¤ ¤ 00:00:03.20\00:00:19.35 Hello friends. Welcome to another Wednesday night Bible 00:00:19.38\00:00:22.35 study here at the 3ABN Worship Center where we open the word 00:00:22.38\00:00:27.36 of God together. We have a wonderful group tonight. The 00:00:27.39\00:00:30.33 weather has come to bless us, can you all say Amen to that? 00:00:30.36\00:00:33.70 And we're looking forward to spring. We heard that a few 00:00:33.73\00:00:37.03 weeks ago the ground hog had a bad day, he saw his shadow. But 00:00:37.07\00:00:41.07 we don't trust the ground hog. We trust the Lord Jesus. And so 00:00:41.10\00:00:44.41 thank you for tuning in to join us for this time in the Bible, a 00:00:44.44\00:00:47.74 thoughtful hour in the word of God. Tonight we're going to 00:00:47.78\00:00:51.05 continue our study on what the Bible says about the topic of 00:00:51.08\00:00:55.15 hell. And we'll mention more in just a few moments. So get your 00:00:55.18\00:00:58.55 Bibles, invite your family and friends to sit down. If you're 00:00:58.62\00:01:01.96 joining us from a church, welcome and in just a moment 00:01:01.99\00:01:05.56 after our prayer, we will let you know where you can get a 00:01:05.59\00:01:08.96 copy of the lesson to follow along with us tonight. But let's 00:01:09.00\00:01:12.67 begin with a word of prayer. Our Father in heaven, we thank you 00:01:12.70\00:01:16.57 Lord for your word. David the psalmist says it so wonderfully: 00:01:16.60\00:01:21.58 It is a lamp unto our feet, a light unto our path. And Lord in 00:01:21.61\00:01:25.51 this world today where tradition has taken the place of your word 00:01:25.55\00:01:30.49 where people are not searching the scriptures as they should, 00:01:30.52\00:01:35.22 pray Lord that You'll continue to work on their hearts. Tonight 00:01:35.26\00:01:39.76 come and stay with us and teach us and infuse Your word with 00:01:39.79\00:01:44.20 the power from on high. May we not only learn, but Father may 00:01:44.27\00:01:47.94 we come to know You better as our Lord and as our Savior. 00:01:48.00\00:01:52.41 Indeed we pray in Jesus' name Amen. Now if you'd like to 00:01:52.44\00:01:58.11 follow us go to this following website: ASF.3abn.org. Download 00:01:58.15\00:02:03.69 what lesson? Somebody tell me. Lesson number 24 entitled The 00:02:03.72\00:02:08.49 Truth About Hell. There should be three pages and I added... 00:02:08.52\00:02:12.06 Now some of you may say I already had that lesson. Well go 00:02:12.09\00:02:15.90 to download the new one because there's an additional page. 00:02:15.96\00:02:19.30 There are additional questions because what we're going to do 00:02:19.33\00:02:22.87 tonight at the end of this study we're going to go ahead and 00:02:22.90\00:02:26.44 tumble over into one of those topics that often causes 00:02:26.47\00:02:31.11 confusion - The Parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. People 00:02:31.15\00:02:36.89 often wonder is that a true story or is that a parable. 00:02:36.92\00:02:39.99 Is it about what happens when a person dies, when a person ends 00:02:40.02\00:02:43.83 in hell. What is it all about? But tonight we encourage you to 00:02:43.86\00:02:47.63 begin tonight by singing our theme song. Now what is our 00:02:47.66\00:02:53.47 theme song? There Is Victory In Jesus. Join us tonight as we 00:02:53.50\00:02:59.27 sing our theme song. ¤ ¤ 00:02:59.31\00:03:07.22 ¤I heard an old, old story, how the Savior came from glory¤ 00:03:07.25\00:03:14.92 ¤How He gave his life on Calvary to save a wretch like me¤ 00:03:14.99\00:03:22.13 ¤I heard about his groaning, how His precious blood's atoning 00:03:22.16\00:03:29.24 ¤And I repented of my sin and won the victory¤ 00:03:29.30\00:03:37.28 ¤O victory in Jesus, my Savior forever¤ 00:03:37.31\00:03:44.15 ¤He sought me and bought me with His redeeming blood¤ 00:03:44.19\00:03:51.23 ¤He loved me ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him¤ 00:03:51.26\00:03:59.33 ¤He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood¤ 00:03:59.37\00:04:07.41 ¤I heard about a mansion He had built for me in glory¤ 00:04:07.44\00:04:15.12 ¤And I heard about the streets of Gold¤ 00:04:15.15\00:04:18.12 ¤beyond the crystal sea¤ 00:04:18.15\00:04:22.26 ¤About the angels singing and the old redemption story¤ 00:04:22.29\00:04:29.46 ¤And some sweet day, I'll sing up there a song of victory¤ 00:04:29.50\00:04:36.60 ¤O Victory in Jesus my Savior forever¤ 00:04:36.64\00:04:44.21 ¤He sought and bought me with His redeeming blood¤ 00:04:44.25\00:04:52.32 ¤He loved me ere I knew Him and all my love is due Him¤ 00:04:52.35\00:04:59.29 ¤He plunged me to victory beneath the cleansing flood¤ 00:04:59.33\00:05:18.11 Amen. Now we are continuing on the topic of the truth about 00:05:18.15\00:05:23.35 hell. The truth about what? Now the reason why this is so 00:05:23.39\00:05:28.36 vitally important a topic... Some people may say what does it 00:05:28.42\00:05:33.36 matter what the Bible teaches about the topic of hell? 00:05:33.40\00:05:38.03 Everything the Bible teaches reflects on the character of 00:05:38.07\00:05:42.87 Christ. So if Jesus teaches something and we teach opposite 00:05:42.90\00:05:47.84 to what he has conveyed to us then we are misrepresenting His 00:05:47.88\00:05:51.81 character when we say what we're teaching or believing is the 00:05:51.88\00:05:56.48 truth. Not only that, it also puts into perspective the truth 00:05:56.52\00:06:01.12 about what happens when a person dies, when a person 00:06:01.16\00:06:04.66 eventually faces the judgment. By the way, one of the reasons 00:06:04.69\00:06:08.26 I kind of enjoy the study of this topic is because it does 00:06:08.30\00:06:11.97 not apply to me. Can you say Amen? If you know Jesus and 00:06:12.03\00:06:15.27 your life is in His hand, you don't have to worry about what 00:06:15.30\00:06:18.54 we study about the topic of hell. But so much has been 00:06:18.57\00:06:22.34 wrongly communicated about that... Matter of fact, there 00:06:22.38\00:06:25.78 was a time when preachers believed that if they didn't 00:06:25.81\00:06:29.42 preach about hell people wouldn't be converted. They 00:06:29.45\00:06:32.95 called it fire and brimstone preaching. Remember that? And I 00:06:33.02\00:06:35.36 remember one preacher saying well if I don't preach about 00:06:35.39\00:06:37.66 that, how will people come to accept Christ. They accept Jesus 00:06:37.69\00:06:40.56 because they love Him, what do you say? Amen. Not because 00:06:40.60\00:06:43.80 they're fearful of Him. Because here's the problem; accepting 00:06:43.83\00:06:47.07 someone because their fearful of Him, when the fear is gone 00:06:47.10\00:06:51.94 the connection is gone. I know many children learn to fear 00:06:51.97\00:06:56.51 their parents while they're learning to love their parents. 00:06:56.54\00:07:00.32 And I don't want to go down too much that category because even 00:07:00.35\00:07:05.12 in that context we should love our parents, not fear only our 00:07:05.15\00:07:09.89 parents. When the Bible says the fear of the Lord is the 00:07:09.92\00:07:12.06 beginning of wisdom, that means a couple of things. One of those 00:07:12.09\00:07:15.76 is if there's anyone that we should be fearful of it is the 00:07:15.80\00:07:21.10 Lord in this sense; that He's the only one who can give us or 00:07:21.14\00:07:26.17 take away our salvation, but not in the trembling sense. When the 00:07:26.21\00:07:30.91 Bible says the fear of the Lord it means the honor of the Lord, 00:07:30.95\00:07:35.05 the praise of the Lord. Also in Matthew 10:28, let's turn there 00:07:35.08\00:07:38.82 very quickly just to kind of give you a context of why we're 00:07:38.85\00:07:42.12 beginning our study tonight. Actually not why we're beginning 00:07:42.16\00:07:49.76 but how we're continuing on in our study. Matthew 10:28. One 00:07:49.80\00:07:55.40 of the reasons why the martyrs, and if you don't know what a 00:07:55.44\00:08:00.98 martyr is, a person who gives his or her life for the Lord. A 00:08:01.01\00:08:06.01 person who is not fearful of what may happen to him or her. 00:08:06.05\00:08:09.72 A person may be threatened with death. And you know the story, 00:08:09.75\00:08:13.39 many, many millions of Christians lost their lives, 00:08:13.42\00:08:16.12 many were threatened with death if they would not give up their 00:08:16.16\00:08:20.86 allegiance to Christ and many millions lost their lives. And I 00:08:20.90\00:08:24.67 believe the reason why they lost their lives is because they 00:08:24.70\00:08:30.24 loved the Lord more than they loved themselves. As they Bible 00:08:30.27\00:08:33.68 says, they loved not their lives unto death. We're going to see 00:08:33.74\00:08:39.78 this in just a moment here but look at Matthew 10:28, Matthew 00:08:39.81\00:08:44.85 10:28. Notice what the Bible says and this text is often used 00:08:44.89\00:08:48.92 in the wrong context almost to give the idea that the soul has 00:08:48.96\00:08:53.26 an eternal property, but notice it says: And do not fear those 00:08:53.29\00:08:56.36 who kill the what? Do not fear those who kill the what, body 00:08:56.40\00:09:01.07 but cannot kill the soul but rather fear Him who is able to 00:09:01.10\00:09:05.81 destroy both what, soul and body in hell. Now sometimes people 00:09:05.84\00:09:10.71 say Ah! There you go, you can't kill the soul. I beg to differ. 00:09:10.75\00:09:14.98 The soul can be killed, it can be destroyed in the fires of 00:09:15.05\00:09:18.65 hell. The reason why the soul can be destroyed is because the 00:09:18.69\00:09:22.36 the context if you were to paraphrase today, don't fear a 00:09:27.63\00:09:30.73 person who want to take your life, don't fear somebody who 00:09:30.77\00:09:33.60 says I'm going to kill you if you follow Christ because 00:09:33.64\00:09:36.24 you will have the joy of the resurrection. That's what the 00:09:36.27\00:09:38.47 Bible says in Matthew 5: Blessed are those who are persecuted for 00:09:38.51\00:09:42.94 righteousness sake for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. So we 00:09:42.98\00:09:46.48 don't fear people because they may threaten us in our worship 00:09:46.51\00:09:51.22 of the Lord. But let's go ahead to question number 13 tonight. 00:09:51.25\00:09:54.66 Now I know we covered this but the reason I'm beginning here 00:09:54.69\00:09:58.26 is because the transitional question was number 15 is where 00:09:58.29\00:10:01.73 we ended last week. We would naturally start at 16, but I 00:10:01.76\00:10:04.90 want to go back just a little bit to lay some foundation 00:10:04.93\00:10:08.00 because what we studied was very important. We read earlier in 00:10:08.04\00:10:13.74 Ezekiel about the fate of Lucifer, about the fate of Satan 00:10:13.78\00:10:18.78 and we learned that Satan is not going to be around forever. 00:10:18.81\00:10:22.68 Can you all say Amen to that? I mean he's not going to be in 00:10:22.72\00:10:26.65 heaven. He's not going to be in the New Earth. The Bible says 00:10:26.69\00:10:30.39 that Satan himself is going to be destroyed. We learned about 00:10:30.43\00:10:34.63 that in Ezekiel 28:18. The Lord said He's going to bring a fire 00:10:34.66\00:10:39.33 forth from the midst of Satan and devour him and turn him to 00:10:39.37\00:10:43.57 ashes on the earth in the sight of all those who knew him and he 00:10:43.61\00:10:48.14 will no longer be a fear anymore forever. But here's the question 00:10:48.21\00:10:52.75 Look at question number 13. Question number 13. The Bible 00:10:52.78\00:10:58.65 says that Satan will become ashes, what about the wicked? 00:10:58.69\00:11:06.70 Let's go to Malachi 4:1 and 3. I'm encouraged that when I 00:11:06.73\00:11:14.87 share these lessons. Many of us may not know this here, but 00:11:14.90\00:11:18.01 there are a lot of people watching. I've been meeting a 00:11:18.04\00:11:19.54 lot of people in southern Illinois; just the other day 00:11:19.57\00:11:23.14 when I was at the hospital visiting with Glenn, one of our 00:11:23.18\00:11:26.35 members who's not here tonight because of a fall that he had 00:11:26.38\00:11:29.48 taken a few days ago. As I stepped out of the hospital I 00:11:29.52\00:11:33.02 met a gentleman that said what do you do and I said I'm a 00:11:33.05\00:11:36.52 pastor. What is your name. It's John. Well my name is John and 00:11:36.56\00:11:39.73 we began a conversation. Come to find out he knows about 3ABN. 00:11:39.76\00:11:42.93 And he says I enjoy the broadcasts that happen on 3ABN 00:11:42.96\00:11:46.67 like those Bible studies. And a few weeks ago, my wife and I, 00:11:46.70\00:11:49.90 when there was a lot of ice on the ground. We were on our way 00:11:49.94\00:11:53.91 to having lunch and I said honey I need to go to the hardware 00:11:53.94\00:11:57.78 store and she said can't you go to the hardware store after we 00:11:57.81\00:12:01.15 have lunch because I'm really hungry. I say well honey, it's 00:12:01.18\00:12:04.62 on the way. Let me just go to the hardware story, then we'll 00:12:04.65\00:12:07.92 go to have lunch. And she said oh are you going to be long? 00:12:07.99\00:12:10.66 I said, no but I think I need to go to the hardware store first 00:12:10.69\00:12:14.36 then we'll go to have our lunch at the Mexican restaurant. Well 00:12:14.40\00:12:17.97 I believe the reason why my passion was so great was because 00:12:18.00\00:12:23.00 when we got there, I was looking for a small screw and a bolt. 00:12:23.04\00:12:26.54 Couldn't find it but I left the store and as I was leaving a 00:12:26.57\00:12:31.18 gentleman said, I know who you are. You're that guy out there 00:12:31.21\00:12:35.75 at 3ABN. And he said, I love those Wednesday night Bible 00:12:35.78\00:12:38.65 studies. Can you all say amen? And I'm discovering people 00:12:38.69\00:12:41.52 that are all over the southern Illinois area are tuning in. If 00:12:41.56\00:12:44.96 you ever get the courage up come on and join us here at the 3ABN 00:12:44.99\00:12:48.76 Worship Center in Thompsonville. So many people are coming to the 00:12:48.80\00:12:52.53 knowledge of the truth of God's word by these studies. But 00:12:52.57\00:12:56.50 Malachi 4:1-3 in answer to the question what does the Bible say 00:12:56.54\00:13:02.44 about the wicked. Here's the answer. Malachi 4:1-3. Let's 00:13:02.48\00:13:05.88 read this together. 00:13:05.91\00:13:07.25 Root nor branch. Now let's follow that carefully. I have 00:13:31.71\00:13:36.38 seen many fires. I lived in California where they said 00:13:36.41\00:13:40.58 there's a forest fire in southern California. The forests 00:13:40.62\00:13:44.75 are burning in northern California and Redwoods, in 00:13:44.79\00:13:50.63 Oakland right above the freeway. I mean I've seen a lot of forest 00:13:50.66\00:13:53.70 fires. Now follow this very carefully. If a fire burns in a 00:13:53.73\00:13:57.47 forest chances are even if it burns the tree down, give it 00:13:57.50\00:14:01.90 about a month, a few months or a year what happens? The tree 00:14:01.94\00:14:06.17 begins to sprout again. It has to be a pretty bad fire for it 00:14:06.21\00:14:12.01 to burn the roots of the tree. Am I right? Now if you don't 00:14:12.05\00:14:17.45 have any roots are you going to have branches, Yes or No? 00:14:17.49\00:14:20.59 Because it starts where? At the roots. Now follow this 00:14:20.62\00:14:25.23 carefully. Jesus says I am the Vine, you are the branches. So 00:14:25.29\00:14:29.50 all of those who are righteous are connected to Christ, it begins with Him. But 00:14:29.53\00:14:33.74 those who do wickedly are connected to Satan. He is the 00:14:33.77\00:14:37.07 root and they are the what? Branches. Now here's the point 00:14:37.11\00:14:40.34 if the roots are destroyed will the branches survive? Absolutely 00:14:40.38\00:14:47.62 not. And read that Satan himself is going to be ashes. 00:14:47.65\00:14:52.55 Ezekiel 28:18. If he is going to be ashes so therefore also 00:14:52.59\00:14:56.32 the wicked will... the day is coming that will burn them up 00:14:56.36\00:15:00.00 leaving neither root nor branch. Satan as well as those connected 00:15:00.06\00:15:04.90 with him will be destroyed. Can you say amen to that? And the 00:15:04.93\00:15:08.67 reason I say Amen is not that I am happy for their destruction 00:15:08.70\00:15:12.11 but because I'm glad that when we get to heaven and when there 00:15:12.14\00:15:16.21 is a new earth created, there will be no sin nor sinners in 00:15:16.24\00:15:20.95 the new earth. Our decision to be there is being made now. 00:15:20.98\00:15:24.49 You're not going to have to worry about locking your doors, 00:15:24.52\00:15:27.99 turning off your divine satellite dish. There won't be 00:15:28.02\00:15:33.43 any obviously in the new earth. But we won't have to worry about 00:15:33.46\00:15:36.77 any sin at all. Sin will not rise up a second time and I'll 00:15:36.80\00:15:40.14 give you the text to that in just a moment. But let's go 00:15:40.17\00:15:43.67 ahead and see them. Let me go ahead and continue the text 00:15:43.71\00:15:47.94 because it goes further, it goes further. It says... 00:15:47.98\00:15:52.15 So if Lucifer, if Satan's going to be destroyed and he's the 00:16:05.86\00:16:09.93 root what about the branches? There'll be no branches. Matter 00:16:09.96\00:16:13.23 of fact, David the psalmist says you'll look diligently for the 00:16:13.27\00:16:16.47 wicked and you won't even find their place. They won't be 00:16:16.50\00:16:20.98 found anywhere. Fret no yourself because of evil doers, he said. 00:16:21.01\00:16:24.38 You'll look for their place they won't even be found. Let's 00:16:24.41\00:16:28.22 go to the next one. So the answer to that is, the Bible 00:16:28.25\00:16:31.99 says Satan will become ashes. What about the wicked? They will 00:16:32.05\00:16:36.96 be what? Ashes also. Okay. Let's go to number 14, number 14. 00:16:36.99\00:16:41.86 Because there's a process of destruction, but how does the 00:16:48.94\00:16:54.08 Bible show that the results and not the process is eternal. We 00:16:54.14\00:16:58.61 have two texts that we're going to look at. The first one is in 00:16:58.65\00:17:02.85 Jude verse 7, Jude verse 7. There's only one chapter in the 00:17:02.88\00:17:09.02 book of Jude but for grammatical purposes I put Jude chapter 1 00:17:09.06\00:17:15.56 only one, verse 7. Let's look at Jude. Right before the book of 00:17:15.60\00:17:19.87 Revelation, right 00:17:19.90\00:17:22.10 before the big book of Revelation. Here it is: Jude 7 00:17:22.14\00:17:27.81 speaking about a 00:17:27.84\00:17:29.18 very famous city, about a formerly famous city. 00:17:29.21\00:17:35.88 Now I want to ask a question but I'm going to hold off because 00:18:00.91\00:18:04.85 the question is bubbling up on my heart. Okay, let me ask you 00:18:04.88\00:18:08.38 and give you some supportive scripture. Are Sodom and 00:18:08.42\00:18:13.59 Gomorrah burning today. No. You know why it's not burning today 00:18:13.62\00:18:18.76 because, it was, okay now let me jump ahead of myself, because it 00:18:18.79\00:18:23.33 was destroyed. The reason it's not burning today is because it 00:18:23.37\00:18:28.07 was destroyed. Go to the next text. So how does the Bible show 00:18:28.10\00:18:33.01 that the results and not the process are eternal? What was 00:18:33.04\00:18:38.31 the word? Eternal fire. Now what happens in a forest if they 00:18:38.35\00:18:41.48 cannot stop the blaze. What that is often referred to as? Well 00:18:41.52\00:18:51.49 the firemen will say it's an unquenchable fire, what do they 00:18:51.53\00:18:53.96 say? cannot be contained, out of control. So sometimes what they 00:18:54.00\00:18:59.17 tend to do is they tend to dig dirt trenches so that they can 00:18:59.20\00:19:04.84 direct the fire so that it can what? Burn itself out. Now how 00:19:04.87\00:19:10.25 does it eventually burn itself out? Someone tell me. Huh? 00:19:10.28\00:19:18.62 It consumes itself and how does the fire end. There you go. 00:19:18.65\00:19:25.56 Nothing else to burn. It burns until there's nothing else to 00:19:25.59\00:19:30.10 burn. Come on, you guys live in southern Illinois. Surely 00:19:30.17\00:19:34.57 somebody here has set a fire in their fireplace and if you don't 00:19:34.60\00:19:39.14 put new wood in there, what's going to happen? It's going 00:19:39.17\00:19:42.84 ...But as long as you keep putting wood in there it is what 00:19:42.88\00:19:46.41 eternal fire. If you don't stop putting wood, keep that thing 00:19:46.45\00:19:49.32 going and some people are really good at that. But the moment 00:19:49.35\00:19:52.25 you ignore that. I'll tell you my story about Weaverville. I 00:19:52.29\00:19:55.12 won't waste the time to tell you that, but the fact of the matter 00:19:55.16\00:19:59.16 is the fire continued to burn until there was nothing left to 00:19:59.19\00:20:04.77 burn at all in Sodom. Look at 2 Peter 2:6 to verify this point 00:20:04.80\00:20:10.37 even further and it says... 00:20:10.41\00:20:11.91 Oh I tell you if ever there was a time to have Jesus as your 00:20:32.99\00:20:36.97 Savior it is now. Because I want to tell you Sodom and Gomorrah 00:20:37.00\00:20:40.34 are not going... the fire is not going to be just in Sodom and 00:20:40.37\00:20:44.74 Gomorrah, it's going to be in New York, LA, Miami, Detroit, 00:20:44.77\00:20:49.04 can I keep going? San Francisco. Wherever immorality is glorified 00:20:49.11\00:20:55.78 Thompsonville, Lord have mercy. Wherever immorality is glorified 00:20:55.82\00:21:02.49 they are going to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire and 00:21:02.52\00:21:07.33 then all that's going to left is what? Say it together, Ashes. 00:21:07.40\00:21:12.50 That's it, that's it. All that's left is ashes. Nothing could 00:21:12.53\00:21:17.47 survive, nothing could survive fire. I don't know of anything 00:21:17.51\00:21:21.41 that could survive fire. I've heard of fireproof suits but I 00:21:21.44\00:21:25.28 also heard of seven fire fighters who when they noticed 00:21:25.31\00:21:28.65 that they were trapped... It was a sad story, a few months ago it 00:21:28.68\00:21:31.12 was on the news, fighting a blaze out west. May have been 00:21:31.15\00:21:34.82 more than a few months ago but the timing is not exactly what 00:21:34.89\00:21:38.66 comes to my mind. But they played their last transmission 00:21:38.69\00:21:42.96 on the news. They said this is the last transmission sent by 00:21:43.00\00:21:46.94 these seven firefighters before they lost their lives to the 00:21:46.97\00:21:50.71 flames. And they had these space suits, they called them, 00:21:50.74\00:21:54.64 or those space blankets that they tuck into and usually it's 00:21:54.68\00:21:59.31 fire resistant like everything is water resistant. Now let me 00:21:59.35\00:22:03.92 make a point. Certain things are fire resistant but nothing is 00:22:03.95\00:22:08.49 fire proof. Right? Even your watch water resistant to 100 00:22:08.52\00:22:13.43 feet. Unless you have one of those special watches that you 00:22:13.46\00:22:18.33 can go down 6000 feet, but not even your watch will 00:22:18.37\00:22:21.60 survive. But the point of the matter is... Let's look at the 00:22:21.67\00:22:24.91 other one. So the answer to number 14 is how does the Bible 00:22:24.97\00:22:29.38 show that the results and not the process are eternal? What 00:22:29.41\00:22:33.18 happened? Ashes. What's that word, Ashes. They were destroyed 00:22:33.21\00:22:37.22 they were overthrown. Sodom and Gomorrah became ashes. But now 00:22:37.25\00:22:43.09 let's go to number 15. Let's go to number 15. All right? Number 00:22:43.12\00:22:48.90 15... 00:22:48.93\00:22:56.47 Eternal fire does not mean eternal burning. When you read 00:22:56.50\00:23:03.08 the story of the flood, it's a tragic story. My wife and I are 00:23:03.14\00:23:06.48 reading that story together. We just reading the account of the 00:23:06.51\00:23:10.12 flood, now we're reading after the flood. We also read in the 00:23:10.15\00:23:13.22 book of Genesis describing the world that then was overthrown 00:23:13.25\00:23:18.03 by the flood. The deluge was everywhere. Only eight persons 00:23:18.06\00:23:23.60 survived, only eight. Because as the world did not survive the 00:23:23.63\00:23:28.47 water this time it's not going to survive the fire. But it's 00:23:28.50\00:23:32.54 not going to be an eternal fire any more than there is an 00:23:32.57\00:23:36.54 eternal flood. Because the Lord doesn't make one temporary and 00:23:36.58\00:23:41.25 one eternal. As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be in 00:23:41.28\00:23:45.55 the days of the coming of the Son of Man. God does not deal 00:23:45.59\00:23:51.36 differently. He's the same yesterday, today and forever. 00:23:51.39\00:23:57.10 Let's go to the answer to number 15. How does the Bible show? 00:23:57.17\00:24:00.04 Luke 17:29. Look at this, look at this. So we get the final 00:24:00.07\00:24:03.20 text in the Bible about Sodom and Gomorrah, at least one of 00:24:03.24\00:24:06.34 the final ones. It says... 00:24:06.37\00:24:22.52 Notice the Bible, none at all. We talked about the flood and 00:24:22.59\00:24:26.56 in a few past lessons and when the waters came it destroyed 00:24:26.59\00:24:30.97 them all. The flood came and took them all away. And the very 00:24:31.00\00:24:35.30 same way the fire was rained from heaven. Now can you 00:24:35.34\00:24:38.24 imagine that. I don't think we think about that very much. But 00:24:38.27\00:24:44.01 that's a serious picture; fire? being rained from heaven? I mean 00:24:44.05\00:24:48.98 we get some heavy rain storms down here don't we, but can you 00:24:49.02\00:24:53.36 imagine if that were fire. What umbrella would you open up? 00:24:53.39\00:24:57.96 Where would you go? I mean the heat alone as you're running 00:24:57.99\00:25:02.53 across the surface of the ground We run across the surface of 00:25:02.56\00:25:05.63 water until we find a shelter. But you cannot run across the 00:25:05.70\00:25:09.27 surface of fire because it is so intense. And the fire that God 00:25:09.30\00:25:12.84 talks about, matter of fact, oh I tell you, it's a tragic 00:25:12.87\00:25:16.34 picture. But the fire's not going to be coming down, but 00:25:16.38\00:25:20.42 it's going to be what? Coming up. You know just like in the 00:25:20.45\00:25:24.02 flood. The waters came up, the face of the deep was broken up 00:25:24.05\00:25:27.59 the waters came up and the waters came down. In the very 00:25:27.62\00:25:31.09 same way the fire's going to be raining down and the fire's 00:25:31.13\00:25:34.70 going to be coming up and you know anything about the ring of 00:25:34.73\00:25:38.23 fire, about volcanos, about earth quakes, about all these 00:25:38.27\00:25:42.90 lakes of magma and these caldrons of magma. I tell you, 00:25:42.94\00:25:47.48 that's not a fire and brimstone sermon, but I want to be on the 00:25:47.51\00:25:50.91 right side. Anybody else. Be on the side where we will have 00:25:50.95\00:25:54.28 protection from all that destruction. Okay, number 16: 00:25:54.32\00:25:58.55 Let's go to number 16. So the answer to number 15- How do we 00:25:58.59\00:26:02.29 know the fire is not eternal? It destroyed them all. The end 00:26:02.32\00:26:05.93 result was destruction. And this is something you have to keep in 00:26:05.99\00:26:11.10 mind. The results are eternal, not the process. The results are 00:26:11.13\00:26:16.24 eternal not the process. Question #16: 00:26:16.27\00:26:22.14 Number 16. Let's start with Luke 3:17. One of the reasons I'm 00:26:39.59\00:26:48.27 glad to be teaching this topic is because I recall the story a 00:26:48.30\00:26:54.01 number of years ago when I lived in California. In a small 00:26:54.04\00:26:58.41 town of Vallejo, California we were doing an evangelistic 00:26:58.45\00:27:02.75 series. Actually Doug Bachelor was doing the series, I was the 00:27:02.78\00:27:05.12 singing evangelist and there was a gentleman that sat on the 00:27:05.15\00:27:07.46 front row every night and at the meetings he accepted Christ into 00:27:07.49\00:27:11.49 his life and was baptized and we said what particular topic 00:27:11.53\00:27:15.40 really brought you to the decision. He said it was the 00:27:15.43\00:27:19.43 topic about hell. Really!? He said because all these years 00:27:19.47\00:27:22.77 when I was out in the world my friend and I were involved in 00:27:22.80\00:27:25.91 a whole lot of things, he lost his life and he talked about the 00:27:25.94\00:27:30.18 way he did in crime in progress and he said all these years, 00:27:30.21\00:27:34.88 southern gentleman, all these years I used to think my friend 00:27:34.92\00:27:39.55 was in hell burning, but I finally found peace and that's 00:27:39.59\00:27:45.96 kind of God I want to serve. Amen? And the wrong picture 00:27:45.99\00:27:49.80 about God... Some people say it doesn't really matter. 00:27:49.83\00:27:53.57 It does matter! It makes God out to be worse than the worst 00:27:53.60\00:27:58.84 tyrant on earth. What kind of God is there who would just 00:27:58.87\00:28:04.08 find joy in punishing people for ever and ever. And I think the 00:28:04.11\00:28:06.68 reason why people believe that is because they don't know how 00:28:06.72\00:28:12.05 long forever is. God is Love. 1 John 4:8 God is love. Do you 00:28:12.09\00:28:16.93 think about how long forever is (snorts). Let me just say it 00:28:16.96\00:28:21.56 like we used to sing in Heritage Forever is a long, long time. 00:28:21.60\00:28:26.43 It never ends. Well look at the answer. Luke 3:17. Speaking 00:28:26.47\00:28:31.27 about the Lord's judgments, it says: 00:28:31.31\00:28:33.11 What kind of fire! Unquenchable fire. Now let me go ahead and 00:28:53.73\00:28:58.03 explain this. Also we lived in Fairfield, California. My wife 00:28:58.07\00:29:02.34 always says remember to say California because there's a 00:29:02.37\00:29:05.17 Fairfield, Illinois. Brother Hutchison did too. 00:29:05.21\00:29:08.01 And after the harvest season driving down 00:29:08.04\00:29:12.11 Highway 80 or Highway 5 in the distance you 00:29:12.15\00:29:16.22 would see this billowing black smoke. And before I learned what 00:29:16.25\00:29:20.79 it was, I would think man it's like Sacramento is going up in 00:29:20.82\00:29:25.66 flames. What I discovered was is that after the harvest was 00:29:25.69\00:29:30.50 done all that's left is the chaff when they finish 00:29:30.53\00:29:35.54 harvesting the fields and there's so much chaff that what 00:29:35.57\00:29:39.24 they do, the farmers set a fire It's a controlled burn but if 00:29:39.27\00:29:42.54 you're talking about hundreds of acres, it looks pretty ominous 00:29:42.58\00:29:45.81 from a distance. I mean the smoke was just billowing up. 00:29:45.85\00:29:51.09 It burns and burns and sometimes if you're driving by you can 00:29:51.12\00:29:55.22 tell what used to be there. Because certain things have a 00:29:55.26\00:29:58.83 certain smell. If there used to be soybeans or corn, it has a 00:29:58.89\00:30:02.13 certain smell to it. You can say ah, smells like... And you see 00:30:02.16\00:30:05.87 the fire. But it continued to burn and nothing could put the 00:30:05.90\00:30:09.50 fire out until everything was burned. Well let's see why the 00:30:09.54\00:30:13.07 Bible uses the words unquenchable fire. 00:30:13.11\00:30:16.88 Okay. Let's go to the next text Jeremiah 17:27. By the way, as 00:30:16.91\00:30:22.65 your turning to Jeremiah, keep this in mind. I mentioned this 00:30:22.68\00:30:27.56 before and think it serves well to insert this back here. The 00:30:27.59\00:30:32.09 reason why it means unquenchable in the same way that men could 00:30:32.13\00:30:37.03 not stop the rain from coming down. I mean there was no place 00:30:37.07\00:30:42.04 that they could have gone to prevent the rain that God was 00:30:42.07\00:30:47.78 pouring from heaven during the flood. In the very same way, it 00:30:47.81\00:30:53.18 can't quench the fire that God will use to destroy sin and 00:30:53.21\00:30:57.95 sinners. Humans can't quench it. That's exactly right. Human's 00:30:57.99\00:31:02.69 can't quench it, so it is unquenchable. So let's go to 00:31:02.72\00:31:06.36 Jeremiah 17:27. The Lord spoke to Jerusalem in particular. He 00:31:06.39\00:31:13.17 says... 00:31:13.20\00:31:52.94 So was Jerusalem destroyed? Was the fire quenched? No not by man 00:31:52.97\00:32:02.25 Exactly. It's burned itself out. Nothing on earth has any eternal 00:32:02.28\00:32:11.53 properties. Nothing does. So the fire continued burning and 00:32:11.56\00:32:17.27 burning and burning and burning until there was nothing left in 00:32:17.33\00:32:25.14 Jerusalem to burn. All right. Let's go to question number 17. 00:32:25.17\00:32:30.85 You can tell we're getting a little closer to the warm season 00:32:30.91\00:32:34.18 It is a little warm in here tonight. Brother Dinzey is the 00:32:34.22\00:32:37.99 only one that's not. He loves the warmth. He's definitely from 00:32:38.02\00:32:41.76 a warm country. Okay. Number 17. 00:32:41.79\00:32:46.49 I lead out with this but now we're going to revisit this text 00:33:03.55\00:33:07.75 again. Doesn't hurt to hear the text twice. I think the second 00:33:07.78\00:33:13.46 time it will sink in. Matthew 10:28. All right. I'm trying to 00:33:13.49\00:33:17.43 move on at a good pace tonight so I can get to the rich man and 00:33:17.49\00:33:21.53 Lazarus. I want to touch on that tonight. We know we're not going 00:33:21.56\00:33:25.57 to finish but we'll go into the remainder of the topic next 00:33:25.60\00:33:29.54 week. Matthew 10:28. Here's what the Bible teaches: 00:33:29.57\00:33:33.38 I want to tell you a story. Our dear Pastor Brooks, I heard him 00:33:51.23\00:33:59.23 preach in a sermon and a gentleman was having a 00:33:59.27\00:34:00.74 discussion with son who was rebellious, rebellious. And 00:34:00.77\00:34:06.31 every appeal the father made to the son to give his life to the 00:34:06.34\00:34:09.18 Lord, his son ignored. And the father had one very heart 00:34:09.21\00:34:15.48 transferring conversation with his son. He said, Son I love you 00:34:15.52\00:34:21.72 and I will not want to spend eternity without you, but if you 00:34:21.76\00:34:27.96 do not choose the Lord, I'm going to miss you. But not 00:34:28.00\00:34:34.17 always. I'm going to be sad if you don't make it, but not 00:34:34.20\00:34:43.11 always. His father began to tear up. Why not always. Because 00:34:43.14\00:34:48.98 even death and sorrow, there shall be no more sorrow, no more 00:34:49.02\00:34:55.26 crying, no more death, no more pain. So the sadness of it is 00:34:55.29\00:35:01.36 the loss of those who could have been saved, what makes it an 00:35:01.40\00:35:06.20 eternal loss. You see if any of us die, and a lot of people have 00:35:06.23\00:35:11.17 died in fires, car accidents, buildings on fire. Just on the 00:35:11.21\00:35:16.14 news tonight in southern Illinois, two brothers, a sad 00:35:16.18\00:35:19.91 story, their trailer caught on fire about two or three o'clock 00:35:19.95\00:35:23.02 in the morning. They got the fire out in 20 minutes but not 00:35:23.05\00:35:26.25 before these two young men, these two brothers perished in 00:35:26.29\00:35:33.03 the fire. Sad, sad account; perished in the fire. Now they 00:35:33.06\00:35:39.73 can come forth in the resurrection, Amen. They still 00:35:39.77\00:35:43.14 have hope in the resurrection. But if that fire was the 00:35:43.17\00:35:46.47 destruction of the wicked there will be no redemption, there'll 00:35:46.51\00:35:52.15 be no second chances. As a matter of fact, let me go ahead 00:35:52.18\00:35:54.88 and give you something that we didn't read before. We read it 00:35:54.95\00:35:56.79 before but I'm going to go ahead and give you this piece. Go to 00:35:56.82\00:36:00.56 Revelation 20 because there are those who may be tuning in to 00:36:00.59\00:36:04.26 this broadcast that didn't follow along in the early stages 00:36:04.29\00:36:07.86 of the lesson. You see everyone who has ever been born and lives 00:36:07.93\00:36:16.74 a certain amount of years eventually dies. In fact, the 00:36:16.77\00:36:26.11 oldest recorded life span was 969 years. I can't fathom that. 00:36:26.15\00:36:31.39 I mean we talk about 69's really old. Add 900 to that. That's 00:36:31.42\00:36:37.39 serious. I mean that's really 900. Now we say how old are you 00:36:37.43\00:36:41.70 man. I'm going to be 60 next month. We're getting old. Add 00:36:41.73\00:36:45.93 900 to that. I mean that's hard to fathom. Adam lived to be 930 00:36:45.97\00:36:53.61 and then he died. Methuselah 696 and then he died. But look at 00:36:53.64\00:37:02.72 Revelation 20:6. Good I'm not running into myself. We covered 00:37:02.75\00:37:11.93 this earlier. Revelation 20:6. And the reason I said there are 00:37:11.96\00:37:14.83 many who have died. Everyone who has died has an opportunity 00:37:14.86\00:37:19.87 again in the resurrection. The Bible says, Blessed, and what 00:37:19.90\00:37:25.61 else holy who has part in the first resurrection. Over such 00:37:25.64\00:37:32.05 second death has no power. They shall be priests of God and of 00:37:32.08\00:37:38.72 Christ, and shall reign how long? A thousand years. Longer 00:37:38.75\00:37:43.59 then Methuselah. That is in heaven, when they ascend to be 00:37:43.63\00:37:48.23 in heaven they're going to reign a 1000 years. But the sin 00:37:48.26\00:37:51.97 problem has not yet been completely dealt with. It's at 00:37:52.00\00:37:55.64 the end of the 1000 years that New Jerusalem comes down to 00:37:55.67\00:37:59.27 earth. The saints come down and enter the New Jerusalem and the 00:37:59.31\00:38:03.24 second resurrection takes place. Then the Bible makes it very, 00:38:03.28\00:38:07.62 very clear, look at verse 9. We covered this in a prior lesson 00:38:07.65\00:38:11.92 so I'm giving you some background that fits at this 00:38:11.95\00:38:14.12 particular point. The Bible says speaking about the second 00:38:14.16\00:38:18.09 resurrection, And they went up on the breadth of the earth and 00:38:18.13\00:38:23.87 surrounded the camp of the saints and the beloved city. And 00:38:23.90\00:38:27.94 what happened? Fire came down from God out of heaven and 00:38:27.97\00:38:32.04 devoured them. Now go down to verse 14. Then death and Hell 00:38:32.07\00:38:42.08 (that is Hades) were cast into the lake of fire. This is the 00:38:42.12\00:38:49.12 what? Second death. See everybody suffers the first but 00:38:49.16\00:38:53.86 because of Jesus you don't have to suffer the second death. Can 00:38:53.90\00:38:56.56 you say Amen to that? Jesus is an answer to prevent us. 00:38:56.60\00:39:01.14 Sometimes people ask me on the plane what do you do? And I get 00:39:01.17\00:39:04.64 tempted to say... I'd clear it up later... I sell fire 00:39:04.67\00:39:08.48 insurance and life insurance. Because in fact if you work for 00:39:08.51\00:39:12.01 the Lord you're preaching the Gospel you sell fire insurance. 00:39:12.05\00:39:15.48 If you accept this message this message of salvation, you are 00:39:15.52\00:39:19.99 prevented from the fires of destruction. And also life 00:39:20.02\00:39:23.93 insurance, eternal life insurance. And the premiums have been paid by Jesus. Can you 00:39:23.96\00:39:27.86 you all say Amen? So that's what the beauty of this 00:39:27.90\00:39:31.53 is. We will not be hurt at the second death. Even death itself 00:39:31.57\00:39:35.57 will be cast into the lake of fire and death itself is going 00:39:35.60\00:39:38.91 to be destroyed. There'll be no death in the New Earth. There'll 00:39:38.97\00:39:42.24 be no death after sin and suffering have been dealt with. 00:39:42.28\00:39:45.58 And the reason is clear. We'll get to that in just a moment. 00:39:45.61\00:39:49.38 But the question that we just answered, Question number 17, 00:39:49.42\00:39:52.35 Does the Bible teach that eternal fire means that the soul 00:39:52.39\00:39:55.26 could be tormented forever? Yes or no? No it doesn't mean that. 00:39:55.29\00:39:59.63 Because the Bible makes it clear the soul that sins it shall die. 00:39:59.69\00:40:03.80 Ezekiel 18:4. Go there. I don't have it in the lesson but I know 00:40:03.87\00:40:07.94 you want to see it. I got a phone call from a guy that said 00:40:07.97\00:40:12.41 you quoted this verse but where does it come from? Here 00:40:12.44\00:40:20.62 it is. Ezekiel 18:4: There is no mention of an eternal and 00:40:20.65\00:40:27.46 immortal soul anywhere in the Bible. I'm always amazed where 00:40:27.49\00:40:36.23 the ideologies come from. Okay Ezekiel 18:4 This is a powerful 00:40:36.26\00:40:43.41 passage. Behold the Lord says, all souls are mine, the soul of 00:40:43.44\00:40:50.78 the father as well as the soul of the son is mine. The soul who 00:40:50.81\00:40:58.15 sins shall die. It's a sad reality, but that's the truth. 00:40:58.19\00:41:04.26 The soul that sins. Sin equals death. There'll be no sin in 00:41:04.29\00:41:10.63 heaven. There'll be no sin in the New Earth. There'll only be 00:41:10.67\00:41:14.70 righteousness. That's the kind of earth we're looking forward 00:41:14.74\00:41:18.74 to. That's the kind of kingdom that we all want to reign with 00:41:18.77\00:41:22.38 Christ in. Matter of fact, the devil won't be there. His angels 00:41:22.44\00:41:26.92 that followed him in rebellion won't be there. They got evicted 00:41:26.95\00:41:31.39 a long time ago. Heaven is a righteous place and the New 00:41:31.42\00:41:35.72 Earth will be that place of righteousness. Now Question 00:41:35.76\00:41:40.03 number 18: Here it is. Okay... 00:41:40.06\00:41:59.28 Okay. Is there a teaching in the Bible that the soul cannot be 00:41:59.31\00:42:03.08 destroyed? Ezekiel 18:4. So ignore the passage on your 00:42:03.12\00:42:08.86 lesson, that's another passage I'm going to add to it. That's 00:42:08.92\00:42:11.96 another passage, but I want to first... We had Ezekiel 18:4 00:42:11.99\00:42:15.76 right now. Am I correct? Okay. So let's go ahead and look at 00:42:15.80\00:42:19.50 this one together. We're already there. Then we're going to go to 00:42:19.53\00:42:22.80 Matthew 25:46. I was intending to include both of them when I 00:42:22.84\00:42:26.27 included Ezekiel 18:4. So we just read it. But once again for 00:42:26.31\00:42:29.08 those who are watching the program here's the text on the 00:42:29.11\00:42:31.85 screen... The Bible says... 00:42:31.88\00:42:44.89 Now what we need to understand as we talk about this topic that 00:42:44.93\00:42:50.97 does not apply to those that have accepted Jesus Christ. 00:42:51.00\00:42:55.00 We need to understand a very important thing about hell and 00:42:55.04\00:43:01.04 Jesus discussed this topic in detail. Matthew 25, go with me 00:43:01.08\00:43:09.88 there, Matthew 25. All right. Matthew 25 and let's look at 00:43:09.92\00:43:21.50 46. Okay. Look at this verse. I would like to go even maybe a 00:43:21.56\00:43:33.11 verse back, a verse back. Because the comparison is as 00:43:33.14\00:43:39.21 many of you know the Lord talked about there'll be weeping and 00:43:39.28\00:43:43.18 gnashing of teeth because the Lord says that if you've done 00:43:43.25\00:43:46.96 this to the least of these my brethren you've done it to 00:43:46.99\00:43:48.69 me, but if you have not, you've not done it unto me, you've not 00:43:48.72\00:43:50.36 paid attention to their needs, that means you've not paid 00:43:50.39\00:43:56.13 attention to me. I am represented in those who are 00:43:56.16\00:44:00.20 less fortunate than you are. Look at Matthew 25:46. The Bible 00:44:00.24\00:44:05.71 says on verse 45 then he will answer unto them saying 00:44:05.74\00:44:09.44 assuredly I say to you, as you did not do it to one of the 00:44:09.48\00:44:16.92 least of these you did not do it to me. That is, you didn't feed 00:44:16.99\00:44:21.06 the hungry, you didn't help those who were naked, those who 00:44:21.09\00:44:25.06 were destitute, those who were in prison, those who were sick, 00:44:25.09\00:44:29.03 You didn't visit them, you didn't feed them, you didn't 00:44:29.06\00:44:30.80 clothe them, you ignored them, and then He says in verse 46, 00:44:30.87\00:44:37.27 So the question we've got to ask ourselves is who was hell 00:44:45.41\00:44:51.22 prepared for. Go a few verses earlier, verse 41. Who was hell 00:44:51.25\00:44:57.26 prepared for? Okay. My wife is telling me the answer. Matthew 00:44:57.29\00:45:05.57 25:41, here it is: Then he will say to those on the what hand? 00:45:05.63\00:45:11.77 left hand, Depart from me you cursed into the everlasting fire 00:45:11.81\00:45:17.88 prepared for the Devil and his angels. You know what the good 00:45:17.91\00:45:23.35 news is? God did not prepare hell for any of His children. 00:45:23.39\00:45:29.72 Amen? From their rebellion, from them being cast out of heaven 00:45:29.76\00:45:34.76 God determined that Satan and all of the angels that followed 00:45:34.83\00:45:39.13 him in rebellion must be destroyed. When I read that text 00:45:39.17\00:45:43.44 years ago, I've read it a number of times, but once I read that 00:45:43.47\00:45:47.58 text and I said why should I join them in a party that I was 00:45:47.61\00:45:52.45 not invited to? The devil and his angels. Why should I break 00:45:52.48\00:45:56.72 into an event that I am not invited to? The righteous are 00:45:56.75\00:46:00.72 not invited to that event. That's only for the wicked, 00:46:00.76\00:46:05.79 that's only for the devil and his angels. But God did not 00:46:05.83\00:46:08.70 even prepare the hell fire for the wicked. He prepared it for 00:46:08.73\00:46:11.53 the devil and his angels. Unfortunately, those who follow 00:46:11.57\00:46:14.87 the devil and his angels in rebellion must also follow them 00:46:14.90\00:46:19.34 in destruction. That's the unfortunate reality of it. So if 00:46:19.37\00:46:22.64 you look at question number 18, What phrase did Jesus use to 00:46:22.68\00:46:24.78 describe the destruction of the wicked? What phrase did he use? 00:46:24.81\00:46:26.92 Everlasting punishMENT. Now let me make a difference here. When 00:46:29.42\00:46:39.76 you get an assignment, it's different from an assignING. 00:46:39.79\00:46:46.57 I don't assign you eternally. I assign you once and then you 00:46:46.60\00:46:51.97 have an assignment. And the same thing, punishING is the 00:46:52.01\00:46:57.78 process. PunishMENT is the result. PunishING, the fires, is 00:46:57.81\00:47:03.42 the result. PunishMENT, the ashes, is the result. And how 00:47:03.45\00:47:09.06 long is the result going to last? Tell me, look at the text 00:47:09.09\00:47:13.09 everlasting. Everlasting meaning there is no reprieve from the 00:47:13.13\00:47:17.47 destruction of the fires of hell no reprieve at all. Number 19: 00:47:17.50\00:47:26.31 Let's go right along. We may get there. Okay. Number 19. Why 00:47:26.34\00:47:34.58 does the Bible use eternal and forever... I think I may have 00:47:34.65\00:47:42.02 covered that. I did. Let's go to number 20. Those who are 00:47:42.06\00:47:46.70 following me on the truck appreciate that. Go to number 20 00:47:46.76\00:47:50.13 Number 20. Here it is... 00:47:51.40\00:48:09.98 I know your answer. But don't tell me. Let's go to Matthew 13 00:48:10.02\00:48:17.29 We're already in the book of Matthew. Matthew 13 and this 00:48:17.33\00:48:25.23 by the way is the parable of the wheat and the tares. Now this is 00:48:25.27\00:48:34.31 a fairly long parable. It's broken down into first the 00:48:34.34\00:48:38.88 parable and then the explanation First the parable and then the 00:48:38.91\00:48:45.59 explanation. All right? No the explanation in verses 39 and 40 00:48:45.62\00:48:52.26 but let's go ahead and start with the parable. Can we do 00:48:52.29\00:48:54.83 that? Because this angels is very symbolic. It's good to 00:48:54.86\00:48:57.47 understand the language as it unfolds. Let's go to verse 24. 00:48:57.50\00:49:01.04 Go to verse 24 and begin with the parable. The Bible says 00:49:01.07\00:49:05.37 another parable he put forth to them saying, The kingdom of 00:49:05.44\00:49:09.48 heaven is like a man who sowed what kind of seed, good seed in 00:49:09.51\00:49:14.35 his field. The Gospel is good seed, right, good seed. Nothing 00:49:14.38\00:49:20.12 that Jesus sows is bad seed. But while man slept, his enemy 00:49:20.16\00:49:25.89 came and sowed tares among the wheat and went his way. That's 00:49:25.96\00:49:31.17 how the devil does. He comes in, starts trouble, then leaves. 00:49:31.23\00:49:36.57 Next verse: But when the grain had sprouted and produced a crop 00:49:36.60\00:49:42.31 then the tares also appeared. So the servant of the owner came 00:49:42.34\00:49:49.25 and said to him, sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? 00:49:49.28\00:49:56.12 How then does it have tares? Then he said in verse 28: He 00:49:56.16\00:50:02.10 said to them, what does he say? An enemy has done this. The 00:50:02.13\00:50:06.80 servant said to him, and I like this part, Do you want us 00:50:06.84\00:50:10.64 then to go and 00:50:10.67\00:50:12.01 gather them up. Very powerful lesson. But He said in 00:50:12.04\00:50:16.21 verse 20, But he said to them, What did He say? No lest while 00:50:16.24\00:50:21.92 gather up the tares, you also uproot the wheat with the tares. 00:50:21.98\00:50:25.65 You know when we look at people we cannot tell whether they are 00:50:25.69\00:50:29.36 wheat or tares. Amen to that. Because we do not have the 00:50:29.39\00:50:31.96 discretionary ability to read a person's heart. Because from all 00:50:31.99\00:50:38.43 outward appearances the Pharisees looked so righteous. 00:50:38.47\00:50:41.87 From all outward appearances the publican's and harlots and 00:50:41.90\00:50:45.67 sinners looked so wicked. And Jesus said the publicans and 00:50:45.71\00:50:49.14 harlots and the sinners will end up in the kingdom before you. 00:50:49.18\00:50:52.28 And He said to them it was so bad, these righteous-looking 00:50:52.31\00:50:55.42 men, He said, Except your righteousness exceeds the 00:50:55.45\00:50:59.75 righteousness of the scribes and Pharisees, you're going to 00:50:59.79\00:51:04.46 perish. So never judge a book by its cover. Don't look and say 00:51:04.49\00:51:08.06 Ah that guy's going to hell, Ah that woman's going to hell. 00:51:08.10\00:51:11.63 Oh let's not do that. The disciples thought they could 00:51:11.67\00:51:14.14 differentiate between the saved and lost. Don't do it. What did 00:51:14.17\00:51:19.67 He say then? Verse 30: Let both grow together until the harvest 00:51:19.71\00:51:26.25 and at the time of the harvest, I will say to the reapers, first 00:51:26.28\00:51:32.79 first gather together the tares... This is powerful, this 00:51:32.82\00:51:35.56 is along the lines of the answer. First gather together 00:51:35.59\00:51:38.66 the tares and bind them in what? bundles to do what? 00:51:38.69\00:51:41.66 burn them. But gather the wheat into my barns. When the tares 00:51:41.73\00:51:49.80 are gathered what's going to happen to them? They're going 00:51:49.84\00:51:51.34 be what? Burned. But now let's answer the question. Go to verse 00:51:51.37\00:51:56.75 let's go to verse 36. Then Jesus sent the multitude away and went 00:51:56.78\00:52:01.88 into the house and the disciples came to Him saying, Explain to 00:52:01.92\00:52:07.02 us the parable of the tares of the field. He said to them, 00:52:07.06\00:52:12.63 verse 37: He who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. The 00:52:12.66\00:52:17.70 field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the 00:52:17.73\00:52:22.84 kingdom, but the tares are the sons of the wicked one. And 00:52:22.87\00:52:27.91 here's the answer to number 20. The enemy who sowed them is the 00:52:27.94\00:52:33.75 devil... 00:52:33.78\00:52:56.27 I used the King James Version, New King James uses age, King 00:52:56.30\00:53:01.21 James uses world. As the tares are gathered and burned in the 00:53:01.24\00:53:06.45 fire so shall it be at the end of this world. So here's the 00:53:06.48\00:53:12.59 point to the question. Are sinners in hell burning now? 00:53:12.62\00:53:17.56 Not at all. Will there be a fire Yes, but it's not going to 00:53:17.59\00:53:22.20 happen now and here's the reason why: The righteous don't 00:53:22.23\00:53:26.74 go to heaven right away and the sinners don't go to hell right 00:53:26.80\00:53:31.77 away. Matter of fact, go with me to John 5. Then we'll look at 00:53:31.81\00:53:36.78 Romans 6. John 5: This fits right here. And you know 00:53:36.81\00:53:45.05 sometimes in the former, in the prior study, we covered this but 00:53:45.09\00:53:49.02 this is where the point comes in very, very clearly. It's going 00:53:49.06\00:53:52.39 happen at the end of the world. It's not going to happen before 00:53:52.43\00:53:55.36 then, and here's the reason why. There's something that's going 00:53:55.43\00:53:58.13 happen at the end of the world that determines which category 00:53:58.17\00:54:03.54 you're in. John 5:28, 29. Here it is: The Bible says, Do not 00:54:03.57\00:54:10.68 marvel at this for the hour is coming in which all who are in 00:54:10.71\00:54:17.09 graves will hear his voice. If you die righteous or wicked, 00:54:17.12\00:54:22.09 all in the graves. Now look at verse 29. And come forth those 00:54:22.12\00:54:27.10 who have done good to the resurrection of life. Those who 00:54:27.13\00:54:32.03 have done evil to the resurrection of condemnation. 00:54:32.07\00:54:35.80 There are going to be two assignments: On the right hand 00:54:35.84\00:54:38.34 the righteous. On the left hand the wicked. The right hand the 00:54:38.37\00:54:44.21 wheat, the left hand the tares, the right hand the sheep, the 00:54:44.25\00:54:49.15 left hand the goats. Everything about the right hand. God 00:54:49.18\00:54:54.02 doesn't have a left hand... The right is on the right, the wrong 00:54:54.06\00:54:58.26 is on the left. Light on the right, darkness on the left. 00:54:58.29\00:55:02.46 Let's go to Romans 6:23: Do the wicked begin burning in fires of 00:55:02.53\00:55:10.41 hell at death or at the end of the world? And here's the 00:55:10.44\00:55:15.78 reason why this assignment comes at the end of the world: Here's 00:55:15.81\00:55:19.98 reason: Roman's 6:23- We all know that by heart. I think we 00:55:20.02\00:55:25.65 do, most of us do. This is like a second John 3:16; there are 00:55:25.69\00:55:30.19 many of those passages in the Bible. Let's read this together. 00:55:30.23\00:55:34.66 Are you ready? Here we go... 00:55:34.70\00:55:46.88 Now let's not run past that because this is such a familiar 00:55:46.91\00:55:50.25 passage. Sometimes people miss what it means. Let me ask a 00:55:50.28\00:55:53.58 series of questions to just nail this down. What's the wages of 00:55:53.62\00:55:58.05 sin, together? What's the gift of God? What? What kind of 00:55:58.09\00:56:01.32 life? Eternal life. Now here's the next question: Who receives 00:56:01.36\00:56:07.96 eternal life, the wicked or the righteous?. Okay, you're good so 00:56:08.00\00:56:15.77 far, you follow me very well. So here's the point we've 00:56:15.80\00:56:18.84 discovered so far. The wages of sin is death. The gift of God is 00:56:18.87\00:56:22.38 eternal life. We've discovered also, the wicked receive death, 00:56:22.41\00:56:26.21 the righteous receive eternal life. Powerful thought coming to 00:56:26.25\00:56:30.05 me right now. How can the wicked burn eternally if they 00:56:30.09\00:56:37.73 don't receive eternal life? They cannot. The wicked cannot burn 00:56:37.76\00:56:47.24 eternally because only the righteous receive eternal life. 00:56:47.27\00:56:52.67 Is that clear? So let me ask you the question: Do the wicked burn 00:56:52.74\00:56:59.25 eternally, Yes or no? Who burns eternally. Nobody. Who's going 00:56:59.28\00:57:05.32 to burn the longest. Satan is going to because he began this 00:57:05.35\00:57:12.66 whole push of rebellion. In the summary point, because if I go 00:57:12.69\00:57:19.97 to the next question, we're going to really unpack the 00:57:20.00\00:57:22.04 parable of the rich man and Lazarus on next Wednesday. 00:57:22.07\00:57:24.07 But here's the encouraging news. For God so loved the world that 00:57:24.11\00:57:29.78 He gave His only begotten Son, together, that whosoever 00:57:29.81\00:57:32.68 believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life 00:57:32.71\00:57:37.95 If you want anything everlasting or anything eternal, you got to 00:57:37.99\00:57:42.86 accept Jesus Christ. If you have accepted Christ as your Lord and 00:57:42.89\00:57:47.56 Savior, let's represent Him in the things that we believe and 00:57:47.60\00:57:50.27 the things that we teach. There's nothing eternal, but 00:57:50.30\00:57:52.87 eternal life. The only thing eternal about death is that it 00:57:52.93\00:57:57.11 will never come back again. So keep studying God's word and one 00:57:57.14\00:58:01.31 day it will come into a sharper focus. God bless you. 00:58:01.34\00:58:06.25 ¤ ¤ 00:58:06.28\00:58:07.62