Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Good evening, everyone.
Welcome back to Faithful Word Baptist Church.
It's so nice to see you all here on this Sunday night.
Let's all find your seats.
Please grab a hymn.
We'll go to hymn 217.
We'll begin this evening.
Hymn 217.
He included me.
Hymn 217.
Once you find your place, we'll begin on that first verse.
Hymn 217.
I am so happy in Christ today
that I go see you.
I am so happy in Christ today
that I go singing along my way.
Hymn 217.
Lift up your voice on that first now.
I am so happy in Christ today
that I go singing along my way.
Yes, I'm so happy to know and say
Jesus included me too.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said,
Whosoever he included me.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said,
Whosoever he included me.
Yes, he included me.
Gladly I read,
Whosoever may
come to the fountain of wine today.
But when I read it,
I always say
Jesus included me too.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said,
Whosoever he included me.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said,
Whosoever he included me.
Every God's Spirit is saying,
Come, hear the pride saying,
No longer come.
But I am sure while they're calling home,
Jesus included me too.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said,
Whosoever he included me.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said,
Whosoever he included me.
Greatly come drink words of soul to fill.
Oh, with one joy made my heart to fill.
For when he said,
Whosoever will,
Jesus included me too.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said,
Whosoever he included me.
Jesus included me.
Yes, he included me.
When the Lord said,
Whosoever he included me.
A good start to our scene tonight.
We want to ask the Lord's blessing on the service.
So I ask for the adjacent back side.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for this.
Thank you for bringing us back this evening.
Please bless the music as we sing praises unto you.
I ask in Jesus' name I pray. Amen.
Amen. Hymn 221, 221.
A child of the king. Hymn 221.
Lift it up on that first verse together.
My father is rich in houses and lands. Hymn 221.
Lift it up on that verse now.
My father is rich in houses and lands.
Behold the wealth of the world in his hands.
Of rubies and diamonds, of silver and gold.
His coffers are full, his riches untold.
I'm a child of the king, a child of the king.
With Jesus my savior, I'm a child of the king.
My father's own son, the savior of men.
Once wandered on earth as the forest of men.
But now he is leading our garden on high.
That we may be missed when he comes by and by.
I'm a child of the king, a child of the king.
With Jesus my savior, I'm a child of the king.
I once was an outcast stranger on earth.
A sinner by choice and an infant by birth.
But I'm an adopted, my name's written down.
An heir to a man, child of Rome and the crown.
I'm a child of the king, a child of the king.
With Jesus my savior, I'm a child of the king.
A tent or a cottage, why should I care?
They're building a palace for me over there.
No legs of the home, yet still I may sing.
All glory to God, I'm a child of the king.
I'm a child of the king, a child of the king.
With Jesus my savior, I'm a child of the king.
All right, this time we'll go through our announcements together.
If you don't have a bulletin slip up your hand nice and high, we'll get to you with one.
On the inside we have our service time.
Sunday mornings at 1030 is our preaching service.
Sunday nights at 6, Wednesday nights at 7 is our Bible study.
This week we're in 2 Chronicles chapter number 18.
We've got the soul winning times listed there below as well as salvations and baptisms.
And then we got this announcement squared away here.
Congratulations to the Lee family on the birth of baby Giada, born Tuesday, August 20th at 534 AM.
You know, this morning we had the picture right.
And we had all these stats right.
You know, the time, the date, the weight, the length, that was all correct.
But we got a little mix up there.
So sorry about this.
This is the Alex Lee family.
And so congratulations to them.
And be sure to congratulate them.
Below that, of course we already had the baby shower for Olivia Stiles this afternoon.
Next Sunday we will have the coffee and donuts before the service in honor of all the birthdays in September.
On the back, all families with students in K-5 to 12th grade are invited to join us next Monday, September 2nd at 4 PM for the don't go back to school party at Svalb Park in Tempe.
That is literally just a half mile directly south from where we're sitting right now.
So you just go south on 48th Street, turn left at the first light, I believe it's Vineyard.
And then boom, that park right there, Svalb Park, that's where we will be doing it.
And then there will be ice cream, water balloons, etc.
And then there were 11 soul winners and 10 salvations on the trip to the Navajo reservation.
Thank you to everyone who participated with that.
There's another small town soul winning coming up on August 31st in Central, Arizona.
Not Central, Arizona, but a town called Central.
And then there's going to be a big Navajo trip on the 20th and the 21st which will include recreation at a world class destination, Canyon Deshais.
And so if you want to sign up for that, the sign up, all the details are over here to my right.
You can also talk to Brother Raymond Cooper for more details about that.
Other upcoming events, the missions conference in November and the Jamaica missions trip in December, that's about it for announcements.
Let's go ahead and count up the soul winning from the past few days.
So going back to Thursday, August 22nd, anything to report from then?
Okay, gotcha in the back.
Okay.
All right.
Am I missing anybody?
All right.
And then how about Friday?
Got it.
Okay.
Was there something else from Friday?
All right.
Very good.
Okay.
Okay, Raymond?
Okay.
For the trip course.
And then, okay, got it.
Got it.
Okay.
Got it.
Anything else from Saturday?
And then how about, is that Saturday?
Okay.
And then how about today Sunday?
Six.
Okay.
Got it.
Okay.
Gotcha.
Got it.
Okay.
Any other groups from today?
All right.
Very good.
Keep up the great work on soul winning with that.
Let's sing our next song.
Come lead us.
All right.
You should find the insert in front of your hymnal with the song of the regions beyond.
If you don't have an answer, you can raise your hand and you'll receive one.
And we'll sing it on that first to the regions beyond.
I must go.
The regions beyond.
Let's sing it out.
To the regions beyond, I must go, I must go, where the story has never been told.
To the millions that never have heard of his love, I must tell this new story of old.
To the regions beyond, I must go, I must go, till the world, all the world, is a nation
shall know.
To the hardest of places he calls me to go, not thinking of clumberderies, the world
may pronounce me a dreamer, a wolf, enough is the master I please.
To the regions beyond, I must go, I must go, till the world, all the world, is a nation
shall know.
Oh ye that are sent in your leisure and power, in pleasure so foolish and fond.
Awake from your selfishness, folly and sin, and go to the regions beyond, to the regions
beyond.
I must go, I must go, till the world, all the world, is a nation shall know.
There are other lost sheep that the master must bring, and they gave us the message he
told.
He sent me to gather them out of all lands and welcomed them back to his home, to the
regions beyond.
I must go, I must go, till the world, all the world, is a nation shall know.
I am happy in the service of the King, I am happy, oh so happy, I have peace and joy that
nothing else can bring.
In the service of the King, in the service of the King, every challenge I will bring.
I have peace and joy and blessing in the service of the King.
I am happy in the service of the King.
I am happy, oh so happy, through the sunshine and the shadow I can see.
In the service of the King, in the service of the King, every challenge I will bring.
I have peace and joy and blessing in the service of the King.
I am happy in the service of the King.
I am happy, oh so happy, all that I possess to Him I gladly bring.
In the service of the King, in the service of the King, every challenge I will bring.
I have peace and joy and blessing in the service of the King.
Can I go sing tonight?
Alright, this time we'll pass our offering plates around.
As the plates go around, let's turn our Bibles to Jonah chapter number 2.
Jonah chapter number 2, as we always do, we'll read the entire chapter beginning in verse number 1.
We'll follow along silently with brother Dan as he reads Jonah chapter 2 beginning in verse number 1.
Jonah chapter 2 the Bible reads,
Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly,
and said, I cried by reason of my infliction unto the Lord, and he heard me.
Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
For thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas,
and the floods compassed me about.
All thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
The waters compassed me about, even to the soul.
The depth closed me round about.
The weeds were wrapped about my head.
I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
The earth with her bars was about me forever.
Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God?
When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee,
into thine holy temple.
They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy,
but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving.
I will pay that that I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.
And the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
Father, I thank you for 5th Ward Baptist Church and the King James Bible.
I also thank you for the souls that were won this week.
I ask that you fill Pastor Anderson with your Holy Spirit.
Open our hearts and our ears to receive your holy word.
In Jesus' name I pray this. Amen.
Man, this evening I'm preaching once again on Jonah,
and the title of my sermon tonight is Out of the Belly of Hell.
Out of the Belly of Hell.
Of course, in this morning's sermon, we went through all of the events leading up to Jonah being swallowed by the whale.
And in verse 17 of chapter 1, the Bible reads,
Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah,
and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
Now chapter 1 is a narrative or a story, but then chapter number 2 is actually poetry.
It's actually Jonah's prayer from the whale's belly.
And then once the prayer is over, then the narrative or the story picks up again in chapter 3.
Now in verse 1 of chapter 2, it says,
Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly,
and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me.
Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
And this is the idea that I want to focus on is that he's crying unto the Lord out of the belly of hell.
Now obviously, he's not literally in hell. He's not dead.
He's alive. He's in a whale's belly, not hell.
But of course, he is a prophet of God in the Old Testament,
and to Jesus Christ, all the prophets bear witness
that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.
And so the Old Testament prophets, the things that they did, the things that they experienced,
the things that they preached are pointing us ultimately to the Lord Jesus Christ.
And so even though he is literally in a whale's belly,
he is prophesying about the fact that one day Jesus Christ would literally be in hell.
Now why do I say that? Well, because that's what the Bible says.
Let's go to Matthew chapter 12 verse 40.
Matthew chapter 12 verse 40, we're going to come back to Jonah 2 much later in the sermon,
but first we want to go to the New Testament and see this idea of the fact that Jesus Christ,
when he died on the cross, his body was buried in the tomb,
but his soul went to hell for three days and three nights.
This is what the Bible clearly and explicitly teaches.
There's no question about this if you actually believe the words that are on the page in front of you in your Bible.
Typically people who will deny this teaching,
it is because of the fact that they will claim that the King James Bible is translated wrongly
and that you have to go back to the Greek or go back to the Hebrew in order to get the true meaning of it.
And whenever I was growing up and anyone argued with this,
that was the argumentation that they inevitably used.
The King James Bible is not right when it says hell.
Well, here's the thing about that. The King James Bible is right,
and 99.99999% of the time the people who are telling you that do not know Greek or Hebrew.
They've never read the Greek New Testament cover to cover even one time.
They've never read the Hebrew Old Testament cover to cover even a single time.
And yet they are going to tell you that the 54 expert scholars who translated the King James Bible were somehow wrong
and they're right because the internet or because Strong's Concordance or because Esort or whatever,
but at the end of the day they don't know what they're talking about.
And you need to have faith in the fact that your English Bible, the King James Bible,
that has stood the test of time for over 400 years is the Word of God.
God does not expect you to go learn two foreign languages in order to understand His Word.
He has allowed you to read the Word of God in your own native language.
Okay, so don't let somebody come to you who doesn't even know the original languages
and try to spin you around on this and tell you that the KJV is wrong.
We'll get to that later in the sermon, but look at Matthew chapter 12 verse 40.
The Bible says, For as Jonah 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 it makes sense that Jonah is alluding to being in hell if he's picturing the Lord Jesus Christ
who is going to spend three days and three nights in the heart of the earth after his death on the cross.
Now what does that mean to be in the heart of the earth?
Some people would just say that this is him simply being buried in the tomb.
But of course we know that the earth is a giant globe or sphere, okay?
And so the heart of something is the center of something, okay?
For example, if you think about an artichoke, the heart is in the middle.
I mean it's kind of obvious, I know.
This isn't talking about just being six feet under the crust of this giant sphere
and calling that the heart of the earth.
No, the heart of the earth is talking about being in the center of the earth, okay?
That's what that means.
If you look this up in the Oxford dictionary, it says the central or innermost part of something.
That is the second definition for heart.
Obviously it's also a blood-pumping organ.
But look if you would at Acts chapter 2 verse 31.
Here's an explicit statement that Jesus Christ was in hell while he was dead.
Acts chapter 2 verse 31.
So we see that in Matthew 1240, Jesus was three days and three nights, not just in a tomb, but in the heart of the earth.
Of course hell is located in, the Bible says, the lower parts of the earth, the nether parts of the earth.
He's located, or excuse me, hell is located in the center of the earth, in the core of the earth, in the heart of the earth.
Look what the Bible says in Acts chapter 2 verse 31.
He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ that his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
Now let's stop and analyze this verse because there's so much going on in this verse.
First of all, we need to understand that the subject is the resurrection of Christ, right?
He spake about the resurrection of Christ.
What did he say about the resurrection of Christ?
He said that Jesus Christ's soul was not left in hell.
He wasn't left there. He wasn't abandoned there, okay?
Instead he resurrected, right? He came out of that place.
So his soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption.
Because stop and think about it, you've got the body sitting over in the tomb.
You've got the soul going down into hell for three days and three nights.
Here's what the resurrection is all about.
The soul wasn't left in hell. He didn't stay there. He wasn't abandoned there.
But rather he is resurrected from hell and then he goes back to the flesh body that's laying in that tomb, right?
And he gets up and physically walks out of that tomb in that literal body.
You see, it's important that we believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus.
The Bible talks about the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.
And burial is referring to a body. You don't bury a soul, you bury a body.
Okay? And so Jesus, of course, when he came out of the tomb,
he showed unto his disciples the holes in his hands, the hole in his side,
to prove that it was literally the same body that was crucified on the cross, right?
To show that it was the same person that Jesus had bodily resurrected from the dead.
Now, obviously, his body was changed.
Obviously, he had a glorified body as he came up out of the tomb.
But how long was his body in the tomb?
For three days and three nights, he was, of course, somewhat embalmed before he was actually sealed in that tomb.
Because if you remember, they brought the, you know, all the spices and so forth.
And they were going to put more spices on the first day of the week.
But they'd already brought with Joseph of Arimathea the hundred pounds of myrrh and all that.
And so he was there for three days and three nights.
And his flesh did not see corruption.
He wasn't just allowed to just sit there and just rot indefinitely, his physical body, that is.
But rather, before that could take place, his body resurrected from the dead. Okay?
So I don't think that this verse is super hard to understand.
I think it's a clear verse.
The resurrection of Christ speaks to the fact that Christ's soul was not left in hell and his flesh did not see corruption.
Because that flesh that was laying in the grave that would have ultimately decayed didn't because it was resurrected and he walked out of the grave and so forth.
But let's back up and actually get the context here.
But again, typically people that would deny this doctrine would say that Acts 2 31 is translated incorrectly and it shouldn't say hell here.
But actually it's translated correctly, of course, just like everything else in the King James Bible is correct.
But by the way, I just want to mention this as well, is that the doctrinal statement of the Church of England at the time that the King James Bible was translated also explicitly states that Jesus went to hell.
Just in case there's any confusion about what's going through their minds as they translated this.
The 39 articles of the Church of England, the third article.
So out of 39 points in their statement of faith, this is the third one.
And here's what it says.
The title is of the going down of Christ into hell.
As Christ died for us and was buried, so also is it to be believed that he went down into hell, period.
And then it just goes on to the next point.
So that's just one of the points in their doctrinal statement because that's what they believed.
That's what the Bible says.
That's how they correctly translated it.
That's what it is.
But let's go ahead and get the context here of this passage.
Go back if you would to verse 24 and we're going to read this verse in context.
It says Acts 2 24, whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holden of it.
Now stop right there.
Jesus Christ died on the cross and then he was dead for three days and three nights and then he rose again for the dead.
Right?
Here's the thing about dying.
After you die, you're dead.
And we don't have to wonder about this because Jesus explicitly said this in Revelation chapter one.
He said, I'm he that liveth and was dead and behold, I'm alive forevermore.
Amen.
And have the keys of hell and of death.
So Jesus was dead for three days and three nights, according to the Bible.
And then he rose again from the dead.
Right?
Well, here it says that God raised him up, having loosed the pains of death.
Now, is death a painful experience?
Is being dead or was being dead for Jesus a painful experience, according to the Bible?
Well, that's what the Bible says.
I mean, the Bible says that when Christ was raised up, God loosed the pains of death.
Why would there be pain associated with death?
Because when he's dead, he's in hell for three days and three nights and that is a painful place to be.
And then he is resurrected from hell.
People will try to claim that, well, yeah, but where does it say that he suffered in hell?
Well, I mean, is pain good enough for you?
You know what it's like?
It's like these Muslims that they want you to show them a Bible verse where the Bible just says some exact thing the way they want it.
Like they want to see a verse that says Jesus is God, period.
And this is what Muslims will confront you with.
I've literally had scores of Muslims to my face say to me, show me in the Bible where it says Jesus is God.
Just that statement, Jesus, because they're just asking for this exact little statement.
But of course, we can prove from the Bible 20 different ways that Jesus is God.
We can prove extremely clearly, but because it's not the exact statement that they're asking for, then they claim the Bible doesn't say it.
But whenever a Muslim says that to me, I always give them the same answer.
I say, well, how about this?
How about I show you a verse that says Jesus is the son of God or where Jesus said, I am the son of God.
Will you believe that?
They're like, no.
And I'm like, well, then why would I waste my time trying to show you a verse that says where Jesus said I'm God if you won't believe it when Jesus said I'm the son of God?
It sounds like you don't care what the Bible says, so I'm not going to waste my time showing you some little exact wording that you're looking for.
Of course, we have plenty of verses like, for example, unto the son, he saith, Thy throne, O God, is forever and ever.
Or verses like, you know, God was manifest in the flesh, and God was preached unto the Gentiles, believed unto the world, received up into glory.
I mean, we have tons of verses that could be understood no other way than that Jesus is God.
But no, no, no, they want a verse where Jesus says, I am God in quotation marks or something.
You know, it's the same thing where people are like, show me where Jesus suffered in hell.
Well, Jesus died and went to hell for three days and three nights.
He was dead and he was in hell for three days, three nights.
And then God loosed him from the pains of death.
Yeah, but it doesn't say it the way I'm asking.
You know, well, you're asking the wrong question then.
The Bible is clear here.
It says he loosed the pains of death because it was not possible that he should be holding of it.
Now, why was it not possible for him to be holding of it?
For David speaketh concerning him.
I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved.
Therefore, did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad.
Moreover, also my flesh shall rest in hope because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.
Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
So the reason why the resurrection of Christ was inevitable
and the reason why Jesus Christ for sure was going to be resurrected from the dead
and was for sure not going to be left in hell
is because this is what God had already promised in the Old Testament
and God can't lie.
And so there was already the promise of God that he would not be left in hell
and his soul would not see corruption.
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, verse 27.
Neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption.
Thou hast made known to me the ways of life.
Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance.
Men and brethren, let me speak freely unto you of the patriarch David
that he is both dead and buried and his sepulcher is with us unto this day.
Therefore, being a prophet and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him
that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh
he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne,
he seeing this before spake of the resurrection of Christ
that his soul was not left in hell.
Neither his flesh did see corruption.
And again, it's super clear here.
It fits the context perfectly.
Everything's explained.
There's really no question if you just believe
what's on the page in front of you in the text, okay?
And here's the thing.
Elsewhere in the Bible as well, you will have prophets
where they're talking about themselves seemingly,
but actually they're prophesying about Christ.
If you would go to Acts, you're already in Acts.
Go to chapter 8.
Flip over to Acts chapter 8
and let's look at verse 30.
And we can see that this is not unique to Psalm 16.
Psalm 16 is first-person voice David saying,
Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.
But he's not talking about himself because what does Peter say?
He says, well, look, David's dead and buried.
His sepulcher is with us to this day.
He's speaking about the resurrection of Christ.
He's not talking about himself.
Look at Acts chapter 8 verse 30.
Philip ran to him, talking about the Ethiopian eunuch,
and heard him read the prophet Esaias and said,
Understandest thou what thou readest?
And he said, How can I except some man should guide me?
And he desired Philip that he would come up and sit with him.
And then, of course, they read together this passage from Isaiah chapter 53.
When the passage from Isaiah 53 has been read,
the eunuch answered Philip and said, verse 34,
I pray thee, of whom speaketh the prophet this?
Of himself or of some other man?
He's saying, Is the prophet talking about himself in Isaiah 53,
or is he talking about somebody else?
Then Philip opened his mouth, verse 35,
and began at the same scripture and preached unto him Jesus.
Okay, so is Isaiah 53 about Isaiah?
Is Isaiah the suffering servant?
No, Jesus is the suffering servant.
And yet, as a prophet, he's using the first person to talk about himself,
but it's not really himself.
It's actually a prophecy of Jesus.
This is the exact thing that's going on in Psalm 16 and 11
when he says, Thou wilt not leave my soul in hell.
And it's the same thing that's going on in Jonah chapter 2
when Jonah says, Out of the belly of hell cried I,
and thou heardest my voice.
David, Isaiah, Jonah, they're all prophesying about Jesus Christ.
We don't have to guess about this.
We don't have to wonder because we have Acts chapter 2
to tell us that Psalm 16 is about Jesus.
We have Acts chapter 8 to tell us that Isaiah 53 is about Jesus.
We have Matthew chapter 12 to tell us that Jonah chapter 2 is about Jesus.
It's a prophecy of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Now if you would go over to Ephesians chapter 4.
Ephesians chapter 4.
So just to quickly review, what have we seen so far?
We have Jonah making the statement that he's crying out from the belly of hell.
We have Matthew 1240 saying that as Jonah 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.
Of course, the heart of the earth is a reference to hell
because a grave six feet under is not the heart of the earth by any stretch of the imagination
because you'd have to be thousands of miles under the earth
in order to be in the heart of the earth.
Then, of course, we have Acts chapter 2 verse 31
which just very clearly states that Christ's resurrection is about his soul not being left in hell
nor his flesh seeing corruption.
We looked at the context of Acts chapter 2 and it talks about God raising Christ up from the dead
loosing the pains of death, right?
Because the pains of death and hell took hold about him.
He suffered those things while he was dead.
Look at Ephesians chapter 4 verse 8. We have more evidence.
It says in Ephesians 4 8, Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high,
he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men, now that he ascended,
what is it but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth?
So look, this isn't just Jesus being buried on the surface.
This is Jesus descending into the lower parts of the earth.
And, of course, if we go back to Ezekiel, hell is referred to as the nether parts of the earth,
the lower parts of the earth.
And so he descended first into the lower parts of the earth.
He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens
that he might fill all things.
And so, again, it's pretty clear. There's no question about it in my mind
and I think that really the only legitimate way to argue with Jesus going to hell
is to just claim that, oh, the Bible's wrong or the English Bible's wrong
and then we have to go to some foreign language that people don't even speak.
Obviously, there are people that speak it, but I'm saying the people who make these points typically don't.
Now, if you would, go to John chapter 19 because one of the objections to this
clear statement from the Bible that Jesus' soul was not left in hell,
that Jesus descended into the lower parts of the earth,
that Jesus spent three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
You know, one of the objections is, well, what about when Jesus said it is finished on the cross, right?
People will bring that up.
And, first of all, let me say this. This doctrine is not based on one verse.
The idea that Jesus descended into hell is not based on one verse
because it's based on Matthew 1240 and it's based on Acts 2 31.
And it's based on Ephesians chapter 4.
And not only that, it's based upon the supporting passages,
the whole verses surrounding Acts 2 31, everything leading up to Acts 2 31.
It's a whole chunk of scripture.
It's also supported by Jonah chapter 2, which is supporting Matthew 1240.
It's also supported by Psalm 68 being incorporated into Ephesians chapter 4
and the idea of leading captivity captive.
I mean, there is a lot of basis for this. It's not based on one verse.
There's one super clear verse, Acts 2 31,
but then you have a lot of other clear verses and other supporting texts
and really just this is an idea that is present throughout scripture, okay?
And so don't let anybody tell you it's based on one verse because it isn't.
But some people will bring up this objection.
John 19 30, if you're there,
when Jesus therefore had received the vinegar, he said,
it is finished and he bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
And so what they'll say here is, well, when Jesus said it is finished.
So that's it. Nothing, you know, nothing else can happen.
You know, it's over. That's it. It's done.
How could he go to hell afterward? Because it's over. It's done.
But here's the thing. We all agree that he's dead for three days and three nights after that.
And then we all agree he rose again from the dead.
And then after he rose again from the dead,
he took his blood and sprinkled it on the mercy seat in heaven.
And then now he's ever living to make intercession for us.
And then he's going to have a second coming.
So when he says it is finished, everything's not finished, folks.
So the question is, what was finished? Right?
It is finished. Here's the question. What was finished?
Now, we can just make something up if you want.
We can just make things up and we can just make it up and say,
everything that was needed for you to go to heaven was finished right there.
Well, you can just make that. It says who? You made that up right now.
Or somebody could say, well, that means that, you know, all the sin debt was totally paid in full right there.
You know, but again, you're just making that up.
If we want to know what was finished, we should actually look at the Bible
and actually compare scripture with scripture and actually get the context of the passage itself and of the book itself.
And if you look at the context, you will see that that is not what was finished.
And no matter how you look at this, you end up coming to the same conclusion about what was finished.
Now, first of all, let me just say this.
If we just look at this in English, because I believe, again, that your English King James Bible
is really all you need to understand the word of God and there's nothing defective or wrong with it.
And you could go through your life and live and die without knowing any Greek or Hebrew.
And you can understand the Bible by reading it in English.
And you got the Holy Spirit and you got your English Bible and that's all you need, right?
Well, even just reading this English Bible, reading John chapter 19, here's what you're going to find for the word finished in the book of John.
So in the context of the Gospel of John itself, if you go back to chapter 4, you don't have to turn to these.
You can if you want, but John chapter 4 verse 34, Jesus said,
my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.
So in John chapter 4, Jesus says, my meat is to do the will of him that sent me and to finish his work.
So doing the will of God, finishing his work, right?
We have that idea of finished in chapter 4.
Then if we go to chapter 5 verse 36, and I'm going to every reference to finishing in the Gospel of John.
We go to John chapter 5 verse 36, but I have greater witness than that of John,
for the works which the Father hath given me to finish, the same works that I do bear witness of me that the Father has sent me.
So in chapter 4, what did he say? Do the will of him that sent me and finish his work.
Chapter 5, the work which the Father gave me to finish. Aren't those two pretty much same ideas being mentioned there?
Chapter 4 and chapter 5 are both talking about the same thing.
The Father sending him to do his will and to finish a certain work.
Both verses are talking about that.
Then we go to a third place, John chapter 17 verse 4, where Jesus is talking to God the Father,
and he says in John 17 verse 4, I have glorified thee on the earth, I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.
So we have three references to finish before the statement on the cross,
and they're all three talking about Jesus finishing the work that the Father gave him to do.
Then all of a sudden when we get to it is finished on the cross,
why would we just assume that this is something totally different now?
Just something completely different.
It doesn't really make a lot of sense, does it?
It makes a lot more sense that Jesus is saying that he has finished the work that the Father gave him to do.
He has done everything that he was supposed to do.
Because the Bible says of Jesus Christ that he was obedient, obedient to who?
He was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
So his obedience was all the way up to the very end.
He was obedient unto death.
He did the will of the Father.
He finished the work that God gave him to do.
And when he says on the cross, it is finished, he has done everything that he was supposed to do up to that point.
Right? And now it's over. Now it's done.
Because now he's saying, into thy hands I commend my spirit.
He's dying. Life's over at that point.
He's dead, but he had done everything, all the work and all the will of God that he was supposed to do.
He had done it all, and it was finished.
But of course, you have these people again, and they want to go and tell you what the Greek says.
And these people will explicitly tell you, I don't know Greek, I don't speak Greek, but I have e-sword.
And I can look things up in e-sword.
And I can see some of the other ways that this word is used in other places in the Bible.
And here's the danger of this, is that what you have to understand is that the same word can have multiple meanings.
Okay?
And here's the mistake that people make, and I've been listening to this garbage my entire life.
I remember rolling my eyes about this in church as a teenager.
And just thinking, oh, this is so dumb, where this is what they'll do.
They'll look up a word that has multiple meanings, and they'll try to just build all of those meanings into every use of the word,
instead of realizing that what is actually going on is that sometimes the word means this in this situation,
other times it means this in that situation, it's based on context.
But you can't roll all of the meanings in to every usage.
And sometimes it's actually two completely different words that are just spelled the same and sound the same,
but they actually have different etymologies and they have totally different meanings, right?
I mean, these words exist in English, and that's why in a dictionary you'll sometimes have the word with the one after it,
the word with the two after it showing you, these are two totally different words.
They're just spelled and sound the same.
And let me just give you a really easy to understand example of this, is we have the English word quick.
Okay?
Now, the first thing that comes to our mind in 2024 America, when we hear the word quick, is what?
Speed, right? Something's moving fast, right?
Something's moving quick.
And that is one of the things that quick means, right?
If something's quick, it means it goes fast.
But then there's also another meaning of the word quick, which means that it's alive.
And that's different.
That has nothing to do with speed, right?
Because a snail could be quick in the sense that it's alive, but it's not quick, it's not moving fast.
So these are two totally different meanings.
One of them is alive, one of them is fast.
Another meaning of quick, and that's when you cut your fingernails and you cut off the white part of your fingernails
and you accidentally get into that pink part of the fingernail.
It hurts pretty bad because now you are into the quick, right?
You have accidentally cut into the quick.
And that is another meaning for the word quick, and it's totally different.
Now, the stupidity here would be to then read the verse in Hebrews that says the word of God is quick and powerful.
And to say, well, yeah, I mean, you know, the word of God's alive, but it's also fast.
You know, the word of God's quick.
But there's no idea of speed there.
It just means alive.
Yeah, but quick also means fast.
And it's also that sensitive part under your fingernails, and so what you have to understand about the word of God
is that the word of God, sometimes it can really touch a nerve.
Sometimes it hurts a little bit, you know.
Sometimes people get a little sensitive about the word of God because the word of God is quick.
It's like when you cut your fingernails wrong, kind of quick.
And of course, this is silly.
You know why you guys think this is so stupid?
Because you speak English.
So because you speak English, you understand the fact that the word quick is being used in different ways, in different contexts,
and that these are three completely different meanings.
You understand that because you know English.
Someone who doesn't know English is just going to see the word quick, and I don't know, maybe they just think it means all these things.
Maybe it just means all of it at once because they don't know.
And these people that are going back to the Greek and going back to the Hebrew, they also don't know
because they haven't read even the New Testament cover to cover.
And even reading the New Testament cover to cover is not enough.
You also would have to read pages and pages and volume after volume of other ancient Greek literature just to understand the language.
Right? Because look, if someone only read the Bible in English and they'd never read any other book in English,
would you say they were an English expert?
No, you'd expect someone who's really good at the English language to probably have read a lot of books in English.
Yes, the Bible.
And by the way, not just the New Testament.
You'd expect that they read the Old Testament.
Okay, so have these guys read the Old Testament in Greek?
Have they read the Greek Septuagint cover to cover?
Right? Have they read other Greek literature?
No, they haven't.
And yet they get up and speak as though they were authorities.
When the King James Bible translators had all read the Greek New Testament cover to cover, the Septuagint cover to cover,
and a plethora of other Greek works in that language that they were experts in as opposed to just some guy.
Well, actually, if you go on e-sword, you know, it actually also means paid.
It doesn't just mean it's finished, it means it's paid.
But no, it doesn't.
Now, of course, if you go on a Bible software and click on this word, it will say sometimes it's translated as finished,
sometimes it's translated as accomplished, sometimes it's translated as paid,
and that's because these are specific contests where it's a totally different meaning of the word where somebody is paying their taxes, right?
There's a verse where Jesus is paying his taxes, and there it means paid because it's a different meaning.
It's a totally different entry.
And if you look it up in a dictionary, it'll be as a separate entry, as a different meaning of the word, not the same.
It's not like, well, it's finished, but it's also paid.
And here's the thing, no, apparently it's finished because that's how the King James Bible translated it, because it's correct.
But they're like, well, yeah, it's finished, but it's also paid.
It says who?
It says your foolishness of not understanding how foreign languages work.
No, it doesn't mean all of those things.
This is not, Jesus is not saying it's paid in full.
And you know what, this is very popular preaching.
I've heard preachers get up and give like 20 meanings to this Greek word.
I literally heard a sermon where the guy just kept saying, if you go back to the Greek, it means paid in full.
Then he preached about that for a while.
Then he said it's what an artist says when he finishes doing a painting, you know?
He gave like 30 illustrations, and he's saying it means all of these things.
No, man, it just means it's finished.
Okay, there's no magical, mystical meaning in this word.
This word is not a magic word, and this word in this context does not mean paid.
That is a totally different word, totally different usage.
But again, if these people actually read Greek, they would know that.
They would understand that.
Here's what else they would know if they actually read Greek, which they don't,
is that if you actually read this passage in Greek, here's the funny thing about it.
Go back to verse 28.
It says after this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished.
This is the funny thing, that that word accomplished there is literally the exact same Greek word as finished in verse 30.
It's literally identical.
It's spelled identical.
It's accented identical.
It's the same exact word.
And so Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, sayeth, I thirst.
Now, stop and pay attention here, okay?
I don't want you to miss this, okay?
Jesus realizes, okay, everything's now been accomplished.
What does he mean by that?
Let's find out.
That the scripture might be fulfilled, he says, I thirst.
So he's realizing, okay, everything's accomplished except one thing.
There's one thing left that needs to happen.
I'm supposed to say, I thirst.
So pay attention, folks.
Don't miss this.
After this, Jesus knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the scripture might be fulfilled, sayeth, I thirst.
Now, there was set a vessel full of vinegar, and they filled a sponge with vinegar, put it upon hyssop and put it to his mouth.
When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished.
Now, look, we don't have to wonder what was finished because what was finished has to do with him getting the vinegar put in his mouth.
Look at the verse.
What does it say in verse 30?
When Jesus, therefore, had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished.
Notice it doesn't say, you know, that, you know, Jesus now has done everything to pay for your...
But hold on a minute.
What does the vinegar have to do with that?
Like, what does the vinegar...
Are we saved by the vinegar on the stick?
What does the vinegar have to do with that?
But again, they are making things up about what it is finished means.
What it is finished means is that Jesus has fulfilled the will of God the Father and done all the work that God the Father has given him to do.
And he has fulfilled every prophecy, every scripture that he was supposed to fulfill in his earthly life.
That's why when he realizes that everything's now accomplished, which is synonymous with being finished,
when he realizes that everything is now accomplished, he says, wait a minute, one more thing.
I thirst.
They give him vinegar to drink.
Why?
Because there's an Old Testament prophecy saying that in his thirst they gave him vinegar to drink.
So he has to do that last thing.
Once he does that last thing, he has done everything that he is supposed to do in his earthly life.
And he can say, OK, now it's over.
Now that I've taken the vinegar, it's finished.
He bowed his head and gave up the ghost.
He was obedient unto death.
He finished the work that God gave him to do.
He fulfilled the will of God.
He fulfilled every prophecy.
And this was finalized.
The last thing is receiving the vinegar.
Now, if your definition of it is finished has nothing to do with the vinegar, you have the wrong definition.
Because you're not even reading the whole verse.
Because the whole verse literally says when he had received the vinegar, he said, it is finished.
Receiving the vinegar is something that he was supposed to do to fulfill prophecy.
OK, and so that's what's finished is that he had been obedient unto death.
He did everything that he was supposed to do.
Now, why is this significant?
The significant thing here is that Jesus Christ, up to this point, theoretically,
and obviously we know that, you know, everything always had to happen the way that it happened and whatever.
We can get all navel gazing and philosophical all you want.
But at the end of the day, here's what Jesus actually said.
Jesus said, you know, if I wanted to, I could call 12 legions of angels, right?
And basically, he could basically get out of what he was going through.
Because, you know, we've probably all heard the famous song.
He could have called 10,000 angels to destroy the world and set him free.
He could have called 10,000 angels, but he died alone for you and me.
Who's heard this song before?
OK, now, look, obviously the number is a little different there rather than the 12 legions.
But at the end of the day, that's the idea behind Jesus saying, look, I could call for 12 legions of angels to deliver me.
Right? Jesus Christ endured the cross.
He made it all the way to the finish line.
Jesus Christ was obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
This was an incredible accomplishment to live the perfect sinless life and not to bail out at any point,
but to endure all that suffering, the beating, the shame, being spat upon and dying on the cross.
And here's the thing.
What is the difference after he says it is finished and gives up the ghost?
The difference is that things are out of his hands now.
They're out of his hands.
That's why he says, into thy hands I command my spirit.
They're out of his hands at this point.
What do I mean by that?
He is relying upon now God the Father to resurrect him.
He is, don't miss this.
He's relying on God the Father to resurrect him.
See, when he's in the garden, he could bail out, you know, but you know what?
When he's dead, he's dead and he's relying on God the Father to resurrect him.
It's that simple.
OK, now, a lot of people will say, no, you know, you know, he did it himself.
And, you know, he doesn't need the father to do it.
First of all, the Bible is crystal clear that Jesus has hope because God's not going to leave his soul in hell.
So the idea that I'm not going to be left in hell shows that he has hope in God, faith in God,
that he's not going to be left in hell, he's not going to be abandoned, but that God is going to resurrect him.
What does the Bible say about the resurrection of Christ?
Well, you don't have to turn to these for sake of time.
I'm just going to read you a whole litany of scriptures.
Acts 2.24, we already read, whom God hath raised up.
But try these on.
Acts 2.32, this Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Acts 3.26, unto you first God, having raised up his son Jesus, sent him to bless you.
Acts 5.30, the God of our fathers raised up Jesus.
Acts 10.40, him God raised up the third day.
Acts 13.33, God hath fulfilled the same unto us, their children, and that he hath raised up Jesus again.
1 Corinthians 6.14, and God hath both raised up the Lord and will also raise up us by his own power.
1 Corinthians 15.15, yea, and we are found false witnesses of God because we have testified of God that he raised up Christ,
whom he raised not up, if it so be that the dead rise not.
How many verses do we need here that tell us that God raised up Jesus?
Over, just God raised up Jesus.
God raised up Jesus.
And then we get to 1 Peter 1.21, who by him do believe in God that raised him up from the dead
and gave him glory that your faith and hope might be in God.
So we just have verse after verse after verse.
This isn't one verse, not two, three, four, five verses.
Just verse after verse saying God raised up Jesus.
God raised up Jesus.
God raised up.
And then you have Jesus saying, you know, you're not going to leave my soul in hell.
That's why I'm resting in hope.
No, no, he, you know, he, he didn't need, he didn't need, uh, God, the father to do it.
What?
So what, what's God the father doing?
Just kind of going through the motions.
You know, what's, what's he doing?
Like, like, like for example, like, uh, or, uh, come on up here, Steven.
Let me, let me do an illustration here.
Okay.
You know, come here, come here, Steven.
Here, come up, come up here and, and, and sit down right here, Steven, on this step.
Okay.
So Steven, Steven, have a seat.
All right.
Okay.
Raise yourself up.
All right there.
So, so that was pretty easy, right?
Okay.
Now, now have a seat.
Have a seat.
All right.
Raise yourself up.
All right.
I raised him up.
Does that make a lot of sense to you?
If he did it all on his own, cause I didn't do, I mean, he did it all on his own.
He could easily do it on his own.
Here, do it again without me.
Does he need my help?
Sit down.
Get up.
Do you need my help?
Sit down.
Get up, get up, get up.
Oh, I raised him up.
Does that make sense to you?
Cause it doesn't make any sense to me.
Go ahead and have a seat because it isn't true because Jesus is relying on God the Father
to raise him up because he could not just do it on his own.
Okay.
You can argue with that all you want, but again, what does the Bible say?
You should base what you believe on what the Bible clearly says, and the Bible says over
and over again that God raised up Jesus, the Father raised up Jesus, all these different
things.
Now, if you would go to John chapter 10, cause here's what some people would, would bring
up to say, well, no, Jesus, you know, he, he did it all on his own.
He doesn't need the Father's help to resurrect.
Well then why is the emphasis, what's emphasized?
God raising up Jesus, God raising up Jesus, and the fact that he's hoping and trusting
and relying on God's promise that he will not be abandoned in hell.
My point is that Jesus Christ has done all of these things to be obedient to the Father,
to please the Father, to fulfill scripture, to do always those things that please God
all the way up until he says it is finished on the cross.
And then at that point it's out of his hands.
He's already done it.
He's won because at this point now the last thing that needs to happen, basically he's
relying on God to do, three days later he's going to rise from the dead through the power
of God the Father, not him just like, well, I can just leave hell whenever I want.
Jesus couldn't just on Saturday at 11 a.m. just be like, oh, I'm sick of this.
I'm out because he's relying on the fact that God is not going to leave him in hell.
And again, you know, you say, I don't know.
Well, you know, I don't know why you don't know because this is what the Bible says like
20 times.
Okay.
And I know you didn't say that.
I said that for you.
Well, where did I have you turn?
John chapter 10.
So look at John chapter 10 verse 17.
Therefore does my father love me because I lay down my life that I might take it again.
Now here's another word for the word take.
Here's a synonym for the word take, receive everybody understand that, right?
Take and receive are typically synonymous in the English language.
Usually when you're learning another language and you learn that word for take, it'll be
like this means take or receive.
You know, it's, it's kind of the same idea here.
He says, I lay down my life that I might take it again.
No man take it from me, but I lay it down over myself.
Okay.
So he's saying that he is making the decision of himself, of his own accord.
He is the one that is laying down his life.
Nobody's taken it from him.
He's laying down his life.
That's him willingly going to the cross, obedient unto death, even the death of the cross.
Everybody get that?
No man take it my life from me, he says, I lay it down of myself and then watch what
he says here.
I have power to lay it down and I have power to take it again.
This commandment have I received my father.
Now here's what we don't want to misunderstand.
We don't want to misunderstand the word power here and think that power here is talking
about ability.
Okay.
Because again, the English word power has a couple of different meanings.
Power can mean ability, but power can also mean authority, right?
So if I talked about having power, okay, typically in English, if I said he has a
lot of power, the first thing that comes to your mind is probably not that he's doing
deadlifts and squats and he's a power lifter.
Now obviously power does mean that.
And if we were looking at a bodybuilder and in that context we pointed at the bodybuilder
and said, this guy's powerful, then we would, we would think we're talking about his ability,
his strength, right?
But typically if I said this person has power, we would typically mean that they have authority.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
Like this guy is in power.
The president has certain power.
The vice president has certain power.
That's typically, and these are two different meanings of the word power.
One of them has to do with ability.
One of them has to do with authority.
Now if you look at this context here, we want to decide, are we talking ability or are we
talking authority?
Well look what it says here.
It says I have power to lay it down.
Now stop and think about this.
Why would laying down your life be a special ability?
Because dying isn't a special ability.
Dying's easy.
Like it doesn't take a special ability.
Like hey, you can die.
Everybody can die.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
Like as far as just human beings?
No, but it makes more sense to say I have power to lay it down.
I have power to take it again.
And then look, we don't have to wonder.
You're like, I don't know.
Is it power?
Is it ability?
Let the Bible define itself.
This commandment have I received of my father.
So again, this power is a commandment.
It's not a physical ability.
It's a commandment.
It's saying look, this is what you're going to do, Jesus.
You are going to lay down your life and then you are going to take it up again.
So this is what this verse is not saying is that Jesus has the ability of himself to raise
himself from the dead without the help of God the Father.
That is not what this is saying because of the fact that it clearly says that I lay it
down of myself.
But notice he doesn't say I take it up again by myself.
I take it up by myself.
It'd be perfect opportunity to say that.
That's not what it says.
He lays it down by himself and he has the power to lay it down, the power to take it
up again because he has received that commandment from his father.
God has given him that mandate.
God has given him that mission.
God has given him that authority or that plan that he is going to do that.
He's going to lay down his life and he's going to receive his life again.
He's going to take up his life again when God raises him from the dead.
Okay.
And of course the other verse that you could go to to try to make the claim that Jesus
is doing this on his own is John chapter two where Jesus says, destroy this temple and
in three days I will raise it up.
But again, he doesn't say I'm going to raise it up all by myself.
I'm going to do it on my own.
I'm going to do it on my own terms and on my own timetable.
No, no, no.
God raised him from the dead.
The father is raising from the dead.
And again, what is the just overwhelming mass of scripture telling us?
God raised him from the dead.
So if he makes a statement of I'm going to rise again, I'm going to rise from the dead.
Well, yeah, he did rise from the dead, but he rose from the dead because God raised him
up.
Okay.
So the difference would be, you know, it's not like Steven here could just get up whenever
he wants, but I'm just kind of going through the motions and pretending that it was me
that did it or something.
But rather it is the fact that, yeah, with me lifting him, he's raising himself up with
me pulling him up.
Okay.
So obviously Jesus is involved in the resurrection.
The Holy Spirit's involved in the resurrection.
God the father's involved in the resurrection.
But Jesus was not just able to just resurrect himself whenever he wanted to.
He is waiting and relying on the fact that God is not going to leave his soul in hell.
God is not going to abandon his soul in hell.
He has hope knowing that it's going to end, that he's going to be delivered, that he's
going to be rescued.
So again, the scriptures clear, the Bible's clear.
There's a ton of Bible on all of these points.
We've just seen all of these scriptures.
So there, there are a bunch of bozos that have been saying stuff about this lately.
And here's the funny thing.
Whenever these people like attach themselves to our church, these, these bozo preachers,
and then they like, you know, turn on us and, and basically they're like these sycophants
who are just flattering us and talking about how wonderful we are.
They use us to gain their following and then they turn on us and attack us and, and whatever.
Here's what's funny.
Everybody who quote unquote leaves the new IFP and like, and just basically, you know,
breaks fellowship with us.
It's like you can almost set your watch by it that basically they just immediately flip
on this doctrine.
So all of our pastor friends, all of our pastor friends believe what the Bible says, that
Jesus was in hell for three days and three nights.
But then like, as soon as anybody like breaks fellowship with us, it's like the first thing
they do is say like, Jesus didn't go to hell or Jesus didn't suffer in hell.
Jesus didn't pay for our sins in hell.
But what's so stupid is when they, when they say this stuff about Jesus didn't go to hell,
they, they kind of end up just running face first into these verses that say that he did
go to hell, like Acts chapter 2 31.
And so what ends up happening is that what they're going to have to do is they're going
to have to basically say that the King James Bible is wrong and they don't want to say
that.
So what do you, what do you do?
How do you do it?
So here's what they've come up with now is this thing of, well, Jesus, he, he, he, he
suffered hell on the cross, but he didn't suffer in hell.
But here's the funny part, but he went to hell.
So think about this.
Just, just, just stop and just think for a second.
Everybody put your thinking cap on.
What these bozos are saying is that Jesus went to hell, but he didn't suffer there,
but he suffered hell not in hell.
So everybody, everybody, everybody got this?
He went to hell, but he didn't suffer there.
How dare you say he suffered in hell?
But he did suffer hell, but he didn't suffer in hell.
He suffered hell, not in hell.
Is everybody getting this?
I know, I know you don't get it.
That's why I have to repeat it over and over again because it's so stupid.
I have to say it over and over again to let it sink in the stupidity of it.
So Jesus suffered hell, not in hell, but he did go to hell, but he didn't suffer there.
How dare you say he suffered there, but he suffered hell, not in hell.
Wouldn't it just be a little easier to just say, like, he went to hell and he suffered
while he was there?
Like, it just seems a lot more convenient.
You know what I mean?
Like, isn't it just a lot more convenient to say, like, he went to hell and he suffered
hell while he was there?
But it's like, no, no, no.
I mean, well, we, well, you know, we, we have to believe he went to hell because that's
what the Bible says in Matthew 1240, Acts 2 31, so, okay, he went to hell.
But he didn't suffer there.
Well, yeah, but, but it's like, well, so are you saying that Jesus paid the punishment
for our sins with just a physical death?
Because it seems like when people die unsaved, they don't just face physical death.
They actually go to hell when they die.
So if Jesus is going to pay the price for our sins, why is he paying less than the average
sinner would pay?
Because sinners get beaten and killed and then they have to go to hell after that.
But supposedly Jesus could just pay for it all just with the physical death.
But then they're like, well, no, no, no.
He yeah.
Yeah.
Okay.
So he suffered hell, but he did it, uh, on the cross, but then he did go to hell, but
he didn't suffer there.
So it's like, wouldn't it just be more convenient to just have him suffer hell in hell than
to suffer hell, not in hell, but I'm the one with the weird doctrine.
And I'm not, just to prove that I'm not making this up, I'm going to read for you the exact
quote from a certain preacher that shall remain unnamed, but I think you're going to instantly
know who I'm talking about as soon as I impersonate the voice.
Jesus is rejoicing about not being left in hell while he was in his flesh.
I absolutely believe that Jesus suffered and experienced hell and took my place in hell,
but it was while he was on the cross.
He was delivered while on the cross.
I believe that for approximately three hours, Jesus suffered my hell on the cross.
Jesus while on the cross for those three hours, he experienced everything in his soul that
we would have experienced had we gone to hell, but God didn't leave him there, meaning God
didn't leave him on the cross.
Is everybody listening to this?
When Jesus Christ gave up the ghost, God loosed him from the pains of death.
He loosed him from the pains of hell and brought him into a large place.
He delivered him.
He took him to heaven.
He took him to paradise with the thief.
Now here's, you guys ready for the kicker?
This would have been before Jesus made his controlled descent, accent his, into the heart
of the earth.
So this is what, this is what he's claiming.
Everybody get that?
He's claiming that he dies on the cross and goes to heaven, then makes a controlled descent
into hell.
Everybody got this?
That seems like a lot of running around.
You know what it kind of reminds me of?
It kind of reminds me of people trying to explain the pre-trib rapture with like three
raptures, five raptures, seven raptures.
What the?
I mean, it's, it's crazy.
It's bizarre now, but let you know what?
Let's see who's right.
Are you there in Acts chapter two, verse 31, go to actually 31 because he says, well, Jesus,
and let me, let me read the quotes for you again, because they're so unbelievable.
Sometimes you have to hear these things twice because they're so wild.
He says that Jesus suffered and experienced hell.
He took my place in hell, but it was while he was on the cross.
He was delivered while on the cross.
Okay.
And so he says, God loosed him from the pains of death when he gave up the ghost.
He loosed him from the pains of hell and brought him into, but what does the Bible say in Acts
two through one?
It says he seeing this before I speak of the resurrection of Christ, that his soul was
not left in hell.
Now in the Manly Perry version, basically here's what this says.
This says this spake he of Jesus on the cross that his soul was not left in hell.
But is that what the Bible says?
No, the Bible explicitly says that his soul not being left in hell is about the resurrection.
Being loosed from the pains of death is about the resurrection and it kind of makes sense.
You're dead.
So you're loosed from the pains of death when you resurrect.
Not like, oh, dying on the cross is being released from the pains of death.
That's when death is just starting.
When you die on the cross, that's the beginning of death.
That's not the end of death.
But here's where these people have gone just totally off the plantation.
Here's what they don't understand is the fact, and they're saying like, oh, we've heard all
these old-time preachers that said Jesus suffered hell on the cross.
But you know what?
He's right because I have heard this before.
But I've never heard the stupidity that they're teaching because no one else is dumb enough
to believe this, okay?
But here's what they're mixing up because of course I've heard this idea that Jesus
suffered hell on the cross, that he basically paid the punishment of hell on the cross.
But this is by people who don't believe that Jesus went to hell.
So because they don't believe, pay attention to this, don't miss this, because they don't
believe Jesus went to hell, they have to shoehorn in the suffering of hell while Jesus
is on the cross because they don't believe that Jesus went to hell.
But basically this new weird hybrid doctrine that these guys are coming out with is like,
well, he did go to hell and he suffered hell, but these are just two totally separate events.
Because what happened is he suffered hell, then he went to heaven, then he went down
to hell not suffering, totally fireproof when he was there, he was fireproof when he
was down there.
It's crazy because what it is, is it's mixing two doctrines and you know what, it ends up
being the worst of both worlds.
Because here's the thing, like, you know, obviously it's pretty clear what I believe
up here tonight, pretty clear what I believe.
I believe that Jesus died on the cross and then he was dead for three days and three
nights and he spent the time being dead in the place of death, which is a place of torment,
and then he rose again from the dead and he relied on God to resurrect him from that place
of death.
Pretty simple.
That's what I believe.
That's one way you could believe, right?
Here's another, here's another way that you could believe.
Another way you could believe is you could say, well, Jesus didn't actually literally
go to hell, but that rather he suffered the torment of hell while he was on the cross
during the three hours of darkness and, you know, he's going through suffering on the
cross.
My God, my God, why has thou forsaken me?
He's like spiritually experiencing hell supernaturally or something.
And here's the thing, obviously I don't believe that or agree with that, but here's the thing,
it's, you know, it's not a ridiculous doctrine.
It's not a terrible doctrine because at least it kind of does the same thing.
At least you have Jesus like paying for our sins with something more than just a physical
death.
At least you have him actually, you know, doing the whole thing.
Okay.
So at least that doctrine makes sense for the people who say he doesn't want, no, it's
wrong.
It's false.
It's not what the Bible says, but at least it makes some modicum of sense.
And at the end of the day, that doctrine doesn't bother me.
I'm not offended by that doctrine because at the end of the day, I'm just like, it's
kind of six and one half dozen the other.
If you really want to believe that, whatever.
But then you just enter just the land of total stupidity of saying Jesus did go to hell,
but didn't suffer there, but then suffered hell, not in hell.
And how dare you say he suffered in hell when he actually suffered hell, not in hell.
I mean, this is just, it's just a whole nother level of stupid because it's literally, it's
the worst of both worlds.
The whole point of saying that he suffered hell on the cross was because they're trying
to avoid him going to hell, but if he's already going there anyway, what are you even doing
at this point?
This, I'll tell you exactly what it is.
It's just, we got to find a way to disagree with Pastor Anderson.
It's just disagree with Pastor Anderson at all costs because that's what we are.
We're just a reaction to Pastor Anderson and that's why, you know, some of these bozos
literally have entire channels that are just about the new IFB, just about me and my friends.
I mean, that's, you know, Michael Johnson.
And so the point is these people are total losers who are just literally living their
lives as a reaction to someone else instead of just doing their own work, their own study.
They are a reaction to us.
They're a reaction to Pastor Shelley.
They're a reaction to me.
They're a reaction to us.
And of course, these are the same people who preach sermons like, why I'm an Andersonite.
I mean, what a stupid name for sermon.
This guy was like calling himself an Andersonite, preaching a sermon why I'm an Andersonite
and then six months later he's like, oh, I have to break fellowship with Pastor Anderson
because he's so bad.
You know, it's sort of like these people in the Book of Acts who are like worshiping the
apostles and saying that they're gods and then like five minutes later want to stone
them to death, you know, because it's flattery.
It's not real.
Okay.
So the point is that these guys are just trying to come up with some way to save face because
basically they come out with this doctrine, Jesus didn't go to hell, Jesus didn't pay
for our sins in hell, and then they end up with egg on their face because of all the
scripture proving them wrong.
So then they have to come up with this weird hodgepodge cobbled together doctrine where
it's like literally taking the worst of all worlds and just having this weird yo-yo of
Jesus just yo-yoing back and forth between heaven and hell and stuff.
He suffered hell everywhere except hell, but he can't suffer it there.
You know, that's kind of the most logical place to do it.
If you're going to suffer hell, there's a logical place to do it in hell, you know,
sorry to confuse you with logic or rationality, but if you would go to Jonah chapter two,
I know I kind of went off on that, but you know, it's important that we understand
these things.
I know people have questions about these things, but look folks, this isn't complicated.
And again, it's this, it's this kind of Muslim mentality of show me the exact verse
that says I am God period, said Jesus.
Even though you can show them 20 verses, they won't believe you because it's not the
exact statement they're looking at.
Show me the verse where Jesus suffered in hell.
Well, let's see.
He died.
He was dead.
He was in hell.
He was in pain.
He's relying on God to get them out of there.
Those are all things that we're on very firm ground spiritually.
Like I don't see how you can argue with any of those statements.
If you actually just take the King James Bible as your final authority, have fun arguing
that Jesus went to hell.
I mean, he went okay.
Was there pain associated with the death that he was experienced that he was loose from
the pains of death, not on the cross, but at his resurrection.
Okay.
God is the one who raised him up from the dead.
He's relying on God not to leave him in hell.
Okay.
And of course, every single offering in the Old Testament is a burnt sacrifice.
Every single sacrifice is a sacrifice by fire unto the Lord.
But that doesn't mean anything.
The passive, the Passover, it can't be eaten raw.
It can't be boiled at all.
It had to be roast with fire.
Why did the Passover have to be killed?
Roast with fire, eaten.
Why?
This is symbolic of Christ and what he did for us on the cross.
This is not just one verse, a couple of verses, this is a theme all throughout the Bible.
And again, you know, these people just, they don't want to believe it, so they're going
to just jump through all these hoops and twist things around and say, well, he, you know,
he suffered it on the cross.
And by the way, people will often bring up John Calvin.
And they'll say, you know, John Calvin believed that Jesus suffered hell while he's on the
cross.
And it's funny, I looked up all those quotes from John Calvin.
I read every single article I could find online written by reform people, Presbyterians, Baptists.
I read every possible article that I could find on the internet about Calvin's belief
about Christ descending into hell.
Okay?
And you know what I never found?
I never found a quote where John Calvin said that Jesus Christ suffered hell on the cross.
All I found was a bunch of quotes from Calvin saying that there's no way Jesus could pay
for our sins just by suffering a physical death.
And that we should believe that Christ descended into hell because Christ did descend into
hell and pay for our sins.
And that's the punishment that sinners have to pay.
So therefore, that's the punishment that Christ paid.
That's all I could find.
And I've approached several Calvinists and asked them, hey, can you give me the actual
quotations from Calvin that where he's supposedly believing what you're saying and nobody's
been able to produce it.
Now, look, maybe I'm wrong because at the end of the day, I don't really care what John
Calvin believed because I'm not into John Calvin.
But what's funny is these reform people really are into John Calvin.
They act like I'm crazy for believing this.
What I'm preaching tonight, reform people have attacked me for preaching this.
But what's funny is that their guru, John Calvin, is saying the same things that I'm
saying.
And if I'm reading it wrong, I want to see the smoking gun where John Calvin says that
Jesus suffered hell on the cross.
And maybe he did say it, but I'm just saying maybe I'm a bad researcher.
I couldn't find it.
And I asked several reform people and everything that they sent me did not say that.
And I tried to find the original Latin of what John Calvin wrote.
I tried to find the original French and I couldn't.
I wasn't able to find those things.
Those things are out of print.
Apparently, you know, people aren't reading Calvin in Latin these days.
You know, I mean, I don't really blame them.
I'm just throwing that out there for the Internet crowd that if somebody wants to help
me out and send me that, I'd be glad to.
Or maybe, maybe the reform people are just making crap up.
That's what I'm wondering.
But, you know, I don't know.
I'm ready to be corrected on that because, again, I don't really have a dog in that
fight because John Calvin is not my guy because I'm not a Presbyterian.
I'm a Baptist.
All right, so I've got to hurry up and finish here.
John chapter, excuse me, Jonah chapter 2, Jonah chapter 2.
With all that in mind, let's go back to Jonah 2.
It says in verse 2, and said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord and he heard
me.
Out of the belly of hell cried I and thou heardest my voice.
For thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas and the floods compassed
me about.
All thy billows and thy waves passed over me.
Now what you're going to see here is Jonah praying from the whale's belly and he sort
of goes back and forth between talking about things that are physically happening to him
right now and prophetic things about the Lord Jesus Christ.
For example, he says, I cried out of the belly of hell.
That's obviously not, he's not literally in hell.
That's a prophecy of Jesus being three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.
Everybody understand that?
But then in verse number three, he says, thou hadst cast me into the deep.
That is what literally happened to him, right?
He's cast into the deep ocean in the midst of the seas.
Verse 3b, floods compassed me about, that all literally happened, all thy billows and
thy waves passed over me.
So you get the image of Jonah sinking down deep into the ocean, deep down into the water,
and the waves and the billows are crashing overhead as the storm rages and he's just
dropping like a rock down to the bottom of the sea.
Look what it says next.
Then I said, I'm cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple.
The waters compassed me about even to the soul.
The depth closed me roundabout.
The weeds were wrapped about my head.
Now again, this all is consistent with being thrown into the ocean, deep water, seaweed
wrapped around his head, right, as he goes down into the ocean.
And even as he's swallowed by the whale, the whale has probably got all kinds of seaweed
in his mouth and swallowing all kinds of seaweed with Jonah.
So he's got the weeds wrapped around his head.
But look what verse six says.
It says, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains.
The earth with her bars was about me forever.
Yet as thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.
Now that right there is not consistent with what Jonah is literally going through, right?
Because here are some problems with this for Jonah is that he didn't go down to the bottoms
of the mountains.
Even though he's deep in the ocean, bottoms of the mountains would be lower, right?
This would be much lower.
Or how about this?
The earth with her bars was about me forever.
Now was the about a synonym of about here is around.
The earth was around me forever.
The earth with her bars was about me forever or around me forever.
Now is Jonah surrounded by the earth?
Now he's inside the whale's belly, but was Jesus surrounded by the earth?
If Jesus is in the heart of the earth, then basically the earth with her bars is around
me forever.
Now some people would ask, what are the bars here?
Well, you know, the bars could just be metaphorical in the sense of you're in prison and there
are bars.
So you're in jail.
And of course, hell is referred to as a prison in Revelation chapter 20.
And so it could be just a metaphorical bars.
Or you could just think of the fact that in the earth there are obviously metal deposits
that are long and skinny that could be seen as literal bars or something like if you want
to, you know, take a geological approach to it, you know, you could do that too.
But the point is that this is consistent with being in the heart of the earth.
Because of the mountains, the earth with her bars were about me.
And here's the interesting thing forever, forever, you know, Jonah is not in the whale's
belly forever.
Okay.
Now Jesus, of course, was not in the heart of the earth forever.
He's there for three days and three nights, but yet unsaved sinners suffer an eternal
punishment in hell.
You know, it's possible that somehow Jesus, you know, suffered an eternal hell in three
days and three nights because Jesus is God.
And because he's this divine being, he could obviously, you know, maybe transcend the normal
laws of space and time and somehow suffer an eternal hell in three days, three nights.
And again, I'm not saying that I'm saying that that's possible.
It could be why it says the earth with her bars was about me forever.
Or another way to interpret forever there would simply, you know, would simply be that
Jesus is there and he would be there forever if it weren't for the fact that the Lord is
pulling him out.
You know, the fact that God is raising him from the dead, otherwise he would be there
forever because people typically go to hell forever.
They die and they're dead forever.
Whereas Jesus is not left in hell.
So that, you know, any way you want to interpret that, there are a few different options there
to understand that.
Sometimes it's even all of the above.
But the Bible says here, yet has thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God.
When my soul, and again, that's consistent with the same thing of, you know, you're not
going to let your Holy One see corruption.
You know, you've brought up my life from corruption.
He's being spared corruption once again.
When my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord and my prayer came in unto thee,
into thine holy temple.
They that observed lying vanities forsake their own mercy.
But I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of Thanksgiving.
I will pay that I have vowed.
Salvation is of the Lord.
And that statement, salvation is of the Lord.
What a great statement.
It means that the Lord is the source of salvation.
Salvation comes from the Lord.
He is the source.
And the Lord spake unto the fish and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land.
So again, God resurrects, quote unquote, Jonah from the fish.
You know, he gets him out.
And of course, that's what happened with Jesus.
God raised him up.
We don't want to just ignore all those verses that say God raised up Jesus.
That's what it says.
Those are the clear verses.
The other verses where Jesus talks about taking his life again, or, uh, you know, destroy
the temple in three days, I'll raise it up again.
Jesus is participating.
Of course, Jesus is also getting up out of the tomb and walking out of there.
Obviously, Jesus is the one doing the resurrecting, but it's also God raising him up.
And it's not God pretending to help.
Like it's shake and bake and I helped, you know, and it's like really mom did all the
work and you kind of make your toddler feel like they're helping.
That's not what's going on.
If the Bible says God raised up Jesus like 10 times, then I'm pretty sure that that was
a necessary component and not just, well, you know, he's just kind of just, he's just
kind of like giving him an attaboy as he does it on his own.
It's stupid.
And so we want to make sure that we don't get deceived on this.
Now look, you say, well, pastor Anderson, why does any of this matter?
Everything matters.
You know, everything in the Bible matters.
Truth matters.
Having the right doctrine matters.
We want to make sure that we understand Jonah too.
If Jonah too didn't matter, it wouldn't be in the Bible.
You know, if Acts 2 31 didn't matter, it wouldn't be in the Bible.
If Matthew 12 40 didn't matter, it wouldn't be in the Bible.
All of these things matter.
Now is this a salvation issue?
Absolutely not.
Of course not.
Okay.
Here's the thing about this is that to be saved, you have to believe in the death, burial
and resurrection of Christ.
If you believe Jesus died on the cross for your sins, that he was buried and that he
rose again and you're trusting him to save you, that's what you have to believe to be
saved.
You got to believe Jesus is the son of God.
He died for your sins.
He's buried.
He rose again, right?
You don't have to know everything about the Bible.
You don't have to know everything that happened.
You don't have to understand everything that happened while Jesus was dead for three days
and three nights in order to be saved.
You don't have to understand that Jesus walked on water or that he, you know, you learn all
those things later.
You might not know a lot about the Bible when you get saved.
And here's the thing, even people who've been saved for decades and just refuse to
accept this doctrine and refuse to believe it, look, it doesn't mean they're not saved.
A lot of people are just stubborn and wrong about a lot of things.
People are wrong on end times.
They're wrong on Israel.
They're wrong about all kinds of stuff.
They're still saved.
It doesn't mean that they're not saved.
Some people have accused us of not being saved because we believe this, which is obviously
stupid and ridiculous.
And I'm not saying these guys are saying that because they're not, but you know, other certain
you know, great white hope that went to Africa has said that the great white hope twins said
that.
But the, the, the point is that, you know, this doctrine isn't, it is not an essential
of the faith, some kind of a, uh, you know, a test of fellowship or you have to believe
it.
Look, we're right.
It's what the Bible says.
But again, people can be mistaken on things and it's, it's fine.
It's not a big deal.
And here's the thing I mentioned earlier that on the one hand, there's what I'm teaching,
which is that Jesus was in hell for three days and three nights and that it was not
fun and it was not a picnic and that he rose from the dead, loosed from the pains of death
three days later.
Then there's another doctrine that says, Jesus, you know, well, he suffered hell, but he did
it all on the cross because he didn't actually go to hell.
Okay.
But then there's really a third option of people who think that just, he didn't have
to suffer hell at all, just the physical death was, was it, that's it, just beaten and killed
and that's it.
I will say this, the people who think that he was just beaten and killed and that's it,
you know, I think that those people are a lot further from the truth than the people
who are saying, well, he suffered hell on the cross.
At least they're acknowledging the fact that he paid the price for our sins in a spiritual
way, you know, not just in a physical way.
Okay.
So I feel like, you know, those people practically are where we're at anyway.
They're like practically there anyway, but then this, this, I'm not even including this
bozo doctrine as one of the three options because it's, it's, nobody believes in it
except just these couple of weirdos.
It's too rare to even give it its own category because it's like, it's like on the one hand
you've got the people who believe Jesus descended into hell and basically, you know, was, was
dead and in torment for three days and three nights.
And then you got the people who believe, well, he suffered hell on the cross.
He dipped his soul into hell.
His soul was in hell on the cross and somehow he did it spiritually, but he didn't actually
go there.
And then, and then, and then it's like you have the people who believe, well, you know,
no, he just didn't have to, he didn't have to do hell.
He just, he just died and that's it.
This other doctrine is like way over here.
Like just this, this weird, like just obscure, like, well, he went to hell, but he didn't
suffer in hell, but he did suffer hell, but not in hell.
Like it's so, it's so weird and obscure and it's such a contradiction of itself and it's
such a weird yo-yoing type doctrine that, you know, I've never heard of it and I don't
think the world has heard of this.
You know what I mean?
It's so wild because again, they're, they're talking about these old timers believing that
Jesus suffered hell on the cross.
Yeah.
Cause they didn't believe he actually went to hell.
That's why he has to do it on the cross.
But mixing the belief that he went to hell with doing hell on the cross, but not doing
hell, doing hell everywhere, but hell is just, it's just, wow.
At that point, you know what I mean?
It's kind of, it's just kind of crazy, you know, and, and again, let me just say, let
me just say this in closing.
This doctrine just makes a lot of sense.
I mean, it's, it's what the Bible says, but also just makes sense because stop and think
about it.
Just, just stop and think with me.
Okay.
If Jesus went to hell, hell is a bad place.
Like this would be, this would be obvious to everyone.
Hell is bottomless pit.
Okay.
So it's like, what the hell are you doing in hell?
You're in a bottomless pit.
You're in a place of fire and torment.
What are you doing?
If you're not, if you're not suffering, what are you doing?
What are you doing down there?
You just kind of chilling out.
No pun intended.
Like what's he doing now?
Is he just hanging out?
Because according to the Bible, he's waiting for the resurrection.
God's not gonna leave his soul.
So like, like he's just, he's just having a picnic down there.
Now it makes more sense that he wants to get out of there because hell's a bad place,
you know, and like unsaved people that are dead, they're in hell right now.
And you know what they're doing in hell?
Same thing Jesus was doing.
They're not having fun.
They're not enjoying it.
They're in torment.
Jesus was also in torment.
You know, it makes sense.
The Bible explicitly says that he was in hell.
It explicitly says that when he was resurrected, he was loosed from the pains of death.
There are prophetic passages about the pains of hell and death.
And you can try to say that that was on the cross, but Acts 2 31 is about the resurrection
three days later.
That's what it is.
Let's probably have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for your word.
Lord God, thank you for the clarity of being able to read your word in English and understand
what it says.
Lord, I pray that the members here would not be deceived by all of the fake scholars that
go back to the Greek and Hebrew, languages they don't know, to try to tell us that finished
actually means paid, when that's a completely different word, Lord.
Help us to just have faith in what your word clearly says and just believe what's on the
page right in front of us, Lord, and not to let these charlatans spin us around with their
fake scholarship.
And in Jesus' name we pray, amen.
Amen.
Take your hymnals, please.
Go to hymn 154.
154.
Blessed be the tie that binds.
Hymn 154.
We'll sing it out together on a verse to be dismissed.
Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
154.
Lift it up now.
Blessed be the tie that binds our hearts in Christian love.
The fellowship of kindred minds is like to that of God.
Before the Father's throne, before our own embrace.
Our gifts, our hopes, our aims, our wants, our comforts and our cares.
We share our mutual bones, our mutual purpose bands.
And often for each other comes the sympathizing tears.
When we, a son, are born, then it is as if we're made.
But we shall still be joined in heart and hold to be again.
Amen.