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you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you you on a chilly Wednesday night at Stronghold Baptist Church. This time we'll go through our announcements. If you don't have a bulletin, slip your hand up real high. One of our ushers will get one out to you. And if you open up to the first page, you will see the service times listed there as always Sunday morning at 10 30 Sunday evening and at five o'clock. Wednesday night seven is our Bible study. We've got the soul winning opportunities listed there as well as the salvations and the baptisms for the month of January, as well as for the year. And then the offering totals on there at the bottom of the page. Let's count up if you have any salvations that you need to report. Just slip your hand up real quick. We'll get those counted up. Anyone have anything? All right, well, keep up the good work, preaching the gospel. It's what it's all about. All right, prayer requests. Let's see, make sure I've got the right list up here. I think I do. Does anyone have any updates for anyone who's on the list as it stands right now? I do for my mother-in-law is getting her last treatment of radiation tomorrow. And then she has, what is it, three weeks, Leslie, until she starts her chemo again? Two weeks? So continue to pray for her. Appreciate the prayers there. And then, of course, everyone else that's on our list. I'm trying to think if I've gotten, if I've received any other updates. I did get an update on Sunday morning. I was uncertain, but Vernon Miller Sr. did, does have his full motion mobility back after that stroke, which is awesome, awesome news. And he was released from the hospital. And as far as I know, he's doing well. So that's very good news. Of course, continue to pray for Sr. Juana with just dealing with her insurance and other insurance and everything else with her vehicle. That's her only vehicle. And not a fun process to have to deal with. Thank God, though, that she is physically all right. So that's very good news out of that situation. I can't think of anything else that we need to be updated on. So please just continue to pray for everyone on the list. Housekeeping, I know if you see a faucet dripping, there's one in the kitchen area, leave it dripping, please. I know the instinct is to turn it off. It's always my instinct. Resist that urge to turn off the dripping faucet. The landlord has asked us to, as every year when it gets cold outside, we get freezing temperatures just to leave some water dripping through the pipe so we don't have any pipes burst because that would not be cool at all. It'd be really cool, but not fun. So we also have some issue apparently with the thermostat. I just noticed that this evening, the main thermostat is out. So we have three in total. So we'll have enough to keep our temperature, I think just fine between, betwixt the three. So, but I'll have to get that checked out. So I am aware of that. If you wanna, you know, if you notice that, I know that that's a problem now apparently, and I will try to get that fixed before Sunday. Let's see, I think that's it for that announcement. Now, prizes, we had the singing challenge, okay? And those of you that braved the cold and come in on a midweek service, you'd luck out if you did that challenge because you get first dibs on the prizes because they're not all identical. But we have the sweet tooth collection here as prizes for the December challenge. So you've got some peppermint stuff over here if you like peppermint chocolate type of things. And then you've got the majority of these are these Ghirardelli chocolates that have whatever fillings, caramel and sea salt and stuff like that. And that's what most of these are. And then you've got some Reese's hearts, okay? And at the very end, we've got some Australian licorice, Aussie style. So if you completed the December challenge, which was the singing challenge and not listening to the world music, come up the front and grab a prize for yourself. Don't be shy. I counted approximately 45 people that participated and completed that challenge. So I think that's probably the highest number since we've been doing the challenges of people who have completed any of the challenges. So that's pretty cool. Good job for everyone who completed that challenge. We'll give out the rest on Sunday. And if I still owe you, I think there's one or two people that I still owe the Amazon gift card to. If I still owe you, please remind me. I lost the list that was supposed to have been kept in a safe place and I don't know where that, it's a really, really safe place because now I don't know where it is. So I wrote down a list of names, everyone else I had. But don't you hate it when you want to keep something safe and you just keep it so safe that you can't even get to it? Apparently, that's what I did with that list. So I tried to go off of memory, but I know I must have forgotten at least one person. So I'm trying to make sure I'm maintaining being caught up on prizes. So January, the month of January, I got the Bible reading challenge. So it's gotten a little easier, right, if you've been trying to keep up on the pace, nine chapters a day. You know, 1 Corinthians is pretty easy book to get through. Romans was pretty easy as well. So if you're kind of keeping that pace, you've got a good section of books here that aren't really long and they're not really hard reading, pretty straightforward, easy to get through. So it's also a good time to get caught up if you're a little bit behind. If you start getting on those books, they're a little bit easier to do some extra reading than like the Gospels and Acts were. So anyways, we'll have a prize for this. So hopefully, you could get this knocked out and get it all done through the month of January, get the entire New Testament read. We've got the new church planned in Greenville, South Carolina, just asking for prayers there. In fact, Brother Carter, remind me after service, just give five minutes to talk about something quickly after service regarding this. Bible memory passage, of course, we've got a little less than two weeks, about a week and a half left, to memorize this passage. We've got these two verses plus one more to complete Hebrews Chapter 10. If you can quote it before the deadline, you'll earn a prize for that passage as well. We've got the upcoming birthdays and anniversaries. What is today? Is today the 17th? Today is the 7th. Brother D is shaking his head no, but oh, it is, it is. And it looks like it's your birthday today. Is that true? It's a fact. All right, good. So we're going to sing a happy birthday for Brother D.J. And of course, I know, of course, it's got to be like subzero, no, it's not subzero. It's just freezing temperatures outside. But you still get the ice cream. We don't change it, you know. If we had hot chocolate, I'd offer hot chocolate for you as an alternative. But you get your choice of ice cream from the freezer. And you get the privilege of being sung to by the entire church. So let's sing a happy birthday to Brother D.J. Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday, God bless you. Happy birthday to you. All right. Appreciate you being here on your big day. We've got the rest of the birthdays and anniversaries listed there through the month of January. Down at the bottom of the page, of course, the upcoming events. And we do have a lot more events coming up. We just haven't gotten them in the bulletin yet. But there's, we're scheduling new activities. So there's a lot more to come for the year. We'll get loaded up so you can get some dates out there for homeschool events, church events, and the like. They'll be coming your way very soon. But this Friday is that pizza and movie night. So really looking forward to that. I counted approximately 60 people who were planning on being here. So it should be a lot of fun. And of course, the homeschool field trip starts at 4. And then the pizza movie night starts at 6. So there's maybe a little bit of overlap. Just be, if you're coming in, you weren't part of the homeschool field trip, just be conscious that they might still be doing some activities and some things, right? Just kind of let them be. Don't be a huge distraction for the kids that are here. And then we'll just, if you do get here early enough, we'll help get some things set up. There's not a whole lot. The chairs will pretty much stay the same. We'll have a projecting screen right up here. We'll eat some food. We'll have the food first. So about 6.30, we'll have the food. And I want to start the movie close to 7. Okay? So people show up a little bit late. Don't worry about it. We'll still have some food for you. You know, I understand. If you're coming from work, it's harder to get here. It's fine. Just come anyways. And, you know, you could grab a slice and watch while you eat or whatever if you get in a little bit later. But I'm planning on having the food here by 6.30. So that's the plan for that. You get here at 6. Help kind of set things up. 6.30, get started. And then 7 o'clock, start the movie. So that is this Friday, February 10th. I apologize. I had to, I forgot about a prior obligation when I made the bulletin. The third doesn't work for me. So February 10th is the date for the next men's preaching class. So you can update that if you want to attend the men's preaching class, 10.30 in the morning right here. And that one won't work for the song leading. But the next one will probably do the song leading in advance. And I'm going to talk to the guys about having this scheduled out so that we can do that as well. And then, of course, May 13th is the camp. So I am caught up. And I'm going to start on the camp next. But all the giving statements I'm going to be giving out on Sunday. So any giving that you have given to the church where it's been clear that it's from you has been recorded. And we provide you with that statement for the year. I know a lot of people like to, if you itemize, you like to deduct your taxes, you can use that form that way. So all of that will be coming on Sunday. And I'll make the same announcement on Sunday. But just so you're aware, I like to repeat this a couple times. If you've given online and you've given in person both, if you've used both methods, you'll get an email from the online portion that's only the online records. It's an automatic thing. It's able to push out that data. So it's not going to include everything. But I will have the record that concludes everything. I'll have the online giving itemized separate from the in person giving and the total then for the year. So you'll receive that here as well. And if anybody notices any type of discrepancy, you keep your own records and you see something doesn't look right, please let me know. I have much more detailed information with dates and check numbers and things like that. If you need to see all that, I have it. But you're just going to get a summary. So that is coming up this Sunday. And I think that is it for the announcement. So I'm going to pass the service back over to Brother Peter who can lead us in our next song. All right, church, you can open up your hymnals to song number 14. Song number 14, Kneel at the Cross. Song number 14. All right, let's sing this out on the first. Kneel at the cross, Christ will meet you there. Come while he waits for you. Listen to his voice. Leave with him your care, and we can't let him do. Kneel at the cross. Leave every care. Kneel at the cross. Jesus will meet you there. Kneel at the cross. There is room for all who could as well be shared. List there awaits. Walk in every fall. Those who are anchored there. Kneel at the cross. Leave every care. Kneel at the cross. Jesus will meet you there. On the last. Kneel at the cross. Give your idols up. Look unto realms of love. Turn not away till life's working out. Trust only in his love. Kneel at the cross. Leave every care. Kneel at the cross. Jesus will meet you there. Amen. All right. At this time, I'd like to ask the ushers to come up to honor our Wednesday night offering, which goes to support the creation of this land. The church will be offering plates for being passed around, and you can just open your Bibles and the book of Psalms, chapter 88. Psalms, chapter 88. And as we do customary here at Stromo Baptist Church, we're going to read the entire chapter. I'd like to ask for the Michael Ricardo. He can please do that for us. Amen, church. Once again, that's the book of Psalms. Psalm, chapter 88. The Bible reads, Psalm, chapter 88. Psalm, chapter 88. In the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hideest thou thy face from me? I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up. While I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted. Thy fierce wrath goeth over me. Thy terrors have cut me off. They came round about me daily like water. They compass me about together. Lover and friend has thou put far from me, and mine acquaintance into darkness. Let's pray. Father God, we thank you for this church. We thank you for all that you've given us. Thank you for safety, to be able to travel here, and also praying for safety to travel back as we deal with this weather that we have, God. Praying for safe travels for all of us here. But God, we thank you for this passage here that we can always look to you in the darkness and the time with trouble that God, you do hear us as we pray to you. And God, may you feel past the burdens with your spirit. Allow for him to preach your boldness and allow for us to take encouragement in your word and to jot down notes that we can take with us so that we can study and show ourselves approved. We praise you and we thank you for all that you do. We say this in Jesus' name, amen. All right, Psalm 88 is a little bit different than many of the other psalms that we've looked at in the sense that the similarity is there's a crying out to the Lord, a crying out to the Father. It's like a prayer and just a request for help. But there's not really much positive in this psalm. It's kind of a darker psalm. And just right off the bat, I'm just going to come out and say what I believe that this psalm, as many of the psalms are very prophetic, some like entire psalms are just completely like about Jesus Christ and prophetic and others, you know, maybe more or less so or maybe not more so, but less so. You know, if the entire psalm's about it, how could it be more? But this one, I believe, is all about Christ. And I believe that this is referring to Christ and his descent into hell. And as we go through the scripture, I want you to kind of be thinking about that as we go through verse by verse, because literally like this whole thing, I think we could deduce that this is talking about Christ and not just, you know, like David or someone else, as well as that hell is being referenced, even though it's not specifically called out by, you know, directly as being hell. It's not specifically calling out Christ. But I think we could deduce both of these from the passage itself. So, and then I'm also going to just go more in depth, because, of course, the doctrine that Christ's soul went to hell is a very important doctrine, but it's not something that like if someone just asked me, why do you believe Christ's soul went to hell? I'm going to be like, well, Psalm 88. I mean, clearly, right? Like that's not the go-to passage to support the doctrine. This is supplementary. So I'm going to go through some other passages. I've done this in the past, but I'm going to do it again, because believe it or not, this is a doctrine, I know at least one person, there's probably been a couple more, that has stopped coming to our church over this doctrine. So for some people, this is a very, very, very big deal about this belief, and, you know, it is what it is. I personally wouldn't choose to stop attending a church, a good soul-winning church over that, but people have, and it's something that people get real passionate over and real zealous about, which is fine. It's great to get passionate about the Bible, amen, about the Word of God, but let's make sure that we have a zeal according to knowledge, right, and see what the Scripture says and uncover just what's the truth about it, and it is what it is, right? So whether it offends people or not, let's just try to make sure our doctrine is good and pure. So that's the plan for this evening, as we dig into this. So let's look down there at verse number one and start going through Psalm 88 verse by verse. The Bible says there in verse number one, O Lord God of my salvation, I have cried day and night before thee. Let my prayer come before thee, incline thine ear unto my cry. And again, these first two verses, this is nothing really new compared to many of the other Psalms, just the entreaty to the Lord to hear prayer, right, that there's something very serious. I've cried before you day and night. Listen to me, incline thine ear to my cry, verse three, for my soul is full of troubles, and my life draweth nigh unto the grave. So he's saying, I'm about to die, or to the grave, I'm getting close to death, so please hear me, this is a grave matter. Verse number four, I am counted with them that go down into the pit. I am as a man that hath no strength. Now, I believe first and foremost that the primary application of this verse here, I am counted with them that go down into the pit, I don't think that that's just referring to hell, I think that's talking about people who are dying and going to the grave, like a pit in the earth. Even though, like, very commonly, the hell is referred to as the pit, right, that that is a place for hell. I do think this is also applying to hell in this context in the entire Psalm, but just literally, directly, when he's talking about my life drawing nigh unto the grave, I'm counted with them that go down into the pit, I am as a man that hath no strength. I mean, this is just referring to him as just approaching death and about ready to die, right? But from a more prophetic standpoint, because remember, these Psalms, they are still written by, like, a human author, and you will very frequently have more than one application of these passages because you have one aspect that could be seen from a regular person, and you have the other aspect where it's, like, about Jesus, right? So, from a person's perspective, someone who's ready to die, but from Jesus' perspective, about him ready to die, he's not just about to go to the grave, but he's actually about to descend into the pit that we know as, you know, the center of the earth, which is hell, but this isn't, like, my conclusive proof. Don't worry. I already said that I still think that this is kind of them talking about going to the grave, so let's keep reading here. I'm as a man that hath no strength. Verse 5, free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more, and they are cut off from thy hand. Now, I didn't have this in my notes to go over this, but I think this is the passage. I've had a JW come and point me to a passage, either this passage or a passage similar to this. Actually, I think it was a different passage. That's why I wasn't going to bring it up, but in any case, they tried to make the case that, like, for soul sleep, because that's one of the things that they believe. If you don't know what soul sleep is, some people believe this, Seventh-day Adventists, some other people believe this stuff, that when you die on this earth, right, and your body goes into the grave, that you, like, you have no consciousness, and that you're basically just like you're asleep until the return of Christ and the resurrection, that they just believe that, like, you just have no idea of anything that's going on. It's like you're just asleep in the ground. Okay, clearly it's a false doctrine. It's not true. The Bible says that Abraham rejoiced to see my day. You know, Jesus said that about himself, so he clearly wasn't sleeping. I mean, how is he rejoicing to see Christ if he was asleep in the ground, right? So, I mean, there's many ways you can just destroy that. But this is what they'll say, and even with JWs, they believe in, not just the soul sleep, but they believe in annihilation also. So they'll believe that if someone, people who get cast into hell, that it's not eternal torture and torment it's, they're just burned up, and then they cease to exist, and they're just gone, and they just aren't there anymore. And I've had people, I've had someone turn to a verse similar to this because I don't think this was exactly the one, but when it says, whom thou rememberest no more, you know, like, that, like, well, see, look, there's no memory of you anymore because you're just gone. I mean, if you were still burning in hell, then there'd be some knowledge of you, you know, it's just, it's kind of a dumb argument because when it's talking about death, when people die on this earth, it's talking about the remembrance from people on this earth, right, like, just, just, people stop thinking about you after a while. I mean, everyone, everyone, now there's some people that if you're really close to them, some close familial relationship, you probably think of maybe until the day you die, but generally speaking, you know, the more people that you had contact with, the many, many more of them, and then after a generation or two, your name's forgotten, right? No one's talking about you. I mean, when's the last time you talked about your great-great-grandfather? Or thought about him, for that matter? Do you even know anything about him? I don't know, you know what I mean? Like, this is, this is what happens, right? It's pretty simple. So when we see verses like this, that's all it's referring to is that, is that type of death where they say, there's no more remembrance of you anymore because you're gone. I mean, there's been generations and thousands and thousands of years of people living and dying that people have no idea ever existed on this planet to begin with. So it says here, free among the dead, verse 5 again, like the slain that lie in the grave whom thou rememberest no more, and they are cut off from thy hand. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit in darkness in the deep. So now I think we've gone beyond just the pit of the grave, right? That pit, that first pit that we were reading about in verse 4. Now we're talking about, like, the lowest pit in darkness and in the deeps. Okay, the deeps is referred to to about the bottoms of, like, the ocean. So it's, I mean, it's talking about just, like, down, way, way, way down. Not six feet under, you know, just way down into the depths, which is where hell is located in the lowest pit in darkness in the deeps. Thy wrath lieth hard upon me and now afflicted me with all thy waves, Selah. So now this is talking about not just God's anger, you know, like, His wrath. He's pouring out wrath, which, of course, we know that the Bible says that it pleased God to bruise Him, talking about Christ, and that Jesus tasted death for every man. And I believe that Christ did die and go to hell, and that hell was not a pleasant place. And, again, I'll get more in depth on teaching why I believe, you know, why I could prove that from Scripture, not just believe it, but prove it doctrinally. But what you'll see also when you look at references to hell, to the pit, to everlasting destruction, to any type of, you know, outer darkness, anything that would have any relevance to hell, you will never find either a good place or a neutral place. It's always bad. It's always very bad. I mean, you can never find an example of something, especially something like paradise, because there's some people out there that will say that, well, paradise was in the center of the earth, and when Jesus went to hell, He really went to paradise, or Jesus went to this place, He went there, but, like, it wasn't bad for Him, and, like, He preached to people in hell or something like that, and it's just kind of like, why? But that's what some people say, but we look at this passage here, okay, clearly, whoever this is speaking, talking about the lowest pit in darkness, in the deeps, in the wrath of God, lying hard upon them. There's enough there to say, yeah, I think we might be talking about hell here, and then if we're talking about hell, Jesus is talking, I mean, it's not the psalmist, right? The psalmist didn't die and go to hell, but we see many, many accounts, especially and specifically in Psalms, that are from the perspective of Christ. There's prophecies that come from the perspective of Christ. Psalm 69, we're going to look at Psalm 22 in a little bit. You can see this where Jesus said, like, I may tell all my bones, right? That's in the Psalms, that's a psalmist that's preaching the word of God, that's giving the word of God, but that's from Jesus Christ's own perspective. So let's keep reading here. Verse number eight, Thou hast put away mine acquaintance far from me. Thou hast made me an abomination unto them. I am shut up, and I cannot come forth. So a lot here as well, putting his acquaintance far from him. I mean, you think about one of the verses that popped into my mind, I came unto my own, my own received me not. So Jesus's acquaintance, his own kin, right? He came unto them, and then they were put away from him, and he was made an abomination unto them, right? He was made hated of men in order to take that punishment and die for us. And even his acquaintance, when he died and went to hell, like, none of his friends were with him. He had to go and do this alone. And even from the garden when everyone forsook him, then he pretty much had to go it alone from there on out until he suffered a death on the cross and then descended into hell. So his acquaintance has been put far from him. He was made an abomination unto them. And he says, I am shut up. So he's concealed, he's contained, and I cannot come forth. And eventually he does, of course, because he was dead for three days and three nights. But while he was there, he's not leaving. He can't leave, right? He can't leave until he can fulfill the rest of the prophecy of the resurrection on the third day. So, and I think of that, just the words, you know, cannot come forth. What did he say to Lazarus? You know, Lazarus come forth when he called him, when he resurrected Lazarus out of the grave. And he's saying, well, I'm shut up. I can't come forth. So again, this is that perspective of while he's in hell, having his acquaintance, the wrath of God, the lowest pit, the darkness, the deep, all of these references being given here. Verse number 10. Wilt thou show wonders to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee? And here we're seeing, okay, first of all, from the perspective that's not Christ, for someone who's near to death and has all these problems coming on them, you have the, hey, look, what good is it going to be for me to die, right? Like, like once I die, I can't be praising you here on earth. I can't be giving you praise and living for you and doing all these things while I'm dead, is essentially what this is talking about. But I love that it says, shall the dead arise and praise thee, because there we have more allusion to the resurrection of Christ, right? So as we're seeing this from the perspective, as I believe the perspective of Christ, we're seeing this in this question, shall the dead arise and praise thee? And of course, in general, the answer is going to be no, because when we die as human beings, we're not just rising again to praise the Lord. There is a resurrection one day, but here from the perspective of Christ, we see that Jesus Christ will arise and praise the Lord. Verse number 11. Shall thy destruction be declared, excuse me, shall thy loving kindness, my eyes jumped down a little bit, shall thy loving kindness be declared in the grave or thy faithfulness in destruction? Again, just what good is it for someone who's dead? I can't praise you. I can't do all these things. I can't show your loving kindness. I can't show your faithfulness if I'm dead and down here. And these are also things that besides a regular human being could say, also Jesus could be saying in hell, hey, look, you know, I need to be released from this prison where I can't come forth in order to show the loving kindness and the faithfulness. Shall thy wonders be known in the dark and thy righteousness in the land of forgetfulness? So all of these verses here from verses 10 through 12, you've got the, you know, the dead, the grave, destruction, dark, land of forgetfulness. Again, to me, it just speaks that it's a little bit more than just death, the destruction part, just the depth. And then verse 13 says, But unto thee have I cried, O Lord, and in the morning shall my prayer prevent thee. Lord, why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me? And we've seen this in other Psalms before, and this could be a common question for someone who's going through a hardship, right, that's saying, hey, why does it feel like you're not with me, God? Why does it feel like you've turned away from me? Why does it feel like you're not there? Which is going to be one application of Psalm 88, but then we also have Jesus Christ when he literally became sin for us, when the Bible says he bare the sins of the whole world in his own body on the tree, and when Jesus Christ was on the cross, and he said, my God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Right, and he had that feeling, and not just a feeling, but God, like, forsaking him as he's on the cross because he became sin for us, not because he had his own sin, but because he had our sin, and he was getting the full brunt of the burden of our sin, he was bearing for us, so part of that is being forsaken of God, right? If we die in our sins, we're forsaken of God, and you're going to die and go to hell, which is exactly what happened to Jesus Christ. He died not in his sins, he died in our sins, and he died forsaken of God, and he died and went to hell to pay that punishment for us. So the question, though, is, hey, why have you cast off my soul, and hide your face from me? Now, turn back, if you would, to Psalm 22. We'll come back to Psalm 88, but I made reference to this earlier, and we're going to read through this pretty quickly. I've already done a Bible study through Psalm 22, but it's good to see these verses and just to support what I'm teaching about this being from Christ's perspective in Psalm 88 because Psalm 22 is clearly one of those verses, one of those passages that does this. And some of these other passages, I'll admit, are more clear because they have more, like, references in the New Testament that absolutely, without any shadow of a doubt, tie them together unequivocally, right? We don't have as much of that in Psalm 88 because it's just a little bit more, I'll call it generic, but it's just, it's a little bit more broad. It's not referenced 100% directly from the New Testament, but just based off of the content, it kind of fits perfectly. Look at Psalm 22, verse 1, the Bible says, My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? Right, this is what I was just quoting, which is also Jesus literally said in the New Testament when he was on the cross. So, there's your clear direction, like, yeah, this is prophesying Jesus Christ and it's about him. Why art thou so far from helping me and from the words of my roaring? So it's the same sentiment that we just read in Psalm 88, Why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me? Right, these are the same sentiments being brought forth here. Verse 2, Oh, my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not, and in the night season and am not silent, and this also is applicable to what we saw earlier in Psalm 88. In verse 1, I have cried day and night before thee. Remember? So, as we continue here, verse 3, But thou art holy, O thou that inhabitest the praises of Israel. Our fathers trusted in thee, they trusted, and now didst deliver them. They cried unto thee, and were delivered. They trusted in thee, and were not confounded. But I am a worm, and no man, a reproach of men, and despised of the people. All they that see me laugh me to scorn. They shoot out the lip, they shake the head, saying, He trusted on the Lord that He would deliver him. Let him deliver him, seeing he delighted in him. And again, this was literally spoken by people who were mocking him on the cross, right? So we have very clear connections back to Psalm 22, but we saw these same allusions to, the same sentiments being brought forth also in Psalm 88, when he's talking about his acquaintance being far from him and he was made an abomination, right? Let's keep reading Psalm 22, verse number 80. Trust on the Lord, or excuse me, verse number 9. But thou art he that took me out of the womb. Thou didst make me hope when I was upon my mother's breasts. I was cast upon thee from the womb. Thou art my God from my mother's belly, be not far from me. For trouble is near, for there is none to help. Many bulls have compassed me, strong bulls of Bashan have beset me round. They gaped upon me with their mouths as a ravening and a roaring lion. I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax. It is melted in the midst of my bowels. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue cleave it to my jaws, and now has brought me into the dust of death. For dogs have compassed me. The assembly of the wicked have enclosed me. They pierced my hands and my feet. I may tell all my bones. They look and stare upon me. They part my garments among them and cast lots upon my vesture. But be not thou far from me, O Lord. O my strength, haste thee to help me. Deliver my soul from the sword, my darling from the power of the dog. Save me from the lion's mouth, for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns. I will declare thy name unto my brethren in the midst of the congregation while I praise thee. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him. All ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him and fear him. All ye the seed of Israel. Now look, we haven't finished Psalm 22 yet, but has the context stopped yet at all about being about Jesus Christ from his perspective? No, of course not. So there's a significant portion of Scripture where it's just verse after verse after verse after verse after verse, which is what I'm claiming Psalm 88 is also about. Yes, you have another application that can be one that's more applied towards a regular person, a believer, but also a primary application about Christ himself and a prophecy about him. Let's keep reading here. Let's keep reading here. Just finish off Psalm 22. You see, I'm not going too deep into this, but I do like reading through it because it's so similar to Psalm 88 when we know Psalm 22 is clearly about Christ. No question about it. No one will deny that. Nobody. There's way too much evidence to show otherwise. But as we read through this, we see, oh wow, Psalm 88 really does line up very closely with that, but it also takes a slightly different direction because it brings up so much about the grave, about the dark, about the dead, about that aspect of it, which is why I think that's the whole point is it's focusing on the descent into hell and about the foreshadowing of that descent too. So like before it even happens, just the thought of that happening and kind of a dread of that. Let's see, where did we leave off? Verse number 23. Ye that fear the Lord, praise him, all ye the seed of Jacob, glorify him and fear him, all ye the seed of Israel, for he hath not despised nor abhorred the affliction of the afflicted. Neither hath he hid his face from him, but when he cried unto him, he heard. My praise shall be of thee in the great congregation. I will pay my vows before them that fear him. The meek shall eat and be satisfied. They shall praise the Lord that seek him. Your heart shall live forever. All the ends of the world shall remember and turn unto the Lord, and all the kindreds of the nation shall worship before thee, for the kingdom is the Lord's and he is the governor among the nations. All they that be fat upon earth shall eat and worship. All they that go down to the dust shall bow before him, and none can keep alive his own soul. A seed shall serve him. It shall be accounted to the Lord for a generation. They shall come and shall declare his righteousness unto a people that shall be born that he hath done this. The entire psalm, Psalm 22, is just about Jesus Christ completely, 100%. Primarily, that's what it's about. Let's go back to Psalm 88 and pick up here because we left off with the sentiment of why castest thou off my soul? Why hidest thou thy face from me? Verse 15, Psalm 88 says, I am afflicted and ready to die from my youth up while I suffer thy terrors I am distracted. Now, how many people would you say are gonna say, yeah, you know what? I'm ready to die from my youth up. Jesus knew what his mission was here. He was literally born to die. I mean, that was the purpose. That was the goal. He came into this world so that he could die and pay for our sins. He wouldn't have done it if he didn't have to, but that's what he had to do. He had to come and work. He had to be born of a virgin. He had to live the perfect life. He had to do miracles, and he had to die in order to atone for our sins. He had to make that payment, and that was the only way he could do it, so he was literally born to die. He came to this earth in order to pay for our sins, ready to die from my youth up, and he knew what his, I mean, he didn't even tell everyone else about it until a little bit later in his ministry. He started revealing it unto his disciples, talking about how he's gonna have to be arrested. He's gonna have to be beaten. He's gonna have to be put to death, but then he's gonna rise again from the dead, and, of course, his disciples didn't know what that was until later, but he knew. He knew the plan. He was aware of this. Even though, like, he became a human being, and he had some limitations of being human while simultaneously being God, God in the flesh, he was, he had that knowledge and that wisdom from his youth, and I think we're seeing this expressed here. This verse particularly kind of gets a little bit harder for people to apply to someone else, right, to just kind of anyone else, and I'm not saying it can't be done. Of course, you can say, well, someone who's saved and someone who has this really great godly mindset from their youth that they're ready to die for the cause of Christ or something like that, of course, but that absolutely was Jesus Christ that we could say definitely would have that mindset and know from his youth. While I suffer thy terrors, I am distracted. Verse 16, thy fierce wrath goeth over me. Thy terrors have cut me off. They came round about me daily like water. They compassed me about together. Lover and friend hast thou put far from me and mine acquaintance into darkness. And this is how the psalm ends. That's not a very uplifting psalm from this perspective, which, again, I think the whole point, though, is to just highlight the gravity of the grave, not just a grave, though, of hell and what Jesus suffered. So it's this perspective of the wrath of God and what he had to suffer and the seriousness of it. And just even this reference here, so turn, if you would, to the book of Jonah, chapter number 2. When he's talking about the wrath of God going over me, obviously it's a song, it's poetics, so its language is used. But we see another connection from this in verse 17, I believe, where he says, they came round about me daily like water. They compassed me about together, talking about the wrath of God and the terrors being all around him. And, yeah, I mean, it's a lot like being submerged in water, but we see another reference to hell in Jonah and in Jonah, chapter 2. While you're turning to Jonah, chapter 2, I'm going to read for you from Matthew, chapter 12, which, Matthew 12 is a clear connection between something that's clearly taught by Jesus going to hell for three days and three nights and Jonah, chapter 2. Okay? So we have this tie-in to where when you read Jonah, you're going like, oh, well, is this talking about Jonah? Is it talking about Jesus? What's this talking about? I don't really know, because it's intermixed with events that literally happen in Jonah with then prophecy of Jesus Christ. It kind of goes almost every other verse. There's like some verses that apply directly to Jonah, and then there's some verses that apply directly to Christ's soul being in hell, but Jesus Christ makes this reference back to Jonah in Matthew 12, verse 38. The Bible reads, Then certain of the scribes and of the Pharisees answered, saying, Master, we would see a sign from thee. So they keep on asking Jesus for a sign. They want to see a sign to prove He's the Son of God. Verse 39 says, But He answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign, and there shall no sign be given to it but the sign of the prophet Jonas. So He said, you want a sign? Here's your sign. This is what you're going to get for a sign. And He says, For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly, so shall the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. Now, that statement alone clearly demonstrates that Jesus Christ went to hell. The Son of Man went to hell for three days and three nights because He calls it the heart of the earth. The heart of anything is in the center. The heart in our bodies is in the midst of our chest, like, pretty much in the center. The heart of an avocado is right in the middle, right? It's the core, right? In the earth, in the heart of the earth, there's a core, right? That's what science calls it, at least. So you've got this core. And guess what science tells us, too? It's really, really, really, really, really, really hot down there. And you don't need modern science to tell you that. You see a volcano erupt. It's coming from down, and it's shooting up. Hellfire up into the earth and then, you know, on the planet. So, like, it's clearly obvious. You don't have to have, you know, some science agree to understand this. First, you can just have faith in the word of God about hell. But it's also just clearly demonstrated that what's going on below and, of course, is confirmed through scientific evidence. So Jesus refers to Jonah being three days and three nights in the whale's belly and comparing that to the Son of Man being three days and three nights in the heart. Now, keeping that in mind, let's look at Jonah chapter 2, verse number 1, because this is right after Jonah was cast off of the boat that he was on, the ship he was on, and then a whale came and swallowed him up. Verse number 1 says, Then Jonah prayed unto the Lord his God out of the fish's belly. So where is Jonah? He's in the fish's belly. Verse 2, And said, I cried by reason of mine affliction unto the Lord, and he heard me. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and now heardest my voice. Now, is Jonah in hell, literally? No. Now, he's in a place that can be hell-like because he's in a belly, which I would imagine the gases and the stink in the belly of a whale is going to be pretty nasty, right? There may be some digestive fluids in there, and whatever else was eaten by the whale being decomposed there. So, I mean, obviously, it's also going to be dark, like really, really, really dark. No light coming in at all as this whale swimming under the water, he's got his mouth closed. I mean, you're stuck in that belly in total darkness, so you have a lot of similarities to hell in general, but Jonah didn't die and go to hell. First of all, Jonah was saved as a prophet of the Lord, and two, he didn't die. He was just in that belly, and the whole reason for that is because he was representative of what the Son of Man was going to do later on. I mean, there's a whole purpose. God had a grand purpose. It wasn't just to humble Jonah that he got swallowed up by a whale, right, for three days and three nights, literally. There's more to it than that, obviously. And then this statement here as Jonah, being a prophet, is prophesying of Jesus Christ going to hell. Out of the belly of hell cried I, and now hurt is my voice. So by reason of my affliction unto the Lord is why he cried. Some people say, oh, Jesus Christ, he wasn't being heard or anything like that. Well, if, and I think it is, if this is prophesying Christ and it's saying out of reason of my affliction, the affliction didn't stop on the cross. It continued after his ascent into hell, and this lines up perfectly. But let's keep reading. There's so much evidence for this in Scripture about Christ's soul, not only going to hell, but being punished in hell. And, I mean, you have just the logical reason alone of if the payment for our sins without Christ is to die and go to hell to pay for our sins, and Jesus came and paid for our sins, why wouldn't it be the same payment? Like, literally, why wouldn't it be the same? Why would it be a different punishment? I mean, if I was going to pay for something for you, why would it be a different price? Yeah, I'll pay for that for you. Whether it's something you did wrong, some punishment you're going to receive, or just spending money on, you know, whatever it is, like anything, anything. Yeah, I'll pay that for you so you don't have to. Well, why would it be any different for me? And even Jesus, you could say, oh, yeah, but he didn't have his own sin. Yeah, but he's paying for everyone else's sin. He's paying for everyone else's sin. I mean, at least when I die, I'd only have to pay for my sins, but he paid for everybody's sins. So why would it be a different punishment? Why? It doesn't make sense, but let's keep reading here because there's a lot more in this passage. Verse 3, For thou hadst cast me into the deep in the midst of the seas, and the floods compassed me about, all thy billows and thy waves passed over me. Now, this is talking about Jonah because he was in the sea, and this was literally happening to him. Then I said, I am cast out of thy sight, yet I will look again toward thy holy temple. The waters compassed me about even to the soul. The depth closed me round about. The weeds were wrapped about my head. I went down to the bottoms of the mountains. The earth with her bars was about me forever. Yet hast thou brought up my life from corruption, O Lord my God. Now, Jonah did not go down to the bottoms of the mountains. I mean, the pressure alone would probably kill him, even in the whale's belly, but he also says that the earth with her bars was about me forever, and this is the reference of hell being a prison, right? And interestingly enough, too, we also have scientific evidence that there is, like, an iron, or there's a metal, there's metallic substance in the core of the earth also, so it's thought to be molten, but still it's like that element is down there. Now, obviously, no one's dug down there, but they're able to send different type of frequencies of waves down there and then bounce back to get sonic waves, things like that, to sort of see how the frequency comes back to determine what type of materials it's hitting when it comes back. So there's that type of evidence scientifically, which, hey, that's great, but, again, the Bible has already told us about these things. We know enough that that's there. So he's talking about this, the earth with her bars was about me forever. So if that's talking about a period of time, obviously people who go to hell are there forever, or if he's kind of staying more in, like, everywhere I look, it's just around me kind of forever, that would be referencing the center of the earth and having no escape and no way out, right? Make sense? Verse 7, when my soul fainted within me, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came in unto thee, into thine holy temple. They that observe lying vanities forsake their own mercy, but I will sacrifice unto thee with the voice of thanksgiving. I will pay that I have vowed salvation as of the Lord, and the Lord spake unto the fish, and it vomited out Jonah upon the dry land. And that took three days and three nights. Jonah was in the whale's belly for three days and three nights. Jesus Christ was in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights. We can see enough reference here, clearly referring to hell, clearly referring to that pit, and that would... that is some evidence there that Jesus Christ referenced, saying, hey, this is what it's going to be like. This is your sign. I'm going to that place. Jonah already prophesied about it. Psalm 22 prophesied. Psalm 88 prophesied. Turn, if you would, to Exodus chapter 12, because the Passover lamb prophesied of Jesus Christ's soul going to hell also, and not a good part of hell either, the fiery part of hell. And some of you might have heard all this before. You might have heard some of these references before. Write them down, though, and know them. Be able to defend and explain why you believe what you believe about this doctrine. Take note of them. And if you don't believe what I'm saying, then you better come up with an answer as to what this stuff actually means then. I mean, seriously, take it serious, right? If you say, no, Passover, there's no way. I don't think that's true. Well, then explain to me what, you know, Jonah 2. Is that literally talking about Jonah? It's not prophetic about Christ? Even though Christ referred to it about him going to hell, you really believe that Jonah cried out of the belly of hell? Or that he was just saying that because it was like hell, but not really? Okay. Exodus 12, verse 5. And we know that the sacrifices, as a collective, just in general as a whole, all would represent Jesus Christ's sacrifice, right? And there's different sacrifices in different ways. You've got the scapegoat, which symbolizes one way of him separating us from our sin as far as the east is from the west when they put the sins onto the head of the goat and sent it off into a far land, right? There's all these different aspects and all these different cool things and different aspects of these various sacrifices that will demonstrate some different truths, but as a whole, collectively, in general, the shedding of blood, the killing of the sacrifice, right? Those are all common. But the one sacrifice that is probably referred to the most and is the most specific and the most just absolutely geared for a picture and a representation of Jesus Christ is the Passover lamb sacrifice. I mean, John the Baptist leader said, Behold the lamb of God, which cometh to take away the sins of the whole world. Right? I mean, Jesus is the lamb, right? He's the lamb slain from the foundation of the world. Many places talking about the lamb. So if we're going to look at just one sacrifice that's going to be representative of Christ and His sacrifice that He made, it's the Passover lamb. And as we read this, you're going to see so many ways in which Jesus Christ fulfilled this. In fact, every way. Every way. Look at verse number five. The Bible says, Your lamb shall be without blemish. Was Jesus Christ without blemish? Absolutely. He was without sin. A male of the first year. Jesus Christ was a male. Of course He was a male, right? He's the Son of God. Ye shall take it out from the sheep or from the goats, and ye shall keep it up until the fourteenth day of the same month, and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it in the evening. Isn't that what happened to Jesus Christ? Literally. He was kept until the fourteenth day because He was killed at Passover. I mean, literally He was. Like, this wasn't just, you know, something they did at this time and Jesus Christ represented at a different time. No. He literally died on Passover. Like, that's when He died. He was that Passover lamb, literally. And all Israel said, Crucify Him, crucify Him. Verse seven. And they shall take of the blood and strike it on the two side posts and an upper doorpost of the houses wherein they shall eat it. The doorposts are made out of what? Wood. And if you show how you would paint the doorposts and the top, you're going to, you know, kind of make a little symbol of a cross. Now, again, that's not the, oh wow, that proves it right there. No, but the shedding of blood, blood shedding on the wood. I mean, come on. Right? Of course, of course, this is talking about Christ and His literal sacrifice and His literal death and how it all happened. And they shall eat the flesh in that night, roast with fire and unleavened bread, and with bitter herbs they shall eat it. And remember, Jesus Christ said, I'm the bread of life. You know, the bread of God that came down from heaven and, you know, unless you eat of my flesh, you drink of my blood, you don't have any life in you. You know, so of course, you have to receive Christ and receive His broken body and His shed blood for us. Well, this is what they're doing with the Passover lamb. But then look at verse number nine. I mean, are we going to say, okay, everything up to this point? Absolutely. That just is so clearly talking about the crucifixion of Christ and His shed blood on the cross. Everything represents Christ, His sinless body. But then now we stop. Now we stop with all the references, all the symbolism. We're just going to stop. That's it, right? Why? Because you don't like what it says? Look at verse number nine. Eat not of it raw, nor sodden at all with water, but roast with fire, His head with His legs and with the pertinence thereof, and ye shall let nothing of it remain until the morning. And that which remaineth of it until the morning, ye shall burn with fire. Notice all the detail going into... Verse eight says it's roast with fire. Verse nine says, okay, not only is it roast with fire, don't eat it raw, and don't boil it in water, and don't prepare... There's no water. There's no raw. It needs to be roast with fire. You're preparing your Passover lamb? Roast with fire. I mean, it takes three verses to reiterate that. You think it might have some importance? You think there might be a relevance there, some relation to the sacrifice that Christ made as our Passover lamb, and three verses here dedicated to just being really clear that it must be roast with fire, and don't leave any of it remain until the morning, and anything that's left, you just burn it all in the fire. Of course there is. Of course there is. Of course, because turn, if you would, to Acts chapter two, which is also, by the way, a quotation from Psalm 16, another psalm that references this. Jesus Christ's soul went to hell, the hell that is full of fire and brimstone, which is why it's important that the lamb sacrifice is roast with fire. It clearly represents that. And there are people who say that what I'm saying is blasphemy. How is that blasphemous? First of all, how is that, like, how could that be blasphemous? Even if you just completely disagree, how is that blasphemous? Well, you're saying what he did on the cross isn't enough. But you're saying all he had to do was die on the cross? Because there's more that he had to do than die on the cross. He had to rise again from the dead. What is his death if he didn't rise? The Bible says in Ephesians 4, 8, Wherefore he saith, when he ascended up on high, he led captivity captive and gave gifts unto men, now that he ascended, what is it, but that he also descended first into the lower parts of the earth? He that descended is the same also that ascended up far above all heavens, that he might fill all things. You have to have the resurrection. If Christ is not risen, then ye are yet in your sins. He had to rise again from the dead. So, of course, that's perfect. You know what else he had to do? He had to live a perfect life. He had to be that unleavened bread. He had to fulfill everything. So, yeah, the cross was also extremely important. You could not have the penalty for sins paid without the crucifixion on the cross. It all had to be there. The shedding of blood, of course. He had to shed his blood, but then, you know what, his blood also had to be sprinkled on the mercy seat. That was all part of it. It's all important. We can't have any part missing. And he made sure that he did every part, because he didn't even give up the ghost until he was done, making sure that he's fulfilling all the prophecies that he could fulfill on this earth when he finally said, it is finished. And see, some people will turn around and say, see, everything he had to do to pay for your sins was done, which is why he said it is finished. But that's not what the Bible says. It doesn't say everything he needed to do to pay for your sins was done when he said it is finished, because he didn't rise again from the dead, he didn't sprinkle his blood on the mercy seat, and he wasn't in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights at that point. But what was finished was his earthly ministry as a man on this earth. As soon as his flesh died, I mean, he's done. He's done doing all the things. He survived through when the soldiers parted his garments and cast lots for his vesture. He survived through where they offered up the vinegar to drink. That was like the last thing before he finally cried out and gave up the ghost and died. Why? Because all of those things were prophesied. He had to remain alive through all of that stuff. He couldn't have given up. That's why he didn't do certain things on this earth, because his time has not yet come. So he's like, nope, can't do that because they'll kill me if I go do that. I'm going to go over here and do something else. Everything had to be done right, and he did it all right and in order, and one of those things is his soul going into hell. And to say that's blasphemy, how is that blasphemy? I think it just gives more glory and honor to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, the fact that he went and suffered in hell for your sins. Because not only did he suffer on the cross and shed his blood and suffer the shame and suffer the mocking and everything else that he did, yes, that in itself is a lot, but then on top of that he also went to hell. It's just so much the moral reason to give honor and respect and love to God. How is that blasphemous? It's ridiculous to say that. I mean, I won't call someone blasphemous for saying that Jesus didn't suffer in hell for us. I'm not going to blast them and be like, you're taking away all the... Look, I think that, but it's like, look, if you believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for your sins and rose again on the third day, and you're trusting in that for your salvation, you're saved. But some people will even try turning this into salvation doctrine. It's crazy. People get crazy on this stuff. It's nuts. You're making Jesus alone when he said it is finished. It's like you have your own private interpretation about that. And you're going to go around calling people unsaved or something or blasphemous? Like, come on, man. It's not like there's not evidence for this belief. I think we've looked at quite a bit. And while we're looking, why don't we look at Acts 2? Let's just look at another reference here. In fact, I've got a little bit of time, so I'm just going to read this. I only have a few verses. I'm going to read it all in context. By the way, when you're describing the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, when you're at the door and you're talking about this, I like referring. Because a lot of people these days will say... Oftentimes I'll ask the question, well, do you know where Jesus' soul was? He was dead, right? He died on the cross. And then I usually will ask, well, do you know what happened three days after that, after he died? And most people will say, well, yeah, he rose from the dead. So a lot of people know that already about Christ. Pretty common knowledge in the United States, at least. But then I'll ask the question, well, do you know where his soul was for those three days and three nights? And some people will say, well, I was in heaven. Or some people will say, I don't really know. A few people will actually know what happened. But most people don't. And when I say, well, actually, his soul went to hell. I'll be, wow, really? And when you say something that someone has never heard before, show them the scripture of why you say that. If you're telling people something that they already know and they already believe, it's not like you have to be like, no, no, no, let me prove this to you. And this is just a quick soul-winning tip. We use the scripture, faith cometh by hearing, hearing by the word of God. Amen and amen. But please don't beat the dead horse, as it were, proverbially. And if someone already says they believe they're a sinner and that their sin's worthy of hell, you don't have to keep showing them why they're a sinner five ways a Sunday on all these different passages and all these, no, look, no, really, there's none righteous, no, not one. You're just like, okay, look, I got it. Let's move on. So don't do that. Don't waste your time doing that. But when people say, wow, I've never heard that before, show them why. Show them why. And Acts 2 is a great place because it's very clear that illustrates that Jesus Christ's soul went to hell. Let's start reading verse number 25. The Bible says, For David speaketh concerning him. Now, this is a quote from Psalm 16. I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand. Before that, let's just go to verse 24. Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of death, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. So this is talking already, he's preaching about the resurrection of Christ and that when were the pains of death loosened? The pains of death were loosened at the resurrection. The pains of death didn't stop on the cross. Those that think he only suffered on the cross and didn't suffer after that, then why would it say the pains of death were loosed at the resurrection? Because the pains of death would have been loosed at his death. But they weren't. So he had the pains of death loosed when he was raised up, because it was not possible that he should be holden of it. And then, after preaching the resurrection of Christ, the death, burial, resurrection of Christ, now he's going to bring up and quote Psalm 16 in verse number 25. For David speaketh concerning him. I foresaw the Lord always before my face, for he is on my right hand that I should not be moved. Therefore did my heart rejoice and my tongue was glad. Moreover also my flesh shall rest in hope, because thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither wilt thou suffer thine holy one to see corruption. Thou hast made known to me the ways of life, thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance. So that's his quotation from Psalm 16. We're not going to go back and look at that just for sake of time tonight. You can do that later if you want. Verse 29, now he's going to expound this passage. He's going to explain why he even quoted Psalm 16. Verse 29 says, Men and brethren, let me freely speak unto you of the patriarch David, that he is both dead and buried and his step occurs with us unto this day. Let me just clear this up real quick, because Psalm 16 is a psalm of David, and guess what? David is dead. He's buried. His grave is over there, right? It's there to this day. Therefore, being a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that of the fruit of his loins according to the flesh, he would raise up Christ to sit on his throne, he, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ. So he's explaining that this psalm isn't about David, but David spake this because he already knew the promise of God that Christ was going to rise and Christ was going to sit on the throne and that Christ was going to be resurrected from the dead. So this portion of scripture that he quoted from Psalm 16 is about the resurrection of Jesus Christ. He, seeing this before, spake of the resurrection of Christ. What about the resurrection of Christ? That his soul was not left in hell. How could someone's soul be left in hell if it wasn't there ever, right? So clearly his soul had to go to hell, and, you know, when you're looking at scripture, no one could deny this. No one could deny this. You say, okay, yeah. And look, as a Presbyterian growing up, we were forced to memorize the Apostles' Creed and the Nicene Creed and all these other creeds, whatever, but the Apostles' Creed, it's pretty old. I mean, this dates back, like, really early Christianity, and it says that Jesus, his soul descended into hell. That's, like, one of the phrases in there. This is, like, basic Christianity 101 that Christ's soul went to hell, because it's so obvious. I mean, even unsaved people can see that Jesus Christ's soul went to hell, right? And that's not what most people, or at least most Baptists, have the problem with. It's not that his soul went to hell, but it's just, well, he didn't suffer in hell. It's kind of like, well, how can you, you know, show me the evidence of anyone or anything or any reference ever of people being in soul and not suffering in hell? His soul was not left in hell, neither his flesh did see corruption. This Jesus hath God raised up where we are witnesses. So, his soul went to hell. And when it says his flesh didn't see corruption, it didn't decay, right? Because his body was still in the grave while his soul was in hell. But the body was preserved for those three days and three nights. It didn't fall into corruption. It didn't decay. It was still normal, you know, when he resurrected from the earth, right? And I think it's pretty clear. We've seen enough references, and these aren't the only ones. These are some of the, I think, stronger evidences just to show us and demonstrate Jesus Christ's soul going to hell. To me, it's clear he actually suffered in hell, and I think that's what Psalm 88 is about. It's about facing that the wrath in hell, the destruction in hell, that grave, that imminence of having to do this. It's one of the reasons why Jesus Christ in the Garden of Gethsemane was sweating so severely and so earnestly that it was as it were drops of blood. And he's like just really just kind of pouring over what he had to face in just a short matter of time with being up all night, being convicted, being mocked, being beaten up, all the stuff he had to go through and then also facing after all of that, not a reprieve, but a descent into hell and into the lowest hell. I mean, if he had to pay for the sins, like I said before, the sins of the whole world, you know, there's various others, well, that's going to absolutely put him at the lowest hell, which is what we saw in Psalm 88. Thou hast laid me in the lowest pit. So praise God for his love and his mercy on us and for the love to take on such a burden, such a payment, such, I mean, I think it's amazing and very praiseworthy that our Lord and Savior did all of this for us because we don't deserve that at all, but are very thankful that he did. Let's bow our heads, have a word of prayer. Dear Lord, thank you so much for dying for us and for tasting death for every man and for enduring not just the shame of the cross and the pain and the suffering that you endured on the earth, but also in the heart of the earth, dear Lord. It's hard to imagine what the dread and the reality of that would have been, but we thank you for loving us. We love you because you first loved us, dear Lord, but we thank you for dying for us, and God, I pray that you please help us to show our gratitude and our love towards you in all that we do. Help us to be reminded of the sacrifice that you made so that we don't get flippant about our sin or flippant even about our lives here on this earth, but that we would take it gravely because you made such a sacrifice for us to even be here and to have the hope of our own resurrection and hope of life to come, life everlasting, dear Lord, and please help us to live for that and for you. We love you here. Please guide us and keep us all safe. In Jesus' name, we pray. Amen. Amen. All right, we're going to sing one more song before we're dismissed this evening. Brother Peter, would you please lead us? All right, church, if you can, grab your hymnals. Open up to song number 270. Song 270, there at the bottom of the page, Just As I Am. Song 270. All right, let's sing this album of the first. Just as I am without one plea, But that the flood was shed for me In that doubt it's begun To thee, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am in waiting not To rid my soul of one dark light To thee, whose work it blest Each spot, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am, though tossed about With many a thought, with many a doubt My deeds and fears within, without, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am, for wretched life, Sight which is healing of the mind, Yet all I need in thee To find, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Just as I am, thou wilt receive, Will welcome forth, it blends with thee Because thy promise I believe, O Lamb of God, I come, I come Hey, man, it's great singing. Thank you so much for coming, you guys. Thank you.