Surprised to be in Hell, Part 3

If you have your Bible, turn to Luke chapter 16. Luke chapter 16 as we continue our story about what it means to be surprised to wake up in hell. Story about the rich man and a poor man. One went to heaven and one went to hell. The question comes, why is it people don't think more about eternity, more about heaven and hell, when everybody hears the same preacher? The preacher, as one man said, who's of the old school, who speaks as boldly as ever. Oh, he's not popular though the world is his parish.

He travels every part of the globe and speaks in every language. He visits the poor, calls upon the rich, preaches to people of every religion and no religion. And the subject of his sermon is always the same. He is an eloquent preacher, often stirring feelings, which no other preacher could and bringing tears to eyes that never weep. His arguments, none are able to refute, nor is there any heart that has remained unmoved by the force of his appeals. He shatters life with his message. Most people hate him.

Everyone fears him. His name, his name is death. Every tombstone is his pulpit. Every newspaper prints his text. And someday every one of us will be his sermon. What a powerful, powerful message. The preacher's death, that's his name. He preaches in every language to those of every religion, to those of no religion, because it's a point at a man wants to die. After that, the judgment, no one ever ceases to exist. Everybody lives forever. We just have a hard time wrapping our arms around that. That's why I love to preach at funerals.

At funerals, you have a unique audience. They're there for whatever reason, to honor the family, to pay respects to the family or to the person who died that they knew or whatever. They have various reasons for coming. But I can't ever imagine preaching a memorial service without ever warning people of the horrors of hell and the hope of heaven. Because when you get people together, that's the time they need to hear it, right? That's what Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 7. He said that a good name is better than a good ointment.

And the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth. It's kind of a funny way to put it, but the day of one's death is better than the day of one's birth. Are you kidding me? And he also goes on to say it's better to be in a house of feasting or house of mourning than a house of feasting because the living take it to heart. It's the house of the wise and those who are wise listen to what is said in the house of mourning. It's probably the most real place you'll ever be this side of eternity is a funeral home or a memorial service because it speaks to the reality of life and death.

Everybody faces it. We don't like to talk about death. That always perplexes me because it's mentioned over 900 times in the Old Testament, over 400 times in the New Testament. It's called the study of thanatology. And you don't need a study of soteriology unless there is the study of thanatology. You don't need salvation if there is no death, right? You don't need a study of eschatology, the end times and what's going to happen at the end if there is no thanatology, the study of death. If you don't die, who cares about what happens in the end?

If you don't die, who cares about salvation? You don't need it. But the study of thanatology sets a tone for soteriology, ecclesiology, eschatology, theology. All theologies are set in motion because of thanatology. Man is going to die. So the Bible speaks about death over and over and over again and yet we don't want to talk about death. It strikes fear in our hearts. It's kind of a term that turns us the wrong way, yet the Bible speaks about it all the time. And so when you gather people together to have them understand that what has taken place is going to take place in their life one day soon, they have to come to grips with reality.

And I know that preaching on it isn't always popular. I understand that. We had a memorial service here a number of years ago. A young boy had been killed by a drunk driver and so we had the memorial service here at our church. Parents had asked me if I would do it. I said, sure, I would be glad to. And there was standing room only in our auditorium. It was packed. People were out in the foyer area looking through the windows, listening to what was happening during that memorial service. And it was in the middle of the summertime.

It was very warm and so it was hot in here and it was overpacked with people and so I got to preach. And I preached on a passage of Scripture that I thought would help people understand their future. I preached on Luke chapter 7, the resurrection of the widow's son at Nain. And talked about the resurrection of everyone. How everyone's going to be resurrected. Some unto life and some unto death. But everybody's going to die and everybody's going to be resurrected. And spoke about, will they be a part of the first resurrection unto life?

Or will they be a part of the second resurrection unto death? That was a challenge. Well, when it was all said and done, when I was all done preaching, I felt in my heart God's word had gone forth, the truth had been preached, and people were called into account to make a decision. In all reality, I was feeling pretty good about the sermon. I thought it was pretty good. Until I had one and then two and then three and four and five and six and seven and eight people come to me afterwards and throughout the week saying, that was the worst sermon I've ever heard.

I'm like, really? Oh yeah, that was so insensitive. Seriously? Oh yeah, so insensitive to talk about the resurrection of people to death. And so the parents called me. They were irate that I preached on the resurrection, the second resurrection of the death of people in hell forever.

And even mentioned hell in the sermon at a memorial service. So I very kindly, gently as I do said, I'm so sorry that you were offended by the truth of God's holy word. But if I had a chance to do it again, I wouldn't change a thing. People get offended whenever you call them into account about eternity, if they don't know that heaven is their destiny. And as a preacher, my responsibility is to tell you the truth about your eternal destiny, to have you come to grips with reality. What good would I be as a preacher if I didn't hold you to the standard of the scriptures and that your responsibility is to submit to what God's word says.

Oh, I could tell you some jokes. I'm not a very funny guy, but I could tell some jokes and get you to laugh. I could tell you some stories, stories that would warm your heart and, you know, give you a little cozies in your, in your, in your soul so that you would feel good about yourself. I could do all that stuff. I just, I just choose not to do any of that just to help you understand the truth. And I figured that if Jesus is the greatest of all preachers and he preached more about hell than anybody else did, I should do more preaching about hell because he did.

And I would love to model my life after my master. And Jesus is concerned in Luke 16 about religious people, such as maybe yourself. He's concerned about the people who, who, who really believe they're going to heaven. He's not talking to people who say, well, yeah, I'm going to burn in hell one day, man. That's where I'm going. He's not talking to those people. He's talking to people who say, I'm going to heaven. I know I'm going to, I'm a Jew. I'm a descendant of Abraham. I'm on my way to glory.

So he addresses those people. And in so doing, he shocks them because he'd rather shock them here than wait for them to wake up in hell, shock forever. So he wants to shock them right now, send shock waves through their religiosity that they might come to grips with their eternal destiny. Because death is the doorway to reality. It's a doorway to eternity. It's the doorway to your forever existence. You're just passing through this life. It's just a brief moment of time, just a vapor, just a blip on a screen compared to eternity.

And so therefore we need to understand what the Bible says about heaven and about hell. So Jesus tells a story. He tells a story that he, he makes up. It's a parable to get them to understand where they will spend eternity. And then to ask the question, how did the rich guy end up in hell? How did he get there? What put him there? How does anybody ever end up in hell? And how does the poor guy end up in heaven? How does he get there? Because you got to know, if you're not going to go to hell, how do you get to heaven?

How does that happen? And so he, he goes into great detail in the story to explain to us, every one of us, that truth that strikes at the heart of every person, that death is eminent. And you want to make sure you know where you're going before it happens. Story goes as follows. There was a certain rich man, and he habitually dressed in purple and fine linen, gaily living in splendor every day. A certain poor man named Lazarus was laid at his gate covered with sores. And long to be fed with the crumbs, which were falling from the rich man's table.

Besides, even the dogs were coming and licking the sores. Now it came about, the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom. And the rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, he lifted up his eyes being in torment and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom. He cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. And said, Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue for I am in agony in this flame. But Abraham said, child, remember that during your life, you received your good things and likewise Lazarus bad things.

But now he is being comforted here and you are in agony. Besides all this between us and you, there was a great chasm fixed in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able and that none may cross over from here, from there to us. And he said, then I beg you, father, that you send him to my father's house. For I have five brothers that he may warn them lest they also come to this place of torment. But Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. But he said, no, father Abraham.

But if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to him, if they do not listen to Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded if someone rises from the dead. What a powerful story. It is packed with so much information that we need to grapple with. I want you to notice what it says.

It says the man was in agony, in torment, in agony. You just can't pass over those words without understanding the horrors of hell. You can't. One author said it this way, hell, the prison house of despair. Here are some things that won't be there. No flowers will bloom on the banks of hell. No beauties of nature we love so well. No comforts of home, music and song, no friendship of joy will be found in that throng. No children to brighten the long weary night. No love, nor peace, nor one ray of light.

No blood washing soul with face beaming bright. No loving smile in that region of night. No mercy, no pity, pardon or grace. No water, oh God, what a terrible place. The pains of the lost, no human can tell. Not one moment's ease. There is no rest in hell. Hell, the prison house of despair. Here are some things that will be there. Fire and brimstone are there, we know, for God in his word hath told us so. Memory, remorse, suffering and pain, weeping and wailing but all in vain. Blasphemer, swearer, hater of God, Christ rejecter while here on earth trod.

Murderer, gambler, drunkard and liar will have his part in the lake of fire. The filthy, the vile, the cruel and mean, what a horrible mob in hell will be seen. Yes, more than the humans on earth can tell are torments and woes of eternal hell. Even that doesn't necessarily capture the horrors of hell. Let me explain to you what the Bible says about hell.

So you know it from God's word, not from anybody else's word. What does or how does the Bible describe hell? Number one, describes it as abiding wrath, abiding wrath.

John chapter 3 verse number 36 says this, he who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son should not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him. The wrath of God abides, it remains on him. Not just God's anger, his wrath. To understand more about the wrath of God, just read about the book of Revelation, the great day of God's wrath here on earth. It's nothing compared to the eternal wrath of God, the abiding wrath of God upon man's soul. So the Bible describes hell as abiding wrath.

It describes it as blackness and darkness forever. We talked about that last week, Jude 13, 2nd Peter chapter 1 verse number 4, 2 verse number 4 and verse number 17, blackness of darkness. It speaks of banishment. It speaks of isolation. It speaks of abandonment. You need to understand that hell is reserved for people to live in complete isolation forever. No communion, no fellowship, no talking with anybody else. It's only you left to your own devices. Abiding wrath, blackness of darkness, crying will be there.

It says in Luke chapter 16, the man cried. Eight times it says, or five times it says in the gospels, there will be weeping that's there. Weeping, crying. Have you ever cried uncontrollably so much that you almost shluck because it's, it's that way forever, forever. There's no relief in hell. It's the pain of eternal torment. There's crying that's there. Second Thessalonians 2.12 calls it damnation.

It says in order that they may all be damned, who did not believe the truth, but took pleasure in wickedness. That's how the King James version reads. The old King James. Damned. Damned to the fires of hell. That's damnation. And then E, everlasting punishment. Everlasting punishment. It is everlasting. Matthew 25, 46 speaks to the fact that it's ongoing, continual, everlasting. Hell is as long as heaven is. Heaven is forever. Hell is forever. F would stand for filthiness. According to Revelation chapter 22 verse number 11, let the filthy remain filthy.

All our righteousness as the Bible says is as filthy rags and that filthiness will be accentuated in the horrors of hell.

Also Luke 13.28 talks about gnashing of teeth, the grinding and the gritting and the gnashing of teeth. It's, it's that, it's that, it's that uncontrolled anger. Have you ever been so angry with somebody that you grit your teeth and you gnash your teeth almost as if to spit because you're so angry? Can you imagine being that way forever? The gnashing of teeth. Also the Bible says that hell is all about hopelessness.

Proverbs chapter 11, Proverbs chapter 11 verse number seven reads this way. When a wicked man dies, his hope will perish. Hell is about hopelessness. Proverbs chapter 10 verse number 28, the hope of the righteous is gladness, but the hope of the wicked will perish. Once you die, there is no hope and it perishes. Hell is about indignation, indignation. Romans chapter two verse number eight. It says to those who are selfishly ambitious and do not obey the truth, but obey in righteousness, wrath. The result is indignation.

God's eternal indignation. J stands for judgment. Hell is about God's judgment. Remember at the great white throne judgment, that's only for the unbeliever. It's not for the believer. It's found in Revelation 20 verses 11 to 15. That happens at the second resurrection.

Now you got to think about this for a moment. You die. You don't go to heaven. You go to hell. You experience the abiding wrath of God on your soul because your body's in the grave. It's in the ground. It's still here, but your soul is experiencing the abiding wrath of God. Your soul is experiencing blackness of darkness forever. Your soul is experiencing the crying that's absolutely uncontrollable. The damnation from God himself. It's experiencing everlasting punishment. The filthiness of all filthiness.

It's experiencing everything God designed for it. And then all of a sudden you're resurrected out of there to stand before the great white throne judgment of God. There's a resurrection of the body that's met together with the soul. And just for that one brief moment, one brief moment, you get your day in court with God. The great white throne judgment. The Bible reads it this way in Revelation chapter 20 verse number 11. This is how it reads. I saw a great white throne and he was set up on it from whose, from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them.

And I saw the dead, the great and the small standing before the throne and books were opened. And another book was open, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged from the things which are written in the books, according to their deeds. And the sea gave up the dead, which were in it. And death and Hades gave up the dead, which were in them. And they were judged every one of them according to their deeds. And death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.

And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown in the lake of fire. So here is your soul experiencing all that God has for it. And all of a sudden your body's resurrected and your soul and body stand before the great white throne judgment of God. And you're just there, you're thinking, boy, I'm glad that's over. I'm glad I got a reprieve. God, God, let me give you, let me give you my case.

Here it is. This is what I did. You know, you know that I went on mission trips for you. I sang in the choir for you. You know, Lord, that I took the offering every week in church on Sunday. You know that I even gave my tithes and offer. You know, Lord, I did all that for you. I'm glad I'm here to plead my case. And he says, I'm sorry, I never knew you. Depart from me. You practice lawlessness. You're like, well, wait a minute. I'm defending my case here. I mean, the good does that way. The bad doesn't.

I did some things for you, Lord. Luke 13 records the fact that, Lord, we ate with you. We dine with you. We are with you as you perform the miracles. We were with you. I don't know you, Christ says.

I don't know you. And you're cast into the lake of fire. Here's the point. At one point, your soul experienced all the horrors of hell. But that's not bad enough. Now, body and soul experience the lake of fire in the fires of hell. That's what God wants for those who will not obey the truth. See that? That's important. Because hell is just not the suffering of the soul. It's the suffering of the soul, body, and spirit forever separated from God. And you'll stand before the great white throne in judgment.

You can plead your case. But if your name has not been found written in the Lamb's book of life, then you will not experience the eternal bliss of heaven. Instead, you will experience the damnation of hell forever. The Bible goes on to describe hell as a place of keeping for eternal bonds, a place called the lake of fire. We read about that in Revelation 20, verse number 15, a fire, by the way, that does not consume. It's a fire that burns like fire burns, but it does not consume because it's forever.

There's no annihilation in hell. It's a fire that burns forever and ever and ever, both soul and body. It's also a place of memory. That's why Abraham says, son, remember.

Remember. Because in hell, you remember everything that happened on earth. In heaven, you remember nothing on a sinful earth. But in hell, you remember it all. Every sermon that was preached, every person who came to your house to tell you about Christ, every song that was sung, every invitation given, every invitation spurned, every message snarled at, every door slammed in the face of somebody who came to tell you about Christ. You remember it all because you have all of eternity to remember it.

That's why there's this gnashing of teeth, because the only person you have to be angry with is you. There's no one else to be angry with. Can't blame anybody else. There's no one else to blame. You're there because of you. Nothing else. Hell is also a place of no rest. No rest. Revelation chapter 14, verses 10 and 11. Say it this way. Revelation 14, 10 and 11. Start with verse number nine. And another angel, a third one, followed them, saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast in his image and receives a mark on his forehead or upon his hand, he also would drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of his anger.

And he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast in his image and whoever receives the mark. See, there is no rest. Oh, by the way, Christ is Lord of heaven and hell. The text says you suffer in the presence of the Lord. You suffer in his presence. People ask, well, is God present in hell? Yes, he is. How can that be? Because he's omnipresent.

He's everywhere at the same time. There's no place he isn't. He's omnipresent. He is the Lord of heaven. He is the Lord of hell. Your suffering will be in the presence of a holy, just God. And there'll be no rest. None. You know, we like to rest when we're in pain. We like to have some kind of reprieve where we can lay our head down and just kind of close our eyes and put the pain behind us for a while. There's no rest in hell. It's constant torment. Every moment of eternity. That's how God has designed it.

That's why he says there is no rest. Oh, by the way, hell is described as oblivion. Oblivion. Why? Oblivion is a state of being blotted out from the memory. That's why the rich man has no name and the poor man has a name. Psalm 112, verse number six, the righteous will be remembered for how long? Forever. The unrighteous are blotted out of memory. No one remembers them. They're in oblivion. That's why the rich man has no name. In hell, you don't need a name. In heaven, I told you before, you have three names based on Revelation chapter three.

You got to have a name in heaven, but in hell, no name because no one's going to call you by name. There'll be no one there with you. You're all by yourself forever. Hell is described as pain. Luke 16, the agony, the torment, that's constant. It's described as a quandary in Isaiah 33, verse number 14, the state of perpetual difficulty. It's a place of retribution according to second Thessalonians one, verses six to nine, that God will deal out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of God.

Daniel 12 too says that hell is described as shame and everlasting contempt. Shame and everlasting contempt. You see, in hell, you are constantly ashamed of yourself. Isn't it interesting that during your stay on earth, no man ever hated his own flesh according to the book of Ephesians? Every man loves himself on earth, but in hell, you are forced to face reality. So you live in constant shame for who you are and what you did not do. Shame and constant contempt. It's a word for loathing oneself. Man loves himself today, but you'll spend eternity loathing yourself.

And isn't it interesting that in Ezekiel chapter 20, unless you loathe yourself today, you will not repent. And God says, if you will not loathe your self-existence, if you are loathe the way you are today, you won't repent.

You will loathe yourself forever and ever and ever in shame. It's like the whole darkness thing. Men love darkness rather than light because the deeds are evil. Well, if you won't come to the light, you will remain in darkness, the blackness of darkness forever. That's how God does things when it comes to the horrors of hell. Thirst is another way to describe hell based on Luke chapter 16. Just dip the tip of Lazarus finger in water that it might cool my tongue. He's not asking for a drip of water for some kind of relief, but there is no relief.

Ungodliness marks hell, Jude 14, Jude 15, because only the ungodly go there. Vengeance describes hell. Romans 12 verse number 19, vengeance is mine. I will repay, says the Lord. Woe is described as hell. It's a cursing by God. Isaiah 3 verse number 11, Revelation 21, 27, hell is described as exclusion. You're excluded from the life of God. You're excluded from everybody else's life. And in Mark 9, Isaiah 66, it's described as a yearning for something you'll never get. It's where the worm never dies.

It's a constant gnawing, that yearning that you want something you can never, ever have. And of course, Daniel 32, I drew only 32, 22, hell is described as zero existence. You are a zero because heaven is reserved for the sons of the highest. Hell is described as a place of the lowest. And the lowest you can go is zero. And everybody in hell is a zero. That's the horrors of hell. I have a three tape series on those 26 descriptive words that help you understand more about the horrors of hell. That's what it is.

And so the Bible goes into great detail to tell us about what's going to happen in eternity if you don't know God. And this is Christ's concern of people that he's talking to who claim to know God. See that's so important to understand. It's like Jesus coming to church today and talking to people in churches, talking to people in religions, because there are probably some of you who believe you're going to heaven when you die, but you'll wake up in hell because of what you've been taught or what you believe about why it is you'll go to heaven.

And like Jesus, I don't want you to be surprised. You need to know the truth. Why is this rich guy there? How did he make it there? Maybe the rich guy wasn't a Jew, because if I'm a Jew, I go to heaven. Only people who go to hell are Gentiles, right? So maybe the rich guy was deceived and he really wasn't a Jew. Not true, because he called Abraham, father Abraham. So he was a descendant of Abraham. But being a descendant of Abraham doesn't get you to heaven. See that's the whole point of the story.

That's what John 8 is all about. We are of our father Abraham. We are descendants of our Jewish father. We are going to heaven. Christ says, no, you're not.

Your son's your son's of hell. Your father is Satan and he's a liar and a murderer from the beginning. And you are sons of Satan. Can you imagine going to church and telling people in church, you're sons of Satan? That's basically what he does to the Pharisees and the scribes, the Sadducees in Israel, helping them understand you are so self-deceived. Just because you're a descendant of Abraham doesn't mean you're going to get to heaven. And that's what they thought. So he wants to, he wants to shock them right now.

Listen, just because you're a Jew doesn't mean you're going to go to heaven. The rich guy was a Jew. He didn't make it. See, well, did he not go to heaven because he was rich? Did he love riches and it kept him out of heaven? No, because the poor guy went to whose side? Abraham's side, right? And Genesis 15 says that Abraham was a rich guy. He had all kinds of money, all kinds of livestock. He was very rich. Riches don't keep you out of heaven. So the riches couldn't have kept the rich guy out of heaven.

So was he there because he committed some horrible kind of sin? I mean, we're all sin, but is there some kind of secret horrible sin that the rich guy committed that would keep him out of heaven? No, the Bible didn't say that. Let's speak to the man's morality. They had a funeral for him. They had a burial for him. So they honored the man. And some people think, well, you know, if you commit certain sins, it will keep you out of heaven. There are certain sins that will keep you from ever entering heaven's gate.

That's not true. That's not true because people don't go to heaven, go to hell because of their sin. They go to hell because of their unbelief. Know what John 5.29 says? John 5.29 makes it very clear. God said these words. He said, Do not marvel at this for an hour is coming in which all who are in the tomb shall hear his voice and shall come to forth. Those who did the good deeds to a resurrection of life and those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment. Verse 46. If you believed Moses, you would have believed me for he wrote of me.

But if you do not believe his writings, how will you believe my words? The bottom line is this. You must believe what God says.

Man doesn't believe what God says. That's the problem with man. They will not believe the truth. That's why Jesus says to the rich man when he asks, he makes a supplication.

He makes this plead. Send someone to warn my brothers. Send somebody to warn them about eternal torment. Send something. Remember, he never asks why I'm here because everybody in hell knows why they're there. You have a full revelation of why you're there. He doesn't ask why am I here? It's a little hot down here. Can you relieve the pain a little bit? Doesn't ask any of those questions because he knows he can't. See, he knows he gets exactly what he deserves. But he does ask, is there a way you can warn my brothers?

And what does Jesus say? They have Moses and the prophets. They have Moses and the prophets. If they don't believe them, they won't believe somebody who's been raised from the dead. And that's why I said send someone back from here. Somebody who's been here. If you just send someone back who has been here, people will believe. No, they won't. They won't. Because the essence in salvation is that faith cometh by hearing and hearing a word about the Christ. That's how people are saved. They hear the truth of God's Word.

It convicts their soul. And they realize they need to be saved from their sin. So here's this rich guy who's in hell, wanting Father Abraham to do something for his brothers. Somehow they would escape the eternal torment that he himself is facing. Some might say, well, did he not believe? Did he not know how to get saved? Maybe he's there because he didn't know. Well, there's one thing he says that's very interesting. He says, and I quote in Luke chapter 16, these words. He says, Father Abraham, if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.

Key word. To believe in repentance means you had to believe you're a sinner. To believe that you're a sinner means you believe in the law that condemns you. To believe in the law means you believe in the law giver. Whoever gave the law was perfect. So therefore, he understood the basic theological elements of scripture. He understood those things because he knew that the only way to escape, listen carefully, the fires of hell is to repent of your sin. That's the only way. Only way. He knew that. He knew it hook, line, and sinker.

Because some might say, well, maybe he wasn't an Orthodox Jew. Maybe he was a, he was a liberal Jew. No, he, he knew about sin. He knew about the law. He knew about the law giver. He knew he needed to repent. So we say, well, if you want to get saved, Romans 10 verse number nine, if you confess with your mouth, Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised her from the dead, you shall be what? Saved. Right? But what do you believe if Jesus hasn't died and rose again? How do you get saved?

How do those people in the Old Testament get saved? Jesus says they have Moses and the prophets. Is it true that everything in the law of God, the law of Moses and the prophets, is it true that in the Old Testament, everything you need to know about salvation is there? The answer? Yes. Before there was ever the Messiah on earth, before the Messiah ever lived and died and rose again, was there enough to save you from the eternal torments of hell? The answer is yes. The question is, what did this man need to believe that he didn't believe?

And that's next week. Let's pray. Father, we thank you, Lord, for your word, the truth that's there and the opportunity we have to study it. Our prayer, Lord, is that every one of us would understand that your word is absolutely crucial in believing, in believing who you are and what you did. Our prayer, Father, is that everyone today would know for certain that heaven is their destiny, and that they would not choose hell over heaven. They've heard your word. May they respond in a way that will be pleasing in your eyes.

We pray in Jesus' name. Amen.