When Hell Comes to Earth

Welcome to this week's message from the Church at Chelsea Westover.

Our core values are vibrant worship, intimate fellowship, fulfilling service, and clear biblical truth.

We pray that this message changes your life.

Let's tune in to today's message and see what God has in store for you.

Revelations chapter 9.

Revelation 9 · chapter mention

You know what?

I am missing my book.

I wonder if it's in the car.

My outline.

The little black book.

Go check real quick.

Hey, I'm ready.

I can preach without if I need to.

But but uh don't laugh at me like that.

Hey, what's this?

You're laughing.

Can you and Mary do uh a cappella?

Acapulco.

The Southern Baptist anthem.

Can y'all do y'all?

No.

No.

The one y'all used to do with the trio.

All right, let's read chapter nine.

I hope somebody's not playing a game on me and stole my outline.

I know it.

Thank you.

Hurry.

Run up here, nephew.

I can't, I got it.

But the one thing I like is I always, the one thing I've taught the preacher boys when I was preaching.

And by the way, we're very honored today to have our missionaries from Costa Rica home.

Amen.

The Wilkins, amen.

Elizabeth and Gary.

I was telling her, I'm telling about the works we do, and they're sitting right there.

I said, Elizabeth, wave at me.

Because I'm always shooting from the hill, so I just need a little help.

Somebody said, Would you forgot?

Don't, I won't forget if you'll wave at me.

I I'll remember it.

Just wave at me.

That's the way I've I used to, we used to have a Thursday Night Thunder at Liberty University, and we all get together with the young preacher boys.

We called it Thursday Night Thunder.

And suddenly we'd just get there and we'd point.

Man, the preachers jump up, run up there.

They had 10 minutes.

Bam, they cut loose.

We'd point.

Another preacher run up there.

It got to the point the little chapel only hell about 50 people.

Well, on Thursday nights, the word got out.

We'd have a hundred students just come in and be standing around to hear these young preachers preach.

It was fantastic.

In chapter 9, we have seen the beginning of the judgments begin to fall.

If you remember in chapter 7, and then we saw the seal judgments begin to open, and we went all the way to seal 6, knowing that seal 7, when it was open, would begin the bold judgments.

And the bold judgments begin in chapter 8.

And we see this horrific, unbelievable terror of what's happening on earth during the tribulation.

In fact, we see the breaking of the seventh seal and the preparation for judgment is coming.

We see the blast of the first four trumpets, verses 6 through 12 and 8.

The first trumpet is a fierce storm, and it includes hell and fire mixed with blood.

The second trumpet is a massive volcano explosion that fills the earth and a third of it.

And then the third trumpet is a meteor attack.

Meteors just fall from the earth.

I meant from the sky, hitting the earth, which is unbelievable.

And we see that.

And then the fourth trumpet is an astronomical eclipse.

Everything goes black.

Everything on the earth at that time.

And then we come down to the blast of the fifth trumpet after verse 12 in chapter 8.

And in verse 13 it says, And I beheld and heard an angel flying through the mist of heaven, saying with a loud voice, Whoa, woe, woe to the inhabitants of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels which are yet to sound.

Now listen, first of all, if you see back in the first part of eight, heaven is silent, totally silent for 30 minutes.

Now listen, when heaven gets silent, because it's such a joyful, praising, worshipful atmosphere, heaven gets totally silent for 30 minutes.

And then the next, should I say, annunciation, after that 30 minutes of silence, are three angels saying, Whoa, whoa, whoa.

Now when heaven says woe, we're in for trouble.

Something's about to happen that you don't want to be a part of.

And so we see that.

Beginning, which introduces chapter 9.

There can be little doubt about the book of Revelation that it contains some of the most frightening images in the entire Bible.

The passage may be, this passage, this chapter may be the most frightening of all written in the Word of God.

So what you're about to hear, many people have said, and I believe this with all my heart, that it's not true.

It's not true.

The woes here upon the inhabitants of the earth.

This angel knows that the plagues are fixing to be unleashed by the sounding of the last three trumpets will be far more horrible than any other judgments so far.

And we looked at those in chapter 6, and we were so thankful then that we would not be here.

But why does the Lord give such a graphic description of these horrors?

Let me give you three reasons why I think.

One, these are mentioned so that the church will know what they've been saved out of.

Can I get an amen?

If you are saved and you believe in the pre-rapture theory or philosophy which we do, you won't be here.

And even if you're a mid-trib, you won't be here for the most horrible part.

If you're a trib, God bless you.

You're in for it.

But you're not going to be here.

Because God delivers us from the wrath to come.

Amen.

We know that to be a fact.

1 Thessalonians 1.10.

So, hey, we know.

It's an encouragement, it's an excitement.

Second reason, it extends the glimpse of the future as a warning, those, hey, warning those who have not trusted Jesus Christ that you need to be saved.

Today, after you hear the description of a literal place called hell, I promise you you will want to be saved.

I guarantee it.

Now, whether you do, that's up to you.

But hey, we see that God wants us to, hey, everyone to know the fierceness of what's about to happen, especially if you die without Christ.

In fact, listen to Romans 1.18.

I think I have that there.

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven.

That's what we're seeing right here.

Against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who suppress the truth and unrighteousness.

Wow.

In other words, those who really don't care about truth, who really don't care, who fabricate lies.

I'm telling you something right now in the media, folks.

Listen to me.

And you know I don't usually, I don't, I'm not a political guy, I don't bring politics into the church.

But let me tell you, there's so much fabrication of lies going on and people being paid to tell lies that I listen, you don't need to believe anything you're hearing.

Just, hey, hey, look for the facts.

I meant real facts, not what the Washington Post says or or the Daily News says or what?

The real facts.

And you know what the real facts are?

The Word of God.

It's unreal.

It really is.

That's what he means when these unrighteous men who suppress the truth in unrighteousness.

And then third reason, they are given so that those of us who know the truth might be motivated to share the gospel with everyone we know.

Can I get an amen?

Everywhere I go, I tell people Jesus is awesome.

I take my little life and death tracks everywhere I go.

Everywhere I go.

Why?

I don't want people to die and go to hell.

It's real.

As we share and look at these awful realities, uh Paul Grader's stepmother died.

I thought he might be here.

He said he wasn't sure he'd be here.

But uh he said, I saw your uh blog and you used the word ugly truth.

And he said, No truth's ugly.

I said, Oh, this is this truth is ugly.

It's awful, it's horrible, it's terrible.

But it's truth.

Can I get an amen?

He said, Well, in that lightment I can understand it.

I said, You wait, you'll see.

So, we're living in a day when the subject of hell is viewed with much what?

Suspicion, skepticism.

People just don't believe in a little place of torment.

In fact, many preachers and church members really reject the notion of hell as it is presented in the Bible.

They think it's a joke.

They say hell's not a real place.

But I've got news for you.

People joke about hell and use the word as a byword in everyday language, and they do.

They use that four-letter word all the time, but I've got news for you.

Hell is a real place.

Real people are going to endure real torments for a real eternity in a real place called hell.

If you believe the word of God.

So here we see hell visits earth.

And I want to take these verses, the first 12 of them, and I want to show you the terrible realities when hell visits earth.

Number one, there's a terrible personality represented here.

Look at verse one.

And the fifth angel sounded and saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth, and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit.

In fact, let me tell you, a lot of religions don't even believe in the book of Revelation.

And I can tell you why.

When you read this story, you will see why they don't want to believe in it.

But can I say something?

Just because you don't believe it doesn't mean it's not true.

The word of God's true.

When the angel sounds his trumpet, we're introduced to a horrible personality.

Notice, it is my opinion that we're given a description of the devil himself.

And I'm gonna prove that why I believe that.

First of all, A, he's a famous personality.

He is called a star.

He is called a star.

Unbelievable.

Some commentators attempt to spiritualize this passage and link this being with the star that is mentioned in Revelation chapter 8, verses 10 and 11, when it says, and the third angel sounded, and there felled a great star from heaven, burning as it was a lamp, and it fell upon the third part of the rivers and upon the fountains of waters, and the name of the star is called wormwood, and the third part of the waters became wormwood, and many men died of the waters because they were made bitter.

Revelation 8:10

I believe that this star is a comet.

I meant, excuse me, that star they're talking about there is a comet.

But I believe this star is a literal person.

When we think of stars, I thought about that.

Listen, is this not true?

When you and I think about stars, what do we think about?

Now, not stars in the universe, but just the word stars.

We think of, in a sense, of a person that's famous.

We do.

In fact, we know right here that Satan is a very famous person.

He is a star.

He, hey, he's famous in heaven.

In fact, do you realize he before God kicked him out, he was one of the chosen, I meant unbelievable cherubims in heaven.

In fact, Ezekiel 28 tells us, Benji, he was the, hey, he was the one that led the choirs.

He was, he, he had a very powerful position.

He was somebody, he was famous in heaven.

He's also famous on earth.

And he's also famous under earth.

He is a famous personality.

Now, of course, the devil has a name.

What is his name?

Look at Isaiah 14, verse 12.

Isaiah 14:12

His name is Lucifer.

Lucifer.

And it's the Greek word halel.

Haleo.

And it means brilliant star.

It means, are you ready for this?

Light bearer.

It means the shining one.

And boy, I love this passage.

2 Corinthians 11 14 says, Satan is transformed, now listen, into the angel of light.

In that context, do you know what he really means?

It really means the angel of light is something that appears to be true, so much that it appears to be true that we believe it.

He's a master of disguise.

I meant he's brilliant.

He can fool you just like that.

It'll seem like it's so close to the truth that it is truth.

But remember this: Satan knows the truth, but he never tells the whole truth.

That's very important you understand that.

He'll talk about parts of the truth.

But never the whole truth.

Because if you have the whole truth, you should know the truth, and the truth should set you free.

Can I get an amen?

He doesn't know the whole truth.

Well, actually, I think he does know the whole truth, but he rejected the whole truth.

Just like many of us do.

Now watch.

Secondly, he's a fallen personality.

Not only is a famous personality, he's a fallen personality.

Notice the word in Isaiah.

Did I not have Isaiah 14.12 up there, Jason?

In Isaiah 14.12, there we go.

How you are fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning star, how you are cut down to the ground.

Let's go ahead and I'll read that rest of that because I'm going to be using it.

You who are weak in the nations, or you have said in your heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God.

See, here he is.

He's going to be prideful.

I will also sit on the mount of the congregation of the father sides of the north.

I will ascend above the heights of the clouds.

I will be like the most high.

Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, to the lowest depths of the pit.

And then those who see you will gaze at you and consider you, saying, Is this the man who made the earth tremble?

Here we see he says, I'm going to be greater than God.

And then there's a battle that goes on with Gabriel and the angels.

And what happens is one-third of the angels and Satan himself, Lucifer, the bright and morning star, the brilliant one, the shiny one.

They're kicked out of heaven.

And they go to earth.

They don't hate.

Listen, a lot of people think Satan's in hell.

He's not there yet.

Satan is not in hell yet.

In fact, let me give you some news about Satan.

Satan doesn't want to go to hell.

Let me give you some news about the demons.

Demons don't want to go to hell.

In fact, remember when Jesus cast out the demons and put them in the pigs?

They said, please don't send us to the deep.

And it's talking about the abyss, not the deep of the water.

Don't send us there.

Even the demons and devils don't want to go to hell.

Man, that ought to be a warning.

So here we see this fallen personality.

The word fall.

Now listen, very important.

You know I like doing word studies.

Fall is a perfect tense verb, and here's what it means: it means it refers to something that took place in the past, which still has present results.

Satan has been kicked out of heaven.

We know that in the past.

But now he's roaming the earth, bringing terror and temptation and destruction and death to those that live on earth.

I've come to kill, he says, I've come to what?

Kill, steal, destroy.

John 10, 10.

It's important you understand that.

And I just read it.

Luke 10, 18 says this Satan was like lightning that fell from heaven.

Now notice pride was found in Lucifer in the scriptures I just read.

He was cast out of heaven, but he still.

Now watch this.

I want to show you something.

He still has access to heaven.

Jason, go to Job chapter 1, verse 6 through 12.

Job 1:6–12

Man, this is so good.

I'm taking time.

I'm just laying it out as simply as I know how.

Hey, he's on earth, he's kicked out of heaven, but right now he still has access to heaven.

Watch this.

Now there was a day when the sons of God came to present this as before the Lord.

And Satan also came among them.

He's in his presence of God.

Then the Lord said to Satan, Have you considered my servant Job?

That there's none like him?

None like him at all.

Have you considered him?

None like him on earth.

He's a blameless and upright man.

Hallelujah.

Who, hey, one who fears God and shuns evil.

Amen.

So Satan answered the Lord and said, Does Job really fear God for nothing?

Have you not made a hedge around him, around his household, around all that he has on every side?

You have blessed the work of his hands.

And his possessions have increased in the land.

But now stretch out your hand and touch all that he has, and he will surely curse you to your face.

Wow.

And the Lord said to Satan, Behold, all that he has is in your power.

Only do not lay a hand on his person.

So Satan went out from his presence of the Lord.

In other words, he says, You can take everything he has, but you can't kill him.

And he did, if you remember the story of Job.

Took everything he had.

Everything.

Killed his family.

Took all his cattle, his wealth, took it all.

Took it all.

And his friends showed up, real encouragers, and said, Hey, what in the world have you done?

You've got to have sin in your life.

This is one of the best pictures of a unright, hey, a righteous man that shunned evil.

He had not done a thing wrong, but yet there was great, great trials and temptations in his life.

So for those that believe, just if you're having major trials or sin in your life, that's not always the case.

Now it can be, and you know the difference.

Can I get an O me?

You know.

So he's in this.

Hey, do you know right now Satan goes before God and accuses Danny Lovett all the time?

And you know how I know he does that?

Because I have fear and doubt and want to quit.

I want to give up and all that stuff.

All those thoughts that come into your mind that are ungodly, not of God, it comes from Satan, and he's accusing us, saying, Oh, if you'll do this to him, if you'll do that to them, hey, he'll quit you and he'll even curse you.

But I got good news, church.

Greater is he that is in me than he that is in the world.

1 John 4.

The Bible calls him the Prince of the Power of the air in Ephesians 2.2.

But there will come a day when Satan will be eternally cast down to the earth, which we see.

He's here now.

So here we see Satan cast out of heaven, forced to confine his activities to the earth.

And the thing that brought Satan down is one word, P-R-I-D-E, pride.

Let me remind you.

Proverbs 16, 5 said, Everyone that is prideful in heart is abomination unto God.

They will not go unpunished.

Let me remind you that the Bible's very clear about pride.

Here's my definition of pride.

I want to give you a good definition of pride.

Pride will cause you, this is our worst problem, will cause me and you to think that we're good enough without God.

That's what really pride is.

That's pretty simple.

You and I are good enough without God.

That's real pride.

That means I can handle it.

Most of us try to handle everything until we really get in a jam, then we say, Oh, God, help me.

Anybody other than me like that?

I mean, I'm pretty smart.

I'm pretty gifted.

I've worked.

Now, if you're if no, I'm not gonna go there.

All right.

But but I mean, I work hard.

I've got talents.

I can do it.

And if I need you, Lord, I'll call.

Hello?

Don't look at me like that.

I know some of you, you just like it.

We're prideful.

Every one of us, do you know it's pride?

Pride is what causes arguments?

Proverbs 13, 10, only pride breeds contention.

You know when Susan and I get in a fight?

Excuse me, we don't fight.

And by the way, we've never had a had a major, how can I put this?

We've never had a fight.

We've never had a fight.

Now we've had some discussions that you could hear a couple of blocks.

Anybody with me?

Amen, amen, amen.

But you know what the root problem is is there?

It's that I want to be right and I want my way.

Hello.

You mean it, amen.

Is that I think it's the first time you ever said that for me, though?

No, I'm joking, I'm joking.

Whoop, I know.

Well, all right, now devil, the devil, the devil.

No, let's get back to the devil.

Somebody said you are the devil.

Look at Lenny, I got a laugh out of you, didn't it?

We won't say anything, Patsy.

But now, watch.

But now watch.

This is so true.

Pride causes you and me to think that we're good enough without him.

In other words, we refuse to bow to his authority.

Do you realize submitting to God is bowing to his authority?

It's Romans 12, 1 and 2.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present yourself a living sacrifice, wholly acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.

Be not conformed to the world, but be metamorphosis, transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that, good, acceptable, and perfect will of God.

Romans 12, 1 and 2.

So we see that.

Listen to what God says.

1 Peter 5, Jason, I believe, 5 and 6.

He says, Everyone that is proud in heart is abomination unto God.

Hey, and then he says, likewise, you younger people, submit yourself to your elders, yes, and submission to one another and be clothed with humility.

Why?

God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.

And then look, verse 6, therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time.

Let him do the exalting.

You don't have to.

You don't have to climb the ladder.

You just be faithful.

He'll push you up the ladder.

Hey, when God does it, he pushes you up.

You don't have to climb.

That's good.

I just thought about that.

Amen.

And that's what he's saying right here.

In fact, pride goes before destruction.

Listen to Proverbs 16, 18.

Pride goes before destruction.

Now watch.

And a haughty spirit before the fall.

See, he's a fearsome personality.

He's a famous personality.

He's a fallen personality.

He's a fearsome personality.

This famous fallen figure is given.

Now notice what happens right here.

Can you believe this in verse 1?

He is given the keys of the bottomless pit.

Hmm.

Now I thought about that when I saw that.

He is given the authority to unlock a terrible prison and unleash all the horrific plagues upon the world.

We're told in Revelation 1.18 that Jesus has the keys to hell.

But for a short time, the power over a host of demonic spirits, look at this, in prison in hell are given to Satan.

While we're on the subject of Satan, let me give you a few things I saw that I wrote down in it powerful.

Satan, three things, let me give you what three things that I see that's very important to understand.

One, Satan is a real personality.

Can I get an amen?

He's real.

He's not a myth.

There's a very real devil.

Secondly, Satan has never been in hell.

He's not there today, and he never wants to go there.

But one day, Revelation 20:10, he'll be sent there.

Revelation 20:10

Can I get an amen?

He'll be sent there.

But he's not there now.

He's given us problems.

Can we say amen?

He's powerful.

That's why he says in 1 Peter 5, 8, be sober, be vigilant, because your adversary, the devil, as a roaring lion, walks about seeking whom he may devour.

I want you to say this with me.

The devil wants to kill me.

The devil wants to destroy me.

The devil wants to take me out.

Not only is he, hey, not only do we see a terrible personality, number two, we see a terrible place.

Verse 2.

And he opened the bottomless pit, and there arose a smoke out of the pit as the smoke of a great furnace, and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.

It got so smoky, it was so smoky that it turned looked pitch black.

You ever been in a fire with pitch black smoke?

I was a fireman.

And I'm going to talk a little bit about that.

But I want to give you this terrible place.

Let me give you what I saw.

Number one, it's a deep, deep place.

Look at the word.

It's called a bottomless pit.

Abusas.

That's the Greek word.

Abusas.

And it means, are you ready?

It means it refers to a very deep chasm.

Very deep, big hole.

And the word literally means a whale.

It means, here's the word, abyss.

Abyss.

When Satan turns his key and opens the pit, he is literally opening.

Listen, the shaft that leads into hell itself.

He's about to let all the demons of hell out.

And this occurs during the tribulation.

He's getting ready.

There is a place under the earth called hell.

The souls of lost people suffer in the fires of hell.

It is clear from these verses that follow in this chapter that certain demons are being held right now, in hell, awaiting their liberty.

2 Peter 2, 4.

Watch this.

Bring it up.

For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, there they are, but cast them down to hell and deliver them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment.

That's where they are.

A large percentage of them.

That's where they are.

Wow.

Think about that.

Jude 6.

Look at what it says.

And the angels who did not keep their proper domain but left their own abode, the ones kicked out, he has reserved an everlasting change under darkness for the judgment of the great day.

There they are.

But for a moment, for a period that we know of, at least five months, they're going to be released.

All hell's going to be released.

That's what the Bible says.

That brings me to the second thing.

It's a dark place.

We are told that smoke ascends out of this pit, and the smoke is going to be so great that it totally obliberates the sun.

There's an old saying, where there is smoke, there is fire.

This is where it's going to get pretty descriptive.

Ready?

What's this?

Hell is a place of fire, a place where the smoke never ceases.

Now, I don't have time to read all the verses in Luke 16, 19 through 31.

But it's important that you go home.

It deals with Lazarus and the rich man.

They both die.

Lazarus goes then to the safe place.

And then we see the rich man goes to hell.

And we see that the rich man in hell cries out to Lazarus.

Wait, not to Lazarus, but he cries out to God and says, God, would you please send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool my tongue?

And then he says, Please go tell my five brothers why.

I do not want them to come to this horrible place.

The rich man is crying out in hell for God to send someone to tell his brothers about Jesus so they don't have to come to hell.

He's in torment.

Now a lot of people say, oh, that's just another parable.

Uh-uh.

No, no, no, no, no.

One, hey, in all the other parables, Jesus never called anybody by name.

This is a literal truth.

There's a hell.

People die and go to hell.

And what's this?

It's a place where the smoke never ceases.

Look at Revelations 14, 10 through 11.

Powerful.

He shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb.

Look at verse 11.

And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beasts and his image.

All right.

I was going to preach on this message on hail in Huntington, Virginia, honey.

I don't know if you remember it.

And I told him, tell everybody, I don't want to come in and surprise people.

And I've told you that you've read, you knew I was going to be preaching on hail, and I'm thankful we got such a large crowd.

Sometimes they don't want to come here by hell.

But now listen, he said, I'm gonna, you want to go, you want to meet a lady that's been to hell?

I said, huh?

He said, one of my ladies in my church, older lady, her house caught on fire and she was almost burned to death.

I went in and her, I met her, and she was sitting there and she was wrapped all up, and she says, Hey Pastor, and she couldn't hardly talk because of smoke and and and her vocals been scorched.

Hey, Pastor.

And uh Brother Jimmy said, Tell Pastor Danny what you told me.

She said, Pastor, I saw hell.

I felt the flames of hell.

And I listened.

And she went into describe, she said, it's just people crying out, burning, burning, burning, but they can't die.

And after I talked to her, she took me to the head nurse.

Head nurse was there with the group when she came in.

She said, That's true.

She said, We were working on her.

We thought she was gonna die.

We had all we had just gotten the the fluids to start into her body, and she's just out.

We thought she was dead, but she had a faint pump pulse.

And after we got some fluid in her and she kind of was getting a little bit more fluid, they had her there, and and and and all of a sudden she just came to and she went, Ah.

I don't want to go to hell! I don't want to go to hell.

She said, I saw the flame of hell.

Four nurses got saved that night.

Cause the head nurse.

Yeah, give God a hell.

The head nurse was a dynamic Christian.

And the nurses, is there really a hell like that?

Yes, there is.

I want to be saved.

You say, now that's just getting scared.

That's a scared decision.

Let me tell you, I don't care what you call it as long as you don't go there.

Long as it's a real decision.

Amen.

Have you ever been burned?

Does it hurt?

I mean, you can do anything, but you can't.

The best thing you can do is just wherever you've been burned, stick it in a bucket of ice and numb it.

That's the best thing you can do.

But then when you take it out, it hurts again.

Well, I got news for you.

There'll be no ice in hell.

You'll be burning for an eternity.

The smoke, if you ever been in a building and smoke has a fireman, and we used to go into buildings and sometimes we didn't have those big air masks that they all have now.

Back when I first started out, fire departments couldn't afford them.

So you'd go in and that smoke, you ever had smoke get in your eyes and in your nostrils, and how all of a sudden you start crying and you can't breathe?

How about spending eternity doing that?

Snot and stuff coming everywhere.

Nothing you can do about it.

Hell is a place of fire, a place that never smoke never ceases.

And joke about it.

They offer silly suspicion about it.

But hell is real and wise people make their preparations to avoid the flames and the smoke.

Number C, it's a disturbing place.

Hell is so disturbing to me simply because it even exists.

But let me tell you something else.

Mark 9 48, are you ready for this?

Look at it.

It's where the worms do not die.

And the fire is not quenched.

Now, when you look at that little word worm, you think about the little red wigglers that when it rains hard, they come out of the ground.

Anybody ever caught them and take them brim fishing?

Thank you.

That's what you think about.

Is that not what you think about when you see the word worm?

Can I tell you that's not what the word means?

The Greek word means maggots.

Have you ever seen maggots?

When I was about to preach my first message on hell, I told Carol this a long time ago.

She said, When are you ever going to preach on hell?

I said, It's coming.

It'll be here in Revelation.

But God gave me everything I'm describing to you, gave me these illustrations.

We lived in Virginia.

And where we live, Mary will tell you we had beautiful, still, that's my favorite house and place.

Blue Ridge Mountains, Apple Orchard, 50 acres, oh, snow, oh, it's just beautiful.

But we lived out in the woods.

Now, as everything's grown, now you wouldn't even believe it.

I mean, where we it was only a few houses where we lived.

John remembers.

He lived in Bedford, right up the road.

And every week, at least once a week, a deer would be hit on that road because it was traveling so much.

Well, and every, if you didn't time it just right, the buses would be coming out of uh Jefferson Forest High School.

And so I got caught in the buses.

I stopped, had my window down.

It was a little hot, hot, but not too hot, you know, it was just right and didn't want to run the air conditioner.

And all of a sudden I smelt this horrible smell, and I looked over, and there it was.

It was a big old deer had been hit, but his stomach had literally split open.

And there was, it looked like I didn't, I thought to myself, what is that?

What is that big cover of white cream looking?

And then next thing I know, I noticed it was maggots just eaten away.

Now, folks, let me ask you, you want to go to hell and have maggots eaten all over you?

Forever in your eyes, in your ears?

And now you say, I don't believe it.

I'm just telling you, you don't have to believe it.

My job is to preach the truth and warn you.

It's real.

I saw those, when I saw that, first thing I thought about was that word worm.

It's a disturbing place.

Are you ready for this?

Matthew 25, 30.

It's where the weeping and the gnashing of the teeth cease to be.

Now, all this is going on.

Now, let's add trouble to trouble.

Are you ready for this?

You hear people wailing.

I'm not talking about wailing like you're worshiping and wailing.

I'm talking about unbelievable pain.

Just all, you're burning.

You can't breathe.

You can't get one dip of water.

Have you ever played sports or ever had fishermen had cotton mouth?

Come on.

You know what cotton mouth is?

You do anything for a drop of water.

Can you imagine having that?

You can't get one.

I mean, the rich man said, I just want him to tip his finger in water and touch my tongue.

Oh my goodness.

They're yelling and gnashing.

Have you ever heard teeth grind?

That's what it's gonna be.

What did it say?

And then out of darkness there will be what?

Weeping and gnashing of the teeth.

And then D.

It's a demonic place.

It's where the demons reside.

Luke 8.31.

Which leads me to the last point.

Not only is it a place, a terrible, a place with a terrible personality, a terrible place, but now there's a terrible plague.

Verses 3 through 12.

It explains the plague.

Unbelievable.

Again, the demons that have been reserved unto judgment.

We saw that in 2 Peter 2.4.

They are released.

The prison door is up.

Can you imagine right now?

Let me give you a good example.

All the prisons in the United States right now, but let's even make it more pointy.

The ones that have the worst of the worst criminals, the rapists, the murderers, those that are just horrible.

Those that the guys that kill 56 people, all this murdering and uh cops been shot in the last two days.

I mean, and what they do, and and when people walk into a church and kill half the church, that's demon possession.

All those kind of people are released.

To take their vengeance on the people on earth.

No law.

None whatsoever.

And are you ready for this?

This is where it really gets mad.

No death.

You can't die for five months.

People are trying to kill themselves, they can't do it.

People ask people to kill them, they can't do it.

Verse 6.

Pretty evident.

Look at what verse 6 says.

And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it and shall not.

Hey, desire to die, and death shall flee from them.

You can't die.

Somebody said, Well, I'm just glad it's for five months.

Hey, that's the ones in the tribulation.

But for us that die, everything I'm describing is for eternity.

You'll be one to die in hell, and you can't.

I just don't believe that, preacher.

Okay?

Notice what they're described as.

Locusts.

But these aren't insects.

These are demons.

These are demons.

Why do I believe that?

Two reasons.

Verse 4, they do not harm plant life, but they torment humans.

Verse 11, they have a king.

Proverbs 30, 25 tells us that locusts in the insect world have no king.

I want you to notice real quick.

A, the power they possess, verses 3 and 4.

And it commanded them that they should not hurt the grass or the earth, neither any green thing, neither any tree, but only those men which have not the seal of God in their foreheads.

And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months, and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he strikes a man.

If you've ever been stung by a scorpion, they're really not that deadly, but they they are the most painful sting you can have.

Have you ever been stung by a wasp?

Now it only hurts for a little bit, unless the stinger stays in there.

But you know how that feels?

Magnify that about 10 times or more for the sting of a scorpion.

I was reading, doing my research this week.

They were comparing it to a bee sting.

They said a scorpion sting is about 10 or 20 times hurts worse than one of those wafts stings.

And I don't know about you, but man, you go, when they hit me, I go, hey, you.

And mine, for me, I'm not a I don't guess I'm allergic, but but mine swells and it'll stay swollen a day or two where they stung me.

Just that little bitty sting.

Can you imagine being stung all day long forever?

And there's nothing you can do about it.

Oh my goodness.

They'll have the power to sting like a scorpion over and over.

They cause great pain to people.

But aren't you excited?

You know who they couldn't sting?

The 144,000 and those that were saved, they couldn't touch them.

Can I get an amen?

That's the protection we have as Christians.

That's why it says, Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and the power of his might in Ephesians 6.

Put on the armor of God.

Notice B the pain they produce for five months.

Every moment of every day, that demon will be there.

Be there.

Be there.

You'll want to try to kill yourself, but you can't.

And then notice C the picture they paint, and we're through.

Verse 6.

These demons are described for us.

Look at it.

A vivid description.

Verse 7: horses prepared for battle.

They resemble mighty war horses prepared for battle, straining at the bit.

Can't wait to attack.

Can't wait to attack back in those days.

You know what I see here?

I see an invading army ready to attack Israel.

They're ready.

We know right now, China.

And there'll be more than just one country.

But their armies they're just building and building.

Right now, they have millions of soldiers.

Two, verse seven, look at the golden crowns on their heads.

That means they have authority.

They come to earth as conquerors.

They can't be stopped during this five months.

Verse 7, look at the faces like those of men.

That means they're intelligent.

They have intelligence.

It reveals the emotions buried beneath the surface.

These being an intelligent person.

Verse 8, hair like a woman.

They're very attractive to people.

It may be that they have some kind of seductive charm or whatever.

And I look today, we see some of that going on today with the psychic world and people enamored with angels.

Let me remind you, there's other angels than good angels.

We see that.

And then we see the teeth of a lion.

Verse 8.

That bite is infectious and painful.

A lion's bite, you know, I was doing research on lion's bites.

They say they're the most infectious bacterial bites you could ever get.

They really never heal.

A lion's bite.

That's why a lion's bite's so deadly.

The breastplates of iron, verse 9, they're invulnerable to an attack.

They're insensitive to the suffering.

In other words, they can't be stopped.

Nothing can stop them.

And they have no feelings toward the people they're tormenting.

None whatsoever.

Then look at verse 9: wings that sound like chariots.

Are you ready for this?

That means swiftness, unstoppable.

They surround and capture their prey with ease.

Verse 10, stings in their tails.

We talked about that.

The pain and the torment of men is their sole objective.

And then verse 11, they have a king over them.

They will be organized and united in their attacks upon humanity.

And the fact that the king's name is given in Hebrew and Greek shows us that all unbelievers, both Jew and Gentile, will be targeted by this demonic invasion.

It means total destruction or destruction.

What would it be like to wake up every morning to that?

So let's close this.

Here's my conclusion.

People hear this message about demons and they laugh at it or laugh at all for say how old-fashioned.

I've been called an old-fashioned preacher, by the way.

You know what?

I'm you know that's an honor.

When I grew up, people preached on hell a lot.

When's the last time you've heard a message just like you have heard today, in detail about hell?

Oh, you hear preachers mention it.

Sometimes it's in a laughing way.

But when's the last time?

Think about it.

It would seem from reading this passage, you know, in fact, what they say, no one believes in demons anymore.

Well, you know, after reading this passage, I would believe that God believes in demons.

Amen.

And if God believes in demons, don't you think we need to believe in demons?

That was a demon that killed those people in that church.

That's what it was, folks.

I don't care what.

He was clothed as a man, but he was a demon.

Let me give you an example.

This is unbelievable.

When the bubonic plague was ravaging itself in Europe during the Middle Ages, remember that?

You've read about it?

Men tried every way they could think of to cure this disease.

They came to believe, now watch this, that the plague was caused by clean, fresh air.

Now, why in the world did they think that?

I have no idea.

But they really did.

So you know what they did?

They plugged up their chimneys, they burned distinguishing, excuse me, disgusting things in their fireplaces, sat in smoke-filled houses, believing they were going to be alright.

Now watch.

Whole cities were clothed in foul smelling and horrible smoke.

They would fire their cannons regularly to blow away the fresh air.

If you had walked into one of those towns and told those people that the plague was being caused by an invisible organism transmitted by tiny fleas, they would have left you out of town.

We know.

And we now know that what they couldn't see was what was killing them.

Modern man has adopted the same attitude toward hell.

They don't see demons, so they can't be demons.

But I got news for you.

Church, they're real.

And they're set loose right now, roaming about with Satan.

Not all of them, but some of them.

And let me remind you, and I close with this, in Ephesians chapter 6, verse 10, and reading.

Ephesians 6:10

Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the power of his might.

Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand, listen, against the wiles of the devil.

The methods, the methodology, the cunning arts, the deceit, the craftiness, the trickery that lie in wait to deceive and to kill.

That's what that word means.

Now, watch, verse 12.

We wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities and against powers, against the rulers, plural, of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.

Guys, ladies and gentlemen, we are facing a battle every day.

My question to you.

Pretty bad question because I I don't think anybody, I know how you're gonna answer, but I've always asked this question every time I preached on hell.

And I'm not gonna change today.

If you're to die right now, right now, do you want to go to hell?

After hearing what I just that was not what I think.

That was I showed you verse by verse every word.

You shall know the truth and watch.

The truth shall set you free.

Can I tell you something right now?

I don't want anybody in this building to die and go to hell.

I don't want anybody watching online to die and go to hell.

It's a horrible place.

I'm gonna use my word again.

It's an ugly place.

God forbid that anyone die and go to hell.

But there's only one person can keep you from going to hell, and that's you.

Now listen to me.

I'm not talking about you prayed a prayer one time, I'm not talking about you being baptized, and I'm not talking about you go to church.

I'm talking about there was a transformation, a change in your life.

The old man passed away, behold, the new man became new.

2 Corinthians 5.17.

And you had a desire for the things of God.

That's real salvation.

Somebody said, doesn't it?

Oh, you just Baptists believe y'all can get saved and do anything you want to.

Have you ever heard me say that?

And by the way, let me tell you something.

Jesus said, You shall know them by the fruits that they bear.

I'm a fruit be, hey, I'm a fruit bearer and a fruit inspector.

If you don't have no fruit, you can hey, all you did was pray a prayer, and all you did was get dunked.

You didn't get saved.

Well, my name's on the roll.

I've been a member of that church.

Susan will tell you, I don't know how many people that in the churches that I'd preach this.

How many older folks over the age of 60, even senior saints, that had never heard that truth and they came and got saved?

They didn't let their pride keep them from going to hell.

Now, see, some of you right now, you're you're your pride's trying to keep you back from making it sure that you're saved.

But you know in your heart if there was a change, you say, Well, there was a change for a little while.

Aren't you glad salvation doesn't last for a little while?

Now here's my question.

Do you want to go to hell?

Thanks again for tuning into this week's message.

We pray that your life has been changed.

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