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Hey everybody, this is Pastor 
John Ewart from Inglewood 

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Baptist Church in Rocky 
Mountain, North Carolina. 

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Thank you so much for tuning 
into our podcast. 

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You're going to hear from God 
today as we share from his word 

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about important issues facing 
your life that can guide you 

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according to the Bible. 
Well, thanks for joining me here

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physically. 
And for those again listening 

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online, thank you so much for 
joining in. 

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We are continuing our series 
called Is Hell or Heaven, Hell 

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and the Hereafter. 
And tonight we're talking about,

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unfortunately, the subject 
matter of hell itself and, and 

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who chooses to go there. 
And I want you to notice the 

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very specific choice of verbs 
there 'cause that is the way 

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this works. 
Whether people agree with that 

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or not, not everybody will like 
everything that's going to be 

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shared probably in this study 
tonight. 

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But I promise you that these are
very biblical thoughts as I've 

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tried to work really hard. 
We talked a few sessions ago 

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about heaven and what and how 
wonderful it is. 

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We do need to talk about the 
alternative as well. 

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So so let's dive into this a 
little bit. 

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The reality of hell is something
that gets debated. 

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Frankly, it's always been 
interesting in the United States

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of America that a much larger 
percentage of believes in heaven

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than hell. 
That doesn't surprise me. 

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We'll talk more about maybe why 
later, but some of that's 

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wishful thinking. 
I think the reality is, is that 

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everybody is going to experience
life after death. 

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And the question is just whether
you're going to spend it in 

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heaven or hell. 
Where are you going to spend it 

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is the issue. 
And part of our part of our 

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reasoning for still existing on 
this planet after we trust in 

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Jesus Christ is to try to help 
influence that decision in the 

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lives of others. 
So obviously, those who trust in

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Christ will spend eternity with 
him in heaven. 

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Those who reject him will spend 
eternity apart from God. 

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We're going to talk a whole lot 
more about what it means to be 

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apart from God because I'm not 
sure people always understand 

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the seriousness of that, but 
they're going to do that in this

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place of great suffering. 
And it's called hell. 

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There are other names for it. 
Again, some deny it. 

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You know, Gallup that does these
poles, it's only about 50 or so 

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percent of the United States 
population. 

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Sometimes it's varies, It's gone
less than that, rarely goes much

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higher than that of the US 
population that actually 

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believes in hell. 
So it's a, it's a very, it's a 

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very convenient selective 
thought process, isn't it? 

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To where I don't have to think 
about the bad stuff. 

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I can just think about the good 
stuff. 

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And that often ties into their 
view of God, which we've talked 

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about in previous sessions, that
they have room for God as love. 

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They don't have room for God as 
holy. 

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They don't have room for God as 
judge. 

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And so, and unfortunately in our
our culture today, many use the 

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word and concept rather 
flippantly. 

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And the concept of hell is 
anything but flippant. 

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There's a very serious, very 
serious matter. 

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Jesus spoke of hell often. 
Frankly, the Bible talks about 

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hell quite often, and so if you 
don't believe it exists, you're 

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cutting out a significant 
portion of the Word of God. 

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It's just hard to ignore it and 
we're going to breakdown some of

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the words being used for it. 
But Jesus spoke of it one of the

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most, one of those direct 
places, Matthew 812. 

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While the sons of the Kingdom 
will be thrown into the outer 

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darkness, in that place there 
will be weeping and gnashing of 

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teeth. 
Jesus will use in more than one 

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occasion, and we'll see these 
occasions in this session. 

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He uses some of the strongest 
possible Greek language you 

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could muster up to describe the 
horrors of what this eternal 

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judgement and death looks like. 
In fact, he warns them in 

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Matthew at 10:28. 
And do not fear those who kill 

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the body but cannot kill the 
soul. 

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Rather for him who can destroy 
both soul and body in hell. 

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And we're going to talk about 
what that word means, that word 

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destroy means because some 
people use that to teach a 

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heresy called annihilationism 
that we've talked talked about 

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before. 
We're going to talk about again 

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later. 
But if there is no hell, Jesus 

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lied, because these certainly 
aren't the only two verses where

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he mentions it. 
So you're calling Jesus if you 

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don't believe there's a hell, 
you're calling Jesus a liar. 

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And so you've got to work 
through your theology on that 

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level at some point if that's 
where you are. 

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And then obviously many would 
say that a loving God would 

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never send anyone to hell, or 
that's not my God. 

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My God would never send anybody 
to hell. 

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And that's a misunderstanding of
a lot of things that we'll talk 

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about. 
The Scripture is very clear. 

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Luke wrote Luke 12-5. 
But I I warn you whom to fear? 

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Fear him. 
Who after he has killed, has 

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authority to cast into hell. 
Yes, I tell you, fear him. 

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Now, what's interesting about 
that verse is many people would 

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think he's talking about the 
devil. 

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We, we've created this false 
thought process that somehow 

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Hell's like a really bad hotel 
and, and the devil's running it 

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down there with his demons. 
You see TV commercials, you see 

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cartoons like that. 
You got a, a pointy deer guy 

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with a pitchfork and he's, he's,
you know, and else it comes from

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Dante's concept of the, of, of 
hell and, and the fact that the 

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demons are down there running 
the, the really bad Motel 6 down

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there. 
But but that's not the way it 

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works at all. 
In fact, this verse is not 

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talking about Satan. 
This verse is talking about God.

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And so the one we should fear is
God himself. 

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He is the one who can, who has 
the authority. 

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So Satan, Satan has no power to 
determine the destiny of a human

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soul. 
There's a sentence. 

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Satan can't do that. 
Now, we might think he can. 

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He certainly influences, but we 
often give Satan more power than

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he deserves. 
In fact, down the road, before 

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we're done with this series, I 
want to do a whole session on 

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angels and demons so that we 
have a real complete 

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understanding of what they are 
and what they're not. 

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Because unfortunately, again, 
with Hollywood and with much of 

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the media and different things 
around us, we've elevated Satan 

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to almost a minor God. 
And that's not what he is. 

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He can't destroy a human soul. 
He tempts us and seeks to trick 

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us and we fall prey to his 
ambush. 

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But many, many just don't get 
it. 

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And, and the the bigger issue 
here is again, the holiness of 

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God and, and just how the fact 
that we really don't understand 

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sin. 
We don't understand how evil sin

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is. 
We don't understand how how 

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atrocious our sin is to a 
supremely holy perfect God. 

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And so often people will argue 
the punishment doesn't fit the 

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crime. 
But that's because they don't 

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understand the crime. 
They don't understand what the 

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degree of sin is and what the 
price of sin is, even though the

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Bible is ultra clear about 
warning you what the wages of 

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sin is. 
So sin is much worse than anyone

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can imagine. 
Danny Akin had a line that he 

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would say more than once, he 
said when you know, sin is 

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slapping the slapping the God of
the universe in the face and we 

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just don't, we don't often think
of it that way. 

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We, we, we rate sin, we grade 
sin, some sins really not that 

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big a deal, Some sins a lot 
worse. 

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You know, we don't like certain 
sins a whole lot more than we 

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don't like other sin and things 
like that sometimes in our human

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nature. 
But that's not what sin is. 

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And so sin is this eternal 
separation from God and it can 

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only be pardoned by the supreme 
sacrifice. 

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And that that wage of sin is 
death. 

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And so somebody had to die. 
And so the death of of God the 

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Son on the cross is the only 
thing that could pay for that. 

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You can't pay for your own sin 
and you can't get out of it. 

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We're going to see that a whole 
lot more clearly as we walk 

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through this. 
So Jesus specifically states 

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that non believers can't escape 
this condemnation. 

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Matthew 23, again, he's talking 
to religious people when he says

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this. 
He says you serpents, you brood 

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of Vipers, how are you to escape
being sentenced to hell? 

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This, these are Jewish religious
leaders because the only way out

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of this is by trusting in Jesus 
Christ as your Lord and Savior. 

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So scripture assures us that 
hell is a real place, but we 

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also often really mess this up. 
And this goes back to whether 

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Satan's run in hell or not. 
We we don't understand what hell

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was created for in the 1st 
place. 

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Hell has a very specific created
purpose. 

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The Bible tells us what it is. 
He says in Matthew 2541. 

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Then he will say to those on his
left, depart from me, you curse,

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you cursed. 
Got to throw that curse said in 

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there into the eternal fire. 
Prepared for who it's prepared 

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for the devil's the devil, 
excuse me and his angels. 

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So it was prepared for Satan and
his demons. 

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And so the the idea of hell 
wasn't necessarily originally 

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designed for humanity, even 
though God knew humanity would 

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end up there because God knows 
everything. 

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But it was actually designed as 
the eternal place for to 

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accommodate the banishment of 
Satan and his fallen angels who 

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rebelled and and seek to take 
over against God. 

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And so those who reject or 
rebelled against Christ are the 

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same, and they're going to end 
up in the same place. 

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We follow whoever our Lord is 
into eternity. 

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And so whoever your boss is, 
whoever your Lord is, that's who

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you'll spend eternity with. 
And so the wicked will be raised

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at the end of time and judged at
the great White Throne judgment.

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Then they're going to be cast 
into the Lake of Fire, which is 

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their permanent place of 
suffering throughout all 

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eternity. 
And I'll talk more about that 

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permanence in a moment too. 
Whereas Christians who have 

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died, now we've talked about 
this before, are spiritually 

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fully conscious and fully aware 
in the presence of God, having a

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great time. 
And one day they're going to 

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receive their final new 
resurrected bodies and enjoy 

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their this eternal paradise that
we described when we talked 

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about heaven. 
So loss, sinners who have died 

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or now, as we've talked before, 
in the presence of suffering 

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already in this temporary 
holding place, this temporary 

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place called Hades or Sheol. 
And they're waiting their final 

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state with their bodies for 
eternal punishment. 

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And so there's an in between 
time again, we talked a few 

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sessions ago about because of 
the way time doesn't work in 

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eternity, does it actually seem 
like time when that happens? 

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Or is it immediate as far as 
they're concerned? 

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Whereas it's a time lag for us, 
You know what I'm saying? 

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Don't blow your brains out over 
that. 

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But anyway, what we see is is 
that these are described. 

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Psalm 30 verse 9 talks about the
pit. 

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What profit is there in my death
if I go down to the pit? 

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Will the dust praise you? 
Will the tell of your 

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faithfulness and that pit is 
this idea of Hades Archie old 

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the abode of the dead, so to 
speak. 

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We talked in a previous session,
so we won't take time to do it 

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again about Luke 16, the story 
of the rich man and Lazarus. 

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The fact that there was a 
glimpse of what this torture 

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looks like, there's agony and 
fire even in Hades. 

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And the rich man had a choice on
earth and that story and 

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suffered the consequences of his
decision to live for himself 

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instead of living for God. 
And in his rebellion, he earns 

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his wage, and that wage is 
death. 

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So the reality of hell is is 
there, and we're going to 

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continue to see that reinforced.
I want to spend a little more 

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time, I think, on the 
description of hell because it 

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really is interesting to get 
into some original language with

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you a little bit because there's
some keywords that are used in 

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the New Testament to refer to 
hell. 

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And a lot of them have kind of 
interesting backstories to them.

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And so one of the Greek words, 
perhaps the most common one that

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Jesus would use is Gehenna. 
And so this word Gehenna was 

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actually something that the 
readers would have related to 

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because they're actually related
to a physical place they knew 

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about as well. 
And so in Matthew chapter 10, 

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verse 28, again, it says, and do
not fear those who kill the body

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but cannot kill the soul, rather
fear him who can destroy both 

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soul and body and Gehenna. 
And so this idea of Gehenna, 

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this was a valley originally. 
Historically there was a valley 

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just outside the city where 
atrocities were carried out in 

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previous days of Israel and the 
days of Pagan and horrible 

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kings, even some in the day of 
of Solomon in the valley of Ben 

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Ben Hinnam and Ben Hinnam. 
It was a place where human child

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sacrifice was made. 
You can read in the Old 

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Testament, in Second Chronicles 
and in Jeremiah. 

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They sacrificed children to the 
false Moabite God of Moloch 

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there. 
And so there were incredible 

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atrocities there. 
Worship, Baal worship centers 

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and Ashtaroths were set up to 
Pagan gods along the way as 

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well. 
Jeremiah called this the Valley 

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of Slaughter in Jeremiah Chapter
7. 

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It was so horrible, such an 
atrocious place. 

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So by the time the New Testament
rose around, this place is 

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considered extremely unclean 
because of its history. 

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So this became the trash dump of
Jerusalem. 

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So this is where all the garbage
was put. 

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And so they they would dump all 
the garbage, all the filth of 

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Jerusalem poured into this 
valley. 

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00:14:00,320 --> 00:14:03,040
But it wouldn't just be what we 
would normally think of body of 

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garbage. 
It wasn't your neatly wrapped 

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00:14:04,840 --> 00:14:08,040
trash bag and either your 
recycling bin or your normal 

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bin. 
It was loose refuse, but it 

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00:14:11,000 --> 00:14:14,120
would also be dead animals as 
well as the bodies of criminals 

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would just be thrown into 
Gehenna. 

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And so there was a constant fire
taking place in Gehenna. 

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They were constantly burning 
everything in Gehenna to offset 

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00:14:26,800 --> 00:14:29,240
the smell and the spread of 
disease and things like that. 

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00:14:29,240 --> 00:14:32,720
So there were these quote UN 
quote, eternal fires that never 

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00:14:32,720 --> 00:14:34,800
went out. 
There were people whose job, if 

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00:14:34,800 --> 00:14:38,360
you can imagine this job, one of
the worst jobs I ever knew about

258
00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:40,400
was in eastern Oklahoma. 
And some of you may have done 

259
00:14:40,400 --> 00:14:42,240
this job because they have them 
around here too. 

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00:14:42,400 --> 00:14:44,200
Was it what was called a chicken
chaser? 

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00:14:44,880 --> 00:14:46,600
I don't know if you know what a 
chicken chaser in a chicken 

262
00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,000
house is and what a huge long 
chicken houses that you'll see. 

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00:14:50,240 --> 00:14:52,920
A chicken chaser is a person who
goes in that and goes in there 

264
00:14:52,920 --> 00:14:54,280
to clean out all the dead 
chickens. 

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00:14:54,560 --> 00:14:56,680
Because if you don't clean out 
the dead chickens, the other 

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00:14:56,680 --> 00:14:58,920
chickens are actually chickens 
are cannibals. 

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00:14:58,920 --> 00:14:59,960
I don't know if you know that or
not. 

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00:15:00,120 --> 00:15:02,480
If a chicken starts to bleed, 
they'll pick it to death. 

269
00:15:02,480 --> 00:15:04,880
They'll attack. 
They're like little piranhas, 

270
00:15:05,480 --> 00:15:07,880
and so you got to get all the 
dead ones out or they'll make 

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00:15:07,880 --> 00:15:10,560
everybody sick. 
So a chicken chaser's job was to

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00:15:10,560 --> 00:15:13,640
go in, in the midst of that 
ammonia smell in the middle of 

273
00:15:13,640 --> 00:15:17,160
120 degree heat and clean out 
the dead chickens and throw them

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00:15:17,160 --> 00:15:19,560
in the composter. 
I thought, well, there's a job. 

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00:15:21,840 --> 00:15:24,280
Have I ever said thank you for 
letting me be your pastor? 

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00:15:27,720 --> 00:15:35,760
Might not be quick enough to be 
a chicken, chicken chaser, but 

277
00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:37,720
think about it. 
They burned them. 

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00:15:37,720 --> 00:15:41,360
They threw them in a heap in 
this valley and they were just 

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00:15:41,360 --> 00:15:43,400
burning all the time because it 
never stopped. 

280
00:15:44,320 --> 00:15:46,600
You know, there's always more 
garbage, always another body, 

281
00:15:46,800 --> 00:15:48,960
always more death coming in 
there. 

282
00:15:49,400 --> 00:15:51,280
And so these fires were burning 
all the time. 

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00:15:51,280 --> 00:15:54,920
And Jesus actually used the word
gehenna at least 11 times to 

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00:15:54,920 --> 00:15:58,520
describe eternal suffering, to 
describe hell because it was the

285
00:15:58,520 --> 00:15:59,720
closest thing they would know 
it. 

286
00:16:00,040 --> 00:16:03,720
It's kind of like this. 
You could almost point to it. 

287
00:16:04,360 --> 00:16:06,320
He says it's kind of like that 
they would all know a valley had

288
00:16:06,320 --> 00:16:08,840
been hidden. 
And so that would be a something

289
00:16:08,840 --> 00:16:12,720
that could visualize and know. 
But another word that's used for

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00:16:12,720 --> 00:16:16,800
hell is a word Tartarus. 
Peter uses this in second Peter 

291
00:16:16,800 --> 00:16:20,440
24 and this is a fascinating 
verse. 

292
00:16:21,080 --> 00:16:24,840
I've alluded to this some before
and I'll talk about this again 

293
00:16:24,840 --> 00:16:27,120
in the future session when we do
angels and demons. 

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00:16:27,920 --> 00:16:31,400
Second, Peter 24 says, For if 
God did not spare angels when 

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00:16:31,400 --> 00:16:35,760
they sinned, but cast them into 
hell and committed them to 

296
00:16:35,760 --> 00:16:40,600
chains of gloomy darkness, to be
kept until the judgement and the

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00:16:40,600 --> 00:16:44,160
word there for hell is Tartarus.
And this is a place where 

298
00:16:44,160 --> 00:16:50,520
certain fallen angels or demons 
are confined and, and as far as 

299
00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:51,840
I know, they're still there 
right now. 

300
00:16:52,800 --> 00:16:57,560
And, and so most of the fallen 
angels were free to roam the 

301
00:16:57,560 --> 00:17:00,680
earth and do their destructive 
damage along with their leader, 

302
00:17:00,680 --> 00:17:05,040
Lucifer or Satan. 
But these imprisoned fallen 

303
00:17:05,040 --> 00:17:08,440
angels are not free to roam. 
And apparently these are the 

304
00:17:08,440 --> 00:17:11,520
worst of the worst. 
These are especially heinous 

305
00:17:11,880 --> 00:17:15,800
little demons who their sin 
against God in the past was so 

306
00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:18,440
bad he locked them up and keeps 
them locked up. 

307
00:17:19,280 --> 00:17:22,640
And this is this again, this 
image of what hell is going to 

308
00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:25,400
be like. 
It's going to be a place of 

309
00:17:25,400 --> 00:17:28,800
horror and a place of of great 
suffering. 

310
00:17:29,200 --> 00:17:32,760
A lot of different adjectives 
and descriptions concerning hell

311
00:17:32,760 --> 00:17:35,200
and scripture. 
Fire, fire, fiery furnace, 

312
00:17:35,240 --> 00:17:37,640
furnace and quenchable fire. 
The lake of burning sulfur, the 

313
00:17:37,640 --> 00:17:40,400
lake of fire, everlasting 
contempt, perdition, place of 

314
00:17:40,400 --> 00:17:44,360
weeping and gnashing of teeth, 
eternal punishment, darkness, 

315
00:17:44,360 --> 00:17:47,280
the wrath to come, exclusion, 
torments, damnation, 

316
00:17:47,280 --> 00:17:50,360
condemnation, retribution, the 
second death. 

317
00:17:51,800 --> 00:17:54,000
But let's look at a couple of 
these descriptions a little more

318
00:17:54,000 --> 00:17:58,680
closely. 
I'm in the Book of Revelation in

319
00:17:58,680 --> 00:18:02,640
my personal study right now 
still, and there are passages. 

320
00:18:02,640 --> 00:18:07,520
In fact, I was not far off this 
passage coming up, but some of 

321
00:18:07,520 --> 00:18:11,080
the passages are are are 
difficult to process, to be 

322
00:18:11,080 --> 00:18:13,120
honest with you. 
I mean, I know the various 

323
00:18:13,120 --> 00:18:16,120
opinions about what they are, I 
think, but but it's just 

324
00:18:16,120 --> 00:18:19,480
interesting to read. 
So Revelation 1920 talking about

325
00:18:19,480 --> 00:18:22,880
the beast and the beast was 
captured and with it the false 

326
00:18:22,880 --> 00:18:26,600
prophet who in its presence had 
done the signs by which he 

327
00:18:26,600 --> 00:18:30,000
deceived those who'd received 
the mark of the beast and those 

328
00:18:30,000 --> 00:18:31,920
who worshipped its image. 
So we're talking about the end 

329
00:18:31,920 --> 00:18:37,680
of time Antichrist type stories.
These two are thrown alive into 

330
00:18:37,680 --> 00:18:40,120
the lake of fire that burns with
sulfur. 

331
00:18:41,400 --> 00:18:44,760
Or again Revelation 20. 
This is the great white throne 

332
00:18:44,760 --> 00:18:49,080
judgement scene. 
Then I saw a great white throne 

333
00:18:49,080 --> 00:18:52,760
and him who was seated on it, 
and from his presence earth and 

334
00:18:52,760 --> 00:18:55,840
sky fled away, and no place was 
found for them. 

335
00:18:56,160 --> 00:18:59,560
And I saw the dead great and 
small standing before the throne

336
00:18:59,560 --> 00:19:02,320
and the books were opened. 
Then another book was opened, 

337
00:19:02,320 --> 00:19:05,800
which is the Book of Life, and 
the dead were judged by what was

338
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:08,240
written in the books. 
Notice the plural according to 

339
00:19:08,240 --> 00:19:11,240
what they had done. 
And the sea gave up the dead who

340
00:19:11,240 --> 00:19:13,880
were in it. 
Death and Hades gave up the dead

341
00:19:13,880 --> 00:19:16,240
who were in them, and they were 
judged, each one of them, 

342
00:19:16,240 --> 00:19:19,360
according to what they had done.
Then Death and Hades were thrown

343
00:19:19,360 --> 00:19:22,160
into the lake of fire. 
This is the second death, the 

344
00:19:22,160 --> 00:19:24,560
lake of fire. 
If you keep hearing the Lake of 

345
00:19:24,560 --> 00:19:26,800
Fire, you just wait. 
And if anyone's name was not 

346
00:19:26,800 --> 00:19:29,360
found in the Book of Life he was
thrown into, guess what? 

347
00:19:30,200 --> 00:19:33,480
The lake of fire trying to make 
a point. 

348
00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:36,360
This is the great white throne 
judgement. 

349
00:19:36,360 --> 00:19:40,560
The reason it's white is this 
idea of holiness and purity. 

350
00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:45,360
God is pure, God is holy. 
And we we keep missing. 

351
00:19:45,360 --> 00:19:49,400
I don't, we you all don't. 
You're here wonderful people who

352
00:19:49,640 --> 00:19:54,360
follow Jesus, I hope, but 
humanity misses this point. 

353
00:19:55,120 --> 00:19:59,440
God is perfect, and in His 
perfection He cannot allow 

354
00:19:59,440 --> 00:20:01,760
imperfection to be in His 
presence. 

355
00:20:02,240 --> 00:20:04,360
If he does that, he is no longer
God. 

356
00:20:05,360 --> 00:20:07,720
It is his nature. 
It is who he is. 

357
00:20:07,720 --> 00:20:11,720
It is what he is. 
And so he has to remove the 

358
00:20:11,720 --> 00:20:13,800
blemish. 
Which is why when you think of 

359
00:20:13,800 --> 00:20:17,240
Old Testament sacrifices, they 
had to be lambs without blemish.

360
00:20:17,640 --> 00:20:21,760
They had to be spotless. 
He needed a perfect lamb to die,

361
00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:24,440
which the only one who could 
qualify was Jesus. 

362
00:20:25,680 --> 00:20:27,840
And so in this great white 
throne judgement, this is the 

363
00:20:27,840 --> 00:20:30,200
the image of holiness, this 
image of purity. 

364
00:20:30,360 --> 00:20:33,000
And what you're going to see is 
the created at the end of time. 

365
00:20:33,000 --> 00:20:35,520
And one day, those of us who 
trust in Jesus will be very 

366
00:20:35,520 --> 00:20:37,720
aware of this. 
Those who don't trust in Jesus 

367
00:20:37,720 --> 00:20:39,760
will be too, but they'll see it 
from a very different 

368
00:20:39,760 --> 00:20:42,680
perspective. 
The created universe as we know 

369
00:20:42,680 --> 00:20:46,880
it is going to be uncreated. 
It's going to disappear. 

370
00:20:48,120 --> 00:20:51,040
The Bible says that parts of it 
are going to burn up with fire, 

371
00:20:51,880 --> 00:20:54,920
and then what's going to happen 
is this earth that we know is 

372
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:59,880
going to end, and unbelievers 
will be judged by their own 

373
00:20:59,880 --> 00:21:03,080
righteousness. 
And that's huge according to 

374
00:21:03,080 --> 00:21:05,120
what they had done. 
Did you see that over and over 

375
00:21:05,120 --> 00:21:08,080
again there? 
So if you don't trust in Jesus, 

376
00:21:08,240 --> 00:21:11,240
you're going to be judged by 
your own personal righteousness,

377
00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:16,560
your own perfection or 
imperfection and, and not the 

378
00:21:16,560 --> 00:21:21,080
imputed righteousness of Christ,
not the the righteousness that 

379
00:21:21,080 --> 00:21:25,720
Christ put to our account and we
get covered by because we've 

380
00:21:25,720 --> 00:21:29,960
trusted in him. 
Either I get judged by God the 

381
00:21:29,960 --> 00:21:32,440
Father looking through the 
filter of Christ's blood 

382
00:21:32,440 --> 00:21:37,880
atonement covering me, or I get 
judged on my own standing and my

383
00:21:37,880 --> 00:21:40,960
own imperfection. 
And because I am imperfect and 

384
00:21:40,960 --> 00:21:44,480
so is, so are you, by the way, 
you stand no chance. 

385
00:21:45,920 --> 00:21:48,840
You have to be perfect. 
So you have to have perfect 

386
00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:52,000
covering or you're going to be 
judged by your own. 

387
00:21:52,000 --> 00:21:57,120
But according to what they had 
done, so, so there's nobody 

388
00:21:57,120 --> 00:22:00,440
escapes. 
These resurrected bodies are 

389
00:22:00,440 --> 00:22:03,000
designed for eternity. 
God's keeping the books. 

390
00:22:03,920 --> 00:22:06,800
You're not getting away with 
anything, ever, ever. 

391
00:22:07,680 --> 00:22:10,560
Not anything you say, not 
anything you think, not anything

392
00:22:10,560 --> 00:22:12,680
that you do. 
Any one of those things that is 

393
00:22:12,680 --> 00:22:14,600
contrary to God's word and will 
is sin. 

394
00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:18,840
You don't get away with it. 
And there'll be different levels

395
00:22:18,840 --> 00:22:22,200
of judgement and punishment 
according to what they had done,

396
00:22:22,680 --> 00:22:27,960
but the each degree of torment 
will be horrible because God is 

397
00:22:30,360 --> 00:22:34,400
God is not there in eternal 
punishment in any way that you 

398
00:22:34,400 --> 00:22:35,920
can perceive. 
And I don't know that we 

399
00:22:35,920 --> 00:22:37,840
understand what that just what 
that means. 

400
00:22:37,840 --> 00:22:40,200
In other words, the absence of 
God. 

401
00:22:40,920 --> 00:22:43,440
And you might be here and you 
claim to be an atheist tonight 

402
00:22:43,440 --> 00:22:46,600
and you said there's no God. 
You have no idea what you have 

403
00:22:46,600 --> 00:22:49,480
experienced in a blessing 
already indirectly. 

404
00:22:49,640 --> 00:22:52,280
God blesses you every day of 
your life whether you believe 

405
00:22:52,280 --> 00:22:55,080
that or not. 
You can't exist without him. 

406
00:22:55,200 --> 00:22:56,800
You can't have breath without 
him. 

407
00:22:56,920 --> 00:22:58,720
Your heart would not beat 
without him. 

408
00:22:59,000 --> 00:23:02,400
The little electrons circling 
around in your body wouldn't, 

409
00:23:02,400 --> 00:23:05,360
wouldn't work the way they do. 
Nothing works the way they do 

410
00:23:05,360 --> 00:23:07,960
without Him holding it together.
Read Colossians one sometime. 

411
00:23:08,160 --> 00:23:10,360
Jesus is what holds life 
together. 

412
00:23:10,360 --> 00:23:12,960
He's the creator and holds life 
together. 

413
00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:17,840
And so you, you have no idea 
what it means to completely live

414
00:23:17,840 --> 00:23:21,600
without the presence of God. 
You have no concept of that. 

415
00:23:22,360 --> 00:23:24,160
And so you might think that your
life's bad. 

416
00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:29,520
Well, buddy, wait. 
Because because there's no grace

417
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:33,640
there in hell, there's no grace.
There's no presence of God in 

418
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:36,720
that same way. 
And, and you only get to live 

419
00:23:36,720 --> 00:23:38,400
here on earth because of that 
grace. 

420
00:23:38,400 --> 00:23:40,600
You only get to exist because of
that grace. 

421
00:23:41,000 --> 00:23:43,760
You have grace just because 
you're allowed to be. 

422
00:23:44,600 --> 00:23:46,880
You're allowed to exist. 
I don't think we understand what

423
00:23:46,880 --> 00:23:50,160
the gift of existence is and how
much we ought to appreciate it. 

424
00:23:51,280 --> 00:23:54,000
We're here for a reason and 
we're here by his grace. 

425
00:23:54,880 --> 00:23:58,520
And when he takes his hand off, 
I've seen him see him do the 

426
00:23:58,520 --> 00:24:02,120
same thing in a in a similar, 
but not the same way with 

427
00:24:02,120 --> 00:24:04,320
churches. 
That my fear is not that God's 

428
00:24:04,320 --> 00:24:06,040
going to punish us. 
My fear is that God will take 

429
00:24:06,040 --> 00:24:09,800
his hand off of us. 
And for us to have the absence 

430
00:24:09,800 --> 00:24:12,520
of God's presence is detrum. 
It's it's horrible. 

431
00:24:13,840 --> 00:24:17,520
And so God blesses us every day.
But in hell they experience what

432
00:24:17,520 --> 00:24:20,080
it's like to not have the 
presence of God around them in 

433
00:24:20,080 --> 00:24:23,000
that way. 
It's that separation from Him 

434
00:24:23,000 --> 00:24:25,520
that's the torment as much as 
anything else. 

435
00:24:26,200 --> 00:24:29,800
And so this lake of fire creates
a permanent separation from God.

436
00:24:29,800 --> 00:24:32,440
No way out, ever, forever and 
ever. 

437
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:34,560
Just listen to what Matthew 18 
says. 

438
00:24:36,120 --> 00:24:38,680
Woe to the world for temptation 
to sin. 

439
00:24:39,240 --> 00:24:41,560
For it is necessary that 
temptations come. 

440
00:24:41,560 --> 00:24:44,200
But woe to the one by whom the 
temptations come. 

441
00:24:44,960 --> 00:24:47,560
And if your hand or your foot 
causes you to sin, cut it off 

442
00:24:47,560 --> 00:24:49,720
and throw it away. 
It's better for you to enter 

443
00:24:49,720 --> 00:24:52,400
life crippled or lame than with 
two hands or two feet to be 

444
00:24:52,400 --> 00:24:55,880
thrown into the eternal fire. 
And if your eye causes you to 

445
00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:57,440
send, tear it out and throw it 
away. 

446
00:24:57,560 --> 00:24:59,880
It's better for you to enter 
life with one eye than with two 

447
00:24:59,880 --> 00:25:01,760
eyes to be thrown into the hell 
of fire. 

448
00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:04,720
See that you do not despise one 
of these little ones. 

449
00:25:04,720 --> 00:25:07,920
For I tell you that in heaven 
their angels always see the face

450
00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:11,920
of my Father who is in heaven. 
So we see this idea of eternal 

451
00:25:11,920 --> 00:25:14,000
fire, and we're going to talk 
more about that word in a 

452
00:25:14,000 --> 00:25:17,520
minute. 
Matthew 2541 talks about 

453
00:25:17,520 --> 00:25:19,400
falling. 
Man's going to join the devil 

454
00:25:19,400 --> 00:25:22,440
and his angels there. 
You're going to spend eternity 

455
00:25:22,440 --> 00:25:25,600
with your Lord. 
Then he will say to those on his

456
00:25:25,600 --> 00:25:28,520
left apart from me. 
There's not a not a not a 

457
00:25:28,520 --> 00:25:31,160
scarier phrase you can imagine 
than that right there. 

458
00:25:31,960 --> 00:25:34,320
Depart from me. 
You cursed into the eternal 

459
00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:37,200
fire, prepared for the devil and
his angels. 

460
00:25:37,760 --> 00:25:40,080
Matthew 7 talks about 
destruction. 

461
00:25:40,840 --> 00:25:43,640
Enter by the narrow gate, for 
the gate is wide and the way is 

462
00:25:43,640 --> 00:25:48,040
easy that leads to destruction. 
And those who enter by it are 

463
00:25:48,040 --> 00:25:49,440
many. 
I'm going to talk about that 

464
00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:50,800
word destruction again in a 
minute. 

465
00:25:51,320 --> 00:25:54,880
And then Matthew 13, it talks 
about this furnace of fire with 

466
00:25:54,880 --> 00:25:58,120
weeping and gnashing of teeth 
and throw them into the fiery 

467
00:25:58,120 --> 00:25:59,800
furnace. 
In that place there will be 

468
00:25:59,800 --> 00:26:05,640
weeping and gnashing of teeth. 
You know, it's interesting 

469
00:26:05,640 --> 00:26:09,120
because Doctor Aiken will also 
say about this. 

470
00:26:09,120 --> 00:26:11,560
He'll say that people in hell do
not love Jesus. 

471
00:26:11,560 --> 00:26:17,920
Suddenly they recognize him, but
they don't love him, which is 

472
00:26:17,920 --> 00:26:24,320
part of the problem. 
John Blanchard wrote a wrote a 

473
00:26:24,320 --> 00:26:25,920
piece called What Happened to 
Hell? 

474
00:26:26,080 --> 00:26:29,920
Just listen for a minute. 
The wicked will be angry at the 

475
00:26:29,920 --> 00:26:33,320
things which gave them pleasure 
on earth but now give them pain 

476
00:26:33,320 --> 00:26:37,760
in hell, angry at the sins that 
wrecked their lives, angry at 

477
00:26:37,760 --> 00:26:41,000
themselves for being who they 
are, angry at Satan and his 

478
00:26:41,000 --> 00:26:44,160
helpers for producing the 
temptations which led them into 

479
00:26:44,160 --> 00:26:47,760
the into sin, and even while 
compelled to acknowledge his 

480
00:26:47,760 --> 00:26:55,920
glory, angry at God. 
Now a quick question before we 

481
00:26:55,920 --> 00:26:58,880
get to a major topic, a quick 
question. 

482
00:26:58,880 --> 00:27:00,800
Are people predestined to go to 
hell? 

483
00:27:01,320 --> 00:27:04,640
There's actually a heavy 
theological term for this. 

484
00:27:04,640 --> 00:27:07,120
More than one, Frankly, 
depending upon which angle 

485
00:27:07,120 --> 00:27:09,520
you're looking at and to what 
degree you're trying to describe

486
00:27:09,520 --> 00:27:12,560
it, the most common one would be
double predestination. 

487
00:27:12,600 --> 00:27:15,720
Or here's your word for the 
week, super lapsarianism. 

488
00:27:17,040 --> 00:27:20,560
So use that in a conversation 
tomorrow when you're ordering 

489
00:27:20,560 --> 00:27:24,160
your Dunkin coffee. 
Say that was super Lapsaria 

490
00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:29,640
stick. 
Now many people blame John 

491
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:32,000
Calvin for this. 
John Calvin gets blamed for a 

492
00:27:32,000 --> 00:27:34,840
lot of things. 
It's really funny though when 

493
00:27:34,840 --> 00:27:38,440
you actually study Calvin versus
the followers of Calvin. 

494
00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:42,120
Sometimes advocacy does not 
always represent the source 

495
00:27:42,120 --> 00:27:44,520
well. 
Now, I'm not saying that there 

496
00:27:44,520 --> 00:27:46,840
wouldn't be things that John 
Calvin said you might disagree 

497
00:27:46,840 --> 00:27:49,720
with. 
That's fair, but John Calvin 

498
00:27:49,720 --> 00:27:51,960
isn't really the one who came up
with this idea. 

499
00:27:52,240 --> 00:27:55,200
It was championed by a guy and 
I, I can't tell you that how 

500
00:27:55,200 --> 00:27:59,240
many times in life I've said the
the name Theodore Beza or why I 

501
00:27:59,240 --> 00:28:00,840
would ever say it out loud, but 
there you are. 

502
00:28:01,560 --> 00:28:03,240
But super lapsarianism came from
him. 

503
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:06,600
And the idea is this is our 
people doomed before birth? 

504
00:28:08,320 --> 00:28:11,000
Are people doomed to go to hell?
Some people are. 

505
00:28:11,400 --> 00:28:13,600
Some people are the elect and 
they're going to be saved. 

506
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:16,840
Some people are doomed and 
they're going to go to hell and 

507
00:28:16,840 --> 00:28:19,760
they don't have a choice. 
They're born that way. 

508
00:28:19,880 --> 00:28:22,800
They're it's already 
predetermined before they exist 

509
00:28:22,800 --> 00:28:24,920
on this planet. 
That's part of the idea and 

510
00:28:24,920 --> 00:28:29,560
God's sovereignty. 
So Millard Erickson, who's a 

511
00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,920
theological systematic 
theologian, a conservative, 

512
00:28:32,920 --> 00:28:36,440
wonderful evangelical 
conservative guy, listen to what

513
00:28:36,440 --> 00:28:38,200
he says. 
He says further. 

514
00:28:38,200 --> 00:28:40,720
He believed that. 
And this is talking about Bezza.

515
00:28:42,720 --> 00:28:45,000
Further, he believed that 
despite the absence of any 

516
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:47,680
specific biblical statements, 
don't miss that line. 

517
00:28:48,280 --> 00:28:50,840
There's nothing in the Bible 
that supports this view. 

518
00:28:50,840 --> 00:28:54,680
In other words, the logical 
order of God's decree can be 

519
00:28:54,680 --> 00:28:56,440
determined. 
He believed that the decree to 

520
00:28:56,440 --> 00:29:00,400
save some and damn others is 
logically prior to the decision 

521
00:29:00,400 --> 00:29:03,640
to create. 
And so the idea is that God 

522
00:29:03,640 --> 00:29:06,240
creates some to save and some to
curse. 

523
00:29:07,960 --> 00:29:12,080
And if you'll notice, even the 
way Ericsson comments on this 

524
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:16,640
theological position there, 
there isn't biblical evidence 

525
00:29:16,640 --> 00:29:19,440
for this. 
This is a logical theological 

526
00:29:19,440 --> 00:29:22,280
conclusion because if God's 
completely sovereign, he already

527
00:29:22,280 --> 00:29:25,080
is in charge of everything. 
So he's already done all this. 

528
00:29:25,080 --> 00:29:27,360
So we blame God for it in the 
first place, before God even 

529
00:29:27,360 --> 00:29:30,560
created humanity. 
See, it's, it's, it's more 

530
00:29:30,560 --> 00:29:33,080
almost mathematics. 
There's it's I refer to as 

531
00:29:33,080 --> 00:29:38,720
theological algebra. 
So instead, in the Bible, Paul 

532
00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:42,040
talks about mysteries and we've 
talked before, and I'll 

533
00:29:42,040 --> 00:29:44,800
reiterate it just for a second. 
Again, there's a huge difference

534
00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:49,440
between gods for knowledge and 
and free will. 

535
00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:53,680
And that difference is very, 
very important. 

536
00:29:53,920 --> 00:29:58,440
We operate within this, this the
system of time. 

537
00:29:58,440 --> 00:30:00,880
God does not, and that changes 
everything. 

538
00:30:01,040 --> 00:30:04,320
So does God already know who 
will be saved and who will not 

539
00:30:04,320 --> 00:30:06,960
be saved? 
Sure, he knows that, but does 

540
00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:09,520
that mean that those people have
no option or no choice in the 

541
00:30:09,520 --> 00:30:11,520
process of their life? 
Absolutely not. 

542
00:30:11,520 --> 00:30:13,720
They have free will. 
They're making this decision. 

543
00:30:15,800 --> 00:30:18,560
And so it's hard for us to 
always wrap our heads around 

544
00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:20,200
that. 
And Theodore didn't do a good 

545
00:30:20,200 --> 00:30:26,200
job of it. 
Sometimes I wonder, well, I'll 

546
00:30:26,200 --> 00:30:28,400
be careful. 
And double, double 

547
00:30:28,400 --> 00:30:31,320
predestination is a really easy 
excuse not to have to share the 

548
00:30:31,320 --> 00:30:36,440
gospel with anybody or not to do
missions. 

549
00:30:37,920 --> 00:30:40,840
But let's talk about a really 
significant issue here. 

550
00:30:40,840 --> 00:30:43,160
And this is something that gets 
debated often. 

551
00:30:43,160 --> 00:30:46,040
In fact, I've had folks within 
churches I pastored that I had 

552
00:30:46,040 --> 00:30:48,720
to have this conversation with 
people who taught small groups 

553
00:30:49,040 --> 00:30:50,680
that I've had to have this 
conversation with. 

554
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,040
And that's what we call the 
eternality of punishment. 

555
00:30:53,600 --> 00:30:55,760
I wrote a significant paper 
about this. 

556
00:30:57,200 --> 00:31:00,800
The the Bible clearly teaches 
that punishment is eternal. 

557
00:31:00,800 --> 00:31:02,840
Sin has this massive, great 
price. 

558
00:31:03,200 --> 00:31:06,280
God gave his life on a cross to 
pay for it. 

559
00:31:06,280 --> 00:31:08,000
You got to recognize how 
precious that is. 

560
00:31:08,160 --> 00:31:11,560
That's a big deal. 
And so he paid a huge price for 

561
00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,560
this. 
And so we need to respect that 

562
00:31:14,560 --> 00:31:17,760
and we need to recognize what a 
significant price that was. 

563
00:31:17,960 --> 00:31:21,440
So what do those who reject him 
deserve? 

564
00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:26,120
He's offered this incredible 
free gift he's given his whole 

565
00:31:26,120 --> 00:31:27,520
life. 
What else could he give? 

566
00:31:28,560 --> 00:31:30,640
He sacrificed himself, so to 
speak. 

567
00:31:30,920 --> 00:31:34,160
And So what do those people who 
reject that in a sense slap him 

568
00:31:34,160 --> 00:31:37,320
in the face over it or 
disbelieving? 

569
00:31:37,320 --> 00:31:40,000
What do they actually deserve? 
So they've rejected him, giving 

570
00:31:40,000 --> 00:31:42,600
them life and then his life for 
them. 

571
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,960
No greater price could be paid, 
thus no higher price could be 

572
00:31:45,960 --> 00:31:50,240
rejected. 
So the free gift is turned down.

573
00:31:50,240 --> 00:31:53,320
Therefore they have to pay 
themselves. 

574
00:31:54,680 --> 00:31:59,720
The wage will be paid, the 
collector will come, and the 

575
00:31:59,720 --> 00:32:04,200
debt will be satisfied. 
And that's just the fact of it 

576
00:32:04,200 --> 00:32:08,520
all. 
We misunderstand sin and it's 

577
00:32:08,560 --> 00:32:11,200
and it's horrible price that we 
must pay. 

578
00:32:11,480 --> 00:32:15,320
So people don't want hell to 
exist or they they might think 

579
00:32:15,320 --> 00:32:17,320
it's too harsh. 
Now listen. 

580
00:32:17,320 --> 00:32:19,960
And since they've lifted 
themselves up often as the 

581
00:32:19,960 --> 00:32:23,400
definer and distributor of 
truth, they want to make it the 

582
00:32:23,400 --> 00:32:26,880
way they want. 
It reminds me of my 

583
00:32:26,880 --> 00:32:31,840
grandchildren. 
But we missed the mark. 

584
00:32:31,840 --> 00:32:35,840
And we don't understand that 
truth is absolutely objective 

585
00:32:35,840 --> 00:32:38,080
and not up to our own 
definition, no matter what 

586
00:32:38,080 --> 00:32:40,920
postmodernism wants to try to 
shove down your throat. 

587
00:32:42,400 --> 00:32:46,960
And so the truth is that hell is
real, and hell lasts forever. 

588
00:32:47,240 --> 00:32:52,120
Annihilationism is not biblical.
Now, we've talked about 

589
00:32:52,120 --> 00:32:56,120
annihilationism before when I 
talked about false paths to 

590
00:32:56,120 --> 00:32:59,720
eternity in a previous session. 
Let me just review here three 

591
00:32:59,720 --> 00:33:01,880
different views of 
annihilationism. 

592
00:33:02,160 --> 00:33:06,200
And there are people who will 
come knocking on your door who 

593
00:33:06,200 --> 00:33:10,800
are annihilationist. 
By the way, one version is, is 

594
00:33:10,800 --> 00:33:14,040
that man was created immortal, 
that people who continue to sin 

595
00:33:14,040 --> 00:33:17,480
and reject Christ are deprived 
of the gift of immortality and 

596
00:33:17,480 --> 00:33:20,280
are ultimately destroyed. 
So you had it and you lost it. 

597
00:33:20,760 --> 00:33:24,520
It's really actually the the 
reverse of of what the Bible 

598
00:33:24,520 --> 00:33:28,680
teaches, where we start off with
a sin nature and we actually are

599
00:33:28,680 --> 00:33:30,560
able to receive the gift of 
eternal life. 

600
00:33:31,560 --> 00:33:33,880
The second view is that 
immortality is a gift only to 

601
00:33:33,880 --> 00:33:36,920
those who believe, and those who
do not are annihilated and lose 

602
00:33:36,920 --> 00:33:39,200
consciousness. 
That's a very common view of 

603
00:33:39,200 --> 00:33:43,000
annihilationism. 
And add that usually combined 

604
00:33:43,000 --> 00:33:45,720
with #3 there's a limited time 
of suffering for the wicked 

605
00:33:45,720 --> 00:33:47,560
after death. 
Again, there's just this 

606
00:33:47,560 --> 00:33:51,480
emotional aspect of it to where 
there's no way that my sin 

607
00:33:51,480 --> 00:33:55,160
deserves eternal punishment. 
There's no way that my sins that

608
00:33:55,160 --> 00:33:58,640
bad. 
And again, we don't understand 

609
00:33:58,640 --> 00:34:03,080
sin. 
So Matthew 2546, this, this is 

610
00:34:03,080 --> 00:34:05,920
what the Bible teaches. 
I can't make it not teach this. 

611
00:34:07,360 --> 00:34:11,199
Matthew 2546 says, and these 
will go away into eternal 

612
00:34:11,199 --> 00:34:15,040
punishment, but the righteous 
into eternal life. 

613
00:34:16,719 --> 00:34:20,080
And so this clearly teaches that
punishment will be eternal, not 

614
00:34:20,080 --> 00:34:22,520
just in your English 
translation, but in the original

615
00:34:22,520 --> 00:34:28,080
language. 
So the word ionois, hard to say,

616
00:34:28,440 --> 00:34:31,760
is translated as eternal, and 
what it means is everlasting 

617
00:34:31,760 --> 00:34:34,040
without end. 
And what you've got to 

618
00:34:34,040 --> 00:34:37,639
understand is the eternality of 
God's punishment or hell of the 

619
00:34:37,639 --> 00:34:42,400
wicked equals the eternality of 
eternal life given to the 

620
00:34:42,400 --> 00:34:44,960
righteous. 
You can't have one without the 

621
00:34:44,960 --> 00:34:47,920
other. 
It's the same word, it's the 

622
00:34:47,920 --> 00:34:51,239
same description. 1 is just as 
long as the other. 

623
00:34:51,480 --> 00:34:54,120
So if hell is not eternal, 
neither is heaven. 

624
00:34:55,120 --> 00:34:57,640
You can't have it. 
Any of that's linguistically, it

625
00:34:57,640 --> 00:35:02,160
doesn't work any other way. 
It's very clear you can't. 

626
00:35:02,160 --> 00:35:04,080
You can't claim one and ignore 
the other. 

627
00:35:04,080 --> 00:35:05,440
It just doesn't. 
It doesn't stand up 

628
00:35:05,440 --> 00:35:07,360
linguistically, it doesn't stand
up theologically, it doesn't 

629
00:35:07,360 --> 00:35:08,680
stand up biblically. 
So. 

630
00:35:08,680 --> 00:35:10,840
So again, let's listen to 
Revelation for a minute. 

631
00:35:11,440 --> 00:35:14,240
And the devil who had deceived 
them was thrown into the lake of

632
00:35:14,240 --> 00:35:15,840
fire. 
And so for where the beast and 

633
00:35:15,840 --> 00:35:19,080
false prophet were. 
And they will be tormented day 

634
00:35:19,080 --> 00:35:23,880
and night forever and ever. 
And that Greek forever and ever 

635
00:35:23,880 --> 00:35:28,920
is just the same as Revelation 
1/6 And it says and made us 

636
00:35:28,920 --> 00:35:32,680
Kingdom, made us a Kingdom 
priest to his God and father, to

637
00:35:32,680 --> 00:35:36,320
him be glory and dominion, 
forever and ever. 

638
00:35:36,360 --> 00:35:39,400
Amen. 
Exact same wording used or in 

639
00:35:39,400 --> 00:35:41,760
Revelation 4. 
And whenever the living 

640
00:35:41,760 --> 00:35:44,600
creatures give glory and honor 
and thanks to him who is seated 

641
00:35:44,600 --> 00:35:48,920
on the throne, who lives forever
and ever, the 24 elders fell 

642
00:35:48,920 --> 00:35:52,400
down before him who is seated on
the throne and worship him who 

643
00:35:52,400 --> 00:35:55,800
lives forever and ever. 
And they cast their crowns 

644
00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:59,240
before the throne, saying worthy
of you, O Lord our God, to 

645
00:35:59,240 --> 00:36:00,920
receive glory and honor and 
power. 

646
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:05,040
And you created all things, and 
by your will they existed and 

647
00:36:05,040 --> 00:36:07,560
were created. 
And in chapters 5 and in 

648
00:36:07,560 --> 00:36:12,000
chapters 10 and chapters 11, the
exact same wording is used over 

649
00:36:12,000 --> 00:36:15,480
and over and over again in the 
worship of God, the endless life

650
00:36:15,480 --> 00:36:19,360
of God, the Kingdom of Christ. 
You can't make this mean 

651
00:36:19,360 --> 00:36:23,800
something else. 
Annihilationism has 0 biblical 

652
00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:29,360
legs to stand on, so we can't 
claim one from scripture and 

653
00:36:29,360 --> 00:36:32,240
deny the other. 
The fires of hell will last 

654
00:36:32,240 --> 00:36:36,200
forever. 
And it's interesting because in 

655
00:36:36,200 --> 00:36:39,560
Mark 9, for example, it says 
this is a different version of a

656
00:36:39,560 --> 00:36:42,120
verse we were looking at in a 
different gospel. 

657
00:36:42,120 --> 00:36:44,960
And if your hand causes you to 
send, cut it off, better for you

658
00:36:44,960 --> 00:36:48,400
to enter life crippled than with
two hands to go to hell to the 

659
00:36:48,400 --> 00:36:52,520
unquenchable fire. 
Or verse 48 where the worm does 

660
00:36:52,520 --> 00:36:55,720
not die and the fire is not 
quenched. 

661
00:36:56,760 --> 00:37:03,280
There's never a moment that the 
fire is out or Revelation 14. 

662
00:37:03,320 --> 00:37:05,480
And I'm telling you earlier 
today, and I don't want to go 

663
00:37:05,480 --> 00:37:08,520
down this road too much. 
It may be too dramatic, but I I 

664
00:37:08,520 --> 00:37:11,480
broke down earlier this morning 
when I was finishing this. 

665
00:37:12,040 --> 00:37:14,120
And this bothers. 
I have relatives here. 

666
00:37:18,480 --> 00:37:24,720
I have friends here who weren't 
saved, major influences in my 

667
00:37:24,720 --> 00:37:30,760
life not saved before they died.
Revelation 14 where it talks 

668
00:37:30,760 --> 00:37:35,880
about being tormented forever. 
And another Angel 1/3 followed 

669
00:37:35,880 --> 00:37:39,760
them, saying with a loud voice, 
If anyone worships the beast in 

670
00:37:39,760 --> 00:37:43,280
its image and receives a mark on
his forehead or on his hand, he 

671
00:37:43,280 --> 00:37:45,720
will also drink. 
Let me turn the page, I'm stuck,

672
00:37:45,720 --> 00:37:47,840
sorry. 
He will also drink the wine of 

673
00:37:47,840 --> 00:37:50,840
God's wrath, poured full 
strength into the cup of his 

674
00:37:50,840 --> 00:37:55,320
anger, and he will be tormented 
with fire and sulfur In the 

675
00:37:55,320 --> 00:37:58,480
presence of the holy angels and 
in the presence of the Lamb and 

676
00:37:58,480 --> 00:38:01,640
the smoke, the look of their 
torment goes up forever and 

677
00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:04,880
ever, and they have no rest, day
or night. 

678
00:38:04,960 --> 00:38:08,040
These worshippers of the beast 
in its image and whoever 

679
00:38:08,040 --> 00:38:12,560
receives the mark of its name, 
terrific. 

680
00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:18,400
It ought to have impact on us. 
We're told about this, so it'll 

681
00:38:18,400 --> 00:38:22,000
have impact on us. 
This is a warning. 

682
00:38:23,040 --> 00:38:27,000
This is a challenge to us. 
Paul writes to the church at 

683
00:38:27,000 --> 00:38:30,200
Thessalonica. 
He says in flaming fire, 

684
00:38:30,280 --> 00:38:34,240
inflicting vengeance on those 
who do not know God and on those

685
00:38:34,240 --> 00:38:37,160
who do not obey the gospel of 
our Lord Jesus. 

686
00:38:37,400 --> 00:38:41,440
They will suffer the punishment 
of eternal destruction away from

687
00:38:41,440 --> 00:38:44,720
the presence of the Lord and 
from the glory of His might. 

688
00:38:44,880 --> 00:38:48,360
The penalty is eternal 
destruction away from the 

689
00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:52,120
presence of the Lord and from 
the glory of his power. 

690
00:38:52,360 --> 00:38:56,760
I need to camp here for a few 
minutes because this idea of 

691
00:38:56,760 --> 00:38:59,680
eternal destruction, sometimes 
whenever you see that word 

692
00:38:59,680 --> 00:39:02,880
destroy or destruction, 
annihilation, also say, see, 

693
00:39:02,880 --> 00:39:04,760
look, you're being destroyed. 
You don't exist anymore. 

694
00:39:05,680 --> 00:39:10,320
You're done away with because 
they read English, but you got 

695
00:39:10,320 --> 00:39:13,520
to understand the literal 
original language in the Greek 

696
00:39:13,520 --> 00:39:16,800
language for that word. 
Destruction means a sudden ruin 

697
00:39:16,800 --> 00:39:20,160
or a loss of all that gives 
worth to existence. 

698
00:39:20,640 --> 00:39:23,120
It's a destruction of what is 
considered worthy to you. 

699
00:39:23,120 --> 00:39:25,320
It's not a district. 
It's not a destruction of you. 

700
00:39:25,640 --> 00:39:28,920
It's a destruction of all that 
you would consider precious. 

701
00:39:29,280 --> 00:39:32,360
In other words, everything that 
you thought was important here, 

702
00:39:32,520 --> 00:39:35,680
everything that you clung to 
instead of Christ, everything 

703
00:39:35,680 --> 00:39:38,960
that you turn to instead of God,
it's all stripped away. 

704
00:39:40,920 --> 00:39:43,600
Everything this earth can offer 
you is gone. 

705
00:39:44,760 --> 00:39:49,480
Nothing is left other than what 
you do for eternity for Christ. 

706
00:39:50,200 --> 00:39:52,480
So it's not annihilation, but it
is. 

707
00:39:52,480 --> 00:39:54,440
And you read that passage in 
Thessalonians. 

708
00:39:54,600 --> 00:40:00,240
This is that complete separation
from God where we don't have his

709
00:40:00,240 --> 00:40:02,240
presence anymore. 
In the same way, we don't 

710
00:40:02,240 --> 00:40:05,880
understand we, we are away from 
the presence and the Lord and 

711
00:40:05,880 --> 00:40:09,920
from the glory of his power. 
And again, you might know 

712
00:40:09,920 --> 00:40:14,000
people. 
Maybe you are people, some of 

713
00:40:14,000 --> 00:40:19,040
your people, who don't believe 
in God. 

714
00:40:19,560 --> 00:40:21,600
And you don't think God's ever 
done a thing for you? 

715
00:40:24,120 --> 00:40:29,000
You really need to go back and 
read Romans one and recognize 

716
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:31,520
that He dispenses grace upon all
of us. 

717
00:40:31,520 --> 00:40:33,720
It's part of being created in 
the image of God. 

718
00:40:34,480 --> 00:40:40,000
We get the benefit of part of 
His grace by being alive, by 

719
00:40:40,000 --> 00:40:44,840
being able to exist, by giving, 
by being given the chance to 

720
00:40:44,840 --> 00:40:50,320
choose Him. 
So in his nature of love, he 

721
00:40:50,320 --> 00:40:54,000
creates us and gives us this 
opportunity to know him and his 

722
00:40:54,000 --> 00:41:00,920
nature of holiness. 
It demands a price and both of 

723
00:41:00,920 --> 00:41:06,720
those natures must be satisfied.
And So what we see is, is that 

724
00:41:07,080 --> 00:41:10,680
it's it's endless destruction 
and worthlessness. 

725
00:41:11,320 --> 00:41:13,400
Idea of worthlessness would 
probably be better. 

726
00:41:15,240 --> 00:41:19,480
Billy Graham once said the Bible
teaches whether we are saved or 

727
00:41:19,480 --> 00:41:22,760
lost, there is an everlasting 
existence of the soul. 

728
00:41:23,560 --> 00:41:27,840
So we never die, we're never 
gone, we're never not part of 

729
00:41:27,840 --> 00:41:30,800
it. 
And again Erickson writes this. 

730
00:41:31,040 --> 00:41:34,440
However we regard the doctrine 
of everlasting punishment, it is

731
00:41:34,440 --> 00:41:38,240
clearly taught in Scripture. 
Whatever one is at the end of 

732
00:41:38,240 --> 00:41:40,440
life will continue for all 
eternity. 

733
00:41:40,760 --> 00:41:44,120
There is no basis for expecting 
change for the better. 

734
00:41:44,560 --> 00:41:48,200
Not only is the future judgement
of unbelievers irreversible, but

735
00:41:48,200 --> 00:41:52,120
their punishment is eternal. 
We do not reject merely the idea

736
00:41:52,120 --> 00:41:55,320
that all will be saved. 
We also reject the contention 

737
00:41:55,320 --> 00:41:57,400
that none will be eternally 
punished. 

738
00:41:59,000 --> 00:42:04,280
So both universalism and 
annihilationism are false 

739
00:42:04,280 --> 00:42:08,760
doctrines. 
And so we recognize what this 

740
00:42:08,760 --> 00:42:13,240
means for us now here, while 
we're still able to choose. 

741
00:42:16,200 --> 00:42:18,600
First of all, you ought to thank
God for the ability to choose. 

742
00:42:19,680 --> 00:42:26,640
That's a gift, that's grace, and
this can be avoided. 

743
00:42:28,840 --> 00:42:32,480
So the greatest pain, again 
suffered by people who are 

744
00:42:32,800 --> 00:42:35,680
eternally punished is that they 
are forever excluded from the 

745
00:42:35,680 --> 00:42:40,320
presence of God. 
Sometimes it bothers me how 

746
00:42:40,320 --> 00:42:42,360
lightly we take the presence of 
God. 

747
00:42:43,840 --> 00:42:47,880
If if ecstatic joy can be found 
in the presence of God and utter

748
00:42:47,880 --> 00:42:54,040
dismay would be found in His 
absence, and to be shut out from

749
00:42:54,040 --> 00:42:57,440
Him is a much greater price than
most of us know. 

750
00:42:57,440 --> 00:43:00,840
When Jesus in Matthew 25 says 
depart from me, these are 

751
00:43:00,840 --> 00:43:03,040
horrible words. 
Think about the horrible words 

752
00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:05,480
to hear from the King of kings 
and the Lord of Lords. 

753
00:43:06,160 --> 00:43:11,800
To think about being completely 
shut out, not knowing or ever 

754
00:43:11,800 --> 00:43:14,920
being able to know, but then 
knowing. 

755
00:43:15,440 --> 00:43:19,280
That's part of the catch, right?
Because remember what Paul said 

756
00:43:19,880 --> 00:43:25,400
And the time will come when 
every knee will bow and every 

757
00:43:25,440 --> 00:43:30,840
tongue will confess that you so 
you'll know, but it'll be too 

758
00:43:30,840 --> 00:43:34,440
late to believe. 
So it's not only the fact that 

759
00:43:34,440 --> 00:43:35,760
I'm not going to be in his 
presence anymore. 

760
00:43:35,760 --> 00:43:37,720
It's not only the fact that I'm 
suffering this punishment. 

761
00:43:37,720 --> 00:43:40,680
It's also the fact that I know. 
I know what I should have done. 

762
00:43:41,360 --> 00:43:43,680
I know what I could have done. 
Go back to the rich man Lazarus 

763
00:43:43,680 --> 00:43:45,000
story. 
Remember, he was aware. 

764
00:43:45,920 --> 00:43:47,440
Oh, if you'll just go back and 
warn my family. 

765
00:43:47,440 --> 00:43:49,600
Go back and warn my family, you 
know, send him back, send him 

766
00:43:49,600 --> 00:43:50,840
back. 
Let him go warn my family. 

767
00:43:51,760 --> 00:43:56,440
It's too late. 
And so part of hell is also 

768
00:43:56,440 --> 00:44:02,760
knowing that Jesus died on the 
cross for you, that he paid the 

769
00:44:02,760 --> 00:44:04,960
price for you. 
All you had to do is believe in 

770
00:44:04,960 --> 00:44:06,160
him. 
All you had to do is trust in 

771
00:44:06,160 --> 00:44:07,200
Him. 
All you had to do is receive 

772
00:44:07,200 --> 00:44:09,560
this gift. 
But you didn't. 

773
00:44:12,000 --> 00:44:13,360
And people say, well, that's 
mean. 

774
00:44:14,800 --> 00:44:19,040
No, actually, out of his nature 
of love, He gave you free will 

775
00:44:21,880 --> 00:44:25,160
and you chose. 
You chose. 

776
00:44:26,320 --> 00:44:32,680
He didn't choose, you chose, and
you chose to reject Him, and 

777
00:44:32,680 --> 00:44:38,400
you're going to pay the price. 
And so this conscious eternal 

778
00:44:38,400 --> 00:44:42,840
punishment, the horrifying, as 
bad as this is, this is an 

779
00:44:42,840 --> 00:44:48,560
extremely biblical, orthodox, 
evangelical view. 

780
00:44:49,200 --> 00:44:53,920
Hell is real. 
So what it ought to do then is 

781
00:44:53,920 --> 00:44:59,640
it ought to motivate us. 
See, we sit in pastors meetings 

782
00:44:59,640 --> 00:45:02,640
week after week and we've gotten
concerned about some things, 

783
00:45:02,640 --> 00:45:09,440
which is why on our prayer list,
we're now re reminding you of 

784
00:45:09,440 --> 00:45:13,160
the UPUUPG. 
On many Wednesday nights, we're 

785
00:45:13,160 --> 00:45:19,280
going to show the video of the 
UUPG again, because my, our 

786
00:45:19,280 --> 00:45:22,080
concern was, is that every 
Sunday morning at Englewood, if 

787
00:45:22,080 --> 00:45:25,000
you don't come to Englewood on 
Sundays, we take time in our 

788
00:45:25,000 --> 00:45:28,840
Sunday morning worship service 
and we show a video our most 

789
00:45:28,840 --> 00:45:32,440
Sundays of an unreached, 
unengaged people group and we 

790
00:45:32,440 --> 00:45:35,480
pray for them. 
And then the thought is, is that

791
00:45:35,480 --> 00:45:37,160
we're supposed to pray for them 
during the week. 

792
00:45:37,760 --> 00:45:40,280
Well, the pastors honestly got 
together and we said, how many 

793
00:45:40,280 --> 00:45:44,120
of you can remember the name of 
the people group by about 

794
00:45:44,120 --> 00:45:46,880
Tuesday? 
And I don't blame anybody for 

795
00:45:46,880 --> 00:45:48,720
that. 
It's a fleeting moment. 

796
00:45:48,720 --> 00:45:50,760
There's a lot of them. 
Some of them have really hard 

797
00:45:50,760 --> 00:45:53,960
names that Gene and Charles have
to try to produce sometimes. 

798
00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:57,360
You know, he got off easy this 
week. 

799
00:45:57,360 --> 00:46:00,360
Swahili, if you notice. 
I don't ever do it. 

800
00:46:04,400 --> 00:46:06,800
But do you actually remember who
these people are? 

801
00:46:06,800 --> 00:46:09,160
So we were hoping midweek would 
remind you a little bit. 

802
00:46:10,560 --> 00:46:12,400
One of the things that's 
happening also is our shut 

803
00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:13,600
insurance. 
Many of our shut insurance are 

804
00:46:13,600 --> 00:46:15,960
getting these lists and they're 
praying throughout the week. 

805
00:46:16,320 --> 00:46:19,080
So I then they really do. 
I talk to them when I go out 

806
00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:21,120
every week to visit shut 
insurance and we talk about it 

807
00:46:21,120 --> 00:46:24,240
and they're actually seeing and 
admit some of our other members 

808
00:46:24,240 --> 00:46:26,520
are doing it too. 
But do you actually remember to 

809
00:46:26,520 --> 00:46:29,360
pray for some folks? 
Now, this week's a little 

810
00:46:29,360 --> 00:46:31,000
unfair. 
It was senior Sunday, so we were

811
00:46:31,000 --> 00:46:34,040
a little different on Sunday. 
Here's why I bring that up. 

812
00:46:35,360 --> 00:46:36,920
Those people are lost and going 
to hell. 

813
00:46:38,800 --> 00:46:42,360
When you when you say UUPG, it 
means that they not only are 

814
00:46:42,360 --> 00:46:44,560
lost, they don't even have a way
to be saved. 

815
00:46:45,720 --> 00:46:48,200
They're unengaged. 
They don't have a church, they 

816
00:46:48,480 --> 00:46:50,720
don't have a Bible. 
They don't have, they don't have

817
00:46:50,720 --> 00:46:53,680
the opportunity unless somebody 
shares the gospel with them. 

818
00:46:54,400 --> 00:46:57,600
And So what we see is, is we see
this opportunity to not only 

819
00:46:57,600 --> 00:47:00,000
pray for those people over 
there, but then every now and 

820
00:47:00,000 --> 00:47:01,520
then this will this will be 
interesting to you. 

821
00:47:01,640 --> 00:47:03,600
And if you're in the room, I 
wish you'd come up and meet me 

822
00:47:03,600 --> 00:47:05,120
instead of sending me an 
anonymous notes. 

823
00:47:06,640 --> 00:47:08,680
And if you're listening to this 
online, I really mean that 

824
00:47:08,880 --> 00:47:11,680
because that's a sin, by the 
way, anonymous notes are a sin. 

825
00:47:11,680 --> 00:47:13,960
There's nothing biblical about 
an anonymous note. 

826
00:47:14,040 --> 00:47:16,640
I used to have a whole sermon on
the sin of the anonymous note. 

827
00:47:16,800 --> 00:47:19,040
I tell anybody who gets 
anonymous note who works at this

828
00:47:19,040 --> 00:47:20,360
church is supposed to just throw
it away. 

829
00:47:21,080 --> 00:47:22,280
That's a sin. 
You. 

830
00:47:22,360 --> 00:47:25,320
There's nothing in Matthew 18 or
Matthew 5 that's anonymous. 

831
00:47:26,760 --> 00:47:29,880
So it's interesting because I 
get these these notes and one of

832
00:47:29,880 --> 00:47:31,040
them at least puts his name on 
there. 

833
00:47:31,040 --> 00:47:33,720
It's pretty cute. 
And he's gotten mad at us. 

834
00:47:33,720 --> 00:47:35,680
I think he's a visitor. 
If you're actually here and 

835
00:47:35,680 --> 00:47:37,080
you're a member, I really would 
like to meet you. 

836
00:47:37,840 --> 00:47:40,240
But he chews us out for where we
go on mission trips. 

837
00:47:41,280 --> 00:47:44,000
And so why are you going over 
there when we have lost people 

838
00:47:44,000 --> 00:47:47,240
right here? 
And I try to help them 

839
00:47:47,240 --> 00:47:49,960
understand. 
Well, we do that too, you know, 

840
00:47:50,080 --> 00:47:58,400
I mean, lost is lost. 
But at some point, how seriously

841
00:47:58,400 --> 00:48:03,360
are we taking that? 
If your family member or your 

842
00:48:03,360 --> 00:48:09,560
neighbor or your friend at work 
or whoever else is lost, this is

843
00:48:09,560 --> 00:48:13,520
what they face. 
And at some point, we got to 

844
00:48:13,520 --> 00:48:16,960
decide whether we're more afraid
to talk to them about Jesus 

845
00:48:16,960 --> 00:48:21,080
right now, or are we more afraid
of what they're going to face in

846
00:48:21,080 --> 00:48:22,760
eternity. 
I know some of you do, 

847
00:48:23,720 --> 00:48:25,160
especially those who are here 
tonight. 

848
00:48:28,440 --> 00:48:30,560
But these people really are 
going to die and go to hell. 

849
00:48:33,240 --> 00:48:35,000
And there's a massive percentage
of them. 

850
00:48:35,000 --> 00:48:38,680
I'm talking thousands of people 
around us right now 

851
00:48:38,920 --> 00:48:44,120
statistically who are lost. 
We have thousands more of them 

852
00:48:44,120 --> 00:48:51,040
moving in who are lost. 
Millions and millions and 

853
00:48:51,040 --> 00:48:54,640
millions and millions and 
millions and millions. 

854
00:48:54,640 --> 00:48:58,040
I could use the B word, but I 
like saying millions around the 

855
00:48:58,040 --> 00:49:03,400
world. the United States of 
America is the is now some would

856
00:49:03,400 --> 00:49:05,360
say 4th. 
It's it's actually third. 

857
00:49:05,360 --> 00:49:10,760
I think we've beaten Indonesia 
outside of China and India. 

858
00:49:10,760 --> 00:49:13,720
We are the third largest unsaved
nation on the planet. 

859
00:49:18,120 --> 00:49:23,760
And it's getting worse. 
But it's, it's it that's kind of

860
00:49:24,280 --> 00:49:27,040
that's kind of big, isn't it? 
To kind of wrap your head around

861
00:49:27,200 --> 00:49:30,840
billions or millions or third 
largest. 

862
00:49:32,560 --> 00:49:34,720
But what that means is is that's
your friend. 

863
00:49:36,400 --> 00:49:39,400
That's the guy across the 
street, that's the guy you work 

864
00:49:39,400 --> 00:49:41,320
with. 
You're too scared to talk to. 

865
00:49:41,440 --> 00:49:45,720
You're afraid you might offend 
him, afraid you might bother 

866
00:49:45,720 --> 00:49:49,000
him, afraid you might push him 
further away. 

867
00:49:49,280 --> 00:49:51,280
Well, you can't get further away
in hell. 

868
00:49:53,320 --> 00:49:55,400
And so at some point we got to 
make a decision where's where's 

869
00:49:55,400 --> 00:49:59,400
the balance of significance and 
priority, right, to share with 

870
00:49:59,400 --> 00:50:01,000
somebody. 
And as I've shared with you 

871
00:50:01,000 --> 00:50:05,840
before, and I swear my testimony
got criticized more than 

872
00:50:05,840 --> 00:50:07,920
anything I've done at Inglewood.
It's been a fascinating 

873
00:50:07,920 --> 00:50:10,240
experience, My story of my own 
life. 

874
00:50:10,240 --> 00:50:13,400
I was told by multiple people 
how I should have told my story,

875
00:50:13,400 --> 00:50:17,520
which I really find fascinating.
It's just funny what people 

876
00:50:17,520 --> 00:50:22,760
think they ought to do and come 
up and say to me when I'm just 

877
00:50:22,760 --> 00:50:24,720
being descriptive about my real 
story. 

878
00:50:24,720 --> 00:50:28,600
But Teresa and I will both so 
the day we die, scream to the 

879
00:50:28,600 --> 00:50:32,400
fact that if individual people 
did not care enough about us to 

880
00:50:32,400 --> 00:50:34,800
come and share the gospel with 
us, we would be dying. 

881
00:50:34,800 --> 00:50:36,640
We would die and go to hell. 
We wouldn't. 

882
00:50:36,640 --> 00:50:37,640
We weren't. 
We weren't that. 

883
00:50:37,640 --> 00:50:39,160
We wouldn't be in a room like 
this. 

884
00:50:40,440 --> 00:50:42,800
We would have never come to a 
church. 

885
00:50:44,760 --> 00:50:47,720
She even tried going to a church
as a vacation Bible school as a 

886
00:50:47,720 --> 00:50:49,800
kid, but they never once shared 
the gospel. 

887
00:50:53,720 --> 00:50:56,200
Now, I'm saying all this to try 
to drive home a point. 

888
00:50:56,200 --> 00:51:00,480
And if it seems pointed, good, 
because one of the things that 

889
00:51:00,480 --> 00:51:03,320
we're not doing a good job of at
Inglewood is personal 

890
00:51:03,320 --> 00:51:06,560
evangelism. 
Now we're seeing people save. 

891
00:51:06,720 --> 00:51:09,320
So shouldn't I be happy we're 
going to baptize again, Coming 

892
00:51:09,320 --> 00:51:10,840
up with it seems that lots of 
people save. 

893
00:51:13,160 --> 00:51:19,680
Not enough, not nearly enough. 
So I hope this motivates us to 

894
00:51:19,680 --> 00:51:24,000
reach out with the gospel with a
tremendous passion sense of 

895
00:51:24,000 --> 00:51:30,120
urgency because we need to 
really understand that people 

896
00:51:30,120 --> 00:51:33,320
are going to face eternity. 
So do you know if you're 

897
00:51:33,320 --> 00:51:37,880
listening to me either here or 
online, do you know which Lord 

898
00:51:37,880 --> 00:51:42,200
you serve and who you're going 
to follow into eternity? 

899
00:51:42,400 --> 00:51:47,960
This is biblical fact because 
you can know you can know for 

900
00:51:47,960 --> 00:51:50,600
sure. 
And I pray you will. 

901
00:51:51,320 --> 00:51:58,120
A humorous tombstone marking 100
year old tombstone reads like 

902
00:51:58,120 --> 00:52:01,440
this. 
Pause, stranger, when you pass 

903
00:52:01,440 --> 00:52:04,440
by. 
As you are now, so once was. 

904
00:52:04,440 --> 00:52:08,000
I am. 
I am now, so you will be. 

905
00:52:08,200 --> 00:52:10,200
So prepare for death and follow 
me. 

906
00:52:11,360 --> 00:52:14,720
And if somebody came along and 
scratched underneath that, 

907
00:52:14,720 --> 00:52:20,720
saying the words to follow you, 
I'm not content until I know 

908
00:52:21,840 --> 00:52:32,560
which way you went. 
I'm so thankful for the free 

909
00:52:32,560 --> 00:52:37,400
gift of salvation. 
I'm thankful for the promise of 

910
00:52:37,400 --> 00:52:43,000
eternal life with Him. 
Sometimes I fear that we grow 

911
00:52:43,000 --> 00:52:45,760
too attached to this very 
temporary place. 

912
00:52:47,280 --> 00:52:50,440
We're here for a reason. 
We're here for a season, we're 

913
00:52:50,440 --> 00:52:54,080
here to perform a function, 
we're here to fulfill a mission,

914
00:52:55,160 --> 00:52:59,840
and then we get to go home. 
So let's work hard together to 

915
00:52:59,840 --> 00:53:04,880
bring Him great glory and to 
help Him redeem the nation's 

916
00:53:05,720 --> 00:53:08,720
Father. 
We thank you so much for your 

917
00:53:08,720 --> 00:53:13,360
love and your grace. 
Father, I was a little 

918
00:53:13,360 --> 00:53:16,600
overwhelmed today, frankly, with
this. 

919
00:53:18,040 --> 00:53:23,080
It's very heavy and it it can be
very personalized. 

920
00:53:23,080 --> 00:53:27,960
Father, because I, I saw faces, 
I saw people as I was finishing 

921
00:53:27,960 --> 00:53:33,520
this today, people, Father, I 
know who did not ever believe in

922
00:53:33,520 --> 00:53:40,120
you People I know who there's no
way biblically they would be 

923
00:53:40,120 --> 00:53:43,600
saved. 
And father, I'm not the judge of

924
00:53:43,600 --> 00:53:48,560
many and I don't judge many. 
I know these people intimately. 

925
00:53:51,480 --> 00:53:58,000
So, Father, I pray, Lord, that 
you'll help us to not let one 

926
00:53:58,000 --> 00:54:04,320
more pass that door. 
Father, forgive us when we take 

927
00:54:04,320 --> 00:54:08,320
this too lightly. 
Forgive us, Father, when we take

928
00:54:08,320 --> 00:54:11,920
sin too lightly. 
Forgive us when we take you too 

929
00:54:11,920 --> 00:54:16,320
lightly. 
And motivate us, Father, with a 

930
00:54:16,320 --> 00:54:21,840
sense of urgency to share with 
others about who you are and 

931
00:54:21,840 --> 00:54:26,040
what you've done and how they 
can avoid all of this. 

932
00:54:27,960 --> 00:54:30,360
Father, I pray, Lord, that 
you'll put people on our 

933
00:54:30,360 --> 00:54:33,600
pathway, That, Father, you'll 
give us names and faces and our 

934
00:54:33,600 --> 00:54:37,040
hearts and our minds. 
Lord and Father, as I pray for 

935
00:54:37,040 --> 00:54:40,080
students in evangelism classes 
at the seminary, I pray, Father,

936
00:54:40,080 --> 00:54:41,800
that you won't let us sleep at 
night. 

937
00:54:42,840 --> 00:54:45,440
You'll haunt us with those 
people's faces and names. 

938
00:54:45,920 --> 00:54:47,560
You'll burden us, Father, with 
them. 

939
00:54:48,800 --> 00:54:51,440
And Lord, we will pray, but 
we'll do more than pray. 

940
00:54:51,440 --> 00:54:53,640
We will actually talk to them 
about you. 

941
00:54:54,920 --> 00:54:56,680
We got to back it up with a 
life, Father. 

942
00:54:56,680 --> 00:54:59,280
We got to show them, too. 
We can't say one thing and live 

943
00:54:59,280 --> 00:55:02,560
another. 
And so, Father, help us 

944
00:55:03,000 --> 00:55:06,960
consistently. 
There are so many people right 

945
00:55:06,960 --> 00:55:11,560
around us right here in Rocky 
Mount and Nashville and Red Oak 

946
00:55:11,560 --> 00:55:16,080
and the surrounding area. 
So many people who don't know 

947
00:55:16,080 --> 00:55:20,840
you, so many people have nothing
to do with your body, the 

948
00:55:20,840 --> 00:55:24,600
church. 
And I pray, Father, that you'll 

949
00:55:24,600 --> 00:55:28,920
help us, Lord, to recognize what
we need to do for him. 

950
00:55:29,840 --> 00:55:35,520
So, Father, help us as we begin 
to go out together and share 

951
00:55:35,520 --> 00:55:39,000
with others about you. 
We thank you in Christ's name, 

952
00:55:39,840 --> 00:55:43,720
Amen. 
Thank you so much for listening 

953
00:55:43,720 --> 00:55:45,320
today. 
And I also hope that you'll go 

954
00:55:45,320 --> 00:55:47,520
to 
ourwebsite@englewoodbaptist.com 

955
00:55:47,520 --> 00:55:50,600
as well as our app and find many
other resources that will bless 

956
00:55:50,600 --> 00:55:52,800
you and your families. 
Thank you once again.