-
Is there anybody here
-
that you expect that when you die,
-
you will end up in hell?
-
Is there anybody here
-
that thinks that when you die
-
that you be cast into hell?
-
Nobody thinks that.
-
(to person in audience) You think that.
-
You expect to go to hell.
-
Do you want to go there?
-
But you expect to.
-
Is there anybody here that
-
has ever believed they were going to hell
-
even though now they
don't believe they are?
-
Yeah, that would be me.
-
Do you think that is normal?
-
Do you think it is normal that people
-
don't think they're headed there
-
who really are,
-
who then come to realize that they are,
-
and then they're saved and they don't?
-
Does that make any sense or
does that totally confuse you?
-
(unintelligible)
-
Let me ask this:
-
Do you think it's common
-
that people who are very much lost
-
and headed there think they're not?
-
(unintelligible)
-
Right. But give me a Scripture
-
that would tend to lead us to believe
-
that people by the multitudes
-
think things are okay when they're not.
-
Matthew 7 would definitely be one place.
-
But Matthew 7 is one that
we talk about a lot.
-
And I mean for a reason.
-
It has some really powerful truths.
-
But prove it from somewhere else.
-
(unintelligible)
-
There's a way that seems right to man
-
but the end is not so nice. Right?
-
Yeah, and that's a good text.
-
Was that the one you were thinking about?
-
No, you were thinking
about a different one.
-
(unintelligible)
-
Right, and do we not
have in Ecclesiastes,
-
the reality that because the punishment
-
for people's sins is not
carried out immediately,
-
men seem to think that punishment
-
is never going to come.
-
Yeah, men are naturally deceived.
-
Most men - in fact, all men -
-
you know one thing we know about all men?
-
All men fear death.
-
No one wants to die.
-
Who wants to be thrown
into a lake of fire?
-
Obviously, nobody.
-
And you know what the problem is?
-
Again, out of Ecclesiastes,
-
God has written eternity on men's hearts.
-
God has given man a conscience.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
And you know what Romans 1 says.
-
There is no true atheist.
-
Men try to suppress truth
-
but the problem is they have eyeballs,
-
or they have senses
-
that tell them that creation
-
has God's fingerprints all over it.
-
And they have a conscience
-
whereby they know right and wrong.
-
As shattered as that may be,
-
that image of God
-
that was first implanted upon man,
-
there's vestiges of it.
-
And men know and they can't run.
-
And death haunts them.
-
Men know they're going to die.
-
Now even though they may, in some ways,
-
act like they're going to live forever,
-
men have a gnawing fear inside.
-
And here they are in life,
-
and there's a way that seems right.
-
In other words, men have a plan.
-
Men think that they are
going to construct a way
-
that they're going to escape this.
-
Every single man desires to miss hell.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Now they may try to
replace hell with annihilation,
-
or they stay here
with the Jehovah's Witnesses,
-
or there is a kingdom, or there is heaven,
-
they try to construct something.
-
Mormons have all their insanity.
-
You've got the paradise of Islam,
-
you've got basically nirvana.
-
I mean you just reach
a state of nothingness.
-
But anyways, whatever
it is, it's not hell.
-
Men try to construct any way they can
-
because everything about hell
-
is absolutely hellish.
-
Men recoil at everything that hell is.
-
But the thing is,
-
every single man
-
has constructed in his own mind,
-
or her own mind some way.
-
No man plans to go to hell.
-
I guarantee if we could randomly
-
take a cross-section of people -
-
ethnicity, color, race, economic status -
-
and we could resurrect
them out of hell right now,
-
If we could bring up a hundred
-
or a thousand people from hell right now,
-
I guarantee every one
of them would tell you,
-
"I never thought to go there.
-
I did not believe I would go there."
-
And you know what?
-
They went there.
-
Why? They were dead wrong.
-
They were dead wrong.
-
They were deceived.
-
Men are always thinking,
-
somehow I'm going to miss it.
-
How do they think to do it?
-
One, by constructing religion
-
that they think is going to get them -
-
whether it's some form
of Christianity by name,
-
or it's some other religion.
-
They construct religions
-
whereby they think to be moral and good
-
and basically please God
out of their own doings,
-
and thus miss it.
-
But you know the vast majority of people
-
that have heard of Christ,
-
you have to think that
the way they thought
-
they were going to miss it is,
-
"I'm going to get right tomorrow." Right?
-
It's procrastination. They put it off.
-
"I want to live it up now,
-
and I'll settle matters...."
-
Brethren, you know I'm talking
-
to real people here in this room.
-
You know this is how we thought.
-
I mean I thought,
-
with all the wickedness in my life,
-
I thought that I was
going to be good enough.
-
I thought somehow that I was
going to be good enough.
-
And I realize things
weren't exactly right
-
but I also had that other idea
-
that I'll get it more right tomorrow.
-
I mean, one of the things
that the missionaries
-
that work over in Turkey told me
-
is that you see these nominal Muslims.
-
Turkey is vastly populated
by nominal Muslims.
-
Very few of them are radical.
-
And what the missionaries
over there pointed out,
-
you know most Muslims get serious
-
about their religion when they're old.
-
Now you think about why that would be.
-
You know why it is?
-
Their conscience is telling
them something's wrong.
-
Now they may be deceived
about who the real God is,
-
and who the real Prophet is,
-
but the fact is they have a
conscience that's telling them,
-
"You are in trouble."
-
And so now when they get older,
-
they're making sure they
go to prayer all the time.
-
Men never think to go there.
-
Or men say this,
-
and this kind of goes along with
constructing their own religion.
-
But men basically say this -
-
how many people say,
-
"Oh, well the Bible says
all I have to do is believe.
-
I've called on the Lord Jesus Christ.
-
The Scripture tells me I'll be saved."
-
And yet, they've never
repented of their sins.
-
They've never bowed the knee to Christ.
-
And they've got this idea
-
that they are forgiven of their sins,
-
they've got this idea
that they're forgiven.
-
One of the truths
-
that the writers of the New Testament
-
try to emphasize as
much as almost anything,
-
is this reality that if
you are truly forgiven,
-
if you are truly justified,
-
if you are truly a Christian,
-
if you truly belong to God
-
if you're truly heaven bound,
-
your life is radically different.
-
Doesn't Scripture literally deal
with that everywhere?
-
You know why it does?
-
Because men are masters
-
at wanting to think
-
that they get to heaven
-
and keep their sin on the way.
-
And they totally forget that
the way is very narrow.
-
And that there are few that are on it.
-
Because unless you forsake
all that you have,
-
Jesus keeps you at arm's length.
-
You can't come to His side,
-
you can't be His disciple,
-
you're no follower of His,
-
if you think that you're
going to get to heaven
-
and still enjoy all your sin on the way.
-
Hell. Hell is a reality.
-
And just like we were talking
about several weeks ago,
-
you know there's people
in Reformed circles today,
-
or at least would
identify in those circles,
-
that are seeking to dismiss
-
the idea of hell.
-
And I don't know how I came upon it,
-
but something somebody sent me,
-
and I think it was actually good stuff,
-
but has anyone ever sent you a good video,
-
and then you got the
thumbnails over there,
-
and you're like, oh,
that one interests me.
-
I ended up watching something by Rob Bell.
-
And he's just putting out a book
-
where he said that they had
-
some kind of art exhibit at their -
-
I don't even want to call it a church -
-
but within their gathering
-
there in Grand Rapids, Michigan,
-
and somebody had done
-
a picture of Gandhi.
-
And he said somebody came
-
and did a handwritten note
-
and put it on that picture and said,
-
"Why is everybody making a
big deal out of this picture?
-
Gandhi is in hell."
-
Well, that just stirred
Rob Bell to no end.
-
Rob Bell is a universalist.
-
He thinks everybody's on
their way to heaven.
-
He thinks that it's a strike
-
at God's character
-
if we would believe in a god
-
that puts people in hell.
-
And I would say Rob Bell is destroying
-
the true character of God,
-
by saying that God wouldn't.
-
His idea of God is not
the biblical idea of God.
-
But let's think about hell.
-
Let's think about what
Scripture says about it.
-
Somebody tell me somewhere in the Bible
-
that you can think of
-
where something about hell is described.
-
(unintelligible)
-
Where is it?
-
Matthew 25. Well, let's turn there.
-
I'll have you guys guide
me around the Scriptures
-
and we'll look at various verses
-
that have to do with it.
-
And by the way,
-
if Jesus is right, and He is -
-
few there be that find life.
-
Do you know the reality is?
-
The reality is it's very likely
-
that there are a number of people
-
in this room
-
that will actually end up in the place
-
that we're going to look at.
-
You don't think you are.
-
But see, you are crafting
-
your own means of escaping it.
-
And there's only one
way to escape this place.
-
You see, this place
-
is that which God created
-
to righteously deal with sin.
-
It's a place where people rightly suffer
-
what their sin deserves
-
for assaulting the glory of God
-
the way that they do.
-
Listen, can I tell you something
-
before we look at this Matthew 25 verse?
-
I want you to hear
something very carefully,
-
because you know when we talk about hell,
-
what happens is, a lot of times,
-
people begin to think God's a monster.
-
Rob Bell thinks the God
-
that will send people
to hell is a monster.
-
But listen, God is no monster.
-
The Lord says that God's kindness -
-
you know right there in Romans 2
-
where it talks about God's fury,
-
and God's wrath, God's judgment,
-
it says that God's kindness is meant
-
to lead people to repentance.
-
You need to think on that.
-
Listen, one of the reasons people
-
just have this idea that somehow
-
it's just going to turn
out okay in the end
-
is because - listen,
-
that text in Ecclesiastes is so real.
-
You know what happens?
-
People sin and then they eat.
-
Or even when they're
eating they're sinning.
-
God is giving them food. He's being kind.
-
Men and women sin,
-
and the sun shines on them
-
and it rose on them today.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Jesus Christ by the word of His power,
-
He upholds this whole universe.
-
He is so relevant
-
to every single little particle of dust
-
and everything, every bird,
-
every aspect of this creation.
-
Christ is so real to it.
-
He upholds all the atomic matter
-
that makes up the air,
-
that you can wave your hand through,
-
He upholds it all.
-
He is this reality
-
that virtually engulfs this world,
-
and yet man looks around at it.
-
He strikes God out
of it, he suppresses it,
-
he suppresses what can be known,
-
he doesn't want to see,
he doesn't want to know.
-
He looks around at creation
-
and he invents evolution,
-
and he wants to just dismiss God,
-
and you can go through
95% of the radio stations
-
and God isn't there.
-
And you can go through 95%
of the television stations
-
and God isn't there.
-
And you can go through
99% of all that's made
-
to show at the movies,
-
and He is not there.
-
You can look on the
billboards and He's not there.
-
He is this great reality
-
and in the midst of all of it,
-
the sun and the moon and the rain,
-
and just the beauty we can look at,
-
and blue skies and to hear birds singing,
-
and to enjoy the things
that He allows us to enjoy,
-
and to actually have a night where
we can lay our heads on our pillows
-
and rest and rise up,
-
that happens repeatedly
over and over and over,
-
to people who are wicked.
-
And they sin and they think
-
because that's the case,
-
there is no God to contend with.
-
Certainly, He couldn't be like
what we're about to look at,
-
because if He was, how in the world
-
does He abide us when we sin like that?
-
And it's because God is indeed kind
-
and God is indeed patient,
-
and He's giving time for us to repent.
-
And the time that He gives us to repent
-
is never meant to make
us think everything is okay.
-
Oh, how many people think that?
-
Listen, I've had people tell me this,
-
you've had people
tell you this, undoubtedly,
-
if you've done any amount of evangelism.
-
But people tell me, well,
-
I was sick and God healed me.
-
I got better.
-
I got sick, I prayed, God made me better,
-
so I think everything is okay with God.
-
But you see God's kindness isn't meant
-
to lead people who are
living in their rebellion
-
to think that everything is okay.
-
God's kindness is meant to lead
them to repent and turn to Christ.
-
Brethren, you see, it's hard
for people to imagine.
-
You know, the fornicator
and the adulterer,
-
he goes and does his thing,
-
the homosexual goes
and does his thing,
-
and then he comes home and he eats.
-
And he sleeps.
-
And he feels health
pulsating through his veins,
-
and he lives like that.
-
He can't imagine that he just sinned
-
in the sight of a God who is so angry,
-
and whose glory has been
-
so assaulted and insulted,
-
and diminished
-
and stamped on
-
and trampled over.
-
He can't imagine that what he just did
-
deserves to be punished
-
forever and forever and forever
and forever and forever.
-
Because when he just did it,
-
all he got was kindness.
-
And that's right, he did.
-
But that kindness, the Scripture says,
-
isn't meant to convince him
-
that it's all okay.
-
It's meant to convince him
-
that there is a kind God
-
that will indeed receive him
-
and forgive all of his sins if he turns.
-
Let's look at Matthew 25.
-
Here's one place that
we see hell described.
-
Listen to what describes
-
people who are going there.
-
Verse 41.
-
They're on his left.
-
"Depart from me, you cursed,
-
into the eternal fire
-
prepared for the devil and his angels."
-
Eternal fire.
-
Brethren, being burned alive
-
is one of the most horrific
things we can think about.
-
When you see somebody
that has been burned...
-
I was just reading about Gehenna,
-
or the Valley of Hinnom.
-
It used to be, I understand,
a pleasant place.
-
In fact, it was pleasant,
-
had a river flowing through it.
-
It was a valley not far from Jerusalem,
-
but what happened in evil days,
-
is that's where they sacrificed to Molech,
-
and if you've read anything
-
or know anything about it,
-
is basically this god
they created - a statue -
-
that was part man and
part cow and had arms.
-
They would heat that thing
up until it glowed red hot,
-
and they would put their children
in the arms of that statue.
-
And in days of good kings
-
that became a repulsive place
-
and they would put their garbage there.
-
That's the picture that is created.
-
If Jesus could liken hell to anything,
-
He likened it to a place
-
that was absolutely abominable to the Jew,
-
where children had been
sacrificed to a false god.
-
It was a place where
fires burned all the time
-
to burn up the garbage
that was stacked there.
-
Dead bodies, and refuse,
and sewage, and all sorts...
-
I mean it was a place that
was absolutely defiled.
-
It had fire.
-
To a Jew, you probably couldn't imagine
-
any more horrible place in the world.
-
"Cursed people..."
-
Listen, when Christ says, "Depart,"
-
people don't understand.
-
Jesus upholds the universe
-
with the word of His power.
-
And in His kindness,
-
He gives you everything you have.
-
Anything that is enjoyable,
-
anything that is pleasurable,
-
anything that is peaceful,
-
anything that is restful,
-
He gives it to you.
-
Men don't realize it.
-
Because they live habitually seeking
-
to strike God from their minds,
-
suppress Him from their thoughts,
-
they exchange the glory
of God for everything else.
-
They seek to worship money,
-
and fun, and pleasure,
-
and sex, and sports, and power.
-
And they have so sought to "atheitize"
-
(if that's such a word) themselves
-
and to suppress God out of it,
-
man doesn't realize that every good thing
-
comes from the Lord.
-
And when He says, "Depart,"
-
He is withdrawing every good thing.
-
When He says to "Depart,"
-
that's it. Cursed.
-
Everything in this life
that was a blessing,
-
everything in this life that was
an expression of His kindness,
-
it's pulled.
-
Men don't understand
-
if God withdraws everything.
-
It's not just the church down
on the corner goes away,
-
every pleasure is gone forever.
-
Every satisfaction is gone forever.
-
Every joy, every smile,
-
every form of happiness is gone forever.
-
Any sense of relief - you know the relief
-
when you've had a bad cold,
-
and you start getting better?
-
Or you pounded your thumb with a hammer
-
and the pain begins to go away?
-
You're exhausted and weary,
-
and you're able to lay
your head down and rest.
-
Don't you understand?
-
There's no rest, night or day,
-
forever and ever.
-
There is no rest. It's cursed.
-
It's blackness of darkness.
-
It's a fiery furnace.
-
Listen, if you were
thrown bodily into fire,
-
that's the kind of reality.
-
When you go to take a breath,
-
there's no cool air,
-
fire goes in your lungs.
-
If you seek to have relief, there is none,
-
because every nerve is
being confronted by pain.
-
There's no rest in the
soul if that happens.
-
Listen, things go bad now,
-
we can find relief, typically.
-
There's some relief. There's some way out.
-
There's no way out.
-
"Depart from me..."
-
Those are the words of the cursed.
-
They're words that are falling
-
upon the ears of people who deserve it.
-
Nobody is going to say, "This isn't fair."
-
You say, "Isn't that overreaction?"
-
"That if I sin once,
-
God's going to remove every kindness?"
-
You haven't sinned once.
-
You've done nothing but sin.
-
That's what Scripture says.
-
Scripture says we're worthless.
-
And even our righteousness's
are filthy rags.
-
And here's the catcher for
everybody in this room.
-
You can't argue the way a cannibal can
-
who might live on a South Seas island
-
(unintelligible)
-
and he died before Clark
-
and Harris and Paton arrived.
-
You don't have that.
-
You've sinned a lot,
-
and you've had Christ offered.
-
And if anybody in this room perishes,
-
it will be with so much light,
-
there will be no excuse.
-
God's judgments may seem severe,
-
but brethren, I think if
we could have talked with Isaiah
-
the moment he came out of the temple
-
there in Isaiah 6 -
-
I mean he saw the Lord -
-
brethren, there probably was not
-
a more righteous man in the land.
-
Isaiah was "the" prophet.
-
I mean was God was looking
-
for somebody to take the message,
-
He chose Isaiah.
-
Isaiah saw the Lord and he said,
-
"I'm a man of unclean lips."
-
"I dwell in the midst a
people of unclean lips."
-
He said, "Woe is me."
-
If you would got him coming
out of the Temple and said,
-
"Isaiah, what do you think?
-
You think when we sin it's overkill
-
for God to send us to
hell forever and ever?"
-
He'd have said, "You have no idea."
-
The Lord is so glorious,
-
to sin against Him is a crime
-
of unimaginable heinousness,
-
and wickedness, and depravity.
-
You have no idea when you sin
-
the glory that you are sinning against.
-
He would have been speechless, I'm sure.
-
He probably would have looked
at you with glazed over eyes
-
of amazement and astonishment.
-
To even think that he could
have come into the presence
-
of the high and exalted Christ like that
-
and have emerged without being consumed.
-
And there's only one way.
-
It's the only way that you and I
-
will escape in Judgment Day
-
It's if our sin is forgiven.
-
Brethren, we're talking a place
-
that was made for the
devil and his angels.
-
There's a reason why,
-
if you die unrepentant,
-
you go to a place that was made
-
for the devil and his angels.
-
It's because you are as bad as they are.
-
They may have had a lot longer
-
to do their wickedness,
-
but listen, if you're being sent
-
to the same place they are,
-
it's because you are like they are.
-
Do you not realize that?
-
Men are like demons.
-
They're like the devil.
-
That's why they're sent there.
-
They are liars, they're murderers,
-
they're God-haters, they're in rebellion.
-
It is a place for those
-
who have sinned against a kind God.
-
Listen, if you end up there
-
after all the kindnesses He showed you,
-
and after the times you've had to repent,
-
and after the pleadings of God's people
-
to you, the brethren
even from this church,
-
and you were given
opportunity upon opportunity.
-
I mean what can you say,
-
if you come to Judgment Day,
-
and you're told to depart,
and every goodness,
-
every kindness
-
is withdrawn and taken away.
-
And not momentarily.
-
It's not like when you get sick here,
-
or you fall into some infirmity.
-
There's no relief.
-
And it will be just,
-
and you will see that it will be just.
-
Eternal fire prepared for
the devil and his angels.
-
And who goes there?
-
Mass murderers,
-
Adolf Hitler,
-
pedophiles,
-
no - yes, they do -
and some of those don't,
-
because they looked to Christ in faith.
-
But listen to the description of those
-
who find their place in the lake of fire.
-
"I was hungry and you gave Me no food."
-
Wait, where's the pedophiles,
where's the sodomites?
-
Where are the real wicked people?
-
I mean, I thought you had to be
like Adolf Hitler to go to hell.
-
This is saying somebody was
hungry and I didn't feed him.
-
That ought to startle us.
-
It's not just the Adolf Hitler's.
-
It's not just the people
that killed the six million Jews.
-
This brings it down to
where you and I live.
-
No, you didn't kill six million
Jews, and neither did I.
-
But all you have to do
to be like the devil
-
and end up where he is,
-
basically see other people in need,
-
and you turn your back.
-
You say, "Is that evil, is that wicked?"
-
You better believe it is.
-
"I was hungry, you gave Me no food.
-
I was thirsty, you gave Me no drink.
-
I was a stranger, you did not welcome Me.
-
Naked, you did not clothe Me."
-
Brethren, we jump down to verse 46:
-
"These will go away
into eternal punishment."
-
You say, "What?! Some guy needed clothes,
and I didn't give him clothes?
-
I'm going to hell forever?
Eternal punishment?
-
Isn't that a bit overkill?"
-
But you see, this is an
expression of what's in men:
-
rebellious, lawless,
-
all they think about is themselves.
-
Brethren, the idea here isn't
-
that if you go feed somebody,
-
you're going to earn your way to heaven.
-
The idea here is look,
-
if you turn from your sin, you repent,
-
you bow the knee and surrender to Christ,
-
and you trust Him,
-
what Jesus does in your life,
-
is He gives you a heart to love people.
-
If you don't have a heart to love people,
-
you can't say you're one of Christ's.
-
And you have no claim on heaven.
-
And listen, if you'll flee to Christ,
-
He'll make you into a person
-
who will be concerned to feed others.
-
If you look and you say,
"All I've had is hatred,
-
all I've had is selfishness,
-
all I've had is self-centeredness,
-
that's all I have.
-
I don't really care about others.
-
If I ever do anything for others,
-
it's just what I can
do to be seen by others.
-
Just so I get a good reputation.
-
If that's all it is, and you
know in the secret places,
-
you don't really care about other people,
-
you just care about how you're perceived,
-
you care about your reputation,
-
but you don't really care about others,
-
turn from it.
-
That doesn't mean you have to fix it.
-
It just means run to Him who can.
-
Confess it all to Him.
-
Ask Him to make you like He is.
-
Ask Him to begin to
make you into His image.
-
That's what He does. Trust Him.
-
Turn from this. Turn
from the selfish life.
-
The righteous -- they
go into eternal life.
-
Eternal punishment.
-
The fires there don't burn out.
-
There's no end.
-
Eternity.
-
I mean, think about eternity.
-
Listen, we can sit here now
-
and we feel comfortable we're not there.
-
We can breathe.
-
You know, men comfort themselves:
-
well, I'm not there right now.
-
I've got time.
-
Well, listen, what time do you have?
-
Your life is but a vapor.
-
You don't know if you have tomorrow.
-
There's no guarantee of it.
-
People get cut off.
-
What you have time for
is right now to repent.
-
Listen, God has been kind
-
to bring all of us to this hour.
-
This is a real place.
-
I can just move through some other verses.
-
Just right here in Matthew.
-
Matthew, by itself,
-
just gives us material
for an outstanding study.
-
Let's all turn over to Matthew 13,
-
a tremendous study on hell.
-
It shows up again and again.
-
Matthew 13:24: "He put another
parable before them, saying,
-
'The kingdom of heaven may be compared
-
to a man who sowed good seed in his field,
-
but while his men were sleeping,
-
his enemy came and sowed weeds
among the wheat and went away.
-
So when the plants came up and bore grain,
-
then the weeds appeared also.
-
And the servants of the master
of the house came and said to him,
-
"Master, did you not sow
good seed in your field?
-
How then does it have weeds?"
-
He said to them, "An enemy has done this."
-
So the servants said to him,
-
"Then do you want us
to go and gather them?"
-
But he said, "No, lest
in gathering the weeds
-
you root up the wheat along with them.
-
Let them grow together until the harvest,
-
and at harvest time
I will tell the reapers,
-
gather the weeds first
-
and bind them in bundles to be burned,
-
but gather the wheat into my barn."
-
And then He goes on to
explain it, down in verse 36.
-
But we'll just jump to verse 39:
-
"The enemy who sowed them is the devil.
-
These are the sons of the evil one
-
who find their way into the kingdom.
-
The harvest is the close of the age.
-
The reapers are the angels.
-
And as the weeds are gathered
and burned with fire,
-
so will it be at the close of the age.
-
The Son of Man will send His angels
-
and they will gather out of His kingdom
-
all causes of sin and all law-breakers."
-
If that's your life,
if you're a lawbreaker,
-
and you're a cause of sin,
-
here's your lot at the end of this age:
-
"And throw them into the fiery furnace.
-
It that place, there will be weeping
-
and gnashing of teeth.
-
Then the righteous will
shine like the sun
-
in the kingdom of their Father.
-
He who has ears, let him hear."
-
You get the same thing, look at verse 47:
-
“Again, the kingdom
of heaven is like a net
-
that was thrown into the sea
-
and gathered fish of every kind.
-
When it was full,
-
men drew it ashore and sat down
-
and sorted the good into containers
-
but threw away the bad.
-
So it will be at the close of the age.
-
The angels will come out and separate
the evil from the righteous
-
and throw them into the fiery furnace.
-
In that place there will be
weeping and gnashing of teeth."
-
Listen, if you have a red-letter Bible,
-
you'll notice, that's in red letters,
-
which means Jesus Himself, the Christ,
-
He came and He looked
men square in the face,
-
and He said, "There is
a hell to be avoided."
-
It is a place of outer darkness,
-
it is a place of weeping,
-
it is a place of the gnashing of teeth,
-
it is a place that He
likens to fiery furnace.
-
Now look, you say,
-
"Well, it's called the lake of fire;
-
it's called the fiery furnace,
-
how can it be fire if it's outer darkness?
-
Isn't that maybe just symbolic?"
-
Okay, maybe it is. But I'll tell you what.
-
If the closest thing Jesus
has to describing it is fire,
-
if that's all there is in this world
-
that He can come up with,
-
that even approximates
what it is, I would say,
-
even if it's spiritualization,
-
even if it's symbolic,
-
that certainly would not be
anything to find comfort in,
-
because it's not going
to be better than fire.
-
If anything, it's going to
be worse than fire.
-
And if it is the same as fire,
-
being thrown into a lake of fire forever,
-
brethren, do you recognize,
-
when it happens, you're there.
-
When you wake up, you're there.
-
And it's all over.
-
Eternity is written over everything.
-
There is no escape.
-
There is no second chance.
-
There is no time to repent now.
-
And for all you would kick
yourself, and feel foolish,
-
and hate God for putting you there,
-
and hating everybody else
-
that encouraged you in your sin,
-
and realizing how many times
-
you despised the preaching of the Word,
-
how you'd want to pull your own hair out,
-
gnash your teeth,
-
whether in hatred to God
-
or in absolute devastation
-
because of your own foolishness.
-
Brethren, this is real
-
and Christ says, "Wake up."
-
Christ says in another
place, Matthew 18:8:
-
"If your hand or your foot causes
you to sin (or to stumble),
-
cut it off and throw it away.
-
It is better for you to
enter life crippled or lame
-
than with two hands or two feet
-
to be thrown into the eternal fire.
-
If your eye causes you to sin,
-
tear it out and throw it away.
-
It is better for you to
enter life with one eye
-
than with two eyes to be
thrown into the hell of fire."
-
Listen, Jesus knows what hell is.
-
And He is not only the Truth,
and the Way, and the Life,
-
He came to bear truth and to speak truth
-
and He looked at men,
-
and He said, "I know what you don't know.
-
I know how bad, how hellish,
-
how fiery it is.
-
I know the punishment
that takes place there."
-
Listen, Jesus Christ is the One
-
who tramples out the
fury of God the Almighty.
-
It is the wrath of the
Lamb you have to fear.
-
He knows His own wrath.
-
He could look at everything in this world,
-
everything that is to be prized,
-
everything that is to be cherished,
-
everything that is to be yearned for
-
and longed after by man,
-
and He could look at hell,
-
and He could say to men,
-
"I know.
-
I know what the real value
of things in this world are,
-
and I know the real
terror of what hell is.
-
And I'll tell you this:
-
whatever it takes for you
to cut off or tear out
-
the things of this world
that hold you back
-
and keep you from following Me,
-
every idol, every lust,
-
every sin, every thing,
-
that you would have over Me,
-
that would have follow
after to disobey Me,
-
that you think you need in your life,
-
at the expense of Me,
-
and surrendering to Me,
-
and trusting Me,
-
believing in Me,
-
coming to Me,
-
calling upon Me,
-
putting all your trust,
-
I know it is not worth holding on
-
to all the money that Gates has.
-
It is not worth all the money
-
that is to be had in this world,
-
all the treasure, all the pleasures,
-
even if you could live
as long as Methuselah
-
and enjoy everything to the full
-
and live life to the
complete in this life,
-
to have it all,
-
to have all that men aspire after,
-
all the fame, and all the money,
-
and all the houses,
-
and all the beauty,
-
all the health, to have it all.
-
All that men think they
want and think they need,
-
He knows, if you had it all,
-
and you could live as long
as the oldest man ever lived,
-
if you could have it all
for a thousand years,
-
He looks at it and He says,
-
there's no comparison.
-
Whatever it takes to
cut it off and tear it out,
-
you better do it.
-
It is better for you to do that
than to end up in this place.
-
It's insanity to go after
anything in this world
-
that's going to be gone soon.
-
And the truth is
-
you're not going to live
as long as Methuselah.
-
The truth is, if you
live 80 years, it's long.
-
And the truth is, you're not going to get
-
all the money in the world,
-
and the truth is that whatever you do get
-
in this world is not going to satisfy you.
-
It's going to leave you empty,
-
because it's a lie.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Brethren, Jesus is
offering men eternal life.
-
He's offering men forgiveness.
-
He's offering men the opportunity
-
of seeing God face to face.
-
He's offering men the opportunity
-
of having every tear wiped away.
-
All sorrows and pain and death.
-
He's offering you
-
the treasures of Christ,
-
an eternal inheritance.
-
He's offering you riches
-
and He's calling you
-
to flee from the wrath to come.
-
Folks, this is what it means to be saved.
-
To be spared from the wrath of God.
-
Jesus said many are going to come
-
from the east and the west,
-
and from the north and the south,
-
and they're going to sit
down in that kingdom.
-
They're going to sit down with
Abraham and Isaac and Jacob
-
while many of the sons of the kingdom
-
are going to be cast into outer darkness.
-
Brethren, let me hit you
with another verse.
-
One of the pictures that we see
-
comes at us in 2 Thessalonians.
-
"When Jesus comes..."
-
it says mid-way through
2 Thessalonians 1:7:
-
"...when the Lord Jesus
is revealed from heaven."
-
Here's His coming.
-
"...With his mighty angels..."
-
That's what we saw in the parables.
-
He's coming and He's going to
-
send His angels out to gather in
-
the wheat and the chaff,
-
the good and the bad.
-
Here He comes,
-
"...in flaming fire,
-
inflicting vengeance on those
-
who do not know God
-
and on those who do not obey
-
the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
-
They will suffer the punishment
of eternal destruction
-
away from the presence of the Lord
-
and from the glory of His might,
-
when He comes on that day
-
to be glorified in His saints,
-
and to be marveled at
-
among all who have believed,
-
because our testimony
to you was believed."
-
Listen, who are these people
-
who are going to face this punishment?
-
They're the people who are going
to be condemned when He comes.
-
Can I show you a picture of these people?
-
It says here that they will suffer
-
this punishment who did what?
-
They didn't obey the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ.
-
They didn't know God.
-
But jump over to 2 Thessalonians 2:12:
-
"...in order that all may be condemned
-
(here's our group who's being condemned)
-
who did not believe the truth
-
but had pleasure in unrighteousness."
-
You say, who are the people
-
who are going to go into the hell-fire?
-
What describes them?
-
They just simply live lives
-
where they had pleasure
in unrighteousness.
-
You say, what? It's not the
Adolf Hitler's? Yes, it's them.
-
But listen, who has pleasure
in unrighteousness?
-
People who can sit down and
watch things on the computer,
-
on the television that's unrighteous,
-
and just delight in those things.
-
They can here a filthy joke at work
-
and laugh with the other guys,
-
then go to church on Sunday.
-
Listen, one of the things
about the parables,
-
those parables by and large
-
are not talking about the whole world.
-
When it says the net gathers in
-
the good and the bad;
-
when it says that the
angels are going to go out
-
and they're going to
gather some into the barn
-
and the others they're going to burn,
-
folks, this is a picture of the kingdom.
-
This is the idea of who looks
like they're in the church;
-
who looks like they're on the way.
-
When Jesus talks there in Matthew 7
-
about the broad way,
-
wide is the gate, broad is the way,
-
brethren, that leads to destruction.
-
He's not talking there about
-
just anybody and everybody.
-
He's talking about the crowd
that's down in verses 21, 22, 23,
-
who are saying, "Lord, Lord...
-
we did many mighty
works, we were there..."
-
He says, "Depart from me."
-
Why? Because you're lawless.
-
You are people that
took delight in lawlessness.
-
You loved unrighteousness.
-
That's it.
-
And now they've lost it all.
-
Listen, that's what repentance is,
-
it's turning away from
the unrighteousness.
-
It's not making yourself righteous.
-
It's not making yourself clean.
-
It's fleeing to Christ
in your filthiness,
-
to Him to clean you,
-
to Him to save you,
-
to Him to help you and forgive you,
-
and wash you in His blood,
-
confessing your sin to Him.
-
That's the picture.
-
He says this is to be
escaped at all costs.
-
And He bids men, "Come."
-
The Scripture says, whoever comes
to Him, He'll never cast out.
-
You come to Him, He'll never let
you fall into a place like that.
-
But listen, if you think
you're coming to Him
-
to get your sin forgiven,
-
but you're going to go on
-
loving your unrighteousness --
no, no, no, no.
-
You're not coming to Him in reality.
-
Nobody comes to Christ in reality
-
who just wants to get delivered from hell.
-
That's not it.
-
We come to Him to be saved
from the wrath of God.
-
The wrath of God is for our sin.
-
It's to take care of all of
the problems of our sin.
-
The guilt of the sin,
the power of the sin,
-
the presence of the sin,
-
my inclination to sin,
-
my love of it.
-
Brethren, folks, friends,
-
I'll just look at one last verse,
-
I know there's a whole lot more
-
and I was going to have you
guys throw them at me,
-
but I guess the one you threw at me
-
was almost good enough
for an entire message.
-
But just think of Revelation 19.
-
You have them singing there.
-
The marriage supper of the Lamb,
-
they're singing, "Hallelujah!"
-
Great things.
-
“Hallelujah! For the Lord our
God the Almighty reigns. (v. 6)
-
Let us rejoice and exult
and give Him the glory,
-
for the marriage of the Lamb has come,
-
and His bride has made herself ready."
-
Oh, you want to be there at all costs.
-
"It was granted her to clothe herself
-
with fine linen, bright and pure -
-
for the fine linen is the
righteous deeds of the saints."
-
You see that?
-
Jesus changes His people
-
into righteous-deed doing people.
-
"Blessed are those who are invited
-
to the marriage supper of the Lamb."
-
But this Christ,
-
who is marrying His people,
-
down in verse 15:
-
"From His mouth comes a sharp sword
-
with which to strike down the nations,
-
and He will rule them with a rod of iron.
-
He will tread the winepress of the fury
-
of the wrath of God the Almighty."
-
Do you realize this?
-
When Jesus comes, Scripture says this,
-
earlier in the Book of Revelation 1:7.
-
Behold, He is coming with the clouds,
-
and every eye will see Him,
-
even those who pierced Him."
And listen to this.
-
"All tribes of the earth will wail
-
on account of Him.
-
Even so. Amen."
-
That verse strikes me.
-
You say, wait, over in 2 Thessalonians 1,
-
it says that there are going to be those
-
who are awaiting His return.
-
They're going to rejoice when He comes.
-
They're going to be amazed, that's true.
-
But, brethren, can I tell you something?
-
Scripture speaks about a remnant,
-
and it speaks about
few there be that find it.
-
And it says many are on the way
-
that leads to destruction.
-
There are so many on
the way to destruction
-
that when Jesus comes,
-
it says not some tribes
wail, some tribes rejoice.
-
In John's mind, he sees a picture
-
of the coming of Christ,
-
where all the tribes wail.
-
Why?
-
Because there's so few in light of
-
the vast multitudes of humanity
-
that John can speak that way
-
and be biblically accurate
and biblically true,
-
even though he does not mention
-
the saints being there.
-
Why do I stress that?
-
I stress it for this reason.
-
Throughout all of history,
-
most men do not hear
-
a clear presentation of the gospel.
-
In all of history, most men miss heaven.
-
You know it's true.
-
There are people in this room
that are going to perish.
-
You know it's true.
-
I'm saying this because, look,
-
if God has not only shown you
all the kindnesses of creation,
-
but in addition, He's
shown you the kindness
-
to allow you to hear the Gospel
and hear the truth
-
and know that Jesus
Christ died on that cross
-
to save sinners just like you and me;
-
to save even the chief of sinners.
-
I mean, why would God want us to know
-
that God has saved the chief of sinners?
-
Why would God want us to know
-
that He saved the thief on the cross?
-
Why would God want
us to specifically know
-
that Mary Magdalene had 7 demons?
-
Ever think about why these things
-
have been specifically told to us?
-
They're told to us
so that you might see
-
how bad the people are that God saves.
-
And if you've had this kindness,
-
that God has not only given
you all this light of creation,
-
all the light of His kindness,
-
but in light of all that,
-
in addition to all that, on top of it,
-
you've been allowed to hear the truth,
-
come, flee to Him at once.
-
Listen, I remember my step-dad.
-
My step-dad came down to Texas,
-
and I wanted him to hear the truth.
-
And he sat under Pat Horner
out at Community Baptist Church.
-
I was out there then.
-
He came and he heard me preach -
-
at a nursing home I know
he heard me preach -
-
(incomplete thought)
-
but he was able to sit under
the preaching several times.
-
I had evangelized my dad,
-
I had spoken to my dad,
-
but I think that was the most truth
-
he ever got in his life,
-
I know that was the
first time he ever sat under
-
a good and solid sermon
-
that had truth in it
that was actually preached
-
by one of God's messengers.
-
He refused it,
-
even when I was speaking
at the nursing home,
-
he was rebelling against it,
-
he was rejecting it,
-
and he no more than
went back to Michigan,
-
he had a massive heart
attack -- it was amazing --
-
he had a massive heart attack,
then he had a stroke,
-
then he got cancer, then he died.
-
Brethren, folks, when you hear the truth,
-
there's a real hell out there.
-
And Jesus, by way of His
ambassadors, is telling you,
-
escape that place at all costs.
-
What will you give in
exchange for your soul?
-
You'll give everything.
-
(incomplete thought)
-
Look, don't wait until the flames
overflow you to realize,
-
"Okay, okay, now I'll give
everything in exchange for it!"
-
Don't wait till then. It's too late.
-
He speaks to you now while you have life.
-
Do not leave this place
tonight if you are lost
-
and run back your sin.
-
It is suicidal. Don't do it.
-
You've heard the truth.
-
Oftentimes, when people hear the truth
-
and they harden themselves,
-
God will see to it that they get hardened.
-
And many times when you harden
yourself against the truth, it's all over.
-
You won't get to hear it again.
-
You'll be like my step-dad.
-
The next thing you'll be in the grave.
-
I don't remember who it was,
-
they told the story about the 2 young men
-
that had girlfriends that went to church.
-
Their girlfriends' parents
made them go to church.
-
The two guys showed up to get the girls
-
and the preacher saw them come in.
-
They stood there in the back
-
waiting for the service to get over
-
and he make a beeline to them,
-
and went back and began to talk to them.
-
And they rejected and they refused,
-
and one of those young men
died right away after that.
-
We sought to proclaim truth
-
to a prostitute who
came and lived with us.
-
And she rejected it and died after that.
-
There was a man that joined our church.
-
He was a heroin addict,
-
and he went back to his heroin
-
after he'd heard the truth,
-
and God took his life.
-
There was a young man.
-
He joined this church.
-
Exposed to a lot of truth,
-
he went back to his coke,
God took his life.
-
There's a prostitute by
the name of Zebedee,
-
she was exposed to the truth
in this church in our early days.
-
God took her life.
-
There was a man from
one of the local churches
-
that had us come preach,
-
and he tried to pull a scam on us,
-
but we preached truth to him.
-
He rejected it and God took his life.
-
He was young.
-
Brethren, folks, do not
go out the door tonight
-
and go back to your sin.
-
This could very well be from God,
-
that it's your last time.
-
It's it. It's over. It's done.
-
And what's been described,
-
you may in unbelief go
back to your sin right now,
-
but you will believe it one day.
-
And the sad things is, it's going to take
-
you being plunged into it
-
to realize how valuable your soul was.
-
How bad your sin was.
-
How foolish you are to reject --
-
do you realize that place was made
-
for the devil and his angels
-
and they don't get any chance.
-
They don't get the opportunity to repent.
-
Can you imagine those demons in hell,
-
screaming at you?
-
"You had the truth set before you.
-
You had the opportunity we never had.
-
You had the opportunity to be in heaven,
-
and to have Christ,
-
and to walk with God and to live forever,
-
and you chose drugs, alcohol,
-
sex, partying, money, greed, sports, fame,
-
and just wanting to do life your own way."
-
"I don't want to feed any hungry people,
-
I want to live for me."
-
Just do it your way.
-
What a fool if that's what you would do.
-
Listen, there are people
in here that love their sin.
-
I'm telling you, do not go out the door
-
without crying out to the Lord,
-
confessing your sin,
-
calling on Him to save you from it.
-
Don't go!
-
There's a good possibility you
will never come back again.
-
Some of you.
-
Amen. We're dismissed.