“Hell” | Sunday AM | Pastor David K. Caruthers

We have been uh teaching on heaven, hell, eternity, and uh kind of giving some uh biblical background for some things that maybe uh you know a little about.

Maybe we've surprised you a little bit because you a scripture you haven't really looked at in a while or something, but I hope it's being helpful to you.

And today uh we are teaching about hell, what the Bible really says about hell, and uh so we're taking a little bit uh of a doctrinal look into hell and what it is.

I want to start by uh saying uh that kind of like the word heaven, hell, the word translate into hell into English uh refers to several things in the Bible.

So uh that's important to know when we're talking about heaven or hell, that it's important to know that sometimes the word is not what you think of when you when you hear it.

You have to look at the context, or if you're if you can look at the original word, sometimes that helps to be able to see what it is, because um sometimes the word hell is used in reference to the grave or to death or to the dying.

Um in Psalms 16 and 10 it says, For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thy holy one to seek corruption.

That hell is not talking about the lake of fire, it's talking about death or the grave.

And sometimes it's referring to that place of torment.

That place is referenced in Luke 16, 23, when the rich man lifted up his eyes, being in torment.

And then sometimes it's referring to the lake of fire.

And oftentimes when people say hell, they're really referring to the lake of fire.

Uh and uh so that's in Revelation 20, where it says Revelations 20 and 10, the devil that deceived him was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophets are and shall be tormented day and night forever.

And so uh it's going to continue, yes.

So uh to help us understand that scripturally, I want to just talk about um what the Bible says, and we will launch in the Old Testament first, and similar to heaven, um, the Old Testament doesn't give us a lot of details.

It does refer to hell and refers to hell both in the grave sense and it also refers in the hell in the sense of eternal torment and uh punishment, but it again doesn't sort of flesh it out in a little more detail that we can find when we look into the New Testament.

So the main uh the main word used over 65 times that's translated often, especially in the King James often as hell, is the word Sheol.

And uh it's really focused on sort of the human perspective.

Okay, it's focused on the human perspective of hell.

Oftentimes it'll use the term hell.

It's clearly talking about the grave or uh dying or death, and uh it's using human terms to talk about it, like it's distant, it's dark, it's shadowy, it's whatever.

It's not referring to godly terms there, it's talking about us as individuals, us as human beings, how how we experience that or see that.

And so in Psalm 6 and 5 it says, For in death there is no remembrance of thee in the grave, who shall give thee thanks?

In the King James those that word is not translated hell here, it's translated grave.

So sometimes it's translated hell, sometimes it's translated grave, but it's the same original word.

Psalms 88 and 3 says, For my soul is full of troubles, and my life draws unto the grave.

And it's also it also refers to our separation from other people.

And of course, that is a big part of our human experience when we experience death is the separation from our loved ones, of not being with them and the loneliness and sadness that comes from that.

And Job chapter 10, verse 21 and 22 says, Before I go from where I shall not return, even to the land of darkness and the shadow of death, a land of darkness as darkness itself, and the shadow of death without any order, and where the light is as darkness.

Job 10:21

Again, that darkness, that separation, that human sort of idea of dying of separation.

In uh Psalm 139, though, I want to uh reference a couple of things, maybe a little more uh pleasant than that, and uh that God knows where we are.

It's important for us to know that God knows where we are.

In our human existence, we're filled with uncertainty and the experience that we're uh, you know, as humans, feeling like what's that gonna be like?

All those things, loneliness, sadness, all those things that's connected with death, dying in the grave.

Um, it's important for us to know that God is with us.

Psalms 139, verse 8 says, I, if I ascend into heaven, you are there.

Psalms 139:8

If I make my bed in hell, behold, you are there.

And of course, this is not talking about hell like the place of torment.

This is talking about hell, the place of death.

And I think even greater than that, and I didn't keep a copy of your notes, but I think I'll hit all your notes.

But I think even greater than that is in Psalms 16 and 10, where it says, For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell, neither will thou suffer thy holy one to see corruption.

And what is that referring to?

Well, that's a prophetic verse about Jesus and his death.

And so it's not talking about hell like the place of torment, it's talking about the grave.

It's talking about being dead and placed in this grave.

And so it's a prophetic reference to the resurrection of Jesus that he will not be left in the grave.

So it when we when we look at the terminology in the Old Testament, sometimes it's referring to that death, that grave, that burial, that sort of human experience of dying.

Other times it's talking about the sort of uh the eternal punishment, the result of our sins and wickedness.

And it uses very similar terms in the Old and New Testament.

It often refuse refuses, excuse me, uses fire, torment.

It uses this terminology to refer to this.

And and uh so I wanna I want to say right up front that the fire is uh both it is both figurative and literal.

All right, it is torment, it is fire, uh, but I don't know if it's fire like you think of, you know, that you turned on your stove if you have a gas stove this morning.

It it's much different from that.

It's more uh sort of the raging torment of fire, if you may experience the fire completely out of control, and that sense of fire.

So uh we use fire for a lot of things, and so we kind of we think of it in that context sometimes.

And we think, you know, we burned our finger on the stove and we think of it in that context, and I guess in some ways you could, but really it's it's referring to a place where the fire is just burning up or consuming everything, except it's not consuming, it's torturing.

And so again, it's a little different from what we think of, and so in some ways it's figurative, in some ways it's literal.

It's figurative in that we're not sure exactly how all this works, but it is real too.

So I want to kind of clarify that.

I'll probably touch on that a little bit later.

And so when we look in the Old Testament, it uses these fire, destruction, darkness, judgment, and it points to this result of sin and wickedness.

In Isaiah 66, verse 24, I know nobody's gonna get really excited and run the aisles with this uh lesson this morning, but we did want to answer some questions.

Isaiah 66:24

I think it's important for us to know what the Bible teaches and at least have some understanding.

And so we're trying to answer your questions.

And by the way, I will cover some questions later that you ask, but most of the questions that people ask about hell, you we're covering those in the lesson, so I won't take time to redo those.

Isaiah 66, 24 says, and they shall go forth and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed after me, for their worms shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

Let's just say that sounds horrible.

It also says in Daniel chapter 12, verse 2, it says, And many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt.

Daniel 12:2

So some to life and some to some to torture, some to punishment.

So there's a resurrection of both, and we can see that as we look into the New Testament.

It's not a resurrection like a resurrection walking among you, but a resurrection to face judgment.

In Malachi chapter 4 and verse 1, for behold, the day comes that shall burn as an oven, and all the proud jay, and all that do wickedly shall be stubble, and the day that comes they shall be burned up, saith the Lord of hosts, that it shall leave them neither root nor branch.

Malachi 4 · chapter mention

And again, it's talking about wiping out these people with torture.

So the Old Testament uses this language, these references uh of the grave and of judgment, and you know, we we can see this language as it's talking about the result of sin in our lives and the punishment.

And I would like to say, as we normally do, we're glad we live in the New Testament day, but the New Testament doesn't soften this at all.

It doesn't soften it at all.

It it makes it even more stark uh and and and terrible as we read about hell in the New Testament.

So while uh we're grateful in the New Testament that God has given us a hope of salvation, especially uh uh those of us that are Gentiles, that we have the hope of salvation in Christ, but uh that we hadn't didn't have in the past, but what but but it's still it's still uh a terrible reference to this.

So the New Testament goes in a more detail regarding hell and judgment and uses this term death.

Sometimes it's the term gehenna, sometimes it's the term Hades, uh depending on, again, depending on what translation you look at.

And then it also refers to the lake of fire.

So let's look at the word Gehenna for a moment.

This is the word that Jesus probably used most in reference to hell, used at least 11 times in the scriptures.

And Gehenna is uh a reference to the Valley of Hennan, which was uh a place of idolatry, a place of uh refuse, like burning of uh their their refuse, their trash, you might say.

So so it the word comes from a specific place, but it's not talking about that specific place.

Again, that's the reason why I started out by saying the Bible used language of imagery, but the but what it's talking about is real.

Okay, so Jesus used this term that they were familiar with, but it doesn't mean he's return you know talking about a valley over there.

He's talking about what's happening in this place of torment.

And you say, well, why is that so important?

Well, the reason why that's important is some people have twisted and and turned the scriptures to say, well, it's only that, it's only talking about that place.

It's not talking about hell like we think of it, it's talking about that valley where they burned the trash.

But there's not really any any scriptural reference to that you can point to to say that.

It's talking about hell, it's just using that imagery to describe what hell is.

And so Jesus said in Matthew chapter 5, I'll just read this uh uh Matthew, a couple of verses here in Matthew chapter 5 in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, but I say to you that whosoever will be angry with this brother without cause shall be in danger of judgment.

Matthew 5 · chapter mention Matthew 5 · chapter mention

Whosoever shall say to his brother Racha shall be in danger of counsel.

But whosoever say shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hellfire.

That's a pretty stark scripture, let me tell you.

When you think about that.

Now, obviously it's not talking about just the word fool, but it's it's it's talking about the way we treat someone else.

Uh that's a strong scripture.

That's a strong scripture.

In verse number 29, again, uh using this comparison that Jesus is speaking in the Sermon on the Mount, he said, if your right eye offends you, pluck it out, cast it from you, for it's profitable for you that one of your members should perish, and not your whole body should be cast into hell.

And if your right hand offend you, cut it off, cast it from you, for it's more profitable for you if your members should perish, then one member should perish, and the whole body should be cast into hell.

Now, please, it's not telling you to cut off your hands and eye and pluck out your eye.

It's saying that it's it's better to lose something here and have eternity taken care of than to gain something here and lose eternity.

In Mark chapter 9, verse 43 and 48, it kind of uses those same terminology as it did in Isaiah.

Mark 9:43

It's the same setting, hand foot, the same idea, uh, but it's expanded upon a little bit because Mark records Jesus saying, where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched.

Again, referencing that Old Testament language in Isaiah.

So again, when we're talking about, we're trying to learn about what hell is, the imagery is terrifying.

The language is terrifying of the imagery, but it's reality.

It's not just an image, it's not just something dangling over us to talk about something bad to scare us, it's talking about something bad to warn us so that we can be saved from that judgment.

And then the Bible in the New Testament uses the word Hades, and that word Hades is equivalent to the term Sheol in the Old Testament, and it's um it's sort of that place of torment.

We read about it in the most descriptive way with the rich man in Luke chapter 16, verses 19 through 31, where Jesus said, There's a certain rich man which was clothed with purple and fine linen, fared sumptuously every day, and there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, who was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.

Luke 16:19–31

Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores.

I don't really know why we needed that last phrase.

But uh there's something important there, and uh it and if nothing else, he can tell you how how terrible Lazarus' situation was.

And it came to pass that the beggar, Lazarus, died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom, and the rich man also died and was buried, and he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

He cried, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented with this flame.

So again, referring to this uh term Hades, this place of torment, this place where uh this man has gone.

So I want to pause here and say, um again, some people want to say this is a parable.

And how do you know it's not a parable?

Well, one of the most obvious reasons you know it's not a parable is it's calling people by name.

It's calling Lazarus by name.

It's an individual that Jesus is pointing to.

So while that might not have been happening at the moment, it's a real story of real people.

And so it's important for us not to sort of, again, because it's terrifying to read about the torment of hell and the separation and all that's going on here.

It's terrifying.

We we can't sort of make it something the scripture is not to make it not as difficult for us to uh to accept.

And so this man's cry was asking for Lazarus to be sent to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool his tongue, for I am tormented in this flame, he said.

Abraham said, Son, remember, in your lifetime you received good things, and Lazarus received evil things.

You received comfort now in the you this, excuse me.

You received comfort in your life, and now you're receiving torment.

Lazarus had discomfort in his life, and now he's receiving the blessings of God.

And again, being poor doesn't make you holy.

Right?

So it's not wearing a badge of poor, I must be holy if I'm poor.

That's that's not it at all.

It's the individuals that Jesus is referring to.

Being rich doesn't make you a sinner any more than being alive makes you a sinner.

Now, obviously, you know, in this situation, there's some uh other things we don't know.

So, but Jesus is telling this story, and so Lazarus is not able to come and to give him any relief.

And so the next thing this rich man asked for is that someone would go talk to his family, send Lazarus back to go talk to my family, so they don't come here.

And he is told that if they won't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe even if somebody came back from the dead.

So he is told there's enough there already for them to see and to do what they should do.

Someone doesn't have to come back from the dead to tell them.

But that again gives us some glimpse of that there's a separation that can't be crossed, that at least in this case, there was some kind of understanding from the uh wicked man of what Lazarus was receiving.

There was torment going on, there was conversation going on.

We don't really know what all that looks like, but we do get a few glimpses of what this looks like in the biblical description that Jesus is speaking about Lazarus and the beggar and this rich man who had both died.

Now I want to kind of jump in here.

I'm trying to give you like the information in the scriptures without going too far into applying it and doing, uh, you know, talking about where it goes and whatever other people think.

I'm just trying to give you scriptures this morning so you can kind of get an idea of this.

But I want to, I wanna, so I'm gonna kind of mix up the next two points because Revelations 20, verse 13 and 14 describes this idea of Hades, this place of being of torment, being cast into now the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:13

Okay, so Revelations 20, verse 13, 14 says, the sea gave up his dead which were in it, the death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them.

Revelation 20:13

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.

So I'm emphasizing that in the sense of Hades, and now we're gonna talk about the lake of fire.

This is the final sort of what we use what we Often call hell is really the lake of fire.

It's the final punishment.

And in that final punishment, Revelation 20:10 says, the devil lets us know that the devil that deceived the people was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and false prophet are, and they were tormented day and night forever and ever.

Revelation 20:10

Okay, so that's the final end.

It's called the second death.

It's the final destiny of the wicked.

Verse 14 and 15 again says, death and hell were cast into the lake of fire.

This is the second death.

Verse 15, and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

So this is the final judgment.

This is the final chapter of forever judgment.

We don't see anything changing after this with the lake of fire.

It's just the place of eternal torment.

Revelations 21 and 8 says, But the fearful and unbelieving and abominables and murderers and whoremongers and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

So not only that, it's an eternal, not only is it the place of torment, but it's an eternal separation from God.

From God's presence, that one is excluded from the presence of God.

2 Thessalonians chapter 1, verse 8 and 9 says, 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.

2 Thessalonians 1:8

Matthew 25, verse 41 says, Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, you are cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Matthew 25:41

So the place is prepared for the devil and his angels, but the wicked will go to join them.

I'm saying all those scriptures because I want you to understand as we read them and hear the words from the Word of God that it is, in this case, I want you to see that it is everlasting.

It is forever.

That's why is that important, Pastor?

Because some, I hear it, some modern theologians say, well, hell's gonna last for this period of time, and then God's gonna save all the people that are in hell.

Now, they don't necessarily use those words, but that's what they describe.

That somehow hell is gonna last for this period of time, and then everybody that's hell is gonna be saved.

And that's because we have a hard time understanding a merciful, loving God that would allow people to be punished forever.

But the scripture clearly says what it says, and we have to come to terms with the scripture.

I don't have to understand it all.

Thank God.

I don't have to know it all.

You want to ask some questions that I don't have the answers to?

Ask some questions about hell or heaven.

I don't have all the answers to that.

The Bible doesn't even give the answers to a lot of that, right?

So, what do we do as Christians and as people who believe the Word of God?

We just take what the Word of God says, even if we don't really understand what God is doing.

We just take the Word of God as it says it.

So that's important for us to do that, understand that, because again, I'm gonna say it again.

I'm stressing this whole lesson.

The Bible uses literal language and it uses symbolic language to describe hell.

But it never minimizes hell.

It never makes it someplace that's not really there.

It's not just some torment.

And in the same way that some modern, and it's not just modern, it's been going on for a long time, but uh it sort of gets traction here and there occasionally, in the same way that some people believe and have taught under the heading of Christians that heaven, that the earth's just gonna keep getting better until this is heaven, there are those who teach the same or similar about hell, that it's a place of torment for a short period of time and then everybody's gonna be okay.

But that's not what the Bible says.

For whatever reason, that's what they want to believe or they want to accept or their human uh understanding or whatever.

But let's just leave it in the Bible, okay?

It's God's doings, it's not mine.

Praise God.

I've never sent anybody to hell, never will send anybody to hell.

But I will go if I don't obey the gospel.

And so it's important for us to understand that and know.

And so the Bible uses this like fire, darkness, worms, outer darkness, you know, torment, all these terminologies and ideas, and and and we kind of in our minds, in our humanity, we sort of in our own imagination, we come up with some kind of concept of what that looks like, or what that is, or what our imagination is about that.

Our imagination may not be exactly what it is, and the main thing we all have to understand is we're held accountable for our sin.

And the soul that sinneth it shall surely die.

And that's not talking about just that they're gonna pass away.

That means there's an eternal torment from that.

So I want to just kind of hit some, I don't even want to say highlights.

I hate to even say highlights when I'm talking about hell.

I want to hit some summary or something, you know, of what the scripture says and just kind of mention uh some biblical pictures of hell, that it's a place of conscious torment.

Luke 16, 23 and 24.

Did I leave those scriptures?

Okay, no.

I just I don't know if I have all those scriptures, but I'm gonna just give them to you.

I can give them to you in more detail later if you would like them.

So there's a it's a place of conscious torment, conscious torments.

Luke 16, 23 and 24, Revelations 14, 10 and 11.

It lasts forever, it's eternal in its duration.

Matthew 25, 46 and Revelations 20, 10.

It's separation from God forever.

Matthew 25, 41, Jesus said, depart from me.

And that wasn't just for a few moments, like I'm tired of my children under my feet.

Depart from me, he said.

2 Thessalonians 1 and 9, that it's outside of uh, you know, that we don't have the experience of the presence of God.

And that it's irreversible.

That it's final.

Hebrews 9, 27, Luke 16, 26.

I'm not comfortable teaching about hell.

But we need to know.

We need to know.

God's justice, God's holiness demands a response to sin.

And that He gives us a choice, He gives us a human will, that demands for there to be consequences from our choices.

And so when we look at it that way, just kind of in that conceptual way, we can see that this punishment, this hell, upholds God's moral order.

And I'll just say Romans 1.18 and Romans 6.23.

And you know Romans 6.23, the wages of sin is death, and the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

I never want to do the first part of that verse without the second part.

And that each one of us have a choice, and from those choices comes consequences.

Now, I don't think you should uh you know be dangling hell over the head of your kids to get them to obey, but I do think we need to speak to our children and train our children that there are consequences of our choices.

And ultimately they will need to learn that there's consequences of their choices with God too.

And that's important for them to know, and it's important for us to know John chapter 3, verse 19, Jesus said, the people of darkness more than light, and so they chose darkness.

John 3:19

Matthew 23, 37 speaks about us not being willing to serve God or to give our hearts to God.

Romans chapter 1, verse 24 through 28 says that God gave them up to their affections or their desires.

Romans 1:24–28

God allowed their chosen path, their direction, to bring the consequences that brings.

But thank God there's hope.

Amen.

I don't ever want to talk about hell without talking about the hope that Jesus gives us.

And in fact, the whole idea here is that disobedience from Adam and Eve brought sin into the world and demanded that soul that sinneth it shall surely die, word to be completed.

And so the only hope that we have is that God gives us hope.

The only hope that we have is through what Jesus did for us.

The only hope that we have, and something about that should be encouraging, even in the midst of understanding about what the Bible teaches about hell.

We say it often, 2 Peter chapter 3 and verse number 9.

2 Peter 3 · chapter mention

God is not willing that any perish, but that all come to repentance.

That's God's plan, that's God's desire for you, and that's our desire for you, and our desire for each other, that we all come to repentance, that we all come to the place where God wants to.

We don't joke about people going to hell.

It's not funny.

We don't applaud people going to hell, we don't use terminology or words that applaud that.

We don't damn people to hell.

We don't do that.

We're Christians.

We want to be saved.

There's no glory in it, there's no satisfaction in it.

If we understand what it is, we should all be moved to reach everyone we can around us so that they can be saved from hell.

And that's what it should really do.

It should really turn our hearts to a focus on serving God, living for God, and helping others to be saved.

And so I want to just say that kind of in conclusion of talking about hell.

I want to get that out there to you.

Because I don't want you to leave here saying, whoo, that was hard and heavy.

And yes, you will leave with some of that, but God gives us hope.

We don't have to, we don't have to go to hell.

Let me answer some questions that was asked, a few questions here.

Let me see, I've got a few questions that people asked that I didn't really cover so much, or at least directly.

There were questions about could people be saved afterwards?

Is there purgatory?

Or whatever it is.

That's not taught in the scripture at all.

The Bible does teach an immediate judgment after death.

It is appointed unto man once to die, and after that the judgment.

You know, because it's hot.

There's nothing biblical about that.

Okay, let me just say it that way.

There's nothing biblical about it.

Nothing biblical about saying that.

Heaven is, yes, use the terms as up, uh, and hell uses the term sometimes as down, but of course, that's mostly, I think, because we think of it that way, that heaven is up, the sky, going to heaven, getting away from the earth.

Hell is like, you know, getting thrown in the dirt in the ground.

So we kind of use that terminology, but it's not up and down in direction like that, like we think of.

It's not like located in that way.

The Bible doesn't really give us sort of the location that we think of because we're thinking, you know, space in the idea that we think of time and space and our limitations, and this is God's doing, and it's above our time and space.

So it fits into God's plan, but it may not fit into our understanding.

There are no GPS coordinates.

Although if you ask your AI, it could send you somewhere.

I'm gonna skip that one.

You know, when they went to hell or when they rebelled from God.

There's nothing in the Bible that talks about how they changed.

It does say in 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 4, for if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved unto judgment.

2 Peter 2:4

So there is a judgment to them.

In Jude verse 6, it says, And the angels kept not their estate, but left their own habitation.

He has reserved into everlasting chains and unto under darkness, unto the judgment of the great day.

That's all I can tell you.

I'm certainly not going to get up here in front of you and start describing all kinds of things that the Bible doesn't say.

I'm just gonna tell you those things, okay?

And I know I've heard it.

It's very intriguing to hear people say things, you know, where they've somehow extrapolated something the Bible said into something, you know, currently happening in the world.

And uh it sounds really good like it could be that, but too many times I've missed that.

So it's like prophecy, you know.

It's like, oh, here's what the Bible says, and here's what's happening over here, so this must be what God's talking about in this prophecy, and a few years later, it's eh, that's really wasn't it.

All right, so I don't want to get into that today.

What happens during the final judgment?

The great white throne judgment is referred to in Revelation chapter number 20.

It talks about heaven and earth fleeing, it talks about all the dead standing before God.

The books are open, including the book of life, and that judgment was based on their lives and what they did.

Death and hell were uh, death and Hades hell were then, excuse me, deposited into the lake of the fire, lake of fire after that judgment.

Anyone in the book of life was saved, anyone not was cast in the lake of fire.

It's best we can tell by the scriptures from every indication for those of us in the church age that are filled with the Holy Ghost, that were saved, that are baptized, covered with the name of Jesus.

Um best we can tell we don't go through that white throne judgment, that our judgment takes place upon our death.

And then we avoid the white throne judgment because that's already been satisfied.

So, but there were people before the church, and if you read your Bible, there's gonna be people after church has taken out.

So they they will still face that judgment as best we can tell.

Again, it seems clear, but that there are uh there aren't a whole lot of detailed explanations to know how all that unfolds.

Let's see, I've already mentioned the eternal things, so I'm not gonna take any more time on those.

Well, I'm the pastor, so I got to teach the lesson on hell.

The only way I'm gonna teach a lesson on hell is I taught the lesson last week on heaven.

But we need to know.

I'll say it again, we need to know.

We need to know what the word of God says.

And I will say to you as a church family, you may have other opinions or other ideas, or you may have heard other things you like better, or whatever.

I tried to just stay in the word of God, try to stay with what the Bible says directly as possible.

Um, there's lots of things that we don't understand, but we do know we have a God who made a way of escape, the hope of salvation.

And he's not willing that any perish.

That's not his purpose, his plan, his will for you or for your life, but he does grant us hope.

Would you stand together?