Daniel chapter 12, the part of the chapter that I'd like to focus on is beginning in
verse 2 there where the Bible reads, and many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth
shall awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament, and they that turn many
to righteousness as the stars forever and ever.
Now tonight I want to preach on the subject of hell.
And when you're going to preach a sermon about hell, you really have to just focus on one
aspect or one emphasis just because there's so much scripture about hell.
And anybody who reads the Bible knows that this is something that comes up a lot, especially
when you're reading the New Testament.
Over and over again, Jesus Christ talked about hell, the epistles mention hell, and so on
and so forth.
But tonight what I want to focus on is the fact that hell is an everlasting punishment.
The fact that hell actually goes on forever is what I want to emphasize here.
The Bible says here in verse 2, many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life and some to shame and everlasting contempt.
Now if you would go to Matthew chapter number 25.
The title of the sermon tonight is The Everlasting Punishment of Hell.
The Everlasting Punishment of Hell.
Look at Matthew chapter number 25 and really every scripture that I'm turning to tonight
in my several pages of notes here all deals with the fact that hell is eternal, it all
indicates that.
That's the way the Bible speaks about hell.
Look at Matthew chapter number 25 verse 41, the Bible reads, then shall he say also to
them on the left hand, depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil
and his angels.
Look at verse number 46, and these shall go away into everlasting punishment.
But the righteous into life eternal.
Now when you read that right there and it says everlasting punishment, that tells us
it's a punishment that lasts forever.
It's not a punishment that ends.
Because I've heard some people say, well you know it's everlasting fire but when they get
there they just burn up but the fire just keeps burning.
You know I've heard people try to get around the fact that he talks about everlasting fire
and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever.
You know the smoke just keeps ascending.
Or well the fire just keeps burning with no one in it.
No, no the Bible says they're going to a place of everlasting punishment and if we just take
that for what it says, it's a punishment that lasts forever.
It's everlasting shame and contempt.
Go to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1.
Another thing I'd like to point out to you is that the doctrine of hell is something
that is taught in every part of the Bible.
If we look at the New Testament for example, we find it taught in the four gospels, probably
more than anywhere else.
And then we find it also in the epistles of Paul.
And then we find it also in the other epistles like by Peter and Jude.
And then we also find it of course heavily taught in the book of Revelation.
So every part of the New Testament emphasizes this doctrine.
And yet it's a doctrine that is not being preached very often today in pulpits in America.
And I'll be honest with you, it's a subject that's easy to skip.
And sometimes I find myself going a long time between sermons on hell.
And here's why I think it's easy to skip.
A couple reasons.
Number one is that it's not a pleasant subject.
And so sometimes it's not something that you would gravitate toward when you're picking
sermons to preach on.
And then secondly I think the reason that it's not often being preached is because when
we give people the gospel out, soul winning, we always mention hell.
I mean I don't know about you, every single time, you ought to.
Every single time you give someone the gospel, you start out by showing them that we're all
sinners and that we all deserve to go to hell.
So the fact that you're constantly bringing up hell when you're out soul winning makes
you feel, as a pastor, like, oh I've already talked a lot about that, I talk about that
all the time, I've covered that all the time.
But sometimes we need a sermon preached about hell to get the doctrine of hell ingrained
in us so that we don't get tossed to and fro with every wind of false doctrine where people
say, oh well maybe hell's not eternal, or maybe it just wouldn't be fair for God to
send people to hell for all eternity, where people start questioning these basic teachings
of the Bible because they're not being taught in church.
Plus there are those in the church who don't go soul winning, unfortunately.
And they especially need a reminder of why they need to get out there and go soul winning
because hell is a real place and that's what we're out there doing, soul winning, is trying
to deliver people from hell by bringing them the gospel.
Look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 8.
The Bible reads, 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 when he shall come to be glorified
in his saints and to be admired in all them that believe because our testimony among you
was believed in that day.
Some people will get hung up sometimes when the Bible uses the word obey in regard to
salvation.
Here's a great example of how obey the gospel means to believe the gospel.
It says in verse number 8, In flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God
and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.
And then that's compared in verse 10 with those who believe, all those who believe because
our testimony was believed among you in that day it says.
So the word obey means something different depending on what the command is.
I mean, if I said, hey, would you go open that door?
How would you obey that command?
You'd open the door.
And if you said, here, bring me a drink of water, then you'd obey the command by bringing
a drink of water.
The action is different based upon what the command is.
Well, here's the commandment to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved.
The gospel is about the fact that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have
eternal life.
So how do you obey that?
By believing.
You say, well, I don't think believing is a command.
But the Bible says in 1 John chapter 3 verse 23, this is his commandment that we should
believe on the name of his son Jesus Christ and love one another as he gave his commandment.
So there's a command to believe on Jesus Christ.
There's a command to love one another.
These commands in the Bible.
So it's obedience to believe and be saved.
But a lot of people will take verses that talk about obeying the gospel or obeying the
Lord Jesus Christ in regard to salvation and say, see, you have to obey everything
he commands.
Well, good luck with that.
Good luck obeying everything he commands in order to make it into heaven because the truth
is we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God and we are justified freely by
his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
So we see here again another reference to flaming fire.
You know, people say, well, the fire in hell is just figurative.
Well, how about flaming fire?
I mean, just to make sure that there's no doubt what we're talking about here.
Flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God.
I also want to point out the word vengeance there to show you that hell is a punishment.
Okay?
We talked about in Matthew 25, these should go into everlasting punishment.
In 2 Thessalonians here, it says in verse 9 where you're at there, who shall be punished
with everlasting destruction.
Flaming vengeance, vengeance implies a punishment for something that's been done.
It's a punishment for sin.
The Bible says, but the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable, murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers,
idolaters, and whoso, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth
with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.
It's sin that condemns people.
It's a punishment for sin and it's an everlasting punishment.
Go to 2 Peter chapter 2.
You know, yesterday I saw that Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia had died and it reminded
me of back in 2009 where I saw a video of him saying that torturing people does not
violate the eighth amendment.
Because remember, the Supreme Court is supposed to interpret the laws of our country and to
provide righteous judgment.
And they're supposed to look at the constitution and decide if laws are constitutional and
so forth.
So the question came up, well, is it constitutional for our country to torture people?
And of course, in the Bill of Rights, the eighth amendment says, cruel and unusual punishments
shall not be inflicted.
Now people know all about the second amendment and they talk a lot about the right to bear
arms.
They know a lot about the first amendment, the freedom of speech, the freedom of religion.
But there are several of the amendments in the Bill of Rights that people just completely
ignore and think nothing about.
And the problem with that is that if you ignore a few of them and you give the government
an inch, what are they going to do?
They're going to take a mile.
And so we've been ignoring the sixth, seventh, and eighth amendments for years and nobody
cares.
And then all of a sudden, you're shocked when they start taking away the second amendment
and the first amendment.
You have to stop it at the beginning when they start taking away the trial by jury in
the sixth amendment.
See, the sixth amendment says that you get a trial by jury for any crime.
Any crime.
Well, no, only serious crimes.
Well how about this?
How about you only arrest people for serious crimes?
Sounds good?
If it's not serious enough to have a jury trial, maybe it should just not even be against
the law.
Did you think about that?
Or in the seventh amendment, it says that any...
Let there be light.
And there was light.
In the seventh amendment, it says that any civil dispute, any disagreement with two people
over more than $20 gets a trial by jury.
Now you say, oh come on, that's stupid.
Okay, well then why don't we just throw out the whole thing and just have a communist
government then if you think the Bill of Rights is so stupid.
Actually it's not stupid at all.
Because when that paper was written, $20 actually meant something.
And you know why they wrote $20 in the Constitution?
Because they actually assumed that $20 is still going to be $20.
They didn't know that there was going to be this criminal banking enterprise known as
the Federal Reserve System that was going to print all this fake money and drive up
the...
You would have actually stuck with what the Constitution said.
You couldn't have a Federal Reserve inflating the currency because they'd say, well now
everybody who has this agreement about $20, we have to have a trial by jury.
But was that ever amended?
Was that ever changed?
No.
To this day, the seventh amendment says that if you have a dispute with someone over $20
or more, you get a trial by jury.
But they'd laugh at you if you went to court and asked for that.
They'd mock you and say that's ridiculous, that's stupid.
So if the sixth and seventh amendments aren't worth the paper that they're written on, then
why do you think that they're never going to take away the first, the second, the fourth?
You know, you have to either stand up for these things or not.
So the eighth amendment is important because the eighth amendment says that cruel and unusual
punishment shall not be inflicted.
Well, hmm, that sounds like torturing people is something that is against the law in this
country or at least it's supposed to be against the law in this country.
But this judge, Antonin Scalia, he said, oh, well, no, torturing people doesn't violate
the eighth amendment because they're not really being punished.
It's not a punishment.
You know, and it says cruel and unusual punishment shall not be inflicted.
And he was asked, well, you know, what if, what if a police officer, you know, just beats
the whatever out of you?
Isn't that a punishment?
No.
That's not a punishment.
No, they're not being punished.
That's not a punishment.
It's not because you've done anything wrong.
You know, he's just beating, he's just basically inflicting pain on you to get information
out of you and that's not a punishment.
So basically, according to this guy, according to the world's judges, and this kind of goes
back to my sermon a couple of weeks ago about 1 Corinthians 6, according to the world's
judges, it's okay to torture people as long as they haven't done anything wrong.
You know, because if they'd done something wrong, then that would be punishment.
But as long as they haven't been charged with any crime, you may torture them.
Oh man, I'm so sorry that we've lost this guy in the Supreme Court.
I mean, this guy was such a righteous judge.
But here's my question for you.
Now that Antonin Scalia is burning in hell, right now, because he's a Roman Catholic,
not a Bible-believing Christian, and I'm sick of people lifting up Roman Catholics as being
these godly Christians, oh this godly Christian.
No, he's a Roman Catholic.
That is not Christianity.
That is paganism.
That is a false religion.
So how do you know?
Hey, I know that everybody who believes in Roman Catholic religion is going to hell when
they die.
I know that because the Bible teaches that you have to have all of your faith in Jesus
to be saved.
Right.
Bowing down to a statue and confessing your sins to a priest and working your way to heaven
is not the way to get there.
You can't buy your way in, you can't work your way in, you either go by grace through
faith or you don't go at all, and many will say to Jesus in that day, Lord, Lord, have
we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done
many wonderful works?
And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me that work iniquity.
See, those that have done many works in his name, they don't get into heaven based on
that.
They get into heaven based on your faith in Jesus Christ and the Catholic Church does
not teach salvation by faith at all.
They don't teach it.
Go soul winning with me.
And just this week I knocked on the door of Roman Catholic and said, you have to do the
works.
It's by being a good person.
It's by obeying.
It's this prideful, arrogant way of making your own way to heaven.
That's what Catholicism is.
And you say, well, there's some Catholics who are saved.
Look, if they're saved then they're not a Catholic.
Because the word Catholic, I remember when I was in elementary school they taught us
how to dissect words and figure out where they come from and that I-C ending, they taught
us that's someone who believes in that.
So in order to be a Catholic, you have to be somebody who believes in Catholicism.
Now I know that there could be somebody who goes to a Catholic Church because they're
forced to by their parents or they're forced to by their spouse that doesn't believe anything
the Catholic Church teaches and vexes their righteous soul every time they walk into that
den of idolatry and iniquity and says, wow, this is stupid.
And they might be saved.
But anybody who says, I believe that the Roman Catholic Church is the true church is going
to hell, period.
And, you know, I could get up here and lie to you about it and tell you, oh, yeah, there's
lots of saved Catholics and saved Muslims and saved Buddhists and saved Mormons and
saved Josephus, but it'd be a lie.
I'd rather tell you the truth and just tell you that there's no, and somebody said, there's
no salvation outside the Catholic Church.
I'll tell you, there's no salvation inside the Catholic Church.
That's the true story, my friend.
People don't want to say that because it offends people, but it's truth.
And this Antonin Scalia, in addition to promoting his false, wicked religion, is one who said,
hey, it's okay to torture people.
He thought it was great that we're torturing people, apparently.
He said, well, it's totally legal, totally legal to arrest someone, not bring any charges
against them and torture them.
But here's the thing, he's in a place of torture right now, literally.
And I wonder if he still thinks that torture is not a punishment, because he's there right
now and he's there for one reason, because he's a sinner.
And we'd all be going there if we didn't believe on Jesus, if we followed that pagan religion.
And you know what?
Why don't you go around, you say, well, no, I think Catholics are going to, why don't
you go around and ask all the former Catholics in our church, who here used to be Catholic
at some point in your life?
Put it back.
Okay, look around.
These are all the people you can talk to and you can ask them if the Catholic Church taught
them how to be saved, if the Catholic Church is preaching the true Gospel, or if they'd
rather have you warn their Catholic friends and relatives that they need to be saved instead
of just telling them, hey, we're all going to heaven, we're just taking different paths
to get there.
Look at 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 4, and you say, well, why do you delight in someone dying
and going, I don't delight in anyone going to hell, I'm just stating the fact that he's
in hell.
And you know what?
He's in hell because he deserved to go to hell and God is just to send him to hell and
he that killeth with the sword must be killed with the sword and he's one who thought that
it's okay and he's using his power to say, yes, keep torturing people.
You know what?
Then he, that's coming back around to get him now and this is a lesson to everyone.
Look at 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 4, for if God spared not the angels that sinned but
cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto
judgment.
Now, right away, let me point out that these angels that sinned that were cast down to
hell, it says to be reserved unto judgment.
So are these people just getting to hell, burning up, or I'm sorry, not people, these
angels, do they just get there, burn up, and they're gone according to this passage?
No they're not.
That they're in hell, in chains, under darkness, and that they're reserved unto judgment.
So they're in hell suffering until the judgment.
Then it says in verse 5, and spared not the old world but saved Noah the eighth person,
a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly and turning
the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes, condemned them with an overthrow, making them
an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly, and delivered just Lot vexed
with the filthy conversation of the wicked.
For that righteous man, dwelling among them and seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds.
The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptations, referring to Lot, and
to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished.
Now you can see very clearly here that just as the angels that sinned were cast down to
hell and he says, reserved unto judgment, just as they were sent to hell for that reason,
he says that God knows how to deliver the godly out of temptations and to reserve the
unjust, meaning unjust man, unsaved people, unto the day of judgment to be punished.
Look if you would at the book of Jude, just a few pages to the right, which is a parallel
passage of what we just read in 2 Peter chapter 2.
The Bible says in Jude verse 5, I will therefore put you in remembrance, though you once knew
this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward
destroyed them that believed not.
And the angels, which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he
hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
Even as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities about them in like manner, giving themselves
over to fornication and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering
the vengeance of eternal fire.
So again, we have the same themes coming up again, punishment, vengeance, and eternal
fire.
And he said, Sodom and Gomorrah was an example to those that after should live ungodly.
God spared not the angels that sinned.
God, when the people came out of the land of Egypt, destroyed those who believed not.
And these are all pictures of the fact that hell awaits those who do not believe on the
Lord Jesus Christ alone as their savior.
Look at Revelation chapter 20.
This is the first Bible verse that I ever memorized on my own.
As a very small child, I memorized this verse on my own, besides verses that I learned in
Sunday school, verses that I learned in Christian school.
This is one that I learned on my own as a very small boy.
And I learned this verse to be able to teach others and preach to others that hell is eternal.
This was my go-to verse as a six-year-old, okay, to know this.
And the reason I got this verse is because my parents, in the back of their Bibles, they
had all the major doctrines of the Bible written down and verses to prove it, sort of like
a cheat sheet.
If anybody was questioning something or if they were giving somebody the Gospel and they
had a question, then they would go to that cheat sheet.
And they had one point that said, eternal hell, Revelation 20, 10.
And I thought, wow, you know, I should memorize that verse.
I need to be able to warn people about hell, you know.
Even as a six-year-old boy, not having the understanding of the world that I have today,
I understood that we that are saved need to warn the unsaved.
I mean, that was just obvious to me, even as a little kid.
Wow, we need to warn people so that they don't go to hell.
And I didn't really know how to go about doing that.
I wasn't good at doing that.
I didn't have any experience with that.
And it wasn't until I was about 17 years old that I actually started winning people under
the Lord because of just not knowing what I was doing and not being trained and just
being too worldly.
But I'll tell you right now, even as a six-year-old boy, I understood the need to warn people
about the eternal punishment of hell.
And that's what the sermon's really about tonight.
It says in Revelation, and by the way, if the Catholics are all going to heaven, then
the way isn't narrow.
Because the Bible says, enter ye in at the straight gate.
It says, wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction and many there
be which go in thereat.
Because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there
be that find it.
And a billion Catholics is not a few people.
It's a false religion, my friend.
I'm not going to back down on that at all.
I'm not going to say, well, you know, no, there's no ifs, ands, or buts.
And the Orthodox Church is the same exact thing as the Roman Catholic Church.
The devil has his counterfeit, the great whore, mystery Babylon religion of worshiping idols
and worshiping goddesses and all of this stuff that go, I mean, look, the Catholic religion
goes back even before Jesus even walked on this earth, where they're baking cakes to
the queen of heaven, you know, all these different religions.
I mean, go look at ancient Egypt, ancient Babylon, ancient Greece, ancient Rome, you'll
find all the Mother Mary statues you want, except they're called Athena and everything
else.
But the Bible says in Revelation 20, 10, this is a key verse.
I've known this verse my whole life, and the devil that deceived them was cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are and shall be tormented
day and night forever and ever.
Now if you get the context here, this is after a thousand years have gone by of the
millennium, earlier in chapter 20.
At the end of chapter 19, the beast, the antichrist is who that is, and the false prophet, which
are human beings by the way, the antichrist and the false prophet are cast into the lake
of fire in chapter 19.
Then a thousand years go by, then the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake
of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet were, beast and false prophet
used to be, no it says where the beast and the false prophet are present tense and shall
be tormented day and night forever and ever.
But look what it says in verse 15 where people who aren't saved are going to the same place.
And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.
I mean it's that simple.
Anyone whose name is not found written in the book of life is going to the lake of fire
along with the antichrist and the false prophet.
Now the Bible does teach right before this in the verses in between 10 and 15 that there's
going to be a judgment.
And it says in verse 11, 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 let me stop and point out that you and I will not be judged at this judgment as long
as we're saved.
And the reason why I say that is because it says the dead stood before God and the dead
were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works.
But here's the thing, we have already been resurrected long before this.
And the Bible even talks about in verse number 5, but the rest of the dead lived not again
until the thousand years are finished.
This is the first resurrection.
Verse 6, blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection.
On such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ
and shall reign with them a thousand years.
So those of us that are a part of the first resurrection, when Christ comes in the clouds
and the trumpet sounds, we're not going to be dead at that great white throne.
We're not going to be the dead standing before God, small and great.
Look, verse 13, the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered
up the dead which were in it.
We're not, we're going to be in neither of those places.
We've already been resurrected long before this, at the first resurrection.
And they were judged every man according to their works and death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire.
This is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was
cast into the lake of fire.
So a lot of people would look at this and say, well, what's the purpose of judging when
these people are already dead?
They've already been in hell.
Hell is delivering up the dead that are in it so they can be judged according to their
works.
What's the purpose?
Well, this is basically just a sentencing hearing, is what this is, for these people
that are unsaved that have already been in hell.
You see, the Bible is clear that the moment a person dies without Jesus Christ as their
Savior, that they are immediately in hell.
Go to Luke chapter 16 and we'll see that.
Luke chapter number 16.
You say, well, that's not fair.
You know, what about the judgment day?
But the Bible says, he that believeth on him is not condemned, but he that believeth not
is condemned already.
So God doesn't have to bring you before a judgment and have a trial to determine whether
or not you're going to hell.
You don't believe on the Lord Jesus Christ as your Savior, you're condemned already.
You're already guilty and you will just go straight to hell and what's the purpose of
being in hell?
Well, it's a punishment.
It's fire.
But he says you're also reserved unto the day of judgment.
You're basically reserved there according to 2 Peter 2 and Jude.
You're basically there waiting for your sentencing hearing.
Now this is the way it is even in our nation where someone gets arrested and they're put
in jail.
Now they're not put in prison, they're put in jail.
Because there is a difference between jail and prison, right?
Jail is your local lockup, your county jail or what have you.
Prison is somewhere that people go long term.
Jail is somewhere that you go short term.
Does everybody understand the difference?
So basically hell as we know it in the heart of the earth, in the center or core of the
earth, is like jail in a sense.
And then lake of fire is like prison.
Okay, does everybody understand because it's the longer term holding tank?
So basically the moment that a person, well let's go back to the illustration of someone
who gets arrested.
So somebody gets arrested and they're in jail, right?
And then they go to their trial while they're in jail and they're tried and let's say they're
convicted then they're sent back to jail and they say okay we're going to have sentencing
in a couple weeks.
They don't always do the sentencing right then and there.
A lot of times there's a delay.
So they'll say okay we're going to come back in two weeks for the sentencing.
But you're still in jail in the meantime.
You've already been condemned.
Then they get out the sentencing hearing where they take testimony and take things into account
and then they roll out the punishment.
Now you say well isn't everybody's punishment exactly the same?
I don't believe so.
Because Jesus talks about some people receiving a greater damnation.
He talks about some people going to the lowest hell.
And I do believe that there is a difference in how people will be punished.
The Bible uses a parable about this and he talks about how basically the children of
Israel would be punished more severely than the Gentile nations if they don't believe
on Jesus Christ because of the fact that they had the privilege and the advantage of hearing
the word of God their whole lives in the synagogues and being exposed more to the one true God
than other nations.
And he used an illustration about disobedient servants.
And he said the servant that did not know his Lord's will and disobeyed is going to
be beaten with few stripes because he didn't really know.
He still did wrong.
He should have known.
So he still gets a beating.
But it says he that knew his Lord's will and did it not shall be beaten with many stripes.
So there's going to be a judgment to determine the level of punishment that people are going
to experience in the lake of fire for all eternity.
Whether they first of all had heard the gospel and the more that they have known and heard
the gospel or had access to the gospel, they're going to get a more severe punishment.
Or the more sins that they've committed in their life.
They're going to get a worse punishment.
But here's the thing.
Don't get this idea of, well, it's not going to be that bad for some people.
It's hell.
It's a lake of fire.
Either way, it's torment.
It's fire.
It's burning.
You know, and Jesus talked about different rewards in heaven.
That's not all equal either.
You know, you get to heaven, some people are going to get many crowns and great rewards.
Other people will be saved by the skin of their teeth, as it were, and have no rewards.
And all their works will be burned up.
But He Himself shall be saved, thank God, because it's not works that gets us in.
All your works are burned.
You yourself still shall be saved, yet so is by fire, the Bible says.
And so you still make it into heaven.
And you know, a guy says to Jesus, you know, bless is he that eateth and drinketh in the
kingdom of heaven.
And honestly, just to be there is enough.
I mean, think about it.
I'd rather be the biggest loser in all of heaven.
Think about this now.
I'd rather be he that is called the least in the kingdom of heaven.
I'd rather be the guy who's mopping the floor in heaven.
Somebody else is ruling over ten cities, and I'm just kind of sweeping the floor.
I'd rather be the lowest guy in heaven than to be the guy in hell where God says, well,
this guy didn't know, and we're going to give him the least punishment.
There's a huge difference.
It's not like there's this whole spectrum and, you know, right in the middle.
No, no, no.
There's this huge empty space in the middle.
Hell is fire.
It's torment.
It's punishment.
It's a horrible place.
And heaven is a perfect place.
So even if you get no rewards, just to eat and drink in the kingdom of heaven is a great
thing, according to the Bible.
But look at Luke chapter 16 verse 19.
There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously
every day and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of
sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.
Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores and it came to pass that the beggar died and
was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom.
The rich man also died and was buried and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torment.
Now notice how fast he's there.
I mean he dies and it's like he just lifts up his eyes and he's in hell and he's in torments
and he seeth 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 tongue for I am tormented in this flame.
Now don't tell me this is figurative.
Well that's just the figurative of what?
You know okay let's just say for a minute because everybody tries to say oh it's just
figurative.
It's just a parable.
Figurative of what?
I mean what does this represent?
What is this symbolic of?
Well it's symbolic of thirsting for the presence of God.
You know they're apart from God and they're just thirsting for God but here's news for
you, unsaved people aren't thirsting for God.
In fact what does the Bible say about those who've been given over to a reprobate mind?
It says they didn't even like to retain God in their knowledge.
They would love nothing more than to be separated from God according to Romans 1.
The Bible says of the wicked, God is not in all his thoughts.
You know they don't want to think about God.
What about those who are haters of God?
But I'd really like to see them right now because I'm in this hell of godlessness.
No no they like to be in a godless place.
You see what would this be symbolic of?
Some other torture?
The guy's in pain.
The guy's begging for water.
The guy's in fire.
And if this is symbolic then wow God sure used that parable a lot since he mentioned
everlasting fire and torment and the furnace of fire like a hundred times.
That's one parable that continues all the way through the whole Bible from Deuteronomy
all the way to Revelation.
That's a serious parable.
What kind of nonsense is that?
What does this represent then?
If hell's not fire then what does this symbolize?
It's not a thirst for God.
The unsaved don't want God.
If they wanted him they'd come to the light right now.
But they don't want to come to the light.
They don't want their deeds to be reproved.
This is the condemnation that light has come into the world and men love darkness rather
than light because their deeds were evil.
If people love darkness rather than light then why would they be in some dark place
thirsting for the light?
No they love darkness.
They don't want God.
They don't want the Lord.
They said of him we will not have this man to rule over us.
So that doesn't make any sense to say oh it's just a parable.
Okay if it's just a parable so how come when a volcano erupts it sprays fire and brimstone?
Is our whole earth just one big parable?
Why is it that the core of the earth is thousands of degrees Fahrenheit?
Why is it that it's all fire and brimstone and molten lava just like the Bible said would
be in the heart of the earth?
Is that all just a parable?
Is that all just symbolic?
There's nothing symbolic about it.
It's literal.
It's real.
And there's so much scripture on it it boggles the mind.
You say well I just can't believe that a loving God, well there's not a loving God
there's just the loving God.
There's no a God.
There's only one God and he does whatever the Bible says he does.
A loving God that won't do this and won't do that might be somebody that you just made
up in your own imagination where you form and fashion God in your own image instead
of acknowledging that you've been formed and fashioned in his image.
You've got it backwards.
But the Bible says here, I'm tormented in this flame.
And in verse 25 we pick up the story it says, but Abraham said, Son, remember that thou
in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things.
But now he's comforted and thou art tormented.
And beside all this between us and you there's a great goal fixed so that they which would
pass from hence to you cannot.
Neither can they pass to us that would come from thence.
See there's no getting out of hell.
Once you're there there's a great goal and he says, no, no one can switch.
You can't go, you say, well why would anyone want to go from heaven to hell?
Maybe to bring somebody a drink of water.
You know what he's saying?
Send Lazarus.
He's like, well he can't.
And there's a great, there's no getting out.
Once you're there you're reserved under that judgment of the great white throne.
And if your name's not in that book of light you're going to be cast in the lake of fire
for all eternity.
Then he said, I pray thee therefore father that thou would ascend him to my father's
house.
Say why is he calling him father?
Because he's a Jewish man and he's a descendant of Abraham so he's known him his whole life
as father Abraham.
It's his literal forefather.
He says, for I have five brethren that he may testify unto them lest they also come
into this place of torment.
Torment means torture.
Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them.
And he said, nay my father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead they will
repent and he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they
be persuaded though one rose from the dead.
Flip back to chapter 12.
You're in chapter 16, flip back to chapter 12.
Now it's like I said at the beginning of the sermon.
I don't often preach sermons on hell because it's an unpleasant subject that I do not delight
in.
And so sometimes a year or more will go by without a sermon on hell.
But the Bible has so much scripture on it, I don't see how as a pastor you could justify
going years and years without doing a sermon on hell when there's so much scripture about
it.
It has to happen.
I remember when I was a teenager, I got a record, I got an LP of a sermon that was recorded
in I think 1971 or so by Glenn Shunk preaching on the halls of hell.
And I remember me and my siblings and my parents sitting around the living room and we went
out, I think we even bought a record player just to listen to this thing.
I'm pretty sure that's what happened.
We went out and bought a record player because who had a record player in the 90s, right?
So I'm not that old people, all right?
They didn't have records when I was a kid.
But anyway, so we got out the record player, we all sat around and listened to that crackling.
It just made the sermon that much more intense, that crackling.
And I mean, it was a good sermon.
I mean, we were blown away.
And we hadn't heard hard preaching in years.
We'd been going to this really liberal, watered down, NIV rock and roll church.
So we're sitting there and we're just like silent and just listening to this sermon,
The Halls of Hell by Glenn Shunk.
And I uploaded it to YouTube a couple years ago.
I got the record from my dad and I uploaded it.
But I remember just sitting, I mean, it was a sobering sermon.
I mean, it was a sermon that had a profound influence on my, I mean, I sat there and listened
to this thing.
And keep in mind, I haven't heard hard preaching in years.
And we sat and nobody said, I mean, we sat there just listening to this thing, just fixated
on it.
And I mean, we walked away like, wow, we need to get people saved.
I mean, we need to do something for God.
We need to get serious about living for God.
This is real.
And I said to my dad, I said, why doesn't our pastor ever even mention hell?
I said, we've been going to this church for two years or so.
I've never even heard him say hell once.
And he said, well, I'm going to ask him.
And he said, I'm going to, let's make him a tape of this sermon.
So we made it, you know, we hooked up the cassette deck to the record player.
Kids in the auditorium like have no idea what I'm talking about right now.
All these strange machines that we hooked up to make this happen.
But we hooked up the record player and the cassette deck and we made him a tape and we
gave him the tape and said, here, listen to this sermon, the halls of hell.
And we said, why have you never mentioned hell?
And here's what he said.
He said, well, you know what?
I know I should preach on hell, but I just don't like to.
I just, it's just not pleasant.
I just don't want to.
I probably should, but I just don't.
Shame on you.
You know, you're commanded to preach the word.
You're commanded to warn all men.
And it's not that we delight in, oh, you just delight in people.
No, no, no.
Here's the thing.
I can't control whether people go to heaven or hell or not, except to go out and preach
the gospel to every creature.
That's the only control I have over it.
So me getting up and saying, well, hey, Catholics are going to hell.
That doesn't just suddenly make a bunch of Catholics go to hell now, because I said that.
I don't have that kind of power.
You know what?
If I could snap my finger right now, if I could snap my finger right now, just humanly
speaking in the flesh, you know, this isn't the Holy Spirit talking here.
This is just Stephen Anderson as a human being talking.
If I could snap my finger right now and all Catholics would get a free pass into heaven,
I would do it.
I'd say, yeah, just forgive them all.
You know, Father, forgive them.
They know not what they do.
But you know what?
I don't make the rules.
And you know what, God's not going to allow people who reject the free gift of salvation
through the Lord Jesus Christ to enter heaven.
He's not going to.
He has said what he will do, and that's what he's going to do.
And it's not that God's not loving, because he made it really easy for people to be saved.
Couldn't be any easier.
It's so easy.
Is it?
Believe.
I mean, it's so easy.
He's not making us jump through a bunch of hoops.
But it's the one thing that people's pride won't let, no, no, you've got to earn it.
I've got to chant all these prayers and whip myself and do all these works.
But what does the Bible say in Luke 12, because, you know, I want to get back in these closing
moments here, I want to get back to the emphasis of the sermon, is the fact that hell's not
a temporary thing.
It's not something where you just burn up.
And it's funny, whenever you try to tell Seventh-day Adventists, and you tell them, hey, hell's
eternal, here's what they'll tell you, well, yeah, I know you showed me a verse where it
says it goes on forever, but there's another verse where it says they burn up.
Now, here's the thing, if that were true, then that would mean the Bible's contradicting
itself.
If in one place it says it goes on forever, and then another place says they're burned
up, well, that'd be a contradiction, wouldn't it?
But the fact is, it doesn't say that they're burned up.
It says that they're destroyed.
That's what they're referring to, the destruction.
But here's what they're forgetting, that it's an everlasting destruction.
That it's a destruction that lasts forever.
It's a continual destruction.
And I explained, I remember one time I was giving a guy the Gospel, and he, I asked him
at the end, I presented him the whole Gospel and I asked him if he had any questions, and
he said, well, yeah, here's my question.
How can a person go to hell and keep burning, but yet they're not burned up?
How does that work?
And I told him, I said, well, you know what?
I said, what about Moses, when he stood before the burning bush, and the bush burned and
was not consumed?
And he said, I understand now, you know, and he got saved.
He realized, look, it's God, it's supernatural.
Look at Luke chapter 12 verse 4, and tell me if, tell me if this sounds like people
are just being burned up, you know, the Seventh-day Adventist doctrine of annihilation.
Luke chapter 12 verse 4, and I say unto you, my friends, be not afraid of them that kill
the body, and this is a really key statement.
See, usually we always read this in Matthew, but it's worded a little different in Luke.
Look what he says, be not afraid of them that kill the body, and after that have no more
that they can do.
Now that's key right there, to say, look, they kill the body and then it's over.
They have nothing more that they can do.
Verse 5, but I will forewarn you whom you shall fear.
Fear him which after he hath killed hath power to cast into hell.
Yea, I say unto you, fear him.
Now why would that be so much more fearful than what people can do to you on this earth?
I mean, think about it.
People on this earth can torture you, right?
They can put you through a lot of pain and misery and suffering.
They can lock you in a cage.
They can put you in a prison cell.
They can hurt you and harm you, but all they can do is just hurt the body, and then when
they kill you, there's nothing more they can do.
But that's being compared to God on the other hand, who then after that sends you to hell.
Now, if it were just something where you burn up and you're gone, why would that be so much
more fearful?
I mean, somebody could burn you up on this earth.
They could burn you alive like people were burned to the stake by the Roman Catholic
Church, and they could burn you alive for believing the true gospel of Jesus Christ,
and then there's nothing more that they could do to you.
So clearly hell is different than that, isn't it?
It's clearly a place where you don't just burn up, and then there's nothing more that
can happen.
No, it's something that goes on.
It's everlasting punishment.
It's everlasting fire.
The Bible says in Matthew 10, you don't have to turn there, but flip over if you would.
I'm kind of running out of time.
I'm going to flip over if you would in Matthew 12, but in Matthew 10 it says in this parallel
passage that we're probably more familiar with than the Luke passage, fear not them
which kill the body but are not able to kill the soul, but rather fear them which is able
to destroy both soul and body and hell.
Now, here this is where the 7th and the 8th, see, he'll destroy the soul.
But here's the, it's an everlasting destruction.
And if it were something that ended immediately, then it wouldn't be that scary.
It wouldn't, because it's not even to be compared with somebody who can kill the body and there's
nothing more they can do.
Oh, then he'll kill the soul and then there's nothing more he can do.
Oh, so it lasted an extra few minutes?
It doesn't make any sense, my friend.
It's an everlasting punishment.
Matthew chapter 12 verse 40, 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.
Now flip back to the book of Jonah.
We're going to go to Jonah chapter 2, then we're going to go to Isaiah 66.
Now here the Bible tells us that Jonah, being three days and three nights in the whale's
belly, was a picture of Jesus being three days and three nights in the heart of the
earth, or in hell, in the core of the earth.
Well, where's the artichoke heart, by the way?
You know what I mean?
It's in the center of it, right?
And that's the way hell is, it's in the center of the earth in the same way.
But look what the Bible says in Jonah, because remember this is a picture of hell, the Bible
tells us in Matthew.
Jonah 2, 2 says, and said, I cried by reason of my affliction unto the Lord, and he heard
me.
Out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
Now of course Jonah was not in hell, Jonah's where?
The whale's belly.
But because it's prophetic of Jesus being in hell for three days and three nights, he
talks about it as if he's in hell, right?
So he says, out of the belly of hell cried I, and thou heardest my voice.
Look at verse 6, I went down to the bottoms of the mountains, the earth with her bars
was about me for a little while, and then I was annihilated.
Look what it says, the earth with her bars was about me forever.
This shows that hell is a place of eternal punishment, eternal suffering.
And by the way, the word about means around, or compass about, the Bible talks about.
This is talking about being in the center of the earth, having the earth with her bars,
the bars of the earth are the same thing as the pillars of the earth.
Those words are synonymous.
So in hell, you are surrounded by the bars or the pillars of the earth, they are around
you, they are about you.
But notice he says, forever.
So there's an eternal aspect to hell, it's not something where you just burn up and it's
over.
Go to Isaiah, while you're back in the Old Testament anyway, flip over to Isaiah chapter
66.
And I'm turning to Isaiah 66 because this is the source of a great quote in Mark chapter
9.
I'll read for you Mark 9, you go to Isaiah 66.
Mark 9 43, and if thy hand offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into
life maimed than having two hands to go into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched,
where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to enter halt into life
than having two feet to be cast into hell into the fire that never shall be quenched,
where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom
of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire, where their worm dieth
not and the fire is not quenched.
I mean that's a pretty powerful passage where he talks about the fact that it goes on forever
literally six times in six verses.
I mean he just pounds it in that it's everlasting, it's eternal, it goes on forever.
But that phrase, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched, is a reference
back to Isaiah 66.
And if you look it up in Isaiah 66, it actually makes more sense when you read it in Mark
chapter 9.
It says in Isaiah 66, 22, for as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall
remain before me, saith the Lord.
So shall your seed and your name remain, and it shall come to pass that from one new moon
to another and from one Sabbath to another shall all flesh come to worship before me,
saith the Lord.
And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed
against me, for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and
they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
Now the reason I point out the difference here is that in Mark when it's quoted it says,
their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
Because here it says, their worm shall not die and neither shall their fire be quenched
and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
So the picture here is of people going out and looking at the dead bodies, literal carcasses,
of people that had rebelled against the Lord and they're actually seeing the dead bodies
and God's telling them that that's not the end of these people's punishment.
He's saying they're going to go out and look upon the carcasses of them that have transgressed
and he said, but their worm shall not die and their fire shall not be quenched.
He's saying that that physical death is not the end, but that there's another punishment
of unquenchable fire and those worms that were eating those physical bodies that they
saw, those worms are eventually going to die.
Those worms are eventually going to run out of food by the way.
But he says those that are in hell, their worms shall not die and their fire shall not
be quenched and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
The last place we'll turn is Revelation 14.
Revelation chapter 14, the Bible reads in 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 forehead are in his hand.
Now let me just stop right there and say that we already know that the beast and the false
prophet are going to the lake of fire to be tormented day and night forever and ever.
But they're not the only ones that are going there because the Bible says that whosoever
was not found written in the book of life was cast in the lake of fire.
And the Bible says that if anyone worships the beast and his image.
Now let me ask this, are there going to be few people worshipping the beast and his
image or a lot of people worshipping the beast and his image?
Well in the previous chapter, chapter 13, it's talking about all the people that are
dwelling on the earth whose names are not found written in the book of life are going
to be worshipping him.
So this is consistent with Revelation 20.
The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God which is poured out without mixture
into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the
presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb and the smoke of their torment
ascendeth up forever and ever and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast
and his image and whosoever receive it the mark of his name.
The Bible is very clear here and let me tell you something.
When the beast comes, when the anti-Christ comes and the Bible talks about all nations
of the world worshipping him whose names are not found written in the book of life,
don't beguile yourself for one moment that the Roman Catholics aren't going to be worshipping
the anti-Christ when he shows up.
I mean do you really think that all the Catholics are going to say, no, they're going to embrace
the anti-Christ.
The Pope's going to tell them this is the second coming of Jesus Christ, they're going
to embrace him as such because the one true church told them so.
Don't be deceived into thinking that the Orthodox will reject the anti-Christ, although they
will accept him.
Don't be deceived that the Hindus are going to reject the anti-Christ or that the Buddhists
will reject the anti-Christ or that Muslims or that the Muslims will say, well no, no,
this is not.
They're already set up to receive the anti-Christ.
They already talk about how the fact that Imam Mahdi is coming and the second coming
of Jesus, which is the anti-Christ and the false prophet, who they're getting ready for,
those two figures.
And where does the Bible say that those people are going to end up for all eternity?
Now it's not that we're mean or unloving.
I'll tell you who's unloving, the pastor who won't preach the Bible because this needs
to be preached.
Because maybe if you stop and think, hey wait a minute, there are a lot of people in this
world who are on their way to a horrible place that knowing the terror of the Lord,
we would persuade men.
We would warn all men.
See, it's ridiculous for someone to say, well Pastor Anderson, you don't have love.
What kind of a pastor would preach on hell on Valentine's Day?
Number one, I don't give a rip about Valentine's Day, number one.
And I'm not against you if you celebrate Valentine's Day.
I personally don't celebrate Valentine's Day.
If you celebrate it, more power to you.
I celebrate my daughter's birthday today.
My daughter had a birthday.
I took her out on a daddy date.
Is that alright?
Alright?
But here's the thing.
What kind of a preacher are you?
You don't have love.
Preach on love.
Hey, God so loved the world.
Here's the love, this is the love sermon tonight.
God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him,
what are the next words, should not perish.
So the sermon tonight is about John 3.16.
It's just we're focusing on these three words of John 3.16, should not perish.
What is involved in that perishing?
Is that perishing just a physical death?
Is that perishing just you burn up and it's over?
No, that perishing is what we've been talking about for the last hour.
An everlasting punishment in hell.
And so if we have love, you know, we're going to go down to some small town in Arizona and
win people to Christ in Sells, Arizona, or we're going to go down to the west side and
go soul winning, or we're going to go to Tempe or Scottsdale or Mesa or the Gilbert group
or somewhere and we're going to go soul winning.
That's the measure of love.
This is love that we walk after his commandments, you know.
And if we really love people, then we're going to warn them and we're going to tell them
the truth and we're going to get them saved.
Not just sit around talking about, oh, these fundamentalists are so unloving, as they sip
their pink tea and lemonade and sit on their rear ends and never get out soul winning while
the world goes to hell.
But they're so loving the whole time.
They're so loving.
Let me ask you this.
That pastor that we gave that cassette to, you think he was a loving guy?
This is how loving he was.
He went golfing with his next door neighbor once a week and he'd been doing so for over
a year and he said, I'm still waiting for an opportunity to give him the gospel.
Same guy who won't preach on hell.
Goes golfing with his unsaved, he said he's not saved and I go golfing with him every
week and I'm still waiting for, you know what your opportunity is when you go golfing, every
week.
I mean what, but let me ask you this, do you think he loves his neighbor?
I mean how is that love, what kind of love is that where you just don't tell people about
Jesus?
I mean that's not love.
You know, so we've got love all mixed up today.
We think love is just being nice and just telling everybody what they want to hear.
Oh, if you love your children, you just be nice and just give them everything and you
don't spank them and you just give them everything and just be nice to them, that's love.
And if you love Muslims, it means you tell Muslims, hey we're all worshiping the same
God.
That's how you love Muslims, right?
And if you love Catholics, it's when you tell them, hey, as long as we name the name of
Jesus, we're all getting to heaven and just ignore Matthew 7 where he talks about people
trusting in their works being damned.
You know, oh, oh, oh, if you love, if you love the Indians today, you know, you're going
to tell them that, you know what, as long as they just add Jesus to their other millions
of Hindu gods, they're going to, you know, just show Jesus, throw Jesus a bone, burn
a little incense for him too once in a while.
That's not love.
If you think that you have love when you don't open your mouth and preach the gospel to your
friends, family, loved ones, co-workers, neighbors, you know, you need to get right with God.
You need to get in this book and figure out what love is because love is what constraineth
us to go out and bring the good news to the lost so that they don't end up in this horrible
place of torment.
I mean, even the rich man burning in hell in Luke 16, even he saw that.
Wow, we need to go tell people so they don't come here.
Even he got that.
Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer.
Father, we thank you so much, Lord, for saving us from hell.
And Lord, many people today, they don't like the doctrine of hell.
They're not comfortable with it.
I can see why they're not comfortable with it, Lord, because it is a very frightful doctrine.
But Lord, I love every part of your word and I will fulfill the command to preach every
part of your word, Lord, including hell.
And I pray that every person that's here would get in the word and figure out that this is
real and that they would go out and warn all men as you've commanded us to do so and
to bring the glorious gospel of Jesus Christ unto the lost.
In Jesus' name we pray, amen.