Participants: Pr. John Stanton, Pr. John Lomacang
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL090013
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00:01 Hello friends, grab your Bible and a friend
00:02 and sit back as we explore God's word together 00:04 on this edition of "House Calls." 00:22 Well, welcome to another "House Calls" program 00:24 where we continue our journey through the Word of God. 00:27 And today we're going to think of this as a great menu, 00:30 so get your menu because God has something in here 00:32 cooking to nourish yourself today and I'm not by myself, 00:36 I have my good friend, John Stanton. 00:38 Good to see you, John. 00:39 It's good to be here, John, in another program. 00:41 A program we get to just dive into God's Word 00:43 and really enjoy spending time with Him 00:45 and with what He wants to teach us today. 00:47 So I am excited about that. 00:49 That's right and we also, 00:50 we would like to encourage you to pray 00:51 and ask the Lord's presence to be here with us. 00:53 Let's do that. 00:54 Dear Father in heaven, we are so thankful 00:56 to be able to open Your Word here today 00:58 and have the freedom to do so. 00:59 There was a time where we could not do that, 01:01 but Lord we can today and we ask that 01:04 you would send Your Holy Spirit, 01:05 Lord to give us, guidance and direction, 01:08 touch each heart and each mind 01:09 that is listening or watching here today, 01:12 in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. 01:15 Well, friends as you know, your Bible questions 01:16 makea big impact on the program and through-- 01:20 John, about five years now, you've been sending 01:22 Bible questions and some of you really get carried away 01:24 and send a small doctoral dissertations 01:28 and it makes it very difficult for us to answer that, 01:31 so if you would like to narrow that down, 01:34 some of you ask the question on the very last line, 01:36 you notice that, John? Yeah. 01:37 And so but if you do have any questions, 01:39 you can send those questions to housecalls @3abn.org. 01:43 That's housecalls @3abn.org and we would like to download those 01:48 and do our best to answer the questions 01:50 and if you need further clarification, 01:52 go ahead and send that question to that email. 01:55 But John, what do you have for us today? 01:57 Well, I've a got couple of great questions here. 01:59 The first one I've got is a question, 02:02 John, that I think is the most commonly stated reason 02:06 for saying that the God doesn't exist. 02:10 And I just read this here, it's a brief question 02:13 but one that is very important for us to answer 02:16 for anyone who is seeking out 02:18 God and relationship with Him to answer. 02:22 In 1 Samuel 15:3, God tells that, 02:25 children of Israel to kill infants. 02:28 How can God be all good when He orders 02:30 the killing of innocent infants 02:32 and I would extend this to not just infants, 02:34 but many have issues that he just, 02:36 you know the God would command the children of Israel 02:38 to go in and kill anybody, whether they be infants, 02:41 mothers, you know who ever it may be, 02:44 and that's often the stated case, 02:46 I think you could expand that too. 02:47 Even today the argument goes something like this, 02:50 where how could have God, if He exists, standby 02:53 and watch the disasters and the horrific things 02:55 that happened today in this world. 02:58 So it's kind of, I am looking to kind of answer this 03:02 in a well-rounded or at least in all encompassing way. 03:06 But first, there are three texts, 03:08 John, three passages I like to go on this one. 03:11 First one is Deuteronomy 7:1 and I'll read through verse 8, 03:17 Deuteronomy 7:1, it says, 03:20 "When the Lord your God brings you into the land 03:22 which you go to possess and He casts our many nations 03:25 before you, the Hittites, and the Girgashites, 03:28 and the Amorites, and the Canaanites, 03:30 and the Perizzites, and the Hivites and the Jebusites, 03:33 seven nations greater and mightier than you. 03:35 And when the Lord your God delivers them over to you, 03:38 you shall conquer them and utterly destroy them. 03:41 You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. 03:47 Nor shall you make marriages with them. 03:51 You shall not give your daughter to their son, 03:53 nor take their daughter for your son. 03:56 For they will turn your sons away from following Me, 03:58 to serve other gods; so the anger of the Lord 04:01 will be aroused against you and destroy you suddenly. 04:04 But thus you shall deal with them: 04:06 you shall destroy their altars, break down their sacred pillars, 04:09 and cut down their wooden images, 04:11 and burn their carved images with fire. 04:13 For you are a holy people to the Lord your God; 04:16 the Lord your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, 04:20 a special treasure above all the peoples 04:22 on the face of the earth." 04:24 And then he says, "The Lord did not set His love 04:26 on you nor choose you because you were more in number 04:29 than the other people, for you were the least of all people." 04:32 Now listen to this, John, this is verse 8. 04:34 All--you know, basically the reason, 04:36 it gives the reason why God says, 04:38 I want you to destroy everyone utterly 04:40 and everything they represent, 04:41 their images their altars all this. 04:43 Verse 8. 04:44 "But because the Lord loves you, 04:50 and because He would keep the oath 04:52 which He swore to your fathers, the Lord has brought you out 04:54 with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, 04:58 there is another indicator there, 05:00 from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt." 05:03 The reason the Lord ask them to do it this way, 05:06 to destroy them utterly is because, 05:08 first of all, God loves His people 05:11 and if you love somebody you're going to want to protect them. 05:14 Protect them from, what's implied here, 05:16 protect them from bondage and the sin that would result, 05:20 if they are to mingle with those nations 05:22 that are there as they go into the land of Canaan. 05:25 Now turn with me to Jonah 1. 05:29 little Book of Jonah 1 and we'll just read 05:31 the first couple of verses here, but this is hopefully, 05:34 it'll give you a little well-rounded indication 05:36 of what the Lord is doing, here when He says, 05:40 I want you to go in and destroy all that are there. 05:44 That's a good book, Jonah. Yes. 05:46 Focused on one man by the name of Jonah. 05:50 Okay, verse 1. 05:51 "Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah, the son of Amittai, 05:55 saying, arise go to Nineveh, that great city 05:58 and cry out against it, 06:00 for their wickedness has come up before me." 06:04 Now John, you know those words, we can just kind of run by, 06:08 and not really give much thought to 06:09 but really that God's stating that their wickedness 06:12 is come up before him, it's not saying, 06:15 that God didn't see their wickedness before. 06:17 I think any sin that is committed, 06:19 any wicked act, God sees. Right. 06:21 But apparently, as a corporation, 06:24 as a corporate city here, the wickedness has become 06:27 so great in Nineveh, that it came up 06:29 before the Lord to be judged. 06:32 So it was a time of judgment that God had called Jonah, 06:35 to be part of. 06:37 Now we know that God is also a merciful God, 06:40 but the question is, could it be that some nations 06:42 would become so wicked that would not repent 06:46 that God would have to in His judgment eradicate. 06:49 Well, we say, we've to say yes to that because we know 06:51 Sodom is one and Gomorrah is another one, 06:54 where He sent, rain down fire and brimstone on them 06:57 to destroy the entire city, they were beyond, 07:00 they were beyond the mercy of God, 07:02 not because God was not merciful, 07:04 but because they didn't want God's mercy. 07:06 And I think if God allows wickedness to propagate 07:11 and to go faster than or go to a speed that 07:17 He is capable of going, 07:18 it would inevitably consume the entire world. 07:21 He's got to keep it to a degree in check. 07:24 And He doesn't always do this 07:26 by raining down fire and brimstone 07:27 but He often uses His people to accomplish those things, 07:31 and that's what I believe He was doing there, 07:33 initially with the children of Israel, 07:35 saying when you go into this land, 07:37 I am going to go before you, I'll defeat your enemies 07:39 before you but I want you to utterly wipe them all out 07:43 because those nations were judged. 07:46 Now if you look at Revelation 18, 07:47 which is the third one, just to kind hold picture together. 07:51 We find some similar language here, beginning with verse 1. 07:57 It says, "After these things I saw 07:58 another angel coming down from heaven, 08:01 having great authority, and the earth was 08:02 illuminated with his glory. 08:05 And he cried mightily with a loud voice, saying, 08:07 "Babylon the great has what? 08:09 fallen, is fallen, and has become 08:14 a dwelling place of demons, a prison for every foul spirit, 08:18 and a cage for every unclean and hated bird." 08:20 You see the city of Babylon, which we know is figurative, 08:23 but that city has fallen. 08:26 It is no--there is no righteousness in it, 08:28 there's no good thing in it any longer, 08:31 it is completely corrupt and utterly worthy 08:34 of nothing but judgment now. 08:36 And so the cry goes out, verse 5, 08:42 "For her sins have reached to heaven, 08:44 and God has remembered her iniquities." 08:46 After of course, it declares that God's people 08:50 should come out quickly 08:52 and similar to what He did with Sodom 08:54 didn't he call Lot to come out with his family 08:56 before Sodom was destroyed. 08:57 Yes, he did. 08:58 So, now to kind of conclude this whole thing, 09:01 then you can weigh in, 09:02 and I know you got some other things there, 09:03 but it seems to be that God, when the wickedness of a nation 09:07 becomes so great that their sins come before Him for judgment, 09:12 He uses God's people as He did, 09:14 God uses the Israelites to go in and to do work, 09:18 it's a strange work, but yet the work that must be done 09:21 to hold sin in check. 09:23 To keeping it from going too fast and more than that, 09:26 to make sure that it does not impact or affect 09:29 or bring His people back into bondage, 09:31 which if you remember from Deuteronomy, 09:33 was the stated reason for destroying the altars, 09:36 the carved images, burning them up. 09:38 He did not want His people to be corrupted 09:41 and returning to that same kind of a nation 09:43 that He's moved beyond God's mercy, 09:46 or at least being called by God's name to appoint 09:49 where they have to be then judged. 09:51 So you know this isn't an issue of God not loving, 09:54 this is an issue of God in His love, 09:57 for the protection of others, taking a nation 10:00 that is beyond that and destroy them. 10:04 Very good approach to that, John. 10:06 You know, sometimes people see situations lot of times 10:09 and we still get the questions today. 10:10 People say why does God allow war? 10:13 Why are children being kidnapped? 10:17 Why do innocent people die needlessly? 10:21 That answer would be in a world of sin, 10:22 but just to zero-in on what you just assessed 10:25 or why does God allow nations and other nations 10:28 to completely be wiped out, not just the soldiers, 10:32 but the sons, the daughters, the wives, 10:36 and the children, the infants. 10:38 The thing that we often overlook is the sovereignty of God. 10:43 See, man's understanding is usually is limited, 10:48 not usually, is always limited by the here and now. 10:52 We don't see 15, 20, 30 may be generations into the future. 10:56 We can prognosticate or predict, 10:59 what we think is going to be the case, 11:00 but God doesn't have to guess like we do. 11:03 You know we have educated guesses based on information 11:06 that we gather, statistical information, 11:09 but God doesn't even need that, 11:11 God sees where things are going to go 11:13 before they even get there. 11:15 And so the Lord sees the condition of a nation 11:18 and in the Old Testament times, 11:20 there were nations that had lived, 11:23 their very existence was dedicated to serve a false god. 11:27 The very reason they came into existence 11:30 and the very foundation of their entire culture 11:33 was the service of the false God, 11:35 and they dedicated their existence 11:37 to wiping out the people of God. 11:39 And their practices were just wicked to the core. 11:43 I mean, we have some insights in that they would sacrifice 11:47 their children and do many things that, 11:50 you know their women, their young women, 11:52 things that were done then would seem just so heinous to us. 11:59 And so I think we also, we can look forward. 12:02 But we can't look back to see the degree 12:05 and the degradation that though that nation had, 12:07 not as just the soldiers but down at the very child, 12:11 how corrupt it was. 12:12 And you know the sovereignty of God is there, 12:14 they see even more than we did. 12:15 Matter of fact, a few Bible verses I like to share with you. 12:18 First one is Isaiah 46:10. 12:22 The Lord says "Declaring the end from the beginning 12:26 and from ancient times things that are not yet done." 12:30 So the Lord sees the end from the beginning 12:32 from ancient times, He sees things that are not yet done, 12:34 but He even goes further, 12:36 not just things that are not yet done 12:38 but He begins to see the culture and as in the story of Job, 12:43 we never--we didn't see the end of the Job's trials 12:46 but Job didn't see the end of his trials. 12:48 But the Lord saw the end of his trials, 12:50 but the Lord also sees the end of those things 12:52 that nations that are wicked would do, 12:55 if He allows them to exist for a certain period of time. 12:58 Here's the commandment that you've heard before. 13:01 Exodus 20:5, speaking about these false gods, it says 13:06 "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, 13:10 nor serve them: for I the Lord thy God I am a jealous God, 13:15 visiting the iniquity of the fathers unto the children 13:19 up on the third and fourth generation 13:21 of them that hate me." 13:23 Now you may-let me just use a very terrible example. 13:26 When I say terrible, I hope it's not terrible. 13:28 But sometimes we'd see a murderer, 13:32 a very rage filled murderer, or let me give you 13:35 something less heinous, a drug dealer, 13:37 or a drug dealing community 13:40 and we say if that community is allowed to exist, 13:42 if that crack house is allowed to stay there, 13:45 the only purpose it's going to serve is to be a crack house. 13:49 I mean there's no other reason it exists. 13:51 And it will bring other people down. 13:53 It's going to bring down this neighborhood 13:54 as long as its there. 13:55 So somebody says, well, if you tear down that house, 13:59 you may rob somebody of the right 14:02 to own a house one day. 14:04 And we will say, well the only purpose 14:06 that house serves right now, it's the crack house. 14:08 If it continues to exist, 14:10 my children and my children's children 14:12 and going and so forth would be affected 14:13 by that crack house. 14:15 Everybody comes from every neighborhood 14:16 and goes into that house of abandonment, 14:20 that house of ill repute, that place of human destruction. 14:23 So the only way to cut off this cancer 14:26 is to completely obliterate and destroy that house, 14:29 and that's what the Lord did. 14:31 Notice what he said, Exodus 23:23, 14:35 "For my angel" speaking of the blessing He wanted to give 14:38 to the children of Israel, "For my angel shall go 14:40 before thee and brings thee 14:43 unto the Amorites and the Hittites 14:46 and the Perizzites and the Canaanites, 14:49 and the Hivites and the Jebusites, 14:51 and I will cut them off. 14:54 So how could God bless His children in a land 14:57 that all these wicked nations existent 15:00 and prevent those nations from corrupting his people. 15:03 there's only one way I will cut them off. 15:06 Thus the ultimate end, sinners won't be going to heaven. Yes. 15:11 And people are not going there, 15:13 just because God is a merciful God. 15:15 There's a teaching nowadays that, 15:17 well, nobody's really going to be lost, 15:19 everybody's going to be saved. 15:20 Very small school but there are those who will say, 15:23 God will not destroy because God is only a good God 15:26 and anything that comes with destruction is not from God. 15:29 Oh, no, God is going to eradicate sin 15:31 and sinners one day, 15:32 that's why we are making our decision now 15:34 as to what we want our future to be. 15:36 And it's our decision to link with sin and to retain sin 15:38 and to practice sin because it has to be destroyed, 15:41 if in fact that's our practice, 15:44 right along with the sin that God destroys. 15:46 You know God's target is not people, mercy targets people. 15:51 God's target is sin and getting rid of sin. 15:54 There you go. It's a very important thing to remember. 15:56 Very, very good approach to that. 15:58 God's target is sin, 16:01 and I want to go back to that illustration. 16:05 You know when it rains, it is not God's intention 16:09 to wet up your brand new suit. 16:12 That's right. So use that umbrella, okay. 16:14 God has made, we have modern inventions 16:18 that can keep your brand new suit 16:19 or your nice new dress or your brand new car, 16:24 from having the interior deluged with water. 16:27 Pull up the window, get yourself an umbrella 16:29 and don't blame the rain, okay. 16:31 That's what we are doing, we are blaming the rain. 16:33 We are blaming God when in fact Lord has made a way 16:36 for us to escape the judgments that could come. 16:40 Another question I want to clarify, 16:43 few programs ago, we talked about creations 16:46 and somebody wrote in to ask us to clarify this. 16:50 There's--there are two schools of thought, 16:51 John, that's right out there now and they're kind of 16:54 playing ping pong with each other. 16:56 One school of thought believes that God did create everything 17:00 but that He just left the earth sitting here 17:02 for an indefinite period of time, 17:05 whether 2 years, or 60 million years, 17:10 and there is an attempt to blend evolution 17:14 and creation together thus to justify what archeologists 17:19 or people that excavate or people that discover 17:23 bones and fragments from many, many generations 17:26 that say well, that was 30 million years ago, 17:29 that was 60 million years ago, that was 5 billion years ago. 17:31 They are saying that the earth was sitting here 17:33 that long and then God came along 17:35 and decided to do something with it. 17:37 Well, if you follow the creation story 17:39 the Bible says in Genesis1:1, 17:42 "In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth." 17:46 Notice singular, the heaven and the earth. 17:48 Or as other translations, the heavens and the earth, 17:51 meaning they are three heavens. 17:53 Let's point them now and sure the one 17:56 that God didn't create in the very beginning. 17:59 God didn't create the heaven where He is, 18:02 because God always is. 18:04 Right. Okay. 18:05 But the heavens we referred to as the planets, 18:08 the stars, the moon, the atmosphere above us 18:11 where the birds fly, and the planets 18:14 where those things created, when the Bible says 18:16 "In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth." 18:19 And then also God created the earth and when He did, 18:22 during that creation week, it was an empty mass 18:26 that then during that creation which He began 18:29 to populate it with plants, with land mass, 18:33 with vegetation, with birds, 18:35 all the things that we do now have. 18:37 So just wanted to clarify, that we don't believe 18:40 that the earth was sitting here 18:42 for an indefinite period of time, 18:44 even though God created it and then came back later on. 18:47 We don't believe that God came back later on 18:49 and decided to do something with it. 18:51 Right. Okay. 18:52 Yeah, and while clearly we have the Spirit of God 18:55 hovering over the face of the earth, 18:58 like you're saying, it wasn't, something that 19:00 He came back for it. Right. 19:02 It was an immediate sense that He, that this element, 19:05 this round earth was created and then He began to hover 19:08 to then put the things that are in the earth 19:11 and put the skies and the heavens and things 19:13 and create in six literal days. 19:17 You know, we are not covering 19:18 this isn't creation topic necessarily 19:19 but literal days that's what we are talking about. 19:22 Thank you, John. 19:23 And what you have for us, I'm not sure. 19:25 We have one more question. 19:26 This is from Catalan and she is 12. 19:29 And she says, I love watching House Calls. 19:32 She lives in the Cayman Islands, 19:33 she lives in Cayman specifically. 19:35 And it says that she is excited to see Jesus one day, 19:40 but she wants to know that if everyone's going 19:42 to be judge or just unbelievers. 19:45 And so any ways this is a question, 19:47 there is a few scripture that we can take a look at. 19:49 I know, John, that we can go back and forth on this a bit. 19:53 The first one found in John 5:28, 29, 19:57 says that there are going to be two kinds of judgments, 20:01 and well, we might as well read it. 20:02 Let's just take a quick look here. 20:04 Let's go for it. 20:05 John 5:28, 29 says, 20:11 "Do not marvel at this, for the hour is coming, 20:14 in which all who are in the graves 20:16 will hear His voice and come forth, 20:21 those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, 20:24 and those who have done evil, 20:26 to the resurrection of condemnation." 20:28 Two resurrections clearly. That's right. 20:30 One sect, or one group is being resurrected to eternal life, 20:34 the other group is resurrected to 20:37 eternal condemnation or eternal death. 20:40 Notice the polar opposites here. 20:42 You either have eternal life or you an eternal death. 20:46 There's no eternal life and eternal life in hell. Exactly. 20:51 It's eternal life or eternal death. 20:53 That's what that verse is talking about, 20:54 we go to two judgments. 20:56 But now look with me, turn with me over to 1 Thessalonians 4. 21:00 Where we're going to see, since she was putting 21:03 in the context here of Christ coming and the judgment, 21:06 let's take a look at, 21:07 what happens during Christ return. Okay. 21:13 1 Thessalonians, you want to read 21:14 that verses 16 and 17, John? 21:17 Okay, verse 16 and 17. 21:20 1 Thessalonians 4:16. 21:23 "For the Lord himself shall descend 21:25 from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, 21:29 and with the trump of God, 21:30 and the dead in Christ shall rise first. 21:33 Then we which are alive and remain shall be 21:36 caught up together with them in the clouds, 21:38 to meet the Lord in the air, 21:41 and so shall we ever be with the Lord." 21:44 It's interesting, the description 21:45 as you read various descriptions throughout God's word, 21:48 the description of Christ's return always 21:51 for the most part will include a reference 21:54 to the saint's resurrection, not to the wicked. 21:59 You will never find a Christ's second coming, 22:02 a resurrection of the wicked. 22:04 Not in one place in scripture will you find that. 22:06 You will only find as these verses, 22:09 it's probably the clearest that the saints are resurrected 22:13 and then of course, those who are alive 22:14 and our saints are caught up with them 22:16 to meet the Lord in the air. 22:17 So what happens at that second coming is, 22:20 with regard to the wicked, they are not resurrected, 22:23 and those who are wicked, who are alive at that time 22:26 are destroyed by the brightness of Christ's return. 22:29 But there is no judgment of the wicked. 22:32 But let me ask you a question. 22:33 If the saints go to heaven and receive their reward, 22:36 don't they need to have experience of judgment? 22:40 Well, absolutely and that's the point, 22:43 that the judgment of the saints, those who profess His name, 22:46 who proclaim faith in Christ, 22:49 that judgment has to be completed 22:50 because, John, face it, 22:52 there are some who proclaim Christ says 22:54 they will save you, who are not gods. 22:56 We read that it Mathew 7. 22:59 You know, those that did all these things in His name 23:01 and he says that I never knew you. 23:03 And then are those who profess Christ, 23:05 who are His. Right. 23:06 There has to be a judgment as we find 23:09 in the separating of the sheep from the goats. 23:11 The judgment of that group, who, who professes Christ, 23:15 needs to be put on the side of the sheep 23:19 which are the saints and who needs to be 23:20 on the side of the goats which are not His. That's right. 23:23 Now this fits very well, our current-- 23:26 I would say America's current legal system 23:29 where as someone who is accused of something 23:33 and we are all accused of being sinners, aren't we? 23:36 So when someone is accused or brought before a court, 23:40 they enter a plea at that time, 23:43 and those who enter a plea of not guilty, 23:47 I would qualify as equating to those who say, 23:50 the Lord is my savior. 23:52 Those who enter a plea of guilty are equated 23:56 to those who are the wicked, 23:57 who never professed Christ, 23:58 who could care less and have always professed, 24:01 they don't believe in God, 24:02 they're not interested in the kingdom of God 24:04 because they don't think it's there first of all. 24:06 But they don't want that part of life, 24:08 so they would enter that plea of guilty. 24:10 And they would never argue with that they're not guilty. 24:13 But some for those who are entering the plea of not guilty 24:18 from that point on, there is no final judgment, 24:21 there is no executive judgment at that time 24:23 but what there is, is an investigation. 24:26 There's witnesses brought forward, 24:28 there's an inspection of the evidence, 24:30 there's the determination of whether or not 24:31 this person really is not guilty or if in fact they are guilty, 24:35 they just profess not to be guilty. 24:38 So there are some then that are Gods, 24:41 that who profess Christ as their savior who are still guilty, 24:44 who do not live that life that God wants to have them live, 24:49 by changing their life, by making them new, 24:51 by regenerating their spiritual nature, 24:55 that do need that judgment, they do need that inspection. 24:59 And on that day, by that day, 25:01 by the time that Christ arrives 25:02 will have to already be judged. 25:05 Right. But now let's go to the last part. 25:07 The next time Christ returns, 25:09 this time with His saints after the 1,000 years. 25:13 Let's finish that up in Revelation 20. 25:14 you're probably already armed for that one. 25:17 Yeah, I am getting ready to registering on that question. 25:21 So now we get to the after the thousand years, 25:23 the saints are with Christ. 25:25 Those who are resurrected, who suffered you know, 25:27 experienced death, those who weren't, 25:29 were alive and remained, they are in heaven, 25:31 been there for a thousand years, 25:33 and it says pertaining to that starting in verse 4 that," 25:38 I saw thrones, and they sat on them 25:40 and the judgment was committed to them, 25:42 and I saw the souls of those who had been beheaded 25:44 for the witness of Jesus to Jesus 25:46 and for the Word of God' 25:48 and who would not worshipped the beast or its image, 25:50 who hadn't received the mark 25:51 on their forehead or their hands. 25:54 And they lived in reign with Christ for a thousand years." 25:57 Speaking of that group that went to heaven 25:58 with Christ at His second coming. 26:01 But notice this verse 5, "But the rest of the dead" 26:05 that is the wicked who are left behind, 26:08 "did not live until the thousand years were, what, finished." 26:15 This is the first resurrection. 26:18 The first resurrection then is only of the righteous, 26:21 the rest of the dead 26:22 were not raised in the first resurrection, 26:25 they were there and remain in the grave 26:27 for the thousand year period, the millennial period, 26:30 where the saints are in heaven, 26:31 and the saints are as verse 4 says, 26:34 doing or performing an act of judgment. 26:36 They are involved in the judgment, 26:38 the inspection of the record of those who are the wicked. 26:42 And then of course, if you go on verse 7, 26:44 "When a thousand years have expired, 26:45 Satan will be released from his prison, 26:47 and go out to deceive the nations." 26:49 Therefore, who is been resurrected 26:51 in the second resurrection? 26:53 The unrighteous. The unrighteous, the wicked. 26:56 So the Satan can then gather them, 26:58 deceive them, where it could go on, 27:00 if you read the rest of that on your own, 27:01 where they attack the city and then we find fire comes 27:04 out of heaven and destroys them. 27:05 Now go ahead and weigh on this, 27:06 you've been waiting very patiently, John, thank you. 27:09 I just wanted to provide a good well rounded perspective 27:11 of how that all works, 27:12 because it is important to know. 27:14 I've learned to listen, and that's really good 27:15 but that's good way you approach that, 27:18 getting back and I want to just-- 27:19 You know, can I add something real quick. 27:21 He's patient listening today 27:23 but also his voice isn't strong as it could be. Okay. 27:27 Because some of you know, he was hit very hard in the throat, 27:29 we are basketball players, we love to play basketball. 27:32 John a fluke accident happened 27:36 where you were elbowed in the throat. 27:38 He could not talk for a three to four weeks. 27:41 And just now this is the first program 27:42 we've been able to do as a result of that, 27:44 so praise the Lord for your patience, 27:45 but also John, I know that you have a little, 27:47 you want to rest your voice a little bit too, so. 27:49 That's true. 27:50 But pray for him, he hasn't got the same voice yet. 27:53 And we want that to come back, 27:54 that's a big part of your ministry, we know, 27:56 so, just wanted to add that because, you know, 27:59 we couldn't do this probably if you couldn't speak. 28:01 That's true, but there's a time to keep silence, 28:04 there's a time to speak. 28:05 Now is the time to speak. 28:07 I want to register on this 28:08 because the person wants to know, 28:09 if everyone is going to be judged or just unbelievers. 28:12 Well, couple of texts that I think kind of 28:14 cuts right to the chase, 2 Corinthians 5:10, 28:17 "For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ 28:21 that each one may receive the things done in the body, 28:24 according to what he has done, whether good or whether bad." 28:27 Then you go to Ecclesiastes 12, 13, 14. 28:31 "For God will being every work into judgment, 28:33 with every secret thing, 28:34 whether it be good or whether it be evil." 28:35 That's the generalization. But now he has a question. 28:39 Let's narrow that down. 28:40 Let's look at the category 28:41 and I think you narrowed it down very well, 28:42 the believer and the non believer. 28:45 Let's first go to the nonbeliever. 28:49 Why the nonbeliever going to be judged last and not first? 28:53 Okay, let me go ahead and go to the first part. 28:56 1 Peter 4:17, "For the time has come that judgment 29:01 must begin at the house of God. 29:03 And if it first begin with us, what shall be the end 29:06 be of them that obey not the Gospel of God?" 29:10 If the righteous scarcely be saved, 29:13 where will the ungodly and the sinner appear? 29:17 You talked about where they're going to appear. 29:19 They're going to appear in the second resurrection. 29:21 They're going to appear in the resurrection of condemnation. 29:25 And notice what Jesus says, how He narrows this down. 29:28 And this is the reason why first the judgment begins with us, 29:30 because if we claim to be the children of God, 29:33 our works will come before review, 29:36 to determine whether or not our profession 29:38 and our works are in harmony with each other. That's right. 29:41 Not just what you say, but also what we do. 29:44 And here's the text, John 3:18, 29:48 "He that believes on him, is not condemned." 29:51 That's the believer. 29:53 That's why they won't be in the second resurrection, 29:55 that's why we won't be in the judgment of condemnation 29:58 but continuing with the verse, 30:00 "But he that believes not, is condemned already, 30:03 because he has not believed 30:05 in the name of the only-begotten Son of God." 30:08 So there you go, you have the second category. 30:09 The reason why the Lord judges us first, 30:12 is because we are the ones claiming to know Him. Right. 30:14 But it's not for His information. That's right. 30:17 When the saints get to the kingdom 30:18 and they are there for a thousand years, 30:20 we're going to wonder why did this guy, 30:22 and that woman, and that person, and that-is not here. 30:25 God is going to say, here are their records. 30:26 And that's where you get the book of life. 30:29 And let me go down to the last two texts. 30:31 And so this is what you talked about 1 Corinthians 6:2, 30:34 "Do you not know that the saints shall judge the world? 30:38 And if the world shall be judged by you, 30:41 are you unworthy to judge in the smallest matters?" 30:45 So there are some people that say, John, 30:46 don't judge me. 30:47 Oh, wait a minute friends, 30:48 that's the most misapplied statement. 30:51 The saints of God had been given the Word of God 30:54 to make judgments as to one thing or the other, 30:57 by their fruits you'll know them. 30:58 They only judgment we don't have is the judgment 31:00 to condemn you to hell 31:02 or the judgment to appoint you to heaven. 31:04 That's what we don't do, 31:06 but there's an entire book called judges. 31:09 And that was the whole purpose of it. 31:10 They were judges to judge the children of Israel. 31:13 And lastly, Revelation 20:12, 31:17 "And I saw the dead, small and great, 31:18 stand before the God, and the books were opened. 31:21 And another book was opened, which is the book of life. 31:23 And the dead were judged out of those things 31:26 which were written in the books, according to their works." 31:29 The book of life contains all the resurrected saints. 31:32 But here's the final part, "And the sea gave up the dead" 31:35 verse 13, "Which were in them, 31:37 and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, 31:40 and they were judged every man according to their works." 31:43 That's the second resurrection. Yeah. 31:46 And anyone not found in the book, 31:48 was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. 31:50 And notice there in that passage two 31:52 when he talks about the books and the book. 31:54 Which are two different groups here, 31:55 the book is the book of life, 31:57 but the books are the books of our life. That's right. 32:00 To record the books of record, that are recorded 32:02 by the angels of the things that we've done. 32:05 And when you stand with your book opened without Christ, 32:09 there's nothing but filthy racks. That's right. 32:11 There's nothing but condemnation that is prepared for you 32:13 and that's why they're judged by their works 32:16 or the things that were written in their books. That's right. 32:19 But when Christ comes into your life, 32:21 what is written in your book of record is the works of Christ 32:25 and your sins are not appearing. 32:27 And so that's why we are judged by Christ's works, 32:30 what He's done for us not what we've done for ourselves. 32:33 That a beautiful text, I think we can transition on this, 32:37 2 Corinthians 5:17. 32:40 "If any man be in Christ, he's a new creation. 32:43 All things have passed away, 32:45 behold all things have become new." 32:48 And the Bible says, we, John says, 32:50 we have passed from death until life, 32:53 because we love our brethren. 32:55 There's a difference altogether. 32:56 That's why we should not fear the judgment, 32:58 but we should look forward to the judgment. 33:00 A perfect love cast out all fear. 33:03 Speaking about the judgment, 33:04 I think this is the good place for transition 33:05 but if we've opened up your mind 33:08 to anything that you like further clarification on, 33:11 and you may have a question that swimming around in your head 33:14 and you like us to address it, 33:16 send those questions to housecalls@3abn.org, 33:19 that's housecalls@3abn.org 33:23 and we would be glad to address that. 33:25 John, why don't you lead us into your topic today? 33:29 What are we talking about? 33:30 Well, we had a great segue question there, 33:32 and we spent more time on your questions today 33:34 because, that is really one of the funniest parts 33:37 that we have of this program, 33:39 but the topic today is about the subject of hell. 33:43 Now there's so much confusion, John, 33:44 about what the word hell really means. 33:47 And so I think it's time that we take a little bit of time 33:51 just to kind of dive in here to see, 33:53 what hell is really all about. 33:56 You know, what are we saying, when we use the word hell, 33:58 when the Bible uses the word hell. 34:00 At the end of time, how does it apply to the lake of fire? 34:04 What is hellfire mean and how is it connected 34:06 to the lake of fire. 34:07 All these questions are really questions 34:10 that people don't really know much about. 34:13 But I think it's important to cover 34:14 because the Bible does state very clearly, 34:18 you know, this subject and provides 34:20 some real good explanations on what hell is. 34:24 You know, the word hell is so misused in our society today. 34:28 It is taken on, whatever the modern vernacular 34:32 has applied it to and sometimes it's used 34:34 in a very derogatory profane way. 34:37 But when the Bible uses the word hell, 34:39 it was never brought into-its inception 34:43 was not broadened as a profane application, 34:47 but to simply describe a number of things. 34:49 Well, the word hell could be the word a sheol, 34:52 the Hebrew word, we're referring to the place of the dead. 34:56 Hell could also be hades referring to the lake of fire 35:00 or gehenna the place where the wicked will be burning, 35:04 or in one instance, tartarus the spirit world, 35:08 where demons are held captive. 35:11 In other words, the reason why we cannot see them, 35:14 is because the Bible says, 35:15 "God spared not the angels that sinned, 35:17 but cast them down and delivered them 35:20 into chains of darkness." 35:22 That word there cast them down to hell 35:24 and deliver them with the chains of darkness, 35:26 that's the only place the word is in the Greek, 35:28 'tartarus' meaning, this is a spirit world, 35:30 we can see good angels, we cannot see evil angels, 35:33 and I praise God for that. 35:35 Which is really the only reference 35:36 to a spirit world place for the word hell itself. 35:41 Yeah, we want to, it seems like that, 35:42 one word used that one time is the really expanded definition, 35:45 it's become the standard definition of hell. 35:47 Right and people have used that to, 35:50 people have misused that and misapplied that 35:52 to almost make you think, 35:54 that Satan is this guy wearing the red suit with the pitch fork 35:59 and horns and he roasts 36:02 people on a rotisserie and torments them in hell. 36:06 But what people don't-- 36:07 Prods them and just, yeah. 36:08 Prods them in there 36:09 and their aims of tormenting people in hell 36:11 but what they don't realize is that the torment of hell 36:15 is reserved for the devil and his angels. 36:19 Hasn't happened yet. 36:20 It hasn't happened yet. It's reserved. 36:21 But hell is reserved for the devil and his angels. 36:24 That's why I always say, John, and this is something 36:26 I hope you catch this. 36:28 Hell was never made for the people that God created. 36:32 Hell was only made for the destruction 36:34 of the devil and his angels. 36:35 Unfortunately many sinners who have not accepted Jesus, 36:39 the Bible says, "The number of those who are 36:41 going to be lost is as the sands of the sea." 36:45 But let's go ahead and begin and, John, let's dive 36:47 into our first text on the topic of hell. 36:49 Hopefully we'll be able to answer some of the questions 36:52 and some of the viewpoints that are floating out there 36:54 about this indefinite understanding of hell. 36:57 Let's do that. 36:59 As far as starting, we kind of led 37:01 into this subject a little bit, at least a part that says, 37:05 or that we've clarified before of the fact 37:07 that there is a judgment. Right. 37:10 There is a judgment, so at some point, 37:12 God will bring a finality to sin and sinners. 37:18 And so that we do need to know. 37:20 And so let's take a dive here into the content of this idea 37:25 of the finality, and how hell plays a part, 37:28 a very important part in that. 37:32 What did Jesus say about hell? 37:34 Well, let start with the great text, 37:36 what Jesus said about it. 37:39 This text we're going to begin with is in Mathew 13, 37:43 the parable of the wheat and the tares. 37:46 It's a beautiful parable, because it illustrates 37:48 a couple of things, one is that, 37:49 it defines who the wheat are, 37:51 and some of you already theological 37:53 and you already know, and who the tares are. 37:55 Doesn't take a scientist to figure those two things out, 37:58 but the things that's most important about this, John, 38:01 is what's going to happen to the tares 38:03 and when is it going to happen to the tares, 38:06 and how is it going to happen with the tares, 38:09 is the application I would like to bring out of this. 38:11 So, John, why don't you begin 38:13 by reading Mathew 13:24-30. 38:21 Okay, verse 24. 38:24 "Another parable He put forth to them, saying, 38:27 "The kingdom of heaven is like a man 38:29 who sowed good seed in his field, 38:32 but while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares 38:35 among the wheat and went his way. 38:38 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, 38:40 then the tares also appeared. 38:43 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 38:45 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your fields? 38:49 How then does it have tares?' 38:52 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' 38:55 The servants said to him, 38:56 'Do you want us to then go and gather them up?' 39:00 But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up the tares 39:03 you also uproot the wheat with them. 39:06 Let both grow together until when, the harvest, 39:10 and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, 39:14 "First gather together the tares and bind them 39:17 in bundles to burn them, 39:19 but gather the wheat into my barn."' 39:24 Okay. All right. 39:25 Okay, now so you find the tares in the wheat, 39:29 you find the sour, you find the seed, you find the field. 39:33 Well the Bible defines and gives definition 39:37 to this parable in every particular. 39:39 Let's go to the definition now. 39:41 In verse 36, this is Mathew 13:36. 39:46 "Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went into the house. 39:50 And His disciples came to Him, saying, 39:52 "Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field." 39:57 He answered and said to them: 39:58 "He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man." 40:01 So we find Jesus right away. Good seed. 40:03 And by the way, you want make this very clear 40:05 because Jesus never ever sowed bad seed. 40:09 So if you have a family member that's a bad seed, 40:12 it's not because Jesus abides in them-- 40:13 He never sowed tares, He only throw out good seed. 40:15 Exactly, nothing bad comes from Jesus, 40:17 He only sows good seed. 40:20 The field is the world, you need to get that 40:25 because people think that hell is going to be 40:27 somewhere under the earth or somewhere out there. 40:30 I had a guy, I asked him a question, 40:32 I said, where is hell? 40:33 He says, out there. 40:34 I said, "Where?" he said, out there. 40:36 I said where, Colorado, Idaho, where? Out there. 40:41 He couldn't give me a definitive place. 40:42 And I said what about the new earth 40:43 anyway I'm jumping ahead of myself 40:44 but the point I want to make here is the field is the world. 40:48 So here's the point, the field being the world, 40:51 you find wheat and tares in the world. 40:54 Okay, let's keep going. 40:57 "The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom: 41:00 but the tares are the sons of the wicked one." 41:03 Both have children. 41:06 "The enemy, verse 39, who sowed them is the devil, 41:10 the harvest is the end of the age, 41:13 and the reapers are the angels." 41:17 You got to get this part, verse 40 41:18 friends is the key part of this verse, 41:21 "Therefore as the tares are gathered and burned in the fire, 41:26 so it will be at the end of this age." 41:30 Where as the King James Version says 41:31 "at the end of the world." 41:33 That's the key. That's the key. 41:35 Right there. So is your fire going on now? 41:38 Not according to this version, 41:39 you can't read that at this point. 41:40 No because the tares are still growing. That's right. 41:43 They are growing together, 41:45 and how long are they going to grow together, John? 41:46 Until when? The end of the age, the end of the world. 41:48 Until the-- Until the harvest, 41:51 which is at the end of the world. Exactly. 41:53 So the harvest, because notice, the harvest 41:55 is talked about even further here. 41:57 Look at verse 41." 41:59 The Son of man will send out his angels." 42:02 That's what the angels are going to do 42:04 at the second coming of Christ. 42:05 He's going to send out His angels, 42:07 and they will gather out of his kingdom 42:10 all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness. 42:16 And will cast them into a furnace of fire, 42:19 there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth." 42:21 Notice, that's not going to happen until the angels do it. 42:25 It doesn't happen at death. 42:27 I really want to beat this thing up today. Right. 42:29 It doesn't happen when a wicked person dies, 42:31 they're not taken to some place. 42:34 The parable of the rich man Lazarus, 42:37 notice angels are using that parable. 42:39 The angels carry the wicked, they gather them 42:43 out of the kingdom of God, 42:44 bind them in bundles like a person would, 42:47 anything that is refuse, 42:49 and takes it to the place to burn it. 42:51 But the tree does not stop burning 42:53 the moment you cut it down. That's right. 42:55 Because if you burn it and cut it down, 42:56 you may burn the good fire wood. 42:58 You take it all of the junk, 43:00 put it over there as kindling that is, 43:02 and burn that up separately and keep the good things 43:04 and take them in the house. 43:06 And lastly, verse 43, "Then the righteous 43:10 shall shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. 43:15 He who has ears to hear, let him hear." 43:18 Okay, so you see clearly, John, the kingdom, 43:21 that whole gathering process 43:22 and the fire is not going to be ignited 43:25 until the end of the world. 43:26 That's right, now if you have a Bible, 43:28 that you're writing in, cross reference this text, 43:32 and I've got this circled, underlined like go here, 43:34 one of those things Isaiah 24:21, 22. 43:39 You want to mark that, 43:40 because that will explain further 43:42 what is being explained here by Christ. 43:46 It says in Isaiah 24:21, 43:49 "It shall come to pass in that day, 43:52 that the Lord will punish on high the host of exalted ones 43:56 and on the earth the kings of the earth. 43:58 They will be gathered together, 44:01 as prisoners are gathered in the pit, 44:04 and will be shut up in the prison, 44:07 after many days they will be punished." 44:10 So they are gathered but they are shut up in a pit 44:14 as if it were a pit, in a prison they are reserved, 44:16 they're held there until what? 44:20 After many days they will be punished. 44:22 What do you think, that many days refers to? 44:25 The millennium. That's a great text, John. 44:27 I commend you for that one. 44:29 That is the millennium, 44:30 so the many days have to go by, 44:32 this period of the thousand years, 44:33 and we've alluded to this one, 44:34 we answered the question before as well, 44:36 that there is the judgment of the saints 44:38 are engaged in of the wicked in inspection of their books 44:41 and all the other thing. 44:42 After all those days are passed, 44:44 then it says, they will be punished. 44:48 That's right. Matter of fact, that's' a good text, John. 44:50 As we say in basketball, 44:52 I've to give you props for that one. 44:55 That's a good one. 44:56 That's yes, the Holy Spirit really-- 44:57 Well, let's look at that again, I want to look at that again 44:59 because somebody probably heard that text for the first one. 45:02 And they are saying, well, I hadn't heard that. 45:04 Notice what it says, "It shall come to pass in that day, 45:08 that the Lord will punish on high 45:10 the host of exalted ones 45:12 and on the earth, the kings of the earths 45:15 they will be gathered together, 45:17 notice he will gather them together in bundles. 45:19 Mathew 13, "As prisoners are gathered in the pit, 45:24 and will be shut up in the prison. 45:27 The angel that came down with the key 45:30 and locked up Satan for a thousand years.'' 45:33 That is Revelation 20. 45:36 "And after many days they will be punished." 45:41 And after many days they will be punished. 45:43 Wonderful, John, wonderful. 45:45 You know, I like to segue from that text 45:47 to the Book of Isaiah 14, 45:54 Isaiah 14, want to go there. 45:57 Okay, Isaiah 14. 46:02 Now you've noticed, we just talked about the pit in Isaiah, 46:07 right away that text that came to my mind, 46:08 when you talked about Isaiah 24. 46:11 What was the verse we just read, Isaiah 24. 46:16 We just ready Isaiah 24. 46:17 But now look at the same language, 46:19 look at the same language in Isaiah 14. 46:23 When Satan says in verse 14, 46:25 "I will ascend above the heights of the clouds, 46:27 I would be like the most high.' 46:29 Look at the Lord says," 46:30 Yet, you shall be brought down to hell or sheol 46:34 to the lowest depths of the pit." 46:38 You see, His appointment is coming again. 46:41 His appointment is coming very, very clearly there. 46:44 And the Bible talks about-- 46:46 Well, the Bible in Revelation talks 46:47 about the bottomless pit as well, so. 46:52 May be we need to clarify a little bit, this pit. 46:55 The pit is restrictive obviously in the fact 46:58 that you cannot get out. 47:00 But the pit isn't a hole. Thank you. 47:02 It's not a big hole that you drop somebody in. 47:04 This pit is a pit, in that it is restricted, 47:08 you cannot get out of your situation. 47:10 It's more of a result of the circumstances, 47:15 that has put you there, 47:16 that you cannot get out of that situation, 47:19 that this pit is referring to. 47:21 So not the fact that this is big hole 47:24 that goes down into the ground, so low that hell is there. 47:26 Right, because it's bottomless. Right. 47:29 So you have to keep in mind, when he says bottomless, 47:31 what he's talking about its void, its emptiness. 47:36 You know when one somebody, I'm gonna use this illustration. 47:39 When I was a young man, I used to eat like a forklift. 47:43 And the number of ladies in our community said, 47:46 I would rather clothe him than feed him. 47:49 Well as you can see now, I've tape it off, 47:51 but I was never an overweight child, 47:54 it's just that as a growing boy, I remember those days 47:56 when I used to eat McDonald's and Burger King. 47:59 You know I go to Burger King and get two Big Macs 48:02 and a quarter pound of cheese and just-- 48:05 You can't go to Burger King then-- 48:06 I mean, McDonald's sorry. 48:08 That just shows you how long it's been. 48:12 Hey, good testimony. 48:15 You know, two quarter pound of a cheese in a Big Mac, 48:17 devour them, I'll buy whole pizza my friend, 48:21 three of us, we bought one pizza each, 48:23 and sit down with a big bottle of soda 48:25 and just eat that whole thing and drink ourselves-- 48:27 Your stomach is like a bottomless pit. 48:28 I could, I was really a consumer. 48:32 But the point being made here is, 48:36 when the earth is empty of the saints, 48:39 when the saints are ascended to heaven, 48:42 and the second resurrection hasn't taken place yet. 48:45 The only ones that are going to be alive on the earth 48:46 are the devil and his angels. 48:48 That's why that pit they will be reserved. 48:50 It becomes a pit to them. 48:51 And after many days, that text is a wonderful text, John. 48:54 You know, and the other thing too, 48:56 just kind of put this reference point in there, 48:58 is that the bottomless pit, the reference there is abyssals 49:02 which is the abyss. Right. 49:04 It's a bunch of nothingness. Right. 49:06 And Isaiah talks very clearly in other places 49:08 Jeremiah refers to it too 49:09 as the earth again after the return of Christ, 49:12 in the second coming and those who are destroyed 49:14 by the brightness of His coming. 49:15 The earth becomes without forming void again 49:19 as almost it was at the very beginning, 49:21 but not the same obviously because we are talking 49:23 about water at the beginning and the deep as opposed to rocks, 49:27 but the voidness is very clearly the same, 49:31 nothing, no one will be here to tempt. 49:34 And Satan and his angels will, what do they do? 49:38 They stay here and they are gathered in chains of darkness, 49:43 reserved unto the Day of Judgment to be punished. 49:46 That's right. That's how Peter says it. 49:49 Matter of fact, let's go to the Book of Ezekiel 28. 49:53 The reason I want to go there first is because Ezekiel, 49:57 before we go to, before we go to what happens 49:59 to the wicked that are not saved. 50:03 Let's first talk about what happens to Satan. 50:06 And the reason I want to do this, John, 50:07 because often times when I heard this subject talked about, 50:10 I mean I listen to a lot of the television preachers 50:13 and how funny we are in that category now. 50:17 I listen to a lot of them 50:18 and they talk about the wicked burning 50:19 for ever and ever and ever 50:20 and there's no rest day or night, its torment. 50:22 They take those texts in the Bible that talks 50:26 about torment day and night for ever and ever 50:28 and if they apply eternal life to it 50:32 rather than a long punishment, that eventually end. 50:37 And the reason I want to go to, 50:38 to what happens to Satan first is because, 50:40 Satan is not going to be around for ever. 50:43 Satan is not going to be reigning for eternity on earth 50:49 and Jesus reigning for eternity in heaven, 50:51 because the earth is going to be the place 50:53 where the saints are going to be live forever. 50:55 And the New Jerusalem is going to descend on here 50:57 and God is going to make His headquarters down here. 50:59 The Bible talks about the New Jerusalem 51:01 descending on to the earth. 51:03 There's not going to be some place out there, 51:06 where Satan is going to be carrying on the business of 51:09 tempting and tormenting and having people 51:12 wallow in the fires of hell 51:14 because he's not going to be around. 51:16 That's right, okay, so now I'm going to read the text 51:18 and I go and finish my thesis here so to speak. 51:25 Ezekiel 28, Ezekiel 28. 51:29 First of all we're going to look at, 51:31 who God is talking about, verse 14. 51:35 He says, "You were the anointed cherub 51:37 who covers, I established you. 51:40 You were on the holy mountain of God, 51:42 you walked back and forth in the midst of fiery stones. 51:46 You are perfect in your ways from the day you were created, 51:51 till iniquity was found in you." 51:53 I want you to notice the comparison here 51:54 because there's a comparison here we often miss. 51:57 Satan was at one time able to walk back and forth 51:59 in the midst of fiery stones and not be consumed. 52:02 That's right. He was able to do that and not be consumed. 52:06 But when iniquity was found in him 52:08 and he was cast out of heaven, his state not only changed, 52:12 he was no longer an exalted angel, 52:14 he was the fallen angel now. 52:15 And what he once possessed, he no longer possessed. 52:18 Satan doesn't have eternal life. 52:21 Notice this. Right. 52:23 Verse 17, oh, well, we'll start with verse 16. 52:28 "By the abundance of your trading 52:29 you became filled with violence within and you sinned, 52:34 therefore I cast you as a profane thing, 52:37 out of the mountain of God, and I destroyed you, 52:42 O covering cherub from the midst of the fiery stones." 52:45 In other words, I took you from that position. 52:48 I destroyed the place that you, 52:49 I destroyed the position you once held. 52:51 You no longer had that. 52:52 In other words, your whole career was destroyed, 52:55 followed by your actual destruction. 52:58 And that's where we go the final verses here. 53:00 Verse 17, "Your heart was lifted up 53:02 because of your beauty, you corrupted your wisdom 53:05 for the sake of your splendor." 53:07 In other words, your wisdom is messed up 53:08 because you had a desire to shine 53:10 more than to use your wisdom. 53:12 "I cast you to the ground, I laid you before kings, 53:15 that they might gaze at you. 53:16 You defiled your sanctuaries, 53:18 by the multitude of your iniquities. 53:20 By the iniquity of your trading--" 53:22 But now look at his ultimate end. 53:24 "Therefore I brought forth, 53:27 therefore I brought fire from your midst, 53:31 it devoured you and I turned you to ashes upon the earth, 53:36 in the sight of all who saw you. 53:40 All who knew you, among the peoples are 53:43 astonished at you. 53:44 You have become a horror and shall be no more for ever." 53:50 Really clear, Satan is not going to be here around. 53:52 He's not going to be around for ever, 53:53 which now lays the foundation for us 53:55 to get into all the other aspects of hell. 53:57 To see that people are not going 53:58 to be burning for ever and ever. 54:00 How could the-- how could the very culprit, 54:02 how could the very one who begin, 54:04 began the sin process be gone and all of his subjects 54:09 are still being tormented. 54:11 Doesn't make any kind of sense at all. 54:12 Matter of fact, it's not even judicial. 54:14 Doesn't even fit in the court system. 54:16 Well, I mean the court system is based on, 54:19 or judgment is based upon the reasonable punishment. 54:23 It's got to fit the crime. 54:26 And, you know, you can imagine, 54:28 you know someone who has been an unbeliever, 54:31 doesn't believe in God 54:32 but a philanthropist all their life, 54:34 basically one that has done good for humanity 54:36 and all the other things, 54:37 but may be just has rejected God, 54:39 and he is not interested in that. 54:40 Can you imagine that person receiving 54:43 the same punishment as Hitler? 54:46 It doesn't match. It doesn't match. 54:48 And so the punishment, even in our own system 54:50 has to fit the crime. 54:51 The other thing I think that we really struggled with, 54:53 I think this world struggles with more along 54:55 the lines of unbelievers rather than believers, 54:58 is the fact that we are worshipping a God 55:01 who they hear from us, is a God that is going 55:06 to torment people forever, keep them alive to torment them. 55:09 The definition of that friends is torture. 55:13 And we have a problem 55:14 with people torturing even in America. 55:17 You know, we've heard how could we possibly 55:18 be engaged in torture, it's all heinous, 55:20 horrible thing, here we ascribe it to God. 55:23 That's just, you know what, 55:24 the work for that is unconscionable. Right. 55:27 That we had assigned that character to God. 55:29 He is not like that. 55:30 God isn't that way. 55:32 And its sad that we apply to God's character. 55:35 But then again, you know, who would be the one behind that. 55:37 Satan wants God to be seen as the worst tyrant than himself, 55:41 that's why people say, how could God destroy sinners. 55:44 Anything that defile will not enter the kingdom of God 55:47 and if the earth is going to be not if, 55:50 but because the earth is going to be filled 55:52 with righteousness forever, filled with a glory, 55:55 sinlessness forever, sin will not arise the second time. 55:59 There will be no possibility of sin ever coming back 56:03 to damage the beautiful recreation 56:05 of the heavens and the earth. 56:07 God is not going to perpetuate some out there, lake, 56:12 where the fires of hell are going to continue 56:14 to torment people forever. 56:15 You know what's amazing. 56:16 John, nobody could ever find it in the Bible. 56:18 Yeah, that's right. They can't find it there. 56:21 You know, one verse to end on really quick, 56:23 we just have a minute left here. 56:24 James 1:15, "Sin when it's finished brings forth death." 56:30 You know when the fire consumes all sin 56:32 and sinners with it what results is death. 56:36 And think about the rational here. 56:38 If death finally gets all the wicked, 56:43 it brings forth, they all experience death. 56:45 When Jesus destroys death, 56:47 how can the wicked be there still? 56:50 And yet I never thought about it until just a second. 56:53 The last enemy is death. 56:56 And if the wicked have experienced death, 56:57 how can he destroy death and have the wicked continue on, 57:00 that doesn't even work. 57:02 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death, 57:04 1 Corinthians 15, beautiful. Praise the Lord. 57:07 John, you're firing on all cylinders today, 57:09 I appreciate it. 57:10 Holy Spirit is firing on all the cylinders. 57:11 Praise God for that. 57:13 You know friends this is very clear topic. 57:14 We're going to cover it in greater detail 57:16 in another upcoming program. 57:17 But remember this you have no reason to fear 57:19 the fires of hell. 57:21 If you know the Savior that is the only one 57:22 that can deliver us from the fires of hell. 57:26 Get to know Him today, and when He does come, 57:29 you will be prepared to meet Him in peace. 57:31 God bless you and have a great day in Christ. |
Revised 2014-12-17