The Fiery Furnace
Notes
Transcript
The Fiery Furnace
Text: Matthew 13:47–50 (KJV 1900)
47 Again, the kingdom of heaven is like unto a net, that was cast into the sea, and gathered of every kind:
48 Which, when it was full, they drew to shore, and sat down, and gathered the good into vessels, but cast the bad away.
49 So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just,
50 And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Introduction:
* In this story, Jesus describes a great net that is cast into the sea.
* The dragnet is also known as a seine net or trawl net. It is a very large net.
* Some of those dragnets covered as much as one-half of a mile.
* These nets were so large; they could not be used by one man alone.
* When a dragnet was used, one end of the net was attached to the shoreline, and the other end was attached to a boat.
* The boat would then go out on the water and stretch open the net.
* After the net was opened, the boat would begin to move in a circle.
* Because the top edge of the net had floats and the bottom edge had weights, it moved through the sea like a vertical wall.
* As the circle was being completed and the boat made its way back to where the net was attached to the shoreline, all the sea life that was inside the circle the boat made was caught inside the walls of that net.
* In the Parable of the Dragnet, Jesus was talking about the gathering of men for judgment.
* The dragnet swept up living and dead creatures, as well as seaweed and other things from the bottom. It caught every form of life in the area that the net encircled.
* We have already learned from the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, that during this era in which good and evil exist together, God, in this age and dispensation of Grace, will tolerate evil long enough to allow men to repent and be saved.
* But there is coming a time when God will separate those who are subjects of the King, those who have believed the Word of the Kingdom that Jesus came to sow in the first Kingdom Parable, the Parable of the Sower,-
* - there is coming a time when God will separate these seeds that fell into the good soil, from those who will not believe the world that Jesus sowed in the field of the world.
* Little by little, imperceptibly and silently, God's net is moving through the seas of time and bringing all men onto the shores of eternity for that inescapable separation of the good from the bad as in the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares.
* Just as the dragnet draws in all kinds of fish, Even so the Dragnet of the Judgment of this world is catching all manner of men, both good and bad, no one will escape God’s judgment.
* So, as verse 47 says, the Kingdom of heaven is like a net that moves silently through the sea of life.
* By the time people awaken to what God is doing; they will have already been brought to the shore to be separated.
* In this Parable of The Dragnet, The Kingdom of heaven is like a net.
* That net moves through the world unseen. When the net touches the back of a fish, the creature simply swims a little further ahead of it, enjoying what appears to be permanent freedom.
* Men move about in this world imagining themselves to be free, fulfilling their own desires, with little knowledge that the net of judgment is coming closer and closer.
* Each time men are touched by the net, they move a little further along.
* Eventually they will find themselves hitting the part of the net in front of them.
* They will make a wild dash to escape, yet find themselves totally surrounded by the net.
* Finally, they will be dragged onto the shore, flailing as they go to their death.
* Men may not see God moving in the world, but He is moving.
* When they are touched by the gospel of Jesus Christ, or become scared by the threat of judgment, they dart away into the freedom they think is ahead of them. But sooner or later, they will find they are still caught in the net that is moving them toward judgment.
* The Kingdom will ultimately engulf all men, and God will separate them with His angels.
The Main Focus of the Parable of the Dragnet
* As we discovered Sunday before last, the Lord’s main focus of the parable of the dragnet is on one element of the parable- the separating process that the fishermen went through on the shore.
* Jesus emphasized that aspect of The Parable, the separating of the good from the bad.
* The Parable of the Dragnet is a picture of the angels separating the good wheat, the true believers, from the bad tares, the false wheat, the false believers, at the End of the World, the end of the age.
(Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares?)
Matthew 13:30 (KJV 1900)
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
* In the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares, after the Enemy, the Evil one, the Devil, has sowed tares among the good wheat, the servants wanted to pluck up the tares right then!
*The angels wanted to Judge the world right then!
* I want you to realize this morning that Jesus, the King of the Kingdom of God, in his great mercy and grace, has made the angles wait until the end of the age of Grace, the age of the Church, while God extended his mercy to the world by the Church preaching the Cross.
* But know for Shure this morning that the time will come when God’s mercy will be full, and this time of Grace and Mercy will give way to God’s righteous judgment, and the world will be judged by Jesus the righteous King.
* At that time of Judgment there will be a great separation in the Kingdom of God…
* In John 5:25-29, Jesus said there was coming a resurrection of all men: some "unto the resurrection of life," and some "unto the resurrection of damnation."
* At that final separation, God will determine an eternal destiny for every soul that has ever lived.
* We read also, a little further ahead in the book of Matthew, in chapter 25 and verse 31 about that great separation that will take place at the time of the end:
Matthew 25:31–34 (KJV 1900)
31 When the Son of man shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory:
32 And before him shall be gathered all nations:
and he shall separate them one from another, as a shepherd divideth his sheep from the goats: 33 And he shall set the sheep on his right hand, but the goats on the left.
The Good on the right
34 Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world…
The Bad on the left
Matthew 25:41 (KJV 1900)
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
(Remember the parable of the wheat and the tares?)
Matthew 13:30 (KJV 1900)
30 Let both grow together until the harvest: and in the time of harvest I will say to the reapers, Gather ye together first the tares, and bind them in bundles to burn them: but gather the wheat into my barn.
* At that time, the end of the world, Jesus the King of the Kingdom Parables will judge the entire earth, and separate the saved from the unsaved.
* Jesus took his disciples aside in private and gave them the impetration of the parables of the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares in our text chapter Matthew 13 in verses 36-43.
* Let’s look at this interpretation again:
Matthew 13:36–43 (KJV 1900)
36 Then Jesus sent the multitude away, and went into the house: and his disciples came unto him, saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field.
37 He answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed is the Son of man; 38 The field is the world; the good seed are the children of the kingdom; but the tares are the children of the wicked one; 39 The enemy that sowed them is the devil;
the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
* Now this brings us to the subject of our sermon this morning- The fiery furnace of Hell.
The Secondary Focus of the Parable of the Dragnet
Let’s take a look at the Peril of the Furnace of Fire (v. 50)
"And shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
* The Lord’s main focus of this last parable of the kingdom parables is the separating process that the fishermen went through on the shore.
* Now this morning, I would like to take some time to deal with the secondary emphasis of the Parable of the Dragnet, the fate of all those bad fish, who are caught up in the dragnet of the last of the Kingdom parables.
* This morning we will deal with the fiery furnace.
* The first reason Jesus told the parable of the Dragnet was to warn people of the coming judgment.
* The second reason Jesus had for teaching the parable of the dragnet was because Jesus more than anyone else who had ever lived, knew that reality of Hell.
* Jesus loved people and wanted to warn them about hell.
* He said, "Watch, therefore; for ye know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of man cometh" (Mt. 25:13; cf. Mk. 13:35).
* Jesus cautioned people not to take their sins lightly because inevitably they would be accountable before God.
* Jesus said that there would come a time when men would live as they did in the days of Noah, and that judgment would follow soon after (Lk. 17:26-27).
* Through His prophet, John the Baptist, He said that He would come to burn the lost "with unquenchable fire" (Mt. 3:12).
* When Jesus looked at the people around Him in Matthew 9:35-38, He saw a harvest moving toward judgment.
* The heart of Jesus was filled with compassion for people on the way to Hell.
* According to 2 Peter 3:9- God does not take pleasure in seeing the wicked die. He is "not willing that any should perish" (2 Pet. 3:9).
* First Timothy 2:3-4 says that God, our Savior, "will have all men to be saved."
* Jesus was constantly warning men about the reality of Hell because He loved them.
"And shall cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth."
* That is a horrifying verse. If there were any doctrine in the Bible that could be wished away, it would be the doctrine of hell.
* But hell cannot be eliminated from the Bible.
* The wicked will be cast "into the furnace of fire"--those are terrifying words from our Lord.
* He spoke of hell more than anyone else in the Bible, and for a good reason.
* The truth about hell is so terrifying and awesome that if the Lord had not taught about hell, we would not believe it existed.
* People probably wouldn't listen if anybody else tried to teach about hell.
* Jesus had to be the one who taught about hell. We refuse to conceive of eternal damnation.
* Jesus emphasized hell in His preaching. If you don't think that is true, then you haven't paid attention to what Jesus says in the Bible.
* Jesus only spoke one time in all of the Bible about Heaven and that was in John 14 where Jesus said to his disciples “I go to prepare a place for you…”
* But Jesus spoke no less than 14 distinct times in the Bible describing the reality of Hell.
* Jesus was the original “hell fire and brimstone preacher.”
* There are 260 chapters in the New Testament, and Hell and Judgment are either referred to or described 234 times.
* If we were traveling on a highway that was 260 miles long, and while we were traveling we saw 234 big red flashing signs that said “DANGER, DANGER Hell straight ahead” anybody with any brains in their head would turn around!
* There are two great examples of the warning of the judgment of God in the Bible and we find both mentioned, along with a warning of Hell in the same passage:
2 Peter 2:4–6 (KJV 1900)
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;
5 And spared not the old world, but saved Noah the eighth person, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood upon the world of the ungodly;
6 And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those that after should live ungodly;
* The first reminder of warning about coming Hell Peter gives is about Noah and the flood.
* The Bible says that Noah, moved with fear, preached to the people of his day and prepared an arch because the flood was coming, but just like today, people refuse to hear the warnings about Hell.
* Jesus said that there would come a time when men would live in great wickedness and sin as they did in the days of Noah, and that judgment would follow soon after (Lk. 17:26-27).
* The book of Jude pleads with us to do like Noah and do everything in our power to warn people about Hell and to literally pull people out of the flames of Hell…
Jude 22–23 (KJV 1900)
22 And of some have compassion, making a difference: 23 and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
* The second warning about Hell that Peter gives is a reminder of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah:
Genesis 19:24–28 (KJV 1900)
24 Then the Lord rained upon Sodom and upon Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven;
25 And he overthrew those cities, and all the plain, and all the inhabitants of the cities, and that which grew upon the ground. 26 But his wife looked back from behind him, and she became a pillar of salt.
27 And Abraham gat up early in the morning to the place where he stood before the Lord: 28 And he looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah, and toward all the land of the plain, and beheld, and, lo, the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace.
* Jude in his epistle also used the same two warnings about Hell:
Jude 5–7 (KJV 1900)
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance,
though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
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* A little side note here- Jesus said in Matthew 25:41:
Matthew 25:41 (KJV 1900)
41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:
* When Jesus confronted two demon possessed men, the demons in the men asked Jesus if He had come to torment them before it was time for them to be tormented in Hell:
Matthew 8:28–29 (KJV 1900)
28 And when he was come to the other side into the country of the Gergesenes, there met him two possessed with devils, coming out of the tombs, exceeding fierce, so that no man might pass by that way. 29 And, behold, they cried out, saying, What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?
* Now I want you to understand that the Devil is not in Hell, and He never has been, but we find in the book of Revelation that He will be:
Revelation 20:7–11 (KJV 1900)
7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison, 8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea. 9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city:
and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. 10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.
11 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.
* The prophet Isaiah gives us a little glimpse of the Devil in Hell:
Isaiah 14:8–18 (KJV 1900)
9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: It stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; It hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations.
10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? 11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols:
The worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee.
12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! How art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations!
13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High.
15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
16 They that see thee shall narrowly look upon thee, and consider thee, saying, Is this the man that made the earth to tremble, that did shake kingdoms;
* I want you to note here that the Angels that sinned in the book of Genesis went straight to Hell, and I want you to see here that Hell was originally prepared for the Devil and His angels.
* Like the fallen angles that followed the Devil, all those men and women who choose to follow the Devil will be condemned to the same punishment of Hell as the angels were.
* The difference is that God has made way for men to repent from following the Devil and be saved.
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* Now back to Jude 5-7:
Jude 5–7 (KJV 1900)
5 I will therefore put you in remembrance,
though ye once knew this, how that the Lord, having saved the people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed them that believed not.
6 And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day.
7 Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them, in like manner giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.
* Luke also makes mention of the connection between Noah Sodom and Gomorrah:
Luke 17:26–30 (KJV 1900)
26 And as it was in the days of Noe, so shall it be also in the days of the Son of man. 27 They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark, and the flood came, and destroyed them all.
28 Likewise also as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they builded; 29 But the same day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven, and destroyed them all. 30 Even thus shall it be in the day when the Son of man is revealed.
* John the Baptist also came warning men about the coming judgment of Hell, John the Baptist preached in the wilderness pleading for men to repent of their sin saying judgment is coming that will burn the lost "with unquenchable fire" (Mt. 3:12).
Matthew 3:1–2 (KJV 1900)
In those days came John the Baptist, preaching in the wilderness of Judaea, 2 And saying, Repent ye: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.
* John the Baptist warned people about the reality of Hell…
Matthew 3:10–12 (KJV 1900)
10 And now also the axe is laid unto the root of the trees: therefore every tree which bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire.
11 I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance: but he that cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: he shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire:
12 Whose fan is in his hand, and he will throughly purge his floor, and gather his wheat into the garner; but he will burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire.
* Even though all the prophets told warned men about Hell, Jesus gave the most fearful and terrible warnings and descriptions of Hell.
* Listen to these warnings about Hell by Jesus:
Matthew 18:8–9 (KJV 1900)
8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.
Matthew 10:27–28 (KJV 1900)
27 What I tell you in darkness, that speak ye in light: and what ye hear in the ear, that preach ye upon the housetops. 28 And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.
* Jesus described Hell as a place of torment so bad that people will be gnashing their teeth and gnawing their tongues because of the pain and torment the experience in Hell:
* Listen to just a few of Jesus warnings:
- Matthew 8:12 12 But ithe children of the kingdom jshall be cast out into outer darkness: kthere shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Matthew 13:42 42 And shall ycast them into yya furnace of fire: zthere shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
- Matthew 13:50 50 mAnd shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
- Matthew 22:13 13 Then said the king to the rservants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and scast him into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Matthew 24:51 51 And shall ||icut him asunder, and appoint him his portion kwith the hypocrites: lthere shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Matthew 25:30 30 And lcast ye the munprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.
- Luke 13:28 28 iThere shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when ye shall see kAbraham, and Isaac, and Jacob, and all the prophets, in the kingdom of God, and you yourselves thrust out.
* Jesus gave a real life account, not a parable, of a real man who died and went to Hell.
Luke 16:19–31 (KJV 1900)
19 There was a certain rich man, which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day: 20 And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate, full of sores, 21 And desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table: moreover the dogs came and licked his sores.
22 And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; 23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments,
and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
24 And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.
25 But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivedst thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things: but now he is comforted, and thou art tormented.
26 And beside all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot; neither can they pass to us, that would come from thence.
27 Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou wouldest send him to my father’s house:
28 For I have five brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment.
29 Abraham saith unto him, They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 30 And he said, Nay, father Abraham: but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. 31 And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.
* The tow words that I see all throughout the Bible that are associated with Hell are Fire and Torment. That’s good enough for me to know that I never want to go there.
* But the most terrible information that Jesus gives us about Hell is that it is eternal.
1) First, the Lord said that hell is a place "where their worm dieth not" (Mk. 9:44, 46, 48).
* When a body is put into a grave, worms begin to consume it.
* Once the body is consumed, the worms die.
* Jesus taught that in hell, the worms that consume the bodies will never die because the bodies will never be totally consumed.
* In other words, Jesus was teaching that the unrelieved torment of the body will go on forever in hell.
2). The Lord described hell as a place where "the fire is not quenched" (Mk. 9:44, 46, 48).
* No doubt Jesus, when he talked about Hell being a place where the fire is never quenched, had on His mind the scripture in Isaiah where Hell is mentioned…
Isaiah 66:21–24 (KJV 1900)
24 And they shall go forth, and look Upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: For their worm shall not die, Neither shall their fire be quenched; And they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.
* The book of Revelation pictures the very same scene:
Revelation 14:10–11 (KJV 1900)
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb:
11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: …
* To describe Hell, Jesus often used the visual example of the Valley of Hinnom.
* In the Old Testament several evil kings in Israel had caused the people of Israel to offer up their children to the false god molec.
* I read somewhere that they would take their children and place them on the lap of a red hot iron statue of this false God where they would be burned to death.
* In later times, when the prophets of God had called the people of Israel back to God, there was a great revival and this place, the valley of Hinnim, was made a place of despising and disgrace.
* This valley, being right outside on of the gates to the city of Jerusalem, became the city dump where the bodies of criminals were thrown.
* Here in this valley, human sewage and the trash of the city was dumped, along with the putrefying bodies of dead animals and the bodies of criminals and diseased.
* This place became in the minds of the people of Jesus day a picture of Hell, a place that represented everything vile diseased and rotten.
* Jesus in his interpretation of the parable of the wheat and tares, described Hell as the place where everything that offended God would be thrown and set on fire:
* Look with me in our text chapter, Matthew 13, in verse 40-42:
Matthew 13:40–42 (KJV 1900)
40 As therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire; so shall it be in the end of this world.
41 The Son of man shall send forth his angels, and they shall gather out of his kingdom all things that offend, and them which do iniquity;
42 And shall cast them into a furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
* In the parable of the Dragnet that we are looking at this morning, Hell is described as a fiery furnace.
* The kind of furnace was like the one Daniel’s three friends were thrown into. It was a huge round incinerator with a large mouth at the top where bodies and trash, and filth were thrown in.
* The belly of the furnace was made to draw air in such a way that oxygen rushed through the furnace causing rocket effect.
* This caused the incinerator to be extremely hot, hotter that a normal fire.
* If you remember, the furnace that the Hebrew children were thrown into was so hot that it killed the men that threw them into the fire.
* This is the very way in which Hell is described by prophet Isaiah:
Isaiah 5:10–14 (KJV 1900)
4 Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, And opened her mouth without measure: And their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, And he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.
Isaiah 5:19–25 (KJV 1900)
20 Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; That put darkness for light, and light for darkness; That put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!
21 Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, And prudent in their own sight! 22 Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, And men of strength to mingle strong drink: 23 Which justify the wicked for reward, And take away the ighteousness of the righteous from him!
24 Therefore as the fire devoureth the stubble, And the flame consumeth the chaff, So their root shall be as rottenness, And their blossom shall go up as dust: Because they have cast away the law of the Lord of hosts, And despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.
* According to Jesus, Hell will be a place of unrelieved torment for both body and soul.
* And according to Jesus, Hell will be endless.
* The worms there will never die; the fire will never die out; light will never shine there, and the sweet relief of death will never come.
* The only reason some people are able to endure life with all of its suffering and diseases are because they believe that death will bring relief.
* But it won't. Because hell is eternal, the people who go there will go insane with the awful terrors of Hell.
* You might say, "Can we be sure hell is everlasting?" Yes, because Jesus that the wicked "shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal" (Mt. 25:46).
* Both heaven and hell are eternal. In the Scriptures the same Greek word that is used to describe the eternal nature of Heaven is used to describe the eternal nature of Hell.
* If Hell is not eternal, the neither is Heaven Eternal.
Conclusion:
* I beg of you this morning, make sure you are not going to Hell.
* If you are not sure if you are going to hell or heaven this morning I would run to this alter and let me take the Bible as help you know how to make sure you will not go to Hell!
* If you have been saved, and you know that you are on your way to heaven this morning, I plead with you to make sure your loved ones are saved.
* If you have done all you can to make Shure you loved ones are saved, then I plead with you to have compassion on the souls of lost people all around us.
* Jesus taught that there will be a greater majority of people who go to Hell that those who will go to heaven:
Matthew 7:13–14 (KJV 1900)
13 Enter ye in at the strait gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in thereat: 14 Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.