Alright, we're going to pick up in our study in the book of Matthew 25 this morning. If you'd like to turn with me there, we're going to continue with the theme that we have been focused on for several months. I left off in the middle of a specific point last week. What we're studying together is God's plan for all things as it sums up or concludes with God's finale for all of history, the event that we know is the second coming of Christ, which will then unfold in the Lord raising people from the dead and bringing all people before his throne for the specific purpose of having their lives judged by him. He's going to separate all people into two basic groups. Those groups are going to be divided to his right hand and to his left. They're called the sheep and the goats. One is going to be the sheep. They're going to receive They're going to receive the blessing of eternal life, and some of those will receive eternal reward, as we've already studied. Others, those on the left side, are identified as goats, and we're going to read again, starting in verse 41, the specific verse which identifies the sentence that the goats will hear from the Lord upon His throne on that day. Matthew 25 verse 41, and again this is part of an extended section on the judgment, but we're going to read just the sentence that the goats will hear. 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. Now, we talked last week, and we've talked beforehand also, that this is easily the most difficult doctrine to deal with in the entire Bible. There are other doctrines that are very difficult. They challenge us personally, they challenge us emotionally, they challenge us intellectually. But nothing challenges us like this doctrine of hell, and this reality of hell, this truth of hell. and of what is going to follow this sentence, as I read in verse 41, for this entire group that's on his left hand side. Last week what we focused on is that because by human nature people just don't like this reality, and don't want to deal with this reality, don't want to face this reality, Human beings have been very creative throughout history in inventing ways to disregard it. Inventing ways to look at this from an entirely different kind of perspective. And I've grouped what I'm calling errors about the teaching of hell into two basic groups. Last week what we studied together are the four main errors that the world itself makes. The unbelieving world, the world that does not embrace the gospel, does not embrace the truth, but nevertheless has to deal with this reality that they know in their hearts is true and real, but how do they deal with that? We talked about those four main errors, the errors of materialism, reincarnation, hedonism, and a real but limited hell. And if you haven't had a chance to hear that, I would recommend that you get the tape from last week and listen to it, in which we go into some detail about those four errors. But I mentioned last week that there's, from what I can identify, a total of nine errors on this teaching of hell that we have to deal with, we have to identify, before we even really take a solid look at what the truth of this doctrine is. And sadly, you would think that the world with its four errors would be the main place where we're going to find error on this teaching. But that's not true. Turn with me from Matthew, if you would, to 1 Timothy chapter 3. I'd like to read a verse that identifies, Paul the Apostle writing here, identifies One of the great responsibilities of the church, one of the great spiritual responsibilities, the Lord when he calls us together to fellowship together, to live out our spiritual lives together, he calls us together for a purpose. We don't come together just for our own agenda, for our own reasons, for our own purpose. We come together to live out the responsibilities that the Lord has given to us, that he has, in a sense, commissioned us to bear. And 1 Timothy 3.15, as Paul writes, is one of those core responsibilities of the church in every generation and in every culture. Paul says, in case I am delayed, I write. so that you will know how one ought to conduct himself in the household of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and support of the truth." Now, the church is described a lot of different ways in the Bible. A lot of different word pictures or images describe the church. For instance, the church is a temple, the church is a body, the church is a bride, the church is a flock, and there are many others that the Lord uses to describe the church. But in this verse, we have a twofold, which are really overlapping image of what the church is called by God and responsible by God to be in this world. And that is the church is called the pillar and support of the truth. What does that mean? The church is the pillar and the support of the truth. The church is not the truth. We don't embody the truth. The Lord himself identifies himself as truth. Jesus said, I am the way, the truth, In the life, the Lord himself embodies the truth. And everything that the Lord has ever spoken and revealed is the embodiment of the truth. But what is the church's relationship to the truth? Our relationship to the truth is we're called to be the pillar and support of the truth. And the idea of a pillar here, I think we all understand what a pillar does. In a building, a structure, what a pillar does is something very similar to, in this building, what these beams do. It would be like Paul writing and saying, the church is the beam and the support of the truth. What is the function of this beam in this building, in this roof above us here? It's holding it up. You take the beams away and the roof is going to fall. So what the church is called to do is not embody the truth, but to support the truth. To be in a relationship with the truth in this world and in this culture that rejects it and denies it, To be in a relationship with the truth in such a way that we proclaim the truth in a supportive, defending way. Because everything in this world, everything in this culture is set against the truth. And actively working to suppress, deny and reject the truth. And only the church, you've heard me emphasize this before, only the church is called by God to represent Him and His mind and His heart and His thoughts and the words that He declares as truth. And if the church fails to do that, if the church fails to support the truth at any essential or key point of what God has revealed, then what can the world do? What can the church do? Now, in regards to hell, the sad reality is that it's a truth that God has described, it's a truth that God has declared, and it's a truth that the church, by and large, in this present generation, is rejecting. Now, that doesn't mean that every church is rejecting this truth. This one is not rejecting the truth. There are many others, thank the Lord, that are not rejecting the truth and are actively being a pillar and support of the truth. But many are rejecting this doctrine. Many are disregarding it. Many are changing it just enough. to make it of no effect and eternal value any longer. Now, I want to give you some examples of that, but let me reread just before I do. 2 Timothy, chapter 4. I read this passage not long ago when I first introduced the teaching on hell, but I'd like to reread it as the backdrop of what we're going to be looking at, because one of the things I'm going to do is I just briefly gave one example last week. I'm going to name some names today, and I'm going to quote some individuals And it's important for you to understand why I'm doing that. 2 Timothy 4, verse 1. This is Paul's final charge to a young co-worker in Christian church leadership, Timothy. And he writes this to Timothy, I solemnly charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom, Preach the word, be ready in season and out of season, reprove, rebuke, exhort with great patience and instruction. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine. But wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth, and will turn aside to myths. That you be sober in all things, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, fulfill your ministry. Now in verse 3, Paul warns that there is a coming time in which they, they being sadly here, the church, Christians, we're not talking about unbelievers. We're talking about his concern for believers. There will come a time when believers will not endure sound doctrine. And I identified before, and let me reemphasize this, that while hell, the doctrine of hell, is a sound doctrine biblically, spiritually, it's the least endurable of all of the sound doctrines of God's Word. It's the one that challenges us the most in our endurance of the truth. And the truth is something that must be endured. Some aspects of God's revealed truth are just easy to bear, easy to endure, easy to embrace. You hear a wonderful statement of truth from God's word that the Lord is your shepherd, you shall not want. He watches over you, cares for you, meets all of your needs. Is that a difficult doctrine to embrace? No, it's easy and wonderful to embrace. And thank God there are some doctrines that God has revealed to us that are easy to embrace. But there are some doctrines in God's Word that are just very, very difficult to embrace, to believe, and to endure. And there will come a time when they will not endure sound doctrine, but instead wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to their own desires. Simply meaning this, when the majority of people in the church community don't want to hear it anymore, what are they going to do? They're going to find someone that will tell them what they want to hear. And they'll gather around those people and listen to them. And those will, at this time, whenever it is that Paul is describing this, this will be the most popular thing to do, church-wise. Alright? Well, if we're not in that time, we're certainly way too close. Alright? Let me give you some examples. I mentioned one name last week. I mentioned the name of a of a theologian, a church leader, a speaker on the church circuit and teacher from England by the name of John Stott, someone that was instrumental in teaching me some things as a young believer. I read many of his books early on. and benefited from it, and he certainly is a gifted individual and has a clear grasp of many truths in God's Word. But I mentioned that he was an example of a church leader that had rejected and denied this doctrine of hell. But I also mentioned he's not alone. And literally I could spend the rest of the time in our study today just reading you quotes from different well-known, in certain circles, you know, the circles of high-level theologians, well-known leaders, teachers, scholars, professors, seminary presidents, at every level. that are rejecting and denying either this doctrine of hell entirely or some critical aspect of it. But let me just read you a few quotes. This one is from John Stott, first of all. In wondering, you know, how is it that this man has rejected the doctrine, I won't read the entire quote, just the core of why it is that he rejected this truth. John Stott wrote, emotionally, I find the concept intolerable. Now, because he phrased it in the way that he did, emotionally I find the concept intolerable. It might be easy for us to dismiss his rejection, but don't do that. Emotionally, I find the concept of hell intolerable also. Don't you? In terms of how it makes me feel, I don't feel too good when I think very long about hell. when I think more than a few seconds about the nature of hell, the reality of it, the experience of it, what it will, not in fantasy land, but what it will actually be like for millions of individuals for all of eternity. I find that emotionally intolerable. It's hard to tolerate. Very difficult to tolerate. John Stott did too. Now what you do with that is critical. What he did with it is it led his, his emotions overruled his spiritual better judgment. And it led him to create, carve out some doctrinal space for himself to reject the teaching. And he does reject the reality of an eternal punishment of the wicked. He's not alone, though. John Wynnham. John Wynnham is an author of a couple of commentaries that I have used to benefit on other subjects. He's a theologian also in England. Just the fact that I'm quoting two English theologians to start with doesn't mean that this problem is limited to the church in England. It's certainly not. But John Wynnham wrote this about the doctrine of hell. I believe that endless torment is a hideous and unscriptural doctrine. Now, this is a man that's recognized as one of the leading theologians in many church circles. Clark Pinnock. Clark Pinnock is considered by a lot of high-level Bible scholar types as being one of the shining stars in the theological heavens, so to speak. This is what Clark Pinnock has to say about this. This is an American theologian. I consider the concept of hell as endless torment in body and mind an outrageous doctrine. A theological and moral enormity. How can Christians possibly project a deity of such cruelty and vindictiveness? Surely, a God who would do such a thing is more like Satan than like God. Richard John Newhouse, a Catholic theologian, wrote this. And he is one of the leading Catholic theologians. Hell exists, but no one is in it. We'll explain how he came to that conclusion in a minute. John A.T. Robinson, another leading theologian, wrote this about hell. Christ remains on the cross as long as one sinner remains in hell. For him, it's a theological impossibility. Now these are all men, and again, I just quoted five, and they're just a very brief sampling, the tip of the iceberg. These are men who have rejected the doctrine outright. Let me read you a couple of quotes regarding individuals that believe the doctrine of hell, but struggle with it. And I think as long as you believe it, I think we're allowed to struggle with it as we work our way to an understanding of why such a place does exist and why such a sentence awaits the wicked. This is what C.S. Lewis wrote in his struggle to deal with the reality of hell. There is no doctrine I would more willingly remove from Christianity than hell, if it lay in my power. I would pay any price to be able to say truthfully, all will be saved. Now, I respect C.S. Lewis, and I respect this quote. I respect his struggle with the issue of health. He's dealing with the horrible reality and saying if it was within his authority and within his power to change that final reality, he would do so. And he's being honest here in saying that that's his emotional reaction to this doctrine. But let me go one step beyond C.S. Lewis and say, even though emotionally I can relate to that and understand that, even if it were in my power to change this doctrine, I would never do it. And there's a reason for that. We probably won't get this far today. I want to talk about this in more detail, most likely next week. But there is a biblical and spiritual reason why hell exists. And God did not make a mistake in creating such a place. And it serves an ultimately glorious purpose. And to remove such a thing is going to damage something critical in our understanding of who God is and His ways and purposes, not just in history, but in eternity. One last quote. They did a survey of current seminarians. Seminarians are young men and women who are in seminary in order to enter in, in the future, into some position of church leadership, some influential position of church leadership. And they did a survey on many spiritual topics, one of which they asked them about where they stood about the reality of hell. And this is what, out of the survey, this is what 50% of the current seminarians responded. Under most, this was the question, and 50% said, yes, I agree with this. The question was, under most circumstances, or even all circumstances, to emphasize to non-believers that they will be eternally damned in hell if they do not repent of their sins was in poor taste." Fifty percent of the seminarians said, yes, I agree with that. Meaning essentially what they're saying is, even if it's true, don't talk to unbelievers about it because it's poor taste for a believer to say such a thing to an unbeliever. Are they right? Yes and no. They're absolutely wrong in their conclusion of, hey, if this is true, let's not tell anybody about it. Can you imagine if such a place is real, if such a sentence does await the wicked and you don't speak to the wicked about it? What does that say about us that know the truth and have escaped? By the grace of God and the mercy of God, if we do not share that message with those who have not yet escaped. But to say it's in poor taste to mention such a thing to an unbeliever, I have to agree with that. It is in poor taste. It's not socially tasteful. You know, you're in a conversation with an unbeliever talking about the weather, how the Dodgers are doing or whatnot, and to somehow find a way in the conversation to interject the awful, horrible reality of what awaits them on the final day of judgment. Is that socially in good taste? No. Will they like you for it as you first bring it up? Will they appreciate that you've interjected this note of seriousness and soberness of eternal weight into the conversation? Probably not. But, you know, it's either real or it's not. If it's not real, let's not interject such a thing into the conversation. If it is real, How can we not find a way to communicate this reality with those who need most to hear it? So, in light of this, and these are church leaders who are denying, rejecting, changing, modifying this doctrine, how have they gone about doing that? Let me list for you the five main ways that the church changes or rejects the doctrine of hell. And these are, by the way, not limited to just what's going on in our present generation. Some of these teachings stretch all the way back to the very first century of the Church. But, as all spiritual things, find their expression in each generation. The first, and what I'm going to do is I'm going to list these in progressive order, meaning I'm going to list from the worst first and work our way down to dangerous, but not as bad as the first one. Okay. The first is the most dangerous of all, and that is the teaching or doctrine of universalism. Each one of these five errors deserves a whole teaching onto itself. I could easily do that. You'll have to trust me on that. But I've chosen to just do an overview so that we can move forward with the other material we need to eventually get to. Universalism in a nutshell. All people are ultimately going to be saved. What does that do with the doctrine of hell? It's like the Catholic theologian Newhouse said, there is such a place as hell, it's just no one's in it. And a universalist actually can believe in the reality of hell. And yet, it's a different kind of hell than the one we're called to believe. It's a hell with a completely empty interior. Now why would hell need to exist at all if there's no one actually going to be occupying it? According to this teaching, hell exists as a literal place, as an example of what people actually do deserve, but the sentence of experiencing it for all of eternity is something God would never do to anyone. And so for the universalists, all people will ultimately be saved. Turn with me to the book of First Corinthians. I'm going to briefly give you examples for each one of these of why people believe these things. First Corinthians chapter 13. Some universalists go so far as to say all human beings will ultimately be saved. Every single human being that's ever been born or lived will ultimately be saved. Some go further than that and even include Satan and the fallen angels and their hope of a universal family reunion and reconciliation at the end of all of history. and so that hell will literally have absolutely no occupants at the end. There are many passages that are abused, twisted and misapplied, misunderstood and misapplied to lead people to this conclusion, but this is the first and the one that is most commonly used. 1 Corinthians chapter 13, very famous passage, it's known as the love chapter. It's from verse four through verse eight, a declaration and a description of the wonders and beauty of God's love and all of the different qualities and aspects of God's love. I'll start in verse four. Love is patient. Love is kind. is not jealous, love does not brag, is not arrogant, does not act unbecomingly, it does not seek its own, is not provoked, does not take into account a wrong suffer, does not rejoice in unrighteousness but rejoices with the truth, bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things, love never fails. The essence of the universal teaching is the declaration that love never fails. Now, what that means and what they say it means are two different things. In a nutshell, what it means in the context of the passage, some of your translations will even acknowledge this. Love never comes to an end. God's love is eternal. God's love is something that you can't put human limitations or human endpoints on it. But what this group takes this verse to mean and applies it in the wrong way to say is that love never fails in the sense that we know, and I'm going to give you just the essence of how they get to this point. We know from the scripture that God is love. The Lord declares that about himself in the book of 1st John. God is love. And that God in his love for mankind, God so loved the world. And His love for all of mankind has moved in history to accomplish the purpose of love. And the purpose of love is to save, and to rescue, and to draw people unto Himself. And that if a single person is ultimately lost, this is their leap, their unbiblical, unrational, irrational leap. Theological leap. If God who is love intends to save all human beings, then if one human being is lost, then love has failed. That makes sense, doesn't it? Well, you know what? Honestly, it does make sense. That's exactly why people who are as accomplished as anybody in theological studies can draw this conclusion. The conclusion makes sense. The problem is their starting point. And the starting point is the idea that when God set out in the plan of salvation at the beginning, His intention was to ultimately save every single individual that's ever been born. Honestly, I'll say it this way. If that was God's intention, then everybody will be saved. Because this is what I believe about God. I believe God is sovereign. And I believe that what that means, what that implies is that whatever God sets out to do, God will accomplish. I don't think at the end of history, as all of history is reviewed and revealed in the light of God's clear understanding as we stand in His presence, that any of us are going to look at what God did in history and say, well, you know, God, you tried to do this, you tried to do this, you tried to do this, but you failed on those points. I guess you never really accomplished what you set out to do in creating all things and in managing history the way that you did. I believe that every single thing that God has set out to do, God will accomplish by that final day. So their problem is not in God's power, their belief in God's power to accomplish what He sets out to do. Their problem is they've identified the wrong goal of God's plan of salvation. God's plan of salvation was never intended to save every single person. God isn't trying to save everybody. He's not trying to do anything. God is accomplishing His plan, and everybody He intends to save will be saved. But the Universalist just says, God is making no distinction, He intends to save everyone, He therefore will save everyone. Now, what are they ignoring here, along with other issues? Turn with me, if you would, to Revelation chapter 4. What's their emphasis here? The emphasis is that God, as a God of love, could never ever have such a reality as people forever suffering in the torments of hell. A loving person, a loving being, could never do such a thing. And in this, they fail to acknowledge something about God that is critically important for us to see. Revelation chapter 4 verse 1, After these things I looked, and behold, a door standing open in heaven. And the first voice which I had heard, like the sound of a trumpet speaking with me, said, Come up here, and I will show you what must take place after these things. Immediately I was in the Spirit. This is John being caught up into the presence of God, the heavenly throne room. Immediately I was in the Spirit, and behold, a throne was standing in heaven, and one sitting on the throne. Now, you and I have never been there. We don't know what this is like, other than by the report of someone who has been there and has seen it. John has seen it. This is what he's reporting to us. He who was sitting was like a jasper stone and a sardius in appearance. And there was a rainbow around the throne like an emerald in appearance. And around the throne were twenty-four thrones. And upon the thrones I saw twenty-four elders sitting, clothed in white garments and golden crowns on their heads. Out from the throne come flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God. And before the throne there was something like a sea of glass, like crystal. And in the center and around the throne, four living creatures full of eyes in front and behind. The first creature like a lion, the second creature like a cat, the third creature had a face like that of a man, and the fourth creature was like a flying eagle. And these four living creatures, each one of them having six wings, are full of eyes around and within, and day and night they do not cease to say, Holy, holy, holy is the Lord God, the Almighty, who was and who is and who is to come. This is the scene in heaven. This is what it's really like. This isn't human imagination about what we want heaven to be like, what we want God to be like. This is the revelation of who He is and what it's really like around His throne. And around His throne there are these four amazing creatures, that fly around the throne of God and day and night, without ceasing, speak forth the same exact message over and over and over again, without getting bored of saying the same thing, without getting tired of repeating themselves. And there are many things, like in our worship this morning, that are fit and right to declare about who God is. But there's one thing being declared in closest proximity to the throne of God. And what is it? Are these creatures declaring this? Are they declaring, loving, loving, loving is the Lord our God, who was, who is, and who is to come. Are they declaring that? Why not? Isn't He loving? He absolutely is. He is love. He's the essence of love. He is essentially love. But here's the mistake that the Universalists are making as they consider the nature of God Himself. Because the whole concept here is they look at this prospect of hell and they say, a truly loving God could not do such a thing. And the only response and answer to that, the right, true, biblical, scriptural, spiritual response is, a truly holy God can do no else. What they've done, and this is a common fallacy among people who, even people who study the nature of God Himself, is they exalt the love of God against the holiness of God. And they say, if push comes to shove and we have to identify what's the first priority characteristic of what God is in His essence, they're going to come down on the side and say, God is essentially loving. And what I'm going to say is, He is fully loving, but He is first and foremost essentially holy. That's what God wants said about Himself before we say anything else. That's why he created these four creatures that fly around his throne. And that's why he put those words in their mouth. It's not like these four creatures just showed up out of nowhere and started just saying whatever came into their mind. God created them. He placed them in a special orientation of closest proximity around his throne. There's no other creature in heaven and earth closer to the throne of God than these four living creatures. And he put these words in their mouth. Holy, holy, holy. Any consideration we have of the love of God has to first pass through the filter of our understanding the holiness of God and what that means. Another aspect, I won't belabor this because I need to move on to these other four errors. Another aspect of this that they failed to pay attention to is the justice of God. The scripture declares that the throne of God is established upon the principle of His justice. And so in ignoring the holiness and justice of God, they've exalted the love of God and they've drawn an unbiblical and ungodly conclusion about the doctrine of hell. All right, let's move on. The second major error that the church makes about the doctrine of hell. is similar to universalism, but it's enough different to warrant its own category, and that's the doctrine of probation. We have the concept of probation in our culture. What happens if a person breaks a law, a serious law, they're sentenced to some special category that's called probation? Instead of serving you know, federal penitentiary time, they're released on probation. What do we mean by that? We mean that they're under judgment, that they're under limitations, they're under boundaries, but they're not in penitentiary. They're not actually in prison. Okay? There is a concept of spiritual probation, and what this is also commonly called is a second offer. of salvation. This is a very appealing, emotionally appealing doctrine. Turn with me to the book of 1 Peter. The second offer of salvation just simply means this. There are people that die wicked, that at the moment of their death, they deserve hell. And God believes that they deserve hell also. But because He's a God of love, that can't bear the thought of anyone spending eternity in hell, he goes the second mile, so to speak, and he makes them an additional offer, a second offer, a second chance of salvation after the point of their death. And the people who believe such a doctrine believe it on a biblical basis. What I mean by that is, like all other errors, especially Christian errors, they take some portion of the book and twist it and arrive based on the book with a wrong conclusion. And they've done that with a couple of passages here in Peter. 1 Peter chapter 3, I'll read verses 18 through 20, and then I'm going to turn to chapter 4 and read verse 6. And again, these verses deserve a lot of explanation. I won't have time to give you a lot, but I'll just give you a brief explanation. But let me read first, 1 Peter 3.18, For Christ also died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that he might bring us to God, having been put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the Spirit, in which also he went and made proclamation to the spirits now in prison. who once were disobedient when the patience of God kept waiting in the days of Noah during the construction of the ark, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through the water." Now, the portion that is misunderstood and misapplied to mean a second offer of salvation is in verse 19, in which there is a clear description that Jesus went, and this is true, he went and made proclamation to a group of spirits that were in prison. And we're not talking about earthly prison, we're not talking about physical prison, we're talking about a group of spirit beings that were in some kind of spiritual prison. And there was a point, a moment in time when Jesus went and made a proclamation to them. What this verse is taken to mean is that Jesus went spiritually to the place where people were waiting in preparation for hell, or actually in hell, and he proclaimed the gospel a second time to them. He offered them salvation. Now you tell me, if you're actually in hell, you're there already? You're experiencing it? You're suffering in the torments of hell, and Jesus shows up and offers you to get out, a get-out-of-jail-free card. Are you going to take that card or not? I mean, the likelihood is, if you're given that offer to get out, you're going to take the offer. The problem is, that's not at all what's being described here. And I won't get into what this event actually was, but let me just, because that would require a whole long explanation to go along with it, let me just focus on the word itself. Where they focus on this word proclaimed, they say that what Jesus is doing here when he proclaims, is he's proclaiming salvation, or made proclamation, I think that's the word, proclamation. He made proclamation of salvation, preached the gospel, the good news to those who were in hell. Well, the word for the preaching of the good news is not the word that's used here. This is an entirely different word. This is a word which means the proclamation of a king. an official and formal declaration of someone who bears authority. It's not what we commonly refer to as the sharing of the good news of the gospel. Jesus did make a proclamation and he did proclaim something to spirits that deserve punishment and that were in prison. But what he proclaimed was some proclamation related to his kingship and to the authority that he now bears because of his death on the cross. And so Leaving that, let's look at 1 Peter 4. I said there were two passages in Peter that are commonly misunderstood and misapplied. Verse 6. I'll read verse 5 with it just to get the context. But they will give an account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. For the gospel has for this purpose been preached even to those who are dead, that though they are judged in the flesh as man, they may live in the spirit according to the will of God. The end of all things is near. Therefore, be of sound judgment and sober spirit for the purpose of prayer. Verse six clearly describes the gospel being preached even to those who are dead. And in this case, the word preached is the proclamation of the good news. And it's clearly the gospel that's being proclaimed, the good news of the gospel, even to the dead. And so what this group has done is they've taken this and said, well, look, linking this together with chapter 3, putting 2 and 2 together, we're going to come up with 5. And it's clear here, and it's obvious, that what happens is, yes, People die in wickedness and deserve hell, but don't worry, because the Lord is sure to proclaim the message of the gospel to them after they die. And as long as they embrace it then, and surely everyone will then, because they'll see and know for a fact that it's the truth. then everyone will ultimately be saved. So they may be for a period of time in hell, but they're going to be released on probation. They're going to be released from this imprisonment. What's the problem here? Well, the problem here is that they totally mangled what's actually being said in verse 6. What's actually being said is not that there is a preaching of the gospel after someone dies. The idea here is that the gospel has been preached to everyone before they die. And that's absolutely true. How much of the gospel, to what degree, the number of details that are included in the proclamation of the gospel, that's a different issue. The bottom line is, God says over and over again in His Word, no one dies with the excuse that they've never heard the gospel. The Lord says in the book of Romans that He's seen to it And this is also in Psalm 19. He's seen to it that even the heavens themselves are daily declaring the truth of who He is and the responsibility that human beings have to acknowledge Him. The heavens are declaring the glory of God day after day and night after night. All of creation is proclaiming the gospel on a daily basis to people, let alone when one person who knows the truth shares the message of the truth with another person. But the bottom line, what's being described here in verse 6 is this. The gospel for this purpose has been preached even to those who are dead. The idea here is the preaching is not after they die, the preaching is before they die, so that everyone who's in this category of the dead can't stand before the thorn of God on the day of judgment and say, I've got a good excuse, Lord, I never knew the truth. I never understood. No one ever told me. I never got it. I never had enough information to actually be saved. That would be a valid excuse if it were true. But Peter's point is, the gospel has been proclaimed to everybody. Alright, what's the third main error? And I'm going to try and pick up a little speed here. The third main error is called annihilation. Annihilationism. These people believe in the reality of hell, they've just changed the nature of it. Hell for the annihilationists is an eternal fire of punishment. But the only thing that's eternal about it is the fire itself, because for the annihilationist, everyone that's cast into the lake of fire on the final day is annihilated or consumed by that fire, so that their soul ceases to exist. The fire remains as a testimony of God's judgment, but the people thrown into the fire are winked out of existence, not to exist forever and ever under the pain of eternal punishment. This is also commonly called conditional immortality. A couple of passages that are commonly used to make this point, Hebrews 12.29, I won't turn there, I'll just refer to it for the sake of our time. Hebrews 12, 29 declares, our God is a consuming fire. Clark Pinnock, one of the theologians I quoted earlier, he's an annihilationist. John Stott is an annihilationist. They believe this, the fire of hell does not torment, but rather consumes the wicked. Matthew 10, 28, turn there if you would, I do want to have you read this one. Matthew 10, 28 is out of the teaching of Jesus and is commonly used to make this point. And it's, again, based upon a misinterpretation and wrong application of a single word, as a lot of these doctrines do commonly turn on the meaning of a single word. Jesus, in warning about hell. says this, do not fear those who kill the body, Matthew 10, 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. So the annihilation believes that the soul is consumed, or another term for it is destroyed in hell, so that the soul ceases to exist. Now, this is a better teaching than universalism, because at least it does do this much. It acknowledges the reality of hell, it acknowledges that hell is a punishment, and it acknowledges that some people not only deserve it, but will receive that punishment. Where this doctrine falls short, and seriously short, is this. It changes the nature of the punishment that God himself has ordained. It's a much more palatable idea. to human nature, to human sensibilities. The idea that if I said to you, look, I'm going to punish you, and I'm going to punish you by giving you a spanking. And the nature of that spanking is, the first time I hit you, that's it, and you are just winked out of existence. After that first swat, you feel the first swat, and as soon as you feel it, you're gone. And that's all that you will ever experience. Versus, what I'm going to do is I'm going to start spanking you and I'm never going to stop. And you're going to feel every single swat that I hit you with for the rest of your life. And that's all you have to look forward to for the rest of your life is being swatted by me time after time after time. And you'll experience and feel every single swat. Now, which prospect is the better prospect? In terms of human sensibility, These men that have come up with this doctrine, and by the way, I mentioned some of these go all the way back to the early centuries. This one has been wrongly held and believed by church leaders going back to the earliest days of Christianity, not by all and not by the true teachers of God's word, but by many who were influential. It's a palatable teaching, but it's deadly wrong in its implications. Let me just give you a brief example of why this is wrong, but next week I'm going to save the real answer to the reasoning behind this for next week when we take a close look at the reason why hell needs to exist and exist in the exact way that God has revealed it. But turn with me if you would to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. This is, as I said, a common word study fallacy, and that is a misunderstanding of the words consumed and destroyed. It is a biblical concept. You know, our God is a consuming fire. But what does that mean? What is it that God consumes? And what is it that's, in a sense, unconsumable? You remember the example of, and of course you do from the life of Moses, the calling of Moses when God first appeared and spoke to Moses. He appeared to him in a very interesting and unusual phenomenon that we call the burning bush. What was unusual about the burning bush that caught Moses' attention? It was burning, but was not Consumed. Now who was it that was revealing himself to Moses? God. God is a consuming fire. And yet, he reveals himself in a bush that's burning and not consumed. What's the point? The idea here is that the fact that God is a consuming fire doesn't mean that everything that God touches is winked out of existence or annihilated. Alright? So it's a misunderstanding of the use of the biblical term consumed. Destroyed here, let me give you an example here from 1 Corinthians chapter 10. I'll just read verses 9 and 10. The same exact word that Jesus used when he said, do not fear those who can kill the body, but fear him who's able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And it's talking about God. What does that mean that God is going to destroy soul and body in hell? Well, Paul uses the same term in a different context here in verse 9 of 1 Corinthians 10. Nor let us try the Lord, it means to tempt or test the Lord, as some of them did and were destroyed by the serpents. Nor grumble as some of them did and were destroyed by the destroyer. This is from an event that actually happened in Israel's history when they were grumbling against the Lord and the Lord at one point as a judgment sent fiery serpents among the people that bit the people and poisoned them. And here it's describing those who were bit as their experience was they were destroyed by the fiery serpents. What does that mean? Does it mean that, and it's the exact same word that Jesus uses about destroying the soul and body in hell, does it mean that as soon as a person was bitten by a snake that he blinked out of existence there in the desert as they had these fiery serpents among the camp? No. It means his life was ruined. His life as he knew it came to an end. He was under God's judgment of utter and total ruination of his life. In the same way, the concept of destroying the soul and body in hell, as we'll see again in detail next week, is not blinking out of existence, but the utter ruin that accompanies the experience of hell. Now, just briefly, let me touch on these last two. I won't go into detail on these. And these are not as critically serious for the churches. The first three are, but they still are an issue, and they still are errors, and we need to identify them. The fourth one is the doctrine of purification. That hell exists, it's real, and so in that regard, this is not an entirely bad doctrine. But it exists for what purpose? It does not exist for the purpose of eternal punishment. It exists for the purpose of purifying those who are in it. This is commonly called, and you've heard this term probably your whole life, it's commonly called in Catholic circles, purgatory. The word purgatory just simply means to purge, a place for purging. What is purged is sin. Meaning in the Catholic viewpoint or concept of sin, there are two basic categories of sin. There are mortal sins and venial sins. This isn't a biblical concept, but it's a concept that people have staked their spiritual lives around. A mortal sin is one in which if someone commits a mortal sin, you're going to hell and you're going to experience it no matter what. Period. Case closed. It's over for you. But a venial sin is a serious sin, but not one that God would ever give the eternal punishments of hell to. Like, for instance, I go home today and I drive, you know, 40 in a 35 mile an hour speed limit. That's technically a sin. And so that would be in the category of a venial sin. Therefore, let's say I die while I'm going 40 miles an hour. I get into a car wreck, I die. I go where? Can I go into heaven, into God's presence? No, because I died and sinned. So where am I going to go? I'm going to go to an in-between place called Purgatory. And why am I there? It's a place of suffering. It's a place of great discomfort, but why am I there? I'm there to pay the penalty for my own venial sins. I'm there to be purged of my sins by paying the price of my own suffering. Now, what's wrong with this? Well, there's many things wrong with this, but the essential element of what's wrong with this is it places me in the place of the Savior. I'm saving myself. I'm paying for my own sins. Where's the cross in all of this? Where's the penalty that Christ has paid for me? And of course, the other thing that's wrong with this is that there's some kind of backdoor to hell. Some escape hatch. Suffer enough, long enough, and you get to leave by the backdoor. Hell, as one godly preacher described it, I didn't come up with this term, hell is a place with no exits. There's an entrance, but there's no exits. Once you're there, you're there. You're there forever. There's no recourse. There is no escape. Last doctrine. This one, I don't even know how to describe this. I mean, I'll describe to you, but I don't know how to name this. So I'm just going to call it the alternative kingdom. And this is a Christian teaching. But it's kind of similar to one of the four eras of the world that I mentioned last week, where some people in the world believe they're going to go to hell, but they're going to party in hell. They're going to enjoy hell in company with all of their fellow bad guys. Well, this is kind of similar to that, but it has more of a Christian flavor. This doctrine believes that hell is a real place, but it's a real place where Satan rules with his demons over the wicked that deserve to be punished. And what are Satan and his demons going to be doing for all of eternity? They're going to be torturing the people that deserve to be punished. They are in charge in hell, Satan and his demons. Satan is the lord or ruler over hell. Well, this is wrong on so many different levels. But where did this come from originally? There are two famous writers from the Middle Ages. that wrote poetry that influenced generations of church thinking on this. The writers are Milton and Dante. You've probably heard of both. Dante wrote a very famous poem called Dante's Inferno. Milton wrote a poem called Paradise Lost. In both of these poems, they describe a similar kind of thing. of Satan being in charge over this kingdom. This is how Milton quotes Satan as he is entering into hell at the end of history. Satan is quoted as saying, better to reign in hell than serve in heaven. Now, that certainly captures the spirit of Satan. But the problem is, that's not at all what's actually going to be happening in hell. No one is going to be ruling in hell except for one individual. The Lord Himself. And we'll see this in some detail next week. The Lord is ruling in hell. Satan is not ruling anywhere. Satan is going to experience hell along with the others. Let me just read these passages to you very quickly and we'll end here today. Chapter 25, verse 41. We started with this earlier today. I just didn't emphasize this one phrase from Matthew 25. This is the sentence pronounced on the wicked on the Day of Judgment. Then he will 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. Hell has been prepared for the devil and his angels, but not as a place for them to rule over the wicked. It's been prepared as the fitting place of punishment for Satan himself and for his angels, and there will be wicked human beings that will share their experience in hell. The last passage in terms of who actually rules in hell, Philippians chapter 2, I'll read this and we'll end with these verses. Philippians chapter 2 verse 8. Being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also God highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee will bow, of those in heaven and on earth and under the earth. And that every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father. Jesus' rule is going to be ultimately and finally expressed at every level of existence and every level of creation. And not just Him expressing His rule, but the acknowledgement of that rule is going to take place among everyone who inhabits every sphere of existence. Everyone in heaven will, of course, joyfully acknowledge His rule, but even those in hell will, even if grudgingly, will acknowledge and recognize that He is Lord and they are where they are because of His authority. We'll end here today and, Lord willing, pick up again next week. Let's pray. Father God, as we've been studying today the common errors that the Church itself has fallen prey to over the years and even generations, Father, I don't want us to presume and to think that we're above or beyond falling into such errors. I'm asking that you would work by your Spirit in each one of our hearts and minds and cause us, Lord, to be faithful to your revealed Word. Cause us, Lord, to read your Word accurately, truthfully, to interpret it rightly. Cause us, Lord, to be willing to sacrifice our own sensibilities in order to be faithful to adhere to the truth of what you've revealed. I pray that you would make us people who are willing to embrace your full truth, no matter how difficult it is, or no matter how uncomfortable it is. And then I pray, Father God, that you would equip us so that as we're interacting with others who have been caught in these errors, we would be useful to you. Vessels that would be useful in your hands, Lord, to rescue others out of the error of looking at eternity with the wrong perspective. I ask you for this grace upon our hearts, upon our minds and lives. In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.