Fischer, Larry: Thoughts on Hell ~ John 18

Let's open up to John, Gospel of John, chapter eighteen. And I just want to read this. It was interesting this morning, we... I'd read in chapter nineteen and saw this. How do people perceive things? How do people think about things? If you ask somebody if there's gold in China, what do you think they'd say? Yes or no? Uncle Bob, you think there's gold in China? Do you think there's gold in China? I've never been there. You've never been there? But we could say that probably there is gold in China, but we've never seen it. Okay? How are we going to believe that there's gold in China? Maybe somewhere we read it, somebody else told us they saw it. How do we perceive what we think and what we believe? A lot of times comes from what other people say. In chapter eighteen, this is Jesus in front of Pilate. In, uh, thirty three it says, then Pilate entered the praetorium again, called Jesus and said to him, are you the king of the Jews? And Jesus answered him, are you speaking for yourself about this, or did others tell you this concerning me? People find out that I am a Christian and that I believe what the Bible says is the word of God and that it's the truth. And their response is, I don't believe it's the word of God, and I don't believe it's the truth. And I always think of this verse. Did somebody tell you this, or did you come about this under your own conviction, under your own conclusion? Did you come up with the Bible is not the word of God? Last time I stood up here when we had the program with the children, I said that I would challenge anybody to show me that this is not the word of God. Nobody came to me. You know why? Because they can't. This is the word of God, and it is the word of God because it says it is the word of God. In the gospel, same gospel, John chapter seventeen verse seventeen, it says, sanctify them in your truth. Thy word is truth. I don't believe the Bible is the word of truth because somebody told me it was. I believe it's because I read it. I read it with my own eyes. And in reading this, this, this word of God, one thing I have come to realize is the Bible says trust no. I can't trust a man to tell me the truth unless he's reading it from the Bible. In every different religious sect, whatever, see, I think that a concept that the world has of religion is that I am a religious person. People have told me this time and time again, people at work. Oh, well, you're a religious person, Lare. People can be religious at things. I can tell you people that have Eagles season tickets are religious at being at every home game. What is religious is something that you do over and over and over. I don't come here to the chapel because I have to. I don't read my Bible because I have to. These are all things that I want to do. There's a big difference between having to do something and wanting to do something. Okay? Cory has to do his homework. All right? Does he? No, he really doesn't have to, but he has to face the consequences for not doing his homework. Okay? There's things that we, we don't have to do anything, right? There's a sister that used to go here, and she was an officer, and she told me a story of a woman that she pulled over on the way horse bike that was speeding, and the woman rolled her window down this much, and she knocked on the window and said, ma'am, you have to roll your window. And the woman said, cop, all I have to do is be black and die. All I have to do is be white and die. Now, do I have to pay taxes? Yes, I have to pay taxes. But the woman had a very profound truth there. She didn't have to do anything, but yet she had to face the consequences. Okay? I don't know what happened to that woman. I'm sure she got a ticket, because I'm sure that she wasn't being respectful to the authority that was above her. I've asked people, many people I've talked to, there's a girl at work. She said she believes in heaven, that there is a heaven, but she doesn't believe there's a hell. She believes there's a God, but she doesn't believe in Satan, that there is a devil. I asked her, why do you believe these things? How can you believe there's a heaven but not a hell? How can you believe that there is an almighty God but not a devil? It comes from the same book. God wrote these things down so that we would know these things, that there is a heaven, that there is a hell, that there is an almighty God, and that there is a devil. She said, well, that's what I was taught. I was taught. I just believe that here on earth is hell. This is hell, and that when we die, everyone goes to heaven. Everyone goes to heaven. And I just use, like using him as an example, although I've never ever met the man. That means that Charles Manson would go to heaven. Hitler would be in heaven. Now, if we go into the whole good bad thing, Charles Manson and Hitler were not good people. Hitler murdered thousands of Jewish people and other sects that did not flow with what his thought of how the world would be. That means that he would be in heaven. Now, could Hitler be in heaven? Yes, he could. If before he died, he asked for forgiveness for his sins, and God forgave him. See, the Bible says, tell you what, turn to Ephesians. The book of Ephesians. Oh, by the way, I have this list up here. This has nothing to do with my message, but I have this list that I believe needs to be taped to the front, the back door there, so we know who's doing nursery and nobody forgets. That was from Amy. And a quick prayer request, Brianna is sick. She has bronchial pneumonia. And I don't know how bad that is, but I love to get that reaction from people that... So let's just, if you remember her, that she would get better, um... She has her very strong will, and when she's sick, it's even stronger. So, and and pray for Amy. Please don't pray for patience for Amy, because I don't need Brianna getting anymore in an uproar, because I know that getting patience, you have to have chaos. Um, Ephesians chapter two, verse eight and nine. Cor, would you mind helping me for a minute? Do you have it? Did you find it? No. No? Okay. Do you know where it is? No. Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians. Galatians, or Ephesians chapter two verse eight says, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself, it is the gift of God, not of works, least anyone should boast. Do we know what that means? I mean, is there some secret, some mystery behind this verse, or is it, does it say what it means? For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not of works, least anyone should boast. See, the problem with humans is we have pride in us, and we like to boast about things that we do. Don't we? Everything, you know, we we could do whatever. It doesn't matter how little or menial it is or how big it is, people like to boast about what they did. Look what I did. Children. Mommy, look what I did. It's cute, but it's also boasting. And I'm not saying that little children will go to hell. Please get me right on that. People go to hell when they are accountable and at the proper age to understand the difference between right and wrong. Little children don't know the difference between right and wrong, but everybody here who has had kids or grandkids or have been around children can testify. Ch- children do not have to be taught how to be bad. It's already in them. They already know how to s- what's the first word most kids know how to say? No. Right? Now some, some doctors, psychologists will say, well, that's because their mother and father all the time are saying, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. No, it's because we are born with sin. The Bible says we're all born with sin. We all have sin. We have all gone astray from Gro- from God. A child, until they reach, the Bible says you have to be at an accountable age. So, as far as, and I- I've read stories on this, I've heard preachers talk about it, that there'll be children in hell. There will be no children in hell, and I mean children that aren't accountable. When you get to a certain age, you become accountable, and you understand the difference between right and wrong. Right, Cor? You know the difference between right and wrong. Yes. All right, Corey understands that. The Bible also says to know what is right and to not do it is sin. All right, little children don't understand that yet. That's what we as parents are supposed to do, to instill that in them. And it's amazing how the spirit leads me in that direction when I didn't study any of this at all during the week. What I really want to talk about was hell. It's a real place, and I know it's a real place because Jesus Christ, the Son of God, talked about it like it was a real place. It wasn't just simple made-up stories that he told to scare people. It's a real place. And there's a reason why the Bible says to look to the heavens and focus on the coming of the Lord. Because when you start focusing on the other, heartache. It brings much heartache. When I think about those who I love and those who I know, who don't know the Lord. When you think about it, we talk about eternity, heaven in eternity. But what about those who don't know the Lord? An eternity in hell. What is hell? Is it just to be separated from God? That would be hell enough to be standing in the holy presence of God and for him to just say, depart from me, I never knew you. What a horrible, horrible thought for me to know people that have passed on from this life to the next. How's that for you? How many people have we talked to, have we been around that we knew enough to tell them about the Lord Jesus? And we didn't. And we didn't. There's a man who I worked with, Lorenzo. He died on a motor- in a motorcycle accident. Now, do I know he's in hell? No, we don't know who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. At least I know I don't. I know I'm going to heaven, not because of anything I did, not because of what, what supposedly of a good person I am. God has shown me that I am a vile, wretched sinner, and it is only by the act of Jesus Christ on the cross dying for us. His action, his love for us, our faith. We are to walk by faith, not by sight. It's our faith in the act of Calvary, Christ dying on the cross and believing that he rose again and is now seated at the right hand of God the Father. In believing this, and not just a, a, a head belief, a head knowledge, but a heart knowledge. How I know I'm going to heaven is that when I accepted the fact that I was lost, and I asked God to show me. Show me what this means, because I don't understand it. And instantly, my eyes were opened. Now, do I understand everything in this book? No. Nobody does. You know, we talked about this morning, the breadth and length and width of the love of God, the height of it, it's unsearchable. Does that mean we can't search it? No. But it means that for all the years that we will be here, we can search and search, and we'll never find all of it. We won't know the extent of God's love until we get to heaven. And then it's going to take eternity for him to explain it to us. I think it's going to take eternity for us to understand it. But we'll be in an eternal paradise heaven. But what about those that will be in eternal punishment in hell? This man, Lorenzo, died. Now, I know that he was a drug dealer. I know because I know he supplied drugs to everybody at work, and they all talked about it. And he did it up to the day he died on his motorcycle. So if I didn't tell this man about Christ, and he died and did not have Jesus as his savior, that means that man's in hell, and he's been in hell for the past three years. Let's look at... the Gospel of Luke. Chapter sixteen. What's interesting about this, chapter sixteen, verse nineteen. Some may say that this story is a parable, a story that Jesus spoke of, meaning something else, but yet it never says it's a parable. Every story that Jesus spoke of starts, and he spoke this parable, and he spoke this parable, the tars, the coin, everything was he spoke this parable. This does not start with he spoke this parable. This starts with there was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared suppliously every day, but there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, not the same Lazarus that Jesus rose from the dead. Full of sores, who was laid at his gate, desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, dogs came and licked his sores. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried, and being in torment in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. Then he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this fire, in this flame. But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. Then he said, I beg you, therefore, Father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, least they also come to this place of torment. Abraham said to him, they have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, no, father. It's funny that he's arguing with Abraham. No, father, Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. But he said to him, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rise from the dead. I believe this happened. I believe that there is a rich man in hell, and he's been there for some two thousand years in torment. First, let me note, this man, this rich man, is not in hell because he was rich. And Lazarus did not go to paradise to Abraham's bosom because he was poor. They would be possessive things that these people have. It has nothing to do with who goes to heaven and who goes to hell. What's odd, though, is that I'm sure the disciples kind of were surprised that this rich man went to heaven, or went to hell, because in the Old Testament, riches were a sign of a blessing from God. Why did the rich man go to hell? Because his heart wasn't right with the Lord. He didn't trust in the Lord to save him, because even in the Old Testament, they still had to have faith to trust in the Lord for their salvation. Jesus hadn't come yet. The Lord Jesus wasn't on the scene, but they still had to have faith to trust the Lord. So this rich man didn't show that he loved God, because it says if you love God, you love your neighbors and and the commandments. Did he show love towards his neighbor? No, because Lazarus sat outside of his, of his gates, starving and waiting for the crumbs to fall off this man's table. That's what he would eat. So this rich man did not go to he- go to hell because he was rich. He went to hell because he didn't trust the Lord. Lazarus went to heaven because he put his trust in the, in, in the Lord. Okay, twenty two. So it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes. Some people use a term called soul sleep. That means that when a person dies, they actually go into a dormant state and sleep until the day of judgment. The Bible does not state that anywhere. There is nothing that proves of soul sleep. The Bible does teach. Paul says, when I'm absent from the body, I am present with the Lord. There is an awareness after this life. Do we have bodies then? No, our bodies go into the grave until the day we are all resurrected, and our bodies will be resurrected, and we will have a new body. The rich man had torment. What does this mean to us? If he was tormented, that meant that he had feelings. He could feel things in hell. He lifted up his eyes. He could see. This man was totally aware of what was going on in his surroundings. He saw Abraham afar off. Now, throughout this entire week, I've read different commentaries from different brothers, and I've accessed all kinds of information. Some say that where Abraham was, paradise, was heaven, and that where the rich man was, was hell. But the rich man could see Lazarus. Others say that where the, where Abraham was, was paradise, not heaven, because God is in heaven. And what can't be in God's presence? Sin. So if sin can't be in God's presence, how could hell and heaven be right next to each other where they could see each other? Because God's in heaven, right? And again, do I have an answer for this? No, just two options that I'm giving you. I'm still weighing them both out. But the rich man was fully aware of what was going on. When he cried and said, and it says that he cried. Why did he cry? Because he was in torment. He was in absolute torment. Rachel decided to do a cartwheel the other night, and she had just sharpened her pencil, so it had a very sharp point on it. Now, she has enough knowledge not to do a cartwheel with the pencil in her hand, so she put the pencil on the floor, but when she did the cartwheel, her hand went right up against the pencil that was laying on the floor and jabbed her into her hand. Rachel, would you describe that as being in torment? Meaning you were in pain, right? And what were you doing? Not that I want to embarrass you, but what were you doing? It hurt, right? And what were you doing in the kitchen? Screaming. Screaming. Cry. I thought she cut her finger off. Went running down the hallway, and she was just, had lost all control, was in total torment from the pain that was in her hand, crying out. And again, throughout the week, this is what I've been studying. So what's the first thing I think of? Is this what it sounds like when someone is in torment in hell? It was loud, wasn't it, Cor? I think it's worse. I think it's a lot worse. Rachel had punctured her hand, and it did hurt, but did the pain go away? Does it still hurt? Will heaven be et- for eternity? There will be a heaven, right? God is eternal, and there will be an eternal heaven. There will also be an eternal hell. The rich man, then he cried out and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. For eternity, those who go to hell will be crying for mercy. For eternity. Abraham, have mercy. And send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger into water to cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. Yes, hell is fire and brimstone. But notice, the man did not ask for a glass of ice water. He didn't ask for a snow cone. All right? Well, how's the world look at hell? You know how they look at it? I, I, people have used terms, there's a woman at work, and she continuously, I hear this at least three times a week. People in hell want ice water. No, they don't. They want somebody to dip their finger into water, and this is ice water, thank you, Corey, just a drop, just one drop to cool their tongue. But they're not going to get it. And I think this man, to this day, for two thousand years, has been crying out for just a drop of water on his tongue. It's torment. It's pain. But Abraham said, son, remember. Remember. Abraham is telling this man to remember. Remember your life on earth. So what does that tell us? The people in hell will have a memory. We're not going to forget what went on here. Now these people in hell will have a memory, and the one thing they're going to remember is they're going to remember everybody here. They're going to remember every person that is not in hell, but knew the truth and didn't tell them. And they're going to curse that person for eternity. It is our responsibility as followers of the Lord Jesus to preach the gospel, to tell people about the truth. This world will feed you any type of lie that there is to keep you from the truth. Do you think that Satan is just sitting back and waiting for his time? No, he is in full force just trying to deceive people about anything that will keep them from coming to the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He will do anything that he possibly can. Why? He hates God. The Bible says that Satan is the father of lies. It all started with. There was iniquity found in him. Did God create Satan? No. God doesn't create evil. God created Lucifer, who is a beautiful angel. The problem was Lucifer wanted to be more than God. He wanted to set himself higher than God. Pride. I will be better. I will be more than the Most High. I will set my seat up higher than God's. So Lucifer was cast out of heaven, and then he became Satan. It's kind of like when Adam and Eve were first created, they were perfect. God did not create sin, but because of the disobedience of Adam and Eve, sin came into the world. Who started it? Satan did. How'd he do it? He deceived Eve, didn't he? Did God really say not to eat of the fruit? He doesn't want you to eat it because you're gonna be like him. You'll know good name. The same thing. Do we really need to come to the saving knowledge of Jesus Christ? Do we really need to put our faith in Jesus? Isn't there other ways we can get to heaven? I mean, there's all these different religions in the world. Religions, yes. Religions are man-made. And you know what's behind those men that make those religions? Satan. See, there's places in the Bible where people say are gray areas, right? Like a man with long hair is shameful. That's a gray area. What's long hair? Mine's not, but what's long hair? I can't judge that. But the one area that is not gray is that there are Christians, those that are truly saved by the blood atonement of the Lord Jesus Christ, and then there's those in the world that are not. No matter what they call themselves, they are not. Satan is called the god of this world. Does that mean that this world belongs to Satan? No. This is God's. God created it. But he's the god of this world system. He's the one that is just driving people away from God. And is he doing it? And by the way, and and I love telling people this, Satan is not a guy dressed up in red pajamas with a pointed tail, horns, and a pitchfork. That's what he wants us to believe. He wants us to believe that it's a big joke. But according to the Lord Jesus, who spoke of this story of the rich man, it's not a joke. There is a hell. And why did God create hell? Did he create it for us? No, he didn't. He created hell for Satan and his angels. For the devil and his demons. And there is only one devil. If people tell you that there are devils, there is only one devil, but there are many followers after him that were fallen angels and are now demons. In the beginning, Genesis one one, it says that God created the heavens and the earth. And then he goes on to the creation of man and animals and, and all the plants. It never says when God created hell. So did God create hell in the beginning? I don't know, because the Bible doesn't say, but we can come to the conclusion that he did create hell sometime right before or sometime during the period of Abraham or Adam first being created, because we know that Satan was in the Garden of Eden, and God created hell. It was prepared for Satan and his demons. twenty five. But Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received the good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and you are in, you are tormented. And besides all this, between us and you, there is a great gulf fixed so that, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. Those that go to hell stay in hell. You know, what happens in Las Vegas stays in Las Vegas, you know. Bad reference, but it's the truth. When you go to hell, you stay in hell until the day of judgment. Now, when you go to heaven, you stay in heaven, and that's a wonderful thing. But when you go to hell, you stay in hell. You are in a torment for eternity. And it's a scary thing. When I think of all those that I love. But then put this in your head. When you're driving home today, what about the person in front of you? What about the person behind you driving? I drive all over the three counties that we work in for the Goddard guys. And I see so many people, and I can't help but think how many of these people are going to heaven, how many of these people are going to hell, which is odd because growing up, I'm not a compassionate person. But because of the Spirit of God, he's pouring it on. I cry when I watch kid movies now. All right? That's not me. I'm a hard person. But the Spirit of God has put compassion in me, and I look at people. Do you think Paul or any of the other disciples, back when the church was first being formed, worried if they knew somebody when they told them the gospel, when they gave it to them. No, because they looked at everybody as everybody was lost, and everybody needs to be found. Everybody needs the gospel, no matter who they are. When it says to be kind to your neighbor, it's not talking about the person that lives right next to you, it's talking about everybody you come in contact with. Preach the gospel to all four corners of the world. And if we don't do it, if we don't talk to these people, who's going to? God has entrusted us with his truth. Now we need to do it lovingly. And I think that when the gospel was given to me by Michael Gianetta, day in and day out for three to four years when I was working with Dave Jones. You know how he did it? He did it in a loving way. He never condemned me. He never judged me. He never did any of these things. And every time, and I would ask questions, what about this, what about that? And he would answer me. And if he didn't know, he'd find the answer. But he always did it lovingly. He never told me, you're going to hell. Never. But he did say, you could be in danger of going to hell if you don't accept the truth of God. If you don't accept the fact that there's nothing you can do to earn your way to heaven. That's what the Bible says, it's by grace we are saved. There's nothing we can do. The only thing that we can do is believe we are sinners, is believe that Jesus Christ died on the cross for our all our sins. Now, does that mean that we could just say, well, you know, yeah, I believe in God. Yeah, I believe Jesus is the Son of God. Bible says in James that demons believe and tremble. Are demons going to be in heaven? No. So is it just enough to just say I believe? No, we have to accept those who have received Jesus Christ. You have to accept that God has given a gift. Now you ha- now you need to accept it. And there's nothing you can do for it. We talked about this before when, again, when the children did their, their, their program up here, God gave a gift. And if I gave you a gift and you wanted to give me twenty bucks for it, I would be insulted. That would be like, what are you talking about? It's a gift, it's free. Is anything really free? Anything? Have you ever gotten anything for free? Huh? Have you? Have you? Somebody had to pay for it, though, right? It's not free. We tell people to get a free pole and brush when they get our gutter guard. It's not free. We still have to pay for it. Now God is giving you a gift, and it's free to you because you don't have to pay for it. Because Jesus Christ hung on the cross and suffered and died for the sins of the world. He took on the wrath of God for all the sins, all the evil, every impure thought that anybody has ever had. And again, I look at myself and know everything that I've, you know, God knows me better than I know me. I'm sure there's things that I thought that it kind of put aside, that it's not, that's not a big deal. But every thought God knows about. Every vile thing that I've ever done in the past. Every time something, a a a bad thought comes into my head today. Every single one God knows about, but you know what? He's paid the price for me. The Bible says that God is, that he is just and faithful to forgive us all our sins, but we must confess those sins to us, to him. Does that mean that every time we do something, every time we we sin against God, that we need to ask for forgiveness? We need to confess those things. He is just and faithful to forgive us. We must confess them. We confess them to him. He's going to forgive us. He's... when I came to know the Lord, and it's funny because people say, well, you know, you know, you need to seek the Lord. The Bible says to seek him. We are the ones that are lost. We are the ones that are lost. Jesus will find us, but we need to call out to him. See, because we're walking around in darkness as sinners. If we don't know the Lord, we're walking around in darkness. We turned our backs on God. God did not turn his back on us. God actually came down himself. The Son of God came down and died on the cross. So he didn't turn his back on us. We turned our back on him. But I ask you, think about those that you know, think about those that you love, think about those that you don't love. Pray for those people. Pray that God will prepare their hearts, that they will bring you and them crossing paths. That you will be able to have the power to give them the message of truth in a loving, compassionate way. Because again, if you don't tell them, they may not hear it. I tell- told the children downstairs. The friends that they have, I may never meet. I'm not going to have the chance to give them the gospel. That's their responsibility. I know people that you don't know, and you know people that I don't know. You know, when, when, when the Bible talks about missionaries going out and preaching the word, this is part of the world here. We don't, you don't have to go to a central location in Africa to be considered a missionary and go forth to preach the gospel. Right here in your own backyard, right here in Linwood, right in whatever city that we live in, we are to preach the gospel. Okay, it's about time. Um, didn't even get halfway through what I wanted to get through, of course not. As Glenn said, you know, forty five minutes. Um, and you're right, twenty years ago, I could never have stood up here, never. I was a big mouth, my mom will tell you that. I'm a big mouth, and I could talk forever about nothing. But to talk about something as important as this for forty five minutes, it does take a lot of time. It takes a lot of time, and it takes a lot of prayer, but it is an absolute blessing to prepare for a message throughout the week. Usually Uncle Bob gives me a month to prepare. He gave me a week this time. But to prepare for a message is such a blessing with the things that the Lord shows you. And the amount of time that you, the way that we can grow in the Lord is by spending time in his word. Does God speak to me? Yes. Verbally? No. If I start hearing voices, then I, then I got a problem. Okay? Could he? Sure he could. God spoke to Noah, God spoke to Moses, but he speaks to us in his completed written word now. And what a blessing to just take a word. Hell's a tough one, because when you start thinking about all the people you know that you know don't want anything to do with God, and that their destiny, their destination is going to be hell, that's hard on the heart. But we do have a hope. We have a hope in Jesus Christ. We are to look to the skies for his coming, and he is coming again, and he's going to take his church to heaven, and there's going to be a horrible day of tribu- years of tribulation here. People are going to suffer. Not because of something I, what I'm telling you, it's in here. And I pray that all of you would read it. Read it and let the Spirit of God convict you on these things. Don't let any man tell you what the truth is and what the truth isn't. Read it for yourself. Understand it for yourself. And there's nothing, nothing that you have done or nothing that you could do that could stop you from coming to Christ. There's no sin that could stop you from coming to Christ if you confess that sin to him. Admit you're a sinner. Confess your sin to him, and he'll forgive you. It doesn't matter what it is. It could be the foulest of foul, the viles of vile sins. He will forgive you. He says, in no way will I cast anyone out. You know, I've heard this saying, I don't know if everybody here is, I'm sure most of you, when it says that, you know, people ask, how much does God love us? He died for me, but in not just him dying for me, he paid the penalty of my sin. I am a person who should go to hell. And again, that's contradictory to what the world te- teaches you, that people are good, and most people probably go to heaven. Well, if there is a heaven. But I'm telling you, I should go to hell, but because of what Jesus did, I'm accepted in the beloved. I'm accepted in Jesus. I'm getting to heaven because of what Jesus did, nothing of what I did, nothing of what I could ever do. Okay, let's bow. Word of prayer. Our God and our Father, we give you thanks for this time that we could open up your word, that we could read of this horrible place called hell. We're thankful that you are, Lord Jesus, in heaven preparing a place for us, and that you will return again to us. Father, we pray that you would give us strength, give us your wisdom, and your godly love to go forth into this world to preach your gospel. To not be condescending to anybody, to not be judgmental of anybody, for we know what is in and of ourselves. We thank you that you have forgiven us our sins, that you have loved us so much that you sent your son to die on the cross for us, Father. We do pray for Brianna, that she is sick, that you would place your healing hand upon her. We pray for Amy that you would give her, continue to give her her sanity. We just give thee thanks. We pray for safety as we leave here today on the roads, and that again, Father, you would bring us, that people would cross our paths, that would have our heart prepared, ready to receive the truth, that their eyes would be opened, that their hearts would open to the truth, the truth of your word, that we are lost and that we all need a savior. We give thee thanks and praise, and we ask this in that name that is above all names, that that name of Jesus every knee shall bow. In the Lord Jesus Christ's name, amen.