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Alright, Revelation chapter 20, now Matthew read out probably the scariest chapter in the Bible. I reckon it's the scariest chapter, right? I mean it's all about judgment, it's all about hell, it's all about the lake of fire, it's all about death. Okay, this final solution that God has and, you know, for the wicked, the final solution that he has for death and hell is this place called the lake of fire, right? And we had a visitor here last week that said, hey, I'm looking for a church that still preaches that hell is hot. You know, I'm assuming that means he's been going to churches where they're not preaching about hell, right? Or if they're preaching about hell, and it's not a hot place, right? It's not a place to be feared. And I'll just read again, if you read Revelation chapter 20 verses 12 to 15, let me just read that again. John wrote this book and he said, and I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the books were opened. Now that's a curious one, right? What 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. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. And they were judged every man according to their works, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. What a scary thing, right? The scary thing for these dead, small and great. You know, you've got the people of high social class, maybe they were the richest men on the earth, the elites, but also the small. Those that did nothing, you know, they were nobody on the earth. Just a range of people, all types of people being brought before God. The dead, these are people that were not saved by the way, because if you're saved, if you believe in Christ, Jesus says you will never die, right? You will never die. These are people that have not received Christ. They were brought before God, stand before God. Now, if you get the whole picture here, people that die go to hell. People that die without Christ go to hell. Now, very quickly just to cover this, hell is a temporary place in the centre of the earth. We won't go through all the passages and explain that, but hell is clearly taught in the Bible that it's in the centre of this earth and it's a temporal place. It's a place of torment right now for those that die without Christ. But these people were taken, if you look at verse number 13, and the sea gave up the dead which were in it. So those people that died in the sea, physical body, these people are resurrected, not just their souls taken out of hell, but reunited with their dead bodies and brought before God. This is a resurrection of damnation. This is not a resurrection that we want to be part of. The sea gave them up and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. So people exit out of hell, be reunited with their resurrected damned bodies and brought before to stand in judgement before God. Now these people have been suffering in hell for all this time, for a minimum at this stage, for a minimum of a thousand years. At a minimum, because Christ has been reigning for a thousand years. I haven't taught them that, we won't go into that. But at a minimum of a thousand years have been burning in the flames of hell, they're brought up to stand before God. For a brief moment they get a bit of a rest from the torment of hell. For a brief moment they get a rest from the flames of hell. But then they stand before God, right? Now what a scary thing, I've said it before, to stand before God in all your sin. To stand before God knowing you've rejected Christ, you've rejected the gospel. Yes, they get a brief moment of rest from the flames of hell. But the shame that they're going to face standing before a perfect, righteous and holy God, right? And the Bible said it there in verse 15, and the books were opened. Why were they opened? Another book was opened, the book of life, and the dead were judged out of the things written in the books, the multiple books. Now there are different thoughts as to what these books are, but for me it should be pretty clear that it's the Bible, right? Because the Bible isn't just one book, the Bible is books. The Bible is 66 books, right? And if they're being judged for their work, according to their works that it says there, where are they going to read about the works? The works of the law, the deeds of the law, the commandments, comes from the Bible. Now whether they get judged out of all 66 books, or whether they just get judged by the books of the law, the first five books that were written by Moses, I don't know. But I truly believe these books that were opened, that they're being judged out of, is the Bible. What a scary thing, especially those that are rejecting the word of God, that do not believe the word of God is true, and they think it's been corrupted. You come to them, you want to open up the word of God. Sometimes you knock on someone's door, they're happy to talk to you, but then you pull out the Bible and they're like, Oh, no, no, no, I don't want to hear that. And then what a scary thought to be brought up and said, Alright, now I'm going to judge you by that book. You're going to be judged by the books. How much are they going to wish at that point that they listened to the word of God to know what they need to do? To escape this place of judgment, to escape this lake of fire. So hell is this temporary place. They get brought out of hell, brought before God in their resurrected, damned bodies, and then judged by their works, right? Not judged by believing on Christ, but judged on their works. And we know that there is none righteous, no, not one. We know that we've all sinned and come short of the glory of God. They come and they're going to fall short of God's standard. Why? Because God's standard is perfection. And then they're going to be cast into the lake of fire. Okay, the lake of fire, another place of torment, but this one will be forever and ever and ever. Even there in verse 14 it says, And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. So this lake of fire doesn't just receive the dead, but it receives death. Okay, this is the end of death as far as we know it. And it is the end of hell, this temporary place that people have been going. Hell itself is cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Okay? So, you know, some people make that an issue, you know, should we tell people about hell or should we tell people about the lake of fire? It's the same thing. It's a place of torment. It's a place of rejection. It's a place of God's wrath. It doesn't really matter. At the end of the day, hell itself will be cast into the lake of fire. Unfortunately for them, it's no longer a temple place. It's a place that's forever and ever. It's a scary thought, right? To be judged by God. Now, obviously as believers we're not going to be judged according to our works. Well, actually we will be. But according to our works of righteousness. The works we've done for Christ, that's what we're going to be judged for. And it's not a judgment as to where you're going to end up, whether it's going to be heaven or hell. It's basically a judgment of our rewards, right? God's going to reward us for the good we've done in his name. Thank God he's not going to judge us by our dead works, like these believers are, like these non-believers are. But what I want you to notice there, in two places, in verse 12 it says, And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And then in verse 15 it says, And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So I'm sure you've all heard about the book of life. If you've read your Bible, it's spoken about in the Old Testament, spoken about in the New Testament. But we see how important it is to have your name written in the book of life, right? If your name is written in that book, you're not going to hell, you're not going to the lake of fire. But if your name is not written in that book, you're down to hell forever. So it's so important to have your name written in this book of life. Now turn with me to Revelation chapter 21, just one chapter across, Revelation 21. Let me just reinforce to you, we saw that those names that were not written in the book of life are cast into the lake of fire. But let's look at one chapter later on, Revelation 21 verse 1. It says, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. So John sees this new heaven, this new earth, the old heaven and the old earth were passed away. Then he sees this holy city come out of heaven, New Jerusalem, I've preached on that before, coming down out of God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. Now look at verse 27, in the same chapter, verse 27, Who partakes of this new heaven and this new earth? Who partakes of this new Jerusalem? Verse 27 says, And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or makeeth a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. So we see very clearly in chapter 20, if your name is not found in the book of life, you end up in the lake of fire. You're judged by your works. But then if your name is written in the book of life, you'll be allowed to enter into this new heaven and this new earth, this new Jerusalem. So we see how important it is to make sure your name is written in the book of life. Now, I'll read to you Exodus 32. You guys turn to Revelation 22. Just one chapter across. I'll read to you from Exodus 32. Just to show you, first of all, that the book of life is covered in both the Old and the New Testament. There is some teaching out there, you guys know of dispensationalism, that love to make a division and a separation between Old Testament Israel and the New Testament believers. But what we'll find is, and what they'll say is, well if your name is written in the book of life, that's basically the New Testament Christians. And those that are of Old Testament Israel, they're written in another book. That's what usually, I don't know, I've heard that taught. But Exodus 32 verse 31 says, and Moses returned unto the Lord. Now I'll give you the context of this. Moses has gone up to the mount to get the Ten Commandments, right, to get the laws of God. And do you remember what happened to Israel as they were waiting for him for those 40 days and 40 nights? They turned to a false god. They wanted a god that they could see. They wanted a god that they could touch. And what did they do? They created this golden calf. If you remember, they took their jewelry, it was cast into the lake of fire, out came, the Bible says, out came this golden calf. And they worshipped, you know, they got naked, they were doing abominable things, worshipping this golden calf. And then Moses comes down, I'll just read it, and Moses returned to the Lord and said, Oh these people have sinned a great sin, and have made them gods of gold. Yet now if that would forgive their sin, and if not, block me, I pray thee, out of thy book which thou has written. So Moses loves Israel so much, Moses loves the people there so much, that he's worried that God's going to take their names, going to block their names out of the book which God has written. And he says, but if you're going to do that God, just block me out instead. Moses was willing that he would go to hell rather than the whole nation of Israel suffer that consequence. What a love that he had for Israel. And then in verse 33, and the Lord said unto Moses, Whosoever have sinned against me, him will I blot out of my book. So God says Moses, look, you can't die for someone else's sins. Whoever has sinned against me, that person will have the name blotted out of the book. We're all responsible for our own sins in our life. You can't say to God, hey, punish me for someone else's sins. No, God says everybody is responsible, everyone is accountable for their own sins. But I want to point out to you, number one, is that this book is mentioned in the Old Testament. And number two, names are blotted out of that book. Names are removed, now blotted, you can think about it two ways. Either it just gets rubbed out, you know, or blotted like the idea of an ink, like it gets stained, like you can't even read that name anymore, right? It gets blotted by ink and it cannot be seen anymore. But I want you to notice that your name can be taken out of the book of life. You're in Revelation chapter 22, look at verse 19. Revelation chapter 22 verse 19, a warning given to those that want to defile the word of God. It's a warning here in verse 19. It says here, and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, so specifically talking about the book of Revelation, but I believe this can be applied to all the books of the Bible, so if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life and out of the holy city and from the things which are written in this book. So even in the New Testament we have confirmation that your part, where your name is written in the book of life, can be removed, can be taken out, okay? Especially those that defile the word of God, those that take things out of the word of God, that add things to the word of God, those people will have their names taken out of the book of life. Now, what happens here is people that believe that you can lose your salvation, they love these passages. People that believe you can lose it, you know, you can never be assured of salvation, love these passages, because it's very clear that somebody's name can be taken out of the book of life, right? So that's what I'll teach, so you can be removed out of God's salvation, you can be removed out of God's grace. But here's the thing, if you've studied the book of life, you will never find any reference when, okay, you'll never find any reference when names are written, okay? What I mean by that is, when you get saved, there is some idea, there is an idea out there, there is a teaching out there, and I know there's no bad intention to this teaching, but it's false. And the idea is, the moment you're saved, you're written in the book of life. That's the idea. The moment you're saved, you're written in the book of life. And what we find in the Bible, more than being written in the book of life, is being taken out of the book of life. Okay, what does that mean if we believe in eternal security? Okay? Well, first of all, there's only one logical solution to this, and I'll prove this to you soon, is that everybody's name is written in the book of life. Everybody's name that's ever lived from the beginning of creation to the last man that's ever lived has their name written in the book of life, okay? And instead of names being written when they're saved, names are removed the moment they're damned. Okay, names are removed the moment they're damned. Now, whether that means that's when they pass from life into death and they've not received Christ, at that point they get their names removed, or as we just read here, people that take away from the words of God, that defile the books of God, their name gets removed at that point, okay? Or whether that means someone's a reprobate where God's rejected that person, at that point that person's name is removed from the book. So at some point in someone's life, and it's probably more often death, that's when their name gets removed out of the book of life. It gets blotted out. Their part gets taken out of the book of life. Okay? Now, I'll explain to you why that's important in a minute. But one of the things, actually I'll just skip this, actually I'll read it very quickly. Revelation 3.5, I've already preached on this, but just to reinforce this, the Bible says in Revelation 3.5, He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in white raiment, and I will not blot out his name, actually it is important, I'm glad I covered this, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life, but I will confess his name before my Father and before his angels. So there's a promise that God gives to those that overcome. Okay? If you're an overcomer, Jesus promises, and I will not blot out his name out of the book of life. That's a promise. If you're an overcomer in Christ, Jesus says, I will never blot out that person's name. That's the eternal security. If you overcome in this life, he will never ever blot out your name in the book of life. And again the question is, well how do you overcome? Well 1 John 5, verse 4 to 5 explains this very clearly. The Bible says, So the way you overcome is to be born of God, being born again, and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. So what's the victory? How do we overcome this world? Even our faith. What we place our faith upon. Now what do we place our faith on? Verse 5. So where do you place your faith? What do you believe in? You believe that Jesus is the son of God. And if you've done that, you've put all your faith on the son of God, guess what? You've overcome this world, you're an overcomer, and Jesus says, I will never blot out that person's name out of the book of life. So it's eternal security in that book. Now you've believed on Christ, that means you've overcome, you've put your faith on Christ. And the one that doesn't overcome, the one that doesn't put their faith on Christ, they're going to have their names removed out of the book of life and cast into everlasting fire. Cast into hell. You know, as I was preparing this sermon, I mean, no one likes to preach about hell, right? You know, I was just coming, I was thinking, man, what a downer. You know, what a disappointing sermon that I'm going to have today, right? Just preaching on hell. But hopefully you're still in Revelation. Turn to Revelation chapter 17. Let's learn a little bit more about this. Revelation 17 verse 8. The book of life. The book of life, Revelation 17 verse 8 says, The beast, this is the antichrist, the beast, and this is a future event, so they'll get too caught up in this right now. But the beast that thou sawest was and is not, and shall ascend out of the bottomless pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth shall wonder whose names were not written in the book. So those people that wonder after the beast, that think he's amazing, that think he's marvelous, are people whose names were not written in the book. So at this point, their names have been removed out of the book of life because they worship the beast. Names written in the book of life from the foundation of the world, when they behold the beast that was and is not and yet is. So this book of life, at what point were names written in this book of life? Well this book of life is from the foundation of the world. From the beginning of the world, this book existed with the names of everybody written in it. Why is that important? Why is it important that it was from the foundation of the world? Well look at Revelation 13. Revelation 13 verse 7. Revelation 13 verse 7, using similar language here, talking about the antichrist again, and it was given unto him to make war with the saints. So in this future event, the antichrist is going to persecute believers and to overcome them, and power was given him over all kindreds and tongues and nations, and all that dwell upon the earth shall worship him, whose names were not written in the book of life of the Lamb, slain from the foundation of the world. Slain from the foundation of the world. So who's the Lamb? That's Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God that take away the sin of the world. Those that worship the antichrist, their names are going to be removed from that book of life of the Lamb, because the Lamb, as far as God is concerned, yes, Jesus crucified 2,000 years ago, as far as God is concerned, he was slain from the foundation of the world. Everybody's name was written in the book of life, right? From the foundation of the world, we read that. And so when Jesus Christ, when he talks about Jesus Christ being slain from the foundation of the world, it means he's died for every person from the beginning of creation, Adam and Eve, to the last person to ever be born. From the foundation of the world, Jesus Christ has paid for the sins of the whole world. He's paid for everybody's sin. Everybody's sin, even those that reject Christ, even those that hate Christ, even those that become reprobated in this life, Jesus Christ paid for the sins, slain from the foundation of the world, and that's why their names are written in the Lamb's book of life, because Christ has already paid for everybody's sin. Remember, salvation is that free gift. We go out and preach the gospel, it's such a sad thing when people reject the free gift. Christ has already paid for their sins. All they need to do is receive the gift through faith. This is why Calvinism is a false doctrine. Calvinism which teaches that God not only knows who's going to be saved and who's going to be damned, but that he chooses for no reason at all. Before someone's even born, they teach that God chooses who he's going to save and who he's going to damn to hell. But just knowing and understanding the Lamb's book of life proves that God's plan was for everybody to be saved. All names are written there, and unfortunately at the point where they reject Christ, their names are taken out of that book. So it's an important thing to understand the book of life, but let's move on to hell a little bit now. So if your name is not found in the book of life, you're destined to hell. Now why do we preach on hell? Someone once said to me, you know what, when you preach the gospel, it's not a good idea. I'm pretty sure someone said this to me, or have I heard it from else. Anyway, someone said it's not a good idea to preach about hell. Hell's not a good reason for people to get saved. That's crazy. You know what? Jesus Christ in the New Testament mentions the word hell some 16 times. That's a lot of teaching, right? That's a lot of teaching. Now obviously he mentions heaven more than hell, but here's the truth of it. Christ spends more time, more verses talking about hell than he does about heaven. Yes, he uses the word hell less often, but if you read your Bibles, you read the context of those passages, Christ spends more time, more verses, more passages preaching about hell than he does of heaven. Why? Because Christ was trying to put fear into these people. Hey, if you reject me, if you reject eternal life, you're destined to hell. Is that where God wants us to go? No, because he's written everybody's name in the book of life. Christ has already paid for everyone's sin. The free gift is offered to all. God does not want hell. In fact, we'll see in a minute that hell was not even created for man. It was never God's intention that man would go to hell, which is why he paid that sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. But why did God create hell? Turn to Matthew 25, Matthew 25 verse 41. Matthew 25 verse 41. Matthew 25 verse 41 says, Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire. Everlasting fire, just think about that for a minute. We love the idea of everlasting life. Right, we talk about how great it is. How long is everlasting, we ask the question at the door, and they'll say it's forever. It lasts forever, everlasting life, praise God. These people, everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. So why did God create hell? What was it prepared for? Was it prepared for man? No, it was prepared for the devil and the devil's angels. The devil and his angels. Right, now just to get a bit of context, look at verse 31 in the same chapter, Matthew 25 verse 31. Let me show you why it was not created for man. Matthew 25 verse 31. When the Son of Man shall come in his glory, so when Christ comes back, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before him shall be gathered all nations. All people will be brought before Christ and his throne. And he shall separate them one from another, and as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep at his right hand, but the goats on the left. Then shall the king say unto them on his right hand, Come ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. There's that phrase again, from the foundation of the world. So Christ was slain for all from the foundation of the world. All names are written in the Book of Life, from the foundation of the world. God was prepared for all mankind. The kingdom of God was prepared for them, right? Ye blessed come ye ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Christ prepared the kingdom of God, the new heavens and the new earth, for all of man, prepared for man from the foundation of the world. And hell prepared for the devil and his angels. Honestly, this idea of Calvinism, this heresy that God prepared hell for people, such a false doctrine. I mean, there's so many things wrong with it, not just the belief of it, but then what motivation does that give you to go out and preach the gospel and pull people out of that hell fire that they're going to see? What's the point? If Calvinism is true and God has already determined who's going to hell, what's the point of preaching the gospel, right? It's already settled. We're not making any difference, right? So God created hell for the devil. Let me handle a couple of myths of hell, okay? Matthew read this in Revelation 20, verse 10. Because the first myth of hell, the one that's very common, is this idea that hell is the kingdom of Satan, the kingdom of the devil. And he rules and reigns in hell with his devils, right? And the people that are cast into hell, this idea that people that are cast into hell are being tormented by the devil, tormented by the devils, right? And they want nothing more than to do that job. That's the teaching that's out there. There's two reasons why I don't like chick tracks. I don't know if you guys are familiar with the chick tracks, the little cartoon tracks. We'll leave it closed. That's fine. Sometimes those tracks have a good gospel in them. But at the end of every trick track, it's talking about your repenting of your sins, talking about a work salvation. So that's the first reason. I wish I could just rip off that back page, because sometimes it's got good stuff within the content itself. But first of all, it's got that false doctrine. But secondly, these chick tracks, more often than not, have hell with all these devils and these, you know, tormenting believers. So there's this idea that God casts people into hell, and the devil does his handiwork. The devil torments and tortures these people in hell. That's false. That's a myth of hell. Don't be tricked into thinking that. The devil doesn't rule and reign anything for eternity. He rules right now on this earth, but it's only a short period of time. Revelation 20 verse 10 says, 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. So is the devil doing the tormenting in hell? No. The devil's being tormented in hell, right? Hell is a place not of the kingdom of Satan, but hell is a place of God's wrath, God's judgment, God's righteousness. All right? Think about that for a minute. Hell is a place of God. Is God righteous? Is he a righteous judge? Is he always right? Yes. Right? It's a place of torment where God's created so he can pour out his wrath upon the wicked, so he can pour out his wrath against the devil and his angels. That's the purpose of it. And so the devil gets cast into hell, and the devil is tormented day and night. The devil is tormented day and night, forever and ever. He's not ruling and reigning. No, that's not God's purpose. God's purpose was created for the devil. A very misunderstood doctrine, this one, right? Thinking that the devil rules and reigns from hell. The other one people use quite a lot, you don't need to turn there, is Matthew 16 verse 18. Jesus speaking about the church, Jesus says, And I say unto thee, Thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. So Jesus says, I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. And there's this false teaching, this idea again that hell is Satan's kingdom, he rules and reigns, and that's why the church will be able to stand against hell, because we're standing against the forces of Satan. We'll never be shaken by hell. That's the false teaching that's out there, that we're not going to be shaken by the devil. But in fact the Bible teaches that we need to put on the whole armor of God so we can withstand the wiles of the devil. The devil does attack us, can persecute us, and if we're not cautious, the devil can hurt us in this life. The devil's a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour, the Bible says, right? And we see the antichrist in the future prevailing against the saints, overcoming the saints, and killing many of them. So that's not true, but if we understand that hell is this place of God's wrath, of God's judgment, of God's righteous judgment, then we can understand because we're saved, because we're assured of heaven, because we have eternal life, then we can understand that's why the gates of hell will not prevail against the church, because we will never, ever go to hell in our life. We will never need to worry about it anymore when you believe in Christ. There's nothing that's ever going to cause you from being trapped within those gates of hell. That's why we need to understand Matthew 16 verse 18. And I haven't taught on the end times just yet, but obviously I believe that the last generation of Christians will go through the tribulation, be persecuted by the antichrist, and be martyred for their faith. And when a friend of mine, a brother of mine said to me once, well that's impossible, Kevin, because he believed in any pre-trib rapture. He said, well, he came to this passage because, see, the gates of hell will not prevail against the church. He had this idea that hell was this place where Satan ruled and reigned, right? And he says, how can we be overcome by the antichrist, how can we be killed by the antichrist if the gates of hell will not prevail? We had a misunderstanding of what hell was, because hell is God's wrath, hell is God's judgment, not the kingdom of Satan. So that's the first myth of hell that I want to bust. Satan will not rule from hell. The second myth is that hell is eternal separation from God, right? Now we have well many Christians out there that believe the right gospel, that are preaching the right gospel, and they're telling their congregation and telling unbelievers, you don't want to go to hell because that's eternal separation from God. What does that mean exactly, eternal separation from God? Isn't God omnipresent? Isn't God everywhere? How can you get away from the presence of God? And the reason they teach this, you turn to 2 Thessalonians 1, 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 8, 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 8 and 9. I'm going to read verse 8 and 9. Now you follow with your King James Bible. I'm going to read to you from the NIV, the New International Version. Sorry, Jason. The NIV, this is what it says. It says this, now pay close attention as I'm reading this to every word. NIV. So what's the NIV saying? Those that do not believe in Christ, that do not obey the gospel, will be shut out of the presence of the Lord, right? They're not in the presence of the Lord. They're shut out. You know, eternal separation from God. That's what the NIV teaches. Not only that, but verse 8, it says he will punish those that do not know God. But how? Does it tell us how he punishes them? Well, the King James Bible tells us, right? Let me read it from the King James, 2 Thessalonians verses 1, 8 and 9. With flame in fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. How is God going to punish these that do not obey the gospel, believe in the gospel? With flame in fire, verse 9, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. So pay attention. Where is this flame in fire coming from? Where is this everlasting destruction coming from? What's the source of it? It's from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power. You see, hell fire, this everlasting fire, isn't this thing that God creates and never wants anything to do with it anymore? You know, it's away from the presence of the Lord. No, hell, those fires come from the presence of the Lord. It's God that's setting this place on fire. It's coming from his presence. It's coming from his glory. We look forward as believers. We look forward to his glory. We look forward to his presence. We know how amazing it's going to be to see God and his fullness in our resurrected bodies. But those that are damned, it's going to burn them forever. That same glory, that same righteousness, that same perfection, that same power that we look forward to see is what is burning them in hell forever and ever. That flame in fire comes from the glory of God. It's not separation from God. The fearful thing is being in the presence of God in your sins. That's what's scary about hell. The flame in fire comes directly from the presence of the Lord. We can provide that with further evidence. Revelation 14. Revelation 14 verse 10. Revelation 14 verse 10. Talking about those that are going to be damned eternally in hell, it says, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out with our mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence, not just from the presence, right, where that destruction is coming from, but in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. So those that are in hell are in the presence of the Lamb. That's what's burning them. The fire from God, that's what's consuming them. And then Psalm 139 verse 8, I'll just read it to you. If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there, and if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. So is God in heaven? Yes. Is he in hell? Yes. It's his presence that is burning these people in hell fire. And so, again, I know they're well-meaning, but these preachers that say that hell is eternal separation from God, look, they're getting their teaching from the NIV. They're getting their teaching from some preacher that preaches from modern versions. And the NIV even skips away from the idea that the destruction and the punishment is this eternal fire. Did you notice that in the NIV when I read it to you guys, compared to the King James? The King James wants to tell you the fear of death, right? The Word of God wants to warn us about the fear of death and the fear of hell. It ought to scare us. It ought to scare people into believing and obeying the gospel. So let's move on to what hell is. What is it? First thing we notice immediately that hell is a place of fire, a place of fire and torment. Mark 9, I'll just read this to you, Mark 9, 43 says, And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off, for 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. We'll talk about the cutting off of hands in a minute later on. I just want you to notice that the fire that never shall be quenched, this fire is going to burn forever and ever, everlasting fire we read. Why? Because God is an everlasting God. God is an eternal God. His glory is eternal, okay? And that's why that fire continues burning because as long as God's there, that fire is going to continue burning these poor souls in hell. Number two, it's a place of worms. We just read there, where their worm dieth not, we read that, right? There's a lot of opinion as to what this worm represents, where their worm dieth not. I'll just read it to you again, Mark 9, verse 44, it says, Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. So talk about this worm not dying and the fire not being put out. Now Jesus got this teaching from Isaiah 66. Please turn there, I think it's interesting. Isaiah 66, the last book of Isaiah. Isaiah 66, verse 22. Isaiah 66, verse 22. Old Testament teaching, but perfectly aligned with what we know. Isaiah 66, verse 22 says, For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, save the Lord. So we're talking about the new heavens and the new earth. So shall your seed and your name remain. And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, save the Lord. And they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me. For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring to all flesh. So again, this is where Jesus took this teaching from. Isaiah 66, these people that have been tormented in hell, for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched. Now, some people say, well, their worm, that must be referring to their body. Their body becomes a worm in hell, and I don't know, I mean, that's a bit weird, right? But I just want you to pick up here, is that they're being tormented. They're being tormented by this worm, and they're being tormented by this fire. Notice the words there again in Isaiah 66 verse 24. Remember how Jesus says, for their worm, okay? For their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched. And so everyone that goes to hell is appointed not just the fire, but their fire. They're going to pay specifically for what they've done in their life. They're going to have their own specific fire. They're going to have their own specific worm that torments them, okay? So not everybody in hell suffers the same. Obviously those that have done worse, those that have done sin more against the Lord, are going to suffer more. We can teach about that some other time. But there's a specific fire for some person, there's a specific worm for another. And then if you're still in Isaiah, go to Isaiah 14, Isaiah chapter 14. My point is, not only are they tormented by fire, but they're tormented by these worms. Alright? You know, just this week, someone warned us about the Sunshine Coast, about there being many flies and maggots. I can't remember who warned us. And just the other week we had these maggots crawling in our living room. Like, what in the world? And then we looked at the bin and they were coming out of the bin. That's disgusting. Disgusting. I've got the kids to go and squash them and stuff. You know, I didn't even want to go near them, right? I mean, just imagine being tormented by worms as well. It's crazy. Isaiah 14 verse 4 says, That thou shalt take up this prophet against the king of Babylon. So this is about the king of Babylon. But what you'll notice is that he transitions talking about Satan. Talking about the devil, Lucifer. Why? Because the kings of this world, the evil powers and the evil kings of this world, behind them, the people that give them power, is Satan. You'll see this transition take place. And say, How shall the oppressor cease, the golden sea cease? The Lord hath broken the staff of the wicked and the scepter of the rulers. He who smelt the people in wrath with a continual stroke, he that ruled the nations in anger is persecuted and none hindereth. The whole earth is at rest and is quiet. They break forth into singing. Yea, the fir trees rejoice at thee and the cedars of Lebanon, saying, Since thou art laid, no fellow is come up against us. Now notice this. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming. So this king of Babylon is going to be cast into hell. Hell is moving to receive this king of Babylon. It stirs up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth. It hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. And they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? Art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave and the noise of thy vials. And look at this. The worm is spread under thee and the worms cover thee. So this king of Babylon is going to be cast into hell. This hell has worms waiting for him. Under him and these worms are going to cover him. Verse 12, and this is the transition. How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning? How art thou cut down to the ground which is weakest, the nations? So we see hell now being described as Satan going to be cast in there and these worms that are going to spread for him and cover him. The torment of worms as well. I don't know. I mean we think about maggots eating dead flesh and yet God has these worms in hell that are eating away, I suppose, at these dead bodies. Not just the flames of fire but tormented by these worms. So hell is a place of fire and hell is a place of worms. Hell is also a place of unquenched thirst. Don't turn there. Luke 16, verse 24, the story of the rich ruler that goes to hell. And he cried, the rich ruler cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, in water here, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Again, the flame tormented him but not just the flame, the thirst. He just wants a little bit of water put on his tongue to give him some relief. He's dehydrated. I feel a bit dehydrated right now which is why I'm drinking water. But imagine burning in flames, a place of thirst. It's so uncomfortable. My kids sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, I just want a drink of water. They can't even sleep when you're thirsty. I don't know if you've ever been so dehydrated where you just consume water as much as you can to give you relief. That's what hell is going to be like. Not just the fire, not just the worms, but unquenched thirst. Number four, it's a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. Luke 13, I'll just read it to you, Luke 13, 27. And he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are, depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity, for there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out. Thrust out of the kingdom of God in hell, a place of weeping and gnashing. We understand weeping, right? Mourning, crying, sorrow, regretting. People regretting in hell for not listening to those people that knocked on their doors. Regretting for not receiving Christ. Regretting for not believing that there's a place of hell. Weeping, we understand that. But the gnashing of teeth, that striking your teeth together, grinding your teeth together. Why? In pain, in anger, in rage, whatever it is, but just biting and grinding at the teeth in the pain. The suffering that these people are going through. The weeping and gnashing. This is not a place we want to go, okay? This is not a place that we want to go. This is not even a sermon that I want to preach. But I have to, right? Hell is a real place. Number five, it's a place of darkness. Matthew 22 verse 13. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot, take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So hell, yes, a place of fire, and we think of fire, we think of the light that it generates, right? But this is a place of fire and darkness, right? I don't know if you'll even see the flames that are burning you. It's darkness. You can't see anything. Pitch black, a place of outer darkness. People say, oh, hell sounds like a nice place. All my mates and my buddies are going to be there. Hey, if all the homosexuals are going to hell, hey, we'll live it up, we'll have a party. Look, not only are you going to be suffering, you're not going to be able to see anything anyway. It's a place of darkness. It's not a place you want to be. There's not going to be any parties. There's not going to be any disco lights in hell. It's a place of darkness. And number six, it's a place of everlasting punishment. And this is probably the scariest of all. We know how bad hell is, all right? But guess what? It's everlasting. It goes on forever, forever. Matthew 25, verse 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous unto life eternal. The difference between having life that's eternal and having death that's eternal. Everlasting punishment. Everlasting. You're punished forever. Some people teach that you go to hell and you cease to exist. You burn up and you're gone. But that's not everlasting punishment. That's just this period of time, a little punishment there. No, it's everlasting punishment. Just to support that further, I don't know if you're still in Revelation. Revelation 14, verse 11. Revelation 14, verse 11. And the smoke of their torment... So these people that have been tormented in hell, the smoke of their... Why smoke? Because it's fire. It's burning away. The smoke of their torment ascended up forever and ever. Forever and ever. And they shall have, they, the people in hell, they shall have no rest day nor night. No rest. It continues forever. Hell. Who are these people who worship the beast and his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name? These people that worship the antichrist guaranteed hell forever and ever. Anyone that rejects Christ, does not believe the gospel, to burn in hell, tormented forever and ever. We need to avoid hell. We need to avoid hell. Turn to Matthew 18. Kids, does this sound like a place we want to go? No, right? It's not a place. We want to be sure that we're going to heaven. And if you're not sure that you're going to heaven, let me encourage you to talk to your parents. Make sure you talk to your parents and say, Dad, Mum, I don't want to go to hell. And your parents will tell you what you need to do to avoid that place. Avoid hell. Matthew 18 verse 7. Jesus speaking. Woe unto the world because of offences, for it must needs be that offences come, but woe to the man by whom the offence cometh. Wherefore, if thy hand or foot offend thee, cut them off and cast them from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life, halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Now, I was out soul winning, when was it, a week and a bit ago, and one of the guys said to me, Is it true that Jesus says you've got to cut off your hand and your eye to go to heaven? You know, you're looking at this passage, and well, Jesus said those words. But why did he say those words? The point was to show you how serious hell is. You're just better off cutting off parts of your body if that's going to help, you know, prevent you from going to hell. It's better to have just one hand go to hell than your whole body to go to hell. It's better for one eye to be plucked out and go to hell than for your whole body to go to hell. Jesus is showing you just how serious it is, right? But here's the truth of it. If that, I mean, if we could go to hell, I mean, if we could go to heaven by cutting off bits and pieces that offend us, that sin, I mean, you're going to end up just cutting out every part of your body, right? Because 1 Corinthians 15 says that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. It doesn't matter how much flesh you try to cut off, flesh and blood will never inherit the kingdom of God, right? This body needs to be rejuvenated, remade into those, you know, immortal bodies that God gives us at the resurrection. But it's not about cutting off your body, okay? Jesus is just telling you how serious it is. You know, if that could get you to heaven, then yeah, you're better off just chopping off your hands and your feet. But that's not going to get you to heaven, right? It's your faith on Jesus Christ. The point of Jesus Christ was just to give a graphic illustration of how serious it is for you to avoid hell, okay? Now, turn to Luke 16. Luke 16. I'm almost done here. Luke 16 verse 19. I already read a little bit about it, but it's about the rich ruler and it's about Lazarus. Luke 16 verse 19. For there was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fed sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus which was laid at his gate full of sores and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores and it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And in hell... By the way, guys, this is not a parable. Some people talk about the parable of Lazarus and the rich man. This is not a parable. Jesus Christ is telling us a real story of real people with real names, okay? And so Lazarus was carried up by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. Verse 23. And in hell... So this rich man's in hell. And in hell, he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and see if Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. And said, look, this guy's just died and entered hell just now. He just died, lifted up his eyes and is in hell. In hell, what does he say? Have mercy on me. Immediately, he's in pain. Immediately, he's in torments. This isn't something that he just, you know, he gradually, you know, he gradually gets hotter and hotter. Immediately, as soon as you die without Jesus Christ, you're tormented and you're asking for mercy. He says, have mercy on me and said, Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame. 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. And beside all this, between us and you, there is a great gold fix so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. So Abraham is saying, look, once you've gone to hell, there's no way out. You can never go to heaven. And those that go to heaven, there's no way you can go to hell. There's this great chasm which cannot be passed. Verse 27. And he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, this is the rich man saying, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou would ascend him to my father's house, for I have five brethren that here may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. You know, they have the Bible. They have the writings of Moses. They have the writings of prophets. Let them hear what the Bible has to say. And the rich man said, and he said, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead. This man is thinking logically, because man, if they just see someone raised from the dead, then they'll know to avoid this place of hell. I don't want them coming here. I don't want my father's house and my brethren, my five brothers that I've got, I don't want them coming here. Send someone from the dead so they can preach to him. And what does it say? Look, they're not even going to listen. If they're not going to listen to the Bible, they're not even going to listen to someone that's raised from the dead. And we have someone that was raised from the dead. Jesus Christ who rose from the dead. And yet people still do not want to hear the gospel. They still, it's true, right? It's true. Jesus Christ rose from the dead. People still reject Christ and would rather, well, they wouldn't rather, but they don't know. But choose hell rather than heaven. So, guys, look, when your loved one passes away without Christ, they're in hell. I'm sorry. They're in hell. When my loved ones pass away, they're in hell. There's no way out. But what does the rich man ask for? Send someone to my brothers to my brothers so they don't come here. Send someone to my family so they don't come here. The only peace someone could possibly have in hell is knowing that their loved ones and friends and families are not coming to the same place, right? And you might have unsaved relatives and they hear you preach the gospel and reject it and you're worried for their souls. But let me tell you this. When they're in hell, after rejecting Christ, they're going to be thankful that at least you got to heaven. They're going to be thankful that you at least knew the truth. That's the smallest bit of hope that they can have for anything in hell. Is hell too harsh of a punishment? Is it too harsh? If we think hell is too harsh, the truth is that we're too soft. We don't understand how much God hates sin. We don't understand how much God hates the devil and what he's done to this earth. That God had to create this place of fire and torment for the devil and his angels. We don't understand the righteousness of God just yet if we think hell is too harsh. If we understood... We say God's a just God. We say that. We say he's righteous and just and right. But if that's the truth, then we have to acknowledge that hell is just punishment for those that have sinned against God and rejected Christ as their saviour. God hates sin. And I think it was just yesterday I was talking to Isabel. She's reading through the Old Testament. And I asked her, you know, how's your Bible reading going? And she goes, wow, God's really angry, isn't he? God's judging. God's really angry. God's judgment. God's angry. You know, and that's the truth. And that's why I hate a lot of the teaching that goes on in Sunday school. This is why it's better for our kids to be here, being taught the Word of God, being taught from cover to cover, everything that's in here. So many Sunday school material hide the fact that God's an angry God, that God's going to judge people in hell. They talk about how nice and how loving. And He is. He's gracious and He's loving and He's perfect. And He loves us so much that He sent Jesus Christ to die for us so we don't have to go to this place. That's all true. But also true is that He's a vengeful God that is full of wrath, that hell comes from His own presence, that He burns people for all eternity for rejecting Jesus Christ. That's true as well, that He's an angry God and that He hates sinners and that He hates sin. That's true, but He also loves us, okay? We have to have a balance of God. We need to tell people at the door, yes, that God is love, but God is also vengeful. Hey, make sure you're on the right side. Make sure you believe on Christ. This is why hell and the liquefied needs to be preached on. People are moving away from this reality. And guess what? Less and less people fear God, right? Our nation does not fear God anymore. Why? Because they don't know the reality of hell anymore. They don't know the reality of God's judgment anymore. And this is why I want this church to be a soul-winning church. I want us to focus on going out, preaching the good news of the gospel so we can pull these people out of the fire. If we knew they were in a burning fire, if we knew their house was burning down and they did not know any better, wouldn't you just stop at anything? It doesn't matter if you're on your way to work. It doesn't matter if you're on your way to your kid's birthday party. If you saw a house on fire and the people did not know, wouldn't you stop the car and pull them out of that fire and warn them at least? Whether they want to come out of that fire or not is up to them. But wouldn't you just at least warn them? This is what soul-winning is. Never ever forget. I remember Callum mentioned, I think Michael asked Callum, what's your motivation for going soul-winning? And Callum said hell. We can have many motivations and they're all good motivations. As long as you're out there preaching the gospel, that's the key thing. Whatever motivates you to get out there and preach the gospel, that's a good thing. But it's a good thing also to think about hell. These people that will spend eternity in hell unless we go out and give them the gospel. Unless we go out and have a tear in our eye and love the people out there the way God loves them and give them the gospel. What a sad thing if this church ever stopped doing that. I would just rather pack it up, go back to Sydney if we just decided to stop preaching the gospel and warning people of hell. It's a real place. And churches need to stop preaching at the letterbox. Churches that have the right gospel, that have their tracts, and I'm not against tracts. We've got thousands of them over here. We've got thousands of them because we want to go out to this community and warn them. But hey, we don't just go out there and drop these in a letterbox. We're not trying to preach to the letterbox. The letterbox is not going to get saved. The letterbox is going to burn when God regenerates this earth. It doesn't matter. That letterbox is gone. Forget it. Stop talking to the letterbox. Go to the door and preach boldly the word of God. Go preach boldly the gospel. We need to. And if you don't do that, I just wonder, do you even believe in hell? Do you even have a fear of God? Do you even love people? And I appreciate the ladies that stay behind and looking after the kids because you're giving your husbands, you're giving the men the opportunity to go out and do that. And you might say, well, I don't go out. Well, look, you're helping the rest of the church go out. So it'd be a great thing if some of the ladies can go out because I'll tell you what, some people that could get saved at the door when they see two guys approached, sometimes they might be more resistant than seeing two ladies approach. So at some point, I'd love it for the ladies to get out. Maybe the men, we could just organise a day, hey, we'll look after the kids we'll get the food organised. Let's let the ladies go out and do some gospel preaching. Maybe we can organise that sometimes. But churches, I wish I could reach out to every pastor out there with the right gospel. Go and preach the word. Go and open your mouth boldly to make known the mystery of the gospel. Boldly. Maybe you don't have the boldness. I don't know. Just come out here and we'll take your soul and we'll teach you, right? We're nobodies but we'll teach you so you can go out and preach the gospel in your area. You know, I was once asked to go to Liverpool in Sydney to go preach. I was told we're going to preach the gospel. Go out there. There's a pastor out there preaching the gospel. So I was excited. Let's go out there. It's Westfield Shopping Centre so there's a lot of people going in. Well, it was outside of the shopping centre. A lot of people going in and out. I got there a little bit late but what I observed was the pastor was there with his thousands of tracts. Everyone that was walking past was just giving them out. You know, people walking there, giving them out, giving out the tracts and then his sons were out there. You know, they were all strategically placed in different areas so everyone could get a tract. They're doing this. And I walked there and I was, you know what I saw on the road, on the floor? Just crunched up tracts, right? Just rolling around. I walked a little bit further. There's the Muslims doing the same thing. Walked a little bit further. There's the Pentecostals doing the same thing. I think there were four groups altogether, different religions, different, giving out their tracts, as many people as they can. Why are these churches doing the same thing that the heathen do? Giving out tracts. They were on the floor. Later on, at the end of the day, I walked into Westfield's. Their bins, guess what? Full of tracts. Full of tracts. I went up. He goes, you know, here's some tracts. Hand them out. I grabbed the tracts and then I saw people just sitting around. I went to talk to them. I just sat down one-on-one. Some people said go away. Some people were happy for me to give them the gospel. The first person that let me sit with him and give the gospel got saved. Praise God. The second person was in a wheelchair, spoke to him. I don't know if he was saved or not. Already, he might have been already saved. He seemed to know a lot of it, maybe got confused along his journey, but by the end of it, he was saved. Two other people let me give him the gospel, just sat down with him. I'm talking about a period of maybe an hour and a half or something. They didn't receive Christ that day, but they heard the whole thing and they thanked me. Oh, thanks for letting me know. You know what? What did I give out? Maybe four tracts, but two people I know at the end of it were saved versus thousands of tracts in the bin. Don't waste your time. Don't waste your efforts doing this ridiculous postman job. I've actually thought about hiring. You know how people go out and put junk mail in letterbox? I've actually thought about just hiring someone for a couple of hundred dollars, just go out throughout all of Carolandra and drop in a flyer in there. Now, that person doesn't have to be a believer. Just anybody can do that, just hopefully to put a bit of marketing out there about the church so people that might be looking for a church like ours would know about it. But as far as we're concerned, guys, we're going out. We're knocking those doors. We're telling them the gospel. We're trying to pull people out of the fire. I know this place is not that receptive, but there's people out there that need to know. There are people out there that want to know. There are people out there that have already been saved by this church's efforts. They're going to spend eternity in heaven and they're going to be thankful for this church for eternity even if they never attend. That's all I've got to say. Let's pray.