em, what’s out there. Sometime in the
past, I think last radio show, I talked about hell and what hell is like and what people say about
hell. Some people say, “Well, there’s no such thing as hell. It’s not a real place. It’s just all
metaphorical,” and that “Hell is really here on the earth,” yada, yada, yada, yada.
No, hell is a
real place. Not only is hell a real place, so also is the Lake of Fire.
The Lake of Fire is
identified in the Bible as a real place also. It starts in the Old Testament and there in the Old
Testament whenever people died, and this is a review from last week, I want you to remember
533-Faith-Alone-transcript.pdf
this and understand this, that when people died they went to Sheol, S.H.E.O.L. which is called
the grave. Both believer and unbeliever went to Sheol, the grave. And when Jesus Christ came,
went to the cross, died for our sins, and was resurrected, then the Old Testament saints that were
in Sheol in a place called Abraham’s Bosom were transferred to heaven to await their
resurrection bodies. Eventually they’re going to get a resurrection body. Now you and I as
members of the body of Christ, members of the church, we will get our resurrection body at the
rapture of the church, 1 Thessalonians 4,
“When Christ comes we will go to meet Him in the air
and so should we ever be with the Lord.”
But this thing about Sheol, I want to go into that a little
bit. I want you to see it and thus I’m going to go to a passage I did not go to last week. This is
what our Lord Jesus Christ taught about it using the illustration of Lazarus. He says,
“There was
a certain rich man,”
in Luke 16:19,
“There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple
and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day.”
Now here’s our first hint, wealth does not get
you into heaven. Prestige does not get you into heaven. The only thing that gets you into heaven
is faith alone in Christ alone. The Bible goes on to say,
“And there was a certain beggar and his
name was Lazarus and he was laid at the gate, full of sores and he desired to be fed with the
crumbs that fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs would come and lick his sores.
And it came to pass that the beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom
and the rich man also died and was buried.”
Now if the beggar went to Abraham’s Bosom, this
means that he was a believer in Jesus Christ or as he knew Christ to be.
People got saved in the
Old Testament the same way they get saved in the New Testament. They looked forward to
the cross and we look back at the cross, it’s the same cross. They didn’t know Him as Jesus
Christ, they didn’t know what His name would be, but they knew through the rituals, they
knew through the sacrifices, they knew through the teachings, that the Redeemer, that the
Messiah would come and they believed in that.
And that’s why Jesus asked constantly,
“Believe you that I am He,”
and
“What think you Peter?”
And he said,
“Well, You are the
anointed Son of God,”
Peter recognized that. This is the question, do you believe that Jesus
Christ is the Son of God? So let’s go back to our passage,
“It came to pass as the beggar died
and was carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom and the rich man also died and was buried.
And in Hades,
[and it’s the word Sheol]
he lifted up his eyes, being in torment and he saw
Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom.”
So now in Sheol there were two compartments.
There was the compartment of Torments and the compartment of Abraham’s Bosom or place of
blessing. And being in Torment,
“He cried and he said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and
send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in the water and cool my tongue for I am
tormented in this flame.’”
There is fire in hell, there is torment in hell, there is no escaping that.
“Abraham said, ‘Son, do you remember in your lifetime you received all the good things and
likewise Lazarus had the evil things? But now he’s comforted and you are tormented and besides
all of this, there’s a great gulf fixed so that they who would pass from here to you cannot even do
it. Neither can those that are there pass to us that would come from there.’”
So even if Lazarus
had compassion and pity, which he did, and even if he wanted to go over across the gulf and give
533-Faith-Alone-transcript.pdf
this rich man a drink of water, he would not be allowed to do it.
“And then the rich man said, ‘I
pray therefore father Abraham that you would send him to my father’s house because I have five
brothers and let him go testify unto them lest they also come to this place of torments.’”
So none
of his brothers were believers, none of them. It’s very interesting how people can reject the
claims of God. People get rich and get full of success and fame and they forget all about God. If
you’ve never trusted Jesus Christ as your Savior, you need to do that today. The hard funerals I
have to do are the funerals of men and women who are not Christians. And you say, “What
would you say at a funeral like that?” I tell you exactly what I say. “If so-and-so were here today,
let me tell you what he would want you to know,” and I will go with a passage like this and
explain it because I would know that this person who’s not a Christian is in hell today. You don’t
want to go there, I don’t want to go there, and I’m not going there because I have believed in
Jesus Christ and received Him as my Savior.
The Bible says in 1 John 5:12-13,
“He who has
the Son has the life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have the life. These things
I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that
you have eternal life.”
“So Abraham said unto him, ‘They have Moses and they have the
prophets, let them hear what they say.’ And the rich man in torments said, ‘Nay father Abraham,
but if one went back from the dead, then they will change their mind.’ And he said unto them, ‘If
they hear not Moses and they hear not the prophets, will they be persuaded though one rise up
from the dead?’”
These are the unreachables. These are the unteachables. The unreachable and
the unteachable would not believe even if the miracle happened in front of his eyes. Why?
Because of his arrogant self-righteousness. He’s arrogantly self-righteous and he thinks that he is
going to save himself and you can’t do it. So it’s critical that you understand this, there is a place
called Sheol and now all of Hades is hell. These people that were there in Abraham’s Bosom
have been taken to be face-to-face with the Father and all we know is there now is called hell,
that’s where it is. Now the Bible goes on to talk about Hades,
“The rich man went to Hades.”
We
just mentioned all of that and we also know that there’s a place called the Lake of Fire and Jesus
even used the word called Gahanna. And Gahanna was the garbage dump, remember I mentioned
this last week. During the reign of Ahaz, the King of Israel, he participated in the worship of the
false god Molech and he sacrificed his own son to Molech, killed his own boy to satisfy Molech.
And all of that, that was where Molech was represented and the golden calf in the region of
Canaan and all of that turned into a garbage dump outside of Jerusalem, stopped around the time
of Josiah in 2 Kings 23. That place of worship became the dumping ground for the garbage and
the refuse of Jerusalem. Hence, the Lord use this word Gahanna to describe the place of eternal
punishment because it was a place of filth and stench and smoke and pain and fire and death.
That is not where anyone wants to go. Now the Bible talks about another place called the Lake of
Fire and we mentioned this last week and I want to mention it again to you. I want to go through
it one more time with you. It’s in Revelation chapter 20. This is the final judgment for the
unbeliever
.
Let me make you aware, there are two judgments in eternity. The first judgment is
called the judgment seat of Christ and at the judgment seat of Christ, you and I will be there. You
533-Faith-Alone-transcript.pdf
can read about it in 1 Corinthians chapter 3 and I’ll turn and read a little of it to you so you will
hear it. 1 Corinthians chapter 3 verse 11,
“For other foundation can no man lay than that which
is laid which is Jesus Christ.”
So imagine you’re building a house and you’re pouring the
foundation of concrete and this is a metaphor here, an analogy, this is Christ. He is the
foundation. Paul went on to say,
“If any man builds upon the foundation gold and silver and
precious stones, or perhaps he uses wood hay and stubble. Every man’s work,”
not your sin,
notice that.
Your sins were paid for. Jesus Christ bore all of your sins on the cross. After
death your sins will never be brought up.
There’s not going to be a movie projector in heaven.
They’re not going to sell tickets and sell popcorn and let people watch all the stupid, sinful things
you did, it’s not going to happen. But what you are going to be evaluated on is your production
or your work, not only you but the unbeliever as well, so listen on.
“Every man’s work should be
made manifest, the day will declare it, it will be revealed by fire and the fire shall test every
man’s work of what sort it is.”
What does this mean? This means there’s a right way to do things
and there’s a wrong way to do things. So when you do the right thing in the wrong way, it’s no
good. If you do the right thing in the right way, then it’s good. What do I mean by that? Is it right
to pray? Yes. Is there a right way to pray and a wrong way to pray? Yes. For example, if you pray
without the filling of the Holy Spirit, your prayer is not going to go any higher than the ceiling
because Romans tells us,
“The Holy Spirit intercedes for us in prayer.”
If you’re praying to
Jesus, it’s not going to go any higher than the ceiling because
Jesus said,
“Pray to the Father in
the power of the Spirit in My name,”
and yet people continue to pray to Jesus. Yes, He is our
intercessor. Yes, He intercedes for us but when we pray we have to do the right thing, which is
prayer, in the right way, and here’s another thing. If you have unconfessed sin in your life and
you are not filled with the Holy Spirit, your prayer won’t be answered. The Bible says,
“If I
regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear me.”
So that’s the illustration of a right thing,
prayer, done in the wrong way, praying to the wrong person, not praying filled with the Spirit
because you have unconfessed sin in your life and it can be the same thing about giving money.
It can be the same thing about going to church. It can be the same thing about singing in the
choir or going on a mission trip. Right things, all of them right things, but they can be done in the
wrong way and thus the work winds up being what we call human good. What do I mean by
that? I mean an unbeliever could do it, human good is something an unbeliever could do. You
say, “But I’m a Christian and he’s not.” Yes, but you did it in the energy of the flesh, you did it
not filled with the Holy Spirit, you did it with your own power, your own energy, and it did not
glorify God in that way unless you are filled with the Holy Spirit. Unless you have use problem-
solving device number one which is the rebound technique then you’ve dealt with your sin, 1
John 1:9,
“If we confess our sin, He is faithful and just to forgive us and to purify us from all of
our wrongdoing.”
So if you’ve done that, then the Holy Spirit’s in control of your life and then
anything you do, the right things you do, you will be rewarded for. They are gold, silver, precious
stones, they are not wood, hay and stubble. But that good things you do when you’re not filled
with the Holy Spirit, producing them in the energy of the flesh, why that’s just wood, hay, and
533-Faith-Alone-transcript.pdf
stubble. So here we go.
“The fire will test every man’s work of what sort it is and any man’s work
abides which is built upon, he will receive a reward. But if his work should be burned up, he will
suffer loss, but he himself shall be saved, yet by fire.”
Did you hear that? Even if all of your
works are burned up, even since the day you accepted Christ you never learned how to be filled
with the Spirit, you never learned how to do the right thing in the right way, then you have no
divine good production, you still have the foundation. You’re going to heaven because Jesus said,
“I won’t ever leave you. I won’t ever forsake you.”
The greatest tragedy in life in my way of
thinking is any person who accepts Christ as Savior and never moves past first base, never learns
how the protocol plan of God works, never learns how to glorify Christ to the maximum because
they never learned how to be filled with the Holy Spirit, they don’t know the difference between
divine viewpoint and human viewpoint. They don’t know the difference between human good
and divine good. They never learned the 10 problem-solving devices. They never learned and
thus they go through all the motions, they do all the right things in the wrong way. I call that a
Christian caricature, you know one of those funny looking people they draw you sometimes, a
little caricature, you look funny. The artist can do that, a caricature illustration of you. That’s a
Christian trying to re-present Christ to his generation and yet he’s doing it all in the energy of the
flesh. So what happens if all of his work, all his wood, hay, and stubble burns up? He’s still
going to heaven, he still has the foundation. Where did I get that?
“If any man’s work shall be
burned, he will suffer loss. But he, himself shall be saved, yet as by fire.”
Yes, you’re going to
heaven, yes. Now let’s go to the next judgment, the great white throne of judgment. This is
awesome, this is in Revelation chapter 20 and there are no Christians here. Christians were
judged at the judgment seat of Christ, the one I just told you about. You’ve been judged, given
your rewards, glorified God to the maximum and now you’re observing this one. Here is where
the lost people are judged. Here is where the Lake of Fire comes in.
“And I saw a great white
throne,”
Revelation 20:11,
“and Him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heavens
fled away and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great stand
before God. And the books were opened. And then another book which is the book of life and the
dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works
[not their sins, Christ died for their sins, all sin has been paid for, they are judged according to
their works.]
And the sea gave up the dead that were in it, and death and Hades delivered up the
dead that were in them.”
That’s dead, lost people coming out of Sheol, out of Hades, coming out
of Gahanna, coming here to be now judged by God before they’re thrown into the Lake of Fire.
“They were all judged, every man according to their works
[there it is again]
and death and hell
were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death and whoever was not found written in the
Lamb’s book of life was cast into the lake of fire.”
Now, what does this mean? First of all there’s
a single book, it’s called the Book of Life. If you are born, your name is written in the Book of
Life. If you died without having accepted Christ as your Savior, your name is blotted out of the
Book of Life, Matthew 10:28, it’s blotted out and you’ve died the first death, okay? Now, after
the first death, after being in hell for a long time, now the Great White Throne of Judgment, here
533-Faith-Alone-transcript.pdf
you are. And now the Lord says, “Okay, is his name in the Book of Life?” And the angel inspects
it and says, “No sir.” So we know you died without accepting Christ as your Savior. So now
you’re going to have a chance to prove why you should come to heaven. But remember this, God
is absolute righteousness, plus R, absolute righteousness. Man, you and I, we are minus R, we’re
negative righteousness. As a matter of fact the Bible says,
“There are none that are righteous,
no, not even one.”
So there’s nothing in us that could ever appease the justice of God. Remember
the justice of God is the guardian of the righteousness of God and what the righteousness of God
rejects, then the justice of God will judge. So if the righteousness of God looks at you and the
books are opened and you say, “Look, I did this, I never missed Sunday school. I gave money to
the Little Old Ladies Society, I never smoked, I never drank.” But did you in fact put your faith
in Jesus Christ? “Well, I never really thought that much about that.” You see, without faith alone
in Christ alone, all the good things you did, all of them, every good deed is no good to God
because it’s minus R, its human good.
“There are none that are righteous, no not one. All of our
good works are like a filthy rag,”
I just quoted it a moment ago. I don’t care how good you are,
you’re not going to heaven. And the Bible says,
“Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord,
did I not do many wonderful deeds in Your name?’”
See, there will even be church members
here, might even be a few pastors here that didn’t have faith alone in Christ alone. It’s not faith
plus being baptized. It’s not faith plus giving up peanuts. It’s not faith and no longer smoking,
it’s
faith alone in Christ alone. You’re putting your faith in the finished work of Christ on the
cross for your salvation and nothing else. You will be in the Book of Life if you did this. If
you did not, your name is blotted out and here you are with no hope, no chance.
Why?
Because you cannot equal the righteousness of God, one small unrighteous act and the justice of
God would step in and condemn you. The Bible says,
“Whoever was not found written the book
of life was cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.”
Either you’re going to be born
twice, the first time born physically, the second time born spiritually, or you’re going to die
twice, the first time physically, the second time cast into the Lake of Fire and there is no
escape.
There is no way to get out. It’s a sea of burning fire and brimstone designed not for you,
no. God loved you so much He sent His son to die for you. He sent His Son to take your place.
This was designed to punish Satan and the fallen angels that followed him in rebellion in heaven,
not you. And yet you leave the justice of God no choice because you received no righteousness
from Christ. See the Bible says,
“He that knew no sin was made sin for us so that we could be
made the righteousness of God through Him.”
That’s how you go to heaven. To have equal
righteousness with God, you go through Jesus Christ. He took your sins, He gives you His
righteousness and the Father looks at you as if He’s looking at His own Son, not because you’re a
good dude but because you’re wearing the righteousness of Christ. I pray you’ll think about this.
Ponder over it, clear it up in your mind so that you will know beyond a shadow of a doubt that
you have eternal life through faith alone in Christ alone. I pray you do this. I hope you come
back next week. Until then, this is your host Rick Hughes saying thank you for listening to the
FLOT Line.