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Series Code: PU
Program Code: PU000005S
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00:01 What do the mysterious images of Daniel and Revelation mean? When
00:06 will the antichrist appear and make his final move. How can I 00:12 be ready for the final events of earth's history? You'll be 00:16 amazed and encouraged by what the Bible reveals. Join us as 00:20 Pastor Brian McMahon leads out in Prophecy Unsealed. 00:31 Welcome back to another segment of our Prophecy Unsealed seminar 00:34 Our subject this evening we've entitled What is Hell Fire 00:39 Really All About? Now I'd like to make just a little 00:42 preliminary statement about our method of study here at the 00:47 Prophecy Unsealed seminar. I'm sure you've noticed by now that 00:50 we use a lot of scripture. Sometimes 30 or 40 or more 00:54 verses and there's a reason we do this friends. I don't believe 00:58 you can get all the truth on any one subject out of just one 01:01 verse of scripture. However, often whole arguments or beliefs 01:05 are built around just one or two texts and that is not the way 01:09 that we should study the Bible. The Bible says in effect that 01:12 the way we should study is to gather as many verses on the 01:16 subject together as we possibly can. Look at them as a whole and 01:20 then if it may seem that there is a contradiction we'll see 01:24 very clearly that that contradiction is only in our own 01:26 mind, it isn't in the scriptures For example, in our earlier 01:30 study we had the study of death we found that there are hundreds 01:33 of texts on that subject that say the dead are asleep, the 01:36 dead know not anything, they do not praise the Lord. It is just 01:41 over and over again. When you have that many texts on a 01:45 particular subject it is just absolutely clear what the Bible 01:48 is actually saying. And that method must be followed in a 01:54 subject like we have for this evening. Many times people have 01:58 taken a verse as they do on this subject and they build a whole 02:01 doctrine around it. And so we have to ask the question as we 02:05 begin tonight what kind of God do we serve. The Bible says God 02:10 is love and I believe that don't you friend? Amen. So we should 02:14 be able to see a God of love even in the subject of hell fire 02:17 The devil has caused people to take a few texts, misunderstand 02:22 them and take them out of their context and they have caused God 02:26 to be seen as a God who delights in torture. So let's again go 02:30 to this subject by first looking at a couple of covers of some 02:34 magazines that have come out. Here is one from the US News and 02:37 World Report. It's called The Rekindling of Hell shows that 02:39 people have an interest in it which is why the magazine covers 02:43 are following it. And then there was an article from the USA 02:44 Today Newspaper and it said basically: Hell. What is it all 02:51 about. They said 48 percent of them say it's a real place where 02:55 people suffer eternal fiery torment and 46 percent people 02:58 in the poll said hell is simply an anguished state of existence 03:01 rather than an actual place, 52 percent of adults say they're 03:06 certain there is a hell and then again from US News and World 03:09 Report, if you thought that those were strange here they 03:12 have a picture of what is supposedly Satan, the devil, 03:15 and it's called Hell, a new vision of the underworld or the 03:18 netherworld and here they have Satan as a host in kind of an 03:22 aloha shirt like he's welcoming people into a place of paradise 03:25 He's got those reclining in the background in lounge chairs 03:29 getting served cocktails. He's got people in the upper right 03:32 They're playing some kind of beach volleyball as if it really was a 03:35 vacation resort. What a twisted was of representing hell fire. 03:38 Then from Time Magazine: What If There Is No Hell? Again, they 03:42 don't know. Ministers are confused and therefore their 03:46 congregations are confused but as always we're going to go to 03:48 the Bible tonight and ask the question: What does the Bible 03:50 really have to say? We're going to look a various things tonight 03:55 But the word Hell or Hell Fire is used 54 times in the Bible. 04:01 Where does it come from? Well there's a word in the Old 04:05 Testament Hebrew Sheol 04:06 and a New Testament equivalent in the Greek is Hades and they 04:10 both together mean the grave. They're used 41 times. 04:12 There is another 04:14 word in the New Testament Gehenna which means a place of 04:18 burning or where a lost person will burn and that's used 12 04:21 times. So together that's 53. Where's the 54th time? In this 04:25 verse right here where it says: For God spared not the angels 04:28 that sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into 04:31 chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment. So this 04:34 word hell here simply means a place of outer darkness. 04:36 So that's the 54th time. But for the sake of our study tonight 04:40 we're going to be concentrating primarily on this first word 04:43 gehenna which means a place of burning. Where did it actually 04:47 come from? That word gehenna is taken from a phrase the valley 04:50 of Hinnom. In ancient Jerusalem there was a deep valley 04:54 basically used as a garbage dump and they would throw refuse in 04:59 there and carcasses in there and the fires were continually 05:02 stoked and what the fires did not burn the worms would eat 05:05 So it basically was a place of total destruction. And the 05:09 ancients looked upon that place as basically an example of what 05:12 would happen to the wicked at the wicked at that end of time. 05:14 So we should first understand if we look at this topic that 05:17 there is a place called hell, a place that I don't go and I 05:22 don't want to go and I know you don't want to go. How earnest we 05:25 should be to make sure we find the right way, amen? So make no 05:29 mistake about it, friends. There is a Bible picture of hell fire 05:33 that we want to make sure we understand. Some questions about 05:35 hell though are these? When exactly does hell fire occur? 05:39 That is confusing to many. Is it a hot spot that's going on in 05:42 the center of earth right now? How long does hell fire last. We'll 05:46 get to that tonight. How can a loving God destroy those whom 05:49 he loves? So let's look at the first question here. When does 05:53 hell fire occur? Many have believed that Jesus taught 05:56 that there's a disembodied soul that flies off from the body at 06:00 death either to a place of reward if they have been found 06:04 righteous or a place of punishment if they have been 06:07 found evil. Now you can't blame Jesus for a teaching like that. 06:08 If you want an example of what Jesus said we'll go here to 06:14 Matthew 5 and verse 30. And here Jesus says: And if thy right 06:18 hand offend thee, cut it off, and cast if from thee: for it is 06:22 profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, which 06:25 means one of they body parts should perish, and not that thy 06:28 body should be cast into hell. So Jesus taught that it's not 06:32 some kind of invisible thing called the soul that goes off 06:35 but the actual person itself. Let's go to another example of 06:39 that in Revelation 20 and verse 15. And here it says: And 06:43 whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast 06:46 into the lake of fire. So again it's the whole person that was 06:51 cast into the lake of fire not some kind of vapor entity that's 06:54 called the soul. Now again let's go to the Bible and let's see 06:58 what does the Bible say about the timing of hell fire. Matthew 07:02 13 verse 36. Jesus is telling a parable here and it says: Then 07:07 Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his 07:09 disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of 07:13 of the field. He answered and said unto them, He 07:16 that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; the field is the 07:19 world; the good seeds are the children of the kingdom; but the 07:23 tares are the children of the wicked one; the enemy that sowed 07:25 them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; let's 07:27 pause there friends. The harvest is when? The end of the world. 07:31 Sure. And the reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares 07:36 are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end 07:40 of this world. 07:41 now think about it, friends. How unjust would it be for an 07:44 earthly judge to sentence someone to punishment before 07:47 their trial had occurred, right? Now an earthly judge wouldn't 07:50 want to do that. And neither would God because God is a lot 07:53 more fair than any earthly judge is, so God doesn't send 07:55 his people to some kind of punishment before the judgment 07:58 has finished taking place. The Bible teaches clearly that the 08:02 punishment becomes after the time of the judgment. Then in 08:06 verse 41 it says: The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and 08:08 they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend 08:12 and them which do iniquity; and shall cast for them into a 08:14 furnace of fire, that is again another term for the lake of 08:18 fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. And then 08:21 again in verse 49, it says "So shall it be when? At the end of 08:26 the world. So once again over and over Jesus taught that the 08:30 punishment that comes to the wicked is at the end of time. 08:33 Here is Matthew 16 and verse 27 is one of my favorite verses. It 08:38 says: For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father 08:41 with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according 08:45 to his works. Now this is again what I call one of those when/ 08:48 then texts. When something occurs then something else 08:53 occurs. So it says: When the Son of man shall come in the glory 08:56 of his Father with his angels. Has that happened yet friends? 08:58 No. So the latter part cannot have happened yet for it talks 09:01 about people being rewarded according their works. So 09:06 because Jesus hasn't come in all his glory the rewards have not 09:08 yet been handed out as they will be. We know as we've studied 09:12 already, the wicked living are cut down by the glory of the 09:15 Lord when he comes. And then we're told that they sleep the 09:19 sleep of death for a 1000 years. We've already covered that in 09:21 one of our studies. And then after that, they have a 09:25 resurrection. So this much we know for sure Hell fire must at 09:30 least be 1000 years away. Because it happens at the end 09:35 of the 1000 years or what we call the millennium. Let's look 09:38 at 2 Peter 2 verse 9. It says: The Lord knoweth how to deliver 09:42 the godly out of temptations, that's good news, isn't it? In 09:46 fact we're going to have a message in this series of 09:47 messages that talks about how to be delivered out of 09:49 temptation but that's for a future date. And to reserve the 09:53 unjust, reserve means he's holding back, unto the day of 09:56 judgment to be punished: So it says God knows how to reserve or 10:01 to hold back the wicked unto a certain time and that certain 10:05 time is called the day of judgment. So we know from that 10:10 that nobody is being sentenced at this time. 2 Thessalonians 2 10:15 and verse 8. Let's go through a little bit of summary here that 10:18 we covered of night three and night four. Let's go through it 10:21 quickly. It says when the Lord comes: Whom the Lord shall 10:25 consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with 10:27 the brightness of his coming. So Jesus' coming is so glorious 10:31 that the wicked are consumed by it if they haven't already died 10:35 previous to that. And then Revelation 20 verse 5 says: The 10:37 rest of the dead lived not again until the 1000 years were 10:40 what folks? Finished. So the dead remain dead for the 1000 10:44 year period of time. Paul says in Acts 24:15 that there will be 10:48 a resurrection of the just and of the unjust. Sure. So we'll 10:52 put that graph back up on the screen and here we find the 1000 10:55 years. It is framed by two great events called resurrection. We 10:59 find the righteous come up in the first resurrection. The 11:03 wicked or the lost come up in the second resurrection. The 11:04 second coming is the event that triggers the first resurrection 11:07 and the Holy City descending out of heaven comes at the end of 11:11 the 1000 years and that triggers the second resurrection. So the 11:15 question now comes to us, if the wicked who have died are not in 11:18 hell fire yet then where exactly are they? Well the Bible gives 11:24 it to us this way folks. It says: Marvel not at this: These are 11:27 the words of Jesus. For the hour is coming in which all that are 11:29 in the, where are they? All that are in the grave will hear his 11:34 voice and shall come forth; coming forth means they will be 11:37 resurrected. They that have done good, unto the resurrection of 11:40 life; and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of 11:43 damnation. So the word damnation here in the Greek is a word that 11:48 means judgment, right? They're going to come forth in the 11:51 resurrection of judgment. The wicked are in the graves and 11:55 there they remain until this one called the resurrection of 11:58 damnation. So Jesus speaks about two respective resurrections. 12:01 Revelation 20 tells us there's a 1000 years in between them. Now 12:07 let's go back to the Old Testament here. Remember the 12:08 Old and the New perfectly complement each other. Job says 12:13 Have ye not asked them that go by the way? and do you not know 12:15 their tokens, that the wicked is reserved, he uses the same word 12:19 that Peter used, that they are reserved to the day of 12:22 destruction. And you see the word destruction folks? You're 12:24 going to see that word quite a bit tonight. It's the day that 12:28 the wicked are punished called the day of destruction. They 12:30 shall be brought forth, another word for brought forth is 12:33 they'll be resurrected, to the day of wrath. So the wicked are 12:37 reserved to a time of destruction and they'll be 12:40 brought forth to that day called the day of wrath. Job 21 verse 12:44 32. What's going to happen in the meantime? It says: Yet he 12:47 shall be brought to the grave and remain in the tomb. So we've 12:53 seen this in various other verses. The wicked are brought 12:54 to the grave. There they remain until their resurrection occurs. 12:58 so the whole teaching of scripture, folks, is in harmony 13:01 with this subject. The unsaved remain in their graves until... 13:08 they're sleeping the sleep of death...until the second 13:10 resurrection. Then they're brought forth to be punished. 13:12 Peter says it this way. 2 Peter 3 verse 7: But the heavens and 13:16 the earth, which are now, by the same word are kept in store, 13:20 reserved as the fire against the day of judgment and perdition, 13:23 perdition means destruction, of ungodly men. So Peter says the 13:26 heavens and the earth are going to be used to destroy ungodly 13:32 people. Let's go take a look and see how exactly that plays out 13:35 here. Revelation 20 verse 9: And they went up on the breadth of 13:37 the earth and compassed, which means surrounded, the camp of 13:40 the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down 13:44 from God out of heaven and did what, folks? Devoured them. Now 13:48 remember that term devoured because I'll probably come back 13:53 to that. Hell fire is more than just a place. Hell fire is an 13:57 event. Think of it that way. It's an event that occurs in a 14:01 series of events after, of course, Jesus comes. We're 14:04 going to go through all these things together. And it's called 14:07 the second death. Now again why do we know that the resurrection 14:10 of the wicked is at the end of the 1000 years. It's called the 14:14 second death and there can be no second death, think about it 14:17 with me, until there first is a second life. So do we find that 14:22 every last person is resurrected at the end of the 1000 years. 14:25 They come before the throne of God, Revelation 20:11-14, they 14:29 understand why they are justly excluded from heaven. When their 14:33 punishment is given they are in the lake of fire and there it is 14:39 consuming flame envelops the great army of Satan destroys 14:42 them from the face of the earth. Just as the ark of Noah was 14:48 safely guarded by God as the world was destroyed by water the 14:53 first time, so the righteous are in the Holy City and they are 14:56 safely guarded by God while the world is destroyed a second time 14:58 not by water, but of course by fire. So the New Jerusalem is 15:03 going to ride the fires of hell there and they will be 15:06 absolutely safe. So this is the Bible picture of hell fire 15:08 friends. It's not located in some subterranean place of 15:12 darkness that you often read about and hear preached about. 15:14 The fire that destroys the wicked has a dual purpose. It 15:19 not only consumes sin but it sterilizes the world. I like 15:24 that word. It sterilizes it in preparation for what God is 15:27 going to do next. And God is going to do a wonderful thing. 15:28 He's going to make it all brand new again. So we know hell fire 15:32 is going to burn at the end of the world and that prepares us 15:36 to ask the question: How many people are suffering in hell 15:39 fire tonight? How many? None, that's right. You know I was in 15:44 Fortworth, Texas one time, and I was driving along. I remember I 15:48 had the radio on and I was listening because there was a 15:52 southern preacher there and he was preaching on this topic of 15:54 hell fire. I said okay I'm going to listen and see what he has to 15:58 say. So I was listening and this is what his sermon went like. 16:01 He said some geologists from Texas went out to drill for oil. 16:05 And he said they drilled so far into the earth that they drilled 16:08 right down into hell fire. And he said when they pulled up the 16:11 drill it created this chasm and it said the screams of the 16:15 damned filtered up through this hole and they drifted out onto 16:17 the surface of the earth and it said they heard the wales and 16:20 the cries and the screams and it drove those geologists crazy. 16:23 I thought to myself Hmm I wonder what version of the National 16:28 Inquirer magazine he got that story from right. No Bible right 16:32 No texts of scripture. Just a story. Now folks we can't listen 16:38 to stories like that because those are the kinds of stories 16:41 that lead people totally away from the truths of subjects. 16:45 Revelation 20 verse 6: Blessed and holy is he that has part in 16:48 the first resurrection. You can see why blessed and holy 16:52 because that's the one for the saved right there. But God is a 16:55 God of order. He's a God of love He's a God of mercy but he's 16:59 also a God of order. And here we find that first the wicked are 17:03 brought out of their graves. Then they face their judgment. 17:07 And then they're punished in the lake of fire. So there's a 17:10 logical order to it. Revelation 21 verse 8: The the fearful, and 17:14 unbelieving, and the abominable, and murders, and whoremongers, 17:17 and sorcerers and idolaters, and all liars shall have their 17:20 part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone: which 17:23 is the what again friend? The second death. So the Bible 17:28 stresses that it is the second death which is the one which the 17:33 wicked are going to experience. The righteous never experience 17:36 the second death friends. They can experience the first death 17:39 which is called a sleep because there's an awakening from that 17:42 sleep. But the second death is only for the wicked. Now that 17:46 leads us to this question: Where will hell fire occur? Well we 17:49 basically already answered it. We know how large the lake of 17:53 fire's going to be. The lake of fire is going to be just as wide 17:55 and just as deep as this world is. It's going to be this world 17:59 sterilized before it is made brand new again. Now let's go 18:04 see what it says about making that world brand new. Revelation 18:08 21 verse 1. It says: And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: 18:11 for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away: 18:14 Where did the first heaven and the first earth pass away friend 18:17 It passed away in the lake of fire, right? And so now God is 18:20 going to make it brand new. So let's now look at this question: 18:24 How long will hell fire burn? Really this is the major 18:26 question for tonight because this is the one the majority of 18:31 people get hung up on. There's another way of asking this 18:33 question by the way. And that would be how complete is the 18:36 destruction of the wicked? There's so much confusion on 18:38 this point because the devil has taken a few words of scripture 18:42 taken them out of their context and caused people to believe 18:45 something totally different than what the Bible actually says. 18:48 Thought we do not know the exact length of time the wicked are 18:55 going to suffer in the lake of fire. This one we do know 18:57 friends. It will not be for the ceaseless ages of eternity. Now 19:02 why do we know that? We're going to go to the Bible and get a lot 19:05 of verses but here are a couple reasons why right off the bat. 19:06 Number one We've just read that the world is going to become a 19:11 lake of fire and then God's going to make it brand new again 19:14 Now how is God going to make it brand new again if the fires 19:18 never go out? Right? I mean there's no way God can make this 19:21 world brand new and recreate it if the fires of hell never cease 19:24 if it's going to be as the Bible says right here on the surface 19:27 of the earth. That's reason number one. Reason number two is 19:29 we studied in a previous night that mankind is not naturally 19:35 immortal. Immortality is something that is given man at 19:37 the time of the second coming as a reward for being faithful to 19:40 Jesus, right? And so how could the wicked suffer for eternity 19:44 in hell fire if they've never been given immortality? I mean 19:49 the only way that you could burn forever is if you live forever, 19:51 right? And nowhere does the Bible ever say that the wicked 19:55 will live forever. Let's go if we would be Genesis 3:22: And 19:59 the Lord God said, Behold, the man is become as one of us, to 20:03 know good and evil: and now lest he put forth his hand, and take 20:07 also of the tree of life, and eat, and live, what? Forever. 20:12 So God says because man has sinned we can't let him have 20:15 access to the tree of life because if he continued to eat 20:19 of it, he would keep living, right? And so God barred the way 20:22 to the tree of life and he sent Adam and Eve from the Garden of 20:25 Eden. Here's one from 1 John 3 and verse 15, it says: Whosoever 20:30 hateth his brother is a murder: and you know that no murder hath 20:35 eternal life abiding in him. How could a murderer live for 20:38 eternity if he didn't have eternal life? Again it's an 20:41 impossibility. The idea folks that mankind is immortal and 20:50 that hell fire goes for eternity both are pagan doctrines, both 20:55 were never intended to become part of Christian doctrine. 20:58 Because it's the idea...they both have kind of a...they build 21:02 on one another. It's the idea that mankind is immortal and 21:05 that you can never kill the soul that causes people to believe 21:10 that hell fire must be fore eternity because they reason it 21:13 out this way: They say if the soul can never die, if it can 21:16 never end and if it goes to hell fire then hell fire must be for 21:21 eternity because the soul is immortal and cannot die, right? 21:24 So it's basically a case of one false doctrine being built upon 21:28 the back of another false doctrine. Both were never 21:31 intended to be part of Christian teaching. So let's go take a 21:34 look now if you would at Romans 6; this is one of the most 21:38 common verses that people know and they memorize. It says: For 21:43 the wages of sin is, what does it say? Death, right? But here's 21:48 how many people read it. They say but the wages of sin is 21:50 everlasting life in the fires of hell. It doesn't say that does 21:53 it? It says the wages of sin is death, the opposite of life. But 21:56 then it goes on but the gift of God is eternal life through 21:59 Jesus Christ our Lord. Notice both ways don't lead to life. 22:02 One way leads to life and the other way leads to death. There 22:06 is no place in the Bible, friend that the wicked are given 22:10 eternal life. There's only two sides in the great controversy. 22:14 It's eternal life with Jesus and it's eternal death with Satan, 22:17 amen? God is not going to bestow his priceless gift of eternal 22:21 life, not even upon the wicked that they might suffer for 22:24 eternity. No way. It doesn't say that in scripture. What are the 22:28 two choices that we see in the Bible? And there are only two. 22:32 Here it is: Matthew 7 verse 13, Jesus says: Enter ye in at the 22:35 strait gate: For wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that 22:39 leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: So 22:42 that's the one way. Because strait is the gate, and narrow 22:45 is the way, which leadeth unto, what folks? Life, right? And 22:50 few there be that find it. So notice again. Jesus only shows 22:52 two ways and there's only one way that leads to life. There 22:55 isn't another way that leads to eternal life in hell fire. So 22:59 one way leads to life, the other way leads to destruction or 23:02 death. You've got to overlook the obvious really to see 23:05 anything else. How can the wicked live for eternity if they 23:09 have no connection with Jesus? Okay, let's keep going here. John 23:13 3:16. You know this is a great verse to read on this one 23:16 tonight because this is one of the most beloved verses of 23:20 scripture isn't it? John 3:16. But this one, even though it is 23:24 so well-known and so well memorized it teaches what we're 23:28 instructing tonight and yet people miss it. It says: For God 23:32 so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that 23:35 whosoever believeth in him should not what friend? Perish. 23:38 And the word there literally means destroy. But have 23:41 everlasting life. Here we see again friends that there is only 23:48 two ways. Now it is sometimes argued by people that the wicked 23:53 receive eternal life, a very, very low quality of life but 23:57 they still have eternal life. But again where in the Bible 23:59 does it say that? They're trying to assume something upon the 24:02 text that it simply doesn't say. Psalm 37 verse 20 and verse 10. 24:06 How are the wicked going to perish? They're going to perish 24:09 according to John 3:16. How is it going to take place? It says: 24:12 For yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be:...But the 24:17 wicked shall perish...into smoke shall they consume away. And the 24:20 little word be there folks, it means to exist. You'll look for 24:24 them but they will not exist. Wow! Into smoke, okay? And 24:31 remember Revelation 20 verse 9 it said there that fire 24:33 came down from God out of heaven, 24:35 and what did it do to the wicked? Devoured 24:37 them, right? So what does devour mean? I went to a zoo one time 24:43 up in Canada...I mean I got kind of burnt out on zoos because we 24:48 were always trying to take our children to fun places and clean 24:52 Christian things. And so we went to a lot of zoos. Wildlife 24:55 retreats those kind of things. So I really wasn't you know 24:58 going to the zoo, but they said hey if you'll come to this zoo 24:59 we'll give you back stage pass to the lions. Okay, I'm in on 25:03 that one. So we went there and we saw all the normal things 25:06 and they said come with us. We went on the back stage and went 25:08 around to where you know the regular public doesn't go and we 25:11 went right inside where the lions are in their cages and you 25:14 could go close to the bars. I mean the lions could come up 25:18 just about three feet from you maybe even less than that and 25:22 they would roar and boy that roar, 450-pound lion, that roar 25:26 would just go right through you. Really was amazing. But 25:29 nevertheless the zoo keeper comes in with these buckets of 25:32 raw meet, right? Throws it in the lion's cage and believe me 25:34 those lions jump on it and they devour it, all right? Now I tell 25:40 you they devour it what do you think when the lions devoured 25:42 that meat, right? It doesn't mean they gnaw on it and 25:44 gnaw on it and 25:46 chew and chew and chew and it never goes away, right? When 25:48 they devour it, it is gone, amen right? When it says fire came 25:52 down from God out of heaven and devoured them, it means they are 25:56 gone. Psalms said they shall not be. Here's a verse that is very 26:01 interesting in its scope. Isaiah 1:28. It says: And the 26:04 destruction...there's that word again, it comes over and over to 26:07 us...the destruction of the transgressors and of the sinners 26:10 shall be together, and they that forsake the Lord shall be 26:13 consumed. So not only are the righteous caught up to meet the 26:17 Lord in the air and they go together to be with Jesus on the 26:20 great day of the second coming. It says the wicked receive their 26:23 reward together at the time of their destruction. So not 26:28 individually at the time that they might die and go down to 26:31 hell fire that kind of thing. Again if we just let the 26:33 scriptures read for themselves. The word of God tells us the 26:35 unrighteous will be blotted from existence, they're going to be 26:39 consumed and now this next passage is wow. If it wasn't 26:43 clear enough already, Malachi, which is the last book of the 26:46 Old Testament, chapter 4 and verse 1, this passage really 26:51 makes it clear folks. It says: For, behold, the day cometh, 26:53 notice that is future tense, that shall burn as an oven; and 26:56 all the proud, ye, and all that do wickedly, shall be, what 27:00 folks? Stubble, right. And it says: and the day that cometh 27:05 shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall 27:07 leave them neither root nor branch. So when they're finally 27:10 burned up how much is left? It says there's no root. Satan is 27:15 the root of all evil. There's no branches. His followers are the 27:16 branches. It says there's going to be nothing left. Have you 27:20 ever seen a fire go through a field of stubble? I mean when it 27:23 does it there's nothing left but ashes, right? Nothing. And 27:26 that's what it says here in verse 3. And ye shall tread down 27:29 the wicked; for they shall be what now? Ashes, right: Under 27:33 the soles of your feet. So it's giving you the picture that when 27:38 God recreates the world and the righteous go out to inhabit it 27:43 you're like you're walking on the ashes of the wicked because 27:45 they were consumed in the lake of fire on the surface of the 27:48 earth before God made it brand new again. They said you walk 27:51 out and you have your eternal home and it's like you're 27:55 walking over the ashes of the wicked. So what are we learning 27:57 here about the destruction of the wicked? We learned they'll 27:59 be burned in the future, not now It says they'll be consumed, 28:02 burned up and turned to ashes. There's only one chapter in 28:05 Obadiah so verse 16 of Obadiah: For as ye have drunk upon my 28:08 holy mountain, so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea 28:12 they shall drink, and they shall swallow down, now notice folks: 28:16 And they shall be as though they had not been. Wow. That's about 28:21 as clear as you can get it, right? They will be as though 28:24 they had not been. They will cease to exist which is exactly 28:26 what the other verses have been telling us. Now there may be a 28:32 question that comes to your mind This would be a legitimate 28:33 question. We've gone through a lot of verses here and we could 28:36 go through more but still people will say but aren't there some 28:39 verses in the scripture that seem to indicate that they do 28:44 suffer for eternity. And yes upon a, I don't want to say just 28:51 superficial, just took a few verses out of their context, 28:53 ignored the rest of the Bible, there are a few that might lead 28:56 us to think that. So let's take a look at those and see what 28:59 they really do say. Matthew 25 verse 46. Remember we're 29:03 comparing text with text, verse with verse, scripture with 29:07 scripture to see what is the clear truth. It says: And these 29:11 shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous 29:14 into life eternal. So they're saying now pastor doesn't that 29:17 mean the wicked burn forever. 29:18 No it doesn't. Notice what it says and notice what it does not 29:22 say. It says everlasting punishment. It does not say 29:26 everlasting punishing. They're not the same thing. We believe 29:31 that the wicked will experience an everlasting punishment. So 29:36 all we have to ask ourself is what is the punishment that is 29:38 everlasting, right? Let's go find out. Here it is. Again 29:43 2 Thessalonians 1 verse 9, it says of the wicked: Who shall be 29:46 punished with, here's their punishment, friends, everlasting 29:50 what's that next word? Destruction from the presence of 29:53 the Lord, and from the glory of his power. Revelation calls it 29:58 the lake of fire, Paul calls it death, right? In many places 30:03 it's just a type of destruction they experience. So the second 30:08 death is destruction because they're not coming back from it. 30:12 They're going to be eternally destroyed. Let me say it another 30:15 way. The wicked will die twice. If they haven't already died 30:18 previous to Jesus' coming they'll die at the time of the 30:21 second coming by his glory. But then they sleep the sleep of 30:23 death for a 1000 years and then after their judgment is 30:26 fulfilled their punishment is assessed. Then they're going to 30:30 have another death in the lake of fire. Folks it pays to serve 30:33 the Lord, amen? Absolutely. So here we can see how plain the 30:38 truth is by allowing the Bible to be our own commentary When we 30:41 think of hell fire sometimes we think of an eastern concept 30:45 with a western mind. Let me explain something to you here. 30:49 In order to understand any language it really helps to 30:55 understand the metaphors of the language. And I always think 30:58 well pity the person that has to understand English as a second 31:01 language. Because English has got hundreds if not thousands of 31:05 metaphores, idioms, figures of speech, right, that we use all 31:09 the time and when you grow up with them, you know them, you 31:11 know what they mean but someone who's learning it as a second 31:14 language that would be very, very difficult. For example I 31:17 grew up on the west coast of British Columbia and it rains a 31:21 lot there and let me tell you when it's really, really raining 31:24 hard we say it's raining cats and dogs. Right? Anybody know 31:27 that expression, raining cats and dogs? Sure. So let's just 31:33 say that you were sending an email over to your friend in 31:35 Japan and you're talking about the weather here and you say 31:39 man it's coming down so hard it's raining cats and dogs. He's 31:43 saying what? That's dangerous weather right? Dangerous weather 31:48 So I'm sending him a text, an email, right, and I say oh I met 31:52 this pastor here, he's such a find man. He is really on the 31:55 ball. What's he going to think when he sees that translated 31:58 into Chinese. He's going to see Pastor Charles on a basketball 32:02 balancing, you know. And it's going to say oh no that's not 32:04 what he means. And the guy will say oh no, no, no, no. I know 32:07 English. He says he's really on the ball. That means he's really 32:12 on it, right. We understand those things. We get it, right? 32:17 I mean, can you imagine when talking to somebody that doesn't 32:19 really knowo English and say quit beating around the bush. 32:21 What are they going to think, right? Or you might say to them 32:26 On the other hand. On the other hand? What are you talking about 32:31 right? We know those expressions don't we? If you said to 32:34 somebody, the ball is in your court. The ball is in my court? 32:38 Or if you say to somebody, oh here's one, those of you who are 32:45 older here. Remember this one? Elvis has left the building. 32:53 (Chuckles) In the days of Elvis Presley, he was so popular that 32:56 people would hang around after his concert and they'd mull 32:59 around hoping to get a glimpse of him or get an autograph. And 33:01 the announcer comes on and says Elvis has left the building. 33:02 But what he was saying was, You can all go home now. Well that 33:06 saying carried on down and when there's a sporting event or that 33:09 kind of a think and it's really a lopsided score, one team is 33:13 absolutely slaughtering the other and basically for all 33:15 intents and purposes the game is over the announcer would come on 33:17 and say folks Elvis has left the building. What he's actually 33:21 saying is okay you might as well go home because the game is 33:23 basically decided, right? But if you say to somebody today, Elvis 33:26 has left the building, they're like what...I thought Elvis 33:28 passed away a long time ago. 33:30 We understand those metaphores, those idioms, those 33:35 figures of speech because we know the English language. Well 33:40 the Hebrews who wrote down scripture they had them too. 33:43 And so again let's go take a look. What does the Bible mean 33:46 when it uses the expression everlasting destruction or 33:50 eternal. That's a figure of speech that they had. So let's 33:54 go take a look at some other ones here. They used the term 33:57 eternal judgment, Hebrews 6:2, eternal salvation Hebrews 5:9 34:01 eternal redemption, Hebrews 9:12 In each and every case they used 34:06 that phrase it's not the actual act that's carrying on for 34:10 eternity. It's the consequences or it's the effect of it that is 34:15 going on for eternity. There's not a Christian church anywhere 34:18 that believes that Jesus is going to judge and judge and 34:19 judge and judge for all eternity No. We believe as all Christians 34:25 believe that Jesus has a judgment and the consequences 34:28 are, the effect of the judgment is going to last for eternity. 34:31 Same for the salvation, same with redemption. So the results 34:34 of it will be everlasting. Now what about eternal fire? That's 34:38 an expression. Let's go take a look at it. Here in Jude 1, 34:41 there's only one chapter in Jude, verse 7, it says: Even as 34:44 Sodom and Gomorrha, this goes on are set forth for an example. 34:46 Those are wicked cities that lived back in the days of 34:49 Abraham or they just existed rather in days of Abraham. It 34:52 says: Suffered the vengeance of what kind of fire friends 34:56 Eternal fire. Now again is Sodom and Gomorrha on fire tonight. 34:58 No, but it says eternal fire. If eternal fire meant it never 35:02 finishes, if that's the meaning someone wants to impose upon it 35:05 in that phrase, that means it would have to still be burning. 35:08 Now just you think well maybe the news cameras haven't 35:11 gotten over there yet. Right? They're a little slow, right? 35:15 well just to be sure let's go to 2 Peter 2 verse 6. It says: And 35:20 turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into, what folks? Ashes 35:24 condemned them with an overthrow and making them an example, 35:27 which again is example in the King James, unto those that 35:31 after should live ungodly. So it's saying that God took those 35:36 wicked cities, Sodom and Gomorrha turned them into ashes 35:40 and that example of turning them into ashes is what God is going 35:44 to do to the wicked at the end of time. Have you ever been to 35:48 Israel? Anybody here been to Israel? Well yeah there's some 35:51 here. I have been there and boy it's really interesting place. 35:54 go down by the Dead Sea is. The Dead Sea is where they 35:58 supposedly where those wicked cities of Sodom and Gomorrha 36:00 were. So you can see for yourself they're not still 36:02 burning there but you can go out in the Dead Sea and it's got 36:05 such a chemical makeup that you can actually float without a lot 36:10 of effort on the Dead Sea and read a newspaper, lay back and 36:13 read a newspaper. You don't sink right? Afterward, you've got to 36:15 take a shower because your body has got this film all over it. 36:17 But it's worth doing once kind of thing. The Dead Sea which is 36:23 the lowest land level in the world, 1291 feet below sea level 36:25 It is that area where they say those wicked cities once were. 36:29 You can see they're not still on fire tonight. But here's the 36:33 point folks. In the exact same way that the Bible uses the 36:37 phrase eternal judgment and in the exact same way the Bible 36:41 uses the phrase eternal salvation and in the exact same 36:45 way that the Bible uses the phrase eternal redemption so it 36:48 uses the phrase eternal fire. It is consistent with how the Bible 36:52 is using it's metaphors or its figures of speech. So what are 36:56 we seeing here? An eternal fire is one whose effects or results 37:00 are eternal. Everlasting punishment is a punishment whose 37:03 effects or results are eternal. What have we learned so far? 37:06 The fate of the wicked. The Bible says the wicked will die 37:08 It says they will perish, Luke 13 verse 3. They'll be burned up 37:12 says Malachi chapter 4. They'll be utterly consumed, so says 37:16 Psalm 37. It says the wicked will be turned to ashes, Malachi 37:20 4:3 and Obadiah says they'll be as though they had not been. Wow 37:25 So the second death is this. The first death 37:29 is the death that we die 37:31 as the natural result of living in a sinful world. And both the 37:34 righteous and the wicked could experience that death. But the 37:38 second death is the death which is an eternal death as the 37:41 result of personal rebellion against God. There is another 37:44 expression that the Bible uses and people get confused about. 37:47 So let's look at it right now. This expression of unquenchable 37:51 fire. Jeremiah 17 verse 27, it says: But if you will not 37:54 hearken unto me to hallow the Sabbath day, that would be to 37:58 keep the Sabbath day holy, and not to bear a burden, even 38:00 entering in at the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; 38:03 the will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof, and it shall 38:06 devour the palaces of Jerusalem, and it shall not be quenched. 38:10 So there you have it friends, a fire that shall not be quenched. 38:12 And there is more than one place in the scriptures where it tells 38:15 us that this scripture was literally fulfilled. King 38:19 Nebuchadnezzar with the Babylonians, he came with his 38:22 army and they burned Jerusalem those parts that would burn. But 38:25 here again, is the question. Is Jerusalem still on fire tonight? 38:29 Absolutely not. So what does it mean when it says unquenchable? 38:32 An unquenchable fire is one that if God starts it, it is beyond 38:36 the ability of human beings to put it out until the purposes 38:40 that God has deemed it for have been fulfilled. You know and 38:44 again the idioms of the Hebrews are not that different than us 38:48 today. We use that term unquenchable in a similar way. 38:50 If a fire is out in the country side and by the time the firemen 38:54 get there the building is totally engulfed right, they can 38:58 put their hoses on it but it doesn't really do much because 39:00 it's so much fire there. They might say it was unquenchable. 39:02 But they don't mean that the fire is never going to go out. 39:05 They just mean for a time it was beyond their ability to put it 39:09 out. It might be a chemical fire Again, they know that eventually 39:13 it will burn itself out when everything that can be burned is 39:16 burned and of course it will cease. So an unquenchable fire 39:20 in it's context means beyond the power of anyone to put it out 39:24 but it goes out when everything is burned up. When God starts a 39:31 fire it can't be put out until God deems that it's purpose has 39:36 been fulfilled. What about this expression? Here's a big one, 39:39 right? Forever and ever. Well doesn't the Bible say that the 39:43 wicked are going to suffer forever and ever? Now this is 39:46 a phrase that I have to admit has caused some perplexity about 39:48 the punishment of the wicked. Revelation does use that 39:51 expression. Revelation 20 and verse 10 says: the wicked will 39:54 tormented forever and ever. Here's one in Revelation 14 39:57 verse 10, it says: He shall be tormented with fire and 39:59 brimstone. And then it goes on and says: And the smoke of their 40:03 torment ascendeth up forever and ever: and they have no rest 40:06 day nor night... So what is this all about. Okay. Here's the 40:10 answer to it. Forever and ever is a Biblical expression which 40:15 literally means till the end of the age. It doesn't necessarily 40:18 mean an infinite, unending length of time. It depends on 40:23 what you use it with, what it's describing. It's similar to our 40:28 English word tall, right? Sometimes the adjective 40:31 describes the noun and sometimes the noun describes the adjective 40:34 For example you can have a tall dog. You can have a tall human 40:38 being. I've been called tall. You can have a tall building 40:41 and you could have a tall mountain. But what is tall. 40:44 Tall is relative to what it's describing, right? In that case 40:50 tall is an adjective that is determined by the noun that you 40:51 put it with. So in the same way forever has its connotation or 40:56 meaning depending on what you place it with. For example: 41:01 1 Samuel 1 verse 22, it says: I will not go up, this is Samuel's 41:03 mother speaking, I will not go up until the child be weaned, 41:06 and then I will bring him, that he may appear before the Lord, 41:09 and there abide, what? For ever, right? But then in verse 28 it 41:13 goes on: Therefore I have lent him unto the Lord, as long as he 41:15 liveth he shall be lent to the Lord. So here forever for Samuel 41:19 meant as long as he lives. In the same way under certain 41:24 circumstances a servant was to serve his master forever. But 41:27 again that would only mean as long as he would live. Psalm 48 41:32 verse 14, we took up synonymous parallelism on an earlier night. 41:34 Here you see it again. It says: For the God is our God for ever 41:38 and ever, now he's going to say it again using different words 41:42 he will be our guide even unto death. So forever and ever meant 41:46 as long as the person lived. In fact forever could mean actually 41:49 short. Fifty-six times by the way, 56 times the Bible uses 41:54 the word forever for things we know have come to an end. So 41:58 again using the Bible itself we can see that it doesn't have to 42:00 mean for eternity. But it can mean a short period of time. 42:04 You know the story of Jonah. He was running away from God, 42:06 didn't want to fulfill God's purposes, and so eventually 42:09 he got on board a ship, the ship got into some big trouble and as 42:13 decided to see who was the cause of it all Jonah admitted that he 42:17 was and they cast him over, right? Jonah actually requested 42:21 it. So they cast him over into the water and Jonah, as he 42:24 described this experience in chapter 2 and verse 6 of the 42:27 book of Jonah he said: I went down to the bottoms of the 42:29 mountains; now he's using metaphorical terms here and he 42:33 says, the earth with her bars was about me for ever. Now of 42:36 course he was swallowed by a big fish, right? And he's 42:40 describing it and he says the bars, meaning the ribs of this 42:42 fish inside were just surrounding him, right? So what 42:47 was going on here. He's in this great big fish that God had 42:51 prepared to swallow him up. He says he was in there forever. 42:55 Now think if we were in that position it would seem like 42:57 forever, but how long was it really, right? It says in 43:00 chapter 1 verse 17 and Jonah was in the belly of the fish three 43:05 days and three nights, right? We when it comes to Bible study 43:08 don't let someone else impose their belief or their 43:13 interpretation upon the text for you. We do the study and let the 43:16 Bible explain itself, which we said on opening night we would 43:19 do. So what are we learning here? Forever in the Bible is a time 43:23 period, the length of which is determined by the object to 43:26 which it is applied. Okay. So that's very plain. To the Hebrew 43:31 mind it depended upon the context. And you know again 43:35 we use things that way too don't we? Have you ever been driving 43:38 up and you come to a stop light and you say that stop light took 43:41 forever to change. Right so say that sometimes. You say 43:45 it has been forever since I ate a good meal. I hope you don't 43:48 leave here saying boy that preacher went on forever tonight 43:50 I hope you don't say that. But in the case of man, we live 43:57 forever in the sense that we will live as long as God has 44:00 determined it, right? And after that the wicked will live 44:04 forever how long their sentence is and then eventually the fire 44:08 will go out. So for the righteous, now here's the good 44:10 part, it will be for eternity because in the context they'll 44:14 be given immortality and therefore they cannot die and 44:17 we will be forever with our Lord Amen? So absolutely. Here's a 44:24 question that we do want to cover. It said why would a 44:28 loving God burn sinners in hell for millions and millions and 44:32 millions of years? Now that is the common teaching today right? 44:34 When someone said well hell fire is for eternity I think to 44:38 myself have they really thought that through? Eternity is a long 44:43 time. Would you agree? I mean we're talking eternity, you're 44:46 talking trillions times trillion trillions and trillions of years 44:51 and in context that's just the first second of eternity. Is God 44:56 going to take someone that lived 30, 40, 50 years of life, maybe 44:59 a lot less and because again they were not in a saved 45:03 condition. Is he going to put them in a tortuous flame with no 45:05 hope for trillions of years? Is that a God of justice, friends? 45:10 That would be a tyrant and our God is not a tyrant, amen? Satan 45:15 has caused people to look upon God that way because he's 45:20 imposing his own character upon God. And of course, we know that 45:23 is not true. I was a young man at one time and I believed in a 45:27 vengeful God that was going to burn people all eternity. But 45:28 then I didn't know the Bible either. So the theology is the 45:34 theology of eternal torment that turned young Robert Ingersoll 45:39 who became known as the world's greatest atheist and into the 45:42 man that he was. Robert Ingersoll's Father was a 45:47 minister. And Robert Ingersoll heard his father talking about 45:50 God is going to burn babies in hell fire for eternity and to 45:53 his young reasoning mind it's a snap, if that's the way God is I 45:57 will never serve him. Right? And he turned out to be this atheist 46:01 and it never had to be friends. In his own writings, he said: For 46:05 the first time I understood the digma of eternal pain... For the 46:08 first time my imagination grasped the height and depth of 46:10 the Christian horror. Again this is the Christian horror as he 46:14 was taught it. Then I said: It's a lie and I hate your religion. 46:18 If it is true, I hate your God. He could not rationalize a God 46:23 of love with eternal hell fire. And how could you, friends? 46:27 Again it was a tragedy that he was taught that because he 46:31 probably could have been a great worker for the Lord if he'd been 46:34 taught correctly. Now Charles Darwin, now we know all the 46:39 problems that he caused, right? But look what he had to say on 46:42 the subject of eternal hell. From his own autobiography, he 46:45 said: I can hardly see how anyone ought to wish 46:47 Christianity to be true. for if so the plain language of the 46:52 text that men who do not believe and this would include my Father 46:56 Brother, and almost all my best friends will be everlastingly 47:00 punished. And this is a damnable doctrine. So again he was taught 47:06 incorrectly in the Bible. He was taught that hell fire was for 47:10 eternity and he thought well I know that my father, brother, 47:13 friends not believing, they aren't Christians, not believing 47:16 and therefore they there for eternity and he said that's a 47:20 damnable doctrine. Amazing. I asked the question at the 47:23 beginning here tonight-What kind of God do we serve? We 47:25 do serve a God of love, don't we amen? There's not a verse in the 47:30 Bible friends, not a single verse in the Bible that says 47:33 that the soul is immortal or that people will burn for 47:36 eternity. You might hear that from preachers' lips, right? You 47:39 might see that in a sermon somewhere but there's not a 47:41 single text in the Bible that teaches that. Now I know there's 47:44 another extreme. The other extreme is that there are 47:49 some people that say Oh God is too good to punish at all. Now 47:53 I wonder what Bible they're reading, right? Because the 47:55 Bible doesn't say that either. It says: as it is written, 47:57 Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. So now there 48:01 will be a punishment of the wicked. There's no question 48:03 about it. God is just as well as loving. So let's recap here. 48:09 The first death is a sleep, why, because there will be an 48:12 awakening from it. There's going to be a resurrection from it. 48:14 The second death which is experienced only by the wicked 48:17 is never called a sleep because there's eternal annihilation. I 48:22 do believe in hell fire, absolutely, the Bible teaches it 48:24 but I believe the Bible does not support eternal hell fire. Luke 48:29 12 verse 47, Jesus said: And that servant, which knew his 48:32 lord's will, and prepared not himself, neither did according 48:35 to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes. Stripes or 48:40 flogging was a punishment that was common in Jesus' day. He was 48:43 using this as an example. You see that person who was more 48:47 accountable will have a lot of punishment is what he's saying 48:49 here, but he that knew not, and did commit things worthy of 48:51 stripes, which means worthy of punishment shall be beaten with 48:55 few stripes. Now why some with many and some with few? Because 48:59 God is a just God. God is not going to punish everyone the 49:03 same. He says they'll be rewarded according to their works, right? 49:09 Sure. Now I want to be kind but I want to tell you that many 49:16 people, maybe pastors or preachers or otherwise, are 49:19 doing a first-class job of blackening God's character 49:22 when it comes to this subject. Now on the one side, they'll say 49:26 God is love, right? God is merciful, God is fair. And then 49:31 they'll turn right around and say if you don't serve him 49:33 you're going to burn for eternity. Where's the justice 49:35 in that? Where's the love in that? It's so incongruous, right 49:40 This question could be asked: Why destroy sinners at all? 49:46 What's the purpose of putting them out of existence? Well keep 49:50 in mind friends, it's the very best thing a loving God could do 49:55 I want you to think. Would the wicked really be happy in heaven 50:00 Would they really be happy there? Before I was a Christian, before 50:04 I was converted I remember that I would drive around in my car 50:10 and I just loved rock and roll music. And so I would turn on 50:14 the radio and turn the radio dial, remember when you had to 50:17 turn the dial, remember that? Remember those days? Okay so 50:19 when I was turning the radio dial, then I would come to some 50:22 kind of Christian station, I'd go Uff. I would come to some 50:30 kind of classical music. I don't want that, right? Then I'd come 50:33 to some station where the guitars are wailing and voices 50:37 are screaming and drums are pounding. I'd go like ah yeah, 50:41 yeah. And that was me, right? God got ahold of my heart friend 50:46 and when God got ahold of my heart, he converted me. He 50:52 converted my mind, he converted my desire, he converted my music 50:57 and now you know if I desire to listen to music and I'll you 51:02 know turn on the radio and one of those pounding rock songs, 51:06 when I Oo! makes dialing motion, I don't do that anymore. 51:13 Actually I do this (steering wheel controls) on my wheel but 51:16 it doesn't matter, it doesn't matter. The fact is I don't want 51:20 to listen to it, right? And then I'll get a nice Christian song 51:25 that is of the Spirit and it soothes my soul and I go aah. 51:28 Isn't God good friends? Isn't God wonderful in the way he 51:33 recreates our minds. That which we used to love now we hate, 51:36 that which we used to hate now we love. The point being if you 51:39 take a person that is unconverted, that has never 51:44 experienced the love of God, and doesn't desire to love God and 51:48 the thing of God, the things of heaven, the things that 51:51 Christians love to talk about and if you were to transport 51:55 that person immediately into heaven in the presence of holy 51:59 angels that have never sinned, right? Would that person be 52:03 happy? Well I can tell you the result of it. When Jesus comes 52:06 it says in Revelation 6 that the wicked will cry for the rocks 52:08 and the mountains to fall on them rather than look into the 52:12 face of Jesus. That tells you all you need to know right there 52:14 all right. They would not be happy. Can you imagine someone 52:16 going to heaven...I mean in heaven there aren't going to be 52:18 any banks for the greedy to rob. There aren't going to be any 52:21 places of sinful pleasure for those that are like-minded of 52:25 that, okay? Would a greedy person be safe with streets of 52:31 gold. I mean they'd be looking for some sharp object to jab it 52:34 into those streets and stuff some into their pockets, right? 52:37 I mean you'll take it back to the mansion and hide it away 52:39 somewhere. Again this is where their mind is. They would not be 52:44 happy there at all. If you could picture a selfish unconverted 52:48 person up in heaven I can tell you they would not be happy at 52:52 all. God is love and the very best thing he could do friend 52:57 for that person is to allow them to be as though they had not 53:02 been. He can't extend sin forever. He's got to put an end 53:08 to it because if sin is not ended it perpetuates itself. 53:10 It spreads like a disease will spread. Sin is like a disease 53:14 friend. So he can't keep doing that. But he knows the wicked 53:18 would not be happy in heaven. So what is the very best thing a 53:24 loving and merciful God will do? They will have their punishment 53:28 but when it is finished he will allow them to be as though they 53:31 had not been. Now in Ezekiel chapter 33 verse 11 it says: 53:35 As I live, saith the Lord God, I have no pleasure in the death of 53:37 the wicked...Now God has no pleasure in the death of the 53:39 wicked, how much less pleasure does he have in punishing them 53:42 for all eternity, right? But he says: let the wicked turn from 53:46 his way and live. Now if there ever was a being that I suppose 53:52 was so wicked that he could maybe burn for eternity that 53:55 would be the devil himself, but even the devil himself will not 54:00 be perpetuated for all eternity. God has a plan for him. Let's 54:03 look at it. Let us see here in Ezekiel 28 verse 15, speaking of 54:08 Satan in his beginning, it says: Thou wast perfect in thy ways 54:14 from the day that thou wast created, till iniquity was found 54:17 in thee. God did not create a devil. God created a beautiful 54:20 perfect angel called Lucifer. But he says sin or iniquity was 54:24 found in him, he brought it into himself...By the multitude of 54:29 thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, 54:32 and thou hast sinned: Therefore I will cast thee as profane out 54:35 of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering 54:38 cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire. Thine heart was 54:41 lifted up because of thy beauty thou hast corrupted thy wisdom 54:43 by reason of thy brightness: I will cast thee to the ground, I 54:47 will lay thee before kings, that they may behold thee. In other 54:50 words, he's going to expose him for who he is before it's all 54:53 over...Thou has defiled thy sanctuaries by the multitude of 54:56 thine iniquities by the iniquity of thy traffic; and he continues 54:59 to traffic it around the earth. Therefore will I bring forth a 55:03 fire from the midst of thee, it shall, do what friends? Devour 55:08 thee. And I will bring thee to what folks? Ashes upon the earth 55:14 in the sight of all them that behold thee. Now look at this. 55:16 All they that know thee among the people shall be astonished 55:19 at thee: thou shall be a terror, and never shalt thou be any more. 55:24 Hallelujah, Amen! The devil will be put out of existence. Now I'm 55:28 sure when you think about this, God is a just God when he weighs 55:34 the devil's punishment he's going to weigh all the things 55:36 hat he has caused to be committed right? All the trials and 55:41 temptations he's caused. He's going to put it all together. 55:43 Now I don't know how long it is but that's a lonnnng sentence. 55:46 Right? But God has measured it out and when it's fulfilled 55:53 Satan will be brought to ashes. And never will there be sin and 55:57 sinners anymore. In other words, the universe will be clean 56:01 friend. So let's just again review here. When Jesus comes 56:05 the second coming, the saints are caught up to him in the air. 56:08 The first resurrection will take place among the righteous dead. 56:10 The wicked living will be slain. That's the first death for them. 56:13 During the 1000 years the saints live and reign with Jesus in 56:17 heaven, Revelation 20, and verse 4. Satan is bound here on this 56:21 dark, desolated planet which is called the pit, Revelation 20 56:25 verse 3. And then after the 1000 years there is this period 56:30 called the short season that is spoken of in Revelation 20 verse 56:34 3. That is begun by the New Jerusalem coming down from 56:36 heaven. That'll bring a second resurrection of the wicked. The 56:40 wicked then gather around Jerusalem, Revelation 20 verse 8 56:43 They attempt to take the city. The great white throne judgment 56:46 takes place Revelation 20 verses 9-11. And then it says fire 56:52 comes down from God out of heaven, that's the latter part 56:54 of verse 9. That's the second death for the wicked and then 56:57 out of the ashes of the lake of fire God is going to make a new 57:00 heavens and a new earth. God has a plan for this world. All 57:08 Christians believe that Jesus took our punishment upon himself 57:12 By his stripes, that means with his punishment we were made 57:17 whole. The universe will be clean once more. There'll be no 57:21 devil, there will be no heartache, there will be no pain 57:23 So if the punishment that was to come to us was to be forever or 57:30 eternity in hell fire then Jesus would have had to take that upon 57:34 himself. But Jesus isn't in hell fire tonight. Jesus went to the 57:39 cross and he suffered a separation there that wrung his 57:43 soul so deeply that he cried out My God, My God, why hast thou 57:47 forsaken me? Jesus passed through that experience of 57:51 separation and having gone through that and suffered for 57:54 us, he gave his life for our sins. He rose from the grave 57:58 he ascended to heaven. Jesus is not in hellfire tonight. He 58:03 is our great high priest in heaven, amen? He is there. 58:05 We'll talk more about that and that's why folks as we finish 58:08 tonight let me just say this. The Lord places us between two 58:12 destinies. There is eternal life and there is eternal death. Give 58:18 your whole heart to God tonight friends and let God in return 58:22 give you the greatest gift he ever could, eternal life. Amen. |
Revised 2025-04-01