Participants: John Lomacang (Host), John Stanton
Series Code: HCL
Program Code: HCL120023
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00:01 Hello, friends. Grab your Bible and a friend
00:03 and sit back as we explore God's word together 00:05 on this edition of "House Calls." 00:22 Hello, and welcome back to our second part of our 00:24 second edition on our special edition of "House Calls." 00:29 This would be "The Greatest Error-Part 2." 00:33 And the whole series will be entitled the "Two Great Errors." 00:37 One was the untruth about Sunday being a holy day 00:41 and the other one is now about the immortality of the soul, 00:45 the natural immortality, all those things 00:48 that people die and actually go to heaven at death. 00:50 And we talked about that in the first part 00:52 and this is the second part 00:53 of the second half of the "Two Great Errors." 00:55 Yes. Did I say that with a mouthful, John? 00:56 You used every bit of a minute to explain it. 00:59 I'll tell you. So, but thank you for tuning in. 01:01 We are excited that you have your Bibles, your pens, 01:03 and we encourage you strongly to get a copy of this series 01:06 entitled, "The Two Great Errors, 01:09 the immortality of the soul and Sunday sacredness." 01:13 Two of the greatest errors told in history 01:15 and embraced by so many wonderful God-fearing Christians 01:19 that exist and worship the Lord today, 01:21 but for whatever reason, many of them 01:24 don't understand this as clearly as the Bible teaches it. 01:27 Yes, and so as we finish up today 01:29 we'll be covering a lot of stuff. That's right. 01:31 A lot of things that might challenge your thinking as we, 01:33 you know, mentioned here in the last program. 01:36 This time more of a focus as we shift toward hell. 01:41 How do we define that? 01:43 What happens to the wicked versus 01:46 what happens to the righteous? 01:47 Those kinds of things, we'll cover all those things 01:49 here today in the program. 01:51 But let's start with prayer. 01:53 Okay, John. As we always do. 01:55 Father in heaven, we thank You again 01:57 for this time that we can spend together studying Your word. 02:00 And we pray that You would pour out Your spirit upon us 02:03 so that we might receive wisdom and light 02:07 as we search Your scriptures for the truth on these issues. 02:11 Issues very important to each and every one of us. 02:14 That's why we're doing these programs and we pray, Lord, 02:16 that You would be glorified and that You would bless 02:19 and that You'd open our minds 02:21 and those that are also listening 02:23 and viewing this program here now. 02:25 In Jesus name we pray, Amen. Amen. 02:29 As I mentioned, there will be no questions 02:31 addressed this program. 02:33 And some of you may be wondering, 02:34 has the glory of the Lord risen upon him? 02:37 This is a bright shirt. 02:39 My wife decided, you know, she said, wear it. 02:42 Just go ahead and try it. I got it a few months ago. 02:45 I won't tell you what the store is. 02:47 I would tell you the store 02:48 if they gave it to me but I had to buy it. 02:49 So I'm not giving any free advertising-- 02:51 I had to see-- I have to look at you like this. 02:53 So, yeah, it's kind of bright 02:54 but, you know, this is a-- let me put it this way. 02:57 This topic will open your eyes if nothing else. 03:01 This topic will open your eyes. 03:03 John, what I'd like to do today since we're transitioning 03:07 between the topic of what happens when a person dies 03:11 and why people believe that they never really die. 03:17 I wanna go ahead and go back to the Book of Genesis. 03:19 And you mentioned that before the program. 03:20 Take us to that text where the first great error-- 03:24 where the second great error began to be sown. 03:28 Let us read that statement and so people could understand 03:31 the foundation of this idea that you really don't die. 03:35 Yeah, it starts back in the Book of Genesis 03:38 with Satan's temptation of Eve 03:42 and which leads to the fall of both Adam and Eve. 03:45 And if you look carefully you'll find that this subject 03:48 plays a big part in misleading Eve and brining her into sin. 03:53 And so let's start with Genesis Chapter 3:1. 03:59 It says "Now the serpent was more cunning 04:01 than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. 04:04 And he said to the woman, 'Has God indeed said, 04:09 You shall not eat of every tree of the garden?' 04:12 And the woman said to the serpent, 04:14 'We may eat of the fruit of the trees of the garden, 04:16 but of the fruit of the tree 04:18 which is in the midst of the garden," 04:19 or the middle of the garden. 04:21 "God has said, 'You shall not eat it, 04:23 nor shall you touch it, lest you'" what? 04:26 Die. "Die." 04:28 "Then the serpent said to the woman," 04:30 and this is the first statement. 04:32 The first was the question, now he's making the statement 04:35 which is now his doctrine. 04:37 He says "You will not surely die." 04:41 And it goes on to day that "God knows" 04:44 he says "God knows in that day 04:46 that you eat of it your eyes will be opened, 04:48 and you will be like God, knowing good and evil." 04:53 And we know as we read on in the story 04:55 that Eve actually took the fruit, she ate it. 04:59 And in fact began that very moment to die a spiritual death 05:04 and eventually then her mortality 05:07 led her to die a physical death as well. 05:09 That's right. And you know, 05:10 when you think about this passage, 05:12 the lie, the first great lie told is that you will not die. 05:19 You'll die, but not surely. Yeah. Not really die. 05:23 And so it's not gonna be as bad as you think. 05:25 God said, you're gonna die, but that's-- 05:27 You're, you're not really gonna die. 05:29 If you read the Hebrew He says to her, 05:32 one of the reasons why she took of the fruit 05:34 is because in the context of it the actual language says, 05:38 "I am sure you will not die." 05:41 So that's why she felt comfortable to go ahead 05:44 and partake of something that God 05:46 had forbidden her from partaking of. 05:49 Because He said, "You're not gonna die. 05:51 God says that but, you know, 05:52 the worst that could happen to you, 05:54 is your eyes will be opened and you will be like God 05:58 knowing good and evil." 05:59 And you clearly have both perspectives here now. 06:01 You have Eve who hasn't known death. 06:04 In her mind, life will go on forever. 06:08 And then you have the opposite, which God says, 06:10 that if you eat of this fruit you will die. 06:12 Life will not go on forever. That's right. 06:15 Satan intervenes and says to Eve, 06:18 "You know what? You can eat of it 06:19 and you won't really die. 06:21 Life will go on." That's right. 06:22 He's providing that third option which we know is a lie. 06:26 That's the way the first big lie began was on this point, 06:31 the point of not really dying, but in fact living on 06:35 beyond death even though you're a sinner. 06:38 Now when we ended the last program, 06:40 I want to go back to the very text that we ended with. 06:43 John 5:28 and 29. And because-- We kind of ended with. 06:47 I know that we used that because 06:49 we talked about Hebrews 11 there. 06:52 That is true. That is true. Very good observation. 06:54 But, yeah, John 20? John 5:28 and 29. 06:58 We want to go that catapulting passage 06:59 because what it's gonna do-- this book and I read it 07:02 last time. I want you to read it this time, John. 07:05 This statement by Jesus, by Jesus himself 07:10 locks us into the two realities. 07:14 Which resurrection are you going to be in? 07:16 These are two realities, every one of us 07:19 is going to be in one or the other 07:21 of these resurrections that is, that is if you die. 07:25 But if you don't die before Jesus comes 07:27 everyone of us is going to be in the place 07:29 of eternal life or eternal damnation. 07:33 Right. Eternal destruction. Eternal condemnation. 07:36 There's not going to be a third category. 07:38 There's not going to be neutral category where people 07:40 sitting in the stands watching death and life 07:43 happening before their eyes. 07:45 So now take us to John 5:28 and 29. 07:49 Here we go. "Do not marvel at this, 07:51 for the hour is coming in which all who are in the graves 07:54 will hear His voice and come forth. 07:58 Those who have done good, to the resurrection of life, 08:01 and those who have done evil, 08:03 to the resurrection of condemnation." 08:06 And so what you have here is you have two resurrections. 08:09 We talked about the first resurrection 08:10 where we are changed from mortal to immortal. 08:13 But the second resurrection, there's no change. Right. 08:17 There's no change from nothing immortal 08:20 is being added to the component. 08:22 Nothing immortal is being given to the wicked. 08:26 The wicked don't receive anything immortal. 08:29 As a matter of fact, let's go to John 3:16 to see this again. 08:32 At the resurrection of the wicked those that do not, 08:35 are not raised to life are raised to judgment. 08:39 It's an eternal consequence that they are raised to experience. 08:42 And of course we know that Revelation 20 08:44 which we'll get to here in the near future 08:46 speaks of that resurrection. That is right. 08:49 And it's common misconception, as you read this it may appear 08:52 like it's talking about the same event that both are resurrected. 08:56 But you know that through other scriptures that you find 08:58 that these are two separate events. 09:01 Jesus is just simply saying 09:03 that there are two things that happened. 09:04 And one of them is resurrection to life 09:06 and another event there's resurrection to condemnation. 09:09 Very well put, very well put. 09:11 John 3:16, the verse 09:13 that we were taught in the delivery room. 09:16 You know this for whatever reason, 09:18 everybody knows this verse. 09:19 You can pull a little kid aside. 09:21 "What's John 3:16?" And they'll start 09:23 repeating for God so loved the world. 09:25 Now look at this, but I want you to read this, 09:26 John, and break it down, show us the two categories. 09:30 Because there's no third category. 09:32 For God so loved the world. Let's look at this. 09:35 "For God so loved the world 09:37 that He gave His only begotten Son, 09:39 that whoever believes in him should not" what? 09:42 Perish. Perish, that's one option. 09:45 But this is the opposite now. "Have eternal life." 09:49 So you've got both sides here. 09:51 One group is receiving eternal life 09:53 the other group is perishing. That's right. 09:56 And eternal life, some translations say everlasting. 10:00 I want to use the word everlasting here 10:03 because there's a belief that the wicked 10:05 will be everlastingly in hell burning. 10:10 But if you look at this, the everlasting life, 10:14 everlasting, never-ending life is given to those who believe. 10:18 That's right. But those who do not believe, 10:21 those who have not accepted Christ, 10:23 those who have not been forgiven of their sin 10:25 and accepted salvation's message will perish, will perish. 10:31 Now get the categories. Perish. 10:36 Everlasting life, going on to heaven. 10:40 If you perish, you're not going anywhere. 10:42 Life is over. Life ends. 10:44 If you have received eternal life 10:46 you go on to begin to live eternally. 10:48 Now this is a significant point because one of the issues, 10:51 one of the ways that many have become convinced-- 10:54 that this is a truth of the Bible 10:58 that is not seen commonly today. 11:00 It's not taught commonly today. 11:01 But they're convinced now that it is a truth is because 11:05 to burn in hell forever, you have to be living forever. 11:10 Now some people think of eternal life 11:12 is just something that you have in heaven 11:13 but eternal life is simply life. 11:16 You can have eternal life in heaven 11:17 or as some teach, you could be in hell burning forever. 11:20 That is still eternal life. Right. 11:23 But this verse is saying that there's two options, 11:25 eternal life which would be in heaven only, 11:28 not eternal life in hell or to perish. 11:31 Which means life is over. That is right. 11:33 And there are numerous texts that tell us 11:36 that when death happens, life is over. 11:39 That is it. Life is over. 11:41 One of those is still in the Book of John. 11:44 I thought, well, since we're here in close proximity 11:46 John 10:28. 11:49 You mean, Matthew 10:28? Matthew, I'm sorry. 11:52 But don't leave John 3 yet. Okay, go ahead. 11:54 John 3:36. Read that for us. Where is-- 11:58 In John 3. We'll get back to John. 11:59 Verse 36. Get back to John. 12:01 Okay, I'll read it. Go ahead. 12:02 Did you get it? Yeah. 12:03 John 3:36, look at this passage. 12:06 "He who believes in the Son has everlasting life, 12:11 and he who does not believe and the Son shall not see life, 12:18 but the wrath of God abides on him." Get that. 12:23 One has life, one does not have everlasting life. 12:27 But the wrath of God abides on him. 12:30 We'll see in Revelation what the wrath of God is. 12:33 The wrath of God is the destructive fires 12:36 that will destroy sin and sinners eternally. 12:41 And we have to remember, John, 12:42 that when we talk about this destruction, 12:43 we must not exclude Satan from the scenario. That's right. 12:47 Because a lot of people think that, well, 12:50 I don't want to go that far yet but let's walk through it. 12:53 Now Matthew 10:28. Yes. 12:54 So remember that, the wrath of God or eternal life. 12:59 There's no third category. That's right. 13:01 Okay, Matthew 10:28. 13:04 Here's what it says, "And do not fear those 13:06 who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." 13:10 Now someone would stop right there and say, 13:11 okay, look, there's a body and then there's a soul. 13:16 But you see in the context of soul, that term is used 13:20 in regard to the whole man and his existence. 13:24 That's right. Body is referring to the dust. 13:27 But the whole man in his existence is what the soul 13:30 is refereeing to here and you'll notice this as He continues on. 13:33 This is in the words of Christ. 13:35 "But rather fear Him who is able to destroy 13:37 both soul and body in hell." That's right. 13:41 So not only will your physical body be destroyed 13:44 but your internal existence. 13:46 You as a individual, as a whole person 13:48 you will be completely destroyed in the fires of hell. 13:52 The word the hell is Gehenna, lake of fire. That's right. 13:56 Which is not kindled yet, 13:57 which we will find out very soon. 13:59 It will be kindled in the future. 14:00 Now what this text also says, it debunks 14:03 and it completely obliterates the idea 14:05 that the soul can't be destroyed. 14:07 Yes. Because... 14:09 Going to Ezekiel? You go to Ezekiel 18:4. 14:12 Let me go there. Okay, you turn to Ezekiel. 14:14 The whole idea that the soul 14:15 is something that cannot be destroyed 14:17 is the ideology that has come into the church 14:19 through something called Neoplatonism. 14:22 For those of you who like research 14:23 look that up in the Wikipedia, 14:25 Neoplatonism. P-L-A-T-O-N-I-S-M. 14:28 Neoplatonism, a teaching that came out of Plato 14:32 which taught that the body and the soul 14:36 and the spirit were separate entities. 14:39 All united at life, all separated 14:43 and go their separate ways at death. 14:45 They taught that the soul continued to go on. 14:47 As a matter of fact, we talked about this in the last topic 14:52 but we didn't go through the story 14:54 as much as we should have. 14:55 And what I'd like to do is we'll go back 14:57 to John Chapter 11 about the death of Lazarus 15:00 and understand the reason why Jesus waited for 4 days 15:06 before he went to resurrect Lazarus. 15:08 It's gonna kill this whole idea 15:10 of Neoplatonism and this never dying soul. 15:12 But now let's go to-- where are you now? 15:15 No, I'm in Ezekiel 18:4. That's right. 15:20 In fact I'll start with verse 3. "As I live, says the Lord God, 15:23 you shall no longer use this proverb in Israel. 15:26 Behold, all souls are Mine, the soul of the father 15:30 as well as the soul of the son is Mine." 15:33 That's right. "The soul who sins shall die." 15:36 Okay, there you go. 15:38 The soul who sins or the soul that sins shall die. 15:42 So the question is can the soul die? 15:45 Based on Ezekiel 18:4, 15:46 not only can it die, but it will die. 15:49 And who is gonna be the one that destroys that soul? 15:53 Matthew 10:20 says it clearly. 15:55 "The one that we should fear is God 15:57 who will destroy both soul and body in hell." 16:00 Which means the entire memory of man will be wiped out. 16:04 That's why, when you look at the contrast here, 16:07 the Christian is sleeping in Jesus. 16:11 The Christian is not annihilated, 16:13 the Christian is not wiped out of existence, 16:15 the Christian is sleeping in Jesus. 16:17 It's those who don't accept Christ 16:19 that will be wiped out completely out of existence. 16:21 Their human record will one day be expunged from the new world. 16:26 They're sleeping or waiting for judgment? 16:29 That's right. Not awaiting for Jesus 16:31 to resurrect them to eternal life. 16:33 Like they're sleeping in judgment. 16:34 Right. Exactly. 16:36 Now I will say this, this isn't an isolated text. 16:37 This Ezekiel 18:4, if you go to Psalm 89:48 it says, 16:42 "What man can live and not see death?" 16:44 Good question, right? Right. 16:46 Can he deliver his soul, okay, King James Version, 16:49 "Can he deliver his soul from the power of the grave?" 16:53 So in this case where is the soul? 16:56 Where does it end up? In the grave, not in heaven. 17:00 Right. So you cannot deliver your soul 17:02 from the power of the grave. 17:04 And so this teaching of the soul 17:06 going to heaven just isn't found in scripture. 17:09 You know, it's so wonderful about you bringing that out, 17:11 John, is because this, for so long this ideology 17:15 that the soul and the body are separate and the soul 17:17 and the body are separate and 17:19 one goes here and the other goes there 17:21 has so permeated the mind 17:22 of those who have heard this teaching, 17:25 that it's hard for them to sit down 17:27 when the truth is being told and said, 17:29 "I didn't get that." Let me just repeat that again. 17:32 Because John made it very, very clear. 17:34 When a person is laid in the grave, there's nothing 17:38 outside of the grave that is identified as his. 17:40 Except his clothes, his car, his bank book, 17:44 his cell phone, his television, that's it. 17:47 But nothing that is connected to this human body 17:49 is outside of the grave because that's the clothing you wear. 17:51 Because it's mortal. Exactly. 17:53 And even that soul, as I've spoken of 17:54 is there in that grave. 17:56 The only thing that's outside of that grave 17:57 is something that belongs to God. 17:59 Exactly. Which is the breath of life. 18:00 That's it. And you said a word a moment. 18:02 You said it real fast. Mortal. What does mortal mean? 18:06 Mortal means not immortal. Right. 18:10 That means you can die. 18:11 You can die. Immortal is you cannot die. 18:14 Mortality, all of us are mortal, you can die. 18:18 Speaking of the whole person being the soul. 18:20 And so when we talk about the immortal soul, 18:22 what we're saying is this belief 18:24 that somehow an existence apart from you can live on 18:27 throughout immortality or forever. Right. 18:30 And that's not what the Bible teaches. 18:32 In fact, 1 Timothy 16, Excuse me, 6:15 and 16. 18:38 Okay, you want to read that one? Says it's really quick. 18:40 "He who is blessed is the blessed 18:44 and only Potentate, the King of kings, 18:47 and the Lord of Lords, who alone has immortality." 18:51 That's right. God alone has immortality, no one else. 18:55 And in fact, it says, "He dwells in 18:58 unapproachable light, whom no man has seen 19:03 or can see to whom be honor and everlasting power." 19:07 So that text not only tells us that God alone 19:10 has immortality but He dwells in light that no one can 19:13 approach, prior to receiving your own immortality. 19:18 Your incorruptible body 19:19 that is given to us at the resurrection. That's right. 19:23 Matter of fact, there's a text that most people have not read 19:25 about what happens when a person dies. 19:26 And I'm just gonna share that with you in Psalms 49:17. 19:31 This is speaking about riches. 19:32 You know, people sometimes 19:34 bank on their riches and boast about their riches. 19:36 And David the psalmist 19:37 makes it very, very clear about the person 19:39 who's rich and what happens when they die. 19:41 He says, in verse 17 of Psalms 49, 19:44 "For when he dies he shall carry nothing away, 19:49 his glory shall not descend after him." 19:55 You get that? Why descend? 19:57 Because he's going down to the grave. 19:59 He ain't going anywhere else. 20:00 Excuse my vernacular there. 20:02 He's not going anywhere. 20:05 And when you go to Psalms 37, 20:07 it puts the pieces clearly together as to what happens 20:11 when the wicked are finally destroyed. 20:15 It's a beautiful-- it's a beautiful picture. 20:18 When I say beautiful, it's so complete. 20:20 Let's go to Psalms 37. 20:21 Well, there's also this thing where you hear 20:23 of these near-death experiences 20:24 where people approach the light that God exists in. 20:28 And that's directly against what scripture is saying here. 20:30 Read it. Because it says 20:31 that God dwells as immortal. 20:33 He dwells in unapproachable light. 20:36 So you can't die and have this experience 20:38 of going into God's light or toward the light 20:40 where God exists, because you can't approach it. 20:43 The Bible says you cannot approach that light. 20:45 And in that very same passage it continues to say, 20:48 "He dwells in an unapproachable light 20:50 which no man has seen, nor can see." 20:53 That's right. Why? 20:55 Because our God is a consuming fire. 20:56 Mortality cannot exist in the presence of an immortal God. 20:59 So we have to be made immortal. 21:01 So the wicked does not have this continuing existence. 21:05 Let's hammer away the text. Psalms 37. Look at this again. 21:10 And after that we're gonna go to Malachi and Matthew. 21:13 We're gonna really try to unload these texts today 21:15 and make it very clear. 21:16 Because this ideology that people are continuing 21:18 to live on and on in the fires of hell 21:21 is a gross misrepresentation of the character of God. 21:25 It makes God into a tyrant 21:28 and He's not. He's a God of love. 21:30 Now Psalms 37, beginning with verse 9. 21:34 All right, go to that, read verse 9 to 11, 21:37 John, and I'll pick up and go to-- 21:39 "For evildoers shall be cut off, but those who wait on the Lord," 21:43 there's that term again, "wait." 21:45 There you go. Over and over again it says 21:46 you got to wait till the resurrection. 21:48 Can you see it? And it's just jumping out more 21:50 in this study like than any other we've done before. 21:52 Wait, wait, wait, wait. 21:55 "Those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth. 21:58 Yet for a little while and the wicked shall be no more." 22:02 That's right. "Indeed, you will look 22:03 carefully for his place, but it shall be no more." 22:08 No lake of fire. He will not exist any longer. 22:11 Okay. And look at verse 11. 22:14 "But the meek shall inherit the earth, 22:16 and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace." 22:19 Perfect peace, why? 22:21 Because you're not hearing people 22:22 burn in torment forever and ever throughout eternity. 22:25 That's not God's plan. 22:27 That's why verse 20 is so significant. 22:30 Verse 20 is so significant in the very same Chapter. 22:33 "But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord, 22:39 like the splendor of the meadows, shall vanish. 22:43 Into smoke they shall vanish away." 22:48 Verse 36. Okay. Verse 36. 22:52 "Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more. 22:57 Indeed, I sought him, but he could not be found." 23:02 He's not anywhere. 23:03 No, he's not and that's why we have to make sure 23:05 that when a person dies, 23:07 when you come back home from the funeral, 23:09 don't say, "Mom, I heard noise in uncle's room." 23:13 She say, "Oh, don't worry about that, 23:15 he's just kind of trying to send us a message." 23:17 We talked about how sad 23:19 that is because that opens a door to Satanism. 23:21 That opens a door to think that if they somehow 23:23 survived the grave and they're continuing to exist, 23:26 even if they're wicked or righteous, 23:28 that maybe they could communicate to us. 23:31 Let's open that just for a few minutes here 23:34 because this is an important part. 23:35 We may not just so easily segue back to. 23:38 But spiritualism, in its definition 23:42 is communication with the dead. That's right. 23:45 And God strictly says, from way back early times, 23:48 told the Isralites, do not speak with the dead. 23:51 Don't attempt to contact them. 23:53 And He was saying that, not because 23:56 the dead were there to contact. Right. 23:58 But that they would be deceived by who steps into mimic 24:02 or pretend to be the dead 24:04 which is the demons and Satan and his host. 24:09 And so we find over and over again 24:11 this ammunition. Don't contact the dead. 24:13 And so this whole teaching actually continues to expound. 24:16 You find people that believe even to the degree 24:20 that when their loved ones have gone to heaven, 24:22 they say, that sometimes they come back as angels. 24:26 So you hear even in movies and in stories 24:28 and in--on the TV, this constant thing of, 24:33 well, you know, I know 24:34 that so and so is right here with me. 24:37 Yes. I feel my dad is right here with me. 24:40 John, I'll just-- a quick story. 24:43 Rachelle throughout teaching taught at a fairly large 24:49 Adventist school in the past. 24:51 And during that time, she had-- oh, what was it? 24:54 28 students in 6th grade. 24:55 Imagine that puberty age, 28 students. 24:58 Anyway, she said that as she was talking about 25:02 just life and their, you know, what they would go through 25:04 in their homes, in existence, 25:06 she'd hear all kinds of things. Unsolicited, of course. 25:09 She said she was amazed at how many times 25:12 when this subject came up, it came up 25:13 in the Bible studies that they were doing. 25:16 How many times that the kids from other schools of thought, 25:20 other Christian families testified 25:23 that their loved grandmothers, grandfathers, parents, 25:27 whatever it may be have visited their families 25:29 or their parents or others in their family. 25:34 And it was an amazing-- 25:35 She said that the reality of that, 25:37 "Oh, yeah, oh, my grandmother came back and talked to my dad. 25:40 Oh, yeah. Well, mine--" 25:42 You know, it was like it was popping up. 25:43 I remember her coming home to me 25:45 and saying it was so disturbing. 25:46 It was just amazing to me. 25:49 And there was this clear demarcation in those 25:52 that believe that the souls of their loved ones lived on 25:55 and those that had the teaching from the Bible 25:58 that clearly is that they do not go on and live forever. 26:02 And you know what? The phrase-- no, they don't go on. 26:05 There are no family members coming to your house 26:08 visiting you, knocking on the door 26:09 or leaving numbers, changing the cloth, 26:13 putting familiar numbers-- somebody once said, 26:15 "After my brother died, I saw the number 30 26:17 or the number 21 over and over and over 26:19 and over and over again." 26:20 That's nothing but the devil. 26:22 Remember we're talking to people-- 26:23 Right. Who actually have, 26:25 some of them have communicated with 26:27 who they believe are their loved ones. 26:28 Let me show you what's exactly happening here. 26:30 Go with us to Leviticus Chapter 19. 26:31 Just a short digression here and then we're gonna dive 26:34 right back into the topic by going to the book of Matthew. 26:37 But Leviticus Chapter 19, the Lord addressed 26:40 this so carefully and as He spoke to His people. 26:46 Leviticus Chapter 19, start with verse 31, 26:49 read that verse for us, John, verse 31. 26:53 "Give no regard to mediums and familiar spirits. 26:57 Do not seek after them to be defiled by them. 27:02 I am the Lord your God." 27:03 Now what word do you find there? 27:05 Mediums, the "Long Island Medium," 27:07 a popular show on television, I don't watch it. 27:10 These people popping up and they say they're mediums 27:12 and sometimes even the police department consult-- 27:14 "do you know much about-- well, I'm getting a message 27:17 from across the-- well, I think does the number-- 27:19 does the number 6 mean something to you? 27:22 January 4th, does that mean something to you?" 27:24 The devil's playing with their minds. 27:26 Because people say, "Nobody could've known 27:28 that but my mother, my father." I'll tell you what, 27:30 evil angels are roaming the earth 27:32 and if they got to keep some family information 27:34 to deceive you, they will do that. 27:36 That's why the text here says "Regard--give no regard 27:40 to mediums and familiar spirits." 27:44 Family, is what is talked about there. 27:47 And then look at verse-- Chapter 20 and verse 6. 27:49 Did you turn some place else? I turned some place else. 27:51 Okay. Chapter 20:6 says it this way, 27:55 "And the person who turns to mediums and familiar spirits 27:59 to prostitute himself with them, 28:02 I will set My face against that person 28:05 and cut him off from his people." 28:08 So you find another word for familiar spirits, 28:12 it's Deuteronomy 18:11, "Or one who conjures spells, 28:18 or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead." 28:24 And I think you're going to that story. 28:26 People that are calling up the dead. 28:27 They're calling up familiar spirits, 28:29 they're not awaking dead people, because when the dead die, 28:33 Ecclesiastes 9:5, they don't know anything. 28:36 We've already studied clearly in scriptures 28:38 where it says there's no spirit state of man, 28:40 it's either the natural body or it's the spiritual body. 28:45 Which means there's no spirit form of man. That's right. 28:48 So when you're conjuring up spirits, 28:49 it's not man. It's not, not at all. 28:51 We have no form of such. That's right. 28:54 Where I was going was, if you want to just spend 28:56 just some brief time on it, 28:58 is some would say I hear the question, 29:00 "Well, what about Saul? And conjuring up Samuel? 29:04 Didn't Samuel come back?" 29:06 Well, it clearly says in that Chapter from 1 Samuel 28 29:11 that when this spiritist conjured up the presence of Saul 29:17 or of Samuel, that it says in verse 14 that he came up 29:23 and he was covered with a mantle 29:26 and Saul perceived it was Samuel. 29:29 Now the interesting thing, it doesn't say 29:31 that Saul saw Samuel or that Samuel was there. 29:35 Right. It says that Saul perceived it was Samuel. 29:38 What it's telling you is there's a deception going on. 29:40 He thinks it's something that it's not really. 29:44 That's right, exactly. 29:45 He perceives it was Samuel, it's not. 29:47 If Samuel really were conjured up, 29:49 do you think he would be coming up? 29:51 Where would he be coming from? 29:53 Down from heaven. Right. 29:54 But here Samuel's coming up. 29:57 And he would be coming down from heaven 29:58 only if the teaching were true 30:00 that people died and went to heaven. That's right. 30:02 Because there's no connection here. 30:03 There's no evidence that Samuel ever went to heaven. 30:05 That's right. Or was taken there before this story here. 30:11 Okay. And here's-- 30:12 and one of the points in that great story, 30:14 John, read verse 9 of 1 Samuel Chapter 28. 30:18 Verse 9 is a key aspect of this. 30:20 We just talked about the familiar spirits a moment ago. 30:23 Read that verse. Yeah, it says, 30:25 "The woman said to him," 30:27 that is to Saul, the king-- That's the witch talking-- 30:28 The witch. "Look, you know what Saul has done. 30:34 How he has cut off the mediums 30:35 and the spiritists from the land. 30:37 Why then do you lay a snare for my life to cause me to die?" 30:42 He knew--this witch, the Witch of Endor, 30:47 Endora from Bewitched-- Yeah. 30:49 Okay. That's where that came from. 30:51 The witch of Endor knew that this was against, 30:54 directly against God for anybody linked to God 30:59 to be involved with mediums, 31:01 spiritists which is familiar spirits, 31:04 she knew that was-- and she says, 31:05 "Why are you setting a trap for me? 31:08 You know that anybody who participates 31:09 in this kind of art will be put to death. 31:12 You're trying to get me killed," in other words. 31:13 That's what she's in essence saying. Right. 31:15 You're trying to get me killed. 31:16 So this is no example. 31:18 And by the way, you'll discover when-- 31:20 by the time that Saul had gone to this Witch of Endor, 31:24 the spirit of God had departed from him. 31:26 That's right. And then not long after this, he died. 31:30 The amazing thing too is this spirit 31:32 which we know is a demonic form of Samuel. 31:35 Right. Pretending to be Samuel, noticed his judgment, 31:38 what he says about Saul. Verse 19, 31:41 "Moreover, the Lord will also deliver Israel with you 31:44 into the hand of the Philistines." 31:46 See, Satan knows what's gonna happen. 31:47 He can see where Saul and his sons are headed. 31:50 "And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me." 31:54 We already know that the spirit left. 31:56 The spirit of God left Saul. 31:58 That's right. Which way is Saul going? 31:59 Is Saul going to heaven? No. 32:01 Clearly evidence is that Saul's going-- 32:03 well, first of all to the grave, 32:05 but ultimately to judgment. That's right. 32:06 And so what it's saying here is you'll be with me. 32:08 So Samuel, if he's coming up, he's down. 32:13 He's saying, basically, this is putting Saul and Samuel 32:16 together and we know clearly that is not the case. 32:18 Very good. This is a demonic force pretending to be Samuel. 32:23 And so don't let the story manufacture this whole evidence 32:27 that somehow our loved ones can come back 32:30 and communicate with us or should or even can. 32:35 The only sameness that the righteous 32:37 and wicked have is they all go to the grave waiting 32:40 for one resurrection or the other. 32:42 That's the only sameness. 32:44 But their end is not gonna be the same. 32:46 The end is gonna be the resurrection of life 32:49 for Samuel but for Saul, the resurrection of damnation. 32:54 Right. That's where they're gonna separate 32:56 and go two separate ways. 32:58 Now go with me to the Book of Matthew. 33:01 Matthew Chapter 13-- I want to show you very quickly 33:04 because the teaching is that people die 33:07 and the wicked are gonna be burning forever and ever 33:09 and ever and ever and ever. 33:10 And never gonna die, never gonna die. 33:13 And then some people teach, well, you never go to a funeral, 33:15 John, where you hear them say, "Well, he's in hell now." 33:20 You never hear that at a funeral. He's burning up. 33:23 Although, we know that in some of the funerals, 33:25 people never professed to know God, 33:27 funerals are the places where lies are told 33:30 more than any other time. 33:31 And nobody stands up and says, "That's a lie." 33:34 But you never hear people even if a person died 33:36 in a horrible gun battle with police after 33:39 he just killed a whole family and tried to get away. 33:41 And they have the funeral. 33:43 The preacher comes in there and tries to comfort the family. 33:45 They never say, "Well, you know, he's in hell now." 33:48 Burning up. Because he won't get his, 33:50 they won't pay him that day. 33:52 But the reality of it is there is going to be a burning hell. 33:56 We are not teaching that hell does not exist. 33:58 There will be a hell fire so hot 34:01 that it's going to accomplish the complete destruction 34:04 of wickedness and sinfulness. 34:06 Now, John, read Matthew Chapter 13 verse 24 34:13 down to verse 30. And then I'll read 34:16 the interpretation of that. Okay. 34:19 "Another parable He put forth to them, saying, 34:21 'The kingdom of heaven is like a man 34:23 who sowed good seed in his field, 34:25 but while man slept, his enemy came 34:28 and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. 34:31 But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop, 34:34 then the tares also appeared. 34:36 So the servants of the owner came and said to him, 34:39 'Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? 34:43 How then does it have tares?' 34:45 He said to them, 'An enemy has done this.' 34:49 The servants said to him, 34:50 'Do you want us to then go and gather them up?' 34:53 But he said, 'No, lest while you gather up 34:55 the tares you also uproot the wheat with them." 34:58 Verse 30, key verse. 35:00 "Let both of them grow together until the harvest, 35:03 and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, 35:06 'First gather together the tares 35:08 and bind them into bundles to burn them, 35:12 but gather the wheat into my barn.'" 35:14 Okay, notice that the tares to burn them 35:18 but gather the wheat in my barn. 35:20 So right now the wheat 35:22 and the tares are growing together. 35:23 The wheat are the righteous. 35:25 The tares are the children of the wicked one. 35:28 Clear separation at the time of the harvest. That's right. 35:32 So now let's look at the interpretation of this parable. 35:35 Go down to verse 37 35:37 for the interpretation of this parable. 35:42 "He answered and said to them, 35:43 'He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man." Jesus. 35:46 "The field is the world. 35:48 The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom, 35:51 but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. 35:55 The enemy who sowed them is the devil, 35:59 the harvest is the end of the age," 36:01 or as the King James says "the end of the world," 36:05 "And the reapers are the angels. 36:08 Therefore, as the tares are gathered 36:11 and burned in the fire, 36:14 so it will be at the end of the world 36:17 or at the end of this age." 36:19 Clearly defining when that will happen. 36:21 When the fire's gonna happen. 36:23 At the end of the world. Not when a person dies. 36:26 People are not in hell burning for thousands of years. 36:29 Saul is not in hell burning. Cain is not in hell burning. 36:33 The wicked of the Old Testament not in hell burning. 36:36 That's a fallacy that has been entered 36:38 into the church through paganism first. 36:42 Hades was a Greek god. 36:44 That's why the word in Greek is Hades. 36:47 It was a Greek god. 36:48 The lord of the underworld was what the Greeks taught. 36:51 And they taught that this god was the one 36:53 that had the rotisserie for all those 36:56 who had died and gone to hell. 36:57 Which is one reason actually 36:59 that Jesus actually used that myth in His parable 37:03 in regard to the rich man and Lazarus. That's right. 37:05 And some point to that and say, "Look, 37:07 you know, we have them communicating with each other." 37:09 So that means in hell, some burning in hell, 37:12 some are not. 37:13 Some are in the glories of heaven. 37:15 And what you find there is not a teaching about that subject, 37:19 but it's in regard to what the Pharisees, 37:20 how they viewed those that were lower class 37:24 than they were. That's right. 37:25 And God used this myth about Hades 37:29 and the god of the underworld to give them, to bring to full, 37:36 to give it power to teach the Pharisees 37:41 that they should never view anybody 37:43 that maybe isn't as blessed physically 37:46 and with things of this earth 37:47 as somehow being less deserving of the kingdom. 37:50 That's right. And He, matter of fact, 37:51 He was saying to them, "You Pharisees, 37:53 you don't care about the poor, 37:54 you don't care about the sick, you don't care about the needy. 37:56 You just care about yourself. 37:58 And you keep labeling the Gentiles 37:59 as people that you will never associate with 38:01 but the Gentiles which was the dog 38:04 in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus-- 38:06 because remember when the Samaritan woman 38:08 came to Jesus, He said, "Why would I give the food 38:11 of the children to the dogs?" 38:13 Right. That's what the Jews-- 38:16 the Jews looked upon the Samaritans as dogs. 38:19 So the Lord using the terminology 38:21 that the Jews established, "These dogs, 38:22 don't pay any attention to them," 38:24 but the Samaritans who were the dogs, 38:26 the outcasts cared more about the needs of the people 38:29 than the Pharisees and the Scribes 38:32 who had all the opportunities. 38:34 They had bread. They had the gospel, the bread. 38:37 And they won't even give crumbs. 38:39 And the Bible says, "These crumbs 38:40 fell from the rich man's table." 38:42 They wouldn't even give the good news of the gospel 38:44 of Christ to the poor. All of it was symbolic then. 38:47 Right. This whole parable was symbolic. 38:49 It's not teaching about the condition of man 38:52 and the state of death. 38:53 And the ridiculous aspect that I read this in a book 38:55 that was given to me once by a pastor in Idaho. 39:00 It was called--it was crazy. In this book-- 39:03 it was one of the beliefs. 39:05 I don't know if all Baptists believe this way 39:06 but, in fact, I still have that book today. 39:08 It's an orange booklet and he said in the-- 39:11 and this is what he said, this is what he said, 39:13 not what the Bible says. 39:14 He said, "Well, in the parable of the rich man and Lazarus, 39:17 there is this compartment where 39:19 the rich man is being tormented in fire 39:22 and there's the other compartment, 39:23 the happiness compartment, he called it, where Lazarus is. 39:27 And they're looking at each other. 39:28 And the rich man is saying, "Could you give me-- 39:30 could you dip your finger in water and cool my tongue 39:33 because I'm in torment in this fire?" 39:35 Now let me ask you the question. 39:37 On your best day, on the coolest day 39:40 if I'm thirsty, I could not open this, 39:45 right now, dip my finger in water and say, 39:49 "Ah, I'm so much better now. 39:51 I really needed a drink of water." 39:53 And there's no fire here. Yeah. 39:54 If you had fire, what's gonna happen? 39:56 As your hand is getting close, it evaporates. 39:59 It evaporates to the point 40:00 where your finger catches on fire. 40:02 So this is a ridiculous-- this is not a literal thing 40:04 that's happening here. 40:06 And later in the parable of Luke 16, clearly it says, 40:11 "They perceived that Jesus was speaking to them." 40:15 To them. That's right. 40:16 So anyway, but let's go to Malachi now. 40:18 Let's see what happens, what's really gonna happen. 40:21 What is gonna happen. And then we're gonna-- 40:23 before we wind this up, John, 40:25 remind me not to forget to show what happens to Satan 40:29 because here's the point, my friends. 40:32 If Satan is not gonna be around forever, 40:35 does it make sense that God is gonna burn sinners forever 40:41 when Satan is not going to be around forever? 40:45 Does it make sense? No. 40:47 The answer is no. 40:48 Go to Malachi Chapter 4. Malachi Chapter 4. 40:52 Now we're talking about the fire. 40:53 We're talking about the fire now. 40:54 What this fire is intended to accomplish. 40:56 That's right. We're in the fire now, okay? 40:59 I think we should talk about where the fire comes from first. 41:01 Oh, okay, okay. So maybe Revelation 20, 41:03 then Malachi. Thank you, my brother. 41:06 There's an order to this thing. 41:08 Revelation Chapter 20, okay. 41:11 You're gonna start? Matter of fact-- 41:13 Let's kind of give a background to Revelation 20 here. Okay. 41:17 What we have in Revelation 19 is the Second Coming of Jesus. 41:21 So in the prophecies of Revelation 41:23 it's revealing an order of things here. 41:25 Jesus comes as King of kings, 41:27 and Lord of lords in Revelation 19. That's right. 41:30 At that time, as he come to deliver the saints 41:33 then we find Chapter 20 where it says 41:36 that this "angel comes down 41:39 having a key to the bottomless pit 41:41 and a great chain in his hand." What verse are you reading? 41:43 "And he laid hold of the dragon." 41:44 What verse are you reading? 41:45 Chapter 20:1 and 2. Good. 41:47 "He laid hold of the dragon, that serpent of old, 41:49 who is the devil and Satan, 41:51 and bound him for a thousand years." 41:52 So when you clear--have clearly here an order is Jesus-- 41:55 the second coming of Jesus prior to the thousand years. 41:58 That's right. 42:00 This is the pre-millennial return of Christ. 42:03 Not a post-millennial, not a in the middle millennial 42:06 but pre-millennial return of Jesus. That's right. 42:09 Then you have what is a bottomlesss pit 42:13 where Satan and his angel are cast. 42:16 And that bottomlesss pit-- 42:18 if you look elsewhere is defined as the earth 42:19 that is in void form. It is nothingness. 42:22 It is the abyss. That's right. 42:24 It is the abyss because at Christ's return, the fire 42:29 will destroy those who are alive. 42:30 The wicked who are alive 42:32 because there the judgment is not yet. 42:35 It is not yet time for the judgment. 42:37 The judgment, you'll see here soon, 42:38 is after the thousand years. 42:39 The final judgment, that's right. 42:41 So during the thousand years no one is alive. 42:45 And I'm going through this fast because we don't have time-- 42:46 I'm glad. No one's alive. 42:49 And then verse 5 says clearly, "The rest of the dead," 42:52 that is the wicked, "did not live again," until what? 42:55 "The thousand years were finished." 42:58 So after the thousand years have expired, it says in verse 7 43:01 that "Satan will be released from his prison 43:04 and will go out to deceive the nations" 43:05 That means they have risen again. 43:08 The second resurrection has happened 43:10 which is the resurrection of the wicked. Right. 43:12 Remember, Jesus said 43:13 there will be resurrection until eternal life 43:15 and resurrection until condemnation. 43:17 Okay, before you go any further, 43:19 I just wanna go ahead and add this point here 43:20 because when you read verse 5, 43:21 you find this phrase at the very end of verse 5. 43:24 "But the rest of the dead did not live again 43:26 until the thousand years were finished. 43:27 This is the first resurrection." 43:29 What is the first resurrection? Verse 4. 43:32 Verse 4 is the first resurrection. 43:33 They are living and reigning with Christ a thousand years. 43:36 That's the first resurrection. 43:38 So he goes now to verse 6. Go back to that again. 43:42 "Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection 43:46 because we want to be taken to heaven with those 43:49 who sleep and those who are alive 43:50 if we're alive and remain at that time. 43:53 Over such, the second death has no power, 43:56 but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, 43:58 and shall reign with Him for a thousand years." 44:01 Where willl they be? 44:02 With Jesus because Jesus said, "I promise you 44:04 I will come again and receive you to myself 44:08 and take you to where I've built a mansion for you. 44:11 And that's what the millennium is all about, 44:13 the thousand year reign. And keep this in mind. 44:16 The second resurrection hasn't taken place yet. 44:19 The judgment is going on. 44:20 They're in heaven for a thousand years 44:22 reviewing the records as Paul says, 44:24 "Do you not know that one day we will judge angels?" 44:27 That's why they're sitting on thrones, by the way. 44:28 That's why they're sitting on thrones. 44:30 They're involved in the final stage of the judgment. 44:32 They're reviewing the records. 44:34 This is called the Great White Throne judgment. 44:36 This is what that's actually called. 44:38 So at the end of the thousand years 44:39 this great judgment takes place 44:40 and the wicked now are resurrected 44:42 Go to that, John, verse 7. 44:45 "Now when a thousand years have expired 44:46 Satan will be released from his prison 44:49 and will go out to deceive the nations 44:51 which are in the four corners of the earth, 44:53 Gog and Magog to gather them to get it to the battle. 44:56 Whose number is as the sand of the sea." 44:58 Now verse 9 describes the resurrection 45:01 because in the very same way 45:02 that Jesus came up out of the water, 45:04 now the wicked come up out of their graves. 45:07 Read verse 9. 45:09 "Then they went up on the breadth of the earth 45:12 and surrounded the camp of the saints 45:14 and the beloved city." And now talk about the fire. 45:16 "And fire came down from God 45:19 out of heaven and devoured them." Exactly. 45:23 Now we're gonna come back to verse 10 in just a moment 45:25 because when you read verse 10-- 45:26 I'll just put it in there real quickly-- 45:28 Because that's important. 45:29 Go ahead, read. "The devil who deceived them 45:31 was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone 45:34 where the beast and the false prophet are. 45:36 And they will be tormented day and night 45:37 forever and ever." Exactly. 45:39 So not only are all the wicked there 45:40 but Satan is there perishing with them. 45:43 That's right. And this fire-- 45:45 when you think of the world being on fire 45:47 this is a long drawn out process 45:50 that will eventually go out 45:55 because there's no eternal life there. So this-- 45:58 Wait a minute, John. This says they're tormented day and night 46:00 forever and ever. Exactly. 46:02 So what does that mean? 46:03 Okay, the forever and ever is the everlasting punishment 46:08 that Jesus talked about in Matthew. 46:10 Everlasting punishment as compared 46:12 to everlasting punishing. 46:14 Go to Jude very quickly with me. Okay. 46:16 Yeah, let's go to Jude. As you're going to Jude, 46:18 let me just, kind of, make some commentary here. 46:20 Okay. There are times and we grew up, 46:22 come on, we're talking to our friends 46:24 and I'm sure you do the same thing as well. 46:27 But, you know, we're asked, "So, 46:29 man, how long did that last?" 46:31 "Oh, forever." Right. 46:34 Now did it last forever, whatever it was? 46:37 Now, oh, you know, she cried. 46:38 How long did she cry? Oh, forever. 46:40 Was it forever? No. 46:42 It was until she stopped crying. 46:45 Forever-- if you read the Greek, 46:46 and Hebrew is the same way, 46:48 these words are connected to the object 46:51 in which they describe. 46:53 In other words, there's a relational aspect 46:55 to what's being described to the description itself. 46:59 In other words, when you say forever in the terms of God, 47:04 when you're speaking about God, if I use the term forever, John, 47:07 how long am I talking about? 47:09 As long as you exist. Eternally. 47:11 When we're talking about God, it's eternally. 47:12 Exactly. He never has a time where He doesn't exist. 47:16 Right. But when we're talking about a mortal mankind, 47:19 mankind who is nothing but mortal, not immortal, 47:22 how long does forever take? How long is forever? 47:25 As long as he lives. As long as he lives. 47:27 Right. Until he stops living. 47:29 Forever is the duration of time until it's over. 47:32 It's like that in our language. 47:34 It's like that in the Hebrew. It's like that in the Greek. 47:36 And so the tormenting day and night forever and ever 47:39 is a torment that continues until their life is over. 47:43 It's basically describing a duration of punishment. 47:47 Simply put, Hitler will burn longer than somebody else 47:53 who maybe didn't believe in Christ, 47:54 was a thief and didn't really do a lot of harm to people 47:57 but just didn't live a godly life. 47:59 They aren't in heaven. 48:00 They're not gonna burn as long as a Hitler 48:03 or as a Mussolini. Right. 48:06 Or a number of people that we can bring up or mention here. 48:10 So that's what it's talking about. 48:12 This judgment that they're about to describe here, 48:14 this White Throne Judgment includes a burning 48:17 that will be a or incorporate a duration of time for the mortal. 48:22 Now we can go to Malachi. 48:25 But, John, you're gonna weigh in and do something-- 48:26 Yeah, because of the -- 48:27 we got to cover as much as we can right here quickly. 48:29 Go ahead, in Jude. 48:30 But in 1 Samuel 27, it speaks about the servant. 48:33 It speaks about the servant, 48:34 the period of time in which he would serve. 48:36 And I'm gonna read this verse to you very carefully. 48:38 And go to Jude. Turn to Jude very quickly for me. 48:41 Jude, and you know, there's only a few verses in that book. 48:44 But in 1 Samuel 27:12 when you look at the word forever, 48:48 you could discover that not every time does the Bible say 48:50 forever means eternally but in most cases 48:53 when it's referring to God, as John said, eternally. 48:56 When it refers to man and anything that man is doing, 48:58 it refers to as long as he's existing. 49:00 Here's the example. 49:02 "And Achish believed David, saying, 49:05 'He hath made his people utterly-- 49:09 He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. 49:15 Therefore, he shall be my servant forever.'" 49:19 But how long was Achish the servant? 49:23 He's not a servant now. No. 49:25 But as long as he was going to live, 49:27 he would have been the servant 49:28 because of what he had done to the children of Israel. 49:31 So when you find that term-- but now let's go ahead 49:33 and read this other aspect, 49:34 because Sodom and Gomorrah was destroyed 49:36 Read this for us, John, in Jude. 49:39 Yeah, it talks about "Sodom and Gomorrah, 49:41 and the cities around them in a similar manner to these, 49:45 having given themselves over to sexual immorality 49:48 and gone after strange flesh, are set forth as an example, 49:52 suffering the vengeance of eternal fire." 49:55 Okay. Now what-- how long did the fire last? 49:58 As long as Sodom and Gomorrah had something to burn. 50:01 Was the fire eternal? Yes. 50:03 In what way? 50:04 Eternal in its effect. Consequences. 50:08 The consequences were eternal, not the process. 50:12 Sometimes you look at the phrases, 50:13 like the Bible says eternal punishment. 50:16 And the process is-- don't forget the word. 50:19 This is in the proper English context. 50:20 Eternal punishment, not eternal punishing. 50:24 Right. There's a difference altogether. 50:25 The process is not eternal. The results are eternal. 50:28 When a house is burned to the ground, 50:30 it doesn't come back up in a week later. It's done. 50:33 That's why they call these fires, 50:34 they're out of control. 50:36 4,000 acres have burned, out of control, uncontrollable. 50:39 So they have firebreaks. 50:41 Well-- That's what it's talking about. 50:42 Even when we use the term unquenchable, 50:44 people think it's the fire never goes out. 50:46 That's not what unquenchable means. 50:47 That means-- It means it cannot be put out. 50:49 That's right. Unquenchable fire is something you cannot put out, 50:53 but when the fuel that it's burning is burnt up, 50:56 it will go out. That is right. 50:59 Now let's go to Malachi. 51:01 A lot of foundation from Malachi 51:02 but it was very, very good. I'm glad you brought that out. 51:04 Malachi Chapter 4 51:06 and we're gonna begin with verse 1. 51:08 Malachi Chapter 4 beginning with verse 1. 51:10 And you know, the prophet makes it 51:11 very, very clear here. 51:13 "For behold," Malachi says in 4:1, 51:16 "The day is coming." Notice, you want to catch this. 51:18 The day has not yet arrived. 51:20 "The day is coming burning like an oven, and all the proud," 51:26 yes, "all who do wickedly will be stubble. 51:32 The day which is coming shall burn them up, 51:37 says the Lord of hosts. 51:39 That will leave them neither root nor branch." 51:44 Nothing of them will be left behind. 51:45 Now get this. Jesus says, 51:47 "I'm the vine, you are the branch." 51:49 Satan is the root. 51:51 He has the evil ones that follow him. 51:52 They are the branches. 51:53 That's what in essence it's saying here. 51:55 Neither the root is going to exist. 51:56 The root of evil is who? Satan. 51:59 And neither will the branch go on. 52:00 The branch is the wicked ones. Those who have given their lives 52:03 and their energies to following the devil and his ways. 52:06 But what's gonna be the end result? 52:07 Look at verse 3. "You shall trample the wicked, 52:12 for they shall be ashes under the soles of your feet 52:16 On the day that I shall do this, says the Lord of hosts." 52:22 So what's gonna happen? 52:23 This fire that's reserved for the end of the world, 52:25 what's gonna be the end result? 52:27 Everybody that's wicked, 52:28 the day's gonna come burning like an oven. 52:30 How is that day going to come burning like an oven? 52:32 Revelation 20 says, "Fire came down from God 52:35 out of heaven." That's the burning like an oven. 52:37 The lake of fire doesn't exist now 52:39 but this lake is gonna be the whole world. 52:42 It's not a lake somewhere off in the Middle East. 52:44 It's not a lake somewhere in Wyoming. 52:46 It's not the great cauldron of magma 52:50 under Yellowstone's park. 52:52 It's the entire world. And here's the point. 52:54 As the waters were reserved 52:56 for the world's destruction, the fires are reserved 52:59 for the world's destruction the second time. 53:01 Yes. Is that powerfully clear? 53:03 And it's also intended to purify the earth-- 53:06 That's right. From all sin. 53:08 The reason the wicked are burned up 53:10 is because they held on to their sin. 53:12 They held on to their ways, their evil ways. 53:16 If they had repented, God would have accepted them 53:19 freely into His kingdom. That's right. 53:21 But because they refused repentance 53:23 and they held on to their sin, 53:25 the fire that was meant to devour sin will devour them. 53:29 That's right. I always say, you know, John, 53:31 if we don't consume the word, the word will consume us. 53:37 Jesus has spoken of His being the word. 53:39 He is the word that comes back as a sword, 53:43 a two edged sword to meet out judgment. 53:45 I'm speaking from Revelation 19 53:48 but also that He will come 53:50 and the brightness of His return will be a consuming fire-- 53:54 That's right. Before Him. 53:56 And those that are wicked 53:58 at the second coming will die on the earth. 54:01 And then at the third coming, after the thousand years 54:04 when they are raised up 54:05 and the fire comes out of heaven, 54:07 they will finally be destroyed forever. 54:08 And that same fire that destroys them 54:11 will then purify the earth and give it a fresh platform 54:15 for the creation of a new earth. That's right. 54:18 Now let's look at the arch enemy himself. 54:20 We're gonna end with two texts 54:22 that are gonna be just, like, powerful. 54:23 It's gonna be like gasoline in a fire. 54:25 All right. Clearly. 54:27 I'm in Ezekiel Chapter 28. 54:29 And this is speaking about Satan. 54:31 "You were perfect in your ways." 54:32 Verse 15, "You were the covering cherub." 54:35 Verse 14, this is speaking about Lucifer, now fallen, 54:39 becomes Satan. Now it says in verse 17, 54:44 "Your heart was lifted up because of your beauty. 54:47 You corrupted your wisdom for the sake of your splendor. 54:50 I cast you to the ground. 54:52 I laid you before kings that they might gaze at you." 54:56 Now verse 19, I want to go all the way--verse 18, 55:00 "You defiled your sanctuaries 55:02 by the multitude of your iniquities, 55:04 by the iniquity of your trading. 55:06 Therefore," get this, "I brought fire from your midst. 55:12 It devoured you, and I turned you to ashes 55:15 upon the earth in the sight of all who saw you. 55:19 All who knew you among the peoples 55:22 are astonished at you. You have become a horror, 55:26 and shall be no more forever." 55:29 This is a prophecy. Complete obliteration. 55:31 What's gonna happen? I want to continue now. 55:33 Remember, Satan will be no more forever. 55:36 But what about the wicked that followed him? 55:38 Psalms 37, we read this earlier 55:40 but now you'll understand it. It'll jump out at you. 55:43 Psalms 37:9 and 10, "For evildoers shall be cut off, 55:49 but those who wait on the Lord, they shall inherit the earth." 55:53 Verse 10 of 37 of the Book of Psalms, 55:56 "For yet a little while and the wicked shall be no more. 56:01 Indeed, you will look diligently for his place, 56:04 but it shall be no more." Satan no more forever. 56:08 Ezekiel 28:19, the wicked no more, 56:11 not even their place forever. 56:15 So to teach that they will exist 56:19 eternally with life burning in hell forever 56:23 is absolutely not biblical. 56:25 Not biblical at all. Not scriptural at all. 56:28 That's why the most beautiful text, 56:29 John, let's repeat this together as we end the program today. 56:32 "For God so loved the world, 56:33 that He gave His only begotten Son, 56:35 that whosoever believeth in Him shall not perish, 56:40 but have everlasting life." Amen. 56:43 That's the beauty of the gospel. 56:45 Everyone is gonna go to heaven but at the same time, 56:49 the wicked will all perish at the same time 56:52 in the same process, that eternal lake of fire. 56:55 But it's gonna happen at the end of the world. 56:57 The wages of sin is death. Death. 56:59 Opposite of that is but the gift of God is eternal life. 57:03 Opposites, death, life. Both texts, powerful. 57:07 Romans 6:23, so here's the question. 57:10 Can you have eternal life? 57:13 Unless you have Jesus, no. 57:15 Can you burn eternally? 57:16 Unless you have eternal life, no. 57:19 Only the righteous receive eternal life. 57:21 The wicked receive death. 57:23 Friends, I hope we've opened your eyes 57:24 and stimulated your thought, because one day the Lord 57:27 is gonna make a house call and when He does, 57:29 may you in faith and in truth be waiting for Him to come. 57:33 God bless you. |
Revised 2014-12-17