The Doctrine And Reality Of Hell

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Well, there are certain facts in life that may not be pleasant, but are certainly true. Did you know in 2015, approximately 55 million people died?
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Every day, that's 150 ,000 people. Every hour, that's 6 ,000 people.
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Every minute, that's 105 people. And every second, that's about 2 people.
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Of course, we know the wages of sin is death, and we know that it's appointed for man once to die, and then judgment, right?
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It's true. We understand these things. Sobering, solemn, but true.
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Jesus was asked about people dying, and he said this. The background is there were some present at the very time who told
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Jesus about the Galileans whose blood Pilate had mingled with their sacrifices. And Jesus answered them,
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Do you think that these Galileans were worse sinners than all the other Galileans because they suffered in this way?
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Jesus said, No, I tell you, unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
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When we see other people die, of course, we're saddened and we grieve, but we also have to think, what about us?
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We, in fact, are going to die one day. The passage goes on, Were the 18 on whom the
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Tower of Siloam fell and killed them? Do you think that they were worse offenders than all the others who lived in Jerusalem?
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And Jesus said, No, I tell you, but unless you repent, you will all likewise perish.
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Jesus is called Savior for a reason. Jesus is called Deliverer for a reason.
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Jesus is called Rescuer for a reason, because he saves us from the consequences of sin and death and hell itself, from the wrath of God.
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That's why when we talk about Jesus, that he came to seek and save the lost, what kind of Savior is he?
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He's the Savior that he saves from the worst thing, and that is the wrath of an angry
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God. At this church, we're not universalists. We don't believe everybody who dies go to heaven.
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And for us, we need to be reminded on a regular basis that the Bible speaks of judgment.
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Did you know 13 % of Jesus' ministry when he preached was on judgment and hell?
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And so what has happened in evangelicalism has just kind of disappeared. You don't hear about judgment. It doesn't pack people in.
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When visitors come and they hear a sermon about hell or judgment, will they ever return? It is in fact a sobering, scary, frightening thought to think about the judgment of God.
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But it's true. I was contemplating Robert Murray McShane's words in 1843.
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He was a pastor. He died when he was 29, and he thought about things this way. As I was walking in the fields, the thought came over me with an almost overwhelming power, that every one of my flock must soon be in heaven or hell.
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Oh, how I wished I had a tongue like thunder that I might make all hear, or that I had a frame like iron that I might visit everyone and say, escape for thy life.
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And the charge is no different for me. Every one of you, including myself, will one day die. And then we'll stand before God.
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Paul said in 2 Corinthians, Therefore we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us.
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We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake he made him to be sin, who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
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As true as hell is, as true as judgment is, there's escape, there's rescue, there's hope, because we have a
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Savior and a Deliverer. I thought to myself this week, if we don't learn about judgment and hell in church, where will we learn it?
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Where will we learn it? If parents don't teach it to their children, where will the children learn it?
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I mean, in our world we have a God who's confined to just, he's a God of love only.
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He's a kind God only. He has wide mercy for everyone only.
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Of course God is merciful and compassionate and kind and loving, but he's also righteous and holy and just.
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Today we're going to look at the doctrine of judgment and hell, and here's what I want from you, dear Christian. I can think of nothing in my life that makes me more thankful than to study this doctrine.
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Because of the Lord Jesus, I don't have to go. Because of the Lord Jesus, all you who are trusting in him, you don't have to go.
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Talk about guilt, grace, gratitude. Knowing what we've earned and knowing what we get, we sing the song about on Jesus's merit alone.
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If you would like to have your thankfulness increased, this is the doctrine. Additionally, I know many of you because you,
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I know many of you want to be good evangelists, and you have a desire to tell the good news to people that tell them that they can have their sins forgiven by trusting in the risen
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Savior. This is a doctrine that not only helps us with our thankfulness, it helps us with our evangelism.
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Because every person who's walking on earth has an eternal soul, and we have been given the privilege, the responsibility to tell people the good news.
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And so many times I think to myself, Lord, I complain too much, I'm not very thankful,
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I'd like to be more thankful, and I'd like to tell people the good news more. This is the motivating doctrine for both of those.
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And of course, it's true that if you're here today and you're not trusting on the risen Savior, the Lord Jesus, there's hope for you, but this is your destiny unless you repent.
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Take your Bibles and turn to the Gospel of Matthew, please. Matthew chapter 10.
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We're typically in books of the Bible, going verse by verse. We've been going through the book of Ecclesiastes.
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We'll be in chapter 4 soon. My brother, Pat Abendroth, will be here next Sunday school hour.
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Pastor Steve's going to interview Pat and I. He's also a pastor. And then he'll be preaching here next
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Sunday. So before I get into Ecclesiastes and then step out again for Pat, I wanted to make sure
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I talk about something that is very important. I mean, I could ask you this, when's the last time you heard a sermon about hell?
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We don't hear them very often, but we need to. And so today we're going to look at the Gospel of Matthew, and we're going to see from Jesus' words, is hell true and what can we learn about it from the
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Gospel of Matthew? I mean, the world says hell all the time. I think about even, you know, in ways like Patton, you know, he's hell on wheels or all hell's broken loose.
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And they say, I've gone through a trial and I've been through hell, but I don't think they really mean what we mean when we die.
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They mean when you die and face God. And I think probably this last year with COVID, people are very, very afraid.
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They're afraid of catching COVID. They're afraid of dying. And ultimately that points to what happens after you die.
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I don't think it's really the fear of COVID. I think it's the fear of what happens when they die, because in fact, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living
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God. And for us at Bethlehem Bible Church, we believe that this is real and we believe that Jesus rescues people from this.
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That's why we praise him. Newsweek called hell theology's H -word.
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Sir Arthur Conan Doyle said hell is an odious conception, blasphemous in its view of the creator.
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You can call it crass. You can call it vulgar. You can call it rude. You can call it wicked. You can call it stupid.
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You can call it pagan, but it's true. One person said hell is the carrot and the stick in the chain letter that's called
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Christianity. Richard Dawson said if hell were plausible, it would only have to be moderately unpleasant in order to deter.
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Given the fact that it's so unlikely to be true, it has to be advertised as a very, very scary thing indeed.
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I was reading one writer. He said, you know what? Hell has disappeared and nobody noticed. But when you study the words of Jesus, and of course, when you see the words of Jesus in red, it doesn't mean that they're more important.
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It just helps you see, oh, those are Jesus's words. And when you read Jesus's words, he talked about this.
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And by the way, as Christians, we realize that if you're saved from just, you know, a few trials and temptations, well, maybe that's not such a great salvation.
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But if you're saved from sin and death and Satan and hell and punishment and wrath, that salvation is greater, right?
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The more we think we deserve, rightly deserve, and the realization of what we receive in Christ, the praise increases.
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Liberals don't talk about it. Evangelicals don't seem to talk about it. You could probably summarize mainstream
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Christianity using the words of John Lennon, no hell below us, above us only, sky.
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Before we look at Matthew, I guess I could ask the question, do you believe in hell? Now, for me,
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I don't really want to believe in such a place, but I put myself under the Word of God, right? Is all
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Scripture profitable? Yes, it is, because it's God -breathed. It's important. And if God somehow made a mistake by putting hell in the
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Bible, oh, we don't want to go down that rationale. What's in Scripture is in Scripture, and it's for our good.
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We might not feel good when we talk about it. I don't feel good preaching the message. There'll be probably zero comic relief in it, because I lament over the fact that it's true.
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And I praise God over the fact that I don't have to go, and neither do you, if you trust in the
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Lord. We are tempted to say to ourselves, I don't feel like this could be true, so it can't be true.
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There are too many dominoes that will happen in my life if, in fact, it's true. But, dear friend, we submit to God's Word, and we put ourselves under God's Word, and we learn
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God's Word with a humble attitude. We don't pick and choose what's in the
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Bible. Westminster Larger Catechism said, So the outline today is simple.
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Five passages in the Gospel of Matthew from Jesus' words that will inform us about hell, so that you,
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Christian, might respond with praise, thanksgiving, evangelism, and if you're not a
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Christian here today, that you'd trust in the Lord's merciful, forgiving hand.
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Five passages designed for you to be thankful that you're a Christian, to be thankful that you don't have to go there, to be certain.
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Passage number one, Matthew chapter 10. Matthew chapter 10.
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Let me read verse 28, Matthew 10.
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And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, fear
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Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell. What makes hell so awful?
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Now, if you're a philosopher like Sartre, you'd say hell is other people. People bug you so much that this is hell.
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What makes hell hell? There's an allegory of the long spoons, and it says people in hell have these super long spoons, and they need to eat, and in heaven, you realize the spoon is so long, you can't feed yourself, so you feed other people.
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But in hell, everybody's so wicked, they don't feed each other, they starve. Is that what makes hell hell?
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What makes hell hell is God is in hell. Take a look at the passage again.
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Don't fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. But rather, fear Him who can destroy both body and soul in hell.
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It is God there. God is the Punisher in hell. God is the Avenger in hell.
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Listen to Revelation 14. And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice,
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If anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength in the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the
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Lamb. God is omnipresent, is He not? Yes, He's everywhere.
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But there's no favor of God in hell. You could probably think about it this way.
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What makes hell hell is being in the presence of God without a mediator. Somebody to go between.
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Without an advocate, somebody to represent you. Think 1 John chapter 2 verses 1 and 2.
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One man said, When Adam and Eve forfeited God's presence in Eden through their rebellion and were cast out, it did not mean that God was no longer present outside Eden.
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God is omnipresent. And as much as heaven is going to be... We sang about it in the last song, did we not?
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What's heaven all about? Just glory? No, no. Heaven's about being in the presence of God.
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That's what makes heaven heaven. Not the clouds, not the harps, not the angels, not your family.
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What makes heaven heaven is the Lamb who's in the middle of the throne, and we give Him worship and honor and power and glory and blessing.
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What makes heaven heaven? God is there. What makes hell hell? God is there.
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But not His kindness, not His mercy, not His justice. In heaven we have a mediator, we have an advocate, we have the risen
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Son who sits at the right hand of the Father. In hell it's full bore of wrath from the
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Holy God. God makes the heaven wonderful and God makes the hell horrible.
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Hell is more than just an absence of God. Think about it, and again, think of heaven. Psalm 16.
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God, in Your presence there's fullness of what? Joy. At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.
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And then without a mediator, without a go -between, without the advocate, it's just the opposite. You might remember in Eden, Adam and Eve sinned.
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They were naked and they were afraid and they ran. They did not want to be in God's presence. In heaven
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God provides blessing and wholeness and honor. In heaven it's the exact opposite.
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I quoted before, it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living
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God. God rules in hell. Satan does not rule in hell. Rebels don't rule in hell.
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Oh, I'm going to party with my friends in hell. I'm going to hang out with Satan. Hell is not
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Satan's realm. It's under God's sovereign rule. And when we say to someone, Hi friend, are you saved?
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Yes, I'm saved from ultimately in hell. Ultimately not what hell, but from a person, from a triune
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God, God Himself. If you think, well, you know, hell means just to be separated from God and He's not around.
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That's actually probably what every unbeliever wants. But they don't get that. No, no, not separation from God, but separation from His kind presence.
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Remember the Aaronic blessing. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make His what?
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Face shine upon you. But not so in hell. I just have to stop and think to myself,
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Thank you, Lord, for rescuing me. Are you not glad, dear Christian, that you get to go to heaven based on the work of another?
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Not because your baptism, not because you were good, not because you did anything else. Sovereign grace, grace upon grace.
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When you think about hell and you think, I should go there. And then you realize I've been saved by grace. Then we sing, amazing grace.
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How sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me. It also makes me want to evangelize.
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It makes me think, you know what? I have friends and neighbors and relatives and I don't really want to do that.
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Oh, if you call me and say, I've got a friend, would you please do it? I just walk in, right? And it just, there's no issue.
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But I know about people and everything else. And I think, I have a fear of man. I don't want to have the fear of man. I want to say, this is important.
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I'm going to try to figure out how to turn my conversation with unbelievers to talk about the
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Lord and who He is. And how God loves sinners and sent His Son to rescue sinners. And if you're not a believer and you're obstinate and you're here today and you say,
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I will not believe. Then this is your future. It doesn't have to be, but it would be if you don't repent.
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Number two, turn to Matthew 13. Five passages in Matthew. There are more passages, by the way, about hell and Matthew.
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But we're looking at five only today. They're designed to remind you of the reality of hell, that Jesus taught it.
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Jesus, as some say, is the theologian of hell. Jesus, friends, created hell. It's a created place.
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And this is going to drive us to evangelism, thankfulness, and for those who don't believe, repentance.
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Matthew 13. Matthew 10 taught hell is awful because God is there and God is fearful.
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Here in Matthew 13, we're going to notice that people deserve their punishment. People talk about cruel and unusual punishment.
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Is hell full of cruel and unusual punishment? Matthew 13, verses 34 and following.
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Why are people in hell? Let's find out. Verse 34, all these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables.
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Indeed, He has nothing, He has said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet.
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I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world.
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Then He left the crowds and went into the house and His disciples came to Him saying, Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.
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He answered, The one who sows the good seed is the son of man. The field is the world and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom.
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The weeds are the sons of the evil one and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age and the reapers are the angels.
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Verse 40, just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.
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The son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace.
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In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father.
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He who has ears, let him hear. Verse 44, the kingdom of heaven is like the treasure in the field.
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A man found and covered up. Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field.
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And again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls who on finding one pearl of great value went, sold all that he had and bought it.
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Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind.
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When it was full, men drew it ashore, sat down, sorted the good into containers, but threw away the bad.
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So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace.
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In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Why are people in hell?
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Bad luck? No, no. Look at verse 41 again. Sin. They sin against God.
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They transgress against him. Lawbreakers. God has a law. Love me, love my neighbor, love your neighbor.
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Lawbreaking. Down in verse 49, evil. The wages of sin is death.
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The reason why people are in hell is because they're lawbreakers. Of course, we would be there too, but God has rescued us because the law keeper, the
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Lord Jesus, has paid for our penalties. The day that you eat of the tree, you will surely what?
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Die. It's not just, well, you're just going to go to hell because I'm in a bad mood. No, no. People say, well, how can
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God be fair? Is hell fair? Well, we could talk about that, but you better get through your mind instead.
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God is just. And therefore, hell is just. We think too lightly of sin these days.
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We think that it's just kind of a minor thing. It's a slip up. We have a dysfunction. We have a disease.
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We have an illness. When the Scriptures talk about sin as repulsive to God, as an atrocity against God, as an abomination in God's sight, as blasphemy.
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It's compared to the smell of a grave in Matthew 23. It's likened to poison in Romans chapter 3.
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When the angels are around God, they're sinless and they still cover their faces and blush.
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How much more does Abraham, a sinner, say, I'm dust and ashes? How much more does Job, a sinner, say, woe is me.
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Excuse me, I abhor myself. Isaiah, woe is me. Habakkuk says, God's eyes are too pure to approve what?
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Evil. Oh, hell is full of cruel and unusual punishment.
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No and no. Cruelty means you commit a crime and you get charged extra for it.
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You have something more severe than what you've done. Something's afflicted upon you that you didn't earn or deserve.
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No one who's innocent goes to hell. Sinners go to hell and in hell are only sinners.
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I could put it this way. None of us deserve to go to heaven. Right? Not one of us.
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God doesn't compromise with sin. The reason why people are in hell, it's because of evil law -breaking.
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Revelation says, I saw the great white throne and Him who was seated on it. From His presence, earth and sky fled away.
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There's no place found for them. I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and the books were opened.
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And another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done.
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God is just and what people do, they get punished for it.
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The punishment fits the crime. And so when you read in the Bible about hell, you think, you know what?
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This is what sin deserves. Punishment, torment, fire, destruction, second death, outer darkness, weeping, gnashing of teeth.
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J .C. Rowell said, these are awful expressions. They call for reflection rather than exposition. They should be pondered, considered and remembered by all professing
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Christians. Oh, a loving
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God would never send anyone to hell. But God is love and God is holy.
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God is just. Sin must be punished. Have we not seen too often, even in our country, the last ten years, people commit crimes and they go in and they don't have to pay anything and they're let off by some
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DA? We say that's unjust. Sin against an infant and holy
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God. Dear friends, I'm thinking to myself, I know I've committed evil, law -breaking and sin.
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Trespasses, transgressions, iniquity, perversity. And I get to go to heaven because Jesus has paid for every one of those.
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He drank that cup to the last dreg, the last drop rather. And then he's paid for my sins.
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It is finished. And I, friends, some of you know me well. I get to go to heaven. I'm thankful for that.
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And if you're trusting in the Lord Jesus, so do you. And every child that's sitting here, you have an eternal soul.
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And one day, heaven or hell, and you better be trusting in the Lord Jesus. Every one of you.
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You don't go to heaven because your daddy is a Christian. You don't go to heaven because your mom's wonderful. You go to church, no, you go to heaven because God freely offers salvation and forgiveness and justification and sanctification and glorification.
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Everything because of Jesus. It's not even really the benefits we get, it's the Lord Jesus who rescues.
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Passage 3, please turn to Matthew 25. Matthew 10, hell is hell because God is there.
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Matthew 13, don't forget, dear Christian, people deserve it. This is not cruel and unusual.
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And passage 3, hell is awful because it's eternal. Matthew 25.
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I mean, you've got two options these days. Let's just not talk about punishment or let's make it temporal.
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Let's not talk about anything that, you know, the wages of sin is death. Let's just say, well, you know what? There might be some punishment, but it's kind of easy.
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You know, kind of like when grandma or grandpa gave you spanking compared to dad.
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Just kind of light. But what does God say? I still have to just put myself underneath this.
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And I say to myself, okay, what would I like to preach today? What do I enjoy preaching? Well, I am a man under authority.
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And I say to myself when I was in California, we need to be reminded of certain truths. Certain truths like those who are unrighteous don't inherit the kingdom of God.
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But what were some of you? That was last week. And today this very thing. Matthew 25, verse 31.
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When the son of man, that's Jesus' favorite description of himself, self -designation. We're talking final judgment here.
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When the son of man comes in his glory, and all the angels will be with him. And he will sit on his glorious throne.
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Before him will be gathered all the nations. And he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats.
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He'll place the sheep on his right, but the goats on the left. Then the king will say to those on the right, come, you who are blessed by my father.
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Inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. I was hungry, you gave me food.
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I was thirsty, you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.
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I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or feed you or thirsty or give you drink?
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And when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or naked and clothe you? When did we see you,
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Lord, sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer, truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these, my brothers, you did it to me.
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Then he will say to those on the left, depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
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For I was hungry, you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not welcome me.
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Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison, you did not visit me. Then they will answer also saying,
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Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you?
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Then he will answer, truly, I say to you, as you did it not to one of the least of these, you did it not, you did not do it to me.
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Key verse, verse 46. And these will go away into eternal punishment. But the righteous into eternal life.
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One of the reasons why hell is so awful is because it's forever. And there's a lot of argument on the word eternal, can you imagine, because people don't want to make it eternal.
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But right there you can take a look, very simply, you don't have to know Greek or anything else. The same word in English is the same word in the original language in verse 46, eternal punishment, eternal life.
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As long as eternal life is eternal, so too eternal punishment is eternal. If heaven doesn't last forever, that's what that word means, then hell doesn't last forever.
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But if hell lasts forever, that word eternal, so too does heaven. These people were not saved or damned because they did or did not do things.
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You can only save or damn based on do you trust in the Lord or not. And of course there will be fruits in your life and there will be evidences in your life.
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And when there's no fruit in evidence, well you see here the king of the universe, what he says. Eternal punishment, but the righteous eternal life.
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The scriptures use words like this, eternal destruction, 2 Thessalonians. Unquenchable fire,
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Mark 9. The worm that doesn't die, Mark 9. Day and night,
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Revelation 20. Forever and ever, Revelation 20. Thomas Brooks writes, oh this word eternity, eternity, eternity.
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This word everlasting, everlasting, everlasting. This word forever, forever, forever.
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It will break even the hearts of the damned in 10 ,000 pieces. Impenitent sinners in hell shall have end without end, death without death, night without day, morning without mirth, sorrow without solace, and bondage without liberty.
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The damned shall live in hell as long as God himself shall live in heaven. Eternal life, infinite, forever glorious, yet eternal punishment has an end?
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No, the torment is unending. Salvation is eternal,
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Hebrews 5. Life is eternal, John 6. Redemption is eternal,
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Hebrews 9. The inheritance of the saints is eternal, Hebrews chapter 9. Heaven is eternal and so too is hell.
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It's supposed to make you afraid. It's supposed to make you frightened. It's supposed to make you think, this is very uncomfortable.
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Because once you grasp that as an unbeliever, it's meant to push you to look to the Lord Jesus. Right, it's the rich young ruler, he goes to Jesus and he says, how do
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I get to heaven? And just, you know, how do I inherit eternal life? And Jesus said basically, obey me. And he said, yeah,
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I do obey. And he should have said, I don't obey, I'm sinful, but I heard you're merciful. I heard you love sinners.
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I heard you forgive sin. Would you please forgive mine? But no, he goes away sad. And so when you feel this and you sense this, if you're an unbeliever, you should be afraid.
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You should be very afraid. Do you think Jesus said these words, so it would just be, ah, whatever, water off the duck's back?
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No, they're supposed to make you afraid. So then you look to the Savior and say, but I've heard about a
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Savior that's so strong, he raised himself from the dead. I've heard about a Savior that he loved me in eternity past, and he said,
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I'll take the punishment that you earned. That's how much I love you. I heard about a father that said,
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I have one son, the son I love, the one in whom I'm well pleased, and I'll send him for you. He won't send him for someone good.
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It's one thing to die for a righteous man, but for a wicked person, somebody like me? If heaven, there's nonstop joy.
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Thomas Watson writes, after millions of years, there's not one minute in eternity wasted. And the dam must be ever burning, but never consuming.
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Always dying, but never dead. The fire of hell is such as multitude of tears will not quench it. Length of time will not finish it.
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The vial of God's wrath will always be dropping upon a sinner. As long as God is eternal, he lives to be avenged upon the wicked.
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Oh, eternity, who can fathom it? And as I say those words, I have to say to myself,
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Mike, you are a man under authority, the Scriptures teach it, and therefore I bow in submission to that, and I proclaim it.
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I mean, R .C. Sproul used to say, If you think the pain is going to end sometime soon, or sometime in the future, you can get through it.
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Think the SEAL teams. Hell week, they're trying to make it through. This is going to be the worst week of my life, but I can just make it through.
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The worst semester of my life, I can make it through. I've got cancer, I can make it through. I can do this, I can make it through.
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You know, there's an end time. And by the way, Christian thinking of that, if you're a Christian, and life is hard now, this is the only hell you'll ever have.
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You hear me? This is the only hell you'll ever have. And I don't mean, this is real hell. But trials, difficulties, issues, struggles, sin, everything less than heaven, this is it.
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Can you imagine, the worst is it going to be now? The worst that it is now. Once you get to heaven,
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I mean, just imagine that first second in heaven. And as great as things are now, some of you
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I know have a wonderful life, and there are seasons for all of us, and we have a nice meal with our spouse, we see babies born, grandchildren, we have this, we have a raise, we have this, that, and that's all wonderful.
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It's good, it's common grace. But as some writers say, once you get to heaven, those will seem like they're hell compared to how great heaven is.
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And for the unbeliever, no matter how hard it is on earth, when they get to hell, they'll think, I wish I could just go back and experience those things again.
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The worm doesn't die and the fire's not quenched. And the amazing thing, dear congregation,
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God didn't have to provide a Savior. The angels sinned. They got justice.
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No wonder the angels are stooping, the angels are looking, the angels are saying, I want to investigate this, because there's no
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God -angel, there's a God -man. And Jesus assumes human nature so that He might live for us, and die for us, and be raised for us.
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We don't deserve heaven, but we get it, dear Christian. But everybody deserves hell.
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And unless they have a Savior, unless they have a Mediator, unless they have a Friend, unless they're reconciled to God by Jesus alone, unless they have redemption of their sins, redemption,
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Spurgeon said, in hell there's no hope. They have not even hope of dying. They don't have the hope of being annihilated.
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They are forever, forever, forever lost. Every chain in hell, Spurgeon said, has written the word forever.
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And the fires there blaze out the words forever. Above their heads they read forever. Their eyes are galled and their hearts are pained with the thought that it is forever.
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Oh, if I could tell you tonight that hell would one day be burned out, and that those who are lost might be saved, there would be a jubilee in hell at the very thought of it.
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But it cannot be. It is forever. I know what you might be thinking.
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You have some sin that takes a short amount of time to commit against God and His image bearers that requires everlasting punishment?
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How does that work? A sin in time gets lots of punishment? Well, it's not that hard to think about if you think about the majesty of God.
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If you think even in human terms. If I murder somebody, it takes a second, but I have to pay 40 years for it.
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I could be thieving, and it takes me four days. And I have to pay less for it.
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Killing a man is sinful. Killing a dog, what's the difference?
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Kill. Subject, I kill the dog, I kill a man, or the object, the dog, or the man.
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It's a sin against the triune God, the infinite God. Crime depends upon the object against whom it's committed.
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If God's so infinite and so great, then that means sin is so heinous. That's why James chapter 2 says when you break one law, how many are you held accountable for?
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Because if you spit in the king's face just once, that's it. I hope,
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Christian, you're thankful. I hope you're reminded that no matter what Rob Bell says, no matter what
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Oprah says, no matter what John Stott says about annihilationism, this is true.
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And therefore, Lord, would you please give me someone to evangelize this week and tell them good news. That's what evangelism is, good news.
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When people knock on my door and they look alike and they've got white shirts and they've got bicycles and they've got name tags,
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I say to them regularly, what's your good news? Do you have any good news for me?
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Because their good news is work. Sometimes they'll say to me, well, you just have to do this, that, and the other.
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I say, you don't understand. I'm a liar, a murderer, and an adulterer.
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And then they back up, right? They're like, whoa. Present tense.
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We have good news. Everyone who's here does not have to go to hell because Jesus has died for sinners just like you.
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And He offers freely. Here's water. Drink it freely. I say, well,
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I just need to be better before I come. You can't. He died for sinners. I just need to amend my life first. No, Jesus died for the ungodly.
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That's why we trust Him. After we trust Him, of course, we'll be denying self and we'll be working hard and we'll be striving and sweating and toiling and walking by faith.
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That's all true. But all you have to do, dear unbeliever, is to do what most people here in this room have done is trust in the
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Lord Jesus and take Him at His word. We know it's true because He's been raised from the dead. Passage number 4,
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Matthew 11. This one will be a little quicker. Five passages from Matthew designed to help us remember that Jesus teaches.
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Love incarnate teaches hell is true so that we might evangelize and to be thankful and that if there are people here today that they might trust.
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Matthew 11. There are degrees of punishment in hell. That's one of the reasons why it's so bad. It's awful for everyone, worse for some.
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Matthew 11, verse 20. Then He began to denounce the cities where most of His mighty works had been done because they did not repent.
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Woe to you, Chorazin, woe to you, Bethsaida, for if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes.
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But I tell you, it will be more bearable. There's less bearable and more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.
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And you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You'll be brought down to Hades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, you would have remained until this day.
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But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than you.
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People sometimes think the only sin that people are in hell for is not trusting in Jesus, denying
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Jesus. Well, they're in hell for that reason, but they're in hell for every other sin too. You think about honoring parents, you think about committing adultery, you think about looking at one with lust, you think about loving
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God, you think about loving neighbor, you think about loving enemy. And so God's just, and so people accumulate sin after sin after sin.
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And the more sin they accumulate, the worse hell is. Hebrews 10, how much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the
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Son of God? Yeah, they are convicted and condemned by their own sins, not obeying
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God's law, but it's even more when we have the fulfiller of the law, the law that points to the
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Lord Jesus than when He's ignored and not believed on. Jonathan Edwards said, and I think it's true, the longer sinners live, the more wrath they accumulate.
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You say, well, I believe in annihilation, and thankfully there's no degrees of punishment and annihilation.
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That should teach you, don't believe in annihilation. And then finally, number five, we end here.
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To be thankful, to evangelize, and to call unbelievers here to the Savior. The fifth passage in Matthew from the
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Lord Jesus about hell, Matthew 27. Dear friends, this probably is the most important one.
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If there's no hell, we don't need Jesus and His death. If there's no hell and wrath and fury, we don't need substitution and atonement.
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If there's no anger of God towards sin, we don't need
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Jesus to bear sins like this. We could use an example, we could use a martyr, we could use a lot of things, but we don't need this.
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The number one reason I believe in hell is because it's obviously taught in the scriptures. Paul, John, Peter, and especially
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Jesus. But the one action that makes me think there has to be a hell is the death of the
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Lord Jesus. And you see in chapter 27, verse 32, someone's going to carry
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Jesus' cross, a man named Simon. They come to the place of the skull, Golgotha.
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They crucify Him, verse 35. They divide the garments. This is
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Jesus, King of the Jews, verse 37. Robbers on both sides fulfilling Scripture.
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Verse 42, He saved others, He can't save Himself. He's the King of Israel. Let Him come down now from the cross.
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We'll believe in Him. Verse 45, now from the sixth hour, noon, start counting at 6 a .m.,
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was darkness all over the land. So at noon it's dark until the ninth hour, 3 p .m. At about the ninth hour,
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Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani. That is, my
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God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Dear friends, lots of times you'll see judgment as darkness, and that's exactly what's happening.
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Jesus is getting judged by the Father, not for His sin, of course. He never sinned, but for our sins.
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The sun's blotted out from heaven. This is the language of Matthew 24 of the
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Tribulation. The sun will be darkened, the moon will not give its light. Amos chapter 8, earth dark in broad daylight.
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What is God judging? Who is God judging? He's judging the Lord Jesus, not for His sins, but for our sins.
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He's silent like a lamb after this. Dumb before His shears. And it's the judgment of God.
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Sinclair Ferguson. The one who abandoned and forsakes Him is the Father, who covenanted with His children, never
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I will leave you, and never I will forsake you. Here then on the cross is all that makes hell into hell.
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Darkness, pain, isolation, sin bearing, divine judgment, curse, alienation, utter darkness, and separation from God.
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Did you hear that? What makes hell hell? You can see it right here on Jesus. Darkness, pain, isolation, sin bearing, judgment, curse, alienation, utter darkness, separation from God.
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Ferguson, if we need to be convinced of the reality of hell, all we need do is consider the cross.
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It's all there. Arthur Pink talked about how you take an eternity worth of hell, you condense it into three hours, and dump it on the sun.
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And he assuages the wrath of God for His people. Why do I believe hell is hell?
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Because Jesus experienced it. Because He loved sinners.
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One man said, if we lose hell, we lose the cross. For there's no hell, what's the point of the cross?
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Christ died for the sins once for all, the just for the unjust that He might bring us to God.
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Jesus Himself bore our sins in His body on the cross that we might die to sin and live to righteousness.
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He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us.
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Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree. Behold, the
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Lamb of God who takes away the sin. And we know it worked because the
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Father raised Him. We know it worked because the Spirit raised Him. We know it worked because the Son actually raised Himself.
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If there's no eternal punishment, why the sacrifice? If there's no eternal hell, why the infinite sacrifice?
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If you'd like to appreciate your salvation, you look to the cross, obviously. If you're an unbeliever here, if the
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Lord God the Father didn't spare His own Son, will
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He spare you? If you're going to somehow figure it out, I mean, to me, it's just as silly as when
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I was a child and I'm in an elevator, and I think, you know, if the elevator breaks and before it hits the bottom,
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I'll just jump. Don't flatter yourself to think that you've got a way out, because you don't.
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For us as Christians, though, I don't know what song we're singing next, but I'm going to sing it with my whole heart.
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I get to go to heaven. Heaven is mine, purchased by another. I deserve hell.
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Jesus assuaged all that. And I'm thankful that it was the Spirit's work that allowed me to bow my knee and with my tongue confess that Jesus is
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Lord. And you, dear Christian, when you're trusting in Jesus, you believe in Him, you're just like me.
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You're a Christian because God caused you to be born again and you responded with faith and you have joy and praise.
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I think about, oh, what was the guy's name? I don't even know his name, but he said, first, if you've been saved by the grace of the
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Lord Jesus alone, through faith in Him alone, you ought to be the most joyful person at the hands of man.
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Wait. This is what happens when you have an iPad and you can't figure out where you are.
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I tell my students, don't ever use the iPad. That's funny, it just jumped back like 15 pages.
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Here. I was having a bad day last month, but I stopped my pity party with, because of Jesus Christ and His substitutionary death on my behalf,
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I don't have to go to hell forever. Furthermore, I am allowed to dwell in the house of the
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Lord forever. I honestly felt much better and you should too. What thankfulness should flood the heart of every believer, knowing that Jesus assuaged the wrath of God that you deserved.
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Be glad that the Son obeyed the Father and you are the recipient of God's love for rebels. Rejoice that God the
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Father raised Jesus from the dead, confirming Christ's great atonement. Honor, admiration, praise, worship, thanksgiving is the response of the
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Christian. Are you happy that you're a child of God?
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Let's pray. Father, I thank you for your word. Very, very difficult to hear. Very, very difficult to preach.
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But we stand on this truth. It's in the word. It's profitable. It's sufficient. And we need to be warned.
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I pray for those that are here today. Maybe even especially the younger ones.
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The eight -year -olds and the ten -year -olds and the fourteen -year -olds. The eighteen -year -olds.
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Father, may this be the day of their salvation. For the ones that are already trusting, young people were very, very thankful and happy.
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But Father, I pray that you'd help them to consider that one day they in fact too will die. For us as Christians, praise
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God from whom all blessings flow. For the older ones that are here that are still resistant, do a mighty work in their heart and save them.
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And Father, give each one of us this week one person to tell them about the good news that Jesus Christ loves sinners.