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And we probably just cover verses nine through 11 tonight

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since we're running up on time here.

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Just some really encouraging verses.

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So Revelation 14 verses nine through 11.

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And another angel, a third, followed them

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saying with a loud voice,

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if anyone worships the beast and its image

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and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand,

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he also will drink the wine of God's wrath,

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poured full strength into the cup of his anger.

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And he will be tormented with fire and sulfur

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in the presence of the holy angels

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and in the presence of the lamb.

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And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.

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And they have no rest day or night,

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these worshipers of the beast and its image

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and whoever receives the mark of the beast on its name.

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Of its name.

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So as you can see, just all around,

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super encouraging verses here, light, easy reading tonight.

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There's actually a really important connection

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I want you to notice here.

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It connects back to verse eight.

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If you look back at verse eight, you'll remember,

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it says of Babylon that she made the nations drink the wine

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of the passion of her sexual immorality.

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And if you remember last week, I told you that word passion

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is not a great translation.

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The word there is actually wrath.

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And so in the same way Babylon made the nations drink

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the wine of the wrath of her sexual immorality,

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the Bible is saying here in verse 10,

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that all those who indulge in wickedness

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and they satiate themselves with immorality

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are drinking future wrath upon themselves.

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They are getting just a taste of the wrath that is to come.

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This is something that Paul also warned about

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in Romans chapter two, verses four through five.

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This is what Paul said.

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Or do you presume on the riches of his kindness

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and forbearance and patience,

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not knowing that God's kindness is meant

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to lead you to repentance.

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But because of your hard and impenitent heart,

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you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath

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when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

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So what Paul is saying there is that people often mistake

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God's kindness and forbearance as permission.

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They engage in evil and they engage in wickedness

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and they rebel against God, but then nothing happens.

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God doesn't smite them right then and there.

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And so they think to themselves,

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okay, either there is no God or else,

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he must really not care about sin that much.

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If I'm getting to do all these things

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that his word says not to do, his word says he hates,

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and I'm doing them and there's no repercussions now,

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he must be okay with it.

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Sin must not be that big of a deal.

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And what they don't understand is that God's patience now,

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his kindness now is meant to lead them to repentance.

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They're supposed to see how kind God is, how good he is,

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and they're supposed to leave their sin and come to him.

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But instead, they continue in their sin.

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And so the Bible says they are storing up wrath for themselves.

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I mean, this is truly terrifying

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when you start thinking about it here.

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I mean, if you notice the words in verse 10,

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it says he also will drink the wine of God's wrath.

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Listen, poured full strength into the cup of his anger.

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Can we just think about that for a second?

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The wrath of God poured full strength into the cup of his anger.

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There are people today who can read that and not even shudder,

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not feel anything at all.

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They hear about wrath to come and they think nothing of it.

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But here's what I know about God's wrath.

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When Jesus was in the Garden of Gethsemane and he was praying,

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he said, Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.

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What was the cup?

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It was the cup of God's anger.

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Just as you read about here, the wrath of God poured full strength

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into this cup.

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And Jesus, God in the flesh, thought about drinking that cup.

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And he said, Father, if it's possible, let this cup pass from me.

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And then what did he start to do after that?

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He started sweating.

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What?

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Blood.

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We're reading this and nothing's happening to us.

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Jesus thought about drinking that cup

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and he started sweating blood.

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That is how terrifying the wrath of God

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is that it calls the Savior to sweat drops of blood.

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And here's what I know about me.

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And here's what I know about you.

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And here's what I know about everybody else in this world.

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We're not Jesus.

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Right?

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Jesus was going to drink that cup dry.

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And by the power of God, he was going to rise again

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on the third day.

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We would never even make a dent in that cup.

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And yet we downplay the wrath of God.

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We make light of the wrath of God.

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And so I think as believers, one of the things

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that we need to understand here is that God is storing up

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this wrath now.

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This wrath is being poured into that cup.

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It is filling that cup up.

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And one day, all those who refuse to repent of their sins

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and trust in Christ, they are going to have to drink that cup.

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And it is the responsibility of Christians

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to go and warn everybody of the wrath to come.

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We are to tell people to flee the wrath to come,

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to turn from their sins and to turn to Christ,

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to be hidden in Him.

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I think it was a Charles Spurgeon who said this.

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He said, if sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell

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over our dead bodies.

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And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped

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around their knees imploring them to stay.

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If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth

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of our exertions.

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And let not one go unworn and unprayed for.

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That's the heart of a Christian.

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That describes the responsibility of the church.

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That is what we are supposed to be doing.

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But how often are we just like, well, let them go.

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They're sinners.

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I don't even agree with what they're doing anyways.

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I hate the things they're doing.

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They deserve what's coming to them.

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Let them go.

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When the Bible says that we're to go and tell them to turn,

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to turn from their sins, turned to Christ to warn them

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that this wrath is real and it is coming.

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And one day they will have to drink that cup dry.

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And he mentions hell here, this eternal torment.

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And so I just want to, probably as we close,

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given the time, I just want to have us consider hell

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for a moment because there's a lot of confusion about it

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today.

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There's a very popular view today

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and it's becoming even more popular.

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It recently just split a church in Louisville, Kentucky

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over this one issue.

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And there's a view of hell that's called annihilationism.

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Anybody ever heard of this view?

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Couple people?

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OK.

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So annihilationism, this view claims

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that God is not going to send people to hell

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for all of eternity.

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This view claims that God is going to send people to hell

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for a time.

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And then after that time is done,

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God will basically burn them up completely, annihilate them

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so that that person is no longer in existence anymore.

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He will destroy the soul, the mind, the body, everything

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will be gone.

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And that person will not have to be in hell any longer.

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They like this view because they believe it's kinder.

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They said it would be more merciful for God

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if he were to just send people to hell for a time

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and then actually end their suffering.

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And there are just a few problems with this view.

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The main problem is the Bible.

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If you read the Bible, when the Bible speaks about hell,

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it always speaks about hell as a place of eternal judgment.

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I mean, you see that here even in these verses.

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Notice what it says.

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It says the smoke of their torment

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goes up forever and ever, meaning without end.

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So how can the smoke of their torment

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go up forever and ever if the person eventually ceases to exist

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and there is no torment anymore, meaning there's no smoke anymore?

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It would mean that this verse cannot be true.

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And yet we know God's word is true, as we have already addressed today.

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So it's very plain that sinners will suffer the wrath and judgment

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of God forever in hell.

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But the second problem with this view, and my big issue with it,

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besides contradicting the Bible,

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is that it undermines and underplays the severity of sin.

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And I think we tend to do that as well.

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Because people today wonder, well, why does someone

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have to go to hell for all of eternity for a few sins?

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And I would say, well, it's not a few sins.

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Let's be honest with each other.

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It's a lifetime of sins.

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But even if it were just one,

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why would a person have to spend eternity in hell for just one sin?

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Now I would like to remind you, the Bible says that God is infinite.

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Not only is he infinite, he is eternal.

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And so God is above, beyond all things.

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He exists forever.

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There is no end to God.

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He is infinite and he is eternal.

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And that means everything about God is infinite, including his holiness.

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And what is sin?

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Sin is an offense against the holiness of God.

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The Bible says when David is confessing against you and you alone,

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oh Lord, how by sinned, every sin is a direct offense to God

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and his character and his holiness, which are infinite.

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And so let me ask you a question.

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What would be the appropriate punishment for an infinite offense?

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An infinite punishment, right?

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The punishment has to fit the crime.

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And if the crime is an infinite offense,

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the punishment has to be an infinite punishment.

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And I want to address one other thing here while we're on the topic of hell,

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because it's brought up here in the passage.

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It's become increasingly popular today, a misunderstanding about hell.

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You'll hear people sometimes describe hell as a separation from God.

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Have we heard people say that before?

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Hell is being separated from God and it's eternal separation from God.

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In fact, that's why some people say hell is so bad.

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They say hell is so bad because you are being eternally separated from God.

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But did you notice what verse 10 says?

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I want you to read it again with me.

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It says, He also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger,

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and He will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels

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and in the presence of the Lamb.

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So is it describing hell here?

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Yes.

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And it says the people in hell are being tormented in the presence of the Lamb.

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Now this contradicts one of the major views in our world today.

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As we just said, there's this view where people will say,

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well, hell is being eternally separated from God.

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But I want you to just think a moment about the character of God.

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How would it be possible to be eternally separated from God?

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We know the three omnis, right?

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You've heard the three omnis before in church.

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One of the omnis is that God is omnipresent, which means, in purely conversational terms,

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that God exists in all places at all times.

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So God is everywhere at once.

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Every place that exists, God is there at one time.

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He's infinite. He's omnipresent.

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Do we get that, right?

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Is that true?

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Is God omnipresent?

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Yeah?

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Okay, is it true that hell is a place that exists?

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Okay, if hell is a place that exists and God is omnipresent,

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it would mean, therefore, that God has to be present in hell.

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So hell is not eternal separation from God.

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That's not what makes hell horrifying.

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Hell's pretty horrifying already because of the torment, the fire, the sulfur.

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All that stuff is pretty bad.

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But the most terrifying part about hell is the fact that God is there and is present there.

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And yet, the only attributes of God that people in hell see are His judgment, His anger, and His wrath.

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And that's terrifying, is it not?

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To think about being in the presence of God, to see Him there, to know that He is watching you,

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and to know that He is there without mercy, He is there without grace,

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He is there without His love extended towards you, He is there only in His judgment,

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and in His wrath, and in His anger.

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And that's what makes hell terrifying.

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It's not the absence of God.

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It's the presence of God.

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To see Him there and to know that He offers you no help because He already did,

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and you refused it time and time and time again.

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The thing that God wants for people now is the thing that they are going to want from God when they are in hell.

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And they can see Him but have no help from Him.

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And as you see here in verse 11, it says,

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As the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night,

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these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name.

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That's one of the worst parts about hell, is that people in hell have no rest.

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I mean, can you imagine?

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You know what it's like to be tired.

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I mean, dead, dog, tired.

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You can't even make it another day.

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You're barely staying awake, you're exhausted.

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And to be like that for all of eternity, there is no rest.

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That's what God's people desire.

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We desire rest, and that's what God offers to His people.

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We read in Hebrews chapter 4 and verse 1,

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Therefore, while the promise of entering His rest still stands, let us fear,

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lest any of you should seem to have failed to reach it.

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And Hebrews 411 says, let us therefore strive to enter that rest,

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so that no one may fall by the same sort of disobedience.

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The people in hell, they never get to experience this rest.

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They have endless suffering, and it's a restless eternal existence that is exhausting.

282
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But I want you to notice verse 13 and how different it is for God's people.

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This is actually my favorite verse to read at the graveside of a believer at a funeral service.

284
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And I heard a voice from heaven saying,

285
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Write this, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from now on.

286
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Blessed indeed, says the Spirit,

287
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that they may rest from their labors for their deeds.

288
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Follow them. How good is that?

289
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That's why it's my favorite verse to read at a graveside,

290
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because when we're laying a believer to rest,

291
00:16:31,240 --> 00:16:34,920
we're saying that they actually are entering into that rest.

292
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It's not just a colloquial phrase that we use.

293
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It's become part of the culture that phrasing.

294
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But what we're doing is we're actually laying them to rest.

295
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They are entering into the rest of God.

296
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They are no longer working.

297
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They're no longer striving.

298
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They're no longer fighting against sin and temptation.

299
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They're no longer wrestling with the cares of this world and all that we have to deal with.

300
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They finally get to rest from all of their labors

301
00:17:02,200 --> 00:17:06,280
and enter into the peace, the shalom of God,

302
00:17:06,280 --> 00:17:08,600
which is great, is so good.

303
00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:14,760
And it's a contrast to the existence of those in hell who have no rest.

304
00:17:14,760 --> 00:17:17,800
But I do want us to understand these verses correctly,

305
00:17:17,800 --> 00:17:22,280
because I want you to notice it does say there that their works follow them.

306
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Did you notice it said that their works follow them?

307
00:17:26,200 --> 00:17:28,920
And there are a lot of different views on this.

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00:17:28,920 --> 00:17:32,680
You end up a lot of different denominations in the Catholic Church and things like that.

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00:17:34,120 --> 00:17:39,400
When it comes to this issue, there are more than one way to fall off a horse.

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Some people fall off the horse this way and it's legalism.

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And they're the type of people who say,

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well, your works contribute to your salvation.

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You need to work in order to be saved.

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You see this in the Catholic Church.

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00:17:55,640 --> 00:17:57,400
You see it with Jehovah's Witnesses.

316
00:17:57,400 --> 00:18:00,840
I mean, I can remember witnessing two Jehovah's Witnesses

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00:18:00,840 --> 00:18:03,960
and I asked them, hey, what role do works play in our salvation?

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And they said, well, Jesus died on the cross

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and that basically put you at zero.

320
00:18:08,360 --> 00:18:10,840
And now it's up to you to get into the positive.

321
00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:14,200
And I'm like, no, what in the world is that?

322
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I'm like, that's a complete misunderstanding of the gospel.

323
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Jesus is sufficient. Jesus alone.

324
00:18:19,320 --> 00:18:21,480
It's not Jesus plus your church attendance.

325
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It's not Jesus plus your good works.

326
00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:24,440
It's not Jesus plus.

327
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It's Jesus alone is salvation.

328
00:18:27,720 --> 00:18:30,280
But there are people who believe that very thought,

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00:18:30,280 --> 00:18:33,080
that basically Jesus, he got us out of the negative,

330
00:18:33,080 --> 00:18:35,480
but it's up to you to get yourself in the positive.

331
00:18:35,480 --> 00:18:38,600
And so you need to work hard in order to earn God's love,

332
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to merit God's favor, to receive rewards,

333
00:18:41,720 --> 00:18:43,320
all this kind of stuff.

334
00:18:43,320 --> 00:18:44,840
That's one way you can go wrong.

335
00:18:45,880 --> 00:18:47,400
There is another way though.

336
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So you fall off the horse this way.

337
00:18:48,920 --> 00:18:49,720
That's legalism.

338
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You fall off the horse this way.

339
00:18:51,320 --> 00:18:53,320
It's something called antinomianism.

340
00:18:53,320 --> 00:18:55,000
Okay, I know that's a big word.

341
00:18:55,000 --> 00:18:56,520
Right, Michael, don't make that face, Mick.

342
00:18:57,800 --> 00:18:58,840
Antinomianism.

343
00:18:58,840 --> 00:19:00,120
It's gonna make its way into the book.

344
00:19:01,640 --> 00:19:03,720
Basically, that just means without law.

345
00:19:03,720 --> 00:19:05,720
It's from the Greek, anti-nomos.

346
00:19:05,720 --> 00:19:09,480
So the people on antinomianism basically say,

347
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hey, because Jesus died for our sins,

348
00:19:12,520 --> 00:19:14,200
you don't have to do anything.

349
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Right?

350
00:19:14,520 --> 00:19:17,480
So they're saying you don't have to do anything good.

351
00:19:17,480 --> 00:19:19,000
You don't have to have any works.

352
00:19:19,000 --> 00:19:20,760
You don't have to have any obedience.

353
00:19:20,760 --> 00:19:23,960
I know people who call themselves Christians who say,

354
00:19:23,960 --> 00:19:26,120
you do not have to confess your sins.

355
00:19:26,120 --> 00:19:28,040
You do not have to repent of your sins.

356
00:19:28,040 --> 00:19:30,520
You don't even have to ask God for forgiveness.

357
00:19:30,520 --> 00:19:33,160
All you have to do is say, thank you, Jesus,

358
00:19:33,160 --> 00:19:34,360
that you did what you did.

359
00:19:34,360 --> 00:19:36,680
And I'm gonna live my life however I want to,

360
00:19:36,680 --> 00:19:38,600
because there are no consequences now.

361
00:19:39,800 --> 00:19:41,240
Do you see how you can overcorrect?

362
00:19:41,240 --> 00:19:41,400
Right?

363
00:19:41,400 --> 00:19:42,920
Like, oh, I don't wanna go legalism.

364
00:19:42,920 --> 00:19:43,560
You overcorrect.

365
00:19:43,560 --> 00:19:45,800
You say, I can just do whatever I want, right?

366
00:19:45,800 --> 00:19:47,720
There are two ways to fall off that horse.

367
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And I want you to understand that the works are important,

368
00:19:52,520 --> 00:19:53,880
and they are gonna follow us,

369
00:19:53,880 --> 00:19:56,040
but we have to understand what role do they play

370
00:19:56,040 --> 00:19:57,000
in the final judgment?

371
00:19:58,040 --> 00:20:01,800
And the Bible says that our works in the final judgment

372
00:20:02,280 --> 00:20:05,160
are going to be the assessment of our life

373
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and the evidence of whether or not we have true faith.

374
00:20:08,040 --> 00:20:08,760
Right?

375
00:20:08,760 --> 00:20:12,120
So your works do not make you saved,

376
00:20:12,120 --> 00:20:15,480
but they are the evidence that you are saved.

377
00:20:15,480 --> 00:20:16,760
Does that make sense to everyone?

378
00:20:16,760 --> 00:20:19,320
So God is going to look at all that we've done

379
00:20:19,320 --> 00:20:21,080
in the flesh in our lives,

380
00:20:21,080 --> 00:20:24,760
and he is going to say, based on this body of evidence,

381
00:20:24,760 --> 00:20:29,240
is this in alignment with what a true Christian actually is?

382
00:20:30,200 --> 00:20:33,320
It actually reminded me of this video I saw recently,

383
00:20:34,280 --> 00:20:37,320
and it was this video where they had five people,

384
00:20:38,200 --> 00:20:42,520
and the goal was you had to identify the imposter, right?

385
00:20:42,520 --> 00:20:46,760
So it was four military people,

386
00:20:47,320 --> 00:20:49,400
and one of them was not a military person.

387
00:20:49,400 --> 00:20:50,680
There was five people total,

388
00:20:50,680 --> 00:20:51,560
four were actually military,

389
00:20:51,560 --> 00:20:53,400
one was pretending to be military.

390
00:20:53,400 --> 00:20:56,360
And so they were gonna put people through a series of tests,

391
00:20:56,360 --> 00:20:58,200
and you're gonna run obstacle courses,

392
00:20:58,200 --> 00:20:59,480
you're gonna be on the gun range,

393
00:20:59,480 --> 00:21:01,240
you had to answer military trivia,

394
00:21:01,240 --> 00:21:03,000
you even got interrogated by the other people,

395
00:21:03,000 --> 00:21:04,520
and they were gonna ask you questions

396
00:21:04,520 --> 00:21:07,240
that only military people would know.

397
00:21:07,240 --> 00:21:10,120
And at the end of the goal, the end of the test,

398
00:21:10,120 --> 00:21:14,360
your goal was to judge based on people's works

399
00:21:14,360 --> 00:21:18,040
and how they did, can you identify the imposter?

400
00:21:18,040 --> 00:21:19,320
And it was pretty interesting,

401
00:21:19,320 --> 00:21:21,320
and I thought that's a pretty good example

402
00:21:21,320 --> 00:21:23,800
of what it's gonna look like at the final judgment, right?

403
00:21:23,800 --> 00:21:25,400
Because there are a lot of people

404
00:21:25,400 --> 00:21:26,840
who are like that imposter

405
00:21:26,840 --> 00:21:29,160
who are playing the part of a Christian, right?

406
00:21:29,160 --> 00:21:30,680
They're going to church on Sunday,

407
00:21:30,680 --> 00:21:33,960
they're dressing up nice and neat, Sunday best.

408
00:21:33,960 --> 00:21:36,840
They're participating in all sorts of religious activities,

409
00:21:36,840 --> 00:21:38,200
they're serving in the church,

410
00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:39,240
they're doing all sorts of stuff.

411
00:21:39,240 --> 00:21:41,800
They are playing the part really well,

412
00:21:41,800 --> 00:21:45,000
and they might have everyone else in the world deceived,

413
00:21:45,640 --> 00:21:48,840
but God knows who the true believers are.

414
00:21:48,840 --> 00:21:51,640
The Bible says God knows His own.

415
00:21:51,640 --> 00:21:53,000
And so at the end of our lives,

416
00:21:53,000 --> 00:21:54,840
when we stand before God in judgment,

417
00:21:54,840 --> 00:21:57,320
He's going to look at all of our works,

418
00:21:57,320 --> 00:21:59,000
and He's gonna say, based on all of this,

419
00:21:59,640 --> 00:22:02,280
it is evident that you are truly saved.

420
00:22:02,840 --> 00:22:03,960
He's gonna look at other people and say,

421
00:22:03,960 --> 00:22:04,920
hey, based on all this,

422
00:22:04,920 --> 00:22:07,480
it's pretty evident that you're not saved.

423
00:22:07,480 --> 00:22:09,240
That's the role works play.

424
00:22:09,240 --> 00:22:11,800
They give evidence of true faith.

425
00:22:11,800 --> 00:22:13,560
And so your works, listen to me church,

426
00:22:13,560 --> 00:22:15,400
your works cannot save you.

427
00:22:15,400 --> 00:22:18,120
They are good, you're meant to have good works,

428
00:22:18,120 --> 00:22:20,040
you're meant to do good things for God,

429
00:22:20,040 --> 00:22:21,880
you're meant to be obedient to God.

430
00:22:21,880 --> 00:22:24,520
They cannot save you.

431
00:22:26,680 --> 00:22:29,880
And you also do not have a license to sin

432
00:22:29,880 --> 00:22:31,480
because Jesus died on the cross.

433
00:22:32,040 --> 00:22:33,800
May Paul address this in Romans as well?

434
00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:35,160
Do you all remember where Paul says,

435
00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:36,360
what then shall we say?

436
00:22:36,360 --> 00:22:39,800
We're sin abounded, grace abounded all the more.

437
00:22:39,800 --> 00:22:41,240
So should we just keep on sinning

438
00:22:41,240 --> 00:22:42,280
so that grace would abound?

439
00:22:42,280 --> 00:22:45,400
And he says, no, absolutely not.

440
00:22:45,400 --> 00:22:47,160
That should be evident to everybody.

441
00:22:47,160 --> 00:22:49,880
Of course you should not just keep on sinning

442
00:22:49,880 --> 00:22:51,720
because God is abounding in grace.

443
00:22:52,360 --> 00:22:53,640
That would be a disgrace to him.

444
00:22:53,640 --> 00:22:55,160
And if you have that kind of heart that says,

445
00:22:55,160 --> 00:22:57,880
well, I just want to be able to sin and do whatever I want

446
00:22:57,880 --> 00:22:59,800
because God's gonna forgive me anyways,

447
00:22:59,800 --> 00:23:02,680
that's evident that you're not actually right with God.

448
00:23:03,240 --> 00:23:05,080
It's evident that you need to be reminded

449
00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:06,200
of the severity of sin.

450
00:23:06,200 --> 00:23:08,200
You need to go back to the verses we've already read

451
00:23:08,200 --> 00:23:10,120
where it says there is coming a day

452
00:23:10,680 --> 00:23:12,600
where that cup is already being filled up

453
00:23:12,600 --> 00:23:14,520
with the anger of God and the wrath of God.

454
00:23:14,520 --> 00:23:16,520
And one day you're gonna have to drink that.

455
00:23:16,520 --> 00:23:19,960
We need to be reminded that God hates sin.

456
00:23:20,520 --> 00:23:21,800
Even if our world loves it,

457
00:23:22,520 --> 00:23:24,040
even if our world promotes it,

458
00:23:24,680 --> 00:23:26,280
even if our world agrees with it,

459
00:23:27,480 --> 00:23:28,840
God hates sin.

460
00:23:29,720 --> 00:23:31,880
And if you're a Christian, you should hate sin as well.

461
00:23:31,880 --> 00:23:35,880
You should warn people about the sin in their lives

462
00:23:35,880 --> 00:23:39,480
and you should warn people about the wrath that is to come.

463
00:23:39,480 --> 00:23:41,160
Speaking of wrath, the children are here.

464
00:23:43,560 --> 00:23:44,920
It's actually just Monica's kids.

465
00:23:44,920 --> 00:23:59,400
All right, we'll conclude it.