Sermon
Living Waters of Grace for May 26th, 2026
Publisher transcript
Transcript
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This is Living Waters of Grace, the teaching ministry of Clark
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Waffer, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Westmoreland, County
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of Greensburg, PA. Now here's Pastor Clark as he
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continues teaching through God's Word.
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At this great White Throne judgment, there's going to be
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famous people there, there's going to be rock stars there,
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there's going to be people that did great things on the earth
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and the world thought they were wonderful, but these people were
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heathen. They never bowed their knee to
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Jesus Christ. They never repented of their
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sin. They never allowed the Holy
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Spirit to save them because they rebelled against the Lord.
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The small and the great will be standing there and the books
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will be open. The Word of God is what judges
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us. When I preach on Sundays, I'm
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not judging you and you're not judging me.
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There is no exception to who you are on the Day of Judgement.
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Every person, no matter what kind of life they lived on
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earth, will have to stand face to face with their Maker an
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answer for their sins. It doesn't matter what kind of
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glory you lived in on this earth and how wonderful the world
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thought you were if you didn't glory in the Lord before
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yourself. Today Pastor Clark teaches us
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that the judgment behold of each other means nothing in heaven.
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It's the word that holds judgment against us.
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Now here's Pastor Clark in Revelation chapter 20 with
Revelation 20 chapter mention
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today's edition of Living Waters of Grace, Revelation chapter 20,
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verse 7. Now when the 1000 years had
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expired, Satan will be released from his prison.
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He will go out to deceive the nations which are in the four
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corners of the earth, Gog and Magog to gather them together to
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battle, whose number is as the sand of the sea.
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They went up on the breadth of the earth and surrounded the
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camp of the Saints in the beloved city.
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And fire came down from God out of heaven and devoured them.
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The devil who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and
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brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and they
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will be tormented night, day and night, forever and ever.
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Now we see in verse 7 that the thousand year reign, we know
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that Satan had been locked up. We studied that the last couple
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of weeks and Christ had dominion.
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Christ has dominion. Even now we don't grasp that any
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way the devil can do anything is through the permissive will of
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God. So the Lord is ruling and
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reigning. There's never been a second in
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human history or the history of the universe that Christ has not
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been ruling and reigning supreme.
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But we are in a world right now where the devil is loosed and
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he's causing a lot of problems for people and blinding people
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to their need of a savior. He's causing problems for us too
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as Christians, causing us to be lukewarm and indifferent and
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apathetic and lazy about following of the Lord many times
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causes us to be distracted and focused on things that aren't
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going to last. That's part of the battle that
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we go through as Christians and the warfare.
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But when these thousand years have expired, there's going to
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be one more shot that Satan will have after he's been locked up
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in the abyss. He's going to be let out of this
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prison. And you might say, well, why
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does this happen? Why would God do this?
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We have to realize that there's a lot of people being born
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during the Millennium, people who are born just like we are
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born in sin. Many of them will grow up coming
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to faith in in Messiah, but there will be some that will
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refuse to believe on Christ during that millennial Kingdom.
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There'll be this outward form of respect that's like the law.
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OK, I don't want to break the law and get in any trouble.
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But down deep inside these people will be haters of God.
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And so those who are alive at the end of that thousand year
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reign their whole interest and they'll they'll merge together
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with the devil at that time as one last shot to overthrow the
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Kingdom. They won't win.
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Impossible. But this will happen.
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And this is what this is discussing here.
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They'll go out to deceive the nations which are in the four
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corners of the earth. Gog and Magog and and this
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battle is a little bit different than what you read about in
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Ezekiel 37 and 38. That battle was tied in more to
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toward the end of the tribulation.
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We call it Armageddon. But this battle of Gog and Magog
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here is going to be a war that's over as soon as it starts.
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The Lord is going to pour out his vengeance and his anger upon
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these people who are coming against the beloved city of
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Jerusalem at this time to destroy the camp of the Saints
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and fire, it says in verse 9, will come down from God out of
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heaven and devour them. So it's not really even a war
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that's going to be over like that.
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And the devil, which is exciting here now, will finally the one
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who's deceived people since the beginning of time will be cast
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into the lake of fire and brimstone where you might want
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to underline this, the beast and the false prophet are there's no
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annihilation in hell. People that go to hell are
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tormented day and night, forever and ever.
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And it tells you that at the end of verse 10, they will be
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tormented day and night, forever and ever.
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Some people think when you die, that's it.
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Some people laugh. Well, I know I'm a Sinner and no
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big deal because when I die, I'm going to be with my friends.
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We're going to party down there and these crazy ideas of what
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the afterlife is like. But there will be no parting.
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There'll be no sense of togetherness.
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You'll be alone by yourself and your own thoughts and your own
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horror, being tormented day and night forever and ever.
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And some people will say, well, God is a God of life.
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Why would he create such a place called hell?
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Why would there have to be such a place for people to go to?
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Well, we have to keep in mind it says in Matthew 2541 that the
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devil, hell was created and prepared for the devil and his
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angels. God never intended one of His
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creatures like us to have to go to hell.
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It tells us in Peter He's not willing that any should perish,
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but that all should come to repentance.
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But in his justice he has to be faithful and true to His
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Holiness. There will be no sin in the
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Kingdom of heaven now. We're all sinners here today.
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Even though many of us have been born again and we know Jesus
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Christ, we still sin. We don't want to sin anymore,
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but we still are in this world, in this physical body, and we do
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stupid things. Now, as we grow in the Lord,
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we're doing less stupid things, I would trust.
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We're becoming more like Christ day in and day out, and we're
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becoming more conformed to the image of His Son living as
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Christ lived on the earth nonetheless.
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So there is this problem that the human race has, and those
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who don't know Jesus Christ are going to be cast into this lake
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of fire forever and ever. Now there's two judgments.
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There's a judgment seat of Christ if you turn to 2nd
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Corinthians 510, and there's a great white throne judgment.
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And I want to make a distinction in that this morning, because
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there's sometimes some confusion about these various judgments.
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The Christian, the believer, won't be at the great white
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throne. Judgment.
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This is a judgment for unbelievers.
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The judgment that you and I have to face when we leave this life.
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It's appointed on demand once to die.
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And after this, the judgment. Our judgment is Second
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Corinthians chapter 5, verse 10. For it says, for we must all
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appear before the judgment seat of Christ, that each one may
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receive the things done in the body according to what he has
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done, whether good or bad. And then the next verse it says,
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knowing therefore the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, but
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we are well known to God. And I also trust our well known
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to your consciences. Now when I have to stand before
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the Lord and give an account of my life, I'm going to be
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fearful. I'm not going to be proud or
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thinking I got it all together and, and no big deal, even
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though I know that Christ has saved me.
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It's going to be a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the
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living God because all the sudden everything will be
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revealed to me very clearly of what my motives have been on
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earth, why I did the ministry, why I did whatever I did.
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God will test everything as with fire to see if these things were
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done for the glory of Christ or for the elevation of our own
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self will our own self esteem, whatever it might be.
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We can fool one another, but we can't fool the Lord and the Lord
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will test these things. The Bible says that some will be
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saved as though by fire. If you turn over to 1st
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Corinthians chapter 3, it gives a little bit more light on this
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particular judgment. First Corinthians chapter 3,
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verse 5, it talks about this aspect of watering, working,
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serving the Lord, warning people, and as Christians, our
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job, all of us is what I'm doing is I'm sowing seed, right?
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It's my job to sow the seed of the Word of God.
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The Holy Spirit puts it in your hearts.
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Some of us will come along after this message today, and they'll
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water the message. They'll say, hey, you know, we
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studied about hell and we studied about lost people and
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people who need a savior. And what do you think about
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that? And we'll challenge each other.
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We need to be praying more. We need to be more interested in
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sharing our faith. We're watering what God has
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already planted. And then some of us will begin
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to warn people about their eternal destiny.
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And Paul is saying about these different people that serve God
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and different callings. He says in verse five, who then
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is Paul and who is Apollos? But ministers through whom
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you've believed as the Lord gave to each one.
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I planted Paul saying Apollos watered, but God gives the
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increase. None of us can save anybody, but
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we sure can do an awful lot of other things.
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And today we're planning the word of God.
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We're sowing seed and hopefully all of us will water this seed
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that's been planted today, but only God can give the increase.
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God's anyone that can bring life out of death.
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And it says in verse 7, so then neither he who plants is
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anything nor he who waters, but God who gives the increase.
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So it's a marvelous thing to realize that I'm nothing today
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and you're nothing not in a sense of being not important to
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God. He loves us and values us and
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and is watching us to do the things that he commands us to
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do, but we can't make anything happen.
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It takes the pressure off of us. I don't have to try to whip you
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guys up into some kind of state of emotional frenzy to try to
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get you excited about the like, I can't do that.
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I could do that and you might say.
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Well, you know, that was good. I'm, I'm all charged up.
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I'm going to go do this for God, you know and all.
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That but then you go out and about 5 minutes down the road if
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this goes down because the flesh can't profit anything, only the
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Spirit gives life and so again it's God.
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To God be the glory for great things he has done.
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It says that he who plants and he who waters are one.
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We're one and the same thing. God isn't saying, because I'm
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pastoring today and I'm planning the word, that I'm any more
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important than the one who's going to water.
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Each one will receive his own reward according to his own
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labor. For we are God's fellow workers,
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and you are God's field. You are God's building.
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So we're all in this together, serving the Lord together
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according to the grace of God which was given to me as a wise
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master Builder Laid the foundation, another builds on
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it. But let each one take heed how
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he builds on it. For no other foundation can
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anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.
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And in this church, the only foundation is Jesus Christ.
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We're all building upon him. We're not building upon my
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ministry or the guy that will take over someday when I'm no
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longer here. It's Jesus Christ, we're laying
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upon him and him alone. It says that if anyone builds on
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this foundation with gold, silver and precious stone or
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wood, hay and straw, each one's work will become clear for the
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day, will declare it because it will be revealed by fire and the
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fire will test each one's work of what sort it is.
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So in my own mind, at times I've had this analogy of like a
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conveyor belt and I'm sitting on this belt and I see this big
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oven ahead of me. Now it's not going to destroy my
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soul because I'm saved, right? But everything's going to be
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like an MRI. God's going to be able to see
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every little nuance of my thought life, my heart.
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I mean, it's all clear. And I'm like trembling because
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I'm thinking, what does he know that I don't know at this point
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in time? And he knows everything that I
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don't know, right? He knows the end from the
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beginning. And so I'm going in through this
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samurai, the spiritual MRI of gods.
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And my prayer is that when I go through that, oh Lord, I pray
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there's some value to the short life I've lived on this earth,
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that somehow I know I wasted a lot of years.
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I've done a lot of dumb things. But I pray I finish well so that
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when I come out, there isn't this big puff of smoke and
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there's nothing. He looks at me and I look at him
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and it's just like, and the Bible says there'll be tears.
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And I believe the tears are going to come for those of us
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who suffer great loss because it's going to dawn on us.
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We had this time on earth to serve him.
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We wasted our life. We squandered it, we blew it.
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And there's nothing to give to him for all eternity.
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And then by the grace of God, if I come out of the other end and
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all of a sudden I see these jewels, gold, silver, precious
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stone laying around my body there, it isn't to bring any
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glory to me. It's the Lord is saying, Clark,
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I was able to use your life to give me glory.
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And all these things that you see are representative of things
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that are going to last throughout all eternity.
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And the beautiful thing is I don't wear these things and I
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don't put them on. And and someone says, well, he
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counted for eternity, but he did none of that.
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We'll take those things and we'll lay them at the Lord's
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feet. What a blessing that will be
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that we come out of that spiritual MRI and we have some
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sense of substance for the the life we live.
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It says if anyone's work in verse 14, which he had built on
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it indoors, he will receive a reward.
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If anyone's work is burned, he will suffer loss, but he himself
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will be saved yet so as through fire.
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I pray there's none of us here that are thinking, well, the
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least I'm going to be saved. That's good enough.
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No, you don't want to. You don't want to live with that
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kind of focus. You want to live so that there's
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this fruit coming out of your life.
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And so we go back to Revelation and we look at this great white
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throne judgment, which is extremely sobering.
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We see that in verse 11. I see this great white throne
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and him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the
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heaven fled away and there was found no place for them at the
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end of time. The elements are going to burn
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this present world, the heavens and the earth, it won't exist
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anymore. So there's no place to run and
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hide at that time. We can't hide behind a mountain
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or a tree or everybody's in the open here at this great white
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throne judgment preparing for this final judgment.
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Next week we'll look at the beauty of the new heaven and the
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new earth that Christ will establish.
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And because it says the first earth has passed away in
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Revelation 21 verse one, but the small and the great, it says in
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verse 12 are standing before God and the books are open.
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Now today we got all these great athletes we're going to watch.
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Some of them are born again. Some of them know Christ.
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Some of them are going to play for the glory of God and some of
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them are going to play for the glory themselves.
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The saddest thing to read about is men who played in the Super
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Bowl years ago. They have a ring that are
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selling their ring on the streets to pay bills or to get
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drugs. It's tragic that you can have
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all that glory and all that fame and all that success and no one
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remembers you anymore. It's it's a tragic thing.
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And at this great white throne judgement, there's going to be
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famous people there. There's going to be rock stars
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there. There's going to be people that
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did great things on the earth and the world thought they were
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wonderful, but these people were heathen.
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They never bowed their knee to Jesus Christ.
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They never repented of their sin.
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They never allow the Holy Spirit to save them because they
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rebelled against the Lord. The small and the great will be
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standing there and the books will be open.
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The Word of God is what judges us.
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When I preach on Sundays, I'm not judging you and you're not
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judging me. The Word is what judges us all
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and sets us all in line with what we need to consider and
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repent of and be established. And these books are open, it
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says. And another book was open, which
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is the Book of life. And the dead were judged
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according to their works by the things which were written in the
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books as unbelievers. It doesn't take a whole lot of
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time for God to reveal to you or me, if we're still lost, that
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we're guilty before God. We know it in our hearts.
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The Holy Spirit convicts us. We can blow it off and say,
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well, I can get saved later. I don't want to get saved now.
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I don't think I need. We can have all kind of mental
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gymnastics in our minds for putting off the inevitable, but
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one day the inevitable will occur.
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And this is when there's no place of any appeal.
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There's one judge, and he's Jesus Christ.
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There is no jury. There's no defense attorney at
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this judgement. There's any prosecution and
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there's a verdict. You're guilty.
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And whosoever is found not written in this book will be
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cast into the lake of fire. That's the verdict.
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And there is no appeal. You can't say, oh, wait a
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minute, this isn't fair, I don't like this.
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There's no ability to say anything.
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Every mouth will be stopped and every tongue and every knee will
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bow, and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is
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Lord to the glory of God the Father.
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What a horrible thing to understand that in its fullest
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sense at that point in time, and then only know that you have all
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eternity to suffer and be in torment and hell.
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Paul says today is a day of salvation.
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If you hear his voice today, repent today.
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You might be here without a Savior, without Christ, and
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you're hearing the Holy Spirit say something to you that you
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need to be saved today. You can't leave this place
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unless you let Jesus Christ save you it.
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It's very, very clear for your heart knows it.
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And Paul says don't put off tomorrow what you know you need
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to do today. Repent and ask Christ to be your
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Lord and be your Savior today. If you hear his voice, it says
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in Hebrews 47, Harden not your hearts.
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Wherefore in Hebrews chapter 3 verse 7, as the Holy Ghost saith
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today, if you will hear his voice.
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Second, Peter 39 says Christ is not willing that any should
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perish, but that all shall come to repentance.
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So let's look at some verses regarding hell today.
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So we're all on the same page. Hell is not a fashionable
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subject to preach on. Many evangelical churches are
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trying to downplay the reality of hell because they don't want
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people not to come to church. Hell makes people uncomfortable,
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it makes unbelievers fearful, and it makes believers convicted
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because we know maybe we're not sharing the gospel.
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And so pastors seem to think, well, it's better that we don't
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really talk about this subject a whole lot.
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Let's talk about some things that are more positive, you
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know, but the, the Bible is full of warnings.
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And this morning we are in this text and we have to be faithful
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to see what it is that the Lord wants us to all understand.
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So that when we leave here today, there's not one of us
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that are going to leave here not knowing that hell is literally a
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real place. And we're going to read the
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descriptions of what the Bible says regarding this place.
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Hell. The first place I want you to go
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to is Mark Chapter 9, verse 44. Look at the context.
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He's talking about Jesus warning of offenses.
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Whoever causes in verse 42, one of these little ones who believe
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in me to stumble, be better for him if a millstone were hung
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around his neck and he were thrown into the sea.
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If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off.
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It is better for you to enter into life maimed rather than
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having two hands to go to hell into the fire that shall never
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be quenched. Where in verse 44 their worm
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does not die and the fire is not quenched.
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It's an everlasting fire continually, forever and ever
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and ever. I mean, I don't know about you,
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but when it's really, really hot, I don't like being in real
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hot temperature for a long period of time.
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I want to find air conditioning. I get in the car, I want to put
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the air on. I don't like sitting in the seat
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when your back sticking to the seat and the sweat's rolling
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down your brow. You know you're cutting the
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grass and it's a real hot day and all you can think is I just
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need a glass of water to quench my thirst.
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In hell, there will be no water to quench your thirst.
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It'll be constant torment forever and ever and ever.
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I go to the Y and work out a couple times a week.
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I go into the steam room and all the guys are sitting around in
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there and we just sort of talked and I can't take it very long.
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I mean, some of those guys, it just seemed like they can stay
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in there forever. And after maybe 5 minutes, I
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can't wait to get out of that place.
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I couldn't imagine to be in hell, which is going to be a
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million times worse than the hottest steam bath that you
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could ever be in, that you don't get any relief.
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That is ongoing onward forever and ever.
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Now I have relatives that still don't know Jesus Christ.
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We eat with them, we have holidays with them, we love
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them, and they still will not come to Christ.
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I need to be able to see them in that hell now so that somehow no
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matter what happens, I need to keep telling them they need
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Jesus not to ignore the subject because it makes them
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uncomfortable. Or maybe we've covered it before
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many, many times and they didn't repent.
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So you just figure I'm just going to give up.
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There's no sense talking to him. I don't see Jesus or the
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apostles ever stopping warning people about their need of a
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Savior. They never grew weary.
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They never got tired of telling people they need to repent for
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the Kingdom of heaven is at hand.
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The next section is Luke chapter 16, verse 23.
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This is the story of the rich man, the Lazarus.
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I'll start in 19. There was a certain rich man who
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was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously
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every day. And there was a certain beggar
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named Lazarus, full of swords, who was laid at his gate,
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desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich
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man's table. Moreover, the dogs came and
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licked the swords. So it was that the beggar died
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and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom.
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The rich man also died and was buried, and being in torment in
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Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and
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Lazarus in his bosom. Now before the gospel and before
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the resurrection, there's this holding place where the Old
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Testament believers were. It was called the bosom of
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Abraham. And the other side was the
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compartment, if you may, of a prison called Haiti.
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So all the unbelievers were in there, and they're still there
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waiting for the final judgment. And so this rich man is able to
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see this beggar, and he is in torment, it says in verse 23.
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And in being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and
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saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.
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And he cried, and he said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me
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and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in the
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water and cool my tongue, for I'm tormented in this flame.
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Think about the day that you had the greatest thirst, that you
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were begging for water. I had my appendix out when I was
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in 9th grade. They couldn't give me water
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because I had perinitis all through my body and they had
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tubes running in. They almost died and I remember
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making promises to God. I hear the bells at Seton Hill.
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I didn't even know who God was at the time, but I heard the
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bells in the conviction. I said, God, if you get me
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through this, I'll follow you. All the days of my life I lie.
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When I got out of that hospital, I went back to my sinful ways.
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Thanks for being with us today here on Living Waters of Grace.
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We are in the Book of Revelation, and we find it
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fascinating how influential and involved the angels are in this
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book. They bring about whatever it is
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that God has instructed them to do, but it's through their
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actions that much of the judgements come on the earth.
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The angels are in submission to God as their authority, but He
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utilizes them in unique ways throughout this book.
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Like angels have a specific purpose from God, you have a
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unique purpose and plan too. God wants to use you in your
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life as a testimony to others and to bring others who are
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currently lost into the fold of God.
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God would love more than anything for all who are willing
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to come to Him for salvation, but he wants it to be their
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choice, not a forced situation. This is the way God works, not
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forcing himself on anyone, but giving each person free will.
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If you're interested in learning about this choice that's free
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and that it's a gift, go to calvarychapelonline.com and
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click on the About Us tab and then find the link for what we
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believe. We'd love to be a help and a
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resource for you as you walk through what it means to be a
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follower of Jesus. If you find the contact tab on
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our website, you can get in touch with us or submit a prayer
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request. We'd love to hear from you.
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That's all for today's edition in Revelation, but there's much
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more that Pastor Clark plans to share with us from this
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culminating book of the Bible. Stay tuned for that and make
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sure to mention this radio program to others.
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Invite them to tune into Grace FM 91.7 FM and they can stream
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worldwide at Grace Radio dot FM. This has been living waters of
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grace.