It's forever. It's bottomless.
There's no done. See, that's a reprieve we can have from falling is that eventually we're
going to hit and we're at least on flat surface. It does. There is no bottom. It's a bottomless
pit. So that's one aspect. I'm going into what I believe to be the least scariest part
to the worst scariest part because if we love the loss, if we want them to know the truth,
I don't want you to explain to them, hell's a bottomless pit. Hell is fire. Hell is all
this stuff. All they need to know is that it's real. They have painted hell as a not
scary place. Hollywood and music and things like that has painted this place has something
not to be afraid of. You ought to be afraid. The Bible says that the beginning of wisdom
is the fear of the Lord. We need to be afraid of God. When you do that, you are on the path
to wisdom. He will guide you into all truth and understanding. Ask and it shall be given
unto you. Seek and you shall find. Knock and it will be opened unto you. But if you're
not afraid of God, one day you will be. I promise you that. And like I said, they see
hell as this place of like, you know, the dog, you're sitting there playing poker and
there's like someone poking you with a Triton. That is not what hell is. Did you know that
Satan has never even been to hell? See, a lot of people don't even realize that, that
Satan has never been to hell. They think he's like the ruler or king of hell. There is no
king of hell. Hell is a place for the dam. It's designed for Satan and the angels that
followed after him, but no one in there is having fun. Period. Another time I'm going
to preach a message. It's known as a false doctrine called Abraham's bosom and they derive
that doctrine from Luke chapter 16 and this teaches that there's a good part of hell that
the saved go to and they sit there, Old Testament saints. And then eventually when the Lord
ascended up out of hell, he came and brought them out of the hell with him. If you ever
open up your eyes in hell, you're done. It's forever. There's only been one person who's
ever come out of hell and his name is Jesus Christ. Jesus says in Revelation, I am he
which it was alive and was dead and I'm alive forevermore and I have the keys of death and
of hell. And notice Luke 16. How do we even know about that story? Because only one who
went there can tell us about it. This is another doctrine that I'm going to preach at another
time that people don't realize that Jesus Christ, when he died on the cross, yes, physically
died, but his soul went to hell for us. What do you think it meant when the Pharisees and
Sadducees said, you know, we look for a sign, show us a sign, which is a miracle. He said,
there shall no sign be given unto you except for the sign of Jonas the prophet. 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. Where's the heart? The heart is
in the center, the core. Exactly. And that is a word that people don't tend to realize
that he was currently in the lower parts of earth. It says in Acts chapter two verse
31, he's seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell, neither did his flesh see corruption. So obviously that's what it means
by he paid for our sins. He's the substitutionary atonement. I preached the message a while
back called the burnt sacrifice. When you have time, go back and listen to that message.
I go through this doctrine. Okay, David, we get it. It's fire. Okay, David, we get
it. We're falling. What else? That's not it. Buckle up. It's coming. It is a place of darkness.
It is darkness that can't even be comprehended. You turn actually, if you would, to Revelation
chapter 20. I'm only going to explain one aspect of this darkness because I'm reading
from you from Exodus chapter 10, which is not indirectly talking about hell, but it
is a symbolism of hell. It is symbolic because these are the plagues that are getting dished
out on the nation of Egypt, which symbolizes the plagues that are going to get dished out
in the book of Revelation. There's a lot of similarities between those same plagues and
they have to do with condemnation and damnation, the wrath of God on people. It says in Exodus
chapter 10 verse 21, and the Lord said unto Moses, stretch out thine hand toward heaven
that there may be darkness over the land of Egypt, even darkness, which may be felt.
I don't know about you, but I remember growing up in my life, you know, I used to hitchhike
around to like get places and I don't encourage anyone doing this anymore. It was a different
world and it's just the way it was, how I got around. But sometimes I'd be walking around.
Have you ever been on the Kapaa dump road at like one in the morning? There is a long
stretch of road where there is no lights and it's just a barrel of trees that just kind
of is like this dark pit. And I remember sometimes in the past I'd be coming home at like one
in the morning and in it you can't even see your hand in front of your face and it's pitch
black and you hear the shrubbing and the bushes and I would just sprint through that spot
because I was so afraid of what was going on. But like I taught myself to try to put
myself at ease. Like there'd be like a shrubbery going on in the bushes and I would like scream
out and be like, hi, get out of here. And I just keep running. But you know that feeling
of darkness that can be felt, it's not just dark, you feel darkness. We all know that
feeling of something that is dark, that is evil, that is not good. This is a darkness
that can be felt. And that's the only one verse I wanted to point out in light of that
subject. But this next verse kind of also talks about this and it's about being bound
up. So number one, there's fire. Number two, you're falling and it doesn't stop. It's dark,
you can't see. But not only that, you're locked up, you're bound up, you are confounded. I
mean, you cannot control in or out. I mean, jail is known as a place where people liken
on to hell because you are bound in this cage and you are not getting out until someone
says, right? Well, hell is the ultimate prison. It is the ultimate jail. Once you are in,
that door is locked, you are done. I mean, even people who are claustrophobic, right?
I mean, there are people who are afraid of being like confounded. They are at a point
where there is no reprieve, there is no coming out. Once you are in, you are done. Now, let
me read from you from Matthew chapter 8 verse 12. It says, but the children of the kingdom
shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping, I'm sorry, yeah, weeping
and gnashing of teeth. So that's in reference to the darkness. I kind of got ahead of myself.
But where you are in Revelation 20 verse 1, notice what it says. This is in reference
to Satan specifically, but this also applies to those who end up going to hell. And I saw
an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit. Once again, there
is no bottom to it. And a great chain was in his hand and he laid hold on the dragon.
So he grabs the dragon. That old serpent which is the devil and Satan and what? Bound him
a thousand years. So I'm going to pause really quick. Notice this is an angel grabbing Satan.
Some people think that Satan is the most powerful angel outside of like one other.
No, this is an angel that can control, grab and handle Satan and throw him in a pit. Not
only that, it goes on to read, and cast him into the bottomless pit 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 there and after that he must be loosed a little season. So
notice he's in there until they say he can come out. This is in reference to the millennial
reign of Christ. We'll preach that at another time. After the wrath of God is spilled out
on the people of the earth, God is going to bound Satan, lock him up and keep him in there
for a thousand years. Then after that, he'll lose him out, but he can't come out whenever
he wants. He can't just like help himself out. Notice it says that the angel having
the key of the bottomless pit. So this Satan can't just help himself out. This is a place
where you are confounded. I'm sure every kid can understand this. You're in timeout. It's
not fun, is it? When you're on timeout and you're locked up in your room and your parents
say you are in trouble, you cannot come out till I say. This is a symbolism that you're
not understanding that God has to us. God wants us to respect, honor, love our parents
because they have power. They have authority to bound us up. The same relationship that
we as children of God have to our father and we understand that we believe in him and we're
always his son and it'll have our sins as far as the east is from the west. We'll never
be bound or confounded, but the world needs to understand that this is a place that you
cannot control. Five minutes seems like a thousand years. Could you imagine sometimes,
you know, when they want to like discipline a prisoner more, they give him solitary confinement.
When you're by yourself in a room with your own thoughts, sometimes that's the people
go crazy in those places. So not only is it fire, not only are you falling, not only is
it dark, but you are bound. You can't go anywhere. But the next part I want to go into is there
is screaming, wailing. I'm screaming, right? But I'm not wailing. What is wailing? You
ever heard a grown man wail when they get a very severe pain that happened to them?
What is wailing? Scream a sound that is of agony, that it's not one person. Everyone
is wailing, screaming. Yeah, I kind of cracked my voice there. I couldn't do it that well.
But this is, could you imagine hearing screams of people that you can't see? They're falling,
they're burning, and it's just, it's not going away. Like I said, I'll read from you these
passages. It says in Matthew 8 verse 12, for the children of the kingdom shall be cast
into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then said the king
to the servants, bind him hand and foot, back to bounding him, and take him away and cast
him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 24 verse 51,
and he shall cut him asunder and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall
be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you ever had someone who is just so angry that
they gnash their teeth? That also is a feeling that they're going to have forever. They're
just in agony. They're in pain. They're screaming. It's dark. I'm falling. It's burning. That's
not the worst. It gets worse. There are worms that eat your flesh. Turn if you would to
Mark, the gospel of Mark. Like I said, Jesus preached more about hell than he did about
heaven. Obviously, he preaches about heaven. We want the people to be saved from this place.
Remember that word? Saved from the agonies of hell. Notice the part in that word saved,
the D. Done. Saved past tense. Your sins are as far as the east is from the west. It's
done. You're saved. But there are people who don't know this, and if they're not, they
will, as it taught in Luke 16, open their eyes in hell, and when they do, there is no
coming out. Mark chapter 9 verse 43. Look down at your Bible in Mark chapter 9 verse
43. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter into life maimed
than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where
their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut
it off. It is better for thee to enter and halt into life than having two feet to be
cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched, where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched. And if thy hand offend thee, pluck it out. It is better for
thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into
hell fire. Why? Third time he's mentioning the same thing, where the worm dieth not and
the fire is not quenched. If you read the book of Revelation, it talks about one of
the plagues of God is he lets evil demonic locusts out of the bottomless pit to pinch
and to sting people of the earth. There are creatures that are in hell that people don't
realize are just these vicious little, I mean, have you ever heard the television show Fear
Factor? They like have a guy sit in a box and they throw a bunch of like cockroaches
on him, or they throw a bunch of snakes on him, or they throw a bunch of worms on him.
Could you imagine you're bound, falling, on fire, screaming, dark, and there's things
crawling all around you and eating at your flesh, but you're never consumed. You're never
completely devoured. The next part I'm going to go into is the worst part of hell. Okay,
we get it. All those other things are bad. This is the worst part of hell. Turn to your
Bibles if you would to 2 Thessalonians. Remember last week we went through the T books, right?
2 Thessalonians is towards the Pastoral Epistles. 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. I'm going to read
from you from Revelation 14 10. There's a false doctrine out there that says hell is
separation from God. I do not want you to think, believe that for one second. That is
a lie from the pit of hell. The worst part about hell is not everything I mentioned at
this point. It's not because, well at least I'm away from God in all of this. No. The
worst part of hell is who created hell? It was God who created hell. And it says in Revelation
chapter 14 verse 10 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. They are in hell.
In front of the Lamb. Jesus Christ is the Lamb of God slain from the foundation of the
earth. He goes on to read in verse 11 and the smoke of their torment is ascended up
forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image
and who receive the mark of his name. So this is forever. Now notice that they have no rest
day nor night. This is another aspect to hell that people don't tend to realize. Did you
know a form of torture is sleep deprivation? When they're trying to torture people who
are enemies of state which is a horrible thing to do, they will make sure they don't sleep.
When they're about to go to sleep they wake them up. When they're about to go to sleep
they wake them up. And they keep doing that. People who have sleep deprived start hallucinating,
seeing things, feeling things. Sleep deprivation is a form of torment. Sometimes, and I'm sure
you've witnessed this, I know I have, when you have a bad day. It's one of those days,
right? Nothing's going right. Nothing's going good. Everything's going south. The day is
lame. Nothing can happen. But you know, you can rest assured that you're going to find
your way to your pillow. You're going to take a nap and you're going to rest and it's going
to all go away and you have another day to experience. They have no rest day nor night.
They cannot sleep. It is forever. It is eternal. And the one thing that would have saved them,
the one thing that would have prevented them, this eternity in this place of fire where
they can't rest, where they're burning, where it's dark and they're falling and their worms
are eating their flesh and they're bound and they're screaming, is that they're looking
up and the Lord Jesus Christ is right there. And all they had to do was believe in Him
and trust alone in Him. And they have to have that burned in their mind forever, staring
at the Lamb that took away the sins of the world and all they had to do was believe Him,
trust Him, have faith in Him. That's the worst part of hell. You're not separated from God.
You're in the presence of God. Jesus Christ is God in the form of a man. Don't sit there
and try to say that you're away from God. No. You wish you were away from God. God is
the one who's judging you. He's the one who puts you in there. You are in His presence.
So this is another thing I want you to know. It's a teaching. So now that we get the horrors
of hell, and this is to light a fire unto you, no pun intended, but this is to light
a fire unto you to get up and to love your neighbor as yourself. You love your neighbor,
right? You don't want them in hell, right? I don't want them in hell. That's why I'm
willing to tell them the truth. This is supposed to help us to get up and do something. But
I need to also go through this one doctrine because this will help you to explain the
doctrine of hell to someone. And there is a difference between the current place of
hell and the eternal place of hell. The current place of hell right now sits in the center
of the earth. Remember what Jesus says, has Jonas with 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. When the unsaved die, like we saw in Luke 16, they open up their eyes up,
they go down into hell, they're in that pit. It keeps talking about they're in the bottomless
pit, the angel pulls them out of the pit. Hell is known as the place of the dead. They're
not alive. They're dead. They're conscious, but they're dead. Those who are in heaven
have everlasting life. They have their names written in the book of life. They've been
given eternal life. They're alive with Abraham. They're alive with Jesus. They're alive forever
more. And they will always be alive in every stretch of the word. But when someone dies
today, yesterday, since the beginning of time till tomorrow or till the second coming of
Christ, which is known as the rapture, their bodies, physical bodies, sits in the ground.
Their body is on the ground that their soul is in hell. Now one day there will be a resurrection
of the just and of the unjust. The resurrection of the just will be when the dead saints'
bodies, right, will come to their soul that's in the air when Jesus Christ comes. Their
soul, because remember it says the dead in Christ shall rise first. Meaning those who
have died in history, who have believed in Jesus, their body will come to the air where
their soul will meet their body and they'll be changed in a moment of time. And those
who are alive and remain until the coming of the Lord shall be changed. Their bodies
shall be changed. If people, saints, when they go through the second coming, live through
the second coming, their body cannot go to heaven. Our flesh, in my flesh, dwelleth no
good thing. The flesh has to be put to death. The flesh will be made new. Flesh and blood
shall not inherit the kingdom of God, but flesh and bone will. So we'll be given a new
body. But the unsaved, when after the millennial reign of Christ, there'll be an event known
as the great white throne judgment. Let's read what the Bible reads about this event.
This is the resurrection of the dead. Now I'll go ahead and start from after verse three
because we've already read that. Notice what it says in verse four. 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 and for the word of God and which had not worshiped
the beast, neither his image, neither have received his mark upon their foreheads or
in their hands. And they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years, but the rest
of the dead live not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Remember, the first resurrection is those who are alive and remain until the time of
the coming of the son of man, Jesus Christ. These are saints who come and rule and reign
with Christ for a thousand years. We will be there and we will rule and reign the earth
and he'll bestow upon us his rewards that he decided for those who are faithful and
did things for him. There'll be some who rule over a lot. There'll be some who rule over
nothing. There'll be some who have no rewards, but at least they're saved and they'll be
with the lamb reigning and ruling with him for a thousand years. And it says, but the
rest of the dead live not again. So they're dead. They're in hell. Their flesh is still
in the earth. But blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection on such
the second death of no power. But they shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall
reign with them a thousand years. And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall
be loosed out of his prison. And he shall go out to deceive the nations which are on
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. Then they went up on the breadth of the earth, encompassed
the camp of the saints and about and behold and the beloved city and fire came down from
God out of heaven and devoured them. 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 just in case you forgot and ever. And I saw a great white throne
and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. So notice
the picture. There's a great white throne judgment after the millennial reign of Christ.
Heaven and earth are gone. Everyone who has ever existed ever and all time will be brought
to this event. And notice what it says. And there was found no place for them. And I saw
the dead, small and great, stand before God. And the books were open. And another book
was open, 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. Let me pause there really quick. What
books are we talking about? I believe this is in reference to the first five books of
the Bible, the law. They're being judged out of the law. And not only that, they're going
to be judged out of those things according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead.
So that's like the third time it uses the term dead. These people are dead. They're
not alive. Well, they're conscious. Yeah. And they're dead. They came from the place
of death. And it goes on to read. And the sea gave up the dead, which were in it. And
death and hell delivered up the dead, which were in them. And they were judged, every
man according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This
is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire. So understand the picture. Everyone's here at this event. Those
who are saved have been regenerated. They have new bodies. They have been given everlasting
life. They have their names written in the book of life. They're with Jesus looking down
at the dam. Those who have come out of the current place of hell, the center of the earth,
it says death and hell. And is a word in our English that sometimes separates two thoughts,
right? David and Sam, right? So it's two separate people, but the Bible tentatively
sometimes uses that word to mean the same thing. Lots of times the Bible says God and
our father of our Lord Jesus Christ. Obviously God and the father are the same person. It's
just using and to differentiate. So, you know, the reader that we're talking about the same
thing and it's doing the same thing here, here, death and hell were cast into the lake
of fire. Remember what Jesus said earlier in Matthew, right? 8 verse 12, but the children
of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing
of teeth. Remember when he says, if your hand offend thee, cut it off for it is profitable
for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast
into hell. So when the dead come to life, when their dead bodies come back to their
soul, their soul hits their body. They're at this event. They see the Lord Jesus Christ.
They will now be judged. If you didn't think it was bad enough, could you imagine take
this picture into your mind for a second right now? No one here is above 70 years old, right?
Could you imagine someone who is, you know, fifth generation after Adam, you know, Adam
begot someone, Adam begot, that person begot someone, they're fifth generation from Adam.
Thirty some hundred years has passed in history since then and they didn't believe in Jesus.
They were in hell this whole time. They currently are in hell and then at one point in history,
they will come to this event. The Bible says in Philippians 2, wherefore God also has highly
exalted him, given him a name, which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus, every
knee shall bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of
God the Father. If that person has already given up hope, they've been in hell for the
last 3500 years. They've been in agony and torment and burning and they're done and they
think it's over, but then they get brought to their body. They see the Lord Jesus Christ
in the air and they're going to be screaming, your Lord, you are the Messiah. It's too late.
Now you will be judged for what you've done and you will be cast out into outer darkness.
Now it's forever. Both soul and body will be in torment for an eternity. It was just
your soul that was being tormented this whole time. Now you will burn forever, but never
be consumed. There's another false doctrine that teaches what's known as total annihilation,
meaning you will burn up, you will cease to exist. You just kind of just, that's it. You
just burn up. No, he says forever and ever you will be in torment. And at that point
they're in the presence of the land. They can see the land. They know it's too late.
It's done. Look, I hope we all understand salvation here today already, and we're all
saved by believing alone in Jesus Christ. And that's all that it takes. I'm telling
you, it's not in works of righteousness which we have done, but it's according to His mercy
that we are saved. You don't need to stop your sins. You don't need to continue a life
of righteousness. You can't. You will never earn your spot in heaven. Jesus Christ paid
it all. All to Him I owe. Sin had left the crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
I hope we all understand that here today, that faith alone in Jesus Christ has prevented
us from this eternity. We are saved from our sins, but there's a world out there of
people who do not know these things. And I want you to know these things, not so to scare
us. We don't need to be afraid. Death, where is your sting? Where is the victory? To be
absent in the body is to be present with the Lord. You think you can fear not them which
can kill the body and afterward can do nothing. Rather, fear Him which is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell. See, remember earlier I said the fear of the Lord is the
beginning of wisdom. When you are afraid of God, that will bring you into trusting alone
in Jesus. But they don't know that. So let's hope they figure it out on their own. So let's
hope they, you know, God will speak to them in a cloud in the room. No. The Bible says
it's given unto us the ministry of reconciliation. We are trying to reconcile the world to be
saved from their sins and eternity in hell. And like I said, when we go out preaching
the gospel, I'm not painting this picture of hell out for them. I mean, I don't like
to think about this. This is something that isn't, that tends to like be intense. I'm
known as a fire and damnation preacher. I'm known as someone who is ripping face on sin
and is a fire breathing preacher. But you know what? Because I love you, I want you
to know these truths. I love you. The Bible says in the book of Jude, kind of some have
compassion pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. Look,
I know the truth. I know the fact that not everyone will be saved, but that doesn't mean
I'm going to give up. And I dedicated my life to preaching the gospel to the lost. And I
want all of us to understand once again, the importance of our job that's appointed unto
us. It is Jesus left us with this task. He says, go ye therefore in all the world and
preach the gospel, baptizing them in the name of the father, the son, and only ghost and
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I've commanded you. And lo, I'm with you all
way, even until the end of the world, even so, amen. You know, and I want us to see the
severity of what has been bestowed upon us. You know, what's it worth? You know, the Bible
says, for instance, in Matthew chapter five, blessed are ye when men shall revile you and
persecute you and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely for my sake. Rejoice
be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven. You think I care if someone slams
the door in my face? You think I care if someone punches me because they're like, don't come
over here with the gospel. I'm going to beat you up. I'm not afraid of you, which can destroy
this body. I'm afraid of disobeying God. The Bible says it's a fearful thing to fall into
the hands of a living God. I fear God, not man. In the book of Jeremiah, first thing
in Jeremiah chapter one, he's afraid to bestow upon the nation of Israel, this judgment of
God on the nation. And he says, fear not their faces. Don't be afraid of them. Jeremiah,
I'm telling you who you should be afraid of. If you don't listen to me, he's not going
to go to hell, but he'll make his life a living hell. And we don't need to be afraid of ever
seeing hell. This is what I'm saying. We don't need to live a life of righteousness to maintain
our salvation because it would be of grace. It's no more of works. If it be of works,
it's no more of grace, but I love my Lord who has saved me. Jesus says, if you love
me, keep my commandments. And that's the conclusion I wanted you to know. I wanted you to know
that we need to, when's the last time you heard a sermon on hell? When, when have you
at any of these churches, have they ever told you the severities of hell, that it's real,
that it's intense, that we need to share our message with people to avoid this place. I've
never heard it once in this island. And people need to know the truth because the truth will
make them free. The Bible says in John three, verse 18, he that believeth on the son is
not condemned, but he that believeth not is condemned already. Why? Because he has not
believed on the name of the only begotten son of God. Look, don't tell me the pygmy
African guy in the bushes has never heard the name of Christ. The Bible says that if
they want to know, he will provide them a soul winner. He will provide them someone
to preach to them the word of God. So we need to understand what is bestowed upon us. And
I don't say this to scare any one of us. I say this to help us be motivated. Let's get
up. Let's save a lost and dying world. Most people won't be saved, but you know what?
The Bible gives us an analogy of a man who had 99 sheep and one left. And he went and
caught the one sheep, put it on his back rejoicing. If I'm here for the rest of my life preaching
the gospel and no one wants to hear it, but one person gets saved, it's worth it. It's
worth me getting thrown under the bus. It's worth them throwing me, beating me and prisoning
me, doing whatever they want to me. As long as one person avoids the horrors of hell and
let us realize what's important today. It's not the stock market. It's not coronavirus.
It's nothing that doesn't really matter. It has no eternal value. It's the things of God.
His preaching, his glorious good news, his message of salvation through believing alone
on the death of his son, Jesus Christ. Let's get motivated. Let's get serious. We'll end
there and have a word of prayer. Dear heavenly father, thank you so much for your word. Thank
you so much for salvation. Thank you so much for saving us from the horrors of the hell
that you've painted out for us in the Bible. Please help us to continue to always seek
and to please you above everything, to preach your message of hope to the lost and not to
lose sight of that. But let's, you know, remember that all of this is in vain if we're not doing
it in love because you said that even though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels
that have not charity, I'm nothing. The only reason why we'd want to do this is because
we love our neighbors as ourselves and we love you with all our hearts, soul and mind.
Please help us to sow seeds on good ground so that they can bring forth for some 30 fold,
60 fold and a hundred fold so that we can one day see you in your kingdom and you look
down at us and say, well done, now good and faithful servant and are down to the glory
of thy Lord. Please help us to be pleasing in your sight. In Jesus Christ's name we pray. Amen.