The Two Judgements

I'd like to look at Hebrews chapter nine and verse 27. It says, and as it is appointed unto men, sorry, I dropped something that's why I yelled. As it is appointed unto men once to die but after this the judgment. I'll read it again. For as it is appointed unto man once to die but after this the judgment.

Let's pray. Our heavenly father, we do thank you for the opportunity we have to be here again and we pray father for your holy spirit to meet needs and work in our hearts and I pray Lord not one person would leave here tonight without having their heart touched. In Christ name, we pray, amen. Thank you. You can be seated.

When you were young, do you ever remember having to take a report card home to your parents with bad grades? And do you ever remember having to take a report card home to your parents, but it had good grades? Well, when it was a good report card, you were excited about taking that report card home because your mom would be happy, your dad would be happy, and things like that. But when you had a bad report card, it wasn't so fun to have to take that report card home. Some of you teenagers are sweating already in your seat because report cards are coming out soon.

Now, when you know that you're gonna have to take a report card home to your mom or to your dad and that if you don't get good grades, they will kill you. You will be grounded for the rest of your life. You will never be able to do anything fun again. When you have that kind of report card you have to take home, it's a very scary thing. But when you take home a report card that's got good grades, it's a very wonderful thing.

And the bible teaches though, in a sense, that we all are going to take a report card home to God. Now, it says, we will all answer to God. It is appointed unto men once to die. Now, everybody in this room, I hate to say this to you, but everybody in this room, a hundred years from now, will be dead. Aren't you glad that you came to church tonight to hear that?

But everybody in this room, a hundred years from now, will be dead. And the Bible teaches that after we die, we still live. Now, of us are looking at this time on earth right now, our seventy two years on earth, and we're looking at what we wanna do and what we wanna do today, and we're actually kinda preparing for what we hope we will be able to do tomorrow or in ten years or twenty years from now. That's what we call retirement and things like that. But most people are not living for that day, the day when there's the judgement day.

Now, I look at eternity and I have so many ways we could describe it. I'll give one illustration I often use. Imagine that this whole wall back here on the side, that long wall, is a picture of eternity. Now, it doesn't really do a good job because eternity goes on and on and on. But if I were to take a little marker and go up to the wall and put a tiny dot just barely big enough that the last woman in the back here can see it, most of our eyes would go right to that dot.

But we would forget that there's a whole wall there. Now that little dot is the picture of our seventy two years on earth. And most people, all they think about is the dot. And for instance, there are people that are living for even a smaller portion than the entire dot. I'm 52 years old.

I am going to be 82 years old perhaps one day. And I understand that when I'm 82, I won't be able to travel around the country and I won't be able to do what I do as a preacher probably won't have the stamina. And so I have to think a little bit about when I'm 82 that I have my bills paid. Right? But there are some people that all they live for is the last five years of their existence on Earth and they don't think about putting time into the long thing, the important thing, eternal things.

And most people live for the dot. And the Bible teaches we better examine what we're living for because we're going to be judged when this life is done and what we do in this life affects that eternal state. Now, do you believe your Bible? Yes or no? Yes.

Yes. Alright. Now, if you believe your Bible and if you don't, I can prove it to you that it is God's word. You don't want to just live for this life. You want this life to be lived for the life to come.

And so I'm going to speak to us tonight about judgement day. Judgement day. Because everyone of us is going to have a judgement day. Now, first thing that I want us to understand is there are two judgments. There's the judgment seat of Christ for Christians and then there's the great white throne judgment which is for unsaved people.

Now, most people think that the end of it all, there's going to be one judgment but that's not what will happen. Most people think that when we all die, we stand before God as he's on the throne and the people that were good go to the right and they go to heaven. The people that were bad they go to the left and they go to hell. Now there are some people that are left in their thinking politically And when they vote for things that God's against, it almost seems like the left go to hell and the right go to heaven. But what I want you to understand is God is not a Republican.

And also, this may shock you, God is not a Democrat. But God will judge every Republican and every Democrat, and for that matter, human being in the world. And it is not going to be one judgment. There are gonna be two judgments. And the first judgment is for Christians.

Alright. Now take your Bibles and turn to second Corinthians chapter five and verse 10. And this is what is called the judgment seat of Christ. Second Corinthians chapter five and verse 10. Now there's a pronoun here that if I had time I could show you who it's talking about.

It's the pronoun we. Alright. Second Corinthians chapter five and verse 10. It says, for we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he hath done whether it be good or bad. Now, the we in this verse is talking about Christian people.

The we in this verse is talking about people who have been saved. Now, did you know that if you are a Christian, then you are going to also give an account to God. It's not going to be to decide whether you go to heaven or hell when you accept Jesus Christ, it's done. You will definitely go to heaven. There's no way that you would not go to heaven.

The Bible teaches, except a man be born again, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God but once you're born again, you will go into the kingdom of God or heaven. Now, there are some people that don't live very good Christian lives. They get saved but they don't go to church. They're a Christian but they're not living a good Christian life. They saved but they're not living like they should.

They use cuss words. Maybe they're living with somebody they're not married to but they're saved. They are a child of God. They will go to heaven if they're genuinely saved. And so somebody says, well, the way that person is living, he'll never go to heaven.

The bible teaches that when you are born again, you will go to heaven regardless of how you live after you're born again. Now, when you look at this, you consider that God uses the term born again. He uses the physical term to understand the spiritual term. Now, physically, I want you to try something. Try to not be born.

Try to not be born. Now, I was born 06/05/1965, and if I were to try to not be born, I couldn't do that. Once I'm born, I'm born. Now, try something else. Try to not be born spiritually.

You can't do it. Once you are born, you are born and if you were born again, accepted Jesus as your personal savior, as many as received them, to them gave you the power to become the sons of God and that is on the authority of God's word if you truly are born again. You will not ever go to hell. Even if you do not live a good Christian life. But there still is a problem.

If you are a child of God and you will go to heaven, there's no doubt, but you do not live a good Christian life, it still matters. And one reason it matters is because of your ability to use your life to help another person go to heaven. It matters because of the reputation of Christianity if you're somebody who's claiming to be a Christian but you're living in sin. But the reason that it matters for you particularly is that if you are a Christian, yes, born again, no doubt, going to heaven but you don't live your life for Jesus Christ. It will not be good for you when you stand at the judgment seat of Christ.

Now, some people think that the judgment seat of Christ is going to be like this. If you live for God, you'll get rewards. If you don't live for God, you'll still go to heaven but you just won't get any rewards and they kind of make it like a Sunday school picnic. It's kind of like if you win the race, you get a blue ribbon. If you don't win the race, no problem.

Just don't get a blue ribbon. But I have a different view of the judgment seat of Christ than a lot of people have. And I'll tell you why I have it and where I get it. Alright. Now, first of all, I want you to understand that at the judgment seat of Christ, if you have not lived for God, you will have great regret.

Now, why will you have great regret? Because when you answer to God, you will have consequences. Now, some people say that none of our sins are ever going to be brought up when we before God because all of our sins being under the blood and washed away. Now, it's true that God washes away our sins but that is positionally. Practically, we would still go to heaven but if we don't live right as a Christian, we'll have to answer for the sins that we have done and not made right and I'll tell you why I believe that.

One place, first John one nine. If we confess our sin, he's faithful to forgive us but what's the first word? It's if. Now, you know what that implies? If we don't confess our sin, he won't forgive it.

And we'll be held accountable. The Bible says in first Corinthians eleven thirty one, if we would judge ourselves, we would not be judged. And that implies, if we do not judge ourselves and get things right with God and get living for God, we are gonna be judged one day. Now, some people think it does not matter. Alright?

I just wanna show you something. Look at second Corinthians five and verse 10 and then we'll follow it through at verse 11 and I'm trying to show you tonight. If you're born again, good. You'll go to heaven. Absolutely.

You're never going to end up going to hell once you become a person who's accepted Jesus as your personal savior and you were sincere. But if you don't live for God and you waste your life on living for this life and not for eternal things. You waste your life living for money. You live for sin. You live for pleasure and all those things are fine like money and pleasure as long as it's not what you're living for and you're living for the Lord and putting your life into the things of God but if all you do is live for the seventy two years on Earth and you don't live me an eternal perspective, you will not do well at the judgment seat before God and I notice second Corinthians five ten, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, we Christians, that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he has done, whether it be good or what?

Bad. Alright. Now, that says the good can be revealed and the what can be revealed. The bad. The bad.

Now, some people say that the bad means worthless and here's where they get this. There are two main manuscripts from which we get our Bible. One would be the Textus Receptus and one would be the Westcott and Hort. Now, that's just Greek manuscript. Now, I personally am a TR man.

That doesn't mean anything to you. Don't worry about it but we get our Bible from Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. Everybody understand the Bible wasn't written in English. Well, in the Greek Bible, the word for bad in the Textus Receptus manuscript is intrinsic evil, bad, evil, wicked, ungodliness and it is 100% of the time translated evil and means intrinsic evil. Now in the Westcott and Hort, half the time it means worthless or empty, not intrinsic evil.

But the bulk of the weight means that we could answer to God for the sins that we do and do not ask for forgiveness of. Now here's the way that is important. You can be somebody who's going to heaven. You can be somebody who will definitely go to heaven. You are born again but live your life and still sin in your life and not change your ways to what God wants you to do and you will stand before God and answer for it.

Or you could live your life worthless. Just putting your time into things that don't matter. And you will stand before God and give account for your life being worthless. Amen. Now, why then is that significant?

The next verse. Please look at verse 11. It says, knowing therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men. Now, some people say the terror of the Lord means knowing that people are going to die and go to hell. I do know that that is one possible application but the context is talking about this, you're born again but you're not living for God.

You're born again but you have evil in your life. You're born again but you're living a worthless life and the very next verse says, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade man and here's what I believe that teaches. There is some form of terror that awaits a disobedient Christian. There is some form of terror that awaits a Christian who's worthless and doesn't live his life for the Lord. Now, how many of you have ever heard the good news that God is going to wipe away all tears?

Have you ever heard that? Now, here's what is a little bit scary though. In the bible, God wipes away tears two different times. One, it's going to be when people go to heaven the first time. God wipes away their tears.

But the second time is after the thousand year millennial reign and the seven year tribulation. Now, here's the reason that's significant. The Bible teaches we're gonna be raptured. We're taken up to heaven and then there's the marriage feast of the lamb where Christians celebrate being with God but before the marriage seat of the lamb from what I understand is the judgment seat of Christ And do you know when the judgment is given and the bad is revealed, a Christian just live for things, a Christian just live for worthless things, for dumb things that they don't matter a thing in light of eternity? A Christian lived in adultery, a Christian lived in drunkenness?

Are they born again? Yes. But they did not live right, then it says they will experience the terror of the Lord, whatever that may be. And why is it that there's tears to wipe away a thousand years after the judgment seat of Christ? Here's my opinion.

I believe that there could be crying and tears going out of a disobedient Christian for one thousand years because he lived his life in sin or he lived his life for things that don't matter. Listen, years ago, I was sitting in my position as kind of a monitor in my bible college. We were in the dormitory, and when we were in the dormitory, I was supposed to sit in the middle of the dormitory to make sure that kids didn't kill each other, make sure people were studying and not making so much noise that nobody else could study. Well, as I was sitting in the middle of that hallway, I saw one guy walk in, and it was a long hallway, longer than this building. And as he looked at this man who walked in the other hallway, he got excited.

And he goes, it's great, it's great, it's great. And I was sitting there wondering, what's great? Did he win the basketball championship? What is it, I was thinking. So his friend goes, well, what is it?

What is it, man? What is it, man? And this fellow goes, Dave's gonna let me wear his new $70 sweater. It's great, man. It's great.

And I thought, dollars 70 sweater? It's just a sweater. I thought slap him across the face and say, snap out of it, dude. It's just a sweater. But this other guy goes, dollars 70 sweater.

Whoo. That's great. And he hugged him. Then they went running like a couple little girls to their room. And they put on their $70 duds and came running out like a couple little girls.

And then when they got in the hallway, they put on the cool strut. You know, we do it and they go, And they got in this fancy sports car, big, expensive sports car, to get in and drive around Greenville for the time of their life. And you know what I thought when they die? God's gonna write one word on their forehead. And I'll tell you why because they live for nothing but things.

They live for nothing but things. Listen, I remember this one teenager I was sitting by in a Subway restaurant. When I was done eating and he was done eating, he said, hold on. I'll be right back. He walks out rather slowly like a lot of teenage guys do.

He got in his car, nice car, revved it up, put it in gear, and in the parking lot he must have gotten that thing up to a 120. And he went like three rows, stopped, pulled in, parked it, and walked all the way back in. Now, he had to show his souped up car and that is what his identification was. That's what his dream was. That's what his God was.

A little automobile. I remember one young guy drove up and he comes up, you hear him all the way down the road. Stopped, hopped out, looked at me, and he honestly said, Brother Mike, this baby's never been driven in the rain. Then he said, this baby's never been driven in the snow. When I get out, I wipe off the muffler.

And you know what I thought? Would I like to have a 1985 Mustang with a nice, clean muffler? Sure. But you could see this kid's life was wrapped up in a muffler. I remember a girl walking up to my wife and she held up her new purse and she says, look at my new Gucci purse.

Gucci is a name brand if you don't know and my wife looks at it and says, Rhonda, that's made out of vinyl. You hate vinyl. And you know what Rhonda said? But it's Gucci. Well, Gucci, Gucci, goo.

Now listen to me. As we laugh at this, and we do laugh at it because we can see how foolish it is, I wanna ask you a question. Are you born again? Do you know you're born again? If you're born again, you will always be assured that you will have a home in heaven when you die.

But I'm going to ask you, as you are born again, are you going to church? Are you living for God? Are you doing one solitary effort to advance the work of God? Do you have any time for God? No.

Why? I gotta get a car. I gotta get a job. I gotta get retirement. I gotta make it big.

I'm gonna tell you what. There's no difference between a teenager riding up his car and saying, look at my muffler. And I'm telling you folks, one day we're gonna stand before God and we don't want our life to be wasted. And we're living for that little dot but folks, we can do something about it. Amen.

Take your bibles and I want you to turn to Mark chapter 20 and I wanna read in Mark chapter 20 that Matthew chapter 20 excuse me, that it doesn't matter necessarily what you've done in the past for God though it always matters in everything you do you'll be rewarded for. And we'll get to this in just a little bit. I just started thinking about something. If you look at Matthew chapter 20, I'm gonna read something here in just a little bit. But it makes me think about Matthew chapter 25 and it says that God gives everybody talents and he wants them to use them for him, not for self.

One, gave five talents, another he gave two, and another he gave one, and the ones that had five talents and two talents did something with it, but the one that had one talent buried it in the ground. And you know what God said to the ones that used what they had for God? Well done, thou good and faithful servant. Thou has been faithful over a few things. I'll make thee ruler over many things.

Enter thou into the joy of the Lord but you know what he said to the one who used his talent? Just buried it in the ground and didn't do anything with it. God said, thou wicked and slothful servant. Now, follow me. Alright, everybody look up this way.

We're going to read that in a second but are you born again? Now, if you're not born again, we're going to talk about that. There are two kinds of people here tonight. There are those who are born again, those who are not born again. Two kinds of people here tonight.

Some are going to go in the judgment seat of Christ. Some of you are gonna go to the great white throne judgment unless you get saved. Two kinds of people here tonight. Now, if you're in that first group that you're born again, you have a judgment day coming. And just as much as you would want to take a good report card home to your parents, even more significantly, you want to take a good report of your life home to God.

And if you do, you will be rewarded. If you don't, you're going to hear thou wicked, slothful servant and you will experience the terror of the Lord whatever that may be. I believe it from the bottom of my heart and you could have trying going on for a thousand years because you have not thought of yet living your life for the Lord Jesus. Now, if you have not been living for the Lord, I get have good news for you. It's not so much what you've done in the past.

We need to focus on tonight. We need to focus on what you could do today and in the future. And let's look at this passage in Matthew chapter 20. Are you with me so far tonight? Okay.

Here's a story. I'm gonna retell you the story and then we're gonna read a little bit of it. The story is there was a farmer who was going out to get some people to work in his field. He found some in the early part of the day and he said, if you come work for me, I'll pay you a penny. Now, you might say, well, that's not very much money but a penny could buy eight measures of wheat.

So you'd have enough from one day's work to feed your family probably eight days. So a penny was a lot of money back then. Sort of like when some of you were young, a dollar was a whole lot more than it is today. Now, a penny was not much but you could buy enough food to feed your family probably for eight days. Now, he said, if you work for me all day, I'll give you a penny for your wage.

They said, great. We'll do it. Then, the master went out about maybe 11:00, saw some people standing there waiting for a job and he said, you come work for me and I'll pay you what's right. Then, he said, about one hour before the day was done to two or three other men, what are you doing out here? Why aren't you working?

Well, nobody gave us a job. He says, you come work for me in the field, I'll give you what's right. And so they all went to the field at different times but at the end of the day, the master paid each one of them the same amount. A whole penny. A whole penny.

It's like you working for an hour and getting paid for eight. That'd be a deal. Sweet deal, wouldn't it? Now, the one that worked for eight hours said, that's not fair. I worked eight hours.

He only worked for one. He worked for four hours. I worked for eight. It's not fair that we get the same wage and the master basically said, hey, did I pay you what I promised I would pay you? I said I'd pay you a penny.

Did I pay you a penny? You did but but he only worked an hour and you paid him a penny and the master said, did I pay you what I said I'd pay you? He said, yes, you did. Then, why should you be angry because I'm nice to somebody else? And here's what God is saying.

If you look at your life and you say, you have wasted years. You are in your forties. You are in your fifties. You are in your sixties or seventies or may I even say eighties and you say, I have not been going to church. I have not been serving the Lord.

I've not done one thing to help one other person come to Jesus. I have done one thing to tell somebody about Jesus. God is saying, if you will change and decide tonight, I'm going to start living my life for Jesus, not waste it on dumb things. You can receive as great a reward as somebody who's been serving God all their life and it's time to invest in something more important than dumb things. Now, we won't read it because the sake of time because I got a second judgment we've got to talk about.

But listen, when you look at our homes, I'm glad I got a home. Guess what I got this year? I have not had a home for a number of years because we couldn't afford it, but somebody gave me a large gift and I was able to build my own home. Now, it's not all painful, but I'm in it and we're loving it. And you know what?

I am so thankful for my home. I've got a nice Chevy Silverado, 3,500 crew cab, dual link dream machine. I'm so thankful that I have it. I have to have it to pull my trailer. I have a trailer.

I'm so thankful. I don't deserve it, but I have it. Why? So I can keep my family together when I'm on the road, and God bless me with that. But you know what?

When I die, how much of that am I going to take to heaven with me? And when you die, how much of your retirement are you going to take to heaven with you? So, don't live for something you might leave behind in one week. Live for something that lasts for eternity. Amen?

Amen. Alright now, if you were to stand before the judgment seat of Christ right now as a Christian, would you receive well done, good and faithful servant? If not, you can change that. Start living for God. Don't wait.

Start if you're not. Now, the second judgment, let's turn in closing. I won't be too long on this to Revelation chapter 20. Now, this is a judgment for the other group. The Bible says, we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ that everyone may receive the things done in his body according to that he had done whether it be good or bad.

The Christian will answer to God if he's living in adultery. Using cuss words, using profane words. The Christian will live in and answer to God if all they did was live for retirement or position advancement or popularity and they did not live their life for eternal things. Don't be somebody who lives in such a way when you stand before God, you have regrets because you have nothing important you've lived for. But then, in Revelation 20, there's the second judgment and this is the great white throne judgment.

Now, this judgment is only for unsaved people. Unsaved people, those who are not born again. Now, hear me before we get into this. God's word says, except a man be born again unless a man is born again. He cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven.

Now, if somebody says, well, that's just not my thing. I am telling you, hell will not be your thing either. Yeah. And I am telling you, you must be born again. It is appointed unto men once to die but after this, the judgment, hell will not be your thing.

So, Jesus better become your thing because the Bible says, unless you're born again, you cannot enter the kingdom of heaven. It says he that hath the son hath life but he that hath not the son of God hath not life. Are you born again? If you're not, you're in great danger. Now, what is that judgment, the great white throne?

Let's begin reading at Revelation chapter 20 and verse 11. And I saw a great white throne and him that sat on it from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away and there was found no place for them. I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God and the books were open and another book was open which is the book of life and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books. Get this, according to their what? Works.

Works. And the sea gave up the dead which were in it and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them and they were judged every man according to their what? Works. Works and death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

Now, if you're not written in the book of life, you're in danger. According to the word, you're in danger. You will be cast into the lake of fire. You say it won't happen. It will happen.

And we don't want it to happen but it will happen. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life cast into the lake of fire. Now, when we look at this, it's definitely in the context talking about unsaved people. How do we know? It says, and the dead are taken up out of hell and brought to the great white throne judgment.

You know who goes to hell? People that don't have Jesus. So it's definitely talking about unsaved people here. Now, it says, hell is brought up and all the souls that are in it to stand before Jesus at the great white throne judgment, they'll be judged by their works. Now, what is the point?

Some people think, well, there you go. That means, if you're a good person, you'll get out of hell. No. It says, that we do not get to heaven by our good deeds. The Bible says, for by grace are you saved through faith, not of yourselves.

It's not something you do. It's the gift of God and then it says, three words that you must not miss. Not of works. You do not get to heaven by your works. You get to heaven by being born again.

Amen. If you're born again, you're going to go to heaven. If you're born again and you're not living like you should, you still go to heaven. If you're truly born again and you never do one thing, you never go to church, you never witness, You never put a dime in an offering plate to help the church, not the evangelist but you never do a thing for the work of God because you're too busy for your future here and your little dot. You'll go to heaven but you'll stand at that judgment seat saying, what in the world did I just waste my life on?

And you will experience whatever God has for the disobedient, worthless Christian. Don't be one. Be someone who does something with your life for God. Don't waste it. You got one.

Make it count. But the the great white throne, those who are unsaved, go that judgment and they're judged by their deeds. You say, why? Because well, they're going to find out if they get out of hell because they've been good enough now. No, you don't get to heaven by your deeds.

You get heaven by being born again. Right. By faith in Jesus Christ. By grace are you saved through faith. Then, why the great white throne judgment?

Here it is. How many of you knew there are two hells? There are two hells. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. Now, if hell is cast into the lake of fire, that means hell and the lake of fire are two different places and they are.

Now, the first hell is where people go who die in their sins without getting forgiveness from Jesus. I don't need Jesus. He's not my thing. I don't believe that. You die and you go to hell.

That's what it says. Yep. You need to look into it. Not just reject it. Because without Jesus, you die and go to hell.

And you know what? The point of that judgment is God brings you up out of that first hell to stand before him to receive the degree of punishment you'll face in the final hell, the Lake Of Fire. Now, what do I mean by the degree? That's why you're judged by your works. Did you know that the lake Of fire will be hotter for some than for others?

And let me tell you who the Bible says it will be the hottest for. Please turn to Romans chapter two and we're about to wrap this up but Romans chapter two and verse five. Romans chapter two and verse five. It says, in Romans two five, but after thy hardness and impenitent heart, Hardness and impenitent heart. You know what that means?

No. No. No. No. I will not receive Jesus Christ.

I don't believe that stuff. No way. That's not my thing. That's hardness. Listen, an impenitent heart.

Now, notice what it says. You're given the truth and you keep rejecting it. Be careful about that. It's a dangerous place to be because after that hardness and impenitent heart treasure up to thyself, what? Wrath.

Wrath. Against the day of wrath and you will be held accountable to God for every time you have a chance to get saved but you say no. God will say, turn up the temperature. Turn up the temperature and also the sins that you do will add to your torment in the lake of fire. Notice what it says in verse six, who will render to every man according to his what?

Deeds. Deeds. And that's why the books are open. And when it reads here, you cheated on your spouse. It reads here, you told a lie.

It reads here, God said, thou shalt not commit adultery and you did. You read here where the Bible says, don't and you did, you add to your wrath account and that's why you need to be born again because the Bible says the blood of Jesus will positionally cleanse you from all sin. Amen. And you will not be judged if you will be born again. Amen.

Now, the Bible teaches it. Now, the first hell is Luke 16. There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen, fared sumptuously every day, a certain beggar named Lazarus, laid at his gate, full of sores, desiring to be fed with crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. It came to pass the beggar died, was carried by angels and Abraham's blues him or heaven.

I'm quoting scripture. The rich man also died and was buried. Now get it. And we're gonna wrap it up. In hell, he lift up his eyes being in torment, seeth Abraham afar off, 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 the flame. Alright, in hell, a person can see. The present hell. If you die right now, you die without Jesus, you go to hell, you will be able to see. No one likes to see terrible things.

I was in Ann, Illinois on vacation as a child. A friend brought me a newspaper article about a woman who saw her husband commit suicide. He was on a motorcycle and he took his helmet off, laid it on the ground, and said, honey, watch this. She didn't know what he was going to do but she quickly found out as he revved it up, drove it as fast as he could straight into a brick wall and he broke his body on the wall, fell backwards dead. And the woman who saw her husband commit suicide such an ugly fashion, her mind snapped and they put her in a mental institution.

Why? Because nobody likes to see terrible things. What would it be like for you to have to see a demon? Not in an already movie but in real life. What would it be like to see the the horror of hell and not be getting get away from that sight ever?

In hell, a person can hear. There was a conversation between a man in hell and Abraham. No one likes to hear terrible things. What would it be like to have to hear the screaming in hell? I took emergency medical training.

I was trained to work in the back of an ambulance. And in part of my training, they brought in a man in a knife fight. He was stabbed in his back, in his lungs. You could put two fingers in the hole in his back and you'd go right into his lung. We had to cut the side of his chest open, put a four inch tube in to drain the chest cavity because it was filling up with fluid and he would have drowned in his fluid.

And so we were doing that to keep him alive. And we heard another ambulance coming along, and sure enough, a door opened, a flew open and they pulled in another stretcher. And they said, What is it? And they said, This woman's had a broken hip. She's fine, but she has to have a hip surgery.

So they pulled her in, and they put a curtain up in front of her about five feet from us and went to the back to this man who had been stabbed, who was about to die. And all attention was on the urgent in that emergency room. Well, as we were all working with this man in the knife fight, this woman's over here. Nobody's doing anything for her. Nobody's given her any painkiller.

Nobody has time for her at the moment. We'll get to her because she's not going to die. He's going to die. We can help her later but while she's in there and all that pain, she is just moaning and groaning and then she says, doctor, and nobody listens. Doctor.

Doctor. And nobody's listening And finally, she's going, doctor, I'm in pain. I'm in pain. Give me something for the pain. Give me something.

And nobody helped her because she wasn't in danger of death. But you know what? I can handle all the cutting and bleeding that night, but I'm telling you, honest, what got to me was a woman with a broken hip. Her screams sent chills up my spine. What would it be like for you?

You say it won't happen. It won't happen if you get born again. You know everybody who was alive one hundred years ago is now dead. What do you think is gonna happen to us? Now, you would hear the screams of those burning in hell, and they add to your torment in hell.

And of course, we all know that nobody wants to die by flames. We could tell stories. I remember one man who was in a fuel tanker. He was in a fuel tanker and pinned in. A patrolman told me the story in Heath, Ohio and he said, the man was burning and he saw it was a policeman.

He was in so much pain. He turned his head, looked at me, and he screamed at the top of his lungs. Shoot me. Shoot me. Just shoot me.

He said, I grabbed my revolver. I was I knew I couldn't because I'd be killing an innocent man. Now, the man in so much pain, he wishes somebody would blown his brains out. That's fire. Now, if you can see and you can hear and you can feel what makes you think you can't taste and smell and I'm not going to go into it but my emergency instructor said the worst scene he ever ride on was a man burnt in an automobile wreck.

You could taste and you could smell charred bodies in the air a block away. What do you think smells are like in hell? What kind of taste is there in hell? And all of this because of sin but the Bible teaches if we're born again, we will not go there. We will go to the kingdom of heaven but the Bible teaches those of you that are here and you have not been saved, you have a day coming.

Judgement day and ultimately, you'd be cast into hell and now but then there'd be a great life throwing judgment and eventually, you'd be cast into the lake of fire and if the place called hell is it bad as it is, then how bad do you think the Lake Of Fire must be? Now, I close with one illustration. Years ago, I saw a gospel track and the gospel track was great. I don't remember what was on it. I don't remember what it said but I do remember the picture.

The artist had made a long windy road with a cliff on both sides and below the cliff, there were the flames of hell. At the end of the cliff, there were the flames of hell and he pictured hundreds of thousands of people walking down that road and then some of them, you could see their faces. Some of them, they were smiling, not knowing that they're about to drop into hell. Others of them, they were laughing. Others of them were sad, not knowing they're about to drop into hell.

Question, is that too much to say that there might be some people smiling today that could be burning in hell tomorrow? Now, think of it And one at a time, they were dropping off into hell and dropping into the flames and the artist drew the picture where you could see the faces of them that were in hell and they were burning and their hands were like this and like that and I understand it's a picture but do you think it's possible that that's pretty accurate? Now, I don't remember what the words were in the picture but I do remember how I felt when I saw the picture. I wanted to get up there and I wanted to stand at the end of that road and stand in front of those people that were walking toward hell and go, stop. Now, I couldn't do that in that picture but I can do it in real life.

Amen. There's a gospel. Christ died for your sins, was buried, rose again. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish. He didn't come to condemn you.

He came to save you. Amen. You need him. There's a judgment day coming And what you do with Jesus will determine whether you go to heaven or hell. Let's bow our heads.