Do You Reallly Believe in Hell

Good morning. I want us all to think about this morning, that final morning that Amos woke up. Do you think he woke up that day knowing it was his last? Right.

I know for a fact he had plans to go up to Sportsman's Merit Warehouse with Jonathan. I'm sure he had plans once he got there, what he was going to go and buy. I'm sure that as he thought about the rest of the day, what was he going to do that afternoon? Was he going to go to work the next day? I know he's having issues with his knee.

He probably had plans for the weekend, probably looking forward to the next youth volleyball or maybe a hike, a youth hike. I know he had plans to go hunting in the fall. I know that's why he was going to get things at the Sportsman's Warehouse.

I know he had plans to go to the Bible School. But the moment his car struck the other car, his plans were over. And everything he had done up to that point was sealed.

And wherever he was at was set with the Lord. I want to look at a verse here, Hebrews 9, 27. I think we all know it very well.

The verse says that it is appointed once for a man to die and after this, the judgment. Every one of us, if the Lord doesn't return, I sat there yesterday at Marvin Ketchum's funeral and I looked around the room and I thought every person sitting in this room is going to have a service like this. They're going to have a funeral.

They're going to have some kind of memorial where they died and their life was set. And this verse says that every one of us has an appointment with death. And after that appointment, it says we will have an appointment with judgment.

I tremble to speak this sermon this morning. It's not a sermon that is exciting to preach, but it is a burden on my heart. And I think if we're all very honest, how often do we think about that day? How often do we think about the judgment to come? I found it interesting to find out that Jesus spoke more about hell than he spoke about heaven.

In fact, it's interesting that Jesus spoke more about hell than any other author in the New Testament. The statistics say that 69% of Americans today believe in a place called heaven. 70% of Americans.

But only 2% believe they're going there. And if I were to ask this morning for everybody to raise their hands who thought they were going to hell, which I won't, I would guess nobody would raise their hands. But yet somehow, Jesus said it's exactly the opposite.

He said that many are going to be expecting to go to heaven and go to hell instead. Jesus said that the path to hell is wide and many are on it. And the path to life is narrow and few even ever find it.

And I think it would be good for us this morning to stop and think about what Jesus and his apostles taught about hell. The title of the sermon is Do You Really Believe in Hell? I could have titled it The Doctrine of Hell. But I could have also titled it Do You Really Believe in Hell When You're in the Middle of Your Temptation? Do you really believe in hell? Do you really think about hell when you're in the middle of falling into a sin? I think it's very interesting that Brother Roger just did that illustration.

And we all thought it was cute and funny and yet when Jesus told the story of what we just witnessed with the tables it was very serious. And that's my first text here. Without knowing where he was going, let's go to Luke 16.

I want to look at some of the passages that Jesus taught on the subject of hell. And then I want to ask some questions. Let's read Luke 16, 19 through 31.

There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. That means he had plenty to eat. He had lots of food.

Notice also his clothing. And at his gate, not somebody else's gate, at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus covered with sores who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores.

The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

And he called out, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue. For I am in anguish in this flame. But Abraham said, Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things and Lazarus in his like manner bad things.

But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you, a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able to, and none may cross from there to us. And he said, Then I beg you, Father, to send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come into this place of torment.

But Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets. Let them hear them. And he said, No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent.

And he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. I'd like to point out some things here from this passage that we just read. Number one, what Jesus told of this story, hell is a place of consciousness.

It's not a place that he just passed off the scene and he doesn't know what's going on. He knows what's going on. He's awake.

He can sense. He can see. He can hear.

Number two, hell was a place of torment. Notice the words in here, anguish, torment. He was begging for just a little bit of water to cool his tongue.

He was begging to go back and tell his brothers. Which brings me to number three, verse 25, he has memory. He can remember what he didn't do.

He can remember his brothers. He can remember his life. And number four, we learn in verse 26, there was a separation.

He couldn't get to the other side and they couldn't come to him. There was a great gulf fixed, a great chasm between them. Number five, he had regrets.

Verse 27, he regretted that he couldn't go and talk to his brothers. He regretted that he couldn't go back or hadn't listened to the prophets. And then I would say in the last point I'd like to point out, the story ends with no hope.

The story ends with no future. It's over for him. His fate is sealed.

His life had been lived. Now, I'd like to ask the question, why did Lazarus end up, or why did the rich man, sorry, end up in hell? Anybody have a thought? Why did the rich man end up in hell? Did he commit some adultery? Did he do some murder? Did he steal something, lie? Why did he end up in hell? The only thing it says here is that you had good things and he had bad things. He was at your gate.

That's all we know. Nothing more is said. It is interesting, when this story was told, it is right in the middle.

The parable right before was about the dishonest manager that took and he said he had to prepare himself for after he got fired. And so he wrote down and he wrote checks out to different people so that he'd have friends after he lost his job. And then Jesus goes on to say, you Pharisees who love money, and then he tells this parable.

It seems to be something to do with money and living for self. Now let's jump to Matthew chapter 25. I want to draw some conclusions out of that teaching from Jesus on hell.

Matthew 25. And we're going to look in verse 31. The title here in my Bible says, The Final Judgment.

And it just came after the parable of the ten talents. But I want to look at this one first. Verse 31, The Final Judgment.

When the Son of Man comes in his glory and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne before him will be gathered all the nations and he will separate people one from another as a sheep, as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats and he will place the sheep on his right but the goats on his left. Then the king will say to those on his right, Come you who are blessed by my father inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me food.

I was thirsty. You gave me drink. I was a stranger.

You welcomed me. I was naked and you clothed me. I was sick and you visited me.

I was in prison and you came to me. Then the righteous will answer and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you or thirsty and give you drink and when did we see you a stranger and welcome you or when you were naked and we clothed you and when did we see you sick or in prison and visit you? And the king will answer, Truly I say to you as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers you did it to me. Then he will say to those on his left hand, Lord, depart from me.

You cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was hungry and you gave me no food. I was thirsty and you gave me no drink.

I was a stranger and you did not welcome me. Naked and you did not clothe me. Sick and in prison and you did not visit me.

Then they will also answer and say, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? Then he will answer them saying, Truly I say to you as you did not do it to one of the least of these you did not do it to me. And these will go away into eternal punishment but the unrighteous into eternal life. Here Jesus gives some more depictions of what hell is.

He says he will come at the end and he will separate all people and he will have some determinations of why he will put some on the right and some on the left. But notice what happens to the ones he puts on to the left. In verse 41 he will say to those on his left, Depart from me you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

And then in verse 48 and these will go away into eternal punishment but the righteous into eternal life. You know these teachings are not fun teachings. We want to teach the teachings of Christ that lift us up that make us feel comfortable that point out his mercy and his forgiveness but Jesus taught these teachings.

This was his love to warn us of this place if we think about it. This is the good news that he came to tell us how to avoid this place and if we look in verse 48 he tells us of two things everlasting life and everlasting punishment and they're the same Greek word. Do we all believe that there's an everlasting heaven today? Do we all want to say thank the Lord that we can live with him forever and ever in the same way that we have to believe that there's an eternal punishment.

That's what it says. It's the same Greek word eternal punishment. Who ended up in hell in this passage? It's interesting some of the passages Jesus gives us on hell and the reasons why they ended up there.

We stop and think about it. That should be sobering to us. You know we think of Sodom and Gomorrah.

We think of all of their sin homosexuality and all of the things that happened there but I forget what book it is but it says this is the sin of Sodom and Gomorrah. Sodom was pride fullness of bread idleness of time and that they didn't help the poor. That was their sin and we as a nation have more money than any other nation.

We as a nation have more time for things to do outside of work and we have more bread than any other nation and do we help the poor. Now turn in the same chapter back to verse 30. I don't have time to go into this but this is the parable of the talents and we see in verse 30 another description of hell.

The last one I didn't mention it but it said everlasting fire and it said everlasting punishment. This one we read about hell in another way. Verse 30 after the talents after the different ones received the talent and they did different things with it one buried it others invested it and the very last verse this is what happened.

Let's go to verse 29. It says, For to everyone who has will be given and he who has an abundance but from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away and cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Here's another description of the judgment to come.

Outer darkness. What is that? Weeping. I'm guessing they're weeping because of their sins of the things they had done in their lives and gnashing of teeth.

I looked that up that means grinding your teeth. Just grinding and grinding and grinding your teeth. Probably over the anguish the torment they're in and probably over the anger maybe at God maybe because it's not fair in their mind.

Who knows? Can you imagine? Jesus used these words. We've heard these from little children up. We all have heard these.

The everlasting fire and outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth. Sometimes I think we need to think about it from a different perspective. If I told you this morning if I came up here and said after you die God is going to electrocute you if you haven't been living for him he's just going to electrocute you constantly.

You'd all think wow that sounds horrendous. He's going to cause torment on you but we're used to these things and so they become church words weeping and gnashing of teeth torment anguish fire and I wonder do we really believe it? Do we really believe what he taught? In the wheat and tare parable in Matthew 13 the angels come and they collect the wheat and the tares and it says in the same way he will cast them into a furnace of fire there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. How did this person in the talents not how did he get to this place of outer darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth? How did he get sent there? Anybody know? Give it to me in your words.

He wasn't faithful with the resources he had been given. Let's go to Mark chapter 9 and we're going to look in verse 42. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin it would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck.

By the way those were pretty heavy heavy rocks. Whoever causes one of these little ones to sin it would be better that they would tie a massive rock around his neck and throw him into the sea and if your hand causes you to sin cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands and go to hell to the unquenchable fire.

And if your foot causes you to sin cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin tear it out.

It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. We learn a couple of things from this passage. First it says the fire is not quenched.

I looked up this word. What does that mean? It means it doesn't go out. The fire is not quenched.

It does not go out. It is perpetual. It is eternal.

Somehow and some reason Jesus wanted to communicate to us that this fire is an everlasting fire. It doesn't go out. What he means by all of that and how it all works we don't know.

How does it outer darkness and fire at the same time? But Jesus wanted us to think about it. He talked about the fire is not quenched. In Luke 3 he says gather the wheat into my barn but the chaff he will burn with fire unquenchable.

In Matthew 18 if your foot offends thee cut it off cast it 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. Same words.

So we see here that this description that Jesus gives us of hell is eternal. It's not quenchable. And number two this worm their worm dieth not.

Now I don't really understand what that means. The best I can tell I looked at other Greek books outside of the Bible and this has an idea of a maggot that feeds on rotten flesh. It's used in lots of other it's used in apocryphal books it's used in even like Homer different Greek books.

But many times it's talking about a maggot that eats rotten flesh. Especially dying flesh. What was Jesus trying to get at in his point? He said where and it didn't say the worm it says their worm.

Think about that. It's not a worm. It's a worm assigned to its host.

It's their specific worm that doesn't die. I read somewhere that said if a maggot is eating dead flesh when the dead flesh is consumed it has to move on. But this seems to imply that it just keeps feeding on it and feeding on it.

Because it never consumes it completely. What did Jesus mean by this? Many have speculated. But I want to ask this question.

Why is it when Jesus taught on hell he used the most ghastly graphic images of punishment imaginable? We need to ask that question. Why? I mean he used these for a reason. He used eternal fire maggots.

He used utter darkness. He used torment and anguish for a purpose. For a reason.

And somehow he did this because he loves us. Have we gotten used to the idea of eternal fire? Used to the idea of hell? Turn with me to Matthew please. Chapter 5. I didn't take the time to think about why those what Jesus was saying in those passages but I'll quickly say it.

He said if your right hand offends you and if your eye offends you somehow in Jesus' mind getting a hold of sin is more important to take care of this life because of what it will equal in the judgment after this life. It's very he's making a very intense statement to take care of sin now while you can. Matthew 5 in verse 22.

And before we go on just using our imagination a little bit what kind of sins can our eyes cause us? What kind of sins can our hands cause us? What did Jesus mean by that? Matthew 5 22 we read so if you are offering this is not the verse. This is 22. Okay, one verse up.

But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment. Whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council and whoever says you fool will be liable to hell of fire. That's shocking.

To say you fool which the Greek word for this is moron. It's actually moros which we get our word moron from. But it's the same concept.

Fool, moron, stupid, dull, blockhead, absurd. What is the heart when you say that to somebody? Anybody, what is the heart when you say you fool, you moron, you stupid, absurd, blockhead, insulting. Jesus just said that when we talk like that we are in danger of hell.

Why did he tell us that? I mean we typically think of hell as for the drunkards, the adulterers, the whoremongers which it is for. But just our speech, Jesus' warning can put us in danger of fire, of hell fire. And he didn't just say hell, he said fire.

He put that there. Let's move on to Romans 2. Moving a little past Jesus' teachings let's look at what Paul had to say. You know I read that Paul never used the word hell once but he talked a lot about judgment.

And I remember when I was waking up and I was starting to realize that I'm going to have something to say. I'm going to have to answer to God one of these days for my sins. And I was starting to come under the fear of God.

I remember reading Romans and thinking Paul preached something totally. You know he preached grace and he preached mercy and he preached long suffering. He didn't preach much of hell and judgment.

And I remember reading Romans as I first ventured into Paul's letters and it's right there in chapter 2. Chapter 2 in verse 5. He's talking about God's righteous judgment and then he says in this in verse 5 but because of your hard and your impotent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment will be revealed. Now listen to this. He will render to each one according to his works to those who by patience and well-doing so they're long-suffering.

They're staying patient at doing the right thing. Seek for glory and honor and immortality. Their goal is glory.

Their goal is honor. Their goal is to live with God. He will give eternal life.

That's the gift. But for those who are self-seeking those who do not obey the truth but obey unrighteousness there will be these are the punishments there will be wrath. There will be fury.

There will be tribulation and distress for every human being who does evil the Jew first and also the Greek for God shows no partiality. This is Paul. This is Paul telling us and warning us that what we do and how we abide in Christ and what a fruit comes out of our life by abiding matters and he uses some pretty strong words.

Tribulation. Wrath. Fury.

Distress. Now let's jump back to Revelation. We could spend the whole time just looking at this verse just came to me and so I just want to read it really quick as we are turning to Revelation but in 2 Thessalonians Paul says this to the Christians.

He says you're going through a lot of tribulation right now but take heart because this is what's coming in flaming fire he will inflict vengeance on all those who do not know him and those who do not obey the gospel of the Lord. Now back to Revelation chapter 14 in verse 9 Revelation 14 9 and another angel a third followed them saying with a loud voice if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or his hand he will also drink the wine of God's wrath poured full strength in the cup of his anger and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever and they have no rest day or night these worshipers of the beast and its image. The threat here is that those who take the mark those who worship the beast will be tormented with fire and as the King James says brimstone brimstone is just another word for sulfur I looked it up it's if you mix sulfur with water it's called acid rain imagine sulfur bluing in fact I looked up when sulfur burns it burns blue there's a place over in Indonesia that the volcano at night when you look at it it's just this eerie blue can you imagine being in a place why whoever wrote this did they choose to use this language fire and brimstone this brimstone that's burning is this caustic acidic suffocating kind of rock that when it burns it's like acid in your lungs why did they choose this I mean I don't like saying this from here like it sounds like I'm like well I'm trying to scare you but that's what Jesus does that's what the authors of the Bible do that's what God does so I'm I'm simply trying to preach what is in the Bible it says those who take the mark will suffer according to this passage there will be no rest day or night the smoke of their torment will go up forever and ever and they will be in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb think of that picture and he will mix this cup of wrath full strength turn to chapter 20 of Revelation we're going to quickly look at two more passages verse 10 and the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet were and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever verse 11 then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it for his presence earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them and I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and books were opened then another book was opened which is the book of life and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done and the sea gave up the dead who were in it death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged each one of them according to what they had done then 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 into the lake of fire a picture of a lake and it's just burning and a picture of of people being thrown into there if their names aren't found in the book of life a picture of the devil and the angels burning there day in and day out one more page over chapter 21 and verse 8 who goes to this lake of fire according to what we're reading in verse 8 of chapter 21 but as for the cowardly the faithless the detestable the murderers the sexually immoral the sorcerers the idolaters and all liars their portion will be in the lake that burns with fire and sulfur which is the second death it said the cowardly the faithless the ones who were not exercising faith the corrupt the ones who murder the ones who are sexually immoral the ones who are practicing witchcraft the idolaters which the new testament says the covetous are idolaters and all liars according to this passage will all be thrown into the lake of fire the question I have for you this morning do you fear God's wrath? Jesus told us to fear him Jesus said fear him which after having killed the body had the power to cast your soul into hell fear him he even says yea rather fear him do you fear God's wrath? it's easy to want to say this word must mean something like reverence or respect but this is the Greek word phobos we get our English word phobia like grown men running from a spider I used to know this I might have told this before but there was this guy in our church years ago he was about this tall he was this massive man he was he was he was an Alaskan like tough as all get out and but when he saw a spider he would run and he would scream like a little girl and jump up onto things like couches and chairs to get away from the spider he had a phobia of spiders it was just something in his and what did Jesus say? he said to fear phobos I may not be pronouncing it right but that's the word in Greek it means to put to flight by terrifying it means to put to put to flight to flee to fear to be afraid to be struck with fear to be seized with alarm I think of the time I was coming in to Portland on that plane and it dropped it felt like a thousand feet and then the pilot had to give the throttle as much as he could to the plane and between the dropping and the accelerating I felt like I was going to pass out I was so just yeah it was a fearful experience for me now some people may have not thought so but for me that was very fearful experience that's the kind of thing that Jesus told us to do about God and His power to throw us into hell listen to this passage this is Paul he says knowing therefore the terror this is the same word phobos the terror of the Lord we persuade men Paul would get up each day and he would think I need to tell somebody about the gospel not because he wanted them to have a nice relationship with God necessarily which he did but he said I know the fear of the Lord I know the terror of the Lord I know that these people are going to end up somewhere and I need to tell them about the gospel that's what drove him in fact if you remember that story well there's two stories one is when he comes in the place of Athens Gentiles and he comes to preach to them when he comes to preach to them he talks to them about judgment and it made them very interested another time he was preaching to Felix the governor now Felix was a a pretty hardened criminal he was a pretty hardened Roman governor I think he had three wives in his lifetime he was known for bribery he was known to have Jonathan the high priest assassinated according to I think Josephus but he was a cruel man Paul started preaching to him he wanted to hear him again he had Paul come back he wanted to hear some more from this Paul and you know what it says in Acts it says on certain days when Felix came with his wife which was a Jewess he said for Paul and he heard concerning the faith and as he reasoned what was Paul preaching? righteousness self-control judgment to come Paul wasn't telling him about Felix you should know about the mercy of God he was telling about righteousness self-control and the judgment to come and you know what the passage says anybody tell me what happened in Felix's heart? Phobos he trembled it says it's actually a compound word M Phobos with trembling with fear and Felix trembled and answered go thy way for this time when I have a convenient season I will call on thee I wonder if he ever found that convenient season but he trembled and Paul wasn't afraid to say it like it was and I ask you this morning are you afraid to tell people about hell? do you because of the fear of the Lord because of the terror of the Lord tell people about hell? that man I didn't say this but according to Tacitus whoever he was some historian, Roman historian said he was a tyrannical ruler and here this tyrannical ruler is trembling because of what Paul is telling about God's judgment to fear the Lord Hebrews says it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God and it's the same word Phobos it's a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living God same word work out your own salvation with fear Phobos and trembling that means what should be guiding you in your life is a trembling at God's word a trembling at God's wrath it goes on to say for it is God who works in you both to will and to do you tremble that you need to die to yourself and rely on God to live this Christian life out you tremble at that you tremble at the thought of what would happen if you don't do that listen to what Isaiah 66 too says this is Hebrew so I don't know what word it was but it says to this man will I look this is the person I'm interested this is the person I will have favor on to him that is a poor and a contrite spirit that's humility and what do you think it says next somebody trembles at my word he's poor and broken in his understanding of who he is with God he's nothing he's just a worm and he trembles at God's word I wonder how many of you when Roger was doing this table thing up here how many of you were trembling a little I was sitting there thinking about it now I had the I knew what I was going to preach so I have the I have but I was thinking Lord will we stand one day and be over here as the little children were hoarding all of our resources and will you will you hold us account for that where is that that right balance where is the line it's gray Lord it's a scary thought though but are you at least trembling are you at least wrestling with God over what his requirements are because Jesus stories were people that weren't helping people that were doing well and not helping the poor what did Solomon say after all of his life after all of his fun after all of his living and sin for a season and pleasure he said this is the conclusion of the matter fear God and keep his commandments the fear of the Lord as the psalmist said is the beginning of wisdom the eyes of the Lord as the other psalmist said in 33 it says is upon them that fear him and upon them that hope in his mercy I love that dichotomy there's a fear but it's not so much so that they don't still hope in his mercy but there's a fear in him and his word and there's also a hope in his mercy Paul says this if he were preaching this message right now what would he say he says I discipline my body each day I keep it under self-control each day less after I've gone around and preached the gospel to everybody I would be a castaway think about that I could stand here preaching the sermon to you and what if on judgment day you all watch me get cast into the lake of fire and I'm disqualified because I it doesn't matter what I say it really matters what I did with my life so in conclusion almost 70% believe in heaven 2% think they are going to hell I'm just guessing most of us don't think this morning when we got here we don't think there's a possibility of going to hell but my question is are what does your life reflect does your life reflect Jesus living breathing walking with you Jonathan Edwards he preached a sermon called Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God and in that sermon he pulled a passage out out of Deuteronomy this passage says to me belongeth vengeance and recompense their feet shall slip in due time and he painted this picture with very amazing words he had people screaming in his sermon and howling from what I've heard he painted this picture that God is the one holding your foot from slipping God is the one that will decide your last day God was the one who allowed Amos day to be that last moment and he was saying God is the one who's going to let your foot slip and they are all he painted this picture everybody was standing outside of this pit and at any moment God could allow you to slip this is what he said he was an expert on the subject and he said that the most wicked impotent impenitent sinner that means the most wicked unrepentant sinner of his day in the world constantly assures himself that he will escape the judgment of God what is it in our hearts that does that and that's the burden of my heart this morning how do we get past that and Jesus said the opposite he said most will go to hell many will be surprised of their fate few will find life hell is our default destination think about that hell is our default destination if you don't do anything in life that is your destination and that's why we need to examine ourselves whether we are in the faith here's a quote I don't remember where I read it where I saw it but how much time have you spent in your life concerned about your final destiny worrying about whether you might at the end of your life be consigned by God to everlasting punishment Galatians says this the works of the flesh are evident sexual immorality impurity lustful pleasures idolatry witchcraft hatred quarreling jealousy fits of anger selfish ambition uprisings and divisions envy drunkenness wild parties and things like these I warn you as I warned you before that those who do such things will not inherit the kingdom of God did you hear my voice how nice everybody just take a moment to take a breath did you hear those things though and those who belong to Christ have crucified the flesh with its desires with its affections and desires these things Paul said will not make it into the kingdom of God so this is my burden this morning God controls everything He controls your heart and how it beats He controls when the last moment it will be He controls whether you look down and your car swerves into the other lane He controls whether you're going to die instantly or whether you're going to die and have some time whether or not you're going to find out you have cancer or some disease and you're going to die slowly He controls all of that are you sloppy about sin here's the burden this is the pinnacle of what my question is when you're in the middle of temptation when you're in the middle of falling into sin do you think about hell I almost titled the sermon that when you're in the moment of your temptation do you think about hell Jesus wants us to He wants it to be a motivation as far as I can see He wants it to be a motivation of our lives or do you think thoughts like this well I can always ask for forgiveness or He is full of mercy which He is it's such a balance He does forgive He's gracious and full of compassion and slow to anger and great in mercy He's good to all and His tender mercies are over all the earth but you know He can decide if that's the last time you're gonna get a repentance He can decide right in the middle of your sin to cut your heart off right then He can decide in the middle of maybe an outburst of anger and then your car goes off and your life is over He can decide those things and we far too often I think think we're in control of our life well I can always take time afterwards do you think that you are messing with fire when you sin do we think that am I off for saying this I mean is this not what Jesus said is this not what Jesus was warning us against Peter says this to be diligent that you be found in Him in peace without spot and blameless this is in 2nd Peter 3 be diligent that means each day your goal is to be found in Christ abiding in Him with peace you're not stressed out and full of anxiety and faithless and it goes on to say without spot and you're blameless and then he says oh and I remember the long suffering of the Lord that Paul takes about which many people twist to their own destruction question this morning are you twisting the long suffering of God the mercy of God to your own destruction or are you being diligent to be found in Him without spot in peace and blameless or and I would say this is where I was you don't even think about God's long suffering His mercy in your moment of temptation you're so consumed with the problem or you're so consumed with the sexual temptation or so consumed with the thing that's making you angry that you're not even thinking about God you're not even thinking about eternity you're just thinking about this issue whatever it is the scripture says we need to take every thought captive to the obedience of Christ so remember that what if God stopped your heart right in the middle of your sin what if God didn't grant you another time to repent He made a way to be forgiven of your past sins He made a way to receive a spirit so you can live a life of self-control godliness and righteousness I'll just read you a little bit out of Jonathan Edwards sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God he had quite the words it would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of almighty God one moment but you must suffer it to all eternity there will be no end to His exquisite horrible this exquisite horrible misery when you look forward you will see a long forever a boundless duration before you which will swallow up your thoughts and amaze your soul and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance any end any mitigation any rest at all you will know certainly that you must wear out long ages millions of millions of ages in wrestling with this almighty merciless vengeance and then when you have so done when so many ages have actually been spent by you in this manner you will know that all is but a dot to what remains so that your punishment will indeed be infinite oh who can express what the state of a soul in such circumstances is all that we can possibly say about it gives but a very feeble faintly representation of it it is inexpressible and inconceivable for who knows the power of God's anger and I'll leave you with this one verse of hope it says being now justified by His blood we shall be saved from wrath through Him there is hope there is hope in Jesus so we must abide in Him God bless you