One Monday morning, several years
ago, I brought a message on the subject, Hail the City of the
Damned. This was over the radio, over
WCMI. After the radio broadcast, I
went down to the meeting. We were having breakfast together,
the ministers in the city. and many of them listened to
our morning broadcast. I walked into the meeting that
Monday morning after preaching on the subject, Hail, City of
the Damned, and one of the older preachers looked at me and he
said, Henry, at that time I was quite young, about half his age
I suppose, He said, Henry, you just don't preach on hell on
Monday morning. And it kind of disturbed me.
It shocked me just a little bit. I didn't expect that. But at
that time, and since that time, I've thought about that statement,
Henry, you just don't preach on hell on Monday morning. When
does one preach on hell? When is a suitable time to preach
about hell? I don't like to preach about
hell on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, or
Sunday. And any man who likes to preach
about hell is sick. I don't approach the subject
of hell with any glee. or any joy, I approach it most
reluctantly. There was another old minister,
upon being told by a young man that he preached Sunday morning
on the subject of hell, who said this, I'm glad that you preached
on hell, you were faithful to your congregation. But did you
preach it in anger, or did you preach it with tears? Now, my friends, there is a place
called hell. Let that be established first
of all. I know there's a hell, not because
I've been there, not because I've seen anyone who has been
there, not because I desire it to be so. but because the Lord
Jesus said in his word that there is a place called hell. In Luke
16, verse 23, in our text today, the Master said that the rich
man died and was buried, and in hell he left up his eyes being
in torments. And then if you'll follow me
through the scripture, first of all, looking at Matthew, the
tenth chapter, verse twenty-eight. Now here's what I'm establishing,
first of all. The Lord Jesus said there's a
place called hell. Hell is as real as Ashland. Hell is as real as heaven. Hell is as real as the throne
of God. Hell is as real as the Son of
God. In Matthew chapter 10, verse
28, the Lord said, 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. And then in Matthew
13, The thirteenth chapter of Matthew, I've selected not all
of the statements of Christ about hell, but some of them, and I've
chosen this one out of Matthew 13, verse 36. And Jesus sent
the multitude away, Matthew 13, verse 36, and went into the house. And His disciples came unto Him,
saying, Declare unto us the parable of the tares of the field. And
he answered and said unto them, He that soweth the good seed
is the son of man. The field is the world, the good
seed are the children of the kingdom, but the tares are the
children of the wicked one. The enemy that sowed them is
the devil. The harvest is the end of the
world. The reapers are the angels. As therefore the tares are gathered
and burned in the fire, so shall it be in the end of this world. 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, and shall cast them
into a furnace of fire. There shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth, and shall cast them into a furnace of fire. Turn to Matthew 18, the Master
speaks again. There is a hell, Christ said
so. And in Matthew 18, verse 7, the
Lord Jesus said, Woe unto the world because of offenses, for
it must needs be that offenses come. But woe to that man by
whom the offense Now what Christ is saying here, they that will
live godless shall suffer persecution. Trials are going to come. Suffering
is going to be your lot. You're going to be persecuted
of all men, but woe unto that man who persecutes you. Woe unto
that man by whom the offense cometh. Wherefore if thy hand
or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, cast them from thee.
It is better for thee to enter into life haught or mean rather
than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting
fire. 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. Now that's not some excited,
fanatical, radical, old-time Methodist or Baptist preacher
talking. That's the Lord of Glory. He
talks about a furnace of fire, everlasting fire, and hell fire. Now there is a hell, the apostles
tell us that. Turn to 2 Thessalonians. Now,
if you will follow in your concordance, you will find that the apostles
did not have nearly so much to say about hell as the Lord Jesus. In fact, the apostles only talked
about everlasting punishment very, very few times, three or
four at the most. That's right. I followed through
the concordance, and I found in the Bible The person in the
Bible who had the most, by far, by far, to say about hell or
about everlasting punishment was the Lord Jesus Christ. And here's a few scriptures from
the writings of the apostles in 2 Thessalonians 1, verse 7. Paul writes, To you who are troubled,
rest with us, when the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven
with his mighty angels in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them
that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus
Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction
from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His power."
Now then, that's about all Paul had to say about hell, right
there. That's just about a summary of
his message. The Lord Jesus is coming in judgment
with his mighty angels in flaming fire, shall take vengeance on
them that know not God and obey not the gospel, and they shall
be punished. They shall not be annihilated,
they shall be punished with everlasting destruction, and they shall be
separated from the presence of the Lord, forever separated from
God and from the glory of his power." Now that's all Paul had
to say about hell, just about it. That's about it. But now
the Apostle Peter, 2 Peter 2. 2 Peter 2, beginning with verse
4. 2 Peter 2, verse 4. Here the Apostle Peter writes
about everlasting punishment. In 2 Peter 2, beginning with
verse 4. If God spared not the angels
that sinned, now that's Lucifer and his gang that sinned before
Adam was created, but cast them down to hell and delivered them
into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment, 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, and turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into ashes,
condemned them with an overthrow, making them an example unto those
that after should live ungodly, and delivered just life, vexed
with the filthy conversation of the wicked. For that righteous
man dwelling among them and seeing and hearing vexed his righteous
soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds. The Lord knoweth
how to deliver the godly out of trial, and here's about his
summary, and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be
punished. In other words, the Apostle Peter
is saying God's future judgment is as sure as his past God Almighty,
who spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them into hell,
and God who spared not the wicked world in Noah's day, but destroyed
it by flood, and God who spared not the perverted cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah, that same God will reserve the unjust under the
day of judgment to be punished. Now Jude, over in the book of
Jude, we have just a word or two about eternal punishment
or future judgment. In Jude chapter one, only one
chapter, Jude verse fourteen, Jude fourteen, And Enoch also,
the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these, saying, Behold, the
Lord with ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment upon
all, and to convince all that are ungodly among them of all
their ungodly deeds which they have ungodly committed, and of
all their hard speeches which ungodly sinners have spoken against
him." He's coming, he's coming in judgment He's coming with
ten thousands of his saints to execute judgment on all the ungodly. Now, John had a little more to
say about hell in the book of Revelation. The Revelation of
Jesus Christ, chapter 20. Let's see what the beloved John
had to say. In Revelation 20, verse 13 through
15. Revelation chapter 20, verse 13, 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
whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire." Now, Revelation 21, verse 8, But the
fearful and unbelieving and the abominable and the murderers
and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall
have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone.
This is the second death." Now there is a hell. Our Lord
Jesus said so. The apostles declared that there
is a hell. What can you tell us about hell?
Well, the first thing I grew up hearing, I think, the best
preachers of my day. At least they had the reputation
of being the best preachers. And they preached on the subject
of hell. And in the circles in which I
moved, if you didn't believe in literal fire in hell, you
were not fundamental. Most of the time when preachers
preached about hell, they talked about the fire in hell. They
spent most of their time talking about the fire of hell. Well,
really and truly, I may shock you here, and then again I may
not. There may be literal fire in
hell. And there really may not be literal
fire in hell. It may be figurative language.
I do not know. You say, well, the Bible says
there's fire. All right. That's fine with me. And we'll leave it like that.
But I think there are more torments in hell, more important and more
severe torments than fire. I think hell is, there's more
to herald and physical torment, just as there is more to the
cross of Christ than physical suffering. You hear people preach
about the cross of our Lord and the sufferings of Christ, and
all they dwell on, just about all they dwell on, is the physical
pain he endured. The Lord made his soul an offering
for sin, and our Lord's agony on the cross, the agony of soul,
far exceeded the physical agony. far exceeded the physical agony.
In fact, he nearly died before he ever went to the cross under
soul conflict and agony. And the Scripture says that God
is able to destroy body and soul in hell. So there are a lot more
things connected with hell to be dreaded than fire. First of
all, if you look back at our text in Luke 16, There's a word
here that was called to my attention by Brother Ralph Barnard several
years ago concerning the sufferings of hell. He said, take a good
look at Abraham's statement in verse 25. Son, remember. Remember. Hell, my friend, is
a place of memory. And one of the greatest torments,
one of man's cheap torments in hell will be memory. I think you're going to remember
the sermon that I'm preaching this morning. If anybody in this
congregation, if anybody here goes to hell, I think one of
the cheap torments in hell will be to recall this message. Why
didn't I listen to him? Why in the name of God Didn't
I listen to that sermon? He read it right out of the word
of God. It was just as true then as it
is now, but then I had an opportunity to escape, and now I have no
opportunity at all. Here I am suffering in hell,
here I am under the wrath of God, here I am in eternal darkness,
here I am in eternal torment, and I could have escaped. I very
easily could have missed this. But I was taken up with things
that were not important at all. I was so engulfed and so involved
in so many fleshly and physical enterprises, I neglected my soul. What shall it profit a man if
he gained the whole world and lose his soul? I think, hell, I think you're
going to remember not only this sermon, I think you're going
to remember some of these good gospel songs that you love. Everybody's
got a favorite hymn. Well, these hymns warn you about
hell, and tell you about Christ, and tell you about life, and
tell you how to save. And you're going to remember
it. You're going to remember all of the verses of Scripture
that you memorize. You're going to remember Christmas.
In hell, if anybody in this congregation goes to hell, you're going to
remember Christmas morning when you got up with your children,
they all came in and gathered around the tree in open presence,
and you're going to sit there in hell and think, well, I gave
a lot of emphasis to the tree and to the presents and to the
holidays and to the food and to the gifts, but I gave no consideration
to the fact that Christ was born. that Christ my Savior came into
the world to redeem me from my sin and to free me from judgment. And here I am in hell, if only
those Christmas mornings that I sat around the tree with my
family, if only I would have given some thought to Christ
instead of to these pagan things. I think hell is going to be a
place of memory. I think one of the chief torments
of hell is going to be memory, memory, memory, memory. So remember,
remember that in thy lifetime thou had good things, good things. And then secondly, I think hell
is not only going to be a place of memory, But I think hell,
one of the chief torments of hell, is going to be to realize
truth too late. Look at this man, listen to this
man. He says here in verse 27, Father Abraham, send Lazarus
back to my father's house. I have five brethren that he
may testify unto them. Here's a man with a real missionary
spirit. Here's a man with a real missionary
zeal in hell. He wants somebody to go as a
missionary to tell his brothers about the Lord. Now you can be
sure he didn't have a missionary spirit when he was here on the
earth. You can be sure that he wasn't too interested in his
brother's salvation while he was here on this earth. You can
be sure that he wasn't interested in heaven or hell while he was
here on this earth. But now he realizes what is important. He realizes that salvation is
important. I want you to send him to my
father's house. I've got five brethren. I don't
want them to come to this place of torment. I don't want them
to. My friends, there may be unbelievers
here. But I'll guarantee you there
are no unbelievers in hell. There in the darkness, there
in the loneliness, there in the heartache, there in the torment,
men do not love Christ, but they do believe in him. They don't
love him, but they believe in him. In hell, men do not believe
that Christ, men do not trust Christ as Savior, but they believe
He's the only Savior. Their men do not receive Him
as their Lord and Redeemer and Savior, but they do bow to Him
and they do confess it. There are no unbelievers in hell.
And then in Revelation 22, I want you to turn over there a moment.
What is hell? Well, in the third place, I think
hell will be a place of, I think, another torment of hell. Number
one, he said, I'm in torments. Memory. Memory. Secondly, truth realized too
late. And then thirdly, unfulfilled
desires. Now Revelation 22, 11 says, He
that is unjust, let him be unjust still. And he that is filthy, let him
be filthy still. A lot of folks think that when
people die and go to hell, that they're going to be chained A
man who doesn't have Christ in this life and who dies without
Christ and dies without holiness and dies without a new nature
won't have a new nature in hell either. He won't be changed in
hell. Men are changed by regeneration,
not by hell. Men are changed by Christ, not
by hell. Men are changed by coming to
a knowledge and a vital union with the Son of God, not in hell.
The man who has an unquenchable appetite for sin will have the
same appetite in hell. A man who hates holiness here
will hate it in hell. That's right. As I said a while
ago, everybody in hell believes that Jesus Christ is the only
Savior, but they don't love him. They don't love him. They don't
trust him. He, look at it, he that's unjust
He that's a crook, he that's dishonest, he that's unjust,
he's going to be that way in hell. Unjust, dishonest, and
a crook. And he that is filthy, filthy
in his mind, and filthy in his conversation, and filthy in his
thoughts, and filthy in his imagination, and filthy in his life, he's
going to be filthy in hell. He won't be changed. He'll be
filthy. Now here's one of the torments
of hell. Now here on this earth, the man or woman who is a dope
addict, he has his dope and that tranquilizes him. He has his
liquor and that tranquilizes him. He has all the other desires
of the flesh. He has some gratification and
some satisfaction and some fulfillment. He mashes his thumb, he can blaspheme
and curse God for it and that gives him a little bit of relief.
In other words, all of our fleshly desires have a relief here on
this earth. There are things to tranquilize
them. You can overeat, overindulge, and overdrink, and all of these
things. You can put this old body at
some form of ease in these desires. Hell is going to have no tranquilizers. Hell is going to be a place of
darkness, loneliness, and absolutely no relief and no satisfaction
for the filthy and for the unholy and for the unjust. Hell is a place of unfulfilled
desire. Now the believer has a new nature. He's going to lose this old fleshly
nature. He's going to lose these tastes
and these desires of the flesh. He's going to retain that new
nature. Right now, the believer has two
natures. He has one nature that desires
God, another that desires the flesh. He has one nature that
pants after holiness, another that pants after flesh. He has
one nature that has a drive, a pursuit of God when he shall
be satisfied when he's made just like God. The other nature is
in conflict with that spirit. Well, when he dies, he's going
to lose that old nature. And the only nature he'll retain
is that divine nature, that new nature, that regenerated nature,
that God-given nature, and it's going to be perfectly tranquilized
and satisfied by the presence of his Lord in glory. I shall be satisfied, David said. I shall be satisfied. when I
awake with his likeness." You see that the believer is going
to be totally satisfied with Christ. Christ is all in glory,
but the unbeliever has an ungodly nature and a filthy nature that
shall never be satisfied. He shall never see another being. He shall be in hell lonely in
darkness, isolation, separated from God and from his glory.
He that's unjust Let him go on being unjust. He that is filthy,
let him go on being filthy. But now look at the next line.
He that's righteous, he's going to be righteous still. But he's
going to be in a place where his righteousness shall be satisfied. And he that's holy, he's going
to still be holy, perfectly holy, and eternally satisfied. And then the next thing about
hell, look at Luke 16 again. I think the thing about hell,
and I wish preachers had preached this when I was a boy, but they
didn't. I never heard them preach it. Hell is memory. Oh, the torments of memory. How
they're going to gnaw at your soul all through hell. Memory,
memory, memory, memory, memory. And secondly, truth realized
too late. And then thirdly, unfulfilled
desire. And then last of all, no relief. In verse 26, and Abraham
said, Between us there's a great gulf fixed. And anybody here
that wants to question what we call the second chance after
death. After a person dies and goes
to hell, you'll have another opportunity. Here it is. Listen
to it. They who would pass from us to you cannot, and neither
can they pass to us that would come from you. There's a great
gulf fixed. Now I have this question to ask. And I think it's a legitimate
question and I think it's a fair question. Why does a man receive
the teachings of Christ about heaven and reject teachings of
Christ about hell? That's dishonest, isn't it? And
I call on everybody in this congregation who wants to be honest at all
with God and with himself and with others Don't talk about
heaven, and don't believe in heaven, and don't accept the
Word of God on heaven if you won't believe and accept the
Word of God about hell. That's dishonest. Because Jesus
Christ actually described hell more times than he ever described
heaven. He had more to say about the
punishment of the wicked. than he did about the things
that shall surround those who will live in glory." Now one
preacher out in Missouri said this. He said, hell is a monument
to the failure of God. I don't believe that. I don't
believe that at all. Hell is a monument to the failure
of God. I don't believe that at all.
I believe hell is five things. This is the reason why God built
hell. Now will you listen to this?
First of all, hell is a monument, not to the failure of God, but
hell will always be a monument, an eternal monument, to the failure
of the creature. Not God. God didn't fail. Adam
failed. God didn't fail. You and I failed. And man has failed under every
dispensation and under every circumstance. You say, well,
if I'd been in a certain place, I… Well, let's see. First of
all, the creature fell from heaven. The angels, Jude said, kept not
their first estate. They were surrounded by God.
The angels were in heaven, and under that circumstance and that
dispensation that in that environment they fell. Then God created a
man in holiness and put him in a perfect garden, and he fell
from there. And then God put Noah and his
sons and their wives in a ship and saved them from destruction.
Let them see, actually see what there are. the destruction which
God's wrath brings to bear upon mankind. And they got off that
ark, and they were right back where they were. And then God
saved a man named Lot and his children out of a city. They
watched their mother turn to a pillar of salt. They watched
the fire and brimstone of God fall on those wicked cities and
leave them in ashes. And it wasn't just a few days
till they were back where they were. God delivered the Israelites
out of Egypt supernaturally, led them on dry ground across
the sea, and it wasn't any time at all till they were worshiping
a golden camp. David, Solomon, even one of the
apostles, under the dispensation of God's
very presence and the life of Christ here on this earth, denied
that he knew it. Heaven is a monument to God. Heaven is a monument to God's
grace. Heaven is an eternal monument
to God's mercy. But hell will forever declare
that light is coming to the world, but men don't love light. They love darkness. That's why
men go to hell. They love darkness. Hell is a
monument to the grace of God. Hell will forever declare man
fail. I think, secondly, that hell
will forever show the futility of resisting God. Turn to Matthew
27. I think this is one of the most
breathtaking and one of the most tragic statements in all the
Word of God. Matthew 25. Matthew 27, I beg
your pardon. Matthew 27, verse 24. Listen to this. This is one of
the most tragic statements in the Bible. It's one of the most
breathtaking and tragic statements. In verse 24, Matthew 27, when
Pilate saw that he could prevail nothing, but rather a tumult
was made, he took water and washed his hands before the multitude,
Say, I am innocent of the blood of this just person, see you
to it." And then answered all the people and said, His blood
be on us and our children. And my friends, for 2,000 years
we've literally seen that fulfilled. As those Jewish people stood
there that day in the presence of that Roman governor who was
washing his hands and saying, this is an innocent man, I've
got nothing to do with this, they said, we'll bear the responsibility. And they have. They've been hated
and persecuted and isolated and driven out of every country on
this earth for two thousand years, and hell will always stand as
a monument, and hell will always stand as a reminder to man who
said, I will not have this man reign over me. All right, all
right, all right. Hell will always be a reminder
to the fool who said, Oh God for me. No God for me. And then thirdly, hell was built
by God to punish sin. Somebody said one time, I don't
think it will do the sinner any good to send him to hell. Well my friends, where did you
read that God sends men to hell to do them good? Where'd you ever read that? God
doesn't send men to hell to do them good. You don't send men
to the electric chair to do them good. Back in the olden days,
they didn't put men on the gallows to do them good. God sends men
to hell to punish them for sin. That's right, turn to Malachi
chapter 4, the last book of the Old Testament. God doesn't send
a man to hell to do him good. The Scripture says in Malachi
4, verse 1, Behold the day cometh that shall burn as an oven, and
all the proud and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and
the day that cometh shall burn them up, saith the Lord of hosts. It shall leave them neither root
nor branch. Turn to Proverbs 11. Proverbs
chapter 11, verse 21. Listen to this. Though hand join
in hand, the wicked shall not go unpunished. Turn to Proverbs 29, verse 1. Proverbs 29, verse 1. The wicked shall not go unpunished
For verse twenty-nine, one says, he that being often reproved,
and hardeneth his neck, shall certainly be destroyed. And not with a hope of a second
opportunity, but without remedy. And then in Matthew twenty-five,
let's listen to the Master again. In Matthew twenty-five, Verse
41, listen to this, Matthew 25, 41. Christ says, Then shall he
say unto them on the left hand, Depart from me ye cursed into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. I was
hungry, and you gave me no meat. I was thirsty, and you didn't
give me any water. I was a stranger, and you took
me not in, naked, and you didn't clothe me. Why are these people
sent to hell? I was sick, and you didn't visit
me. And they shall answer, Lord,
when we ever see you hungry and thirsty, and a stranger, naked,
sick, or in prison, and didn't minister unto thee? And then
shall he answer, inasmuch as you did it, as you did it not
to one of the least of these, you did it not to me. Sin's going
to be punished. Neglect's going to be punished.
Greed is going to be punished. Selfishness is going to be punished.
And these shall go away into everlasting fire. And then, my friends, hell is
a stern warning against apostasy. Paul said error will not be tolerated
even if it come from an angel of God. If any man preach any
other gospel, if it be an angel from heaven, let him be accursed.
And then last of all, and I close with this, Matthew 22, hell will
put the wicked where they'll do no more harm. Wicked men never
change. Only the Spirit of God can change
a man. Only the grace of God can change
a man. Wicked men never change. And
if you took wicked men to heaven, they'd tear up heaven. You know,
years and years ago, and we still have it today, we have isolation
wards in the hospital. If one of you is taken to the
hospital this afternoon with spinal meningitis, they'll put
you in isolation. They separate you from everybody
else so you can't contaminate them. That's right. They won't even let mom and daddy
come in there. They put you in isolation. If
you lose your mind they'll take you down to the state hospital
and put you in a padded cell and isolate you from everybody
else because you're dangerous. And back years ago they had what
they called the pest houses. They didn't have all these cures
for diseases, like smallpox and all these other diseases, so
when somebody got it, they put them out away from town, out
in what they call the pest house. They put all the people with
some contagious disease out there, separated them from healthy people,
separated them from well people, separated them from people who
didn't have the disease, and left them out there to either
die or got well. Well, hell is God's pest house.
And God's going to separate you from people who love Christ so
you won't contaminate them. And God's going to separate you
from people who are well and who've been saved and who think
like God and who love like God and who delight in God. God's
going to put you out there with the pest He's going to put you
out there with the contaminated. He's going to put you out there
with the filthy, and the abominable, and the unbelievers, and the
unrighteous, and leave you out there till you die or get well. Well, you're not ever going to
get well, for the Scripture says, he that's filthy, let him be
filthy still. And he that's holy, let him be
holy still. You'll never get well. and you're never going to die.
You'll just die always, and always, and always. Matthew 22, verse
11, And the king came to see the guests, and he saw a man
there that didn't have on a wedding garment. He said, Friend, how'd
you get in here without a wedding garment? He was speechless. And
the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take
him away. Take him away. He can't appreciate
the wedding feast. He doesn't love the bridegroom.
He can't appreciate the wedding feast. He doesn't love the guest.
And he doesn't love the bride. He can't appreciate the joy and
glory of God, not in heaven, because he didn't appreciate
it on earth. Take him away. And cast him into
outer darkness, there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. There is a hell. And hell will
always be a monument to the fact that men love darkness, not light. And hell will always be a monument
to the folly of resisting God. And hell will always stand as
a monument to the foolishness of apostasy. And hell will always
be a place where sin will be punished. God's going to punish
sin. Christ took our hell on the cross. There's no judgment
to them who are in Christ. He bore our wrath, he bore our
hell. And hell is going to separate
eternally. Christ said that the angels of
God shall come and the tares are going to be separated from
the wheat. Let them grow together. Don't you try to do it. I get
tired of people saying, well, he's just not saved. That's none
of your business. You don't know. You don't know. I hear preachers sit around and
other people discussing who's saved and who's not saved. You
don't know who's saved. And you who think you do, you
may not be yourself. John Newton said in heaven, I'm
going to be amazed because I'm going to miss some folks I thought
I'd see there, and I'm going to see some folks I never expected
to see. But one of the things that amazed
me most is, I'll be there. Amazing grace, how sweet the
sound that saved a wretch like me. I once was lost, but now
I'm found. I was blind, now I see. And I'll
tell you this, it's a terrible thing to talk about a man not
being saved. That's a terrible thing. You're
talking about a man being a subject of hell. You're talking about
a man going to hell when you talk about him not being saved.
Don't be too quick to judge. Leave that in the hands of Christ. He said the angels of God. You
leave the tares and the wheat alone. You let them grow together.
That's none of your business. You just preach the gospel, and
God will save whom he will. God will give the increase. Christ
led to the church daily, such as should be saved. I'm just
going to take for granted you know the Lord. You say you do,
and that's all I can go on. But I'll tell you, when the angels
of God come, they're going to know. They're going to know.
And they're going to catch up the wheat and bury it into the
presence of the Lord. And then they're going to gather
up the tares, and they're going to cast them into everlasting
fire. And there shall be weeping and
gnashing of teeth. Greatest thing in the world is
to know the Lord, isn't it? Huh? We are far from perfect. That's because we're far from
glory. Our perfection is in glory, and our perfection shall be to
gain glory. But I don't want to go to hell.
I believe in hell and I don't want to go to hell. And the only
escape from hell is Jesus Christ and Him crucified. You cling
to Christ. It's not down here. It's not
in the water. It's not in your morality. It's
not in the law, it's in Christ. Salvation is Christ. Our Father,
take the message this morning, the message of exhortation and
the message of warning. This everlasting, this everlasting
separation from God, and make it real to every heart. Make
us fear it, and avoid it, and shun it, and hate it, and seek
to be delivered from it. O God, dwell in our hearts for
the power of Thy Spirit through Jesus Christ our Lord. We lean
not upon experience or feeling or anything in the world but
Christ. make Him precious to our hearts, so that with the
redeemed in glory we can sing unto Him who loved us and loosed
us from our sins with His own precious blood. In His name we
pray, Amen.