22 - "Is Hell a Place of Unending Torture?" – Doug Batchelor - SCM 2017

[Music] [Music] welcome to 3abn spring campaigning 2017 exposing the counterfeit [Music] hello and welcome back to 3abn camp-meeting we've been having a wonderful time haven't we I'll tell you what I've felt the anointing the Holy Spirit this whole week but we're winding down we just have a couple more a couple more sermons and then afterwards we're gonna have a little afterglow we call it a little time of renewing our lives to the Lord Jesus Christ how many are thankful for what Jesus has done for you and I just praise the Lord for each and every one of you and for those of you at home thank you for your love and your prayers and financial support because without you we couldn't take this gospel to all the world and all of you here you guys you're the diehards we call that 3abn diehard somebody said they're the ones that's right on the front lines you're the one that's taking these books and passing them out those of you at home that are doing that too that couldn't make it and the joining with 3abn thank you because jesus says when this gospel the kingdom goes into all the world guess what happens the end comes which is really the beginning right it's my privilege tonight to introduce pastor doug batchelor and doug is a household name been on 3abn for well over 25 years speaker director amazing facts he's an author and speaker and doug is uh I would say I can say this through all the speakers that we've ever had on 3abn we I'm sure we have seen thousands and thousands of people letters that people have written us emails over the years that said thank you for 3abn and I came to the Lord through pastor Doug Batchelor thousands of people all around the world and so we praise the Lord for his ministry for his wife for what they're doing for amazing facts and right after brother Tim part and I think we're going to have to come out and to do special music for us and right after that the next voice you'll hear is pastor Doug Batchelor [Music] I'm kind of homesick for a country - which I've ever been before [Music] no said goodbye will there be spoken [Music] for time won't matter anymore [Music] I'm longing for you and someday I'll stir Oh shall we return ooh [Music] sweet [Music] I'm walking now [Music] across the river to where my face shall end inside there's just of you more day to labor I will take my heavenly fly sing with me if you know too [Music] and someday [Applause] the aisle stairs [Music] my home shall be to [Music] sweet you [Music] amen thank you so much Tim that was a beautiful song well this has been a a wonderful time together this week he was gathering together with brothers and sisters and hearing the Word of God and and it's just been a joy I was thinking about it and I had been coming into 3abn for over 20 years I remember Mitch just met me backstage and prayed with me I remember when he would be I didn't show up you know I get in late from California like 1:00 in the morning he'd be upstairs and master control and he was sort of a the innkeeper also he'd give me my key to my little room upstairs and and boy things have come a long way I'll tell you we didn't even know what the internet was back then but it's just so exciting to be back almost every year we do something with 3abn amazing facts and 3abn partner and this fall we're going to be doing another special program called foundations of faith so I hope you'll be watching for and praying for that event it's November 3 to 11 and it's going to be uplinked from the General Conference world headquarters it's going to be very interesting right after October 31 the 500 year anniversary of the Protestant Reformation I understand some interesting things are going to be happening in Rome during that time so I expect to have something to talk about so I already have something to talk about you know after both of the programs tonight they were telling me that well we're going to gather together as they often do during the camp meeting and they said we're gonna have they said Doug make sure that you don't forget that after your sermon we're going to have an afterglow I thought my sermon tonight's on hell what do you mean by that but it's actually not directly after my sermon pastor Rafferty will preach and he'll make sure there's no confusion and what our afterglow is all about our message tonight is dealing with the subject of Hell and it is Hell a place of unending torture and this actually is one of my favorite subjects because when I understood this it enabled me to love God and I will say more about that but let me pray with you before we begin loving father we are so thankful for the truth of your word that helps us see who you are and how we can love you and we just pray right now that your spirit will be present I pray that my mind will be clear my sins forgiven and ultimately that it will be your voice that we hear and we pray this in Jesus name Amen it made me shudder when I saw the news back in 2015 Jordanian pilot was either shot down or there was a mechanical problem and he went down in Syria and he was captured by Isis well Isis went through the charade of pretending they were going to do a prisoner exchange with this man and some prisoners that were held in Jordan and it turns out they had other plans the man thought he was going to be set free and they brought him out and they had him say some kind of confession or something on on tape and they put him in a metal cage and they doused him with diesel or gasoline not exactly sure and then Isis if you don't think they're wicked then enrolled video as they set it on fire and yeah just I I was wondering whether or not I could even share this with you but the reason I'm sharing it with you is anything natural within you unless you've got some kind of sadistic problems you would recoil at the thought of somebody I'd not even watch the video I couldn't bring myself to do that I'm sure it would cause nightmares we're horrified by that and we we think that a people that would do that that would put a person in a cage and burn them alive while they videotape it it's satanic now with that in mind what do you exactly think it is that most Christians say about God what is he gonna do to the Lost is he gonna burn them for 10 minutes 5 minutes I don't even know how long his sufferings lasted let's hope not long no they say that God if you don't know Jesus if you're born and you die lost that he will then put you in this place of torture where you will feel the writhing flames of brimstone and fire and burning all over every nerve of your body incomplete undescribable agony not for 10 minutes for 10 hours or 10 days but forever and ever and call that justice now I remember I used to go to a couple of Catholic schools and that's where I was taught you're good you go to heaven you're bad you go to hell right so what's hell that's a place where you burn forever and ever and I thought no wait a second you're telling me everybody in the world sins we're all born with this bent towards sin and if we don't figure out how to do it right that God is going to take the objects of his creech creation and for the sins of maybe 50 60 70 years maybe 15 years burn them through ceaseless ages when I heard that I thought I don't think I'd ever want to serve a god like that so our subject today is on trying to understand what is the punishment of the week and actually I'll be sharing with you the good news about Hell a matter of fact I might even tell you the good news to start with right now first of all the good news is no one is burning in hell now I'm going to tell you what I'm gonna tell you then I'll tell you then I'll tell you what I told you no one is burning in hell now no one is gonna burn there forever Hellfire will put sinners out of their selfish misery hell will purify the universe and the really good news is you don't need to go there whenever I talk about this I'm surprised how many people ask me a lot of questions afterward and they don't ask me near as many questions about heaven which makes me wonder where they plan on going because it seems like you'd want to prepare more for your destination all right first question what two cities are given in the Bible as an example for the destruction of the wicked it says here Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them in a similar manner to these having given themselves over to sexual immorality and going after strange flesh when we talked about that earlier today what that means are set forth as an example suffering the Vengeance of eternal fire and people are wondering well there you have it pastor Doug and I don't want to deny there are some difficult passages but I think they're easy to explain and there are a lot more passages that that make the subject clear and so you need the way that the preponderance of evidence on this now just to go back to what the story was if you look you remember that in the Old Testament there in the book of Genesis Abraham and lot parted ways lot pinched his tent towards Sodom the Bible says the people of Sodom were sinners before the Lord exceedingly and eventually God sent two angels because they were going to judge Sodom and he gave a lot an opportunity to escape the Angels you know after that people in the town tried to accost them and they were stricken with blindness they said a lot in his daughters and his wife escaped for your life look not behind me escape to the mountains lest you be consumed what was going to happen to those that stayed in the city they'll be consumed what is the fate of the wicked the Bibles of Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth as an example of those who are suffering the Vengeance of eternal fire well it says the eternal fire consumed them and then of course it says the Lord rained upon Sodom and Gomorrah brimstone and fire from the Lord out of heaven and the Lord looked towards Sodom and and he be and Abraham looked toward Sodom and Gomorrah and lo the smoke of the country went up as the smoke of a furnace but do you know the story his wife looked back behind him and she became a pillar of salt and so this is very important story about what judgment is for the wicked and the story of Sodom and Gomorrah explainin now notice what Peter says we read what Jude says look at what Peter says turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah into what this eternal fire burned them up forever the reason it's called eternal fires because the result of the fire was eternal have sodom and gomorrah ever been rebuilt as a matter of fact number of prophets point back to sodom and gomorrah and used them as an example of a city that would never be rebuilt and he said this regarding Nineveh he said it regarding Babylon that they'll be like Sodom it'll never be inhabited again and it never was making them an example unto those who should afterward live ungodly so if we want to know what the fate of the Lost or ungodly is the Bible says Sodom and Gomorrah or an example of that they were consumed they were burned up with eternal fire and they perished this is a picture of that region I've been down to the Dead Sea in the southern part of the Dead Sea it's nothing there matter of fact I've got a friend who's made several trips down to the area and he says he digs these sulfur balls out of the ground that you can take and put a match to in the late night I've got one I've tried it before it works I don't do it in church because it stinks but I did it once that's how I know but it's real I mean the only place in the world you can find these sulfur balls embedded in the ash in the ground that you can pop out of the ground put a match to it and they burn so quite literally there is at least sulfur in brimstone in that place second question to consider when will the wicked be destroyed in Hellfire second Peter 2:9 the Lord knows how to reserve the unjust what do they do they're reserved when you call ahead to a restaurant you say can you reserve me a seat that means they're holding a place for you are the wicked burning in hell now or are they reserved how to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment when will they be punished the day of judgment to be punished and again jesus said john 12:48 the word that I have spoken the same will judge him in the last day you can read John chapter 6 John chapter 11 over and over Jesus is the judgment the last day the last day so the idea that as soon as people die they go to hell and they start to burn it's not biblical first of all why would you give a person the punishment and then when the Lord comes pull them out of hell and judgment say sure enough you were guilty and put them back in hell again that wouldn't be very just Jesus tells a parable and you know a parable of the wheat and the tares I remember when I first read this I thought what is a tear tears were it's it's another crop it's actually weeds but when they first sprout up they look very similar to wheat his enemy shows the tares and the servants say why don't we do it we go pull up the tares he says let them grow together until the harvest then you separate the two and Jesus makes it pretty clear he says as therefore the tares are gathered and burned in the fire so shall it be in the end of the world when were they gathered in burned it'll be the end of the world and he says you read on the Son of Man will send forth his angels and they will gather them that do iniquity and they'll cast them into a furnace of fire where they are consumed and the Bible says they are devoured and they are burnt up these are words that the Bible uses to describe that you know I remember years ago I was along less than 30 years ago I think I can be very honest with you now I was listening to family radio and they have a Bible answer program and it's called open forum and pastor Harold Camping the late pastor Harold Camping was answering Bible questions now I'm up there I have no telephone all I've got is a radio up in there he'll same place where we have our cabin now but this was a long time ago was a lot more primitive he's kerosene lamps back then and he used to love to listen to the the radio they had some great Christian music and they'd read the Bible and they really had some nice programs but then he would come on you know who Harold Camping is he predicted the second coming two or three times and obviously he was wrong and he would get on and he would answer questions and I used to listen it used to get me all worked out but I remember one particular day a college student called up and she said you know I've been reading the Bible and I'd like to believe in God and I'd like to believe in Jesus but I just don't understand how a God of love and Jesus seemed so loving he would take the creatures that he's made and torture them if they don't love him it's like basic saying love me or burn in hell and the student was thinking you either can love me or I'm gonna torture you and that was her question and his answer was well who are we to question God and this is what the Bible says and I thought that made me so mad as I hears someone searching for the truth and they're being fed this nonsense immediately after that a lady called and she said and you could tell her voice was breaking and she said my son was not a Christian he had a problem drinking he died instantly in a car accident I just need to know is he burning in hell now a very direct question he tried to evade it for a moment and finally he came right out and said well according to the Bible there's only two destinies he's either with the Lord in heaven or he's burning now in hell and you could hear the lady kind of and she hung up the phone well at this point I'm jumping up and down I don't have a telephone no cell phone back then and so I jump in my car and I Drive 12 miles of very bad dirt road to the nearest telephone it was at a member's house her name was dr. Lolita Simpson and I came charging in his like eight thirty nine o'clock at night and I knew it was a one hour program and I needed to get on the air because I thought I hope those people are still listening because I'm gonna see if I can get through and I'm gonna give the answers to these things and so I got to her house I said dr. Simpson gotta use your phone real quick and I had the number and I called and I got a busy signal I've been praying all the way down that I'd get through and I called again and they picked up they said well please stand by and you'll be taken in line and next thing I knew I hear his voice welcome to open forum and you have your question please I didn't even know what I was gonna say and I said yes brother campaign I said um I'm a Christian and then I said I'm a seventh-day Adventist Christian cuz I hope with whoever's listening would know where to go for the right answers and I said and I believe the Bible clearly teaches that first of all the dead are sleeping integrates until the resurrection and that no one is burning in hell now and hell does not burned for ever and ever can I please share a few scriptures thank you you got to keep talking you know he cuts y'all and so I started saying it says that they burn up and they are consumed and they perish and there's no more pain I started giving him all these verses and pretty soon she had a radio and I could notice I didn't hear my voice anymore they kind of cut in he responded a little bit and then he let off the mute button and he let me respond again I said yes I've heard those verses before and here's what this and this and this means I said giving him all the answers and then he cut me off he didn't take another phone call for the last 20 minutes of the broadcast he just kept trying to untangle the scriptures that I given and I remember driving home that night I was praying that those people were listening and I said Lord boy I would love to have a radio program where I could get people the answers and you know for the last 20 years we've had Bible answers live we're calling people and hopefully sharing the truth and we meet people we meet people all the time that say I've got the letters from kids and you know it's it's the ones that break your heart of the teenagers say pastor Doug I couldn't sleep at night I lived in terror that I was going to die lost I go to church and they preach about Hell and I was so afraid of God they're so afraid I'd die lost I was in misery and then we heard your program and we did the lesson and I have peace for the first time in my life those that just brings me such joy to know that know before you take it too far we do believe in Hell fire and there is a punishment for the wicked and it does burn so don't misunderstand that number three if the wicked who have died are not in hell where are they well we sort of touched on this there in their grace John 5 28 and 29 the hour is coming Jesus said in which all that are in the graves will hear his voice and they will come forth they that have done good will come forth are they that have done evil unto the resurrection of damnation is a resurrection of the just and a resurrection of damnation and so the dead in Christ rise first in the second resurrection you've got the lost and they're brought forth for their judgment the wicked is reserved to the day of destruction yet he will be brought to the grave and remain in the tomb until that day until the Judgment Day so nobody is burning in hell now you know that's driven some people to absolute distraction Christian believing parents they've got children that die and they question their salvation and the idea that all the time they walk the earth that they're writhing in some diabolical torture chamber you know how many of you have heard that you know hell is down yonder somewhere that's not really taught there's four words that you find translated hell in the Bible the most common is she'll she o is a Hebrew word and simply means the grave then you've got the word Hades Hades comes from Greek mythology and it's a place of Darkness Pluto is the God in charge of Hades and then you've got one time it mentions the word Tartarus and that just means again a place of darkness and then you've got to get henna and there was a valley outside of Jerusalem called the Valley of Hinnom and it was the city dump and it was often smoldering and full of worms and dead things and and you'll see how that fits into some of the scriptures that come up so what is the reward or punishment for sin the Bible says the wages for sin our everlasting burning in fire so what it says know the wages for sin is death but the gift of God is eternal life see in the very beginning God told Eve if you sin you will die and yet the sad thing is and here it is in Genesis 3:22 lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life and eat and live forever God said man was not to have eternal life and the devil said to Eve you will not surely die and this lie goes all the way back to the devil that you don't really die you sort of die but you really transmigrate you instantly go to be with the lord before the judgment or you go to a place of torment or you go to limbo or purgatory or Abraham's bosom and they got all these other scenarios but the Bible is pretty clear they're dead and they remain in their grades now you know it confuses people it's because you read these verses that say to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord and that's true for the Christian when you're saved you're next conscious thought after you die is a presence of the Lord thousand years could go by but you're not there yet King David Acts chapter 2 Peter says David is dead and buried and his grave is with us to this day and then he goes on and says David is not send it to heaven I mean how much more clear could he be he's dead buried not ascended to heaven and we all agree David will be saved right Bible's pretty clear on that so here's a saved person he's dead buried not in heaven and Peter says this after the resurrection by 40 days some people say well at the resurrection then all the saints went to heaven they would still dead buried and not in heaven but for David when he died about three thousand years ago how long will it seem David slept with his fathers the next thought he has it's going to be the moment the twinkling of an eye absent from the body he'll know the resurrection and the presence of God but it hasn't happened yet because we live in time we live in the dimension of time when you're dead you lose all consciousness of time any of you sleep like that at night I mean maybe you know somebody who sleeps like that if you know well yeah go to sleep and it says 10 o'clock you wake up and it's 7 o'clock and it feels like 2 seconds went by that's pretty nice when that happens huh what are the only two choices that all people have John 3:16 for God so loved the world he gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believes in Him believes in him b lives in him should not perish but have everlasting life so what are the two options we have perish or everlasting life the idea that the punishment for sin is everlasting torture well how in the world if Jesus died for our sin if he did not suffer forever how did he pay a penalty you see what I'm saying if the penalty for sin is death did Jesus die but if the penalty for sin is not perishing or death if the penalty for sin is everlasting torture well Jesus was in the grave and he rose after three days and Jesus said these two options so the penalty for sin is not eternal burning number six what will happen to the wicked in Hellfire proverbs sorry Psalms 37 10 and verse 24 yet a little while and the wicked will not be the wicked shall perish into smoke they will consume away while perish they will consume away they will not be Malachi 4:1 and three the day that comes will burn them up as an oven all the do wickedly shall be stubble please them neither root nor branch the day that comes well that you will tread down the wicked for they will be ashes under the soles of your feet it is so clear they perish there consumed their destroyed their burnt up their burnt with an eternal fire because the results of the fire are eternal you know God is so merciful he's trying to make it clear this is the final fire there's no second chance now this is what confuses people where will Hellfire be people say you know down in hell I remember one time I always have a little embarrassed to admit it but when I stand in line and I'm at Walmart where I buy all my finer clothes I was actually just bought a nice tie it sounds like a commercial isn't it anyway I read the covers of the tabloid magazines I would never buy one unless I do it as a sermon illustration right now but I I read the covers and I remember a few years ago I saw one and it said oil drillers in Siberia drilled deep well and reach hell demons are escaping something like that what a lot of people think is way down yonder hell is down yonder but the Bible's pretty clear that fire rains down on the earth and that becomes held just like Sodom and Gomorrah you can read in Revelation 20 verse 9 speaking of the wicked gog and magog they go up on the breadth of the earth and surround the camp of the saints the beloved city and the Bible says fire comes down from God out of heaven and devoured them there devoured they're all eaten up again 2nd Peter 3:10 says the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise the elements will melt with fervent heat the earth also and the things that are in it will be burned up now at this point the dead in Christ have risen all that's left is the lost that's why Jeremiah says I beheld the surface of the earth and it was broken down and all there's no man all the birds of heaven had fled at the coming of the Lord so this desolation left behind so will the devil be in charge of hell no you know how many of you when you picture the devil you see something like this you've got this guy he's you know sometimes has bat wings and he's got the horns of course and he's got a goatee which is why I won't grow on anymore beards are back in aren't they and it seems like everybody's all these pastors have beards and I grew a beard years ago and people told me I looked like a sinister minister so not so bad when it's a great but when I was younger it was black and I did look kind of devious that's not good did not evangelist we already have a bad reputation don't we evangelists yeah so anyway how do I get off that all the devil's got a beard and he's got the red leotards you know and he's he's got the tail with a point on it and he's got the pitchfork why because he's in charge of hell and he wants to make sure everyone cooks evenly and are you he's like bales of hay he's giving the law sinners into hell and this is actually a combination of Greek mythology with Christian myths nothing in the Bible says that the devil is in charge of hell what does the Bible say revelation 20:10 and the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone which is the second death Satan is cast into the fiery lake of fire and Bible tells us again in Matthew chapter 25 that he declares to the Lost apart from me cursed into fire prepared for the devil and his angels God didn't prepare it for you he's going to prepare a mansion for you if you don't get the mansion it's because you didn't want to follow Jesus but you wanted to follow the devil so you'll get his reward but if you want what Jesus has prepared then you need to trust and surrender your life to him so will the fires of hell ever go out or does it just burn on through endless eternity Isaiah 47 14 there will not be a cold to warm at nor fire to sit before it goes out it's consumed there burnt out or both the soul in the body destroyed in hell you can read this in Matthew chapter 10 verse 28 fear not them that kill the body but are not able to kill the soul but rather fear him that is able to destroy both soul and body in hell and I remember hearing people say before it will yeah pastor Doug you're right that it is true that the the bodies are burned up but the soul is immortal the soul is burned forever and we have immortality you'll either be in heaven with the Lord you're gonna be burning forever and I asked where in the bible does it say we have immortality Paul says we are seeking for immortality Paul says in 1st Timothy God alone has immortality and when Jesus comes the saved will hear him say this mortal puts on immortality but we're not gods we don't have a mortality this is what the devil said to Eve you cannot surely die you are gods you are gonna live forever this is the Bible says he turn a life is promised to the redeemed death is promised to the loss two choices life or death quick story I was driving back from Lubbock Texas to Dickens Texas where I was living about 70 miles across the Texas plains and Christmas Eve as with the family came on this great big I'm driving a little Mazda GLC and I came across one of these big ol you know Texas Buicks and there was a family a father mother and two daughters and the car broke down well I actually used to do mechanic work I mean I've gone from the crank all the way up building engines so I pulled over to see if I could help and he said you know the lights went out in the alternator something's wrong so I looked at it and I said yeah let me tell you now over to my house it was a funny thing you've ever seen this little Japanese Mazda with my family towing him in his car with his family's big hook over the rope and anyways we told him about 20 miles I had the poor little thing wide open no and they came and I looked at his car I said look you your alternator brushes are bad it's Christmas Eve we can't do anything until the stores are open so why don't you stay with us so he'd his family stayed with us it turns out he was a Baptist pastor and so you know it's a lot easier to witness people when they said o or o you you know that's why I pick up hitchhikers and they saw you're so nice it's all good again listen to me preach now and anyway so we started talking and he said well you're Christian I'm a Christian what church on the seventh day adventists is no I know a little bit about advocacy you guys don't believe in hell I said no I believe in now and it's like I think Pastor John stole my line the other day I said my hell's hotter than your hell I said your hell just kind of roasts people forever as mine burns him up so we started talking about that subject we talked about a lot of things but I remember why we were talking about the subject of Hell and it was very friendly conversation I just gave him one scripture after another and he got real quiet and he said no brother dead he said I've seen these verses before and it's really made me wonder but he said I'm afraid if I were to tell my people that they wouldn't come to church anymore if I were to tell them that the loss just burn up and and then they're gone I said if it wasn't the fear of how they wouldn't come to church anymore I said brother you telling me they're coming because they're afraid and that's the wrong reason they want to come because God is love not because fire insurance of some sort I mean who wants to serve a god the only thing reason you're serving them is because you don't want to burn in hell because if that's the only reason you're serving him should you ever get to heaven you've now lost your motivation then you'd be a real threat in heaven because you say no more Hellfire huh you'd have a good time here right no you've got a certain because you love him alright number eleven for whom will Hellfire be kindled it's as I mentioned before it's not for he doesn't want it for us Matthew 25:41 depart from me ye cursed into everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels and I've told you before the everlasting fire the eternal fire is reminding us that the results of this fire are eternal there is no second chance how does the Bible refer to God's destruction of the wicked God is not willing that any should perish it says in Isaiah 28 verse 21 the Lord shall be Roth that he may do his work his strange work and bring to pass his act his strange act it's a strange thing for the Lord God is a God of love Jesus is a loving God he wants to create life he wants to give life he wants to save from death the punishment of the wicked in the destruction of the wicked it breaks his heart you know some of you had to do this before we had a couple of dogs I remember bringing a brother and sister two dogs home years ago when our boys were young the the older boys and we named one Duffy and Duffy would be very clumsy dog and Daniel sort of adopted Duffy and Micah wanted candy candy was a beautiful that you would never believe they were related but they're brother and sister candy was a chocolate brown dog with the yellow eyes very sharp very attentive Duffy how did I he he just went and he bit a rattlesnake or something he wasn't very smart God and he didn't last very long we never quite found out what happened candy was with us 16 years and she was just a you know one of those pets that becomes part of your family in fact candy outlived our son that adopted him and so finally when candy got to that point that dogs typically you know people outlive them generally she was in pretty bad shape and I went I went back home one time and I saw candy was just dragging around and looking just miserable and and I know in the city you go see the vet that's not what you do in the country and I realized the time was coming and I told the family said you need to say goodbye to candy because I got to do something's gonna break my heart but it's gonna be the loving thing to do because she can't get up she can't walk around she's laying out there in the mud right now and it's quite literally what was happening and so I needed to take her out into the woods and dude a strange act and it made me cry and I thought you know when God punishes the wicked he loves his lost children god is love infinitely more than we love our kids let alone our pets and so if if it would break my heart like that to have to put down a dog the idea that God would find any justice or any kind of satisfaction in torturing the lost objects of his creation through endless ages and you know there's no justice in that that would mean if people burned for ever and ever that would mean that Cain who died about five thousand years ago who killed one person that we know of his brother has been burning five thousand years longer than Adolf Hitler and Stalin who were responsible for millions of deaths that would mean that the confused teenager that reaches the age of accountability but they commit suicide and they die without Jesus and now break your head but sometimes it happens that they would get the same punishment as Hitler the idea there's justice in that but the Bible is pretty clear to whom much is given much is required and those who knew their masters will and did not do it they are beaten with many stripes and those who did not know and did things worthy of stripes they are beaten with few stripes so the Bible's clear there are varying rewards indeed the spirit of prophecy says that well there are some who've been born into and lived such miserable lives in such ignorance that they will just be as though they had not been God out of mercy for them because they had no light at all they lived in total pagan darkness they will be as though they had not been that's mercy God is a loving merciful God people are going to get what they deserve now you need to behave because you know too much number thirteen does the bible phrase unquenchable fire indicate that the fire never goes out this is unquenchable fire well let's look at some examples in the Bible that explain that Matthew 3 verse 12 he will thoroughly purge the floor and gather his wheat into the garner but he'll burn up the chaff with unquenchable fire and I believe these are the words of John the Baptist burn up the chaff it's like the wheat materials unquenchable fire Jeremiah 17 the Prophet here warned the people of Israel if you will not hearken to me to hallow the Sabbath day and not to bear a burden even entering in the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day then I will Kindle a fire in the gates thereof and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem and it shall be burned with a fire that is not quenched it says it shall not be quenched and again he says in mark 947 if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out it's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye rather having two eyes to be cast into hell fire where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched by the way here is where he uses the word be cast into Gehenna the city dump they kept it burning all the time so that it would keep the gases down and they were thrown in old baskets and trash and they were burning it and it had dead animals in there his worms he talked about the worm doesn't die it's always a place of revolting but he says the fire is not quenched if you're burning garbage do you call the firemen to purge out you let it burn why do they call it unquenchable fire because you don't want to quench the fire there's no firemen in hell isn't that right and when the wicked are burned they're going to be burned according to what they deserved somes gonna be quick some it's gonna be longer the Bible actually says Satan day and night forever and ever and you're probably wondering what does that mean so I better get to it number 14 doesn't the phrase everlasting fire mean an ending Jude tells us in verse 7 we read this Sodom and Gomorrah are set forth for an example suffering the Vengeance of eternal fire it means what happens through the fire is forever there will never again be any wicked and you can go down to the lowest part of the earth now it's so there in the Jordan Valley where Sodom and Gomorrah were once located they're not burning today there's nothing there when revelation 20:10 says that the wicked will be tormented forever and ever doesn't that indicate endless time read in the Book of Jonah chapter 2 verse 6 Jonah was in the belly of the sea monster and I bet you that felt like Hades can you imagine that I used to think if Jonah somehow was still alive inside the digestive system of that sea creature there might have been other things that were on the menu still alive in there it'd be bad enough that you can just imagine being inside some monster you're all in one piece and then he decides to have an appetizer and and some dessert and in comes the sea urchin in this stinging jellyfish and bioluminescence flashing and scaring you half to death and and you're in there and can you imagine three days like that how long would that have seemed to you have you ever said to someone well I haven't seen them forever and then you might say and they came over to my house and I thought they were gonna stay forever but Jonah says the earth with her bars was around me forever but how long was he there you keep reading saying in chapter one it says three days and three nights it did have a limit on it you can also read in Revelation it says the smoke of their torment ascends up revelation 14:11 forever and ever what does this mean now first of all where talks about the smoke I remember when I used to drive across Texas I would see these every ten miles they had a city because it started out as a big farming state and all the cities have their own dump and people would burn the trash in the 55-gallon drums and eventually when it filled up they'd take it all May dump it but frequently it was still smoldering and wherever the dumps were you could see little riblets of smoke ascending up out of sight forever and ever and so the smoke you remember what it said about Sodom ignored Abraham looked and he saw it was like the smoke of a furnace it sends up to heaven and so when the wicked are all burned it's gonna look like Sodom and Gomorrah the smoke ascends up forever and ever so what is this expression for ever and ever mean now you got to be careful because as soon as you try to say well forever doesn't always mean forever people are gonna say well aren't we getting life forever does that mean our eternal life is not forever you know you're getting eternal life you need to read it in its context but you can't deny there are examples in the Bible where it uses the word forever and it had a definitive end for example Exodus 21 6 if you had a servant that you liked and he wanted to stay with you even after he was allowed to go free you went through this ceremony and it says he would be your servant forever well that didn't mean even on into heaven until you died when Hannah brought Samuel to the temple she brought him to abide there forever well that was then she goes on he says in verse 28 and that was first Samuel 120 to go to first samuel 128 that means as long as he lives that's what it says so forever meant what as long as he lives and the reason the Bible uses a vague term to describe the punishment of the wicked is because it's different for everybody he we're gonna get different rewards right are there different rewards even in heaven that's right and there are different awards for the wicked as well where ever and ever is a biblical expression which means until the end of the age it doesn't it's not necessarily an infinite unending length of time you need to read that in its context now when you run into difficulties like this you need to explain if someone's going to say to me well pastor Douglas what about the parable of the rich man and Lazarus and it seems like that poor beggar died and the next thing he knows he's in Abraham's bosom but the rich man dies who would not share his crumbs he goes to Hades and he's in torment and he says he's in the flame and send Lazarus with a drop of water to cool me for I'm tormented in this flame and you can read about that in the Gospel of Luke and only appears in Luke chapter 16 verse 19 that is a parable and Jesus uses incredible paradoxes in that parable you've got Lazarus who represents the Gentiles who's outside hungry for the crumbs that fall from the table of the rich man the Jewish nation has the bread of life they're feasting on the word and arguing among themselves and the Gentiles are dying around them hungering for the crumbs remember the Gentile woman came to Jesus she said yeah even the puppies get the crumbs so it's pretty clear but what Jesus does is very ironic it says the poor beggar who represents the Gentiles he dies he goes to Abraham's bosom only time that's used in the Bible every Jew wanted to be with father Abraham they want to sit down in the kingdom with Abraham Isaac and Jacob and here Jesus has got the Gentile going to Abraham's bosom and the rich man dies and he goes to the Greek place of torment PT's although Jews understood Greek mythology if I were to tell you a story right now and say alright one day Alice was walking in Wonderland you all know right away because you're acquainted with the English fairy tales that I'm not serious I'm using an illustration right Jesus used a term they all understood it's a terrible so the idea that you die and go right to heaven or hell is not what he was teaching he was saying if you don't believe Moses and the prophets then you won't be persuaded that one should rise from the dead because remember in the story they said all but if Lazarus would rise from the dead then my father's house would believe he said let them read Moses and the prophets Jesus it was a parable for the Jewish nation and for the church that if we're not feeding those who are hungry for the truth that falls from our table we might find that we're on the outside and the ones who love the truth are in the inside has nothing to do with the state of man and death or Hellfire that parable and someone else is going to be wondering about the thief on the cross and we've got some of these oh by the way there's a website it's very popular it's called hell truth com it's got all kinds of studies and videos and you can recommend it to anybody hell truth comm we get a lot of people to come there and they learn the truth about this and are happy number 16 after sin in sinners are destroyed what will Jesus do for his people nevertheless we according to his promise look for a new heaven and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness and God will wipe away all tears from their eyes and there will be no more death no more sorrow no more pain no more crying neither shall there be any more pain for the former things are passed away Bible says no more pain no more crying how can all things be made new and there be a torture chamber full of sinners crying in pain God is trying to cleanse the universe from pain he doesn't want an eternal place of pain he wants all things to be made new and so the more and more people even from other churches are learning the Bible truth about this this all came down to us from mythology and church tradition to try to scare people a lot of it was used to manipulate people and to try to get resources from them I remember years ago when I lived up in the Cape that my cat caught a little kangaroo rat it was right around dinnertime at a campfire going and and you know cats are kind of sadistic a dog if he catches a rat one gulp it's gone a cat likes to play with its food they like the entertainment before dinner kind of you know they catch it and let it go and they bought it did jump on it again and then they let it go and they carry it over they show you they've got it and they let it go and they pound and I you know I can't had to eat and so I didn't interfere but he got he brought me this kangaroo rat and the poor thing was you know all beat up and dazed and my cat let go of it again and it gave one final hop except it hopped into my campfire listen to you I just talked about a rat fallen in the fire you could not bear the thought of a rat falling in fire and yet some people think this is what God's gonna do years ago my mother was very worried because her daughter used to walk two miles to school this is back when the country was safe and you could send your kids off to school when the weather was good she had her kids walk to school and and she noticed that afternoon that thunder clouds came up and there was a tremendous lightning storm and she figured based on the clock that her daughter was going to be caught right out in the middle of the plains and it's very fierce violent lightning story that she's gonna be scared she's gonna get struck by lightning and she hopped in the jalopy and went down the road to try to pick up her daughter and as she could see over on the hills her daughter walking on the trail whenever there was a when he's terrifying flashes of lightning her daughter would stand still she turned up to the sky and she'd smile and then she'd start walking down the road she saw two or three times her daughter lightning would flash he'd stopped she looked up where the flash came from a Gees smile as he keep walking finally she got up to her daughter and you know at this point the rains coming in and she said what in the world were you doing I saw every time there's lightning you turn around and you'd smile she said well I figured that God was taking pictures and I wanted to look pretty now there's a kid that has the right idea of her heavenly father she was not afraid God doesn't want us to live in fear and you know my heart goes out to people that's why I love this message because when I learned the truth about this for the first time in my life I thought I could be a Christian I think I could love a god like this and I was so happy to learn that the Lord Jesus died to save us from the lake of fire because he doesn't want us to perish he wants us to have eternal life and that he's gonna purify the universe and there's gonna be no more pain the wicked are gonna be gone how could you ever enjoy eternity if lost people that you may have known and loved or outside some torture chamber burning through eternity with God erase all natural emotion from our hearts no God is gonna deal with it in a just in a loving way where we will be able to trust and love him all through eternity don't you want to do that friends god is good god is love and that we need to get the truth about this out because a lot of people are living lines of fear and they can't trust and love God and I'd like to just pray with you as we close that we can have that relationship Father in heaven we are so thankful for the truth that shows you our loving God that truth that sets us free help us all come to know Jesus in that way I pray for all those that are listening or watching that they might know that you are just God of love there is a reward to be had eternal life and the lost will perish help us to choose Jesus in life in his name we pray amen [Music] [Music] you [Music]

Channel: Three Angels Broadcasting Network (3ABN)

Views: 81,591

Rating: 4.6504064 out of 5

Keywords: 3ABN, Three Angels Broadcasting Network, yt:quality=high, Hell Fire, Doug Batchelor, fire and brimstone, eternal fire, God of Mercy, the second death, fires of hell, Isaiah 47:14, Mathew 10:28

Id: Tqu0sig5eO8

Length: 58min 0sec (3480 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 04 2017