Hell Is No Joke (Sermon by Jimmy Swaggart)

you have your Bibles this morning with your turn with me please thank you singers and musicians praise the Lord turn with me please to the book of st. Luke Paul called him the beloved physician Luke wrote the book that bears his name he wrote the great book of Acts as well some believe he may have been one of the 7d who followed Jesus some think he was a Gentile some think he was one of the two on the road to e moss after Jesus rose from the dead Cleophus the other one but he respected he was used of God my delay he along recorded this tremendous illustration given by Christ of which I read only a tiny portion of it and in hell he lifted up his eyes being in torments and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom and he cried and said father Abraham have mercy on me send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame and I want to use for a subject speaking a few minutes today hell is no joke hell is no joke would you bow your heads Heavenly Father in the name of Jesus today we thank you we ask you Lord that you wouldn't help us to preach this word that you have given unto us engrafted word that's able to save our souls and North the people we cry we pray as well to hear and receive we ask it all in the name of Jesus Christ and everyone said a man and a man my whole family came to the Lord with the exception of a few aunts and uncles of which I am aware when this great gospel came to us back in 1940 my grandmother was one of the godless women I ever knew which Frances can attest to as well she was a woman of phenomenal faith she would even at time stop me while I was praying because I had a prayer meeting when Francis and I first married I would go over to her house every afternoon after getting off from work and we would have a prayer meeting and sometimes she would stop me right in the middle of my praying and tell me son you're not praying right and tell me how to pray and I remember so many things about her but one in particular she grounded into my spirit she said Jimmy God is a big God so ask big Oh hallelujah glory to God glory to God glory to God he's a big God so ask big her sister was unsaved her husband her sister's husband they put in a restaurant and gambling was legal then an hour Perry and my uncle had a row of slot machines in that restaurant and my grandmother that was his her brother-in-law she speaking to him one day about his soul because she was praying for her sister I don't know that her sister ever did give her heart to Christ but she was constantly witnessing to both of them and one day she was talking to my uncle by now he was quite wealthy he drove the finest automobiles that money could buy he dressed in the very finest suits of clothes that money could buy she was speaking with him this day about his soul as only my grandmother could and finally she said to him rather bluntly Harvey these slot machines are going to take you to hell now that's a blunt statement it pulls no punches the Holy Spirit through her had her to get to the very heart of the matter for money was my uncle's God and he looked at her and said I will go to hell before I give up my slot machines that's what he said I will go to hell before I give up my slot machines about three months later the County voted an ordinance of no gambling and they haul those slot machines out one by one and broke them up with broad axes about three months after that my uncle drop dead with a heart attack when my aunt my aunt my grandmother got the word that her brother-in-law had a heart attack they got him to the hospital she rushed there as quickly as she could fighting to try to get there and when she walked in they said mrs. Wu Gert it's too late he died on the way in the ambulance to the hospital that has been about 65 years ago my uncle said to say horrifyingly to say unless at the last moment he had time to cry to God and there is no knowledge if he did or didn't but if not and more than likely he did not he's been in hell now for some 60 65 years and he will be there forever and forever when God created man he created man spirit soul and body the Bible said that God breathed into Adam and Adam became a living soul that means you are a soul which is eternal you have a spirit which is eternal your soul and your spirit which are indivisible meaning that cannot be separated even though they are different lives in a tabernacle called the physical body whereas the physical body will wear out and ultimately upon death go back to dust the soul and the spirit of every human being is alive right now either in heaven or hell let me say that again you have eternity in your heart you are not just a piece of ectoplasm and the child in the womb is not a fetus or a blob you can change the name but it doesn't change the reality at the moment of conception it is a human being and that human being will live forever and forever I'm 74 years young and yet it seems like some of the things I did when I was a child just happened a short time ago life is like as somebody said the stay of the postman at the door he's there and then he's gone laughs is like the Sun that rises and then it sets there is so little distance between the cradle and the coffin and so little time between our good mornings and our good night so little time between our hellos and our goodbyes but when we think of eternity our human mind cannot cannot grasp it forever and forever a thousand years a million years a billion years a trillion years forever your soul and your spirit right now at this moment most of the population that has ever lived from the time of Adam until now and I don't say this with gladness because there is no joy in heaven over the death of the wicked but most are in hell most are in hell you see only a few are in heaven jesus said Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leads to life and few there be who find it think of that every soul who has ever lived is either in heaven or hell at this moment and fully conscious now Jesus himself gave us the most chilling account the most graphic account of life after death that anyone ever gave including the prophets of old an Ezekiel Isaiah had much to say about this but Jesus in 1 Allah stration and some have tried to pass it off and say it was just a parable just a story or no he called names in this illustration and he never did that with parables and I realized that today that most of the pulpits in this nation and around the world and Christendom do not even believe there is such a place called hell more than likely at this moment there are so few sermons right now in America being preached on this subject if you would ask the preacher most would say well maybe there's a hell but it's not literal others would say yes there's a hell but it's here in this life there may be held in this life but that's not the hell Jesus was talking about well how do you know there is a hell how do you know there is a heaven to use reverse to go up instead of down how do you know there is a city built Foursquare how do you know the walls are of Jasper the gates are of solid pearl how do you know the streets are made of gold how do you know that there is a place called heaven how do I know there's a place called hell because this Bible says that it is because the Bible says that it is I believe the Word of God every word from in the beginning God created the heavens of the earth to the last word in revelation 22:17 I believe it all man shall not live by bread alone jesus said but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God there was a man who was rich there was a beggar who was named Lazarus Jesus did not call the name of the rich man and he did it or didn't do it because of relatives or loved ones others who were left our Lord is always cognizant of the feelings of people whatever he said about that rich man or about Lazarus didn't really matter they were dead the man was rich Lazarus on the other hand was poverty-stricken you have to understand the Jewish thinking of that time the Jews thought that if a man or a woman were rich that was the blessing of God that may be but not necessarily so and they thought if someone was in the state of Lazarus poor much less a beggar that that was the curse of God on him and Jesus turned their theology inside out upside down when he says the material financial economical physical status of the person has nothing to do with their soul did you get that you can have a PhD in quantum physics and if you don't know Christ you don't know how to live you can have a PhD in humanistic psychology but if you do not know Jesus Christ you do not know how to live you can have a PhD and whatever field of endeavor you choose but if you don't know Christ I said across the table once and I too will be circumspect I will not call a name from one of the members and I won't even call the President of the President of the United States a member of his cabinet I said across the table from him I suggested to him that he write a certain thing in the President's speech that was to be delivered that night to America and he wrote it exactly as I asked him he was brilliant he committed suicide when I read it in the paper not so long ago his social status his physical status his economic status did not save his soul I'm trying to get you to understand something you can be rich and be saved you can be rich and be lost you can be in poverty and be saved you can be in poverty and be lost and the Bible said that Lazarus hoped to be fed from the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table I have no doubt that this rich man was proud with himself that he gave Lazarus some crumbs are you hearing me I want to ask a question this morning let me be as prayerfully to say it right so you won't misunderstand I know a few people who are wealthy only a few who are generous with their finances with the work of God do you follow me I'm no son it's not many but I know some who are wealthy and they do not give God crumbs they are generous with his work I know a lot of rich people as well who claim to be saved and maybe they are I'm not questioning their salvation but all they give our crumbs you follow me and they think aren't I doing something wonderful I knew a very wealthy man once he's now with the Lord he came to the Lord under this ministry and he was a great help to this ministry and I loved him like a brother and I want to emphasize that he was a great help to this ministry but he didn't do near what he could have done and not even impacted him at all I was talking with him one day in one business deal he had just lost two million dollars now maybe to you that's pocket change but that's a lot of money to me he had lost two million dollars we were discussing it he's rung to showed us at all I'll just write it off I'll just write it off and he did and he should have but when he said it I figured it up he had not given to the work of God in the ten years I knew him or 15 that much money two million dollars as he lost in that one business deal but if you would have asked him he would have thought old man I support the work of God greatly but according to what he had he wasn't and didn't and now now the millions that he made 10 20 30 40 50 millions of dollars are being thrown away I mean literally pitched out in the yard thrown away am I getting through to you that's why Jesus said lay up treasures in heaven where thieves cannot break break through and steal and where malls do not corrupt and Russ does not take her if somebody ought to hear what I'm saying and I'll say the opposite direction it's not what you would do with riches should millions err be your light but what you're doing at present with a dollar and a quarter you got hallelujah are you giving God crumbs you need to answer that question are you giving God crumbs I want the Holy Spirit to take that word down deep in your heart and I don't want you to misunderstand I am grateful for every dollar that's given for the work of God and some of you are doing all that you can do but I want to ask are you doing all you can do are you giving God crumbs desiring to be fed from the crumbs that fell from the rich man's table and he died Lazarus full of sores begging for a living why he was in this state I cannot answer that I don't know what happened to him that this was his lot I do not know that but in the final analysis ever how long lazers lived I don't know how long it was 40 years 50 60 70 whatever it was it's long since since passed he's in heaven today and he'll be there forever and forever are you getting the contrast are you understanding whatever it was on this earth he didn't have that that was that's a sorrowful thing and I hate when I read about him in the 16th chapter of Luke but in comparison to Eternity what was it nothing and when he died considering that the Jewish theology of that day thought what he has the curse of God on him no doubt his body was taken to the potter's field where those who died were buried who had no financial means to have a reasonable funeral and probably they put his remains and nobody was there no one was there and a little wooden coffin and wrapped it and walked away but even though you could not see it with the eye Jesus said angels came down buckle for security lahum durable safe angels came down it said the plural angel so not just one but I don't know two five ten they thought enough of Lazarus because his soul was saved and they came down and accompanied his soul and his spirit to paradise somebody oughta get happy praise God praise God I see this young man's uniform here I have a great respect for the military if God had to call me to preach L would have probably wound up in the military because I respect it I respect the spit and the polish I respect the comrades Manship I respect from the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli we'll fight our nation's battles on the land and on the sea you see the picture you saw it just a few days ago June the 6th bringing back to our memory and rightly so the landings in Normandy June the 6th 1944 I've walked through that graveyard for over 9,000 American boys are buried who died the first two days Omaha Beach Sword Beach Juno Beach I walk through those graves lives cut short they never had the opportunity to live as I have lived in you have lived in the prime of life and I don't like : powell too much but I'll always remember one thing he said which was gloriously right he said this nation is spilled its blood in country after country of the world to set men free and we've never asked one thing of any country except a little land to bury our dead and I wondered as I walk through those crossings some few of them were the Star of David on them how many were saved when they died but I'll guarantee you that far more of them that their physical bodies already gone back to dust even though that stone is sticking there when they were facing German Nazis shot in shell that more of them than didn't cried to God for grace and mercy a little bit inland among the hedgerows an American boy was hit among thousands he couldn't get up he tried to and he couldn't he was in a slight depression blood was flowing he was trying to stop it and a German jumped into that foxhole and saw it was an American and picked up his rifle with a bayonet to thrust it through him and that American boy said Oh help me Jesus help me and that German slowly put down his rifle and broken English said my mother was a Christian she knew Jesus Christ Oh glory to God and he tended his wounds and bandaged him up up and I don't know if he's alive today or not but that's what the world needs it's Jesus just one glimpse of him angels came and took the soul in the spirit of Lazarus to paradise I want you to get that the moment a child of God dies I don't care who they are what the color the skin might be their status in this world or the lack thereof angels came and come and take them home to glory all glory and praise praise the Lord praise the Lord praise the Lord praise the Lord praise the Lord now I've gotten just about a third way through this message but I've run out of time and I'll finish it next Sunday morning unless Jesus comes I think it was nineteen it must have been about 1991 up to something like that I was coming to the office that morning that's before Sun Life Radio now turned to the news on some station here radio I remember I pulled up to McDonald's to get some breakfast or something and the announcer said to very notable Americans died this week African Americans one was Thurgood Marshall the first african-american Supreme Court justice passed away this week but this was not a gospel program that had nothing to do with the gospel was not a gospel newscast and he said the other African American who passed away was Tommy Dorsey I listened he said to Thurgood Marshall as the first Supreme Court justice of this nation that was African American crossed barriers that were impossible to cross but he did and set an example for millions of other African Americans but he said Tommy Dorsey influenced and affected in a positive sense the whole world because Tommy Dorsey wrote the song precious Lord take my makeup off Alleluia he walked into his wife's bedroom she was sick their first baby was about to be born he was asked to go sang in st. Louis he lived in Chicago and he wrestled with it and got out of the room after kissing her goodbye and went back again and kissed her one more time their first child was almost ready to be born he went to st. Louis when he sang that night he said there was an unusual anointing and the people would let him stop he just kept singing the refrain course after course and he sat down and somebody handed Tommy Dorsey a telegram and it said Reverend Dorsey we're sorry to inform you like this but your wife and your baby both died a few hours ago he bared them both in one casket and it lacked have killed it he thought for it I don't think I can stand it I don't want to live if I had stayed I would have been with her when she died and maybe I could have done something that she not that and it almost pulled him to the place that he was unable to function and he sat down to the piano and it just began to come to him precious Lord take my hand lead me home help me stand I am weak I am tired thou art strong through the day through the night lead me on by your by hi take my hand precious or lead me on hallelujah hallelujah yes the man was right when Tommy Dorsey died he said Thurgood Marshall affected this country Tommy Dorsey touched the world can you sing it please precious long take my hand help me stand after I am we ah me rush I won't francis than two brethren and Carolyn I want you to come please I want you to stand right here listen to me if that rich man that I that Jesus told about could be here this morning he would run down these aisles and he would tell you whatever you do make Jesus the Lord of your life and the savior of your soul because you see there are no unbelievers in hell I'm going to ask him to sing it one more time and if you are not positive or sure of your soul salvation I want you to step out and I want you to come and stand here but these brethren are these ladies you'd better be sure you'd better be certain I'm not asking you to join our church I'm asking you to make it right with God I want you to come precious lord thirty-five come on Sean form a little more the Lord is calling you are you absolutely sure your soul that's right with golf leave me precious law and little more sir God check it one more time it's the presence of God in this place come on the Spirit of God deals with a got position here Oh son daughter I'm top I come on young come on me the Holy Spirit has told me to say this that there are some in this place I don't know who you are I don't know where you stand but the Spirit of God is dealing with you he's told me tell them that they're going to sing it one more time and you can't afford to throw this aside too much is at stake your eternal soul is at stake and as they sing it I want you to step out I want to say it again we will not embarrass you I promise we're not here to get you to join our church we're here that you might make things right with God come on right now as they sing it precious speak to your heart ah come on sure god purchaser and leave me come on sir come on right now I want about another 50 or 75 believers to come stand behind these good people please can I get you to come I want you to look at brother Swaggart please I want you to look at man I want you to listen to me very carefully God loves you I want you to know that he loves you your name is on this service right now the Lord is poised in heaven to write your name down in the Lamb's Book of Life I'm going to pray I want you to say it after me a long time ago the Lord told me said don't take it for granted that people know how to pray a lot of them don't you pray for them and let them pray with you and if they will believe it I will save them if they will believe it I will save about your heads please and let us pray dear God in heaven dear to God in heaven I'm sorry for my sins I'm sorry for my sins the way I've lived the way I've lived the things I've done the things I've done please forgive me please forgive me cleanse me with your precious blood with your precious blood from all unrighteous from all unrighteousness with my mouth with my mouth I confess I confess the Lord Jesus the Lord Jesus in my heart in my heart I believe I believe that God raised Jesus the God raised Jesus from the dead and he's alive and he's alive right now right now this moment this moment I accept Jesus Christ I accept Jesus Christ as the Saviour of my soul as the savior of my soul and I make him make you the Lord of my life the Lord of my life and according to God's Word according to God this very moment it's very much I'm wash and wash I'm cleanse I'm forgiving affricate I am safe praise God praise God praise God turn around and love somebody welcome them into the family well I'm saved by love divine Christ is Oh now I'm ready Oh the sonlife broadcasting network

Channel: The Zephaniah Ministry

Views: 491,251

Rating: 4.6627421 out of 5

Keywords: jimmy, swaggart, ministries, Jesus, God, Holy Spirit, family, worship, center, baton, rouge, louisiana, fwc, resurrection, singers, Lord

Id: tTM3bKIwoRM

Length: 48min 0sec (2880 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 17 2015