Now, in Luke chapter 16, we just read the famous passage, of course, about the rich man and Lazarus.
And this morning, I want to preach a subject on the subject of hell.
And this is a subject that I preach on basically once a year, you know, whether we need it or not.
And honestly, it's not my favorite subject to preach on. It's not my favorite sermon to preach.
And so, therefore, I literally check the calendar, and every fall, I make sure to preach a sermon,
at least one sermon a year, on the subject of hell.
Because it's such a vital doctrine, and it's brought up so many times in the Bible.
Today, I want to focus on Jesus Christ's teaching of hell.
Let's go back to Matthew chapter 5, and I want to go to the first time, as you read your New Testament,
you start running into the concept of hell in the New Testament.
Now, just because I'm focusing on the New Testament this morning, make no mistake.
Hell is an Old Testament doctrine as well.
I've preached whole sermons on hell from the Old Testament on many occasions,
and the modern Bible versions, these perversions of the Word of God,
the NIV, the New American Standard, all these new corruptions of Scripture,
they have pretty much taken hell completely out of the Old Testament.
If you're reading the non-inspired version, the NIV,
you will not get to the word hell in that Bible until you get to the book of Matthew.
In the King James Version, it's mentioned many, many times throughout the Old Testament,
tens of times throughout the Old Testament,
but when you get to the New Testament, there's even more preaching on it.
But when you're in the NIV, it's like it didn't even exist in the Old Testament.
And that's one of the biggest problems with these phony Bible versions,
that they're attacking this doctrine of hell.
Look down, if you would, at Matthew chapter 5.
This is Jesus Christ speaking. He says in verse 22,
But I say unto you, that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause,
shall be in danger of the judgment.
And whosoever shall say to his brother, Rekha, shall be in danger of the counsel.
But whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.
And the first thing I want to point out to you is that when Jesus starts talking about hell,
the first thing he associates it with is fire.
And God often does this to make the Bible easy to understand.
The first time something's mentioned, he tells us right away what he's talking about.
He's not talking about you're being separated from God.
He's not talking about a burning desire for something that you can't have.
He's not talking about you just die and you're gone and you're annihilated.
No, he said hell fire.
And it's always associated that way throughout the New Testament.
Jump down to verse 29.
The Bible reads,
And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee.
For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish,
and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.
And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast it from thee.
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 the second thing I want you to see about hell.
First of all, we saw it was fire the first time you mentioned.
But second of all, it is something horrible that we need to be warned about.
And Jesus Christ here is clearly trying to instill fear of hell in those to whom he is preaching.
Fear of hell.
The Bible says the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge.
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.
And obviously that's what Jesus is preaching here.
A scary message.
He's saying if you can imagine actually plucking out your own eyeball and casting it from you,
he's saying hell is worse.
He's saying if you can imagine chopping off your own hand,
he said it'd be worse to go to hell.
He's warning about how bad hell is.
First he tells us it's fire.
Then he emphasizes just how bad hell really is.
That it would be comparable to chopping off your hand or ripping out your own eyeball.
Go to Matthew chapter 10.
Matthew chapter 10.
He says in verse 28, and again showing that he's trying to instill fear with this message.
It says in Matthew 10.28,
And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul,
but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
So part of the messages of hell is a message of fear of God.
Understanding that God has the power to destroy both soul and body in hell.
The Bible says fear him.
Now a lot of people just think fear is just a bad thing across the board.
Well I agree with you when it comes to anything except fear in God.
The Bible says over and over again, fear not.
The Bible says for God hath not given us the spirit of fear,
but of power and of love and of sound mind.
The Bible says there is no fear in love, but perfect love casteth out fear,
because fear hath formeth.
He that feareth is not made perfect in love.
Now you have to understand though that also throughout the Bible
there are admonitions to fear God.
And so what I've studied as I've looked at every mention of the word fear in the Bible
from Genesis to Revelation,
it's very obvious that whenever God is talking about fearing anything except for God,
he tells you don't fear.
It's wrong.
He says fear not.
The Bible says the fear of man bringeth a snare.
The Bible talks over and over again negatively about fear.
When it's talking about false gods, he says don't fear them.
When it talks about man, he says don't fear.
When it talks about physical injury or bodily harm, he says don't fear.
Don't fear suffering.
But he says over and over again, fear God.
Fear God.
Fear not them which kill the body, but he says fear him,
which is able to destroy both soul and body and health.
And so the only one that we should fear is God.
And anything else really cannot harm us or hurt us without him allowing it to.
And so this is a fearful message.
Now to those of us who are saved, the Bible says, and I quoted it a moment ago,
that perfect love casteth out fear because fear hath torment.
Fear does not make perfect love.
You see, the fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge, the beginning of understanding.
The Bible says by the fear of the Lord, men depart from evil.
The Bible talks about the fear of the Lord causing us to depart from hell beneath.
But let me say this, once you're saved, there's no fear in hell any longer.
I'm not afraid of going to hell.
Now I still fear the Lord and keep his commandments, but I don't fear hell.
But let me tell you something.
When I got saved, it was because I feared hell.
That's why I got saved.
Now a lot of people criticize that and say,
oh, you shouldn't just get saved because you don't want to go to hell.
You should want to live a good life and all this stuff.
No, the Bible is very clear that hell is to be feared
and that that is the reason why we must be saved is to escape the torment of hell.
Very clear. We'll get into it a little more in the sermon as we go.
But when I got saved, I understood hell, I believed in hell, and I did not want to go there.
And that is why I called upon the name of the Lord Jesus Christ as my savior, that I might not go to hell.
Now that I'm saved, there's nothing I can do to go to hell because I'm saved forever.
Jesus said, I give unto them eternal life and they shall never perish.
Neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand.
And so we saw that hell is fire.
We saw that hell is so horrible that you'd be better off chomping off your own hand or ripping out your own eyeball.
As painful as that would be, it's not comparable to hell.
We saw in chapter 10 that hell is something that should cause people to have fear of God.
But look at chapter 11 verse 23.
The Bible says in Matthew 11, 23, you can see how much we can learn about hell just by looking up a few mentions where Jesus preached about it.
It says in Matthew 11, 23,
And thou Capernaum, which art exalted unto heaven, shall be brought, and here's what I want you to see, down to hell.
Notice, it's always down.
The Bible says, you shall be brought down to hell.
For if the mighty works which had been done in thee had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.
Go to Matthew 13.
So we see the direction of hell in Matthew 11, 23. It's down.
Now, I believe that hell is a literal place.
Not a figurative place, not an imaginary place, not a symbolic place.
I believe that hell is a literal, real, physical place.
Now, let me explain this very briefly.
Some of it's going to come into play later in the sermon.
But very briefly, let me explain to you where hell is, because the Bible is very clear that hell is in the heart of the earth.
Now, if you go back to Ezekiel, you don't have to turn there, but back in Ezekiel 30 and 31,
the Bible is very clear that hell is equivalent to the pit, which is equivalent to the nether parts of the earth.
The nether means lower. This is an old word to mean lower.
So the Bible says that hell is in the lower parts of the earth.
The Bible always talks about people going down into hell, the lowest hell.
The Bible says of Jesus Christ in Acts 2 31 that his soul was not left in hell,
neither did his flesh see corruption.
And of course, the Bible says that 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.
Now, with all that being said, that it's in the lower parts of the earth, the lowest hell.
Down into hell. The Bible says in Amos chapter 9 that if people would dig down into hell,
God would pull them out next, showing that if you dug down far enough, you would reach hell.
You know, obviously it's impossible, but he's using it figuratively speaking,
that if you could climb up to heaven or dig down into hell.
But the Bible always consistently refers to hell as being down and also as being in the heart of the earth.
Now, if we know that the earth is a sphere, of course.
And so, as a sphere, we know that the heart of that sphere would be what?
The center.
Now, if you speak French, the word for heart is corps.
Did anybody learn French? A couple of people.
And the word heart means corps.
Like, remember Richard the Lionhearted? Corps de Leon, right?
And so the heart is the corps.
And it's funny because that's even what the scientists, falsely so called, call the center of the earth, don't they?
They call it the corps or the heart, and that's what that means.
Now you say, Pastor Anderson, scientists have already completely mapped out our earth,
and they know all about the mantle and the outer core and the inner core.
You are completely wrong.
They know nothing about the mantle or the outer core or the inner core.
Did you know that today, as I'm preaching on November 11, 2012, that scientists have never even reached the mantle?
Did you know that? Who knew that we've never even reached the mantle?
Now, the core is way below the mantle.
So, yeah, you can bounce your sound waves and bounce whatever waves you want.
You don't know what's down there.
You've never even physically been to the mantle, let alone gone through thousands of miles of mantle to get to the core itself,
to tell me that it's made of nickel and it's made of this and that.
You don't know what it's made of. I'll tell you what is located there.
I'll guarantee you what's located there. Hell.
Now, it's amazing how people don't stop and think about the fact that the whole earth is filled with fire and brimstone.
And they think the Bible's a fairy tale, right?
Well, how come the Bible just keeps being so accurate about science?
How come the Bible told us that it was the circle of the earth?
How come the Bible told us thousands of years ago that God hangs the earth upon nothing?
No, the Bible teaches it's on pillars.
No, the Bible says that God stretches out the heaven over the empty place and hangs the earth upon nothing.
The Bible teaches us that it's a circle.
The Bible talks about the heart of the earth, the lower parts of the earth.
The bottomless pit, which obviously if you're at the center, that's a bottomless pit.
You know, if you keep falling pretty soon you're going to start going the other way, right?
So, anyway, the Bible's accurate. The Bible's true. Let God be true and every scientist a liar.
Amen.
But let me say this. Even on their chart it's filled with fire.
How did they know that thousands of years ago when the Bible described hell
and talked all about fire, brimstone, hell, which is all down there.
Now, they have not even reached the mantle. The crust of the earth is much thinner than you might think.
The crust of the earth, I believe, is about 10 miles thick at its thicker points.
I mean, that's not that thick. When you think about the fact that the earth is approximately 10,000 miles in diameter,
10,000 miles and then the crust is only 10 miles or less. Very thin crust.
So it's like if you looked at an apple, the crust would be thinner than the skin on that apple.
If you were to put it in perspective that way and do it to scale using an apple.
Now, they're trying to go to the mantle. They're spending tens of billions of dollars or some huge amount of money.
And their goal is that they're going to get to the mantle sometime in the 2020s.
I mean, that's how hard it is to get to the mantle. They're spending tens of billions of dollars, scientists.
This was just announced recently. We're going to the mantle.
And they're finding one of the thinnest spots of the crust. The very thinnest spot.
And it's underwater. And they have to go down. You know, correct me on the numbers if I'm wrong.
I'm kind of just going from memory. I read this article several weeks ago.
But they were going to go through about a mile or so, maybe a mile and a half of water.
Because they're going to have a boat and then they're going to have a giant drill.
And I mean, this drill bit is literally miles long. And they're going to drill down.
They have to go through like a mile and a half of water. Then they have to go through several miles of the bedrock of the crust.
And they have to keep changing out the drill bits. You know how it is when you're drilling through masonry.
You know what I mean? You've got to keep changing out the drill bit.
So they have to just keep changing out this drill bit that's miles long. Or at least change out the tip of it or whatever.
And it's funny because at the end of the scientific article I read, it said at the bottom,
you know, this is just another sign of man's increasing mastery of the planet.
Oh wow. You're talking about how maybe 15 years from now you might reach the mantle.
So you might get about less than 1% of the way through the Earth.
You have mastered the planet. You are the master of the universe.
But that's what these scientists think. They think that they're God.
They have accomplished so little when it comes to our natural world.
They know nothing compared to what God knows. They know nothing compared to what the Bible teaches.
And I'm here to tell you today that below the crust and below the so-called mantle,
there is a real place of fire and brimstone and it's hell, my friend. It's really there.
You can't believe it. Look at Matthew chapter 13. So we've already learned several things just looking at a couple of verses.
We learned that hell's fire. We learned that hell is so horrible you'd rather maim yourself than go there.
We learned that hell should instill fear in anyone who hears about hell.
We've learned that hell is downward in direction. But look at Matthew 13. The Bible says this in verse 40.
Actually, you know what? It's in my notes to begin in verse 40, but I want to start a little bit sooner.
Because I want to give you the whole parable here.
The Bible says in... Actually, yeah, let's start in verse 40. We'll read the other one.
It says in verse 40,
As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world.
The Son of Man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdoms all things that have fain,
and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire.
There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their father, who hath ears to hear, let him hear.
And then let's jump down and get this other parable in verse 47.
Again the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind,
which when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
So shall it be at the end of the world.
The angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.
There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus saith unto them, Have ye understood all these things?
They say unto him, Yea, Lord.
Now, notice the parable in verse 47.
He said, It's like unto a net that was cast into the sea and gathered of every kind,
which when it was full they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
Now, what I want you to see there is that he's likening it unto people going out with a net, right?
And if you went fishing with a net, or maybe you're out trying to salvage wreckage,
or just looking for whatever treasures, whatever you're looking for, whether you're looking for pearls,
or whether you're looking for salvaged wreckage, or whether you're trying to catch fish,
if you drag a net, you're going to pick up some of what you don't want also.
You're going to pick up some trash, aren't you?
You know, where it is drag a net, we might catch some treasures.
We might find some valuables that have fallen overboard of a ship, or come off some wreckage,
or somebody lost something in the sea.
But aren't we going to also find just a lot of junk and trash that we're going to bring in the net also?
And so God is basically likening the judgment unto going through everything in that net,
taking all the good stuff, all the stuff that has value, all the stuff that you want, and putting it in vessels.
You know, you're putting it in boxes, you're putting it in jars, whatever the case may be.
You're putting it in barrels, but you're just throwing the bad away.
You're just trashing it. You're getting rid of it.
He said that's how it's going to be in the end of this world.
He says right there in verse number 49,
So shall it be at the end of the world.
The angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just,
and shall cast them into the furnace of fire.
There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
You say, well, what do we learn from that?
What we learn from that is that hell is a place where bad people go.
Isn't that what the Bible says? The bad go to hell.
Now you say, wait a minute, Pastor Anderson.
I thought that salvation is by grace through faith.
Of course salvation is by grace through faith.
You say, but it says here the good go to heaven and the bad go to hell.
Yes, but here's the thing. It's not our own goodness.
Go to Philippians 3. Philippians chapter 3.
Philippians chapter number 3.
The Bible says in Philippians chapter number 3,
and look at verse number 9. It's a really clear scripture.
The Bible says in Philippians 3, 9,
And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness.
Do you see that?
Witches of the law.
Basically our own righteousness would be us keeping the law.
Us obeying the commandments.
Us doing good things.
He says, not having my own righteousness which is of the law,
but that which is through the faith of Christ,
the righteousness which is of God by faith.
Go to Romans 4.
A few pages left in your Bible there. Romans chapter 4.
And we'll find a similar concept in Romans chapter number 4.
The Bible says in verse 5,
But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
His faith is counted for righteousness.
So, I am not good in my flesh.
I am not righteous in myself or in my own flesh.
But the Bible teaches that when I believe on Jesus Christ and put my faith in Christ,
that the righteousness of Jesus Christ is imputed unto me.
I am good in his eyes.
I am declared righteous in his eyes.
Let's keep reading.
It says, But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly,
His faith is counted for righteousness.
Basically, instead of my own righteousness,
my faith is counted as righteousness in the eyes of God.
Look at verse 6.
Even as David also described it in the blessedness of the man,
unto whom God imputeth righteousness without works.
Basically, God imputes righteousness.
Without me having to go out and do the good works,
God just imputes those good works and imputes that righteousness on my account.
It would be like if someone else went to the bank.
I didn't do the work. I didn't earn the pay.
Somebody else worked and earned a bunch of money,
and then they deposited it into my account.
They went down to the bank and put my account number.
You say, Oh, they won't let you do that.
I've done it many times.
Many times I've wanted to give someone money,
and I just said, Hey, what's your account number?
And I just went down to the bank and just deposited money into their account.
Just a quick way.
Because you know, if you wire transfer money, it costs a fortune.
But if you just walk into the bank and just make a deposit at their bank,
you know, that will do the same thing.
That's what Jesus did.
He deposited righteousness into our account when we believed on Christ.
It says in verse 6,
Even as David also described it, the blessed is of the man unto whom God imputed righteousness without works,
saying, Blessed are they whose iniquities are forgiven and whose sins are covered.
Blessed is the man to whom the Lord will not impute sin.
So, when we believe on Jesus Christ, a couple of things happen.
Number one, he deposits all the goodness and righteousness of Jesus into our account
and imputes that righteousness unto us.
And then secondly, he does not impute our sins unto us.
Our sins don't count against us.
The Bible says, As far as the east is from the west, so far hath God separated us from our sins.
And so when that day of judgment comes, and the angels sever the wicked from among the just,
you see, they're going to look at those that are not saved and they're going to be filled with sin, of course,
just like everybody has sinned.
They're going to be cast into the lake of fire.
They're going to be cast into the furnace of fire.
The air shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Whereas, when they look at those that are saved, they're not going to see our sinful condition
because our sins have not been imputed unto us.
The righteousness of Christ has been imputed unto us.
And therefore, we will be good enough to go to heaven.
Not because we lived good enough, but because the blood of Jesus is good enough.
But because the righteousness of Jesus is good enough.
And so truly, bad people go to hell and good people go to heaven, but not in the sense that most people think.
You know, most people think of it as you live good, you go to heaven, you live bad, you go to hell wrong.
It's all based upon whether or not you're in Christ.
Because I've got news for you, we're all bad.
The Bible says there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth good and sinneth not.
The Bible says as it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one.
Remember what Jesus said to the rich young ruler who came to him and said,
Good Master, what good thing shall I do that I might inherit eternal life?
And the first thing he told him said it all.
He said, Why callest thou me good? There's none good but one, and that's God.
I love showing people that verse when they tell me, I'm going to heaven because I'm a good person.
I always show them right here, well this says there's none good but one and that's God.
And by the way, that verse proves that Jesus was God.
Because we know he was good.
And if he was good, he was God.
And if he's not good, he's not God.
If he's not God, he's not good.
Because there's none to do with but one, there's none, that's a tongue twister.
There's none good but one and that's God.
He's the only one who's good.
And then here's what's funny.
Just in the next breath, that rich young ruler tells Jesus how good he is.
Because he tells him, he says, Why callest thou me good? There's none good but one, that's God.
And then Jesus tells him that if he keeps all the commandments, he's going to have eternal life.
And then this is what the rich young ruler tells him.
All these things have I kept from my youth of.
Who believes that?
Who thinks that that rich young ruler had kept all God's commandments, even from his youth up?
I mean, he's talking when he was two, three, four, five.
I mean, he was just completely obedient to the commandments of God.
Who believes that?
If anybody does, it's probably somebody who doesn't have kids.
There's a lot of sinning going on in those early years.
And this guy thinks that he is good enough to go to heaven.
And it's funny how people try to twist that exact passage to try to teach a work salvation.
When that's exactly what Jesus is trying to illustrate to this guy, that he's not perfect.
And he says, If thou wilt be perfect, go sell all that thou hast and give to the poor, and take up thy cross and follow me.
And he went away sorrowing because he had great riches.
And he realized, I don't want to do that. I don't want to give that up.
But you say, well, you've got to give up everything to be saved.
No, only if you want to be saved through your own works.
But if you're saved through the blood of Christ, it's just believe only, just faith.
That will save you.
See, there's two ways to get to heaven, my friend.
Two ways.
Make no mistake about it.
There are two ways to be saved.
Number one, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved.
Method number two, never sin.
Keep all the commandments.
Live a perfect life.
Now, good luck with that.
I'm going to stick with the one way over here.
But that other way does exist.
Make no mistake about it.
And this is an important doctrine, and a lot of people get this doctrine wrong.
But to reinforce what I just showed you in Matthew 13, go to Revelation 21.
I know we're focusing on what Jesus taught about hell, but let's reinforce it with something in the book of Revelation.
And you know what's interesting is that Matthew talks a lot about hell, Mark talks a lot about hell, Luke talks a lot about hell.
But did you notice the word hell, you don't really see the word hell in John.
And you don't really see a whole lot of preaching.
I mean, there's a little bit of preaching on hell in John.
But you know what?
John covers it a lot in the book of Revelation.
And it's funny because there are a lot of things that are left out of the book of John.
Because the book of John is kind of written for a certain purpose.
Matthew, Mark, and Luke kind of cover things a little differently.
But a lot of what John missed in the book of John, he covers in the book of Revelation.
Because I mean, you know, John covers hell a lot in the book of Revelation.
Because keep in mind, he wrote both John and he wrote the book of Revelation.
But look at Revelation chapter 21.
And what I want to say with that is that hell is taught in every part of the Bible.
That's why it's amazing that people will try to deny the doctrine of hell.
You'll find hell in the books of Moses.
You'll find hell throughout the Old Testament.
You'll find hell in the prophets.
You'll find hell in the teachings of Jesus Christ.
You'll find hell in the book of Acts.
You will find hell in the epistles of Paul.
And people will say, well Paul, I bet somebody said, but Apostle Paul didn't talk about hell.
He said, inflaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord,
from the glory of his power.
Sounds like hell to me.
But look if you would at Revelation 21.
Let me reinforce the teaching of Matthew 13 that the bad go to hell.
Look if you would at Revelation 21 verse 8.
But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and whoremongers
and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars
shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone
which is the second death.
Notice, what is it that's winding these people up in hell?
It's the abominations, it's the murders, it's the...
Yes, not believing, but it's also being a whoremonger, being a sorcerer,
being an idolater, being a liar.
You see, hell is a punishment for your sins.
That's why if a person never sinned and kept all the commandments
and never made a mistake, of course God...
You think God would send somebody to hell who lived a perfect life?
No.
To be punished for what?
But you see, nobody's perfect.
That's why everybody's got to go through the door over here
and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved.
There's two ways, but only one of them is really going to work.
But there are theoretically two ways.
Because if you think about it, Jesus lived a perfect life.
He didn't deserve hell.
That's why he was able to be the substitute and pay for our sins.
Now a lot of people will misquote and misinterpret Revelation 21 there
when he lists all these sins.
And they'll say, well, if a believer does these things, they won't be saved.
That's what they'll try to say.
If a believer did these things, they're going to lose their salvation.
Or they're not going to be saved.
And they try to teach a hybrid of believing and works to be saved.
Faith plus works.
Or faith plus giving up your sins or turning from your sins.
And they'll also take a similar scripture in Galatians 6
where he lists off and says these are all the people that are not going to heaven.
These are the people that are not going to inherit the kingdom of God.
He lists off the sin, drone herds, thieves, revilers, extortioners.
He lists off all these sins, kind of like he lists off here.
But they're missing the point that once you believe on Jesus Christ,
none of these sins are imputed unto you.
Once you believe on Jesus Christ, your sins are separated as far as the east is from the west.
The Bible says there's sins and iniquities will I remember no more.
Your sins have been paid for.
And so when people want to twist this scripture,
the one thing that they struggle with is that one that says all liars.
Because it's pretty hard to make a case that somebody never lies, right?
I mean, it's pretty easy to say, well, I've never murdered.
I've never used sorcery.
I've never been an idolater. I'm not an idolater now.
But you know, all liars, isn't that pretty all-encompassing?
Everybody's lied.
Now, a lot of people will say this.
Well, when it says liar there, it's talking about a habitual liar.
It's talking about somebody who lies a lot.
Not somebody who just tells a lie.
But it's somebody who is just a liar in general, okay?
Well, you know what? God made it real clear for us.
Go to verse 27.
Just in case you think that liar means somebody who tells lots of lies,
look at who's not going to be in heaven.
So in verse 8, he says this is who's going to the lake of fire.
Well, he gives us the opposite in verse 27.
This is who's not going to heaven.
He says there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth.
Neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie.
How many lies is that?
But they which are written in the land's book of life.
So right there, he tells us a lie.
You're not going to make it.
You're going to have to go this route through Jesus,
through the blood of Jesus that washes away our sins.
That's the purpose of being saved, so that your sins are washed away.
Now you say, why is that an important point?
Well, a lot of reasons.
But one reason is that you'll often hear these atheists and haters of God,
whose God is science and whose God is the university
and their high priest is their professor,
some long-haired, burned-out, gray-haired hippie that teaches them these things.
He's like their high priest that teaches them.
And the science book is their Bible, you know, and so forth.
But let me say this.
They'll often say, well, I can't believe that God is just sending people to hell
just because they won't believe in him.
Have you heard that?
Yeah, just because they don't believe in Jesus,
you know, why do they have to be sent to hell just for not believing in Jesus?
That's not why you're being sent to hell.
Is that what the Bible says?
You're being sent to hell because you didn't believe in Jesus.
No.
The Bible says you're being sent to hell because you're a liar.
The Bible says you're being sent to hell because you're an abomination.
The Bible says you're being sent to hell because you're a piece of trash
that he's going to throw out of his bed.
He doesn't want you in his kingdom
because if he had you in his kingdom, you're going to mess it up
because you're full of sin.
You're full of iniquity.
You're full of filth.
You have wicked thoughts in your wicked heart.
You lie.
You steal.
You cheat.
In many cases, you might have killed or committed adultery
or taken the name of the Lord thy God in vain
or been covetous or been wicked and a fornicator.
Whatever the case may be, that's why, according to the Bible, you're going to hell.
You are going to hell to be punished.
Go to Matthew 25 and we'll drive it even further.
Matthew 25.
See, these are Bible doctrines that we can learn from Jesus Christ teaching on hell.
We saw that it was fire.
We saw that it's worse than being physically maimed.
We saw that it's something that should instill fear.
It's a scary thing.
We saw that it's downward.
And in chapter 13, we saw that it is the punishment for being bad.
It's the punishment for your sins.
It's your sins that are winding you up in hell.
Now, the reason this becomes important is because people will say,
Well, if people didn't really hear a real clear presentation of the gospel,
God's not going to send them to hell.
No, they'll still go to hell to be punished for their sins.
Still a sinner.
But that's not fair that God's sending them to hell.
No, it's fair.
They sin, they go to hell.
That's the punishment for sin.
The wages of sin is death.
And the punishment for our sin is to go to hell.
Now, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
So, we deserve hell for our sins.
Jesus Christ, because He loves us, sacrificed His life,
paid the penalty for sin for us,
and offers us the free gift of eternal life.
If we do not accept that gift,
you know, God is perfectly just to allow us to pay our own penalty by going to hell.
Whether you think it's fair or not.
But you do not deserve to go to heaven.
And neither do I.
The only way I'm going is because the righteousness of Jesus Christ has been imputed unto me.
Where did I have eternal?
Matthew 25.
This reinforces what we saw in chapter 13.
That hell is a punishment for wickedness.
It's a punishment for being bad or sinful.
That's why the Bible says in Matthew 25, 41,
Then shall He say also unto them on the left hand,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire,
prepared for the devil and his angels.
Jump down to verse 46.
And these shall go away into what?
Everlasting punishment.
Do you see how hell is a punishment?
Hell's a punishment for the sins that you've done.
But the righteous end of life eternal.
Now what I want you to see in my next point,
it does reinforce chapter 13's point that it's a punishment.
That it's for the bad.
It's for the wicked.
It's for your sins.
But not only that, in this passage we see evidence that hell is eternal.
Hell goes on forever.
Not just a quick punishment.
Not just an end of your life.
Not just an annihilation.
But it is eternal.
Notice, he says in verse 41,
Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire.
Now many people will look at that everlasting fire.
And they'll say, well, the fire's everlasting.
Doesn't mean that you're going to be burning in it forever.
Just the fire lasts forever.
But if you jump down to 46 and compare,
what does he equate everlasting fire with?
Everlasting punishment.
Because he says you're going into everlasting fire,
which means you're going into everlasting punishment.
Now an everlasting punishment, let me just break it down to you.
It's a punishment that lasts forever.
Everlasting punishment.
That's not a punishment that lasts for a short time.
That's not a punishment that lasts for a long time.
That's a punishment that lasts forever.
It's everlasting of a punishment.
Let's get more evidence on that.
Go to Revelation 14.
Revelation chapter number 14.
And we need to really lay down a solid foundation in our church,
and really in every church,
of doctrines that we believe in.
Because these doctrines are under attack in the day in which we live.
There are people out there preaching that hell is not a real place.
There are people out there preaching that hell means that you're separated from God.
There are people out there that are teaching that hell is not real fire.
It's not brimstone.
It doesn't last forever.
It's something that ends.
Look, we need to understand the truths of the Bible and proclaim this.
Why? Because we need to warn people.
And I've been out so many, many times, and knocked that door,
and been talking to somebody,
and they weren't quite taking the Gospel that seriously.
Or they weren't really that interested in seeing what the Bible said.
And when I showed them the verses that I'm going to show you right now,
sometimes in Revelation 14,
mainly the ones I'm about to show you in chapter 20,
or the ones that I usually show,
when I showed them those verses in chapter 20,
it's amazing how they perked up and wanted to hear the rest of the message.
You see how Jesus preached it to get people's attention
because he didn't want anybody to go there.
So he warned us.
Look at Revelation 14, verse 9.
And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice,
If any man worship the beast and his image,
and receive his mark and his forerunner in his hand,
Obviously, this is talked about in the future during the tribulation,
when the mark of the beast is being handed out.
It says, 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.
What does tormented mean? Tortured.
He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
You say, hell's separation from God.
Really?
Doesn't that say right there that they'll be tormented in the presence of the Lamb?
Correct me if I'm wrong, but is the Lamb Jesus Christ?
The Bible said, If Jesus behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world,
don't tell me, hell's separation from God.
And that's become a popular saying even in fundamental Baptist churches,
because instead of emphasizing what the Bible emphasizes,
fire, everlasting punishment, wailing and gnashing of teeth,
it just sounds a lot softer to get up and say,
Oh, you'll be separated from the love of God.
You'll be separated from God for all eternity.
Hell is not separation from God.
The Lord's breath and fire and brimstone is what kindles hell,
according to the book of Isaiah.
The Bible says that you're under the wrath of God in hell,
and he said you're tormented in the presence of the holy angels
and in the presence of the Lamb.
Now, modern Bible perversions have tried to teach this doctrine
that hell is separation from God.
Here, I'll give the non-inspired version to Robert Garrett.
He's going to look it up in the NIV.
Look up 2 Thessalonians 1.
Get out of your King James Bible to 2 Thessalonians 1.
Keep your fingers in Revelation. We're going to be right back there.
Go to 2 Thessalonians 1.
I'm going to show you how this doctrine is corrupted in the NIV
to teach that hell is separation from God.
That's what Billy Graham teaches. That's what the pope teaches.
That's what the Jehovah's Witnesses teach.
I mean, I don't know how Baptists have got sucked into saying this.
Sometimes I think they don't mean any harm,
but they're just repeating something that they heard.
Like a parrot, you know?
It just repeats what it hears.
But if you look it up in the Bible, it says they'll be tormented
in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.
The Bible says, if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.
In Psalm 139.
So how is that separation from God?
If you go to hell and he's there in Psalm 139.
And in Revelation 14, he says you're in the presence of the Lamb.
You see, the unbelievers, they probably wish they'd be separated from God.
But no, they're going to spend eternity in his presence.
That's what the Bible says.
2 Thessalonians 1.
Let's look at it in the King James Bible,
and then let's hear from the non-inspired version.
The Bible says in verse 8,
in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God,
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ,
who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.
Now, if you want to underline something in your Bible,
you can underline from the presence of the Lord right there, okay?
And then if you want to write a little note next to it,
I would write next to that, let me find the place that I want to get here,
Revelation 15-8, because that's where we're going to go next.
Revelation 15-8.
So right there, the Bible says that we'll be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.
Read for me from the non-inspired version, Brother Garrett.
2 Thessalonians 1, verses 8 and 9.
Everyone else fall along in the King James nice and loud, Brother Garrett.
He will punish those who do not know God
and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
They will be punished with everlasting destruction
and shut out from the presence of the Lord.
Okay, what's missing from verse 8?
Read verse 8 again nice and loud, Brother Garrett.
He will punish those who do not know God
and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
What's missing?
The flaming fire.
The fire's missing!
And not only that, I love how God puts it.
Flaming fire.
Just in case you go, oh, it's just a figurative fire.
Okay, it's a flaming fire. What now?
But you notice how the King James Bible says that they're punished with flaming fire?
What's missing from the NIV?
All the flames and all the fire, what did they change the doctrine of hell to?
Read verse 9, Brother Garrett, as everyone falls along.
They will be punished with everlasting destruction
and shut out from the presence of the Lord.
Did you get that?
So in the NIV, no fire, no flames, you're just shut out from the presence of the Lord.
So instead of fire, it's what? Separation from God in the NIV.
Now in the King James Bible, the Bible is teaching that the destruction comes from the presence of the Lord.
I'll prove it to you.
Keep your finger there in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 and go to Revelation 15a.
Let's compare scripture with scripture here to understand this doctrine.
Of course, we already know from Psalm 139 that God's there.
We already know from Revelation 14 that they're tormented in the presence of the Lamb.
But look at this wording in Revelation 15a.
The Bible says in the temple, and this is the temple up in heaven,
and the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power.
And no man was able to enter into the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were fulfilled.
So did everybody get that?
That the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power.
Let me ask you that something.
Is the temple filled with smoke because the glory of God is there or because it's not there?
He said the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God.
So isn't the glory of God the source of the smoke?
Well, is that what that says?
Look down again.
The temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God.
So what's the source of the smoke?
Glory of God is the source of the smoke.
Okay, what else is the source of the smoke?
His power.
from the glory of God and from his power, okay?
Now compare that with 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 9.
It mentions the same two things here.
It says, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord
and from the glory of his power.
So what is the source of the everlasting destruction?
His glory, his power, and his presence,
which is compatible with everything else we see in the Bible
from Genesis to Revelation.
Now show me the verse that says
hell is separation from God.
Not there, okay?
So let's keep reading.
We're in chapter 14, and in verse 10 we saw
that they will be punished with fire and brimstone
in the presence of the holy angels
and in the presence of the lamb.
But look at verse 11.
Here's the next verse.
This is the worst part of hell.
And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever.
And here's what people will say.
Well, just the smoke goes up forever and ever.
Oh, the smoke lasts forever, the torment.
You know, they burn up and then the smoke just keeps going.
No, there's something about smoke
that it disappears and dissipates.
Have you noticed that?
You know, when a fire is burning, smoke comes out of it.
When you put out the fire, smoke goes up for a little while,
but then eventually it stops smoking.
It doesn't just smoke forever, okay?
But not only that, if you keep reading,
that is completely put to bed.
Because it says the smoke of their torment
ascendeth up forever and ever,
and they have no rest day nor night.
Does that sound like something's
gonna last a couple minutes?
Burn up?
Day or night, that's at least 24 hours in hell.
He says they have no rest day nor night
who worship the beast and his image
and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.
So right there it says the smoke of their torment
ascendeth up forever and ever.
It's an eternal torment, it's an everlasting torment,
it's an everlasting punishment, it's everlasting fire.
Now go to chapter 20.
And this is the one I like to show people out on Soul Winning
just to explain to them what the worst part of hell is.
It says in Revelation 20, verse 10,
and by the way, this is the first verse I ever memorized.
As a little tiny child, I memorized this verse on my own.
You know, in Sunday school or in church,
they'd have you memorize verses,
but this is the first verse that I personally decided,
I'm gonna memorize this scripture.
And I memorized this as a very small child,
Revelation 20, 10, and the devil that deceived them
was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone
where the beast and the false prophet are, watch this,
and shall be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Pretty clear, isn't it?
Now let me ask you this.
Is the beast and the false prophet
talking about human beings or some other creature?
Human beings, because we know from the context of the book
that the beast is the antichrist,
who is the man of sin, who is a human being, number one.
Number two, the false prophet is also a man, okay?
Now, what's interesting about this
is if we get the chronology of Revelation 20,
we're talking about at this point after the millennium.
Because if you go up just a few verses
and look at verse seven, when the thousand years
are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison.
So we're talking about a thousand years
after the beast and the false prophet
are cast into the lake of fire,
because they're put there in chapter 19,
if you know your Bible.
In chapter 19, the beast and the false prophet,
look at the end of chapter 19, in fact.
It says in verse 20, and the beast was taken,
and with them the false prophet
that wrought miracles before him,
but with which he deceived them
that had received the mark of the beast,
and then they worshiped his image.
Watch this, these both were cast alive
into a lake of fire burning with brimstone.
So they're cast in in chapter 19.
A thousand years go by before the devil
or Satan is cast into the lake of fire.
He's been in the bottomless pit.
Now he's being relocated to the lake of fire,
and it says that he's cast into the lake of fire
and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were?
Does it say they were there?
He says where the beast and the false prophet are.
So a thousand years later, they're still there.
Think about that.
They were put there in chapter 19.
A thousand years go by and they're still there,
and then he goes further and says
they'll be tormented day and night forever and ever.
Don't tell me hell's not eternal.
It's an everlasting punishment, it is eternal.
Now let me just briefly explain the great white throne,
okay, because a lot of people will try to attack
this doctrine that hell is eternal by saying,
well, you know, in chapter 20, verse 14 and 15,
we see where hell is annihilated.
Wrong.
The Bible says, let's read through this whole passage
so I can quickly explain it.
It says in verse 11, let's pick up where we left off
in verse 10.
And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it,
from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away,
and there was found no place for them.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God,
and the books were opened and another book was opened,
which is the book of life, and the dead were judged
out of those things which were written in the books
according to their works.
Now personally, I believe that the other books that are open
is basically talking about the Bible.
You know, the 66 books of the Bible.
That's what's used to judge these people.
Because Jesus Christ said that Moses would be their judge.
And so I believe that God gets out the books, the law,
and judges them according to their works
based on what the word of God said as his laws
and commandments and statutes.
So these people are judged.
And watch verse 12.
He said, I saw the dead, small and great stand before God.
So are these people alive or dead?
Alive.
So is this believers?
No, because if you remember, believers in the rapture
long before this point had been resurrected
and brought back to life, right?
Then he said the rest of the dead lived not again
until the thousand years were finished.
This is the first resurrection.
Well, the rest of the dead lived not again.
That's not talking about the unsaved either.
That's talking about saved people that are after
the rapture and in the millennium and so forth
that are born later or get saved later.
Because here's the thing, the unsaved never live again.
Did you hear me?
They never live again.
This is what's called the resurrection of damnation.
Now the word resurrection, if you break down the roots
of it, what are the first two letters of resurrection?
What does that usually mean when it's in front of something?
You're doing it again, right?
If you restart, you start up again.
Now re or res and then erection.
What does it mean to erect something?
It means to what?
Raise it up, to lift it up.
If someone erects steel, it means that they're lifting up
steel on a big crane and they're building these great
steel structures and so the resurrection
is the rising again or lifting up again.
Resurrection does not necessarily mean
you're coming back to life.
It just means you're being raised up.
Now in the first resurrection when Christ comes
and the clouds and the trumpet sounds,
we are raised up and we are brought back,
we are brought to life physically in the body.
Our soul and spirit were resurrected
the moment we got saved.
The moment we believe on Jesus Christ,
our spirit is quickened but our body has not.
Our body will physically die someday, right?
And then when Jesus Christ comes,
the dead in Christ shall rise first
and in a moment it took you and I,
our body will be resurrected and brought back to life.
The newness of life, that is the first resurrection, right?
Then after the millennium, there's a second resurrection
of those who got saved after that point
or were born after that point.
That's the resurrection of life, the Bible teaches.
And in John 5, he says that in a single day,
all that are in the graves will hear his voice.
Those that have done good under the resurrection of life
and those that have done evil
unto the resurrection of damnation.
So this resurrection of damnation in Revelation 20
is when the dead, the unsaved, are raised up out of hell
and their body is raised out of the grave.
They are not alive.
They are not brought back to life.
But they are standing dead before God.
Keep reading.
It says, I saw a great white throne, verse 11,
and him that sat on it from whose face
the earth and the heaven fled away
and there was found no place in it, verse 12.
And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God.
And the books were opened.
And another book was opened, which is the book of life.
And the dead were judged out of those things
which were written in the books according to their works.
This is the key verse, verse 13.
And the sea gave up the dead which were in it.
Now, are we talking about dead bodies
or dead souls in the sea?
The body, right?
The bodies in the sea, right?
He says, you know the burial at sea, right?
Like Osama bin Laden?
It says, the dead, verse 13,
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.
So we have the body being resurrected, right?
Not brought back to life, but just resurrected.
And then we have the soul coming out of hell.
Everybody understand?
And the person stands before God
at this great white throne, body and soul,
to be judged according to their works.
And then it says in verse 14,
and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.
Now stop, death and hell, isn't that the place
where these unsaved souls were brought out of?
Now death and hell is being 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 that's where we see the unsaved
being cast into the lake of fire as well.
Now, here's where people misunderstand this verse.
It's very easy to correct.
In verse 14, when the Bible says this is the second death,
what is the word this referring to?
Now, you know, your false teachers,
your Jehovah's false witnesses, they'll say this.
Well the second death is when God
casts hell into the lake of fire and hell ceases to exist.
False.
According to Revelation 21 eight,
look at the end of the verse.
He said, all irish shall have their part in the lake
which burneth with fire and brimstone,
which is the second death.
So according to the Bible, the lake of fire itself
is the second death.
God calls the lake of fire the second death.
Now you say, why would he call the lake of fire
the second death?
Because you know what he called the first hell?
Hell that's in the center of the earth right now?
He called it death.
Go back to Ezekiel.
He calls it death.
Look at chapter 20 verse 13.
He says death delivered up the dead which were in it.
And oftentimes you'll see the word and in the Bible
not talking about two different things
but talking about the same thing.
Sort of like when the Bible says
God and the father of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Are we talking about two different people there?
Nope.
A lot of people misunderstand the word and in the Bible.
It has two meanings.
It can be two different or two the same.
It could just be two ways of saying the same thing.
And so hell today is located where according to the scripture
in the heart of the earth, in the lower parts of the earth.
But in chapter 20 someday hell will be relocated
to the lake of fire which the Bible also calls
our outer darkness.
Okay, outer darkness.
Now is the bottomless pit in the center of the earth
outer darkness?
It's not outer anything is it?
It's inside.
But the lake of fire, the final resting place of Satan,
the beast, the false prophet, and all unbelievers
is known as outer darkness.
So when God creates the new heaven and the new earth
in chapters 21 and 22 it will not contain hell
because hell has been relocated to the lake of fire.
Now I will prove to you right now,
you know I've got a lot more in my notes
but we gotta land the plane at some point.
Go to Matthew chapter 10 and let me just quickly prove to you
that the lake of fire is also called hell.
Because a lot of people will say well you know
you're calling the lake of fire hell,
you're saying people are in hell for all eternity,
that's not accurate.
Yes it is accurate.
Because the bottomless pit located in the center
of the earth is called hell, we know that much.
But did you know that the lake of fire is also called hell
by Jesus many times?
So when the Bible says that death and hell are cast
into the lake of fire is hell ceasing to exist?
Or is it just being relocated to the lake of fire?
It's thrown into the lake of fire
because that's where it's gonna be from now on,
in the lake of fire.
But hell does not cease to exist, hell is eternal.
Let me prove it to you.
Matthew chapter 10, we already read it,
but look at Matthew 10 verse 28.
And fear not them which kill the body
but are not able to kill the soul,
but rather fear him which is able to destroy
both soul and body and hell.
Now is God just gonna destroy the soul and hell?
He's gonna destroy soul and body.
Let me ask you this.
If an unsaved person walks out into 48th street now
and gets run over by a car and is killed instantly,
is that person's body gonna go to hell instantly?
No.
The body will still be there.
You can still see the body, right?
We'll bury the body or a burial at sea
or whatever the case may be.
So the body does not go to hell.
The soul goes to hell, right?
And that person's soul will be in hell, go to Luke 16.
That person's soul will be located in hell.
But didn't God prophesy and didn't Jesus Christ preach
that both soul and body would be destroyed in hell?
When does that take place at the great white throne?
Because that is where the body is resurrected
of the unbelievers and they are cast soul and body
into the lake of fire.
And Jesus calls that being cast into hell.
He calls it being cast into the furnace of fire.
So Jesus refers to both the bottomless pit, current hell,
and the future hell of outer darkness,
lake of fire and brimstone.
He refers to them both by the same word, hell.
Now, does it seem logical that he would refer to both
by the same name when they're both everlasting fire,
everlasting punishment, everlasting brimstone?
And you say, well, if you go back to the Greek,
it's two different words.
Well, you know, I've already gone through all that
in other sermons and exclos, all that.
I'm not gonna do it for sake of time,
but we're speaking English.
And in English, it's hell, in both places, okay.
And so I believe that, and the English Bible here
that's in front of me is my final authority
in all matters of faith and practice.
I'm not gonna go to some other foreign language
and make points.
The point is, though, that he calls both hell.
So when we're speaking English, right,
if we call the lake of fire hell, are we being accurate?
Yes, we are.
And when we call the bottomless pit hell,
are we being accurate?
Yes, we are.
And if we say people are in hell for all eternity,
that's accurate, okay.
Because even if you were to go back
to the original languages and so forth,
we could reinforce the same thing.
We're not gonna do that.
Where did I have eternal?
Somebody help me out.
All right, Luke 16.
You say, well, if there's souls in hell,
are they really burning?
I mean, are they really feeling the fire?
Well, look what the Bible says in verse number,
and I'm just gonna read part of it for sake of time,
verse 23, and in hell he lifts up his eyes,
being in torments, and seeeth Abraham afar off,
and Lazarus in his bosom, and he cried 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 what?
Cool my what?
Tongue.
For I am tormented in this flame.
So when we talk about the soul,
when we understand what is the soul,
when the soul is separated from the body,
because remember the Bible says
the body without the spirit is dead.
So being without works is dead also.
When we have the body and the soul separated,
well, when you see people in heaven,
in Revelation chapter six with the opening
of the fifth seal, he says, I saw the souls
of them that were slain for the word of God,
and they're wearing white robes.
So are they wearing clothing?
Yeah, because they're wearing a white robe.
And when we see people in hell,
they're talking about their tongue.
So what we can ascertain from this
is that when someone is dead,
their body stays on this earth.
We know that much.
We bury it, later it'll be resurrected,
whether good or evil.
But the soul, whether in heaven or in hell,
resembles the body in the sense that,
you know, the clothing can be placed upon it,
there's a tongue there.
So basically, when we get to heaven,
you know, it's a whole other sermon,
but if I walk out the door and get hit by the truck,
you know, I'm gonna be in heaven instantly.
I'm gonna be absent from the body
and present with the Lord.
But I'm not just gonna be like floating around,
like just like a cloud or something.
Like a mist floating around.
Basically, I'm going to appear human
in the sense that I'm gonna have a tongue
and I'm gonna have clothes on.
Does everybody understand what I'm saying?
So when the soul departs from the body,
there is still a semblance of a human figure
or a human image there, okay?
Whether in hell or whether in heaven.
That's what the Bible teaches.
This guy is begging for a drop of water
to cool his tongue.
He says, for I am tormented because I'm separated from God.
And it just really bugs me.
No, he said, for I'm tormented in this flame.
And on and on, I don't have time to go through all of it
because there's only so much time in the sermon.
But let me say this, hell is a real place.
And we can try to wish it away because it's not pleasant.
And I'll be honest, it's not pleasant.
I don't like to think about it.
I don't like to dwell on it.
But it's something that Jesus kept reminding us.
We only got through Matthew.
I had Mark and Luke in my notes, a lot more.
But Jesus kept reminding us of it.
He wants us as we read the New Testament.
He wants us to think about it as we read Matthew.
He wants to think about it as we read Mark.
He wants to think about it when we read the book
of Revelation and other epistles and places
where it's dealt with, the book of Jude, 2nd Peter.
God wants us to think about it because he wants us
to realize why we go soul winning,
why we need to win the lost Christ,
why there is none other name under heaven
given among men whereby we must be saved,
and therefore we need to have compassion
and save them with fear, pulling them out of the fire.
It's real, my friend.
We need to keep that in perspective.
Because Jesus Christ has warned us,
yes, we've already been saved.
We've already heeded the warning.
But there are others who have not heeded the warning.
And you say, well, you know, they'll figure it out.
No, they won't.
They're being lied to on all sides.
All kinds of false religions are lying to them.
The Catholics are lying, the Mormons, the Jehovah's Witnesses,
the Pentecostals, the Muslims.
Everybody's lying to them, teaching them lies,
perverting the gospel.
Everybody's printing a bunch of false Bibles
that tell them hell's not real,
that tell them hell's just separation from God,
that take out the flames, that take out the fire.
They're being deceived on all sides,
and we need to come and sign
the light of the glorious gospel for them
or they will go to hell.
They'll be there.
And you say, well, if they don't hear about it,
God'll give them a free pass.
You know the guy in the jungle that's never heard?
Of course, nobody's ever met that guy
because as soon as you meet him,
he won't be that guy anymore
because you just met him and I hope you told him
about Jesus when you met him.
So, you know, this proverbial guy in Africa,
even though there's more,
there's probably more Bibles in Africa
than any continent in the world.
Seriously, there's probably more missionaries
and soul leaders in Africa than anywhere in the whole world.
I mean, there's so many missionaries gone there.
They must have a missionary
for almost every person by now.
With how many people I know, I'm exaggerating,
but don't tell me the guy in Africa
doesn't know the gospel because he has.
But I'll tell you this, even if he doesn't hear,
he's going to hell to pay for his sins.
He's a liar, he's a thief, he's a sinner.
He will be trashed in the final judgment
and cast into the furnace of fire.
And let me tell you something,
that's why we need to go and take the gospel.
Don't come up with some theological garbage
that he's going to get a free pass.
Instead say, hey man, we need to go find that guy
and let's give him the gospel.
You say, I'm not going to Africa.
I don't want to get the vaccinations, you know?
I don't want to go through the TSA to get there.
You know what I mean?
I'm not going to Africa.
You know what, you want to go to Africa?
It's about four miles away.
Amen.
Forget crossing the globe, man.
I'll show you an apartment complex
that's literally four miles from here.
Four miles from here and you will think you're in Africa
without all the diseases.
It's like, you know, without the TSA to deal with.
And you can go over there, you can speak Swahili
and Somali to your heart's content,
to people who, and I mean, when we went soul-witting there
and I've knocked every door in that place
with people from our church twice.
And then we found another complex that was the same way
and that's just right in our area here.
And when we go there, we go soul-witting
for like four hours and when you get in your car
and leave, you feel like,
I'm entering the United States again.
And I mean, these people are straight from Africa.
They've only been here for weeks or months.
They're wearing the whole outfit.
They're dressed in the African garb.
And I'm telling you, the mission field
is right in our back door.
You want to reach Mexicans?
You want to speak Spanish?
You want to reach Africa?
You want to reach the Hindus?
I just went soul-witting less than a week ago
and every door I knocked practically was a Hindu.
You want to reach the Chinese?
You want to reach the Asian?
You want to reach the black or the white
or the red or the yellow?
It's all right here, my friend.
And they all need the gospel because hell is a real place.
Let's keep it in perspective.
Let's get serious about it.
I'm not scared of hell, but I'm scared
of them going to hell.
Let's bring them the gospel.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much for the warning.
The warning that helped save my soul
when as a six-year-old boy, I called upon you
in an attempt to escape from hell,
knowing that you were the only savior.
And thank you so much for saving me on that day.
And Father, I just pray that you would help others
to heed the warning.
I pray that as we go out soul-witting,
we would show people the scriptures and warn them of hell
that they might escape the same punishment.
Help them not to laugh it off or joke about it
or to say I want to be in hell where my friends are.
Help them to understand this is real.
It's serious.
It's a real place.
It's down.
It's fire.
It's flames.
Please just help these words to sink down into our ears
and to sink into the ears of those to whom we preach them.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.