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[0:00] Revelation 20 verse 15 Revelation 20 verse 11 onwards it says And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them and I saw the dead small and great stand before God and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books according to their works and the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their works and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire this is the second death and verse 15 and whosoever was not found written in the book was cast into the lake of fire let us pray

[1:24] Lord we thank you tonight for every person here and for your word and for our fellowship together Lord we just pray that you would be glorified and honoured in every part of this meeting that you would be lifted up Lord that you would minister to every heart dear God that you would be blessed by everything that we we can hear hear and what I can speak Lord that it might honour your name in Jesus name Amen it says that everyone whosoever who was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire I want to talk about this gripping subject it's a real place called hell and really it's something we need to be mindful about every one of us needs to consider this subject because it's very important through the word of God and I heard a preacher Ian Paisley say this he said we are not here to give any glory to any man for man is a total failure fit only to fuel hell but for the saving grace of God it's so true there isn't it really we're only fit to fuel hell but for the saving grace of God it's only God's grace it's only Christ's blood that merits heaven for us it's only Christ's open door through his sacrifice for our sins that makes heaven our home and without Christ we're lost and doomed and down to hell and it's a word that people use lightly isn't it today lightly and carelessly they just drop the word hell from their lips as just some curse some remark some exclamation but hell is not just a swear word it's a real place and it's much easier to talk about heaven and to sing about heaven as we have tonight but hell is something that's just as real as heaven and it's just as eternal as heaven it's just as everlasting as heaven and hell is where you're headed if you have not Christ tonight so seriously people tonight if you're not saved if you're not sure that you're saved today make it sure make it certain make it absolutely guaranteed not by any working or choice or words of your own but because of his work of Calvary and your trust in that work on your behalf and without Christ you have no hope you're hopeless you're hell bound and what is hell as much we could say we're just going to scratch the surface of hell tonight hell is fierce it's fierce it's dreadful it never ends it's endless it's everlasting some think that hell is just an annihilation a kind of poof and it's over but no hell is eternal it's ongoing it's unending it talks about everlasting burnings it talks about a place of fire a fiery furnace and really hell is the madhouse of the universe it's the refuse dump of the world it's an awful place it's pictured in the

[4:34] Bible as compared with the rubbish dump of Jerusalem the valley of Hinnom the Gehenna and hell is a place that's full of Christ haters a place for those who are against God for those who break his commands and there's lots of ways that you can go to hell millions and millions of ways that you can go into hell and there's absolutely no way out it's as if there's no exit sign over the door there's no exit sign there is no door to get out but there's lots of ways to get in there's lots of religions lots of beliefs you can follow all kinds of good philosophies and churches and ideas of men and strivings of men and philosophies and religions of men and they will all lead you to this same place in hell they say the harvest is past the summer is ended and we are not saved it's for the unsaved and hell is a place that is it sucks people in it's like it's greedy it just wants more and more and more and more it's a place for the pleasure seekers those who are lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God and in hell the punishment is severe hell is a place of burning of abiding wrath of blackness of darkness forever of crying of damnation of everlasting punishment of filthiness of gloom of hopelessness of indignation of judgment a place of a lake of fire a place of memory a place of no rest a place of oblivion a place of pain of retribution of shame of thirstiness of ungodliness of vengeance of woe of exclusion of yearning as much we could say it's just about going through the alphabet there of all the characteristics of hell it's a place where there's no hope and you are lost forever hell is with all the most wicked men of all creation hell never ends there's no peace in hell there's no break there's no end of misery there's no gospel preacher there's never salvation in hell and in hell the full wrath of god is poured out and deservedly so on those that are there the anger of god against sinners hell is the justice of god and really for we that are saved we are just as deserving of hell as any that are there now and any that will be there but for us that are saved our hell was taken by christ's cross our hell was taken as the wrath of god was vented against the son as the father turned his back as he turned his face from the son as the son of god was covered besmirched with our sin and as the venting of god's anger was poured out on our saviour for us it was our sin that was there it was our sin that he carried and our punishment that he paid and so but in hell are the people who didn't call for his salvation the people who didn't cry out for his mercy they didn't call on his grace they didn't see his face when they could have done hell is a public disgrace and it's full of good people good people people who are good in the outward senses the world would outwardly view them and esteem them people that might have been highly regarded charity workers and mission founders of preachers church teachers sunday school teachers all kinds of people could be in hell if they haven't got christ if they haven't got christ that's what makes the difference it's not

[8:35] about religion or church or beliefs of men's thinkings and philosophies but it's about whether you've got that faith in christ whether you're saved whether you've trusted him for your salvation and in hell there is no death no rest no peace no pleasure no happiness no joy no love some people think hell is a big party where people can have a big disco and party and a big booze up but there's none of that there in hell it's blackness and darkness it's despair and misery and in hell there'll be no sermons there no hymns no prayers no soul saved no worship of god no bibles there'll be no second chances that's what some religions think some religious systems of our world think that people will get some second chance to have some kind of a purgatory or some kind of a stage or a limbo and then they'll get to call out to christ but no there's no second chance it's appointed unto men once to die once to die after that the judgment and friends you've only got until judgment to trust him rather you've only got until death to trust him until that point of death trust him some people think i'll call on christ on my deathbed some do god in his mercy might grant someone to be saved with their dying breath it's up to him isn't it but will we have that moment will we have that instant or will we will we pass into a coma and never get the chance to think i'm going to die and it'll be too late for you i know i was acquainted with a man acquainted with a man who was a very heavy smoker and he ended up dying of lung cancer and i was at his bed side in his dying days and in his closing hours of life he couldn't speak he couldn't speak his voice box was so destroyed and with the cancer that had eaten him up with his throat or lungs or he certainly couldn't speak and and yet i spoke to him about christ i've been speaking to him about christ for a number of days a number of times with this man and as far as i could tell he he registered an acknowledgement when i said that would you like to trust christ and i prayed on his behalf i'm not to know whether he was real whether that was real or not but it was just really moments later just hours later that he passed away and i can only hope that that he trusted christ even though he couldn't voice it that he did trust christ it looked like he was acknowledging that he wanted to become a christian he nodded his head in that in that terminal ward of the hospital and i just only hope that he did trust christ and yet for you for me if you're not saved today you may not get that opportunity to trust him you may not get that deathbed opportunity don't leave it till your deathbed make it make your life count make it now make it today that you trust him and sadly some will not have a second chance they'll not get the the opportunity once they die there's no more mercy there's no more grace it's over the door is closed like in noah's day when god shut the door on the ark and in hell there is only pain and suffering and after one hundred years hell will be the same after a thousand years hell will be the same after one million years hell will be the same after one billion years hell will be the same it's never ending it's eternal and we could think that should make us wake

[12:35] up and pay attention tonight that it's real it's real we don't want any of our loved ones to go there certainly i trust that you will not go there and if you're saved today hell is a motivator for you hell is a motivator for us that we want to witness we want to reach out to our loved ones as god helps us to to impart the message to reach out while we can i was moved by a picture that i saw recently i don't know if people might have seen it on the news around the place or in the papers but it was on the internet news and it was a picture of a man reaching down holding on to a rope he was a construction worker over a dam site has anyone seen this but it was a construction worker over a dam site and there was a lady that had fallen into this raging torrent of waters in this dam that was kind of like really flooding waters and she was just despairing just grasping for anything for life because she was about to go under there was no hope for her and apparently the one who was with her was swept away and killed and this construction worker had a chain off a crane and he reached down with his hand the picture is so beautiful to see him reaching down with his hand reaching to this struggling woman and pulling her out of the of all of that froth and foam of the raging waters and saving her from a certain fate of death and that's such a picture for us of what christ did isn't it that it's not man trying to climb a ladder of good works and striving to be good to reach some unreachable glory as we know that we all come short we all fall short of the glory of god but it's god in christ reaching down god reconciling the world to himself god reaching down to man who can scarcely lift his hand and god reaching and grasping and saving us that his arm is not shortened that it cannot save god is able to reach to the gutter most to the uttermost to the furthest to the foulest to the filthiest even though you might feel i'm too far too far gone too unworthy you can never be worthy just call on his worthiness tonight and be saved he that believeth can be saved he that believeth not is condemned already we know in john 3 it says that if you believe not you're condemned already there's no hope unless you trust him and really most of the 150 000 odd people that die on this earth every day go to hell it's a reality it says many there be that go there at in that broad and popular way but the narrow way few there be that find it that is the way that leads unto life don't be one of those 150 000 that go to hell let us know that we trust him that we're going to heaven that's assured for us and i was also interested on the internet they've got this site that's got how many people were born on a day and how many people die and how much the world's population is increasing and how many abortions there were that day how many suicides it's quite amazing stuff of course it's all guesswork how they calculate all this but i wonder if you had that kind of picture in your face of the numbers of people day by day moment by moment by moment who are passing away into a christless eternity wouldn't it motivate you wouldn't it want you to get excited to get engaged to get activated in the service of the king while you've still got opportunity while you've still got breath in your lungs wouldn't you want to serve him wouldn't you want to live for him and be active as a christian and hell is something it's a motivator for us for us that believe tonight the bible says that hell as many descriptions we could give i could

[16:36] go on for a long while here but i'll just touch on a number of these phrases think of these phrases i could give all the references but especially these are in mark and matthew talks about fire talks about everlasting fire eternal damnation hell fire damnation of hell furnace of fire the fire that shall never be quenched where their worm dieth not where there's wailing and gnashing of teeth weeping and gnashing of teeth torments tormented in this flame says of luke 16 the rich man place of torment he described it eternal punishment everlasting punishment some doubt about hell they think hell is just a figment of imagination it's just a fantasy it's just a make-believe it's just mythology they doubt the nature of hell's fire they try to spiritualize the fire and say well it's kind of like a fire but it's not really a fire and then they say well it's kind of like a place but it's not really a real place or it's not really it's not really punishment even though it's called punishment in the word of God it's what it says it is that's what it is it's punishment it's a place and it's real and there's fire there something they can excuse themselves something they can they can imagine it away or excuse it away or reason it away something they can ignore hell but it's not real for them they just live the day by day but hell is a place it's real and it's everlasting of course we know that the hell that is now is going to be thrown into the lake of fire I'm meaning that is the everlasting hell in the sense that the lake of fire is everlasting and it's a place of fiery torment it's the fact that the Lord Jesus he spoke more about hell than about heaven in fact someone has said he spoke about twice twice as much about hell than he did about heaven and so it's not up for debate it's like I was talking to someone who is trying to explain a bible truth and he says what he says to people he says your argument's not with me it's it's with the word of God and that's how you can put it really that you know your quarrel is not with me your quarrel is with word of

[18:56] God if you don't like what I'm saying tonight it's what the word says and I'm just really the messenger of that and you can trust Christ tonight you can trust the bible and you can go to heaven you can go to heaven and that's the joy isn't it I know I'm dwelling on the on the shadow side of hell tonight but there's the sunshine side of Calvary there's the glory the joy of heaven oh and a place of eternal bliss of eternal eternal joy of service of liberty of relationship with your heavenly father and you miss all of that if you go to hell that's probably more than the punishment is what you're missing out on you know that sometimes more of a punishment just to miss out on something isn't it if you miss out on a treat it's a punishment it's it's a loss and what a loss it would be for you to lose that fellowship with a heavenly father with that eternal place of freedom and of joy to miss that would be such a sad thing and I don't want any one of you younger people older people to end up there I would plead with you to take this very seriously tonight Psalm 917 it says the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God people are going to be turned into hell talks in Revelation as we started they're going to be cast into hell it's got the sense of cast that's what it means it means a throwing it means a someone throwing a ball that's the sense of it there it's going to be an awful thing I guess there's going to be some great big angels like you know with muscles on they're just going to take people up and grab them by the scruff of their neck and the seat of their pants and push over the edge you know that's the kind of picture of it and it's real it says they're going to be cast there and people tonight I don't want you to be cast into hell if your only hope is Christ he's the only one who can save you and here's the one who upon him was cast all the anger and fury and judgment against your sin and mine if you're saved today he has already born hell for you he's gone through the torment the torture the agony the excruciating pain and most of all the the vileness of our sin he's taken it for you so our only response must be to trust him to thank him to receive him to acknowledge him and hell is a place of sorrow think of the loss of the great sorrow it was there in Luke 16 the account of the rich man and

[21:55] Lazarus and Lazarus was thinking boy I don't want my brothers to come here and he asked Abraham father Abraham to to see if there was some way someone could go and and speak to them someone could rise from the dead and guess what Jesus did rise from the dead and still they don't hear still they don't receive still they reject the savior and it's a place of sorrow of regret of great tragedy and psalm 116 verse 3 talks about the pains of hell they got hold upon me I found trouble and sorrow they shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth talks in Matthew 13 hell is so terrible the Lord Jesus said in Mark 9 43 it's better for thee to enter into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell into the fire that shall never be quenched better for you if you only had one hand one arm and were saved and for you to have two arms and have a healthy physical body and be cast into hell wouldn't it than to be cast into the hell the fire that shall never be quenched and it's a place of torment as we've talked about as as Lazarus was there tormented in this flame sorry the rich man rather was tormented in this flame couldn't even get a drip of water on the tip of his finger and the Bible says the torment the fire the damnation the misery of hell is so terrible that the lost will gnash their teeth now who's ever been in such agony that you gnash your teeth I mean they can imagine that there's a picture of suffering isn't it of torment and yet God never designed hell for man he designed it for the devil and his angels but man in his choice of choosing sin of choosing disobedience above God's way man deserves his own hell man has brought hell upon himself and it's a place that goes on forever let me ask you this question having told you all of this do you believe in hell do you believe in it I pray that you do believe in it it is real it's not this is not mythology or superstition or make-believe this is a real place where there's real people lost people when they die will go to hell and if you believe there's a hell shouldn't make you believe it tonight man of God tonight woman of God tonight to care about the lost to care about the message that you're holding your hands the gospel message is so critical it's so essential this is life to people that are dying this is like that man hanging off that chain and reaching down into the phone where there's a woman about to die this is life to them who are lost and you are the messenger of it as a

[25:01] Christian man or woman here today God wants you to be used by him he wants you to be used for his glory he wants you to open your mouth and speak to others as he gives you the opportunity to there's gospel tracks we can hand to you to you can arm yourself with materials that can help you if you find it hard to speak you can give a track there's ways ways and means there's different opportunities and ministries to the younger people the youth the Sunday school the neighborhood about you there's many ways that we can think about reaching out if you've got an idea that we as a church haven't tried we're open to ideas and opportunities the Bible says by all means save some and we're not rigidly stuck on a particular pattern or form or process of imparting the gospel of course there's some areas where I don't think we'd set up a bar in here and and serve be it to get people to Christ but we certainly want to be using every opportunity in that doesn't conflict with scripture to impart the gospel message to the lost people in our community and if you still believe in hell you will believe that your neighbors need Christ you will believe that this message this life-changing everlasting gospel is the message that you need to get busy and get working for God and do what you can to tell those around you because eternity bound people are headed somewhere everybody is eternity bound eternity bound whether eternal life or eternal damnation and people will live forever in a place somewhere either a place of heaven or a place of hell the Bible uses the same word to describe how everlasting heaven is and how everlasting hell is it's the same extent the same description and the suffering of hell is real as fire as darkness as weeping there's gnashing of tea most of all the suffering of hell is the conscience of a conscience fouled that cannot be cleansed yet tonight if your conscience is fouled if your conscience is fouled you know you're a sinner you know you're lost you know you're not with Christ tonight let it be today the day you trust in let it be today let it be the now today behold now is the accepted time today is the day of salvation people today you know some people younger people here tonight you might think you're still young you've got all the time in the world some of us older people we might wonder we might think we have got all the time in the world too but it doesn't matter how old how young you are today car crash bang bang it could happen in an instant in a moment while we may be unexpectedly unprepared prepare for eternity tonight and how do i prepare for eternity how do i know how do i know that i know that i know i'm going to heaven how can i know that tonight it tells you right here in 1 john 5 it says that this is the record this is the record in other words this is god's written written guarantee guarantee it says this is the record that god hath given to us eternal life verse 11 and this is the record that god hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his son he that hath the son hath life and he that hath not the son of god hath not life now i can come up to you and hold your wrist and or put a finger here and

[29:03]  see if you've got life now i did a little first aid thing this last week where we had to use a dummy and and give them cpr you know the two breaths and the thirty compressions and to make sure that we could restore the life if that dummy had been a real person we might need that skill one day to help a person find physical life but how much more vital how much more essential that you each one you of you here tonight can find eternal life eternal life this is the record that god hath given to us eternal life and this life is in his son he that hath the son hath life he that hath not the son of god hath not life it's that simple have you got christ tonight have you got him yes has he got you yes i pray that you will trust him trust him what that means is saying i'm a lousy sinner and i'm deserving of hell but i'm trusting you lord in what you did at the cross to pay for my sin to have god's fury and wrath and hatred against my sin poured out in full measure in the cross where you took my sin as my saviour i receive you a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times a lot of times