The Damnation of Hell - Part 2 (Voice Only) — Compilations

The Torments and Imagery of Hell

Christ depicts hell as a place where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched, as a furnace of fire. It's referred to as the lake of fire and brimstone. We cited that scene from Luke 16, and in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off.

And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Just give me a little drop on the end of his finger.

My throat is swollen. The Lord said it's a place of weeping and wailing. Can you imagine what it would be like if we could open the lid of hell and hear the weeping and the wailing of the damned? I read about, you know, I read about those that have suffered third degree burns, put in special burn units.

I read about the debridement, where they have to take away their dead flesh. I read about them groaning and crying and screaming because of the pain. And then I think, will the man realize, I think, the power and the depth of the wrath of God.

Imagine every part of your body being on fire at the same time, so that every fiber of your being is feeling the intense torment of being burned.

The Endless Nature of Judgment

Imagine. But the most terrible thing about hell, awful in the fact that it is a place of torment, unalleviated, in both body and soul. Indeed, the most awful thing that can be said about it, the inconceivably terrible thing about it, is that it's empty.

You know and I know, in this world, it doesn't make any difference what the pain is. It may be something like a toothache. It may be a heart attack. It may be lights. It may be excruciating. Say to ourselves, tomorrow it will be better.

In a year I'll be cured. Whatever distress we have, some consolation, it will cease. It will be no more. It will be different. Try to think, call it a toothache if you please. Let the sight of it better.

You never wake up one morning... That's what Jesus Christ says about the world to come. It's not only punishment. Christ has various ways of expressing this. I call your attention just to one or two of them.

One figure he uses, you all know. He describes hell as a place where the fire is not quenched and the worm dieth not. What's the meaning of that kind of imagery? Well, when Jesus Christ refers to the place where the worm dieth not, he is referring to one method of destroying the human body after it has died, namely by burying it in the earth and having it consumed by maggots.

When we do place a body in the ground, it decays. It's the raw food on which to sustain its own existence, having been destroyed. Jesus Christ, therefore, describes hell as a place where the worm dieth not.

The meaning is unmistakable. ...destroyed. Because that, it devours. It's never consumed. The fire is not quenched. It's a reference to the other method by which we dispose of dead bodies, namely cremation.

We know that when a body is burned, as soon as the body has been completely consumed, the fire goes out. It has no more fuel to sustain it. Jesus Christ describes this place, the coming judgment, as a place where the fire is not quenched.

The meaning again is unmistakable. The fire doesn't go out because that which is burning is never consumed. How could you think of language more graphic, more vivid, more unmistakably telling us that this abode of judgment and condemnation and woe and misery and anguish is an endless abode?

Salvation Through Christ and the Failure of False Teachers

Go to heaven by coming to Christ. And if a man or woman doesn't come in time, all the speechifying of priests and so-called good people will not take the soul from hell and put it into heaven. All the deceivers that these ecumenical ministers are, these ungodly men, these blinded men, they will not tell the people the truth.

But one day the people in hell we read will rise up against us and they will say to them, hast thou fallen like us into hell? Read the Bible and find out what's going to happen to these lying clergymen that tell people that you never go to hell.

Romans 1 ,28 ,32. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things which are not convenient, being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, deviant, deceit, malignity, whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but of pleasure in them that do them.

Romans 1 ,28 ,32.

Remembering Sin in Hell

Oh, he's been down there all this time. That fellow, the rich man's body, according to the Scripture, is still in the grave. His old brain's long since decayed. But his memory's with him in hell. Now, you memories can be mighty sweet, or they can be awfully bitter.

Son, remember, remember, Lord, let's be done with this now, what's done's done, let's just forget about it. No, Abraham said, Son, remember to be condemned, to be harassed, and tormented, and tracked down, and have thy memories in hell.

You'll take yours there. I want you to join me tonight. I want to ask Abraham, if you will, to take us on a tour of hell. Abraham, if you don't mind, take me on a tour of hell. I want to help me preach.

I want to help me warn sinners. I want to help me brave the ridicule of this religious generation that says, well, that preacher's trying to scare people. Well, you're dead right. I sure wish I could scare you.

I wish I could get you where you're afraid of sin. I wish I could get you where you're afraid of facing the Holy God. Oh, whether I can or not, I walk with tears, I walk with authority, I walk with passion.

The Word is not of something I thought of, but of the eternal consequences of the fact that God's a Holy God, and He's got to punish sin. So I want Abraham to take us tonight on a tour of hell. And Abraham and I go down the elevated land in hell.

Noah's Ark and the Warning of Coming Judgment

And immediately, we're in bedlam. And I see a multitude of people over to my right. And I say, what on earth's going on over there, Abraham? What they trying to do? Oh, he said, they're knocking on the door of Noah's ark.

I say, well, I don't see Noah's ark yet. He said, oh no, Noah's ark's not in hell. But they think it is. It's in their memory. And all they do is go around, 24 hours a day, day in and day out. I said, well, there's no door there.

Nope. But it's in their memory. He lived unrighteous lives. How you know? He wasn't believing. He didn't believe what was coming. Damn it! The time that drove a nail in the ark is a sin. Judgment coming, judgment coming, judgment coming, judgment coming.

And the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. And judgment coming, judgment coming, judgment coming. But nobody dead. Nobody dead. Nobody dead. Seven years. More, Noah said, seven days later.

Still nobody got in the ark. He condemned the world. He said to both rocking boys, this ain't not going on forever. The wrath of God can be, can come to its end sometime. It's piling up. Wrath on wrath.

Vengeance on vengeance. The judgment coming, judgment coming, judgment coming. Get some out of your heels, he said to his generation. And repent. But nobody dead. Nobody dead. When the flood came, scientists tell us there were three billion people on the earth at that time.

I don't know whether to tell the truth or not. I have no reason to doubt it. Three billion people. At least as many people as live on this earth now. And you know how many of them go on passing by? The only ark of safety.

And drowning under their rebellion. Down with unrighteous lawless living. The cries of the puppet of God. Crying righteousness. They'll never get away from it. God sent three billion of them to hell. I know.

I know. And we don't believe that. Oh good God. Wouldn't send three billion people to hell one time, let's think so. But he did. He did. God help us. Throw our Bible away and just face it. God won't catch up with sin some day.

That's right. And we pass by. And Abraham says, Remember. Remember. That's all I got to do. Remember. Remember. Remember. We pass on through the corridors of hell. And I see a man over there. And he said, Take it away.

Herod, John the Baptist, and the Memory of Unrepentant Sin

Take it away. Take this thing away. And I say, Who's that? Abraham. He said, That's Herod. I said, What is he trying to do? He said, He's trying to get somebody to take the head of John the Baptist away.

So he carries it around with him and tries to get somebody to take it. It burns him. He can't forget. I said, Well Abraham, I don't see the head of John the Baptist. Abraham said, No Ralph. The head of John the Baptist isn't in hell.

But it's in the memory of Herod. He can't get away from it. He remembers how he went out to get John the Baptist and called him a just man. And he quit chewing tobacco and drinking liquor and stealing money and a few other things.

One day, John said, Herod, you're living in open law. This adulterous relationship with your brother. Why, an old Herodius would have killed him. But you couldn't. But Herod had a drunken partner. His stepdaughter thanks for him.

And in his cups he was pleased. And he was going to give her a present. And she slipped in the curtain and said, Mom, what do you want me to ask the old man? He said, Ask the head of that preacher. And so she came out.

He said, I'll give you anything you want on behalf of my kingdom. He said, Well, give me the head of John the Baptist. He sent a couple of boys down and locked the jail door. And took John the Baptist, the greatest man that ever lived.

What the scripture said. And he laid his head down on a block like the old turkey gobbler. And severed it off. And put it in a big charger. And took it. And brought it to that wicked woman. And old Herod, old Herod, tormented by the head of the John the Baptist while I'm speaking to you now.

He can't get away from it. And we pass by. And Abraham says, Son, remember, put that on. And there's a man going around screaming, Oh, if I could just get it off, if I could, Abraham. Who's that? Well, that's Pilate.

Pilate and the Irreversible Consequences of Rejecting Christ

What's the matter here? He's trying to get the blood off his hands. And I walk up close and I don't see. Abraham, I don't see any blood. Oh, no. There's no blood on his hands. It's in his memory. It's in his memory.

He remembers. He remembers being warned of his wife. He remembers that experience. When he tried that fellow Jesus, according to the law of the Roman Empire, the justice law of the world that ever known, and found not a thing on earth to condemn him over.

And he would have released him. He said, No, sir. And there he was, fully lifted in Caesar, would he offend the Jews? Or would he release that innocent man? And so he weighed the situation carefully. Some of you will have to weigh it tonight.

That sore spot in your life, it's got to go. If you get to Christ, you're going to weigh it. Some of you will trade your hope of salvation one more time for that rotten spot in your life that's kept you from Christ all these days.

And so he got him a basin of water. And he washed his hands. But he never did get rid of the blood. And it's still there in his memory. He remembers. And Abraham and I pass by, and Abraham says, Son, remember.

The Girl Who Delayed Salvation Until Tomorrow

We pass on. And there's a little girl. And she looks up. And she sees me. And she said, That's not fair! I said, Abraham, I know that girl. He said, Yes, sir. Everybody in hell knows who you are, Rod.

He said, That little girl just complains all the time. I said, Abraham, I'm not in hell. No. No. But you are according to her. You're in her memory. She can't forget you. She can't forget that time in Arkansas.

One night, the God fell on the congregation. Multitudes were swept into the kingdom of God. The whole congregation became agile, crying, hating Christians, and praying for souls who sent us screaming for mercy.

It was the work of the Sovereign Spirit. And that little 16-year-old girl didn't kneel. But she stood there and grabbed the pew in front of her until it was bright. The veins in her hands were burst full of tears at her feet.

And she held her own foot there like in that sort of atmosphere where God's people spoke to her. And the Spirit honored her. And she stood there. And she trembled. And she watched. And that service passed away.

And finally, the people began to go home. And I couldn't have kept from it if the devil and all his angels were there. As the congregation was melting, she kept standing there going on to that seat and weeping.

And I flipped up to her and would have a word to say. And she turned and looked at me and said, no, don't talk to me. She said, I'm going to be saved tomorrow night. She said, I'm going to get saved tomorrow night.

She said, I'm not going to be saved tonight. I said, I know you're stoked on me. I'm not going to be saved tonight. And the tears melted. And she turned loose. And all I could think of probably was 27 -1.

So, not die safe for tomorrow. For thou knowest not what a day will bring forth. And she went home. And at 10 o 'clock the next morning, she was the star basketball player, girl basketball player of the high school team.

And she was practicing. And she got right in the exact middle of the court. And she gave a great agonizing cry to the fellow on the floor. By the time the players got to her, she was dead. Tomorrow, she died.

Oh, she said the night before, don't talk to me. I'm going to get saved tomorrow night.

Tomorrow night she is in hell. Oh, and she can't forget it. Abraham said she quotes Proverbs 27 -1. Oh, not die safe for tomorrow. For I know it's not what a day it'll bring for her. I know people don't believe that, but still so.

That little girl in hell was quoting that scripture trying to get people to get me out of hell. I'm in her memory. And that scripture's in her memory. And that night's in her memory. And those tears, the Holy Spirit produced her in her memory.

Had to hang on to that seed to keep from yielding to the spirit ruling. She'll never forget it. And we pass by the little girl. And Abraham says, Son, remember, I'm going to get in theology now, bigger than I am for just a minute, but the memory of the love of God will be the most terrible thing to torment you.

The Love of God and the Terror of Neglected Grace

Oh, the love of God don't limit it greater far than tongue or pen can ever tell. To say that God so loved the world as to give. Men despise it. Take it for granted now. It'll haunt them the reaches of eternal hell.

Yet I'm in hell. And I'll never get away from it in eternity. I want to entreat you in the presence of the Holy Father. In the presence of the Holy Son. In the presence of the Holy Ghost. And with God's holy book in my hand, I would cry out to you, flee, flee from the wrath that is to come.

Neglecting Salvation and Enlarging Hell

Adam and Eve never knew they would enlarge hell. But they did. The man who lived in the age before the flood never knew they would enlarge hell. But they did. Each and all who they choose never knew it would enlarge hell.

But it did. The Christian church by apostasy never dreamed it would enlarge hell. But it did. Consider, dear sinner friend, this night, your latter end. Your end is near. Sinner awake before your doom is eternally and forever sealed.

But taking the first step, and what is the first step to an enlarged hell? But God's eternal fruit. And it asks the question, how shall we escape if we neglect salvation? Neglecting of salvation is taking a step which seals your loss of salvation forever.

Your sins have put you in a lost condition. By neglecting salvation, you take the first of these three steps which will lead you to eternal damnation. Why do you neglect, dear sinner friend, why do you neglect the salvation of your immortal soul?

You know that you're a sinner. You know very well that the wages of sin is death. You know very well that after death there is judgment. You know there is a heaven. You know there is a hell. You know that if you live in your sins, you will die in your sins.

You will be buried in your sins. You'll rise again from the dead in your sins. You will appear before the God of heaven on His great white throne judgment in your sins. And if you appear before God in your sins, you will go to that hell of which there is a hell enlarged to take your doomed and damned soul forever.

You know all this and yet you neglect salvation. Oh dear sinner, awake before it is forever too late. Oh immortal soul, listen to this solemn fact. If you do not turn from neglecting your soul, you will be damned forevermore.

The Call to Repentance and the Gospel Invitation

Withdraw your feet this very night from the broad road that leads to hell. Accept the cleansing blood of Christ which purchased you for Christ. God's grace not. Forgiveness of sins by the blood of the Lamb.

It was Bishop J .C. Ryle, the first Church of England Bishop of Liverpool, who said this, the saddest road to hell is that which runs under the pulpit where the gospel, the Bible, where the gospel is recorded.

And through the midst of warnings and invitations. Beware! Neglect not! Do not neglect.