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Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, Praise God from whom all blessings flow, Praise Him all creatures here below, Praise Him above ye heavenly hosts, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Said the night wind to the little lamb, Do you see what I see? Way up in the sky, little lamb, Do you see what I see? A star, a star, dancing in the night, With a tail as big as a kite, With a tail as big as a kite, Said the little lamb to the shepherd boy, Do you hear what I hear? Ringing through the sky, shepherd boy, Do you hear what I hear? A song, a song, high above the trees, With a voice as big as the sea, With a voice as big as the sea, Said the shepherd boy to the mighty king, Do you know what I know? In your palace, warm, mighty king, Do you know what I know? A child, a child, shivers in the cold, Let us bring him silver and gold, Let us bring him silver and gold. Said the king to the people everywhere, Listen to what I say, Pray for peace, people everywhere, Listen to what I say, The child, the child, sleeping in the night, He will bring us goodness and life, He will bring us goodness and life. The Revelation, chapter 21, And I saw a new heaven and a new earth, For the first heaven and the first earth were passed away, And there was no more sea. And I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, And he will dwell with them, And they shall be his people, And God himself shall be with them, And be their God. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, And there shall be no more death, Neither sorrow nor crying, Neither shall there be any more pain, For the former things are passed away. And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write, for these words are true and faithful. And he said unto me, It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, The beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is a thirst Of the fountain of the water of life freely. He that overcometh shall inherit all things, And I will be his God, and he shall be my son. But the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable And murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters And all liars shall have their part in the lake Which burneth with fire and brimstone, Which is the second death. And there came unto me one of the seven angels Which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, And talked with me, saying, Come here there, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the Spirit, To a great and high mountain, And showed me that great city, The holy Jerusalem, Descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God. And her light was like unto a stone most precious, Even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal, And had a wall, great and high, And had twelve gates, And had the gates twelve angels, And names written thereon, Which are the names Of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel. On the east three gates, On the north three gates, On the south three gates, And on the west three gates. And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, And in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. And he that talked with me had a golden reed, To measure the city, And the gates thereof, And the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, And the length is as large as the breadth, And he measured the city with a reed, Twelve thousand furlongs. The length and breadth and height of it are equal, And he measured the wall thereof, And hundred and forty and four cubits, According to the measure of a man, That is, of the angel. And the building of the wall of it was of jasper, And the city was pure gold, Like unto clear glass. And the foundations of the wall of the city Were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper, The second, sapphire, The third, chalcedony, The fourth, an emerald, The fifth, sardunks, The sixth, sadius, The seventh, chrysolite, The eighth, beryl, The ninth, atopaz, The tenth, chrysopisis, The eleventh, adjacenthe, The twelfth, an amethyst, And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, Every several gate was of one pearl. And the street of the city was pure gold, As it were transparent glass. And I saw no temple therein, For the Lord God Almighty And the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, Neither of the moon, to shine in it. For the glory of God did lighten it, And the Lamb is the light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved Shall walk in the light of it. And the kings of the earth Do bring their glory and honor into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day, For there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honor Of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it Anything that defileth, Neither whatsoever worketh abomination, Or maketh a lie, But they which are written In the Lamb's book of life. Dear Lord, please fill a past tense in with your spirit And please teach us through the Bible today And give us all ears to hear. For the sermon in Jesus' name we pray. Amen. Amen. The title of my sermon this morning is Hell and the Second Death. Hell and the Second Death. The reason why this is such an important topic is that it's a subject that's always under attack by false doctrine. People are always dreaming up strange and false doctrines to attack this core teaching of Christianity which has to do with heaven and hell. And I think part of the reason for this is that number one, it's such an important doctrine. Obviously the devil wants to attack the most important doctrines and it's something that the Bible talks about so much because God doesn't want anybody to go there. But number two, I think another reason is that people just have trouble grasping this because it's kind of a horrifying thought so they just want to kind of wish it away or not think about it. But yet the Bible clearly teaches that hell is a real place. There are hundreds of scriptures about the fire of hell, the fact that it goes on forever and so forth. So this morning I want to lay down some clear doctrine on the subject of hell and the second death. Now the first thing I want to point out, if you would go to Deuteronomy chapter 32. Deuteronomy 32 verse 22. This is the first mention of hell in the Bible. Deuteronomy 32, 22. The first thing I want to point out is that there are two locations of hell. Two locations. I want to make sure we understand that there's the current location of hell which is in the center of the earth and then there's the future location of hell which is in outer darkness, the lake of fire. That is a separate location. So let's look first of all at the current location. The Bible says in Deuteronomy chapter 32 verse 22, For a fire is kindled in mine anger and shall burn unto the lowest hell and shall consume the earth with her increase and set on fire the foundations of the mountain. So we see right away clearly that the location of hell is down. It is the lowest hell and the Bible goes on and on about this in the Old Testament about it being down and low and below us and beneath and so forth. And by the way, isn't it interesting if you look at the way that the earth is laid out just say in a high school science class or something, or even elementary school, right? They're going to teach you about the core and the mantle and the crust. Isn't it interesting that our earth is just on the inside just burning hot thousands and thousands of degrees in the core and in the mantle and we're just on this tiny thin crust on the outside. In fact, if you were to use an apple as a model of the earth, then the skin of the apple represented in the crust would actually be much too thick because the crust is much, much thinner than the skin of an apple is to the rest of the apple because the diameter of the earth is like 8,000 miles and the crust is maybe like 20 miles, you know, depending on where you are and where you're measuring. So now obviously, you know, hell is not located in our physical realm. It's souls that go to hell. But when we talk about hell being in the center of the earth, obviously it's a spiritual location, but the fact that there's so much heat and fire down there is a picture or symbolic of the fact that hell is a real burning hot place. I mean, isn't it kind of strange that our whole earth is just filled with this incredible heat? But it makes sense when you realize that it's a warning. It's a picture of going to hell because hell is in the center of the earth where it's so incredibly hot. The Bible says a fire is kindled in my anger. That's God is angry. God is angry with the wicked every day and so he has created hell and his anger burns to the lowest hell. If you would flip over to Isaiah chapter number 14. Isaiah chapter 14. And while you're turning there, I'll read for you a bunch of other scriptures here. The Bible says in Job 11.8, it is as high as heaven. What canst thou do? Deeper than hell, what canst thou know? Psalm 55.15, let death seize upon them and let them go down quick into hell for wickedness is in their dwellings and among them. Psalm 86.13, for great is thy mercy toward me and thou has delivered my soul from the lowest hell. Proverbs 15.24, the way of life is above to the wise apart from hell beneath. Isaiah 5.14, therefore hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure and their glory and their multitude and their pomp and he that rejoiceth shall descend into it. Look at Isaiah chapter 14 verse nine. Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming. It stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth. It has raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. So we see that hell is beneath, it's down, it's below, over and over again. And notice here in this scripture that it says that all the chief ones of the earth and the kings that are down there will be stirred up. Stop and think about this. A lot of the people that we look to today and idolize and think that they're the coolest people, the most important people, the most powerful people are the ones who are gonna be burning in hell someday. That's what the Bible said in chapter five verse 14. Their glory and their pomp will descend into hell. You know, a lot of the Hollywood actors and politicians and musicians that you think are so cool and idolized are gonna be brought down to hell someday and they're not gonna be so cool then, are they? That's why we shouldn't idolize or have these people as our role models. Have godly Christians as your role models. Have people who are actually gonna be in heaven as your role model. But the Bible says in verse 15 of chapter 14, yet thou shalt be brought down to hell to the sides of the pit. And go if you would to 2 Peter chapter two in the New Testament, 2 Peter chapter two. So we see that the Bible is calling hell the pit and talking about it being down, low, beneath, and so forth. The Bible says in Amos chapter nine verse two, though they dig into hell, hence shall mine hand take them, though they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down. 2 Peter chapter two verse four, for if God spared not the angels that sin, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment. So we understand that there are just multitudes of scriptures here teaching us that hell is down. It's below us. It's in the heart of the earth. It's in the center of the earth. And again, it's on a spiritual realm. I remember when I was a kid, preachers would sometimes bring up this apocryphal story about how, oh, you know, they're digging real deep in Siberia and they heard screams or something, you know. Obviously, it's bogus. This is before we had the independent fact checkers to help us out. Just kidding, because the independent fact checkers are full of baloney, a bunch of lying devils. But anyway, that's a whole other sermon that shall be preached at another time. But, you know, here's the thing about that. Number one, you know, like I said, the earth's radius is like 4,000 miles. So even if you could hear hell in this realm, it'd be way too far. It would be thousands of miles away. But number two, hell is a spiritual place. It's on a spiritual plane, okay, not the physical. Now, it is, of course, real. It's literal. It's there. But it's people's souls that are going to hell. It's a punishment for people's souls, their physical body does not go there. And that's going to become important later in the sermon. So number one, we see that there are two locations for hell. There's the current location that is down in the bottomless pit in the center of the earth, in the heart of the earth. And it makes sense that it's called a bottomless pit, because if you think about it, there wouldn't really be any gravity down there, you know, in that sense. There's no bottom to it. So that's number one. And then let's look at the future location of hell. Flip, if you would, over to, let's see, Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter number five. And we're going to notice that there's another location of hell. Actually, I'm sorry, go to Matthew chapter eight. Matthew chapter number eight. So we saw, first of all, that there's the bottomless pit, the current location of hell in the lowest parts of the earth. But secondly, we have the future location of hell in outer darkness, which is the lake of fire. Look what the Bible says in Matthew chapter eight, verse 12. But the children of the kingdom, verse 12, shall be cast out into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Now stop and think about this. Out into outer darkness. Does that sound like inside the heart of the earth, down into hell? It's the opposite, right? Look at chapter 22 of Matthew. Flip over to chapter 22. While you're turning there, I'll read for you Matthew 25, 30. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. And then look down at your Bible there in chapter 22, verse 13. Then said the king to the servants, bind him hand and foot and take him away and cast him into outer darkness. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. So this is the opposite of being in the heart of the earth. This is being in outer darkness. It's a different location. Look if you went to Revelation chapter 19. Go to the very end of the Bible. Revelation chapter 19. Revelation chapter number 19. And we're going to see more about this other place known as the lake of fire, outer darkness. Look at Revelation 19, verse 20. And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that had worshiped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone. So here we have a lake of fire burning with brimstone. Look at Revelation chapter 20, verse 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 and night forever and ever. 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, 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 we see here that the dead are standing before God, being judged by their works. And where did they come from? You know, they came up out of hell. The Bible says hell delivered up the dead which were in it. And they're standing before God and they're being judged. And then after this, look at verse 14, and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire, this is the second death, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. So we see that the dead come out of death and hell, and they stand before God, and they're being judged, right? Then after they're judged and condemned, then death and hell are cast into the lake of fire, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. Now, I want to emphasize what I said earlier, there are two locations of hell. A lot of people will misunderstand this and think, oh, well, the lake of fire is not hell. The lake of fire isn't hell because, you know, hell is cast into the lake of fire. So how can the lake of fire be hell? It's because there are two locations that are called, oh, they're both called hell. Now, if this makes perfect sense, I'm going to prove it to you from the Bible. Go if you would to Matthew chapter five. Matthew chapter number five. I'm going to prove to you that both of these locations are called hell in Scripture. Look at Matthew chapter five, verse 29, And if I right I offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members, member means a body part, that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. And if I right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee, for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Let me ask you this. When somebody dies today without Christ, if somebody is unsaved and they die today, is their body going to go straight to hell? Absolutely not. Only their soul will go to hell because, of course, we know the body is still there. It's not like when somebody dies, their body just kind of disappears and fades away and this is a pile of clothes, okay? When someone dies, their body remains. The soul either goes to heaven or the soul goes to hell, but the body stays there. Now, in the future, there's going to be a resurrection. And, of course, a lot of people will be very familiar with the fact that there's going to be a resurrection for the saved. Everybody knows that, right? That the saved one day are going to be resurrected. Their bodies, the dead in Christ, shall rise first. Then we which are alive and remain under the coming of the Lord shall be caught up together with them in the clouds. So everybody's very familiar with the fact that there's going to be a resurrection for the saved that's a bodily resurrection of the saved. That's why Job said, After worms destroy this body, yet in my flesh shall I see God. So even in the book of Job, one of the more ancient books of the Bible, he's talking about the fact that even after his body physically decays and worms eat his body, that he will in the flesh see God. He understood a bodily resurrection where he's going to receive a new body someday at the resurrection. But what you need to understand as well is that there's going to be a resurrection of the unsaved as well. You don't have to turn there, but listen to this from John chapter 5 verse 28. Marvel not at this, for the hour is coming in the which all that are in the grave shall hear his voice and shall come forth. They that have done good unto the resurrection of life and they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation. So notice we have the resurrection of life and the resurrection of damnation. Now what does the word resurrection mean? The word resurrection simply means to be raised again. In its most literal sense, it means to raise again. It does not necessarily mean to be brought back to life. So the saved will have the resurrection of life, but there's another resurrection of damnation, a resurrection of condemnation. And again, we could look at this in Daniel chapter 12. There are lots of other scriptures that talk about this resurrection of damnation. That's why at that great white throne, the Bible said, I saw the dead stand before God. As they're standing before God being judged, they're still classified as dead. They're conscious, but they're dead. People in hell right now are conscious. They're burning in hell. They're suffering like the story of the rich man in Lazarus, but they are classified as dead. They are the dead, and they're not going to be brought back to life. The dead are going to come out of hell. Death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. The dead stand before God and are judged at the great white throne. Does everybody understand that? So we see that there is going to be a bodily resurrection of the saved unto life, eternal, heaven, and so forth. But then there's going to be a bodily resurrection of the unsaved as well, the resurrection of condemnation. And they are going to be brought before that great white throne judged and then ultimately cast into what location? They're going to be cast into the lake of fire, right? Whosoever was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire. Okay, now look down at your Bible at Matthew 10, 28. And the Bible says, 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 let me ask this. Does that happen in the current location in the center of the earth? Does the body and soul get destroyed in hell at the current bottomless pit, lower parts of the earth, down into hell? No, because only the soul goes there. But in the end of the Bible at the great white throne, when the dead stand before God and death and hell are cast into the lake of fire, and then those unsaved people are cast into the lake of fire, that is what? That's their body and their soul. Does everybody see that? So therefore, is Matthew 10, 28 talking about the lake of fire or is it talking about the bottomless pit in the center of the earth? It has to be talking about the lake of fire because that's the only place that the bodies will be cast. And so when he says, Hey, it's profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish than having two hands and two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. We're talking about the lake of fire. What's my point? My point is that the lake of fire is called hell. They're both hell. The bottomless pit's hell. The lake of fire's hell. It's just two different locations of hell, the current and the future. Go to Mark Chapter 9. Mark Chapter 9 and understand that both places are hell. And here's why it's important. You know, you've got false religions out there, like the Seventh-day Adventists or Jehovah's Witnesses, and here's what they'll teach. They'll teach, well, hell is temporary. Hell isn't forever. Hell doesn't go on forever. You know, it's just a temporary situation. Folks, hell is not temporary. They think, oh, it's temporary because, you know, death and hell are cast in the lake of fire. So they teach what's called annihilation, like hell gets cast in the lake of fire and it's just over at that point. It just kind of burns up in the lake of fire. It ceases to exist. Let's see what the Bible says. And look, I'm not saying this is a pleasant subject. I'm just saying this is what the Bible says. Look at Mark chapter 9 verse 42. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it's better for him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and that he were cast into the sea. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off, for it is better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Now, how can you misunderstand this? Into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Sound like hell's temporary? Sound like hell is something that comes to an end? No, when you're in hell, it's fire and it never ends and the fire's never quenched and it goes on forever. The smoke of their torment ascendeth up forever and ever, the Bible says. The Bible says in verse number 45, and if thy foot again offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into life than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, it's better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. And yet people today say, well, I'm not sure if there's fire in hell. You know, the Bible doesn't really say, the Bible's not really clear. We can only speculate. What does the Bible say? Hell fire. What does the Bible say? What does the Bible say? Hell is the fire that is never quenched. So this is not a temporary thing. And notice, when we talk about people going into hell with two hands and two feet, we're talking about their body, and so we're talking about what place? The lake of fire. And it goes on forever. It never shall be quenched. And guess what it's called? Hell. So if somebody says, well, that's the lake of fire. That's not hell. They're wrong. The lake of fire is hell. Here's why. Because you know what the English word hell, here's how we could define the English word hell. A place of fiery torment where people are punished after they die. How's that definition? And don't you think that if we just talked to people on the street, that would be their understanding of hell? If I walked up to people on the street and said, hey, name a place of fiery punishment that you go after you die to be punished for your sins. They'd all say, well, that's hell. Or if I just ask people, define hell for me. Well, it's a place where you go after you die to be punished. It's a fiery place. Now let me ask you this. That's the understanding of the English word hell. Does that apply to the bottomless pit? Is it a place of fiery punishment that you go after you die to be judged and punished for your sins? Yes. Okay, what about the lake of fire? So do we really just have to have two different words? Like, oh, we can't just use the word hell for both. That's confusing. Yeah, because we'd hate to confuse that one fiery place that you go to be punished after you die for your sins in fire with that other place that you go after you die to be punished for your sins in fire and torment. So confusing. Folks, they're both so similar, you might as well call them the same thing. That's why the Bible here in the English Bible and the King James Version just translates it both as hell because that word sufficiently describes both. Or if you're in Spanish, infierno. I mean, they're both an inferno. Infierno, you know, it sounds great to me. It sounds accurate. It's got fire right in the name there. Infierno, fire, okay? So you can't get confused in Spanish, but you know what? You shouldn't be confused in English either because the word hell is a pretty clear word. Now let me give you a good illustration of this. I saw somebody posted this as a comment on one of my videos this week. Somebody came up with the perfect illustration for this and that was of a trash can, okay? Because think about this. Let's say I have the trash in the house and then I take out the trash and I empty it in the dumpster at the curb. Oh, well, that's not the trash. You're confusing the trash with the dumpster. But you know what the dumpster is? The dumpster is the trash also. And so if the trash is cast into the dumpster, this is the second disposal. Then basically it's still trash. So I look at the kitchen and it's like when you're in a Spanish class or something and they're pointing at things in the room. Hey, what's this? You know, la basura, right? And you're gonna look at that and say, that's the trash. If we were learning English as a second language, what's this? The trash. But if I pointed at the dumpster and said, that's the trash, would I be wrong? Of course not. It makes perfect sense to just call them both trash because the wastebasket in your kitchen and the big metal dumpster have so much in common. They're a place where refuse goes after you're getting rid of it. Does everybody understand what I'm saying? So it's not odd at all that the word hell would be used to describe both places, two locations, because it's the same concept in both places, just like the trash is the same concept, whether it's in the house or at the curb or even at the landfill, the outer darkness of disposal. So the point is, trash is trash, hell is hell, the bottomless pit, lake of fire, they're both hell, they're both fiery torment, and it goes on forever. And here's the thing, the trash bag, when you throw it into the dumpster, it doesn't stop being a trash bag. It doesn't cease to exist. It's just been relocated. Well, hell is like this trash bag that basically, it's like God basically takes hell from the center of the earth and ties those straps at the hefty, hefty cinch sack. He pulls on the cords of the cinch sack of hell and then casts it into the big dumpster called the lake of fire. He takes out the trash, but they're still in that sack because it's a hefty, hefty cinch sack. It's so tough, nothing can break through it. This message has been brought to you in part by hefty trash bags. So both of them are hell. Does everybody understand that? And it's just getting relocated from the one location to the other. Now, here's an objection that somebody came up with to this. Well, they said, well, here's why this, you know, doesn't make sense to me. They said, you know, you see the false prophet and the antichrist getting cast into the lake of fire before hell gets cast into the lake of fire, so how can that be? Okay, well, here's the thing. It'd be like if you threw a couple of pieces of trash in the dumpster without putting them in a bag first. What's the big deal? Does everybody understand what I'm saying? Like, oh, you didn't, no, it didn't go in the trash because it wasn't put in a hefty sack first. You know, it's like basically the false prophet and the antichrist are just two pieces of trash that just get tossed freely into the dumpster. We've all done it, okay? And then hell gets thrown in there. It's like, well, are they really in hell though? Yeah, they are because the dumpster is hell too. Right? They're both the trash. They're both hell, okay? So I think that that's a total nothing of an objection because, you know, it doesn't change anything. It's just two fiery torment locations that we both label as hell in our English language, which I think the English language is a great language, by the way, and it's second to none. So, you know, I make no apology for the way that English deals with these terms because I think it works out great. So, okay, the next thing I want to point out, so we've talked about a couple things. Number one, we talked about the fact that there are two locations for hell. We understand those locations. Number two, we talked about the fact that both of those locations are explicitly called hell in the Bible. We proved that. But number three, I want to show you that the lake of fire specifically is the second death and that the current location of hell is what the Bible would call the first death. It doesn't use that term first death, but second implies a first. The reason the lake of fire is the second death is because there's a current place called death right now in hell. Go to Ezekiel chapter 31. Ezekiel chapter 31. I want to explain to you what this term second death is specifically referring to. But first of all, let me show you that hell right now is known as death. It is the place of the dead. It's where the dead go. That's what would be one way to define it. Now, you say, well, everybody dies, but here's the thing. Jesus said, if a man keep my saying, he shall not see death. He said, whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. And remember, the Jews flipped out when he said that, and they're like, well, you know, Abraham, our father's dead. Are you better than Abraham? Who makest thou thyself? And he said, Abraham rejoiced to see me and was glad. He said, I'm the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. God's not the God of the dead, but of the living. So Jesus consistently taught, no, Abraham's not dead. Abraham's alive. Isaac's alive. Jacob's alive. Here's the thing. If you physically die, the Bible doesn't classify you as dead. You're still living. Because let's say I physically die. My soul goes to heaven. I'm alive. I'm alive in heaven. I have eternal life, never-ending life. Therefore, I'm never going to die. Only this physical body will die, which at that point is just a shell that doesn't matter. Right? When I physically die, it's just a shell. Okay, the nut is inside. And I will go straight to heaven. My soul is there. And so I'm alive. So is Abraham alive right now, or is he dead? He's alive. Physically he's dead, but we would say, well, no, Abraham's alive. We have a great cloud of witnesses in heaven. We have witnesses in heaven that are all alive and so forth. And Jesus taught that. So hell is the place of the dead. Heaven is a place of life. Does everybody see that? So look down at your Bible there in Ezekiel chapter 31, verse 14. And this is kind of a cryptic passage. It's like a parable where he's calling these great kings and kingdoms trees. So sort of like Nebuchadnezzar was compared to a great big tree. Other great kings and kingdoms are referred to as trees. So he says to the end that none of all the trees by the waters exalt themselves for their height. Neither shoot up their top among the thick boughs. Neither their trees stand up in their height all that drink water. For they're all delivered unto death to the nether parts of the earth. Nether means lower. In the midst of the children of men with them that go down to the pit. So notice, they're all delivered unto death to the nether parts of the earth down to the pit. So notice three names here. We got lower parts of the earth, death, and the pit. Look at verse 16. I made the nations to shake at the sound of his fall when I cast him down to hell with them that descend into the pit. All the trees of Eden, the choice and best of Lebanon, all that drink water shall be comforted in the nether parts of the earth. I also went down into hell with him unto them that be slain with the sword. And they that were his arm that dwelt under his shadow in the midst of the heathen. Now some people try to twist this where it says they'll be comforted in the lower parts. If you get the context, they're comforted because they're like, oh, it makes me feel better that you're down here too. That's the context because it's talking about people in hell seeing these other mighty people cast down to hell. Sort of like where they look at the devil being cast in hell and say, oh, wow, you too, huh? And, uh, the book of Ezekiel chapter 28, that's what that's talking about. It's just, uh, it's a parable, you know, so you gotta be careful with just running with it. So what we see here though is that the thing I wanted to point out though is that it says that they are delivered unto death to the nether parts of the earth, to the pit. Now if you would go to Revelation chapter 20, Revelation chapter 20, and while you're turning there, I'll read for you Proverbs 5, 5 says, her feet go down to death. Her steps take hold on hell. Proverbs 7 27, her house is the way to hell going down to the chambers of death. So notice that hell is called the chambers of death and going down to death is going down to hell. So basically the place hell is also known as death, which makes sense because that's where dead people go. That's where the dead are located. They're located in hell. That's why it says in Revelation 20, 14 and death and hell were cast in the lake of fire. How could that be if death is not a place when it says death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them. So people are in death and hell. People are cast out or brought out from death and hell and cast in the lake of fire. Death is cast in the lake of fire. So there's something tangible here. So this place can be referred to as the chambers of death, the place of the dead or just death. Okay, that makes sense. Now when we read chapter 20 verse 14, it says in death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. Now when we read that verse, there's there's two different ways that you could take this. There's two different ways you can interpret this. Death and hell were cast in the lake of fire. This is the second death. So what is the this referring to? Either number one, this is referring to the event when death and hell are cast in the lake of fire that that event is called the second death. Or number two, you can interpret it as the lake of fire is the second death, right? Because that's the noun that's right there as the antecedent for that pronoun. Death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death, meaning that the lake of fire is the second death. Well, I'm going to tell you right now, there's no doubt about which of these interpretations is true. It's for sure the second interpretation that the lake of fire is the second death, because if we look at chapter 21 verse 8, it's impossible to misunderstand. Look at chapter 21 verse 8. We're not talking about the event here. We're talking about the place. It says, but the fearful and unbelieving and the abominable were in chapter 21 verse 8 and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the second death. So the Bible is clearly telling us that it is the lake of fire which is the second death. The event is not in view here. Go to Revelation chapter 14. Why is this important? Why does this matter? Because of the fact that, again, your Seventh-day Adventist, Jehovah's Witnesses, false teachers will say, oh, well, the second death is when hell ceases to exist. Second death is annihilation. Wrong, my friend. The second death is a place. The lake of fire is the second death. So what's the first death? It's the first location of hell and a second location of hell. First location of the dead, second location of the dead. First death, second death. So here's the thing. A lot of people will just say, oh, the second death, that's hell. Here's the thing about that. The second death is not referring to hell in general, as some people will mistakenly think that the second death is hell in general. No, because it's specifically only referring to the lake of fire as the second death, because I would say that the current location of hell would be the first death. I wouldn't call that the second death. Some people have this idea, oh, you die physically, that's the first death, you know, hell is the second death. And, you know, it sounds great, it's just not what the Bible says. But it sounds great, you know. And I'm not saying people who teach that are bad that say, oh, you know, death, physical death is the first death, hell is the second death, because, you know, what they're saying is essentially true that, you know, you die physically and then you go to hell. But, technically, that's not what the Bible means when it says the second death, because the second death is a specific place. And it's not just hell in general, but rather it is specifically the lake of fire, which is also called hell. So, you know, you just got to be careful that you don't misunderstand these things when they're spoken. That basically, yes, the lake of fire is the second death and the lake of fire is called hell, but I personally wouldn't just refer to hell in general as the second death. You know, and again, if people do, that's fine because, you know, this isn't really a big deal. But, you know, we just, we want to understand, right? And, you know, especially as independent Baptists, we're supposed to be these hell, fire, and damnation guys. You know, we're supposed to get this, right? I mean, if there's one thing, if there's one thing we should know well, we should understand hell. I mean, you know, a Baptist preacher who doesn't understand hell, is he even a Baptist? Is he even fundamental? Because this is supposed to be a real big subject for us. It's what we're known for, you know. So therefore, we better know it like the back of our hand and understand it and comprehend it. So look, but look, if somebody is a little off where they say, oh, you know, second death is just hell in general or, you know, first death, second death, physical death, no big deal. But you know what I do have a really big problem with? A Baptist preacher getting up and saying hell's not eternal. Hell's not forever. You know, because he's like, well, no, that's only the lake of fire. You're an idiot. What kind of an idiot gets up in a Baptist church behind a pulpit and says hell isn't eternal? Hell doesn't go on for any reason. Well, that's not what he meant. Well, you know what, no matter what he meant, it's false. Because there's any way you slice that statement, hell's not forever, hell's not eternal, people get out of hell, you know, any way you slice that, that's false. And by the way, you know, if I basically took the trash out of the waste can in the kitchen and threw it into the dumpster, would you call that stuff getting out of the trash? People get out of hell. No, they don't. Because I wouldn't call, well, okay, let me ask you this, would you call it getting out of jail because you got transported from one jail to another penitentiary? Right? Because hell's like jail and lake of fire's like prison. If you think about it, right, think about that analogy, that's actually a great analogy, right? Hell, you know, the bottomless pit side of hell is the jail cell. The lake of fire hell is the penitentiary or the prison. But here's the thing, you know what, you could both just call it he's in jail. Don't people say that all the time? I was in jail for 10 years. No, you weren't. You were in prison, all right? Nobody sits in the county lockup for 10 years or whatever. But the point is, but isn't that being kind of pedantic at that point? Just like you can call both places hell, you can call, you know, prison jail. You could call it a jailbreak. You could call them a jailbird. You could call them a jailer, whatever, prison guard, whatever. The point is, even though these are technically two different places, they're both labeled often the hoosegal. Who knows that term? No one. Five people. All right, you work in the hoosegal, so you should know, right? You've heard that term, right? The joint. You know? So the point is, the big house. But the point is, though, that you wouldn't, would you call that getting out of jail? Oh, my uncle just got out of jail. He was moved from one jail to another. Is that getting out? It's dumb. And hell is the lake of fire anyway because of the fact that the lake of fire is called hell over and over again. So to sit there and say, well, hell isn't eternal, hell isn't forever. You know, what kind of garbage are you teaching your people? What kind of confusing statement is that to make? Especially because you know what? I know that when I preach, I wish everybody were just listening to everything I'm saying and just hanging on every word, but I just know that isn't true. Because a lot of people, when they sit in church, what are they doing? They're kind of half listening. And half of their mind is planning lunch right now and thinking about, you know, every head bowed, every eyes closed. Who would say that's me? You know, God bless you. I see that hand. You know, people are often, they're thinking about something else. They're half tuned in. You know, I don't want my family sitting and listening. Well, well, well, hell isn't forever. Well, well, people get out. And you say, well, that's not what he meant. It doesn't matter what he meant. It's false because the Bible calls the lake of fire hell. And he even said, and look, this wasn't just a slip of the tongue. He taught it on Sunday morning and he taught it again on Sunday night. Six hours later to stew on it. And he still taught it. And then, not only that, but he said, you got to change your soul winning. We got to stop telling people that Revelation 21A is hell. You don't have to change much about your soul winning. You don't have to change the scriptures. Oh, thank you for giving us permission not to change the scriptures. You don't have to change the scriptures. But he said, you know, you do need to stop telling people that Revelation 21A is hell. No, I'm not going to stop telling people that. I'm going to continue to tell people that Revelation 21A is hell. Because Jesus said that both soul and body will be destroyed in hell. And guess where that is? The second death, Revelation 21A. So no, I'm not going to change my soul winning. Look at Revelation chapter 14 verse 9. The Bible says, And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast in his image and receive his mark in his forehead or in his hand, 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 ascendeth up forever and ever. And they have no rest day nor night who worship the beast in his image and whosoever receive it the mark of his name. Folks, there's no doubt about the fact that hell is forever. Hell is forever. It's eternal. I say, you know, why preach about this, Pastor Anderson? You know, especially so close to Christmas. Here's the thing about that. Wednesday night, I said, is the Christmas service. Sorry, Sunday morning glories. Wednesday night is your Christmas service. Okay. But number two is that you know why Jesus Christ came into this earth? Why was he born in the first place? Jesus Christ was born to save us from our sins so that we would never have to go to this horrible place. And you know what? Here's the thing. On one hand, the subject of hell can be a depressing subject or a sad subject. But, you know, it doesn't necessarily have to be because, you know, sometimes it could help you realize, number one, what you've been saved from, what you will never experience. Or how about this? You know, when you start thinking that your life is so bad, you could think about, you know, it could be worse. You could be headed for hell. And look, everybody has had a rough year and people are down and people are complaining about it. But you know what? This year has not been hell. People might say that it's been a hell of a year. It's been a hell. My life is hell. Folks, I don't care what you went through this year. It's not hell. And here's the great thing about this year is that it ends. It comes to an end. Hell doesn't end. Now, I'm not guaranteeing that 2021 is going to be better. But here's the thing, though. OK, you know, we can tend to get down and depressed and complain. But you know what? I often think about is, you know what? Well, thank God I'm never going to hell. Thank God I have eternal life. Thank God that when the sufferings of this life will inevitably over be over, which they will come to an end no matter what you're going through. Health problems, relationship problems, financial problems, physical ailments and pain. Hey, whatever suffering you're enduring right now, weeping may endure for the night, but joy cometh in the morning. And thank God for heaven. Thank God for eternal life. Thank God that Jesus said we will never see death. We will never taste of death, the Bible says. So I will never even taste hell. I'll never really be able to speak intelligently about hell from experience. Oh, man, you know, you don't want to go there. It's bad. Trust me, it's bad. I can't say that. I can always say, well, trust him. It's bad. He's been there. He built the place. I've never been there. I can't talk about it from experience. But I don't want to have that experience. And I don't have to try every messed up thing in this world to know what it's like either. But let me tell you something. Hell is an awful place. And you know what? We need to stop complaining as Christians and always being down and feeling like God's not giving us what we deserve. We don't want God to give us what we deserve. And we're all the recipients of God's grace. And we live a pretty good life here in America. We've got a pretty good church here, a faithful word Baptist church. We also live in the best state in Arizona here. So we're doing better than the other 49 states as far as just quality of life, no matter how you measure it. Okay. We have it pretty good. But you know, you say, well, I don't have it good. Okay. Are you burning in hell right now? Because you know what? There are people who are there right now. And I'm not. And you're not. And we never will. And why? Is it because we're better? Is it because we're so good? Is it because we live such a clean life? No. It's because Jesus Christ died on the cross for our sins and was buried and was raised again. And because we've put our faith and trust in him, just with that faith of a little child, we're saved. We're saved. And the Bible says, he that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death. Right? We don't even have to touch that place. We don't even have to worry about it. You say, well, I don't know, Pastor Anderson, because you know, is that judgment and everybody's gonna be judged by their works? Who's gonna be judged by their works? The dead. The dead. This is why you gotta understand these things. The Bible says, I saw the dead stand before God and they were judged by their works. Well, if you read the rest of Revelation, we already were resurrected before that. Right? When the trumpet sounds, we're gonna be brought back to life before that. So are we the dead in Revelation 20? No, because we already done came to life over a thousand years earlier. So we're gonna be alive. And it's gonna be the dead that are gonna be judged according to their works and cast into the lake of fire. Cause look, if we were judged on our works in that kind of a judgment, we'd all be found guilty. If we're judged on our works, we're not gonna make it to heaven. Thankfully, we're going to heaven on the merits of Jesus Christ, not on our own merits. Because if we had to go on our own merits, we'd all be doomed. But thank God for the birth of Jesus Christ. Thank God that he came to this earth and he lived the perfect life that none of us could live. And he went about doing good. He doeth all things well, they said. He went out and did everything well. He did everything good. He did everything perfectly. He preached the word of God. He died on the cross for us. He was buried. He rose again from the dead. He ascended up to heaven and he ever liveth to make intercession for us. You say, what saves us? Is it the blood? Yes. What saves us? Is it Christ's death on the cross? Yes. Wait, no, is it his resurrection? Yes. Wait, is it his perfect, sinless life? Yes. Is it the fact that he ever liveth to make intercession for us? Daily, he's pleading and praying for me. That's what keeps me saved. It's all of the above. Don't get into this false teaching of trying to chop it up and dissect the gospel. Well, which part really paid for our sins? Which part was it exactly? Was it his blood or his death? The foolish question that John MacArthur asked. Avoid foolish questions because we are saved by the whole pack, the whole gospel. Right? Virgin birth, sinless life, death, burial, resurrection, all of it is a component. You know, one of these bozos that's teaching these false teachings, like the one about hell that I mentioned earlier, he also said, well, you know, it was all, it was all paid on the cross. The, the, the, the resurrection is just the receipt. The resurrection is just the receipt. Folks, what, what kind of a stupid, I throw the, I throw away the receipt. What is this, the receipt? Folks, the resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most important component of the gospel. Then if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus and shalt believe in thine heart that God raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. And the Bible specifically says we're saved by his life. Are we saved by his death? Yes. Are we saved by his life? Yes. See, I got that a little louder on that yes. Folks, it's a death, burial, and resurrection. The resurrection is the key component. Oh, it's just the receipt. Let's downplay it. It all happened on the cross. No, it didn't. It happened for 33 years. It happened for 6,000 some years. Folks, you can't sit there and dissect the gospel story and just, oh, well, let's downplay everything except this one thing. Wrong. Let's, let's talk about all of it. Now, obviously the cross is emphasized and look, if I'm going to emphasize something, I'm going to emphasize the cross. Amen. But you know what? Just because we emphasize the blood and we emphasize the cross and the cross is a big subject, great subject, I'm not going to turn around and make the mistake of saying, okay, so let's downplay the resurrection. Right. Let's downplay the blood. What? It's stupid. Or let's downplay the blood. Or let's play up the blood and downplay something else. It's a false doctrine, my friend. The gospel is all of it. So look, celebrating the birth of Christ. Some people have an issue of celebrating the birth of Christ saying, well, you know, the Bible doesn't emphasize it. Well, you know what? Yeah, it does. Cause you got a couple chapters about it and you have many scriptures pointing that and you know, the birth of Christ where it all starts in that sense, you know, with that phase of the redemptive plan. And so the birth of Christ is key. The virgin birth is key. The Christmas story is key. And so at this time of year, as we think about the birth of Christ, you know, think about the fact that Jesus Christ was born into this world to save sinners and we will never have to taste the second death. We'll never have to go to hell. What a blessing. Oh, the love that drew salvation's plan so that we would never have to go to this horrible place of hell because Jesus Christ already took care of it for us and we've got a free ticket into heaven. It's all paid for by the blood of Jesus. What a, what a glorious thing to celebrate this time of year. So you see, I did a little Christmas tie in at the end there. Okay. But you got to come Wednesday for the real Christmas sermon. Okay. But I want you to understand that hell and the second death because of the fact that this doctrine is always going to be under attack. They're always going to be false prophets and false teachers goofing this up. And we need to understand this to understand the Bible because it's something that's mentioned hundreds of times about. We want to have a grasp of it as we study God's word and the Bible talks so much about it cause he doesn't want us to go there. Okay. Now look, we, most of us in this room are already saved. Most of us. Right. But if you're here today and you're not saved, you know, you should be very afraid about what we looked at this morning. And even if you are here today and you're already saved, then think about the fact that God doesn't want other people to go there. So let's go out and tell them the good news about Christ. And you know, sometimes Christmas can be a great icebreaker for that anyway, to tell them, Hey, look, you know what we're celebrating is the birth of Christ. And then you could go into the gospel like that. Let's borrow this and have a word of prayer. Father, we thank you so much for salvation and the fact that we will never go to hell, Lord. And Lord, if there's anyone who's confused about the subject of hell or the lake of fire, I hope that this sermon would clear it up. And I hope that if not, that you would give them understanding, Lord, and open their eyes to see this clear teaching in scripture of the fact that hell is real. Hell is fire. Hell is eternal, Lord. And thank you so much for saving us so that we will never go there. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. You know, the Bible is really clear on salvation. It's not based on how good you are. A lot of people think they're pretty good, you know, and yeah, they're going to get to heaven because they're pretty good. But the Bible says from all that sinned and come short of the glory of God. The Bible says that is written there is none righteous, no, not one. I'm not righteous. You're not righteous. And if it were our goodness that would get us into heaven, none of us would be going. Because the Bible even says in Revelation 21a, it says, But the fearful and unbelieving, the abominable and murderers and sorcerers and foremonkeys and idolaters, and listen to this, All liars shall have their part of the lake that's burning in fire until the second day. I've lied before. Everybody's lied before. So we've all sinned and we've done stuff worse than lying, let's face it. We all deserve hell.