Do you think we ought to teach on hell? Really? Do you know how unpopular it is in churches for a pastor to stand up and turn to any passage in the scripture that talks about hell? That is unpopular. I was reading a book, and I'm not gonna tell you about who it was from, because I really like the author. And on many, many subjects, he's one of the best authorities that I have ever read. But he pretty much pooh-poohs the idea that Christians should ever talk, that preachers, pastors, teachers, and Bible teachers should ever really talk about hell because it's a negative motivation, he says. He says, the grace of God and the goodness of God and the love of God and the sacrifice of Christ ought to be the only motivation. Well, I agree, it's a greater motivation. But, you know, I just ask the question, should we, as believers in Christ, should it occupy? So why should it? Why should we get around, now there's many reasons, but there's one real basic reason. Why should we ever get around to talking about, in church, this subject, okay? Because it's in, I want you to see something here. Here's the question. One, what about hell? Is it real? Where is it? How could a loving God send people to hell? That's one that I hear all the time. What about hell's duration and are there degrees of punishment in hell? Now, part of this I gave about a year and a half ago, but it was in conjunction with heaven because I was talking on what the Bible really teaches. And man, I just blazed through it. I didn't have much time. So I pulled some of that back out. I've reworked it and added some things to it and refined it. And so you've got a sheet that some of the things you may have, if you've been in my class very long, may have heard before, but won't hurt us to hear it again. We've looked at lots of hard questions this year. This is our 10th week. We've talked about, you know, babies when they die, where do they go? Last week, talked about what happens to Christians when they die? I mean, do they immediately, I mean, what kind of body do they have? Are they in limbo, soul sleep, and all those things? We talked about what about the people that have never heard? I think Pastor Chuck covered that one while I was gone. And then, and different ones have talked about different things, but we've covered a lot of difficult questions. And in each case, in every case, we have looked to the Scriptures. And the reason we do that is because we have no other authority. Now did I put these verses on your sheet, Romans 4, 3, Isaiah 8, 20, Romans 3, 4, and 2 Timothy 3, 16? Did I put those on? And I want us to look at these. John MacArthur is one of the greatest that there is at getting us to go to the law and the scriptures. He is, as far as I'm concerned, he is the most faithful modern and contemporary commentator that I have read anything about. There's a lot of great authors out there, but he writes commentaries, and he has done us a great favor by saying, look, let's go to the law and the scripture. So, Romans 4.3, here's a great passage right here. When Paul was defending the faith, when he was answering questions, he asked this question, what does the scripture say? The old King James, what sayeth the scriptures? That is huge. It's very, very important. Jesus himself quoted that one time. What sayeth the law? You know what it says, tell me what the law says. And then that lawyer quoted him, thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, soul, and mind. What sayeth the scripture? Abraham believed God and it was accounted to him for righteousness. And here's the one, Isaiah. I don't know why I listed the address twice there, but Isaiah 820 it says, to the law and to the testimony. If they do not speak according to this word, it's because there is no light in them. And boy, when people start trying to answer questions, and start trying to give doctrine and give what they think, and they step aside from what God has said, then the Bible says there is no light in them. Any answer that anybody gives that contradicts the revealed Word of God This book that you have in your hands that we hold so precious and that you're reading through this year, just rest assured when they contradict, there's no light in them. They do not have the light of the Spirit and they're not getting it from God because God's word. is that authority to the law and to the scriptures. In fact, the reformation that happened early on back with Martin Luther and John Huss and all those that followed them, the reformation that happened, happened because of this one phrase, sola escritura, which means to the word. What do the scriptures say? And that was it. And whatever the scriptures said, They gave authority to the Scriptures. All questions that we have answered, we've tried to answer directly from God's Word. It is not my favorite type of study, by the way. This is a topical study. I far more prefer to take a book, go through it, and teach you on a Wednesday or whatever. But we have tried to stay faithful to God's Word. Romans 3, 4, certainly not, indeed let God be true and every man a liar. That's powerful, isn't it? you know, whenever he was talking about those that twist the scriptures and so on, and he says, let God be true in every man a liar. And we quote this verse, and sometimes we don't remember the application, but it says in 2 Timothy 3.16, and I was gonna say this a minute ago, when Gary was up here, he said, if you were in John chapter three, you could probably come to a verse real quick that you all remember, John 3.16. I wanna challenge you to go look through the Bible for all the 3.16s. go look up all the 316's in the Bible, not as many in the Old Testament, but you will be amazed how many 316 verses are verses that you know and that are very powerful. Here is one of them, 2 Timothy 316, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God. What can we say to that? What do we think about that? Is that true? We believe this is God's breathed book and men were carried along by the Spirit of God. And then look at the next phrase, all Scripture is given by inspiration of God and is profitable for what? doctrine. So doctrine just simply means teaching. I mean, we get scared when we hear the word doctrine. Oh, the doctrine. Well, it just means teaching. It's profitable for teaching. It's good to teach. It is worthy of being taught. And then it goes on for reproof, correction, instruction, and righteousness, and so on. But I wanted to emphasize the point that we go straight to the scriptures. Now, we've studied about Satan and found out that at another time that hell or the lake of fire was his final destiny. It seems to be that angels that sinned with Satan are even now in hell waiting for judgment. That's 2 Peter chapter 2 and verse number 4. God did not spare the angels who sinned but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment. The Bible teaches that the wicked who finally reject Christ will be turned into hell. Psalm 1917. Powerful verse, the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God. By the word nations, it doesn't mean countries. It means the peoples, all the multitudes of peoples, the nations, the clans, the tribes, the multitudes of people. Very powerful. The question is, is there an everlasting hell? Let me give you a quick answer before we start off. The Bible declares that there is and it does so in very, very dogmatic and we're gonna see that tonight. Hell is a reality, it's an awful fact, but it is still to be realized. A lot of awful things, the awful truths in the world. Cancer's real. How many of you believe cancer's real? How would you like to deny it? Wouldn't it be great to be able to say, no, it's not real. We could all be converted into Christian scientists and say that it's just not real, not happening. I declare health and therefore I'm not sick. I'm sorry. Cancer is real, it's awful, but it's real. And this is the same and even worse. Hell is a reality because cancer is temporal and hell is eternal. And so let's go on. Is there an everlasting hell? The Bible says there is in dogmatic language. Hell is a reality. There are 162 texts in the New Testament alone which speak of the doom that awaits the impenitent, the unbeliever. 70 of them, Jesus spoke out of his own mouth. This is very important for us to understand. I just love, I just think we ought to talk about love, and Jesus, you know, he just loved everybody. Yes, he did. God so loved the world that he gave his only son that whoever believes in him will have everlasting life. It's very, that's not an exact quotation, but that's the verse, and we all know it. God loves people, and Jesus loves people. His love is greater than all of our sin. Jesus spoke 70 times of hell himself in the four gospels. This may be one of the clearest teachings on hell right from the Lord himself, and I'm gonna launch from this verse, Matthew 10, 28. I think you have it on your page. If you don't, listen to it right now. Matthew 10, 28, Jesus said, do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. The word destroy there is the word for banish. It's the word for send out, cast out. It's not the word annihilate. That's another Greek word altogether. This is the word to banish, to send out, to cast out, to condemn, to and to eliminate. So hell, what is it? Definition. Hell is banishment from the presence of God. Listen to 2 Thessalonians 1.9. These, speaking of those who do not obey the gospel of Jesus Christ, these shall be punished with everlasting destruction. It sounds like a contradiction of terms, doesn't it? Everlasting destruction. What does that mean? You destroy them and destroy them and destroy them and destroy them? No, it's because the word destruction there is not the word that we think of annihilation. It is the idea of to be cast out and to be worthless and to be thrown aside and all of those kinds of things. It's everlasting destruction. But here's the big thing. It's from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power. What is hell? Hell is a place of torment and punishment. Listen to Luke 16, 23. Speaking of the rich man and Lazarus, in this case, the rich man being in torments in Hades, or another word for hell, he lift up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. There was that evidence that it was a place of torment. even cried for a drop of water to cool his tongue. So there's something there that we have to take into consideration. Definition, what is hell? Banishment, place of torment and punishment. Where is hell? Next question. Where is it? The Bible says it's down. Isaiah 14, 9, you were cast out of your grave like an abominable branch, like the garment of those who are slain, thrust through with a sword who go down to the stones of the pit like a corpse trodden underfoot. Ezekiel 32, 27 speaks of those which are gone down to hell. Numbers 16, 30 to 33, the earth opened, and this is speaking of the sons of Korah, and they went down alive into the pit, literally the word Sheol, Old Testament word for Hades, hell, Gehenna, and all of those words that we have used before. And so that's what it is. It's a place that's down. You say, is that all? No, it's not all. The Bible also says it's at the outer limits. You say, well, how can it be at two places at the same time? I don't know, I'm just reading you the Bible. Here's what it says, the Bible says it's at the outer limits, Matthew 8, 12. But the sons of the kingdom, who are not believers now, talking about these Jews he was speaking to at this time, the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Not the only time it says it, it says it in Matthew 22, 13, Matthew 25, 30, 2 Peter 3, 2.17 in Jude verse 13. All of these verses identify it to be a place where one is cast out into outer darkness. You say, well, I thought hell had fire. Well, it does. You say, well, doesn't fire make light? I'm just, I can't tell you. I'm just reading it. Maybe these are descriptions of the kinds of torments here that seem like that. I mean, if God could, God could make anything. If he wants to make fire with no light, he could. It's a place in outer darkness. So where is hell? It's an outer darkness. Where is it? It's down, it's in the pit, it's underfoot. Number three, what is the origin of hell? This is what is really, really, really crucial. Hell was originally prepared for the devil and his angels. So let's stop and think about that for a moment. It was prepared for the devil and his angels. Does it say that anywhere in the Bible? Yes, Matthew 25, 41. Speaking to, speaking when he sits down at the end of the ages and he separates one nation from another, the goat from the sheep. Speaking of peoples now, and individuals, separating people one from another. He's gonna say to those on his right hand, enter into the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. Then he's gonna say to those on his left hand, depart from me you cursed into everlasting, there's that word, fire. You say, well I thought it was darkness. I'm just reading the Bible. Everlasting fire prepared for who? All right, let's stop and think. Why was the devil cast out along with his angels? Pride, okay, that's part of it. And his pride led him to try to do what? Huh? What'd you say right over here, Warren? Be like God. Could he go higher than God? I will ascend to the throne of God. Isaiah 14, Ezekiel 14. Just write those passages down. I will ascend to the sides of the north. I will be like the most high. He says seven things, I will, I will, I will, I will, I will. And then God says, you won't, you won't, you won't, you won't. You know, I mean, pretty much, he says, I'm gonna go up. He says, you're gonna go down. At that moment in time, at the fall of Satan, when he tried to usurp the authority of God, what do you call that usurping of authority? What do you call that? Well, no, usurp authority. What is that another word for that? Rebellion. Rebellion. There's a verse in the Bible that says rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft. What is witchcraft? Well, it's an effort to change the order of things, isn't it? To defy the laws that are there. Well, what was the devil trying to do? Well, he wasn't a witch, but he was certainly rebelling. What is sin? What is it? It's rebellion. I mean, there's five words. The Greek word is, the study is amartology, armatholos, which means it has anything to do with things that do not please God. There's five words for that. One of them means to transgress. One of them means to miss the mark. One of them means not to measure up. One of them means to break the law. I mean, there's all kinds of different ways that we could talk about that. But ultimately, when God told Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eve, don't, and they did, what did they do? They disobeyed, but that disobedience was rebellion. It was a questioning of the authority of God, was it not? Isn't that what rebellion is? What's rebellion in your home? If you have a teenager in your home, and they're just, you know, they stomp their foot and straighten their back, and I don't want to. What are they doing? Rebelling against your authority. What is sin? Sin is a rebellion against the authority of God, resulting in disobedience, and the disobedience is sin, and the sin leads to death. What did Satan do in the Garden of Eden? He rebelled, not in the Garden of Eden, but in heaven. He rebelled against the authority of God, and he led a bunch of people to rebel, not people, but angels, to rebel with him. What was the punishment for the rebellion Satan and his angels. What was prepared for them? Hell. So hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. So if he rebelled and this was the punishment and we rebel, what do we think the punishment is going to be? Hell. Hell was prepared for the devil and his angels. Hell was never intended for man. But if men insist on rejecting Heaven through the Savior, Jesus Christ, then they reject the authority of the God, not only that His authority by sin, but they also reject His sacrifice. And they have no hope. They'll have to accompany Satan. I don't know about you, but I don't want Satan for a neighbor. Dimensions of Hell. How big is it? Well, how big do you think? You know, I wrote down there on your sheet, I think, big and getting bigger. Did I write that? Because of man's insistence on going to hell, God has had to enlarge hell. Isaiah 5, 14, therefore sheol, another word, has enlarged itself and opened its mouth beyond measure. Somebody look up Proverbs 27, 20. Look that up in your Bible, real quick. Your Bible, your notepad, your iPad, iPhone, tablet, whatever it is you've got. That's funny, that's crazy. You ought to see people on Sunday morning. You ought to see what I see from the pulpit on Sunday morning, is what I think. You don't see that, it's crazy. People with, you know, trifocals. Try to see that thing, punch it, that's hilarious, man. All right, who's got it? Hell and destruction are what, never? Full, people insist. It's getting bigger. Here's a description of hell. This is the real horrible part. The question is, is hell real? Well, God sure went to a lot of trouble to describe it and to talk about it and to warn about it. If it's unreal, if it's just a tool to scare people. Description of hell. One, it is a place of unquenchable fire. Matthew 3.12, his winnowing fan is in his hand. He will thoroughly clean out his threshing floor and gather his weed into the barn. Wow, this is powerful. This is John the Baptist preaching. But he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. When you think about a person who ultimately rejects the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Bible says that they're like the chaff that the wind blows away. Where's the Bible verse that talks about that? It says, the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, which the wind bloweth away. Where's that? Psalms one, very good. You know, it's the blessings of man that whatever it is, shall be like a tree. What is it? Planted by the rivers of water. But the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff, which the wind driveth away. We've made many trips to Peru. I got a few trekkers in here. All you trekkers, raise your hand. You been to Peru, one, two. You ain't been to Peru. You see, I saw you, I saw somebody else over there. There you are, right there. You remember when you were on the trip there and we'd get to that big place? I think you were there one year. It was the best one we ever saw, where they had a big round thing. The animals had gone and walked around, around, around, around, around, around, and flattened out this area. They call it, in Spanish it's an era. What's it called in English? What is a threshing floor? Threshing floor. And it's the most amazing thing you've ever seen. You go out there and they've got these, they have a, they do it the old-fashioned way. They have a real long pole with a hole through it and a big piece of leather, round piece of leather, and another heavy pole on the other end of it. And they'll take that pole and they'll just beat on the grain. You know, usually it's wheat, it could be barley, you know, some of the other things. And they'll beat on it and they'll beat all the grain out. And they'll just beat it and beat it and beat it and beat it and beat it and beat it. I mean, you think, man, they're just tearing that stuff off. Well, they're breaking breaking first the grain from the stalk, they throw it, then they rake all that off, then they beat the grain, and then pretty soon you see them go out there with these, you saw it, the shovels, they wait till a certain time of day, because in the Andes the wind always blows about two to three o'clock in the afternoon, and they'll take those shovels and just throw that grain up in the air, and the chaff, just blows, grain falls, and the Lord says, I'm gonna gather the grain into the barn, I'm gonna take the chaff and throw it in the place of unquenchable fire. Boy, I hate to be compared to something that's so inconsequential. It's a place of unquenchable fire. He's gonna burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire. It says the same thing in Matthew 13, 14, 41, 42, verse 50, Revelation 20, 15, Isaiah 33, 14. Not only that, it's a place of memory and remorse. Turn in your Bibles, if you would. Turn in your Bibles to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16, you know the story. This is about the rich man and Lazarus. I referred to it a moment ago. Incredible information. 19, there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and he fared sumptuously every day. He had a nice diet. Verse 20, but there was a certain beggar named Lazarus full of sores who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table, moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. Now the rich man didn't go to hell because he was rich and the poor man didn't go to heaven because he was poor. Don't get that in your head, that's not what this is about. But he's talking about how things get reversed sometimes. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by angels to Abraham's bosom. He was poor in this world, rich in the next. The rich man also died and was buried, which sounds fatal and final. Verse 23, And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried, and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue. For I am tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things. Likewise, Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted and you are tormented. Besides all this betwixt us, or between us, And you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those who are there pass to us. Then he said, I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment. Abraham said to him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. In other words, they're not going to believe if somebody comes from the dead. Jesus rose from the dead, do they believe him? He said, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear the Word of God. And he said, no, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to them, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead. How true that became when Jesus rose from the dead. The very guards, the priest, the Levites and everybody that knew that they put Jesus in that tomb dead and that he rose and came out and that nobody could have moved that stone. Not 20 men could have picked that stone up out of that hole. and yet it was set aside and Jesus came out and the tomb was empty. They didn't believe it. Even when they stood on top of the Mount of Olives and the Mount of Ascension and Jesus rose in their midst, what happened? Some believed and some what? Doubted. So rising from the dead, that's not necessarily gonna convince anybody. Let's go on. It is a place of memory and remorse. You say, why is that? Because he remembers that he's got five brothers on earth. And he has remorse because of the life that he's lived and the fact that he did not take advantage of the opportunity that he had when he had it. So this is very crucial information. It's very important information for us to know that the ones that reject Christ, they don't forget the opportunity they had. once they go off into eternity. Horrible thing. It's a place of memory and revorse. It's a place of unquenchable thirst. Send somebody with a drop of water and cool my tongue because I'm tormented in this flame. It's a place of unfulfilled desires, the same passage. He had wants. He wanted water. He wanted somebody to serve him. He wanted somebody to go back and do things for him. He had desires. Those desires were never answered. Unfulfilled desires. It's a place of pain and misery. The same passage talked about it, but here's Revelation 14, 10 to 11. It says, the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night. And so I've heard people say, well, it's just the smoke of their torment, which means they're gone, but their smoke's still rising, so they're not still suffering. Well, then why do they have no rest day or night? It's a place of pain, frustration, and anger. Matthew 13, 42, they'll be cast into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. I can imagine what they'll be screaming. Why didn't I believe? Why was I so hard-headed? Why did I love my sin? Why was I so determined to do my own thing on earth? Why did I? Why? Can you hear? How many times do you hear that? On earth we hear it all the time. God, why? God, why'd you do this? Why'd you do that? Boy, when it's all over and they go to hell, they're gonna be saying, why on earth did I not believe? Why didn't I receive? Why didn't I hear? Just imagine the questions they're gonna be asking themselves. Frustration and anger, it's also a place of separation. Revelation 2.11, 2.6, and 2.15. We read it there even in Luke 16. There was a great gulf fixed between the place of paradise. Now that's not the eternal heaven, the eternal lake of fire, but it's a place of torment of waiting and a place of pleasure and blessing for those that are believers, a place of waiting. And even in that place of waiting, there's both comfort and there's both torment on the other side. So it's a place of pain, frustration, and anger. It's a place of separation. You know, that's what the literal second death literally means, to be separated from his presence, power, protection, provision. It means to be separated. But beyond that separation, it also means to be separated from fellowship, from anyone. You know, it's a place of loneliness. It's a place of, it's a place apart from others. And the only communication there will be will be the pain and cursings. It's a place of separation. You know, I'm trying not to make this like a sermon. I'm trying to just give you information here. But boy, what a warning there is in this passage, in these verses and in this topic. It is just so very, very, very powerful. It's a place of separation. Husbands that knew the Lord whose wives didn't. Wives who knew the Lord who their husband didn't. Parents who knew the Lord who their children rebelled. Children who came to the Lord whose parents did not ever believe. Separation of family members. Separation of friends. Separation, just separation. You know one of the great blessings of heaven, I don't want to get off on another subject, but when it says there's not going to be any more sea, you know what the great divider of planet earth is of all the nations? It's the sea. In heaven there's no more separation, there's no more sea, there's no more oceans to divide. We're going to be living in a new Jerusalem joined together in harmony for all of eternity. with the capacity to love one another limitlessly, but to the extreme opposite of what heaven can be with its blessings, hell is a place of separation. I do not like to preach on hell, I have to be honest with you. I don't even like to contemplate it. But boy, would I be a perverse and wicked preacher not to tell the truth. If you were going down I-80 and the bridge over the Des Moines River was out, and you were hitting 70, and just having yourself the time of your life, and I didn't, if I knew it, had your cell phone or I had a sign that could stand out on the side of the road and didn't say anything about it, what kind of a family member, friend, preacher, or whatever you say, what kind of a person would I be to just say nothing because, well, I just don't want to interrupt their happiness? I mean, they're just having such a good time riding down that road. They're just all fellowshipping, what right do I have to break in on their happiness with my thoughts of religion? Or my thoughts of warning concerning this bridge that's out? Keeps a lot of us quiet, doesn't it? We just, I just don't know that I have the right to say anything to these people. Boy, right, you have the obligation. I have the obligation, because we know the truth. Wow, it's so awesome. It's also a place of undiluted wrath. undiluted divine wrath. Look at Revelation 14 if you've got your Bibles. Let me flip over there and just read that verse. Revelation 14.10. See it right in the Bible. Listen to this. This is speaking about what's going to happen on He himself also shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out in full strength into the cup of his indignation, and shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night who worship the beast or his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name." This happens to be unbelievers during the Tribulation period, but it's interesting isn't it? And what does it say right there? The wrath of his indignation shall be tormented with fire and brimstone, and the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night. Wow, that's powerful. It is a place eternal in nature. Boy, this is the big one right here. This is the one that people have a really, really, really hard time with. Even many Christians have a real hard time with the everlasting eternal nature of hell. It's eternal in nature, Daniel 12, two, Matthew 25, 46, Jude, verse seven. The Bible says repeatedly that both heaven and hell are everlasting and eternal. Let me say that again. The Bible says repeatedly that, I mean, I don't know about you, but God gave me everlasting life. Is that what he's given you? He gave me eternal life. He gave me everlasting life. He gave me life without end. Whenever I believed on Jesus and received his gift of everlasting life. Well, the very same word that's used for everlasting life is also used for everlasting punishment, everlasting destruction, everlasting hell. The Bible is so very clear. Listen to Matthew 25, 46. These will go away to everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. The word for eternal life, eternal, and the word for everlasting is exactly the same in that verse. Those aren't different words. I'm going to tell you the word here in just a minute, I'm coming down to it in just a second. We may not be able to understand it, but we have to accept it as true because God says so. This doctrine is in harmony with the deeply rooted inborn conviction of men. In my ministry, very few people have ever objected to the idea that heaven is eternal. Well, when it's the very same word, why object to the eternal nature of hell? If one ceases, so must the other. because if the same description is given of both, they're both eternal and if in our minds one ends and the other doesn't end, then we're giving a meaning to a word that is not real. It is a place as well where there are degrees of punishment. Somebody asked me that coming in, where does it say that in the Bible? Well, I want you to just hang with me here now for a minute. Matthew chapter 11, verse 20 and 24, Jesus was making a visit and making some declarations to his hometown area. Jesus was originally raised up in Nazareth, but he made his basis of operation in the city of Capernaum with two cities that were right beside them. One was Chorazin, and the other one was Bethsaida, not Bethesda. This is Bethsaida. And these are three cities on the northern shore of the Sea of Galilee. And here's what he says to them, because by the way, they saw more miracles and more of his incredible works and more of his witness and his ministry than any other area in all of Israel. They saw it. And he says, woe to you, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. So Matthew chapter 11, let's go look at it and read it right out of the scriptures. Matthew 11, verse number 20 says, He began to rebuke the cities in which most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the mighty works which are done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I say to you, look at these words, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. more tolerable. You say, well, it says the day of judgment, but the day of judgment is just the initial launch of judgment. It's not, I mean, it's not the end of judgment and the end of punishment for those that are thrown, that are captured on the day of the Lord. Rather, that's just the initiation of the eternal punishment of those people. Well unto you, Chorazin, Bethsaida, and Capernaum. And it says in verse 23, And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to hell, or Hades, for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done, get this now, look at this, been done in Sodom, it would have remained unto this day, but I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. You say, well, I thought Sodom had already been judged. Now see, there's what we got in our mind. That tells you something, doesn't it? The whole idea of the resurrection is not just the resurrection of believers to everlasting life, but it's also the resurrection of the unjust who have been in a place of punishment along with the rich man who was the opposite of Lazarus. They have been in a place of pain and judgment up until this point, but they resurrect and get a brief reprieve only to get a body that's more durable. Sodom, who has been suffering all of this time. Now we could talk about Sodom and sodomy and all of those things. There's an effort right now to strike that word from the English language and dare anybody to use it, to use the word sodomy. Make it illegal for a preacher to read God's word in his own pulpit. We know what happened in Sodom. We know what the sins of Sodom were. They were prideful. They were inhospitable. They were unkind. They were hateful. But beyond all those things, they were just perversely wicked. God destroyed them. But look what the Bible says. The Bible says, I say to you, it'll be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you, Capernaum. Why? Because to whom much is given, I just don't know. The wicked of America who have had more Bible, more preaching, more churches, more Christians, more witnesses, more radio programs, more television programs, more Christian books, more Christian movies, more witness than any nation in the history of mankind. It's gonna be more tolerable for Sodom. than for Americans who heard the truth and said, ah, I don't want it, don't bother me with that stuff. Wow, are there degrees of punishment in hell? I'm just reading the Bible. Luke 20, 40 to 47, woe to the Pharisees, he said, who shut up heaven. Their damnation will be great. John 19, 10 to 11, woe to Judas because his damnation is greater. Now there are many objections to the duration of hell. I'm going to wrap this up. The doctrine, they say, is inconsistent with the love of God because God's loving. God can never do these kind of things. But we have to recognize that the same Bible that speaks of the love of God speaks of His justice and His holiness. God cannot be just and He cannot be loving on the one hand on the basis of his declared character and his law without punishing the injustice on the other side. Love doesn't mean anything without the existence of hate. That's hard to grasp, isn't it? We can't even conceive, you know what, it's easy to differentiate a person that's loving because they're not hateful, isn't it? so the doctrine is not inconsistent with the love of God because it is in the love of God that he sent his son to die for the sins of the whole world and that he reconciled the world to himself through his son to those that believe so the doctrine is not inconsistent with the love of God but that's the duration how could a loving God and I'll just pull over and park on this and say when they say how could a loving God send people to hell How could a loving God let Katrina happen? How could a loving God let Mandachi happen in Indonesia? How could a loving God let there be earthquake? How could a loving God? Well, I never have heard anybody complain about the myriads of years and days and every year that goes by when none of those kind of things happen. You know, they're ready to give God all the blame but none of the credit ever. When things are going good and wonderful and things are just great, have you ever heard anybody out there, well man, it's just us going so good, I want to give God all the glory. And that's what Christians are supposed to do. But in the world that we live in, have you ever, nope, it's only when something goes wrong, When America's just cruising and everything's going great and I mean, we're just moving along and the stock market is purring, that's because we're so smart and we're just so clever and we got great businessmen and we're just hard working. But if everything starts going bad, it has nothing to do with us, it's all God's fault. Interesting, isn't it? God is loving and when a person dies and goes to hell, it won't be because of the lack of love for God, it'll be because of rejection. Next, is there any need for eternal punishment? Won't all sin be paid for eventually? Well, the Bible says the punishment for each sin is death, and death is separation from God. Is it not unjust to send its men to eternal punishment for just one sin? Now, just think about that, I've heard that. I mean, the guy just does one thing, isn't it terrible for him to have to go to hell? Do you know anybody that's only committed one sin? Even King David said that that in sin my mother conceived me. In other words, from day one, I was a sinner and I have been a sinner. There's no such person as this person who's committed one sin. But I'll go further. Everlasting punishment does not mean equal punishment. We talked about that. The time may be the same, but the degrees of punishment will vary, and I'm not trying to give anybody any kind of hope that hell won't be too bad for some people. I mean, if you're not in heaven, you're in hell. So somebody might say, well, won't the doomed repent and seek the Lord and be forgiven in hell? Salvation is limited to this life, to the here and now. There is absolutely not a whisper in the word of God that people could ever make another decision after they have died in this life. And so all prayers of the doom are denied. Luke 16, 24 to 27, remember the rich man? He was praying. Oh, please send somebody. Nope. Don't bother praying. Next, somebody says, well, the word eternal does not always mean forever and ever. Well, people say, well, the Bible uses the word eternal doesn't always mean eternal. Really? All right. It is the same word used in relation to God Himself in Romans 16, 26. It says, but it's now made manifest and by the prophetic scriptures made known to all nations according to the commandment of the everlasting God. That's the same word. Everlasting God. Well, is God not eternal? And then John 3, 16, everlasting life. Is that not eternal? Hebrews 9.15, for this reason he is the mediator of the new covenant by means of death for the redemption of the transgression under the first covenant that those who are called may receive the promise of eternal inheritance. It's hard to change the meaning of the word just because it's not comfortable. The point is, is that the word for everlasting that relates to God, that relates to eternity, and relates to all eternal things is the very same word used for eternal condemnation or eternal hell. It's the word aenios. Aenios. That's the word in Greek. Say that with me. Aenios. It means everlasting. And it's the same word for God, for eternity, for everlasting life, for eternal life, and for eternal damnation and everlasting punishment. It's all the same word. Pastor Shirley, you do not believe in a literal lake of fire because you know a lake would put the fire out. Well, whether it's literal or symbolic, the point is is that it is a place of punishment for the literal bodies with the souls of men, angels, and devils that reject him. Let me read something to you. Got this from John MacArthur. John MacArthur, Jr., this is awesome. I mean, it's not awesome, it's awful. clarity with which he says it is tremendous. The clearest and most vivid of the New Testament terms used to describe the Final Hell are the words, the Lake of Fire. It is the word Gehenna or Gehenna. Gehenna, G-E-H-E-N-N-A is the New Testament word for the Valley of Ben Hinnom also called in the Old Testament Topheth. So Gehenna, Ben-Hinnom, and Topheth all refer to the same places. Here's some verses for you. 2 Kings 23, 10. Isaiah 30, verse 33. Jeremiah 7, 31 to 32. Jeremiah 19, 6. This valley of Topheth, or Gehenna, is located southwest of Jerusalem. In Old Testament times, idolatrous Israelites burned their children in the fire there as sacrifices to false gods, Jeremiah 19, 2-6, and many other verses. If you just got done reading through Jeremiah and Ezekiel, I don't know if you've gotten that far yet, I'm a little bit ahead of the reading. and Ezekiel, you're gonna be amazed how many times God brings up, you made your children pass through the fire. You burned your children to Molech. You burned your children and it just infuriated God. You took my children and offered them as sacrifices to an unknown God. That just never does happen anymore. It's just not true. Those kind of things aren't happening. I read a story this week about a lady who was won to Christ by a missionary. And she was won to Christ by a missionary in India. And as soon as she came to know Christ, she was walking away, and all of a sudden, she just fell down in the middle of the road and was weeping, just weeping, weeping, weeping. And the missionary went over and says, what has happened? What is going on? She says, well, I've just realized, if I would have known the truth two months ago, I would not have sacrificed my children, my oldest child, to the crocodiles in the Ganges. Yeah, they're still doing this kind of stuff. So in Jesus' day, this Gehenna, Topheth, was the site of Jerusalem's garbage dump. The fires kept constantly burning there, gave off foul-smelling smoke, and the dump was infested with maggots. Sometimes the bodies of criminals were dumped there. The Valley of Ben Hinnom was thus an apt picture of the eternal hell, and that's what he used as an illustration. Because at no time did the fires of Ben-Hinnom ever go out in the days of Jesus, because that's how you got rid of the garbage. That's how you got rid of the maggots, the infection, and the corpses of those that no one claimed to bury. All of these verses, Matthew 5, 22, 29, 30, Matthew 10, 28, 18, 9, 23, 15, and 33, Mark 9, 43, 45, and 47, Luke 12, 5. All of those are verses where Jesus said that hell is like Gehenna. Here's the way that John wrapped it up. He said, so hell will be God's eternal cosmic dump. Its inmates will be burning as garbage forever. That's amazing, isn't it? So don't you think, pastor, that hell is just a state of mind and not a place? Well, perhaps it's both a state, but it is definitely a place. Does hell not mean the grave where both the good and the bad go? I mean, after all, it's called Hades. In Luke 16, both men died and went into the grave, yes. But both were buried, yes, but the abodes of the souls with an intermediate temporary body of the two men was entirely different. One was in a place where he was comforted. The other was in a place of torment. Pastor, will there not be a probationary period after death? Certainly not. Hebrews 9.27, and as it is appointed unto men, what does it say? Once did I. And after this, the judgment. On and on, many verses, Mark 9.42-50, Matthew 18.8. So who are hell's inhabitants? One, Satan. Revelation, he's not there yet. You say, what do you mean he's not there yet? Nope, he's not there yet. Where is Satan? I taught you this a few weeks ago. He's running back and forth in heaven accusing the brethren. Non-stop, Revelation chapter 12. He is the accuser of the brethren who day and night accuses us before our heavenly father. But we have an advocate with the father. What's his name? Jesus Christ the righteous who sits at the right hand of the father and he pleads our case saying, I died for that sin. I have paid for all of that. That's awesome. Who are the inhabitants eternally of hell? Satan. Next, the Antichrist, 2 Thessalonians chapter 2 verse 8. Next, the false prophet, Revelation chapter 19 and verse 20. Let me say it again, Satan, Revelation 20.10, the Antichrist, sometimes called the beast, 2 Thessalonians 2.8, the false prophet, Revelation 19, 20, fallen angels, many are there, some are not. 2 Peter 2, 4, Jude 6, and here's the last one, fallen people who never repent, never trust Jesus as their personal Savior. God has demonstrated His love so wide by stretching out His hands and being nailed to a cross. sending His Son to die for us. Sometimes people get really upset when a pastor refers to hell or speaks of it as a reality or even as I might go so far as to dedicate a sermon to it. They call it using scare tactics or trying to frighten people into heaven. Well, I don't know really how to respond to those comments. I can only say that hell is a reality and the Bible speaks often of it. Jesus certainly spoke of it many times, even more than heaven. Why did Jesus speak of hell? Why do you suppose Jesus spoke of hell? Because it was real. Why do you think we should speak of it? What has the world done with the word hell? Huh? Made a curse word out of it. Made a bye word out of it. What has the world done with the word Jesus? What has the world done with the general name for God? What has the world done with that? Who is leading all of this vile speech? Satan's leading all this stuff. Interesting, isn't it? Are you headed to heaven or are you headed to hell? If I was here tonight and I didn't know that I was a believer, I had not placed my trust in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, I would be beating the path up here after I was done to say, Pastor, what do I need to do to be saved? I'm gonna stay right here. If somebody wants to talk to me, I'll be here. If you'd like to be saved, you'd like to know that your sins are forgiven, to receive the gift of eternal life, then I'll talk to you about it. One of the greatest fears I have as a pastor of this church was struck home to me in the most powerful terms when I heard Adrian Rogers in one of the last sermons that he ever preached. I didn't hear him in person, I heard it on tape. Stood up, took a deep breath, and looked out at that great sea of people in an auditorium of 7,500 people. He says, the greatest fear I have as a pastor is to look across this auditorium and know that vast numbers of you are going straight to hell because you think you're going to heaven because you're in this building, because you're a nice person, or because you really hadn't murdered anybody and stole anybody's money. He said, but you're sinful, you're lost, you need a savior, and you need to trust him. I heard that and I thought about that, And through my years of preaching and being in the ministry, I have to tell you, that's my greatest fear as well, is that I could stand in the pulpit week in and week out, I see a man sitting right there that played the game for a long time. He sat there and he played the game, he came, and one day, about two years ago or so, finally dawned on him, I'm not a believer, I've never received Jesus, it's not real with me, and he called on Jesus and he got saved. Boy, I don't know about you, but I won't run that risk. I will call on Jesus if I'm not saved. I am a believer. I called on him when I was 12 years old. I pray that you will. Father, add your blessing to what we shared tonight. Help us to have a wonderful time next Wednesday night. I pray many of you folks would come that we could begin to start a conversation. We ask it in Jesus' name, amen.