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All right, we're here in Mark chapter 9 and we're starting a new series called The Whole Body Cast Into Hell. The Whole Body Cast Into Hell. Now look at Mark chapter 9 verse 43, I'm going to read you six verses real quickly which are going to be kind of the theme for this sermon series and we're going to explain these verses here today. It says in Mark 9 verse 43, and if thy hand defend 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 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. Now if you've read your New Testament before, I'm sure this passage just kind of jumped out at you because quite honestly there's a lot of symbolism in this passage. I don't think there's any question about that. It talks about cutting off your hand, cutting off your foot, plucking out your eye. Obviously you know he's not actually saying to pluck out your eye. Obviously we're not going to do that. He talks about having a worm. There's a lot of symbolism. Now most of the Bible you just take very literally, but on passages when there's obviously metaphors being used or symbolism, there can be a lot of different opinions. It can be pretty complicated. And so what we're going to do in this sermon is just explain these six verses, and there's a lot of information here, and then we're going to go to the sermon series. At the end of the sermon I'll kind of set the scene for the rest of this sermon series. Now the first thing I want you to understand is that there is a lot of symbolism being mentioned here, but one thing we can draw from this passage that is literal is the description of hell. The description of hell in this passage is literal. It's a place of fire, and that fire lasts forever. It says at the end of verse 43, into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. The end of verse 44, the fire is not quenched. The end of verse 45, into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. The end of verse 46, the fire is not quenched. The end of verse 47, cast into hell fire. The end of verse 48, the fire is not quenched. The description of hell is literal. It's a place of fire, and it lasts forever. You say, well how do you know that? Because this passage is largely symbolic. We'll go to Luke 16, Luke 16. This is not the only place in the Bible where it speaks about hell being a place of fire, Luke 16. So look, some things in this passage are symbolic and some are literal, and we've got to tell from the context what's symbolic and what is literal. Now I would say this, that I believe the best passage to take people to describe hell is Luke chapter 16, even more so than Mark 9, because he's actually using a story that actually took place, and he uses real names to verify it's true. Notice what it says in Luke 16 verse 22, 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. Now when it says Abraham's bosom, your bosom is a body part. It's your chest, you know, deep, deep, okay? It's not referring to a location that's called like Abraham's bosom, okay? That would be kind of a weird place to call it. No, it's referring to basically he was in his chest, okay? He was leaning upon him, okay? Much like the beloved disciple was leaning upon Jesus at the Last Supper, okay? So it says into Abraham's bosom, the rich man also died and was buried. Now you notice that it just calls this man the rich man, okay? There's a reason why. Verse 23, and in hell he lift up his eyes being in torment and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And so it mentions Abraham, Lazarus, and the rich man. Abraham and Lazarus are in heaven, the rich man is in hell. You say, why doesn't it give the rich man's name? Because of the fact Jesus said, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. And he specifically does not list the name of the rich man to kind of indicate to you he's not saved. Now we know that from the context, but throughout the Bible, that's the way he addresses people. He says, my sheep hear my voice and I know them. And he's saying, you know, he's just calling the rich man because he's not saved. But we know it's not a parable because there are real names used. If there were just, you know, the rich man, the poor man, and no real names, then it would be a parable, okay? It's not a parable because there's real names used, Abraham, Lazarus, okay? And it says in verse 23, he is in torment. Verse 24, 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. You are seeing a literal place of fire in Luke chapter 16, okay? Now I remember the first Baptist church I went to, and the pastor never said the name, the word hell ever in church. And I remember the first time he said it, he was like really shy to say it because he's afraid how people would react. And it's like in today's world, people don't want to just say hell, right? I mean, you're going so, I was going soul winning yesterday and I asked somebody the question, what if there's a good person that does not believe? Where will they go? And they're like, hell. It's like they wanted to say it really soft because they're almost tired. It's like, hey, it's the truth. It's okay. I mean, there's nothing to be shy or embarrassed about, unsaved people go to hell. It's reality, okay? And so he says, you know, he's crying out in pain, he's crying out. He says, you know what, cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. Verse 25, but Abraham said, son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and thou art tormented. He said, you had a rich life. You had a nice life. You had everything you wanted and you want. Now you're in torments. Lazarus had a pretty bad life, but now he's in heaven and that does show us that, you know what? Even if your life is miserable here on earth, it's better to go to heaven and has have a miserable life on earth and spending forever in hell. Okay. Verse number 26, and beside all this between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, okay? A great gulf. There's a great gap between heaven and hell so that they which would pass from hints to you cannot. Notice how it says they which would pass from hints to you, okay? Now he's speaking to someone in hell and he's saying, you know what? There are people that would pass from hints to you. They would go from heaven to hell. Now why would somebody in heaven go to hell? To rescue those that are in hell? I mean the rich man is begging for mercy and he's saying, look, Lazarus would go to hell to rescue you if he could. They would pass from hints to you, but he's saying, you know what? They can't. You say why? Because when we die, it's it. That's it. There is no second chance for those that are in hell and when we die as believers in heaven, we no longer have a chance to preach the gospel to our unsaved family members. We no longer have a chance to preach the gospel to our unsaved cousins or parents or grandparents. Your chance is here on earth and you know what's going to happen when you die and when I die, we're going to be very sad at our lost loved ones that are not going to be in heaven that are not saved. So now is our chance to pass from here to them to preach the gospel, okay? Neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. He's saying, you know what? Neither were the people in hell, neither are they able to pass to us to heaven so that when we die, you cannot go from heaven to hell. You can't go from hell to heaven. It's forever and this, this destroys purgatory right here. Wherever you are, it's final. It's done. You're not going to be able to pass down to hell to rescue your lost loved ones. I remember a long time ago I saw this movie with Robin Williams. He's like a wicked actor who died, who mocked God and everything like that and in the movie like his, his wife died and went to hell and like somehow he went down to hell and somehow he's like swimming through some river down there to try to rescue his wife. This bizarre story, okay? That's not reality. When people die and go to hell, they have no second chance, okay? But us that are saved, we would like to pass to hell to try to rescue people that are unsaved. It's too late though, okay? So notice we see that hell is a literal place of fire. Go to Mark 9, Mark 9, Mark 9. Now look, there are a lot of false teachers that try to explain away hell and they just say, well, it's all symbolic here. Luke 16, it's all symbolic. Mark 9, it's all symbolic. I guess Revelation 14, Revelation 20, Revelation 21, it's all symbolic they say. It's not real. You know, Billy Graham, he taught that hell was not a literal place of fire. You might not realize that, but Billy Graham, and you can look online to verify it, he taught that hell was not a literal place of fire, okay? And look, there's a lot of false teachers that are going to teach that and look, the Bible says hell is a place of fire and it's going to last forever. That is not symbolic. That is a literal description of hell we find in Mark 9. Now go to verse number 44, Mark 9, verse 44. Notice this phrase here where it says, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Verse 46, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Verse 48, where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Now look, when you're reading this, immediately you wonder, what's this worm that he's talking about? Okay, I'm sure all of us have wondered that before and look, if he mentions it three times, I think he wants you to know what this actually is, okay? So what is this worm referring to, okay? Now you'll hear many different opinions about this, but let's look at what the Bible says. Go to Revelation chapter 20, Revelation chapter 20, Revelation chapter 20, and let me turn there myself. I'm going to look up one verse here real quickly. Revelation chapter 20, Revelation chapter 20, and look down at verse number 5 of Revelation chapter 20. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection, okay? Now when the Bible says this is the first resurrection, what does that imply? That there is a second resurrection, right? If there was only one resurrection, he'd say this is the resurrection, but he says this is the first resurrection, implying there's a second resurrection, okay? That's what it says in 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 him a thousand years, okay? Those that take part in the first resurrection, they will never go to the second death. They will never go to the lake of fire, okay? When does the first resurrection take place? At the rapture, right? Those that are dead in Christ shall rise first, and then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together to meet him within the clouds, and so shall we ever be with the Lord, right? So the dead in Christ, everyone who's died already that was saved, they will be resurrected at that rapture, okay? Us that are alive and remain, if it happens in our lifetime, we will also meet them in the air, and that's the first resurrection. And what takes place is we get our glorified body, okay? That is the first resurrection that the Bible speaks about. But the Bible's saying there's a second resurrection. You say, what is the second resurrection? Well, realize this, that after the rapture, some people are still gonna get saved, right? I mean, there's the 144,000 here on earth, there's the two witnesses, there's the millennial reign. I mean, people are still getting saved, okay? That second resurrection, as we're gonna see in several weeks from now when we go to Revelation 20, is gonna take place after the millennial reign, okay? Now the first resurrection takes place before the millennial reign, and there's the judgment seat of Christ for rewards as we rule and reign with Christ. The second resurrection is gonna take place after the millennium, okay? So the second resurrection is gonna be all believers that got saved after the rapture, but also all unsaved people will be resurrected. The Bible teaches every unsaved person is gonna be resurrected. Now go to John 5 real quickly, we'll go back to Revelation 20 in a second, you can keep your finger there, and I'll explain this. And so look, every unsaved person is gonna be resurrected, okay? And I'll show this to you. And notice what it says in John 5 verse 29, John 5 verse 29, and look, I warned you, today is an in-depth morning sermon, okay? It's gonna be very in-depth, I encourage you to take notes here. And in John chapter 5 verse 29, notice what it says. And shall come forth, they that... verse 28, John 5 verse 28, marvel not at this for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice. In the graves is referring to your bodies, right? The physically dead people, all that are in the grave shall hear his voice. There's coming an hour, and shall come forth, they that have done good under the resurrection of life, and they that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation. At the first resurrection, no unsaved person is gonna be resurrected. But there is coming an hour when all that are in the grave shall hear his voice. They that have done good under the resurrection of life, they that have done evil under the resurrection of damnation. You say, Brother Stuckey, why does it say good and evil when all we have to do is believe? Because every saved person, we have no sins on our record. All we have is good. So all we have on God's record, he looks at us, innocent, 100%, all we have is good, no evil. But unsaved people, they have no good on their record. The only thing they have on their record is evil, wickedness. And so those that are just unsaved people, all they have is evil, and they will go to the resurrection of damnation, okay? Every unsaved person is gonna be resurrected at that second resurrection. Go back to Revelation chapter 20. Revelation chapter 20, you say, why would they be resurrected? They don't get a second chance, do they? No, they don't get a second chance. They will spend forever in hell and then in the lake of fire. But there is a reason why they are gonna be resurrected, okay? Now notice what it says in Revelation chapter 20, verse 10, Revelation 20, verse 10. 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. This penalty is gonna last forever, but I want you to notice how it says the lake of fire in verse 10, okay? Says the lake of fire. Now, I would say the lake of fire is an accurate description of what hell is today because, look, hell is in the center of the earth. Think of a volcano and think of lava flowing, but there's actually a place called the lake of fire where hell is gonna be relocated to, okay? Verse 11, 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. This is the great white throne judgment for unbelievers. 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, okay? Notice verse 13, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it. Now why does it mention the sea? Many dead bodies are thrown into the ocean. Many dead bodies are thrown into the sea. The sea will give up the dead which are in it, okay? That's what it says in verse 13. Then it says this, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works. So death and hell are gonna deliver up the dead to be judged at the great white throne judgment. What is death and hell? Well when somebody dies unsaved today, what part of their body goes to hell? Their soul, not their bodies. Their soul goes to hell, okay? Hell will deliver up the dead which were in them, but death is gonna deliver up the dead which were in them, referring to the body, the bodies and the souls at the great white throne judgment, okay? Now when you look at this in Revelation 20, let me just give you my opinion as death and hell deliver up the dead which were in them because hell is gonna be relocated to the lake of fire. We'll see that here in a second in verse 14. As hell delivers up the dead which were in them, I don't think those souls escape hell while they're being judged. I think if you look at verses 13 and 14, as hell delivers up the dead to be judged, I believe that they will still be in fire in the flames of hell and hell is literally standing there before the judgment and the souls in hell, it's kind of like well it's your turn to be judged, it's your turn and they're still there in hell. But death is also gonna be delivered up, okay? You say why would this take place? Because the body and the soul of unsaved people will reunite as they're cast into the lake of fire, okay? Now here's the thing, we could think about it and wonder do they get reunited while they're there before God or is it after the great white throat judgment where they get thrown into the lake of fire? That's kind of a matter of opinion, I'm not really sure. But we do know from Revelation 20 that the body and soul will be reunited. You say how could a body be thrown into a lake of fire and not burn up? How could Moses go to a burning bush that does not burn up in the book of Exodus, right? I mean wasn't there a burning bush that does not burn up and Moses is like why is this bush not burning? And so unsaved people, their bodies will be able to last through the lake of fire and they'll feel all the pain without burning up, okay? Verse 14, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death. And so the second death is the relocation of death and hell into the lake of fire. The bodies and the souls will be reunited, and I'll prove this with a lot of verses here, of unsaved people and they will be cast into the lake of fire. You say Brother Stuckey, where is this place? And so for me personally, you say what is the first death? Well we have both the physical death and the spiritual death right there before God. So I think you could look at the first death as either one and the second death is the culmination of both of those things, okay? But here's the thing about this, you say where is the lake of fire? The Bible does not specifically say, I think the best guess is the sun personally as hell will be relocated to the lake of fire. I don't know that for sure, but that is my opinion. I do know this though, there's a famous rock song from a long time ago where they talked about the sun and they're making fun of hell. They called it like Black Hole Sun was the name of the song. I don't remember the name of the band, it's really blast. Maybe Alice in Chains might have been, it's a really blasphemous song. But look, you know, this is an idea people have that maybe the lake of fire is referring to the sun. That would be my best guess, at least of things we know on earth, that's the only place I could think of. Okay, God could obviously create another place. Now go to Isaiah, actually go to Matthew 10, Matthew 10, Matthew 10, and let me show this to you in another place here in the Bible because you might not be aware of this, but this is what the Bible speaks about, that there will be a second resurrection, okay? And I want you to see something in Matthew chapter 10 verse 28. So look, for us that are saved, yes, our bodies are reunited with our souls, but you know, it's the same thing for unbelievers. It's whatever's the opposite of a glorified body, I guess. An unglorified body, I don't know, but they will, their bodies will be reunited with their souls. Matthew 10 verse 28, and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. The Bible says that there are people that can kill your body, but they cannot kill your soul. Sometimes when I'm explaining soul winning about suicide, I explain how you cannot kill your soul. I can shoot myself in the head, but I can't pull out my soul and here's my soul and shoot it, right? We are able to kill the body, we're not able to kill the soul. Any one of us, we could kill someone and all you will kill is the body, you will not kill the soul. But then it says this, but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Now as a saved person, we don't have to worry about this because we have eternal life, right? God promised that he will not send us to hell, but the person who does have the power, the one who does have that power to destroy soul and body in hell is God. But wait a minute, do unsaved people, does their body go to hell right now? No it doesn't. See God will not send anybody's body to hell right now because here's the thing, it will just burn up. When unsaved people die, they're buried or they're cremated or whatever, but the Bible says God is the one who's able to destroy both soul and body in hell. When does that happen? When hell is relocated to the lake of fire after the great white throne judgment, they will be cast in the lake of fire forever. He will destroy both soul and body in the lake of fire and they will be there forever and ever and ever and ever. Turn to Isaiah chapter 66, say, Brother Stuckey, what does this have to do with the worm? You're giving us all these verses and talking about all this. Well the worm's referring to the body and I'll show this to you in the Bible. The worm, which will not burn up, is referring to the body. See the fire's not quenched, the fire's not going to burn out, but you know the worm, it's not going to burn up. The worm dieth not, it's going to be forever in the lake of fire. Now you're turning to Isaiah 66, let me read you a few verses. Job 25 verse 6, how much less man that is a worm and the son of man which is a worm. See sometimes the body's referred to as a worm in the Bible. Here in Isaiah 66, let me read you in Psalm 22, but I am a worm and no man, a reproach of men and despised of the people. Isaiah 66 verse 24, notice what it says, Isaiah 66 verse 24, and they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men. Now what is a carcass? It's a body, right? So it's referring to the body. They shall 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. Does that not sound like what we read in Mark chapter 9? The carcass is the worm and neither shall their fire be quenched. You say why? Because after the great white throne judgment, unbelievers, the body gets reunited with the soul and cast into the lake of fire forever where their worm dieth not. Go to Mark chapter 9, Mark 9, Mark chapter 9. Now let me say this, it is accurate to call the lake of fire hell and to call hell the lake of fire because those terms are used interchangeably. There is a relocation of hell to the lake of fire, but the lake of fire is an accurate description of hell. And hell is used to refer to the lake of fire sometimes because hell is relocated. Hell doesn't just vanish up and it's gone. No hell is just relocated to the lake of fire. And so look, the lake of fire is not going to really be much different than hell except that people are going to suffer based on what they've done because they're being judged for what they did and someone like Adolf Hitler will suffer more than the average unsaved Catholic person that never got saved. Why? Because he was worse. That is the great white throne judgment. We'll talk about it in several weeks. Okay. Okay. He said, brother Stuckey, what does this have? This is really in depth. What does this have to do with the sermon series? Absolutely nothing to be honest. I'm explaining these verses and now we're going to get to what actually applies to the sermon series. Now let me just go through these verses, starting at verse 41, and I'll show you a few things and then I'll explain to you a few thoughts because look, this is a passage that people have a lot of different opinions about, cutting off your hand, cutting off your foot, plucking out your eye. You say, brother Stuckey, I was so moved by your sermon that when the altar call comes, you know, we're going to have a knife up here and you can cut off your hand, pluck out your eye. If you're moved by, you know, on the first stanza, if this sermon touched your heart, come up here. We'll remove that. No, obviously not. Okay. We'll show you what this is talking about. Notice what it says in verse 41. It says in verse 41, for whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because he belonged to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Now whosoever is anybody. When we go soul winning, don't people sometimes offer us a glass of water? Sometimes those people are saved, sometimes they're unsaved. Both saved and unsafe fit under whosoever, right? I believe unsaved people will get a reward for giving us a cup of water. Now that does not mean they'll escape hell if they don't get saved. Maybe it means they get more opportunities to hear the gospel. Maybe God is more merciful to them. But what I know is it says whosoever shall give you a cup of water. And usually when I get offered water out soul winning, it's from an unsafe person, okay? If they give you water to drink in my name because he belonged to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Whosoever is anybody. Verse 42, and whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me. Whosoever is anybody, right? We know John 3 16, whosoever believeth in him. It is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea. But I want you to notice in verse 43, it does not say whosoever. It says in verse 43, and if thy hand offend thee. Notice how he goes from just talking about everybody to talking about the people he's preaching to, which are primarily going to be saved people, and if thy hand offend thee. Verse 45, and if thy foot offend thee. Verse 47, and if thine eye offend thee. Notice how he's specifically keying in onto the people he's preaching. He's no longer saying whosoever, okay? Now let me just give you a couple introductory things on this. Let me say a few things here. Now when it comes to a passage that's largely symbolic, there can be a lot of different opinions on it. Two people can believe the same doctrines, but still interpret some verses differently. I'm sure there are a lot of very godly people that would interpret the verses I'm gonna explain differently than I would. And I believe that oftentimes with passages, there are multiple explanations and interpretations. Oftentimes the Bible is layered with multiple things it's teaching you at one time. So sometimes it's kind of just an argument, what's the primary application versus the secondary application? We could look at the same verses and there's many applications that we can draw from it, right? So I'll go through some of the applications I've heard preached and not from unsaved people because unsaved people literally go here and they say, well, see, you got to be a very good person to go to heaven. Unless you get rid of all your sin, you cannot go to heaven. Unsaved people go here. They'll say you got to repent of your sins. I didn't see the word repent. If they're gonna try to take it like that, then pluck out your eye when you get saved. There's a lot of opinions from unsaved people, but from saved people, what are some of the applications we can make? One thing that's directly stated is this, that it is better to go to heaven missing a body part than to end up in hell. And that's definitely true. I mean, literally, if you had to pluck off your hand to go to heaven, it would be worth it. Okay? Obviously, we don't have to pluck off your hand because he said whosoever believeth. But that is one thing this passage is teaching that you know what? It's better to go to heaven missing body parts than end up in hell. There's no question about that, okay? Another application people make is this, that although we do not have to repent of our sins to be saved, people that are unsaved oftentimes don't want to hear the gospel because of their sin. Okay? For example, when we go soul winning, it is less likely for a drug addict to get saved than a person who's just a good person not doing anything wrong. They are more likely to listen to the gospel. And if you've gone soul winning, you know that's true. It kind of boggles your mind because you would think a drug addict would say, yes, I want to hear this because I don't deserve it. But actually, they usually don't want to hear the gospel. It's the people that are actually living clean lives that want to hear the gospel. Most people that get saved are actually more like Cornelius than a really bad person because they're more likely to come to the light. And so here's the thing. Although you do not have to repent of your sins to be saved, for some unsaved people, they won't even listen to the gospel if they have a certain sin in their life. And so quite honestly for them, it's like they got to get rid of that sin in order to even hear the gospel. Even though they don't have to change anything, a drug addict doesn't have to change anything, but most drug addicts probably will not even listen to the gospel because of the fact they're living a bad life. I remember I was preaching the gospel to someone one time who was kind of a friend of mine, but he was an acquaintance because he wasn't saved. And I was explaining the gospel to him, and he said he did not believe the Bible. And this was a man who was dating a married woman who was going through a divorce, and she was still married. And I was talking to him and everything, and I was just explaining the gospel and explaining how we deserve hell. And I was not specifically trying to key in on anything. I was just going on, hey, according to the Bible. And I went to Revelation 21a, and I explained how we deserve hell if we broke. And I remember mentioning the word adultery just in passing. He's like, oh, please don't say that word. He was literally just like he felt bad just hearing that word because his conscience got to him. But quite honestly, he didn't really want to listen to the gospel because of that sin. And it's like he literally would have had to quit committing adultery before he would even listen to the gospel, even though he didn't have to change his actions. So is that an application here? Absolutely. That unsaved people, and if you've gone so many, you know this is true, many of them will not listen to the gospel because of a certain sin in their life. Another application you can draw from that is this. When it comes to think about your hand specifically, your right hand specifically is really symbolic of your works and the effort you do in life. And if somebody is trusting in their works to get to heaven, they've got to cut that off to believe on Jesus Christ. You cannot trust in your works and then expect to get to heaven. You've got to quit trusting in your works. So these are all applications we can draw. And look, I'm sure these are all some of the applications. But I believe the primary application is actually speaking to save people and not to unsave people. Now all the ones I just mentioned, those are things that really apply to unsaved people. People that basically, you know, it'd be better to miss a body part and go to heaven. I think primarily it's talking to save people and you say, what is it trying to teach us then? Okay. Well, look at Mark chapter nine. And what I'm going to do is I'm just going to tell you what I believe the primary application is. And then I'm going to go to several passages to show you why I believe this and to show you there is scripture to back it up. Mark chapter nine, verse 43. What I believe the primary thing is, is this. Hell is being given an accurate description here. It's a place of fire and that lasts forever. No question about that. But when he says hell, I don't think he's actually referring to hell. I believe he's being symbolic. Okay. They say, why would he be symbolic when he's talking about hell? Well, why is it in Jonah? Jonah said, out of the belly of hell cried I. Was Jonah actually in hell? No, he wasn't, but he was in a place that largely resembled hell. It would have been dark. The acids would have been eating away at him. It would have been a miserable place that he was. So he said out of the belly of hell cried I, and he was being symbolic. Okay. I believe when he's referring to hell here, I don't think he's actually being literal, even though the description of hell is accurate. You say, what are you talking about? I will give you an example and then we'll look at some passages. Let's say there was somebody at our church who's 20 years old, a guy who loves the Lord, comes to all the church services. He comes soul winning. He reads the Bible. He's trying to live a good life. He's trying to get rid of his music and all of his worldliness and he wants to live for God. But he's got one major sin in his life. He's addicted to pornography. And you know, the reality is that's a true statement around this world with people that are even soul winners. In today's world, pornography is at your fingertips when you have cell phones and computers. It's a very dangerous thing in today's world and there can be people that love the Lord and want to serve God, but they are addicted to pornography and when they look at it, they feel guilty and they beg for forgiveness and it's this endless cycle that they cannot break. Now if they're addicted to pornography, that's a problem with the eyes, right? And what I believe this passage is saying is that if you've got a major sin in your life, that one sin is going to cast your whole body into sin. That one sin will cast your whole body into darkness. That one sin will cast your entire body into hell symbolically, not literally, okay? Why? Because of one sin. One sin will cause your entire body to be filled full of sin. And look, us that are saved people that are believers, we realize that one sin can destroy our whole spiritual life. If you've got a major sin in your life, you don't feel like reading the Bible, do you? You don't feel like praying. You don't feel like coming to church. You don't feel like living for God. Why? Because of one sin. I mean, if you're committing sin in your life, you don't feel like going soul winning. Because of one sin, it can destroy your entire life, okay? Now you say, why do you think that, Brother Stuckey? Well, go to Matthew chapter five. Matthew five. Matthew five. Matthew chapter five. And we'll go back to Mark nine at the end of the sermon. Matthew chapter five. And so look, whenever we see something in the Bible that we think is interesting or we have an opinion about something, we should compare spiritual things with spiritual to see whether or not it holds water or whether or not it's not true, okay? And in Matthew chapter five in the Sermon on the Mount, we can cross reference what was mentioned in Mark chapter nine, and we can see what I'm talking about here. Notice what it says in Matthew chapter five, verse 27. And let me ask you this. The Sermon on the Mount, he's largely referring to what? Saved or unsaved people. Saved or unsaved people at the Sermon on the Mount, okay? Notice what it says in verse 27. Ye have heard that it was said by them of old time, thou shalt not commit adultery. But I say unto you that whosoever looketh on a woman to lust after her hath committed adultery with her already in his heart, okay? Now when it comes to looking on a woman to lust after her, what is that a problem with? The eyes, right? And see, the Bible says that, you know, it's not just committing adultery that's wrong. If you just lust after a woman, if you just look upon her with lust, you've committed adultery in your heart. Notice what it says in verse 29, and tell me if this sounds familiar. 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. Now look, the Bible's not randomly written. Do you understand that? The Bible's written in a specific way so we can learn from the word of God. It just said in verses 27 and 28, looking on a woman to lust after her, which is something your eyes do. The next verse, it talks about if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, okay? What is he trying to tell, say, people there? He's saying, hey, if you've got a problem with your eyes, correct that sin. Otherwise your entire life is gonna be filled full of sin. Obviously, as a saved person, we have eternal life, and we cannot lose our salvation. We understand that, and there are hundreds of verses we could go to to prove that. But many times in the Bible, he uses very strong language to try to motivate us to get rid of the sin in our lives. And I believe that's what's being said in Mark chapter 9, and in Matthew 5, when we cross reference, he talks about plucking out your eyes. Verse 29 is connected to verses 27 and 28, okay? But as a saved person, what we can draw from this is that if we have sin in our life, we better get rid of it, or our entire body is gonna be filled full of sin. Verse 30, 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. Go to Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6, Matthew chapter 6. And so look, think about this as a saved person, what is he trying to teach us? And think about how this applies to our lives, okay? Look, if you've got a major problem when it comes to looking at pornography, you know what, honestly, you would be better missing those eyes and living a godly life. Now obviously he's not telling you to actually pluck out your eye, but he's trying to tell you, hey, get rid of the sin in your life. If you've got a major sin in your life, get rid of it now, otherwise your entire life, your entire body is gonna be filled full of sin. Your entire body is gonna be filled full of darkness. You say, why does he say hell if he's not actually referring to hell? Because he's trying to be very strong with his language to drive home a point, that you're gonna destroy your entire body if you don't get rid of that sin. If you don't, cut off the hand, cut off the foot, pluck out the eye. Look, we know in Mark 9 it's being symbolic to some degree, okay? When you read that passage, every one of us has read that before, and we've been like, what is this talking about? Right? I mean, it's a very deep thing in the Bible, you wonder, what is it talking about? There's obviously symbolism being used when he's talking about a worm and cutting off your hand and your foot and plugging out your eye. I believe the symbolism is, although it's a literal, accurate description of what hell is, I don't think he's actually referring to hell there in those verses, in terms of the primary application. Notice what it says in Matthew 6, verse 22, and look, when we cross-reference in the Bible, it's really good to compare things that are nearby. Matthew chapter 5 is the Sermon on the Mount, Matthew chapter 6 is the Sermon on the Mount as well. Matthew 6, verse 22, the light of the body is the eye. If therefore thine eye be single, thy whole body shall be full of light. But if thine eye be evil, thy whole body shall be full of darkness. If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness? So what the Bible is saying here is this, that if your eye is just filled full of sin, your whole body is filled full of darkness. But what if your eyes just spend their time reading the Bible? Your whole body is going to be filled full of light. He's showing you how one sin can translate to your entire body and you can be filled full of sin. And so let me give you an example from just a secular standpoint. Let's say somebody has cancer, obviously that's a very common disease, and let's say somebody has cancer in a part of their body. Do you want to remove a body part for no reason? Absolutely not. But sometimes if that cancer is spreading in your body, you must remove a body part to preserve the entire body. It works the same. When I was in college, I got a staph infection right here in my leg and I didn't want to go to the doctors. I was stubborn and eventually I went to the doctors because my friends were like, hey, you got to go. It's getting worse and everything like that. And they had to cut my leg open because I had an infection on the inside. And here's the thing, if you don't get rid of that problem, it can spread to the entire body, right? Obviously it wasn't fun. I mean, they cut open my leg and they put a sharp object inside, I think they called it packing your leg is what he said, where basically they put a sharp object inside and every few days they removed it a couple of millimeters because it had to heal from the inside out. Because he said otherwise it might heal on the outside and the infection is just going to spread your entire body. And so basically every few days I had a sharp thing in my leg. I'm telling you, it's painful. When they're moving sharp objects around in your body and they just remove it a few millimeters, like you're grabbing onto something like, oh, I want to scream, but I don't want to sound like a girl. So you're just kind of grabbing something real hard like, oh, this is so painful. It's like, I'm so glad that men don't have to go through childbirth, right? But it's just like every few days they just pulled it out a little bit because it had to heal from the inside out. Otherwise the infection could spread to the entire body, right? Because if you cannot preserve that one body part, it's going to destroy the entire body. I think that's the example that's being used here. Go to Mark Chapter 9, Mark 9, Mark Chapter 9. Now let me just say this, if you disagree on the primary application here in Mark 9, that's fine. I mean, this is a deep passage. You can have different opinions. But it will not affect the rest of the sermon series because next week's sermon is going to be about how your hand can cause your entire body to be filled full of darkness and sin. Then the week after that, how your foot can cause your entire body to be filled full of darkness and how your eye can cause your entire body to be filled full of darkness. And then there's kind of a special sermon to close it off from this. But I'll say this, when I wrote this sermon, because I've had this idea for a long time from this passage, and I read the Bible to check and see, is this actually an application that's being made? I will say this, at first, when I was writing the sermons on your hands and your feet and your eyes, I was kind of looking at common sins your hands commit, like stealing something would be something that's a sin of the hand. But then I realized when I was writing this, there's a specific reason why he mentions your hands and your feet and your eyes, and how those three things specifically in the Bible can be the root cause of your whole life being filled full of sin. There's a reason why he mentions your hands and your feet and your eyes. So I would say this, if you don't believe this is the primary application, that's fine. It's definitely an application, though, that if you have sin in one part of your body, it's going to spread your entire body unless you get rid of that sin, okay? Go to Mark chapter nine, and let's look at these verses again, understanding the concept that I'm bringing forth. That basically one sin in one part of your body can spread your entire body and cause you to be filled full of sin. Mark nine, verse 41, for whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name because he belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, he shall not lose his reward. Whosoever's referring to anybody, okay? Verse 42, and whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck, and he were cast into the sea. Whosoever's referring to anybody, okay? Verse 43, and if thy hand offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. If you have sins that your hands cannot control themselves, it's going to cause your entire life to be filled full of sin. Verse 45, 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. Now notice what it says in verse 49. There are two more verses in this chapter. For every one shall be salted with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt hath lost his saltness, wherewith will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace one with another. So look, it says four in verse 49, I believe this is connecting to the previous verses. Does the Bible not say that we are the salt of the earth? Salt preserves meat, right? You know who preserves this world from not being destroyed? Safe people. We are meant to preserve this world from not being destroyed. It's us going soul winning, us living godly lives, us preaching hard against sin. We are the salt of the earth. We are the ones that preserve it from being destroyed. The world's going to become more wicked and wicked and wicked because Christians are lazy. They're not doing the work. It is our job to preserve the earth. Look, Sodom and Gomorrah would not have been destroyed if Lot was actually preserving Sodom and Gomorrah. If he was preaching the gospel and getting people saved, did you know Sodom and Gomorrah would have remained unto this day? You say, well, how do you know that? Well, because that's a quote from the Bible. It would have remained onto this day, okay? If the work was actually being done in Sodom and Gomorrah and people were getting saved, that area would have been preserved. But because the work was not being done, it got worse and worse and worse and worse. And so look, in verses 43 and 48, if he's trying to drive home a point to get sin out of your life, does that tie together with being the salt of the earth? Absolutely. How good of a soul winner are you going to be if your life is filled full of sin? You cannot be the salt of the earth if you are filled full of sin, and you're looking at the wrong things, and you're involved in the wrong things, and you're listening to the wrong things, and you're saying the wrong things. How are you going to be the salt of the earth if your life is filled full of sin? We are supposed to have salt in ourselves. We are supposed to preserve the earth, and we do that by living godly and holy lives, okay? Some people have this idea, well, I can just live however I want, and I can still serve God, and I can commit these sins as long as I'm going soul winning. I can commit these sins as long as I'm reading the Bible. You know what the problem with that is? People that have that philosophy, they quit going soul winning. They quit reading the Bible. You say, why? Their entire body ends up being filled full of sin. You cannot decide, well, I'll kind of live for God, and I'll kind of live for myself. I'll kind of serve God and kind of just do things that I know are wrong. You must make a choice in your life, and these things can be the root cause. What this sermon series is about is getting rid of sin at the root cause, because some people in this room, you keep committing the same sins week after week after week after week, and you're asking yourself, why is that? Because you didn't cut it off at the root, right? You feel guilty about the same sins, and they keep happening. You say, why is this happening? Because you're not going to the root of the problem. It's like if you keep having headaches every day, you say, man, I don't know why I keep having headaches. You know, I keep taking aspirin. I keep taking medicine. Yeah, because you're not getting to the root cause. And I'm not saying it's wrong to take the aspirin to get rid of the headache. That's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying, though, is, yeah, take the aspirin and then figure out why do I keep having this problem? What am I doing wrong? Am I eating wrong? Am I not getting enough sleep? Am I out in the sun too much? Am I not drinking enough water? And look, 90% of the time, the problem is because of the fact we're doing the same thing over and over again, and we're wondering why we're having the same problem. And when it comes to sin in our lives, it's the same way. What this sermon series is about is cutting it off at the root cause. And if you cut this sin off at the root cause, you're going to find out you don't have to fight in battle so much against sin, because you're not even going to give yourself the opportunity to commit those sins. We must cut sin off at its root, otherwise it's going to be like an infection or a cancer that spreads to the entire body. Let's close in a word of prayer. Dear Heavenly Father, thank you for allowing us to be here today and just getting to see this sermon, this new sermon series we have, and I know this is very in-depth, God, and it's a complicated topic, a lot of verses that can be taken different ways, and there are many applications, and all those things we mentioned earlier are true, but one application as believers we need to take away from this is that if we have a problem with our hands or our feet or our eyes, that will spread to our entire body if we do not get rid of it. Help us as God's people to not spend our time comparing ourselves to other people, but look at our own lives and figure out what do I need to change, and help us to live Godly lives. We pray this in Jesus' name. Amen.