Have you ever had one of those days where everything just flowed together perfectly? This isn't one of those days for me, all right? And I'm not one to normally attach too much significance to circumstances, too much significance to things that just tend to happen during the course of the day. But between late last night and this morning, my teaching outline for today got deleted twice from my computer. And I went through the process of recreating it twice. And I do have something to teach you, in case you're wondering. But the reason I mentioned this and this is just part of things not flying. We have a new microphone set up because the microphone wasn't working today and various and sundry little things like that. I think it might have to do with the fact that what we're going to be looking at today is very, very serious stuff, very, very important stuff. And it's important for my heart not to be distracted as I deliver this to you, and it's important for your heart not to be distracted as you listen and participate in the study of God's Word. Turn with me, if you would, to Romans chapter 3 to begin with. We're going to continue our study as we have been now. I look back at the first outline. We've been taking breaks in between for various other purposes, but we started this study on what is called eschatology. Theologically, it's the study of how history is ending up, God's plan and purpose in history, how all things are going to ultimately culminate. And we started that study nearly 10 months ago now. We've been focused in this direction for a long time, and we've covered a lot of ground, a lot of material. Where we've come to is we're studying in depth the culminating event of all of history, the grand finale, God's way of ending all things, in which He is going to send His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, back to planet Earth, what we call the second coming of Christ. And when He comes, He's going to raise all people. He's going to resurrect them and cause everyone, every single person that's ever lived, to stand before His presence and give an account for their lives and be evaluated and judged. That judgment is not going to be so much for the purpose of investigating what that person deserves, but for revealing what they deserve. God's judgment is already determined before that moment, but there's going to be a formal playing out of what that person's life was all about, what it all meant, how God thought about their lives, and what their life deserves from Him. And we've seen that in that day of judgment, that the first and primary thing that the Lord is going to do is He's going to separate people. He's going to separate everybody into two basic groups, two categories. He calls those groups, using a particular word picture, the group of sheep and goats. The sheep will be on His right hand. They're going to receive ultimate blessing from Him on that day. And their reward will be various, and it will be apportioned in degree according to what each believer deserves. There's going to be degrees of blessing for all of eternity for those sheep. But then we've turned our attention just recently to those who are on the other side of the throne, those who are on his left hand. We've seen that those that the Lord calls or identifies the goats are also going to be judged, their lives will be evaluated. And last time that we studied together on this theme, We talked about the basis of judgment, that God is going to be judging their lives not so much like we tend to judge things here in this present world when we judge each other and evaluate each other's lives. What I refer to as grading or judging on the curve, as though there's going to be some sliding scale or sliding standard in which God will judge us based upon how good we were in relationship to some other person. But God will judge us by the ultimate standard, the ultimate measuring line, which is the standard of His own Son, and the perfect holiness and righteousness in which His Son lived out His life here on this world, in which the Lord Jesus lived His entire life, never once having sinned, in thought, in word, or in deed. And we'll be evaluated according to that standard, those of us who belong in that left-hand group on that day, that group of goats. And following that judgment in which what they deserve is fully revealed by their own deeds, by their own actions, God is then going to pronounce what we're calling a final sentence on the goats. Now, final sentence is, of course, terminology that we take from our own human courtroom concept in which, at the end of a trial, It's no longer time for the defendant to speak, the person that's being evaluated. The last person that speaks in a trial is who? The judge. And ultimately, in a trial, all that matters is what the judge finally has to say at the end of the trial toward that person whose life is on trial. And the final judge and the ultimate evaluator is going to be the Lord Jesus Himself, as He sits enthroned and evaluates these goats, and He will pronounce final sentence on them. And the final sentence, and this is the straightforward conclusion of this, and we're going to be this week, next week, and possibly a third week, depending upon how quickly I get through this material. He is going to be, and I'll be describing this in great detail, but he's going to be pronouncing a sentence of, you deserve hell. Now, we're all familiar with the terminology. Everybody has heard and used the word in various ways throughout the course of their life. But it's important for us to go through and study and make sure that we really understand what the Bible actually teaches about this subject. It's not, as I talked about a couple of weeks ago, it's not a fun thing to teach about. It's not a pleasant thing to teach about. There are certainly many other topics in the Bible that I personally enjoy teaching about more than this subject. If it were just my personal preference that was at issue here, we would be studying something else this morning. But God has given me a commission and He's given you as disciples of His a commission to make ourselves familiar with the full counsel of God's revealed Word. To pay attention to every part of what God has to say to humanity and what God has to say to our lives. Now where I would like to start our study, as I said, is in Romans chapter 3 and we'll read from verse 19. This is just a brief reminder. of the scenario of that day in terms of how the lives of these goats are going to be evaluated. We'll read from Romans 3, verse 19. Now, we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be closed, in all the world may become accountable to God, because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight, for through the law comes the knowledge of sin. But now, apart from the law, the righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets. Even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ, for all those who believe, for there is no distinction, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Now, Paul is teaching us here that ultimately all that's going to matter on the Day of Judgment is how we stand before the throne of God, in what spiritual condition we stand before the throne of God. We'll either stand on the merit of Christ Himself, or we'll stand before the throne of God on our own merit. If we don't believe the gospel, then we stand on our own merit, meaning our lives, our words, our thoughts, our deeds are going to be evaluated. And the evaluation, the standard by which God judges is simply this. Have I lived up to the standard of what is described here in verse 23 as the standard of God's own glory? In other words, did I live a glorious life here on earth? Was my every thought glorious? Was my every word glorious? Was my every deed glorious? If it was, then I will be accepted by God into His kingdom on my own merit. But if one single thought, one single deed, one single word falls short of His glory, then I have sinned. And having sinned, I will have to answer for my sin before the judgment seat of Christ. And there will be a response from God for that sin, which is not covered by His blood because I did not believe the gospel. Now, based on that, what I'd like to do, turn with me if you would back to the gospel of Matthew, I'd like to do a quick survey As we start our study of what this is going to mean when these that are on the Lord's left hand, these that are called the goats, these that are going to receive this punishment of hell, I want to do a quick survey in Matthew of what the Lord Jesus himself has to say on this subject. Now, the reason I want to do this to start is that I talked to you a few weeks ago about how, even in churches, it is becoming less and less common for there to be proclamation, open teaching, open proclamation about this subject of hell. It's a less and less popular subject, it's a less and less clearly and accurately described subject. And there are reasons for that that we're going to talk about in the next week or two as we dig into this. And we'll talk about some of that today. But I thought where probably the most beneficial place we could start was just going through, without a lot of explanation attached, I just want to go through some of the statements that the Lord Jesus made about hell. You may have heard me mention just recently that out of all of the different speakers that are recorded for us in the Bible, the different apostles, the prophets who spoke for God, represented God's message to humanity, most of them addressed the subject of hell at one time or another. But out of all that spoke on behalf of God, the Lord Jesus spoke more on this subject of hell than any other speaker in the Bible. It was a common and recurring and regular theme of his teaching. It's something that is, in a sense, as you read through the teaching of Jesus, if you're paying attention to this, it's an inescapable reality that's always in the backdrop of anything else that Jesus has to say and communicate. to mankind. So I want to just, and these are the passages we're going to go through. I've just selected a few. These are not all of the times that Jesus spoke on this subject. It's not necessarily even the most important ones on this subject. They're just representative of his teaching. So I want us to look at these together, starting in Matthew chapter five, verse 29 and 30. And as I said, I'm going to read these, string them together. I'm not going to attach a lot of explanation to these. I want to let the words of Jesus speak for themselves. And then what we're going to do from here is we're going to investigate, after establishing the truth of this doctrine from the words of Jesus himself, we're going to investigate some of the most common errors on this topic. Matthew chapter 5, starting in verse 29. And this is part of, of course, the Sermon on the Mount in which Jesus is giving discipleship instructions to disciples. He says, If your right eye makes you stumble, tear it out and throw it from you. For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off. and throw it from you. For it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body than for your whole body to go into hell. Turn to chapter 7, if you would, of the Gospel of Matthew. We're continuing here in the Sermon on the Mount. This is the same day, same message. The Lord comes back to this theme of hell again. We'll start from verse 13 and read through 23. Enter through the narrow gate For the gate is wide and the way is broad that leads to destruction, and there are many who enter through it. For the gate is small and the way is narrow that leads to life, and there are few that find it. Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Grapes are not gathered from thorn bushes, nor figs from thistles, are they? So every good tree bears good fruit, but the bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot produce bad fruit, nor can a bad tree produce good fruit. What he's talking about here, of course, is what these prophets are actually saying and teaching the people of God. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire, so then you will know them by their fruits. Not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven. But he who does the will of my father who is in heaven will enter. Many will say to me on that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name cast out demons and in your name perform many miracles? Then I will declare to them, I never knew you. Depart from me, you who practice lawlessness. Turn to chapter eight in Matthew. All of these will be in Matthew at the beginning. Chapter eight, verse eight. Jesus here interacting with a Roman centurion and the centurion says to him as he's come to to seek healing for his servant. Lord, I am not worthy for you to come under my roof, but just say the word and my servant will be healed. For I also am a man under authority with soldiers under me. And I say to this one, go and he goes into another come and he comes into my slave. Do this and he does it. Now, when Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who were following, Truly, I say to you, I have not found such great faith with anyone in Israel. I say to you that many will come from the east and west and recline at the table with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. But the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Chapter 10. Verse 28. Again, this is encouragement to disciples as he's about to send these disciples out in a circumstance that represents personal and physical danger, because they're going to be bringing a message that people around them are not going to want to hear, and they're going to be vulnerable to persecution and even being killed. And Jesus, encouraging the hearts of the disciples, says this in verse 28, Do not fear those who kill the body, but are unable to kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. Chapter 11, verse 20. Then he began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles were done, because they did not repent. Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon, which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. Nevertheless, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You will descend to Hades. For if the miracles had occurred in Sodom, which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. Nevertheless, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and the day of judgment than for you." Chapter 13. This is part of Jesus' teaching through the vehicle of parables. We're going to read parts of two parables, chapter 13, verse 36. This is the explanation of the parable of the wheat and the tares. Then he left the crowds and went into the house, and his disciples came to him and said, Explain to us the parable of the tares of the field. This is where a farmer had sown wheat in his field, but someone else had come and sown tares, and they both grew up alongside. Tares being something that looks very much like wheat, but is not edible in the same way that wheat is. He said, the one who sows the good seed is the son of man, and the field is the world. And as for the good seed, these are the sons of the kingdom. This is another reference to what he calls in another place, the sheep on his right hand on the Day of Judgment. And the tares are the sons of the evil one. This is a reference, of course, to the group that are known later as the goats on his left hand on the Day of Judgment. And the enemy who sowed them is the devil. And the harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are angels. So just as the tares are gathered up and burned with fire, So shall it be at the end of the age, the son of man will send forth his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and will throw them into the furnace of fire. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine forth as the son, the kingdom of their father. He who has ears, let him hear. Skipping down to verse 47, a second parable. Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea and gathering fish of every kind. And when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers. But the bad they threw away. So it will be at the end of the age, the angels will come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous and will throw them into the furnace of fire. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Have you understood all these things?" They said to him, yes. Let's look at chapter 18, verse 6. But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, It would be better for him to have a heavy millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depth of the sea. Woe to the world because of its stumbling blocks, for it is inevitable that stumbling blocks come. But woe to that man through whom the stumbling block comes. If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you, it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire. If your eye causes you to stumble, pluck it out and throw it from you, it is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be cast into the fiery hell. One last passage, chapter 25 of Matthew. This is, of course, the scene on the Day of Judgment before the throne of the Lord Jesus. That scene begins in verse 31, but we're going to read just before that also, starting in verse 24. Matthew 25, 24, we're picking up midway through a parable of a master of a household having given different responsibilities to servants in his household and coming back later to evaluate how they've handled their responsibilities. And the one who would receive one talent came up and said, Master, I knew you to be a hard man reaping where you did not sow and gathering where you scattered no seed. And I was afraid and went away and hid your talent in the ground. See, you have what is yours. And he returns the talent to the master. But his master answered and said to him, You wicked, lazy slave. You knew that I reap where I did not sow and gather where I scattered no seed. Then you ought to put my money in the bank. And on my arrival, I would have received my money back with interest. Therefore, take away the talent from him and give it to the one who has the ten talents. For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance. But from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away. Throw out the worthless slave into the outer darkness. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. But when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne. All the nations will be gathered before him. And he will separate them from one another as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats. And he will put the sheep on his right and the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on his right, come you who are blessed of my father. inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you invited me in. Naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me. I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in or naked and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and come to you? The king will answer and say to them, truly I say to you to the extent that you did it to one of these brothers of mine, even the least of them, you did it to me. Then he will also say to those on his left, depart from me accursed ones. into the eternal fire, which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. I was thirsty. You gave me nothing to drink. I was a stranger and you did not invite me in naked and you did not clothe me sick and in prison. You did not visit me. Then they themselves also will answer, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not take care of you? Then he will answer them, truly, I say to you, to the extent that you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Now, just allowing the words of the Lord Jesus to speak for themselves, he's well capable of speaking for himself. He doesn't need me to explain or add on to what he has to say. I think it should be clear and obvious that hell was a common theme in the teaching of the Lord Jesus. This is just one book, one of the Gospel accounts, and these are just a few of the references in the Gospel of Matthew on this theme or on this subject. And when Jesus spoke about it, He didn't speak lightly about it, He spoke in the most serious possible tones, He confronted people's minds and hearts with it. He oftentimes brought it up out of context, meaning someone would be asking Him about something else, they'd be talking about something a little bit more lighthearted, and Jesus would have to go and spoil the mood and start talking to them about hell. and about eternal consequences, and about what that person's heart and life is going to face at the end of their lives, and the danger of the possibility of being on his left hand rather than on the right, and the warning that comes from God mercifully now, in advance of that day. I mean, the worst possible scenario is to arrive at that day and have no clue that you belong on his left and not on his right, and to be shocked and surprised to discover that on that day. It's a mercy of God to speak to our hearts and to confront us with these realities on this side of that day. But letting the words of the Lord Jesus speak for themselves, it should be, I would think, I would imagine, something that Just a simple, straightforward reading of the Bible, reading of the gospel accounts, reading of, like in my version, you know, all of the passages I read were out of the red letters, you know, the red letters in your text. Now, not all of you have red letter editions. What that simply means, of course, is that the words of Jesus have been highlighted with red ink. to stand out, to cause them to catch our attention more immediately than the black letters. It doesn't mean that the black letters in the Bible are not significant, of course, but I like to pay attention to everything that the Lord Jesus says. I think you do, too. So you would think just a simple reading of the plain red letters in the book would lead everybody to the same basic conclusion about this theme of hell. And yet what I need to talk to you about today is the truth of hell, which we've just identified through the words of the Lord himself, but then the many errors connected to this. Turn with me, if you would, to the book of Jude. And I want to describe to you why I'm going to take the time to do this next section, where I'm going to go through some of the most common errors on the subject of hell. I talked months ago when I was first introducing this whole series of teachings that we were going to be doing together, these studies on the last things in eschatology. I talked about how there is two categories of revelation that God gives us, information that God gives us regarding the things in the future. And those two categories of information, if you might remember, are those things that I called non-essentials, of the faith. And there's a category that I'm calling essentials of the faith. And what we mean by that simply is this. I could be a Christian and have a completely different viewpoint. on the subject of, for instance, one of the things we've talked about, the millennium than you. You can be a Christian in good standing with the Lord and have a completely different viewpoint than me on the millennium. Of course, you might be wrong, but you can have a completely different view than me. You and I can get along, we can have fellowship, we can debate, we can, in good spirit, argue back and forth with one another, we can study together, we can probe the mysteries of God's Word as He reveals what He has to say to us about the Millennium. That's a non-essential of the faith. It doesn't mean it's not an important teaching. It just means that on the day of judgment, as I stand before the throne of God and my life is evaluated, the one thing that the Lord's not going to be evaluating and determining whether or not I enter the kingdom of heaven is, Tim, what's your view on the millennium? OK, I'm sorry, that's not the right answer. You don't get to come in. You go to hell because you've got the wrong view on the millennium. That's what we mean by a non-essential. It may be a very important topic and theme of biblical teaching that has a real effect and impact on how we practically live out our lives, how we glorify God, how we participate in God's building of his kingdom and his church. But it's ultimately on the final day non-essential. There are other things, however, in this theme of eschatology that are considered to be, and rightly so, essential to our faith, and a right understanding of how is essential. Why is a right understanding of hell essential? Well, in the next couple of weeks, I hope to demonstrate why this is so essential. It's at the core of what we believe. It's at the core of our whole understanding of the necessity and importance of salvation and the significance of our Savior and the work that he's accomplished on the cross. If hell didn't exist in the way that the Lord Jesus teaches us that it does, then the cross is not such a big deal. The Savior himself is not that significant. The whole message of the gospel is evacuated of its real value and weight and importance to our lives and the lives of everyone else we'll ever speak with. So it is an essential of the faith. So read with me, if you would, out of the book of Jude, a theme that runs throughout the New Testament in which The church struggles at times with certain doctrinal issues. Just like I've mentioned that the church is currently, in this generation and in this culture, at this time struggling with this doctrine, this teaching of hell. Let's read from Jude chapter 1. Actually, there's only one chapter, so that's easy. Let's read from Jude verse 1. Jude, a bondservant of Jesus Christ and brother of James, to those who are becalled, Beloved in God the Father and kept for Jesus Christ, may mercy and peace and love be multiplied to you. Beloved, while I was making every effort to write you about our common salvation, I felt the necessity to write to you appealing that you contend earnestly for the faith, which was once for all handed down to the saints. For certain persons have crept in unnoticed. those who were long beforehand marked out for this condemnation, ungodly persons who turn the grace of our God into licentiousness and deny our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ. Now, I desire to remind you, though you know all things once for all, that, and then he goes on from there to remind them of some of these essential things, What Jude is doing here is he's dealing with a problem that was occurring in the church of his generation. It's not the identical problem that I'm talking about in the church in our generation, but it's a similar kind of problem. And that is this. That the church is the recipient of a special gift from God. It's an awesome privilege that the church has been given, not just this church, the church worldwide. All of those who truly know the Lord, all of those who gather together in his name, that belong to him, that are identified as his flock, his sheep. And what we've been given is this. We've been given a deposit from God of the truth. We've been given a treasure of this gospel, this true declaration that God has revealed to mankind. And it's only the church that's been given this. We have responsibility to maintain, to preserve, to protect the truth, and then to effectively, accurately communicate it to an unbelieving world that doesn't want to hear it. That's our privilege. That's God's plan for the church, to accomplish that. But what's the enemy's plan? What's Satan's part in all of this? He has every investment in his whole scheme of what he's doing with his life. And that is his number one goal, is to derail the truth. To somehow corrupt, or change, or modify, or eliminate the truth from being held in preservation by the church. Because if he can modify the truth, if he can change the truth, if he can get the truth at any level corrupted, then what the church is holding is not the truth at all. What the church is holding is error. And then the church becomes no more effective than the rest of the world around it. Because, of course, the world is filled with error. And so Jude is writing because that kind of thing was going on in his generation. And he says in verse 3, he was making every effort to write about their common salvation. What Jude means when he says this is, his plan, Jude's desire, was he wanted to sit down and write a letter to the Christians around the world to bless them and encourage them and talk to them about their salvation. And that was his plan, that was his intention. But as he was sitting down to write, his heart kept getting redirected. by the Spirit of God to a different kind of concern. And instead of writing this nice, encouraging, positive, uplifting, upbeat letter, he ends up writing what we have in front of us, which is the book of Jude. And if you read this single chapter book, it's a very, very confrontive kind of letter. dealing with a corruption of the truth that was taking place in the church of his generation. And where the enemy is concerned to corrupt the truth is, of course, if he's going to take aim at one or two of these categories of truth that God has given to the church, which one is he going to be most concerned about corrupting? Essentials. I mean, yes, the enemy, you know, in his spare time, He also attempts to corrupt our understanding of the non-essentials because, you know, that any corruption ultimately serves his ends and purposes. But the big fight, the big issue is what we end up believing about the essentials of the faith. And it just so happens in our present generation, there is a massive movement in the churches and among church leaders, respected theologians, Bible scholars, teachers of all kinds. to deny this reality of hell. I'll name just one name, and I literally, I could name dozens. I have lists that would just curl your hair, it would curl mine if I had any. How many of you have ever heard the name John Stott? John Stott. How many of you have ever heard this name before? How many of you have ever read a book by John Stott? OK, I've read a good half a dozen books by John Stott, excellent books, helpful in many different ways. I recently found out John Stott is a leading evangelical. He was a pastor of the largest church in London, largest church in England, the most effective and influential evangelical church in London, and for many, many years he's in semi-retirement, meaning he retired from the pastorate, but he retired in a sense to a wider influential ministry of writing and traveling around the world and speaking. And the Lord used this man's ministry to bless my understanding on several subjects as I grew up in the Lord. He wrote some excellent, weighty, memorable books. Sound, doctrinal books. I just recently found out that John Stott has come in his latter years to the conclusion that there is no such thing as hell. It just doesn't exist in his perspective any longer. Now, this is a man that's been studying the Bible for more years than I've been alive. and has proven over and over again that he's got intellectual capacity, you know, beyond, you know, 99.9% of the people that ever crack open a Bible and read it. He's got all the training and background that you could ever want. He is well respected among evangelical leaders throughout the world. And yet in his own private study and conscience, He has drawn this conclusion, and who knows, he may have believed this for longer, but he's just recently publicly come out and admitted and acknowledged and taught that I no longer believe that hell is a reality. I no longer believe in such a thing as an eternal punishment of the wicked. And I'm just picking John Stott not because I have a vendetta with John Stott, he's just, you know, it struck home with me because this is someone whose books I've read and been influenced by in a good way in years past. And who, you know, he was for many years the number one selling author of InterVarsity Press. which is a big Christian publishing house, one of the biggest in the entire world. And this is just an example. As I said, unfortunately, sadly, there are dozens of names like his that are being added to this list, and it's not an honor roll, it's, in my perspective, a serious dishonor roll. So, how is it that a man like John Stott can draw a conclusion that hell no longer exists? You know, there are a lot of different errors, a lot of different ways to disregard the truth about hell and the simplicity and the power of what the Lord Jesus was declaring in those passages that we read together. What I want to do is I want to just give you for the rest of today a brief survey of all of the errors of hell. Now, we're not going to cover every permutation of this, every possible variation on these, but these are the essential, the basic lists of how it is that people disregard this teaching by substituting some error that makes a certain sense to them. And every one of these errors has this common theme. They all make sense. They all have their own logic attached to them. They all have some thing within this viewpoint that drives a person, motivates a person to latch on to this viewpoint, even though it is wrong and not just, you know, a minor level of wrong, but a serious, serious level of error that will lead a person away from the true faith of what the Lord has revealed to us. All right. So what we're going to do is we're going to do this survey together. And what I want to cover is this, that It's both the world around us in the way that the world views spiritual things and the church that participate in these various errors. So I want to list out first the errors that the world tends to make on this subject of hell. These are the errors of the world. And what we're going to do is we're going to study, we're going to list out nine common errors on the subject of hell. And the first four are the world's errors. And I'm going to give a... I'll give an identifier for each one of these. The first main error in the way that the world looks at this subject and disregards it is the teaching of materialism, the philosophy of materialism. This is probably the most common one in the world today. I'm talking about in our culture. Not the world at large. This certainly isn't the most common one in India. It's certainly not the most common one in, you know, the Muslim nations of the world and so forth like that. But in our culture, materialism is the big one. A leading proponent of this materialistic worldview, you've heard me mention this man's name before, Carl Sagan. I'll use him as an example here. Carl Sagan was a famous astronomer. And he had a philosophy of life, he had a worldview, a perspective of what all this universe and all of life means. And what he believed was representative of all those who believe in materialism actually believe, and that is this, that what existence is, when you boil down existence, is that all existence is physical only. Meaning there is In this universe, matter, you know, the stuff, the substance that the material universe is made up of, and there's energy, which is just simply matter in a different form. But beyond matter and energy, there is no existence. So spiritual reality is not reality at all. There is no such thing as spiritual reality. There is no spiritual existence. Therefore, what does this have to do with hell? Well, when a physically, in fact, a being that's physical only, has a span of life here on this earth. Carl Sagan, for instance, who has died and passed on. When Carl Sagan's life came to an end, according to the conclusions that he drew before his life came to an end, what happened to Carl Sagan at the end of his life, according to his worldview? He just ceased to exist. Why? Because he was physical only. Even his mind, which is a non-material aspect of this experience, is just a complex set of electrical stimulations and firings of neurons and synapses, and there's no spiritual reality even to the thoughts of a man's mind. And so for Carl Sagan, he took comfort in disregarding Jesus' teaching on hell by simply believing with all of his mind and heart that at the end of his life, the worst case scenario is I just wink out of existence. I don't exist any longer. My atoms scatter, become part of the material universe, you know, through dissolution of the physical body, but I am gone. I don't exist at all. As for an unbeliever, for a person that will, on the day of judgment, stand before the throne of God and will give an account as they've been raised for that very purpose, to stand before His presence of glory and give ultimate accountability. This idea in the present life is a very comforting thought, isn't it? Because if I had two choices, if I had two choices, and these are the only two I have, you can either give an account to an ultimate accountable, circumstance of God looking at every detail of your life according to His standard of righteousness, holiness, and glory, and then answering for that for all of eternity, or you can just wink out of existence. Which of those two am I going to choose if those are my only two choices? I'm going to choose the wink. You know, I would much rather just be off the scene rather than to deal with that level of accountability and then to answer for that for all of eternity. This is a very common view. And by the way, I want to go through these views because for all nine of these things, every person that you ever talk to that doesn't have a right view of hell is going to be attaching all of their hopes leaning heavily on one of these views or the other, okay? And so you need to be equipped to be able to interact with them in a spiritually effective way. What's the next main way that people commonly disregard hell in this world? This one is very popular, of course, growing in popularity, and that's the teaching of reincarnation. In a teaching on reincarnation, which is of course the idea that when your life comes to an end, you do have a spiritual existence, and your soul leaves your body. But when it leaves your body, where does it go? It goes eventually into another body. In the meantime, it's kind of in a spiritual holding staging ground place. And then you, you know, eventually are given birth into another body. And then when that life comes to an end, you are given birth into another body and another into what is commonly identified as an endless cycle of birth and rebirth. All right. Now, where does health fit into that scenario? There is no such thing as hell in the teaching on reincarnation, because hell, to the reincarnationist, is your next life. Meaning, you know, this whole karmic teaching or concept is that whatever you did wrong in this present life, if you don't pay for it in this life, you will eventually pay for it in the next life. And so there is a concept of justice that's woven into this idea. But it's just woven in from the standpoint of you end up paying for all of your own sins. And so ultimately what this boils down to is a means of self-salvation, which is after you've eventually paid for all of your sins and learned all your lessons, you yourself grow out of this pattern of sinfulness into the glorious spiritual being that you're meant to be. And then at the end, there's something, depending upon the viewpoint, either Hinduism or Buddhism, something like to the Buddhist Nirvana, which just simply means once you finally have reached the goal of your multitudinous millions of reincarnations, you will eventually just wink out of existence, because that's the ultimate goal of all of reality and all of life. So it ends up like the materialist, but the way that it gets there is a much different route. So reincarnation, very popular, disregarding of the teaching of hell. Hell doesn't even need to exist because I don't go to give an account for my life after my life ends. I go into another life. I get to start all over again and again and again and again. All right, beyond reincarnation, another one that You don't hear this as commonly as the first two, but there is a certain segment of the society that this view appeals to the most, and that's the hedonist view of existence or life after death. Hedonism. Hedonism is a philosophy of life in which the most important thing in life is your own pleasure. satisfying yourself with your own pleasures, whatever they are, it doesn't matter, as long as you're satisfied, then you have fulfilled your reason for existence. For the hedonist, ultimately, this carries on after death itself. There are hedonists that believe in the reality of hell, that hell is a real place, a real circumstance, a real spiritual condition. But if they are hedonists, what they believe is this, when they go to hell, They're going to enjoy it. It's going to be the ultimate expression of their own pleasure. There are people that actually do believe this, in which hell for them is going to be an endless party. of them and all of the people that hold their similar kind of life philosophy, a complete indulgence in every pleasure that they only partially fulfilled in this present life. Apart from the presence of God, yes, but they find their ultimate pleasure apart from the presence of God and in each other's company. Now, what's wrong with this viewpoint? Well, other than being a total fantasy, nothing much, you know. The whole idea here is, of course, based on a wrong concept of what this experience is actually going to be of hell. And we'll get into detail next week about what hell is actually going to be like. One of the things that's going to be true as we see from the scriptures what the Lord has revealed about hell is number one, there's going to be not a single moment of pleasure for anyone that's actually in hell, and that's for all of eternity. Number two, there will be not a single moment of comfort. in company of anyone else in hell, because everyone who actually experiences hell will be in complete and total isolation from every other being that they have ever known or ever had any contact with. They'll be completely and totally alone without any pleasure whatsoever. Alright? What's the fourth view that the world buys into to disregard the whole concept of hell? The last one is, again, and these are kind of in stages of acknowledgement of the truth, this one acknowledges part of the truth, that there is a real hell. So I'm going to call this one Real But Limited. And this is a group of people who have, for the most part, the people that believe this view, are people that have been exposed to a lot of Christian teaching at some point in their life, attended church, read the Bible, studied the Bible to some degree. For whatever reason, they've never been saved. They've never actually experienced the salvation that the Lord brings to our lives. But they have too much information of the truth. So they've got to deal with that somehow. How do you, you know, and this is one of the most difficult places to be in, to have so much truth given to you and yet your heart has not found the way to actually embrace it and to believe it fully and to be changed by it. This person believes that hell is real, but they're never going to have to deal with it. Why? It's limited. Meaning, yes, hell's a reality, but God only sends the really, really, really bad people to hell. The rest, because God is a God of love and graciousness, He welcomes into His presence. Of course, I referred to this a few weeks ago. Of course, who's going to be in a real but limited hell? Yeah, Charles Manson is going to be in a real but limited hell. Adolf Hitler will be in a real but limited hell. Will I be in a real but limited hell? Of course not. I'm a good person. I'm not like Charles Manson. I'm not like Adolf Hitler. I am a much better person than they are. Therefore, you know, it's an uncomfortable thought that anyone will have to be in this experience, but I'm just really glad that I won't be. OK, this is a very. very common view for those who haven't bought into one of these first three. It's a real experience, but it's one that thankfully I never will have to deal with. How many of you ever saw the movie Ghost? This is a movie with Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore. It was very popular back, I don't remember when it came out, 15 years ago, something like that, 10 years ago. And in some ways there were some good things about the movie because one of the things that the movie did describe in a very vivid portrayal that Hollywood rarely does is there is such a thing as real life after death. Existence does continue on after death. There is such a thing as a soul within human beings. That soul has an existence. Now, one of the things though that was particularly destructive about the movie Ghost in terms of doctrinal influence on the masses was this. The movie Ghost is based on this concept of a real but limited hell. The protagonist in the movie, the hero in the movie is who? Patrick Swayze. If you've seen the movie, you're following me. If not, Patrick Swayze is a good guy, alright? He is killed, victimized by a bad guy, a really, really bad guy. And he spends the rest of the movie as a ghost, trying to watch over and protect his girlfriend that he's left behind. And the bad guy is after her, alright? Now, as part of the portrayal in the movie, there are times when different individuals die in the movie, and there's a couple of places in the movie where an individual who's really, really bad dies, their soul leaves their body, and there are these really ugly-looking dark beings that come up out of the ground and grab that person's soul and drags them down into the ground, which is a very vivid portrayal of someone going to hell. But the only people that go to hell in the movie Ghost are the really, really, really bad ones. Patrick Swayze, of course, at the end of the movie, he finds his home as these little sparkles of light come down and suck him up into the heavenly presence of the being of light that holds no one ultimately accountable except for the really, really bad ones. Now, what's wrong with this picture? What was Patrick Swayze doing at the beginning of the movie? living with his girlfriend that he hadn't married and having sexual relations with her regularly. Now, what's wrong with that biblically? It's what is called the sin of fornication. What Paul the Apostle and the Lord Jesus and all of the other teachers and prophets of God's Word tell us is a sin that, as Paul describes it, do not be deceived. The people who participate in this sin will not inherit the kingdom of God, period. All right? And so Patrick Swayze, who's participating in this sin, he, you know, he goes with the little sparkles of light. He doesn't get dragged down into the earth. Because why? He's a good guy. He's not a really, really, really bad guy. There's many people that you interact with around you on a regular and consistent basis that are basing their whole life on this fantasy. Right? Not this, not the biblical reality. All right, I've just finished the four errors of the world. I'm going to draw a line right there, meaning we're at the end of the time. I'm going to stop there. What we'll pick up with next time is we're going to continue our study of errors about the subject of hell, but we're going to look next time at the errors that the church makes. And sadly, the church makes more errors on this subject than the world does. We're going to identify five major categories of error on the teaching of hell that the church itself makes. So tune in next time seeing that channel and all that stuff. All right. Let's pray. Father God, even though we're Ending this on a somewhat lighthearted note, the things that we're talking about are obviously so serious minded that they're beyond our own human capacity to even think very long about without getting deeply discomforted. And I pray, Father, that as you direct our hearts to meditate on your Word, what you've revealed, what the Lord Jesus continually directs our attention to, that it would produce the right kind of fruit in all of us, that we would be affected by it, we would be changed by it, and that we would be made in your hands more effective. in communicating with the people around our lives who are leaning on fantasy, who are leaning on hopes and dreams and imaginations that are going to be ripped away from them in a shocking moment as they stand before you on that final day. Make us effective in communicating with them and that we would serve your purpose in that way. And we thank you for that grace in the name of the Lord Jesus. Amen. the copyrighted product of Tree of Life Christian Church of Canoga Park, California. 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