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I like to preach on the subject of hell, and I preached on this subject exactly one year ago. It's actually been about a year since I preached a whole sermon on this. And a year ago when I preached on it, I preached on it in honor of Halloween. Because of the fact that it seems that everyone loves all the darkness, and they love all the ghoulishness, and the celebration of death. And they love to be scared and afraid of made-up goblins and creatures that don't exist. You know, I decided I was going to preach on something that was really scary. Something that actually is real. And it's amazing how people love to celebrate all of the death and darkness and demented things that surround Halloween. But then they come to church and they almost get upset when someone talks about hell, which is actually a real place. Which is actually something that Jesus preached about constantly. Now last year when I preached about hell, I focused mainly on the Old Testament. I went through all the Old Testament scriptures on hell, and I preached about that. This sermon is going to deal more in the New Testament. But in Matthew chapter 13, if you would, just flip back a few pages. You're in Mark chapter 9. Go to Matthew 13. Matthew chapter number 13 and verse number 41. The Bible reads in Matthew 13, 41. The Son of Man, talking about Jesus Christ, shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdoms all things that offend, and them which do iniquity, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. Go down to verse 49. The Bible reads, So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels shall come forth and sever the wicked from among the just, and shall cast them into the furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth. And the first thing I'd like to point out is that according to the Bible, hell is a place of fire. It's a place of real fire. It's not just a place where people are unhappy or maybe they just disappear. No, the Bible teaches that it's a literal, real, physical place. That's what I dealt with more a year ago when I preached on this, how the Bible makes it clear that it's in the heart of the earth, it's down in the depths of the earth, the center of the earth, the core, if you would, is where hell is located, that it's a real place of fire. Go to chapter 18. If you're in Matthew there, put a few pages to the right, chapter 18. And Jesus Christ made it clear over and over again that he preached that hell is a place of fire. Look at chapter 18, verse 9. The Bible reads, And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee. It is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into what? Hell fire. So the Bible's clear that hell is a place of fire. Now, the Bible uses the word hell 54 times. Now, that's not to say that there are only 54 mentions of hell, because many mentions of hell don't even mention the word hell. They just call it the furnace of fire, the lake of fire, outer darkness, all the different descriptions that are used to talk about hell. Now, if you have the NIV, it only uses the word hell 15 times. And the entire Old Testament doesn't even contain one reference to hell in these modern false versions, because they tried to water down this doctrine of hell. I am going to stand up here in 2011 and preach to you about a real place called hell. And other people may not believe in it. Other people may have tried to even eradicate it from their false Bible version. But Jesus Christ made it clear, and every part of the Bible makes it clear that hell is a real place of fire. But secondly, not only is it a place of fire, I want to move quickly. Secondly, hell is not separation from God. Now, a lot of people today, in their effort to tone down and water down this doctrine of hell, have tried to substitute the fires of hell by saying, well, hell is actually just being separated from God. That's all it is. Well, turn, if you would, to Revelation 14. Go to Revelation 14. Not only is hell a place of literal fire, but hell is a place where people will not be separated from God. Oh, no, it's quite the opposite. They will be in the presence of God. Look, if you would, at Revelation 14, verse 10. The Bible reads, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation and he shall be tormented, which means torture. He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of who? The Lamb. That's the Lord Jesus Christ, the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. The Bible says that they will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast of this image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. The Bible's clear. They'll be in the presence of God. And the Bible says in Psalm 139, 8, if I ascend up into heaven, thou art there. If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. Whither shall I flee from thy presence? God is everywhere. The Bible teaches that God's omnipresent. He's present in heaven. He's present in hell. He's present anywhere you go on this earth. You cannot escape from God. And the Bible's clear that the torment in hell is in the presence of the Lamb. Now, a lot of you say, well, where does this come from? And if you would, turn to 2 Thessalonians. Keep your finger in Revelation 14, but turn to 2 Thessalonians chapter 1. You say, well, where does this come from, this doctrine that people will be separated from God? Well, here's where it comes from. Preachers don't want to preach the truth about hell because it offends people. They don't want to talk about a place of fire because that's too scary. It ought to be scary because people are really going there, and the fear of God is what will cause people to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and be saved before it's too late. But people will avoid the topic of hell, or if they do talk about hell, they want to tone it down and not talk about the fire and the gnashing of teeth and the weeping and wailing and screaming. So what they do to try to tone that down is to just make up this fairy tale, well, hell is just being separated from God, and for all eternity, you're just thirsting for God. Now, the truth of the matter is that your average unsaved person today is not on some quest for God. They're not thirsting for... They're thirsting for a lot of other things. They're thirsting to fulfill the lust of the flesh. They're not out... The Bible says there's none that seeketh after God. You know, you can't sit there and just think that people are going to be so miserable to just, oh, you know, I know... Well, yeah, I'm on fire, but I just wish God were here with me. That's not what the torment is. The Bible says it's the torment of fire and brimstone. It's not the torment of wishing God was there, and he's not. See, where does this doctrine come from? And look, who's heard preachers say this is hell's separation from God? Every hand goes up. I've heard it a million... I've heard it everywhere. Baptists, everybody, just, you know, hell, you'll be separated from God, separated from God, separated from God. I just keep repeating that over and over. It's not biblical. The Bible says they'll be tormented in the presence of the Lamb. Say, where does this come from? Well, one of the... I've challenged people on this and showed them scriptures saying, look, you're going to be in the presence of the Lamb when they're in hell. And I've challenged people and said, show me this in the Bible, this separation from God business. And here's the one thing that they could show me. Here's what they pulled out. They said, well, here's a scripture, and I'm going to show you why this is false. But look at 2 Thessalonians, chapter number 1, if you would. It says in 2 Thessalonians, chapter 1, in verse 8, inflaming fire. Now, just in case somebody's not sure whether the fire is a real fire. You know, a lot of people, well, maybe it's just a symbolic fire. So God basically said, okay, it's flaming fire. Now, you know, it's a little redundant, but he's just trying to make a point here. It's flaming. Now, I don't think there is any other kind of fire. But he says, inflaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Now, some will twist this verse, and I'm going to show you this tune from the NIV that has twisted this verse. Look here, it's my NIV man. Here you go. Some will try to twist this verse. Look down at your Bible carefully as the Thessalonians went on. It says that they will be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Now, some will try to twist it and say, well, see, they're away from his presence. But that's not what it said. Now, you can always let the Bible define itself. Because what this is saying is that the destruction is coming from the presence of the Lord. His presence is the source of the destruction. I'll prove it to you. Keep your finger here. Go to Revelation 15. Remember, I told you to stay in Revelation. Compare this wording, because if you let the Bible define itself, there's no question what God's saying here in Second Thessalonians. In Revelation 15, 8, the Bible says this. And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. Now, it says that no man was able to enter into the temple till the seven plagues and the seven angels were fulfilled. So let me ask you this. In that verse, which uses the exact same phrasing and the exact wording, okay, is the temple filled with smoke because God's not there? Because his glory is not there and because his presence and power is not there or because it is there? Because it is. I mean, it's so obvious. It says that the temple is filled with smoke from the glory of God and from his power. Not away from, but the fact that he was there is what caused the temple to be filled with smoke. And it says in Second Thessalonians 1, 8, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. The glory of his power is where the destruction is coming from. And it's his presence that brings that power. You see, God is the one who created hell. It wasn't created by the devil. The devil doesn't rule and reign down there. The devil's never even been to hell. The devil walked at the bowels of roaring lions, seeking whom he made power. He will be eternally damned there one day. He's never even been there. It's a place that God created, prepared for the devil and his angels to punish them. And the Bible's clear here that his presence is there. Read what the NIV has done to this. You know, it's not bad enough, apparently, that they took out every mention of hell in the Old Testament, completely eradicated. And then in the New Testament, half the time they replaced it with the easier-to-understand word of Hades. Okay, but read for us from the NIV, Brother Garrett, verse 9. You look down at your King James Bible. He's going to read you 2 Thessalonians 1-9 from the NIV. They'll be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord. Okay, did you get that? So the NIV has twisted this and said they'll be shut out from his presence. That's not what the Bible says. And that would be in direct contradiction with what the Bible taught in Revelation and the book of Psalms and elsewhere that God's presence is very much there in hell and that they're tormented forever and ever in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. These new versions are trying to prop up this doctrine. It makes me wonder, is that where these pastors are getting their doctrine from, the NIV? Because you can't find it in the King James Version that anybody is separated from God in hell because that would be a contradiction. Well, listen to this. It also came from the Catholic Church. Here's what Pope John Paul II said, who's burning in hell right now, by the way. Here's what he said in 1999, before he graduated to hell. He said to 8,500 people in a speech, he said that hell is the complete frustration and emptiness of life without God. Here's what Pope John Paul II said. He said, rather than a physical place, hell is the state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God, the source of all life and joy. So it's not a real place, according to Pope John Paul II, and it's just being separated from God. That's all hell is in front of him. And he said this also, the thought of hell, and even less, the improper use of biblical images must not create anxiety or despair. He's saying, don't be scared of hell. Don't worry about hell. It's not a real place. It's just people who are just sad that they're not with God, and it shouldn't bother you or make you angry. You know what? If you're not saved, you ought to be very scared of him. You ought to have some anxiety about it and despair about it. Don't listen to him. He's a liar. He wants you to go to, he's in hell right now. I wonder if he's despairing right now. But you see, this lie has crept into so many religions, and even amongst Baptists, you just keep hearing it over and over again. Here's Billy Graham, Billy Balaam, the famous pastor or evangelist who everybody loves, Billy Graham. Here's what he said. The only thing I can say for sure is that hell means separation from God. So he's saying he's not sure if it's fire, not sure if it's a physical place. The only thing he knows for sure is the one thing the Bible doesn't say, that is separation from God. We are separated from his light, from his fellowship. That is going to be hell. When it comes to a literal fire, I don't preach it. Yeah, we know this. Because I'm not sure about it. When the scripture uses fire concerning hell, that is possibly an illustration of how terrible it's going to be. Not fire, but something worse. A thirst for God that can't be quenched. Now, let me ask you, would you rather thirst for God right now or be on fire right now? Which one sounds worse? Thirst for God. Yeah, okay, thanks. Don't call him Billy Graham. And he said this, could it be that the fire Jesus talked about is an eternal search for God that is never quenched? And you like how everything's in question, like, yea, hath God said? Ye shall not eat of every tree of the garden. I'm not saying that he should, but maybe it's not fire. Maybe it's just being thirsty. Now, the devil loves to just put doubt in your mind. He likes to put a question mark where God puts a period. God says, ye shall surely die period. He likes to go, ye shall surely die? Are you sure it's really a place of fire? Is it really? That indeed would be hell, to be away from God forever, separated from his presence. That's not biblical. The Jehovah's Witnesses, this is what they preach, the Jehovah's false witnesses. Here's what they say. This is straight from their website. Again, is hell a fiery place of eternal torment? Or is it simply a state of separation from God? What really is hell? And that's what they teach. It's separation from God. Not fire. Not a place of torment. And independent Baptists will say, well, it's both. It's both. No, it's not both. Quit spouting out your Catholic Jehovah's Witness garbage and saying it's both. It's not both. It's just fire. And it's God's presence there. He's the author of it. He's the one who's doing the tormenting. He's the one who created that place of darkness and horrible. You say, last time, God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. Nobody has to go to hell. If you go to hell, it's because you projected the Lord Jesus Christ. You don't have to go there. And on and on, other people that have preached this. But what is hell really? Well, we saw earlier it's a place of fire. It's a place of torment. It's a furnace of fire, we saw. Turn, if you would, to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16. You say, why preach on this? Well, there's so many reasons why we need to preach on hell today. There are a lot of reasons why. One of the reasons why is because we need to understand that the lost are on their way to hell. That should motivate us to want to get them to gospel. Try to get them saved. Maybe you'll get out there and knock some doors instead of just spending your life just trying to buy as much stuff for yourself and have as much fun as you can and just play all the time. You can actually realize that this is an urgent matter of going out and knocking doors and getting people to the gospel or giving the gospel to your loved ones and family and friends and co-workers. Why do we have that map set up out there? Why don't we have the other map? Why don't we go out and spend hour upon hour upon hour upon hour upon hour knocking doors, preaching the gospel, memorizing the Bible, going to church. Why? Because we believe hell is a real place. And that should overshadow many of the other things that take up so much of our time and energy when we realize, hey, this is real. Why else should we realize it? Because we as Christians can complain so much. We complain about every little thing that goes wrong in our life or every little pain that we have to go through or every bit of suffering that God puts us through, every trial and testing and temptation that God puts us through. You know what? If we stop and consider that there are people who are in hell, because of the same types of sins that we've committed in our lives, we'd realize, hey, thank God we're saved. Thank God we're going to heaven. Thank God we're never going to have to face that. And even on our worst day, even the worst pain we've ever been through, at least it came to an end. At least there was just a temporary discomfort. And we would not be so much complaining and focused on ourselves and selfish if we realized, hey, there are people in hell right now. And they've committed sin just like we've committed sin, and they're in hell forever, and they're never going to get out. That would put things in perspective. And we stop, you know, crying and whining about the fact that, you know, we have an ingrown toenail or something, so we're going to quit soloing for the next six months until it heals. You know, when you put it in perspective of eternity and heaven and hell, hell's a real place. Why preach on hell? Because nobody else hardly is these days, it seems like. Somebody's got to preach this stuff. It's in the Bible. It's in almost every chapter of the New Testament. It's in virtually every chapter when you see Jesus Christ preaching. It's a real place. It's important that it's preached. Look at Luke chapter 16. Here's the story of a man who went to hell in Luke chapter 16, and the Bible reads in verse number 23, And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented because I wish God was here and I can't find him. Is that what it says? I'm tormented with a longing to go to church and sing the hymns. That's not what it says. He says, I'm tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receiveth thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things? But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And beside all this, between us and you there's a great gold fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot. You say, why would anybody want to go from heaven to hell? Maybe to bring them a drip of water, because they feel bad for it. And he says, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou wouldest send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. You say, I want to go to hell. I'll be with all my friends. Have you ever heard people say that? That's where all my friends are. Your friends don't want you in hell. You don't want to be with your friends in hell. You don't want to be with your friends in hell. This guy is wishing to never see his family ever again. He says, I don't want them to come here. I don't want them to be here. I have five brothers. Tell them, send someone to tell them, so that they don't come to this place of torment. And he said, Abraham saith unto him, thank you, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. God's word, he's saying, they have the Bible. If they're preaching the Bible, let them hear it. And he said, nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto them, if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead. Of course, one did rise from the dead shortly thereafter, and they weren't persuaded. Because faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Not by a physical evidence. Not by somebody coming back from the dead physically. That's not going to convince people who aren't convinced by the word of God. You can't see, you know, people will say, I don't believe it. No. Faith is the evidence. Faith is the evidence of the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. By faith, we understand. Faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God, and by grace are you saved through faith. The only thing you have to do to be saved is just believe the Bible. Believe the gospel. Believe on Jesus Christ. Just believe his word. You're not going to see any evidence except the book that I'm holding in my hand is the evidence. God's word is the evidence. You say, well, that is the proof that the Bible is true. The Bible itself is the evidence. The word of God. You say, well, that's foolish. No, the fool has said this hard, but there is no God. There's nothing foolish about believing. You read the Bible, it's unlike any other book. It's God's word. It's clearly God's word. It's not written by man, and that's not what the sermon's about. But the sermon's about hell this morning. What is hell? It's a place of fire. It's a place where God is present. It's not separation from God. God is present. The lamb is present. Jesus Christ is present. That's what the Bible teaches. But not only that, hell is an eternal punishment. It's a place that you're punished forever when you go to hell. Go, if you would, to Revelation chapter 20. Very end of your Bible, Revelation chapter 20. Hell is a place of eternal punishment. Now, the idea of hell would be easier to grasp if it ended. It would be horrible even if it went on for a long time, but the fact that it would end would give some hope. But in hell, there's no hope. It never ends. Now, here are some scriptures on that. Look at Revelation 20, verse 10. The Bible reads in Revelation 20, 10, And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night, forever and ever. Now, here's what's interesting about this. In chapter 19, the beast and the false prophet, which is the antichrist and the false prophet. Now, let me ask you this. Are the antichrist and the false prophet, are they human beings or what? Yeah, they're men. They're people. They're two real human beings, the antichrist and the false prophet. In chapter 19, they're thrown into the lake of fire. Okay? 1,000 years go by in chapter 20, the millennial reign of Christ. Christ rules and reigns for 1,000 years in chapter 20. It says in verse number... If you look down at chapter 20, it says in verse number 7, And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loose out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four corners of the earth, Gog and Magog. This is after the millennium. See that? And notice what he says in verse 10. The devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet were. Is that what it says? Where they were? No. It said where they are. That means they've been there for 1,000 years, and they're still there. Think about that. They were there for 1,000 years. They're still there. And he says, And they shall be tormented forever and ever. It's eternal. Go back, if you would, to chapter 14. Chapter number 14. While you're turning, I'll read for you out of the mouth of Jesus Christ himself. In Matthew 25, 41, Jesus Christ said, Then shall he say also to them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. Verse 46. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment. That's a punishment that lasts forever. Everlasting punishment. But the righteous into life eternally. Hell is a place of eternal punishment and eternal torment. Look down at Revelation 14, 10. We already read it, but he said the same. Well, come to verse 9. Get to context. It says in verse 9, The third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image and receive his mark and his forehead are in his hand. Now, keep in mind, in the book of Revelation, the vast majority of people are going to be worshiping the anti-Christ and taking the mark of the beast. We're talking millions and millions of people, right? And he's talking about those people, which is a huge group of people. He says, The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment has sinneth up forever and ever, and they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast and his image and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name. What a horrible place. And if you want to know what the worst part about hell is, it's not separation from God. That doesn't even exist. It's the fact that it goes on forever. That's even worse than the fire. I mean, that's the worst part about it, is the fact that it's eternal, the fact that there's no hope, the fact that it actually goes on forever. Now, a lot of people become confused on this, and they'll try to find a way to not believe that hell is eternal. Go back to chapter 20, if you would, because of the fact that this is just so hard to grasp as a human being. You know, when you've only lived on this earth for 30 years, as I have, it's hard to grasp a thousand years. No one in this room can even comprehend that number. One thousand years. Because your life has been so long, and maybe you've lived 50, 60, 70 years, maybe you've lived 10, 20, 30, 40 years, and it already seems like so long. We don't even have a grasp. We don't even have an inkling of what a thousand years is. That's so long. Let alone eternity. Let alone 10,000, 100,000, a million years. And today people throw those numbers around and everything. Scientists, so-called, throw those numbers around. But those numbers are pretty hard to grasp for us as human beings, to really comprehend. And so because we have trouble comprehending that, our tendency is to just not believe it, or to just discard it or reject it, because it's just revolting to our mind to think of someone being punished for all eternity in hell. It's too hard to believe that people just choose not to believe. But look, if you're going to believe the Bible, if you believe on Jesus Christ, how can you reject one of his major teachings? How can you reject? And I don't like it any more than you do. And like I said, I haven't even preached on this for a year. I mean, I've mentioned it in his sermons, but I haven't preached a sermon on hell in a year. Why? Because it's hard to even think about it. Because it's so horrible. Because it's so bad. But look, everything tells us that it's real. The Bible is clearly telling us that it's real, that it's fire, that it's eternal. And even just if you went to the most public school, the most, you know, government, state university, even the most atheistic professor on the planet, he'll put a diagram on the wall for you and show you what the inside of the Earth looks like. And I say that to people, and they laugh. You've got to be kidding. Are you serious? And I'm thinking to myself, you've got to be kidding. You've got to be kidding if you actually think that it's a coincidence that ten miles beneath my feet, or less than ten miles beneath my feet, there's fire and brimstone. That's a fact. And even the biggest atheists in the world will tell you that. And I'm sure it's all just a big coincidence that the whole Earth is filled with fire and brimstone. And that at the heart of the Earth is the iron furnace, as the Bible calls it, the core. And people only discovered this in modern scientific days, where they would try to figure out what's down there, and they would figure out that there's fire and brimstone. You know, people who lived in the areas of volcanoes, they've seen a little bit of it from time to time. But the fact is, the Bible makes it clear that the Earth is round, and that in the heart of the Earth, in the center of the Earth, it talks about in the lower parts of the Earth, in the depths of the Earth, down into Hell, and the Bible even talks about in the days of Moses, where God opened up the Earth, and Korah, Dathan, and Abiram fell down alive into Hell. I'm sure they died on the way down, but they fell a lot of it down. You see, everything points to the truth of what I'm preaching. God's Word is enough, but even the atheists will show you a diagram, and they'll just say, Oh, we don't know why it's like that. We don't know why the Earth... And if you took an apple in your hand, it said that that apple represented the Earth. Basically, the skin of the apple is thicker than the core really is, because the Earth is 10,000 miles in diameter. 10,000 miles. And the crust of the Earth is only 1 to 10 miles thick. Did you get that? 1 to 10 miles thick. So you got 10,000 miles of fire and brimstone. But that's just a coincidence. What's keeping it so hot down there? Why can it be cool up here, but it's just so scorching hot down there? Well, the Bible says the breath of the Lord as a stream of brimstone doth kindle it. That's why. But you see, people don't believe that. That's not... You know, any preacher preaches that. And I've even heard pastors say that they believe in Hell. Baptist pastors say, I believe in Hell, but I don't think it's in the Earth. It's somewhere else. You know, where is it? You know, it's outer space, you know, or whatever. Now, but let me clear up the confusion on this, because some people do become confused on this. And they become confused between the place that Hell is at right now and the future location of Hell in the lake of fire. Because those are two different places. There are two places in the Bible that are called Hell. And this is where some of the confusion comes in. Let me clear it up for you, if I could. Because you see, Hell is an eternal place. Now, a lot of people will point to this verse, look at Revelation 20.14, and they'll say, see, Hell has an end. It says in Revelation 20.14, and death and Hell were cast into the lake of fire. So are these the same place or two different places? Two different places, because Hell is cast into the lake of fire. This is the second day. And whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Now, you say, what does it mean when it says, this is the second death? Does it mean that Hell being cast into the lake of fire is the second death? Or is the lake of fire itself the second death? Well, if you jump down to verse 8 of chapter 21, it answers that question for you. Revelation 21.8 says, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and murderers and foremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars. Now, who here has lied before? Yeah, see, everybody deserves to go to Hell. But that's why we've got to be safe. If we believe on Jesus Christ, he forgives all death. That's why we need to be safe. And that's why I am safe. But he says in verse 8, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and rips. So look at the next words. Which is the second death? So the place, the lake of fire, is what God calls the second death. Now, the first place of death is the original location of Hell. You see, right now as we speak, and last year when I preached on this, I went through all the verses of the Old Testament. And where God in the New Testament also is constantly talking about Hell being in the heart of the Earth, in the center of the Earth, down into the depths of Hell. But you see, eventually, the Earth and the Heaven are going to pass away. The Bible says Heaven and Earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away. And God is going to create a new Heaven and a new Earth. And Hell is going to be in a new location in the lake of fire in what's called outer darkness. Not the current state of being inside the heart of the Earth, but being in outer darkness in the lake of fire. You say, well, show me that. Well, go to Matthew. Keep your finger here in Revelation 20. You go to Matthew 10. And I'm trying to make this as simple as I can. I don't want to be complicated here. I'm trying to make it easy to understand. I'm trying to make it so simple that even a theologian would understand this. And that's pretty hard to get it that low on the shelf. But look at Matthew 10, verse 28. You see, Jesus Christ is constantly referring to two different places as Hell. He refers to the current Hell in the center of the Earth. He calls that Hell, no question. But he also calls the lake of fire Hell. He calls both Hell. Because the lake of fire is the new location for Hell, let me prove it to you. Look at Matthew chapter 10, verse 28. The Bible reads, and fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul. But rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in Hell. Now, God has said here that he'll destroy both soul and body in Hell. Let me ask you this. When a person who is an unsaved unbeliever, when they die and breathe their last breath, does their body go to Hell? No. I mean, think about it. If an unsaved person, if someone who does not believe on the Lord Jesus Christ were to fall over dead right now, their body doesn't go anywhere, does it? Their body would be laying there on the ground lifeless. The body without the Spirit is dead, the Bible says. And so their soul will instantly go to Hell. And that's why the rich man in Luke 16, the instant that he died, he'd lift up his eyes and he's in Hell in torment, that fast. Now, he didn't go stand before judgment. He didn't stand before God and be judged for his sins. No. He breathed his last breath and then instantly he'd lift up his eyes, he's in Hell, that fast. You say, why is that? Because the Bible says he that believeth not is condemned already because he had not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. And so if an unsaved person died right now, they would instantly be in Hell just like that. But would their body be in Hell? No. Only the soul would go to Hell. Now, I'm not going to go into a whole dissertation from the Bible on what the soul is, but obviously they still are feeling the pain. He's still asking why are they placed on his tongue? So the soul is sort of a mirror of the body but in the spiritual realm, not a physical body, spiritual. And I don't want to go on about that, but the soul is in Hell. I've done whole sermons on that. But the soul is in Hell. The body is still here. The body is buried in the Earth or cremated or whatever people choose to do with that body. But the Bible's clear in Matthew chapter 10 that God will destroy both soul and body in Hell. When does that take place? We'll go to Revelation 20. In Revelation 20, we see the great white throne or the final judgment. This is where that's going to be fulfilled. The Bible says in Revelation 20 and verse number 10, And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day, night, forever and ever. Verse 11, And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God. Now, is this believers? Of course not, because the believers have already been resurrected before this. They're alive. They were brought back to life. Jesus said, Who so ever lived in the believer that he shall never die? The body dies, but their soul went to heaven and their bodies are already resurrected. They're very much alive. The dead here are the unsaved, the unbelievers. He says, I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God, and the books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them, and they were judged, every man, according to their works. So this is a great gathering of the dead before God. Everyone's small and great, and the Bible says everyone will be at this great white throne. The Bible says heaven and earth fled away. There was found no place for them. There's a white throne. The dead are standing before God. He said that they had to come up out of hell to stand before God. The sea had to deliver up the dead which were in it. That's referring to a lot of people who have been buried at sea. There are a lot of dead bodies in the sea. There are dead bodies that are buried in the earth. All of these bodies of the unsaved are going to be resurrected, not brought back to life. That's not what resurrected means. Resurrected means raised again, not in life, but a resurrection because the Bible says that we will be brought up in a resurrection of life and that they'll be brought up in the resurrection of damnation, it says in John 5. So the unsaved are going to be brought up out of hell, and their body is going to be resurrected and reunited with their soul out of hell. And they're going to stand before God, every unsaved person who's ever lived. And the Bible says the books are going to be opened and another book is opened which is the book of life. I believe that the books that are going to be opened is the Bible, the 66 books of the Bible because he said they're going to be judged out of the things that they've done. They're going to be judged according to what's written in these books, according to their works. Now, why are they going to be judged for their works? Well, these people aren't saved. And here's the thing, a lot of people are trusting in works to get them to heaven, aren't they? But the Bible says for by grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works lest any man should boast. So a lot of people are trusting their works to get them to heaven, but the sad thing is that anyone who's trusting their works, the Bible's clear, they'll be judged by their works. Do you want to trust in your works to get you to heaven? Someday you'll stand before God, he'll open the books, he'll open the Bible, he'll judge you according to your works and let me tell you something, it isn't going to be good because all of sin comes short of the glory of God because there's none righteous, no, not one. Because all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags to God and when he opens those books and says, okay, you want to be judged by your works? You thought your good works were going to get you into heaven? And he said, many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name and in thy name have cast out devils and in thy name done many wonderful, and the word echoes throughout all eternity, works. And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart from me, you workers of iniquity. Your good works were works of iniquity. Your righteousnesses are as filthy rags. You rejected the free gift of eternal life by trusting in yourself instead of trusting in the Lord Jesus Christ. He said there are going to be a lot of people, not a few people. He said this, enter ye in at the straight gate because broad is the way that leadeth to destruction. And listen to this, many there be which go in there at because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto life and few there be that find it. So there are few that are saved and there are many that will be damned. And he says this, many. So he used the same word just a few verses later in Matthew 7. Many, are we talking about the few or the many? We're talking about the many. Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name. Now look, did these people, while they were on this earth, this many, did they just have nothing to do with Jesus whatsoever? No. He said they're preaching in his name. He said in thy name we've cast out devils. In thy name we've done many wonderful works. These are people who claimed to believe in Jesus or they claimed that they trusted Jesus. They were trusting their good works though. And the Bible says you've got to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ to be saved. He said that if thou believeth with all thine heart thou mayest. You can't say well I believe in Jesus but I'm going to have it because I'm a pretty good person. Because I go to church, because I've been baptized, because I've been circumcised, because I've been catechized, because I've been sanctified, because I've spoken tongues or I've, you know, preached. And I've asked people, I've said, do you know for sure you're going to heaven? Oh yeah, I've been, you know, how do you know? And they, I've been a pastor for 25 years. And I think I might have got this from Brother Garrett but I always say to them, well, what would you tell someone who's not a pastor? How do they do that? You know what I mean? It's like, well you're going because you've been a pastor for 25 years? Well what do you tell people that aren't pastors? How do they do that? Oh well, you know, you've got to go to church, you've got to live right, you've got to keep the commandments, you've got to do it. No, Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow. John 6 47, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me has everlasting life. Amen. John 5 24, verily, verily, I say unto you, he that heareth my word and believeth on him and sent me at their everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation, but is passed from death unto life. And thank God for those of us who are saved, those of us who believe on Jesus Christ, the Bible says as far as the east is from the west, God has separated us from our sins. You want to talk about separation from God? It ain't hell. It's the fact that our sins have been separated from God as far as the east is from the west. And thank God, I would hate, I'm saved, I'm going to heaven, but you know what? Even as a believer, even as a child of God, I would hate to stand in front of God someday and have him go through all my sins with me. Who agrees with me on that? You want God to just do a rundown of every bad thing you've ever done in your life? And I've heard people preach this, and they even say he's going to do it publicly. That would be messed up. And honestly, I don't even want to know the stuff that you've been into. If we had to do that, and it's like, okay, Brother Dave, it's his turn to go through, I'm like, I don't want to know. And whoever it is, why would I want to know? Other people say, I don't even want to know. I'd rather just, ignorance is bliss. But I don't know can't hurt me. And I dead sure don't want to be put on display every wrong thing I've ever done in my whole life. And I remember hearing this preached when I was a little kid, and I was going to have to stand before God and go through all this. And I remember one time I pushed this little girl off of a swing when I was a little kid. I mean, I was really little. I was five, six, whatever. And I remember just being mortified, thinking someday I'm going to have to stand before God for this? What am I going to say? And I was thinking to myself, and it sounds silly now, but I was thinking to myself, there was no justification. I mean, if he asked me, why did you shove that girl, I don't even know what I'm going to say. And I remember trying to think of what I was going to say, and I have excuses. Because you know how kids are, just, oh, shove, you know? I'm like, oh, no. I'm only like four or five. I've already messed up my whole, you know. But then later, I read the Bible and getting saved, and I realize, I don't have to get, people say, oh, you're going to give an account for your works, whether they're good or bad. You're going to give an account whether you get a reward or not. I've done the whole sermons on that, showing that God's going to judge what we've done and give us a reward, or we're going to lose a reward. He's not going to rehash every sin. He already died for it. He's already forgiven and forgotten. He said, there's sins and iniquities. Will I remember no more? Hallelujah. It's gone. He said, he's buried our sins in the depths of the sea. He's not going to get them back out and say, when you were 22 years old, why'd you do that? You know, you're right. I don't know. Sorry. What's he going to do? He's not going to punish us. Jesus already took the question. Now, let me say this. We do get punished in this life. Oh, yes. Be not deceived when God is not mocked, for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. We will be disciplined in this life. What goes around comes around in this life. Christians are punished in this life, okay? Many unbelievers that get away with everything, it's because they're going to be punished in hell anyway, but those of us who are on our way to heaven, God chastens and chastises and punishes us in this life. But, oh, the horror for the unbelievers, who will have their sins brought out, and the Bible says that every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment. I mean, can you imagine? Every unbeliever who ever had some soul knock on their door, some Christian knock on their door, and say, hey, I just want to tell you, I want to have blankety-blank, stupid Bible boy! Now, think about this. He said every idle word, every time they blaspheme the name of Jesus Christ, and threw it around, and used it as an expletive, it's going to be brought back to haunt them. Every time they have the chance to hear the Gospel, they will be judged by their work. Now, stop and think about this. You got to use your imagination here and really think about this. A person dies without the Lord Jesus Christ. They're immediately in hell. Their soul is immediately in hell, right? And they're like that rich man where he's begging for a drop of water. He's wishing that he could just have some relief of a cold drop of water to cool his tongue, just to make him feel a little better. Now, imagine going through that for a year. Imagine two years. Imagine five years. I mean, it's unthinkable. It's hard to even imagine. I remember when I was a kid, I was reading my Bible, and I was thinking about hell, and I was trying to understand hell, and I was probably about 9 or 10 years old, and I remember just trying to wrap my mind around the concept of hell, and I remember I went into a closet, and I shut the door, and I sat down in the closet, and it was dark, and I was confined in a small space, and I just sat in the closet in the dark, and I thought to myself, what if I had to be in this closet for a week? You know, no food, no water, no games, no fun, no friends, just sitting in this closet for a week. Wouldn't that be horrible? You know, and after a while, you want to get out of the closet, and I sat there for a while, and then I thought, what about a month? What about a year? What about a hundred years? Just how it would be horrible. It would be torture, and literally, literally, people on this earth who are put in solitary confinement in prisons for 10 years or 15 years will often go insane. It's true. Anybody who's read or known about that, they will lose their mind being put in a prison cell. No fire. They'll lose their mind. They'll go nuts being locked up for 10 years, 15 years, 20 years, and I remember sitting and thinking about this as a child, what it would be like to be locked in that closet, and then I thought to myself, this is not even the aspect of fire. This is no fire. This is without the pain, just how horrible it would be to just be locked up like that, just to be in the dark. You can't see anything. You can't talk to your friends. There's nothing to do. There's nothing to entertain you. It's just the worst possible prison, and then that's not even adding to fire, and I remember as a child just thinking, that's horrible, even without even considering the fire. Now stop and think about this. Somebody dies and goes to hell. People are dying today and going to hell. They're dropping off into hell. Think about this. Think about that hardened atheist, the one who just has blasphemed God and mocked the Bible and hated everything that had to do with God and just lived a wicked and perverse life. When he goes to hell, his first reaction could be anger. But wait a minute. After a year, after a year, after a year, and he might think it's going to end. Eventually it's going to end, right? He's on fire and he figures, it's going to be over soon. It's going to end. But it's just not ending. And it just keeps going and keeps going. And a hundred years go by. He's going to have long said, this is never going to end. I mean, this is not ending. Two hundred years go by. He's lost all hope a long, long time ago. And you know, when you're in a bad situation, time goes by really slowly. You'll think days have gone by and it's been a few hours. I remember when I was in jail, just the time going by, and I remember thinking, you know, that I must have been there the whole day and it must have been nighttime and it was still only like noon. Because it seems really long because you're just sitting in a little room, you know, and there's just nothing to do. And so imagine the feeling. You've got to think about this. Because the whole millennium is going to go by before these people stand before God for the final judgment. So no matter when they die, they're going to be in hell for at least a thousand years before they get to that judgment. Again, a number that we can't even comprehend. So imagine when after a thousand-some-odd years of burning in hell, all of a sudden they're removed from hell. Finally, it's over! Finally! I mean, they've been there for hundreds and hundreds of years in torment. And finally, they're not on fire. God has shown His mercies and given them a second chance. And here they're going to stand before God and they have a chance to say that they're sorry and to change and say, and look, there's no atheist that's going to be there going like this. I still don't believe in the Bible. I'd rather be in hell. If that's how God is and how many times have you heard this? If God's that kind of a God, then I just don't want anything to do with it, didn't I? I was out sowing just a few years ago. I'm sorry, I didn't want you to be out a few years ago. I have no concept of time. I was out sowing a few weeks ago and I knocked on a guy's door who said to me, so if people don't believe in Christ, they're going to realize that that's what the Bible says, but anybody can be saved. And he said, well, if that's how God is, then blank him! That's what he said. Nobody's going to be saying that on this day. Just a few months in hell will straighten that out. Let alone hundreds of years. And there's going to be nobody crossing their arms like this. No, the Bible says every knee shall bow. Every knee. Every tongue shall confess. The most hard-hearted, wicked, sinful person will be on their knees saying, oh please, please give me another chance, please, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to, I didn't know what I was talking about. Please! And that's when people are going to be saying, I prophesied in your name, I did all this stuff. And he's going to say to them, depart from me, I never knew you. And he says, there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth. And he said to the Pharisees when he was on this earth, he said, when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of heaven and you yourselves thrust out, he said, there will be wailing. I mean wailing. No, no, please, no, I'm sorry, please! And then they're cast into the lake of fire. The Bible says, whosoever was not found in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So there will be a brief reprieve where they'll stand before God and be judged for their sins. I believe that part of the reason here is to determine what degree of hell they're going to suffer for eternity. Because the Bible talks about people getting a greater damnation. He said people who knew the truth, who knew the gospel and heard it the most, and yet rejected it, they're going to be the ones that are punished the worst. Now it's going to be bad for everybody, don't get me wrong, it's all fire. But it's, you know, obviously Adolf Hitler is not getting the same punishment as, you know, someone else who maybe just had never heard a real clear presentation of the gospel and just lived a sinful life, but they weren't a mass murderer or something. But either way, they're all going to be punished. They're going to be judged and punished for eternity. Now, he said that they'll give an account for every idle word. So imagine when someone is brought up out of hell and standing before God at the grave waggon of judgment and they say, God, I'm so sorry, I didn't know, nobody ever told me! They'll say, wait a minute, what about on October 9th, 2011? Pastor Stephen L. Anderson knocked on your door. He opened his Bible and he wanted to show you how to be saved. He told you it would only take 10 minutes. And you told him that you had to watch the big game. Remember that? And then he said, okay, since you don't have time, let me just leave you with one quick verse. The Bible asks the question, what must I do to be saved? And they said, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved now. Think about that verse. And there's some verses on the back here that you can read a little bit later. Come by our church sometime and think about that. Did you just have to believe that? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. You know, stuff their face with popcorn, drink another beer, watch the game. Oh, what is this? Oh, yeah, from that church. What do you mean you didn't have a chance? What are you talking about? And I'll tell you right now, you're not sitting in the biggest megachurch in the world. This isn't exactly the Crystal Cathedral. You know, this isn't exactly the Houston Astrodome, you know, featuring Joel Osby. You know, you can take one look at my teeth and figure out, you know, this isn't Joel Osby talking to you. But let me tell you something. This little church that meets in a storefront has knocked about one-fifth of the doors in Phoenix, Arizona, which in the surrounding area has 3.9 million people in this area. 3.9 million people. We've knocked the doors up close to about a fifth of that, about 20% of that. Go look at the map. Go check it out. And let me tell you something. By the time we're done here, we're going to knock every door of this city of 3.9 million people in this county, in this area. Not to mention the small town soul wedding that we do throughout the state. And that's just one little church where we're going to every door. And then when we finish that, we're going to do it all again. And then we're going to do it again. And obviously our church is growing and growing, and so that speeds up as we grow. And, you know, let alone I pray to God and hope to God that the other independent Baptist churches around Phoenix are doing the same thing. I have a feeling that a lot of you are just sitting around doing nothing. But, you know, a lot of them, hopefully, are out there doing the same thing, preaching the Gospel, getting people to say, look, people get a chance to hear the truth. I've had people come knock on my door before with the Gospel of Jesus Christ. People get a chance to hear the truth. And then sometimes they get a second chance, and a third chance, and a fourth chance. But eventually if they don't get saved, it's too late for them. And when they've been in hell for a long time and they come up out of hell, they're going to wish for another chance, but it's too late for them. They'll bow, they'll confess, they'll believe, they'll do everything, but it'll be too late. That's why he said, you need to enter in now before the door is shut. He said one day when that door is shut, people will bang on that door and say, Lord, Lord, open to us, and he'll say, I never knew you. And he won't say, I used to know you. You can't lose your salvation. He said, depart from me, I never knew you. Because once he knows you, he knows you. It's easy to be saved. And we need to go out and give the Gospel to every preacher. We need, the Bible says, some saved with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garments spotted by the flesh. That's what we do when we're out solar. We're taking hold of people and we're pulling them out of the fire, and that fire is the fire of hell. And so take it seriously, my friend. I know it's not a pleasant subject, and I'm sorry to be so unpleasant. I personally, when I drive to the store and see all these demented ghoulies everywhere in October, it makes me sick. I mean, I went to the store the other day, because I was doing a fire alarm inspection at a store that had a Halloween display. I walk in, and there were literally, I didn't want to say it in front of children, it was like, it was like dead infants. That's like the cool, who's seen that this year? That's like the cool decoration this year. And I saw it and it made me want to throw up and made me see it. I was like, who in the world buys this? And I went to another store, I saw the same thing. And it was just the most horrible decorations. And people decorate it up for it, and look, I don't like it. It makes me sick. This glorification of death and darkness, and the Bible says this, all they that hate me love death. That's what the Bible says. You know the gothic music, the hanging around in the graveyard and cutting yourself. That's the same thing in the Bible when they're possessed with devils. And so I hate to bring onto an unpleasant subject today because I don't think that hell is a pleasant subject. But it's a subject that Jesus constantly preached. And it's a subject that we need to preach. And no, we don't want to think about it. I don't want to think about it. But we need to, every once in a while, stop and think about it. We need to stop and think about it and take a little trip into hell and look around and see the lost souls and think about the fact, wait a minute, what am I doing this afternoon? Wait a minute. What am I doing with my life? What do I do with my time? Where do I go to church? And think about, hey, there's a lot at stake here. This is heaven and hell. It's real. And just because it's a horrible place doesn't make it not real. It's very real. Let's bow our heads and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for your word and for saving us, dear God, even though we've all lied and sinned and done all these other things that are listed to some of them or all of them or many of them. Whatever the case may be, dear God, thank you for forgiving us of all our sins and separating us from our sins as far as the east is from the west. Thank you for dying on the cross for our sins and shedding your blood and rising again that we might be saved. Father, I can't even wrap my mind around it, but help me somehow to get to some kind of an inkling of this and help those that have heard me today. Maybe they got just a little bit of a picture of this and that it would help us to live a life that would honor and glorify you, that we would preach the gospel to every creature, and that we would stop whining and complaining about every little thing in our life that isn't perfect because we would stop and look at the big picture of heaven and hell. And no matter how bad our day is or how bad our week is, thank you so much that we will never have to step foot in hell even for one second and that we'll be in heaven with you for all eternity. Thank you for preparing a place for us. And in Jesus' name we pray.