In his sermon 'A Horrific Inheritance,' Scott Brown discusses Revelation 21:8, which contrasts the eternal destinies of believers and unbelievers. The sermon emphasizes the gravity of eternal life and the stark contrast between heaven and hell. Brown explains the significance of this single verse in the context of time, eternity, and the choices people make that determine their eternal inheritance. He outlines the eight characteristics identified in the verse—cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and liars—highlighting their continued presence in human hearts and the importance of turning away from these sins. The sermon also refutes the notion that the Bible is outdated, arguing that its teachings remain relevant as they describe the true nature of humanity and reality. Brown stresses the central duty of the church as leading the work of conversion and sanctification, encouraging believers to become progressively holy and turn away from sin. He concludes by underscoring the importance of choosing to follow God and the futility of opposing Him.

Please open your Bibles to Revelation chapter 21 and find verse 8. I'll just be reading verse 8 in Revelation 21. This is the inerrant, all-sufficient, sweeter-than-honey word of God. Verse 8. But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you for your word that speaks truth in love that tells us the realities of this world and the world to come in eternity. And so Lord come and shepherd this flock with your word. Bring us all up in the training and the admonition that you have for us. To make us like your son, to root out remaining sin, to show us the dark underbelly of this world and to run toward you amen be seated please so as as you've been with us over the last few weeks.

Our focus has been on the beauty of the new heavens and the earth. We've been going very slowly through these first eight verses to try to explain, try to grasp what God has done, is doing for those who are in heaven and to help us to give a have a taste for those things this passage describes the inheritance of believers and unbelievers. And in this verse, what it is like and what are the people like who find themselves in hell. And so we have been looking at the glory of heaven, but there's this startling change that begins with the word but there in verse eight. And it's so startling and actually very surprising because the whole context so far has been beauty, one beauty after another.

And why does it matter? What's the importance of this one single verse? Why focus on just one single verse here? And there are many reasons it matters, and I hope by the time we get to the end of this passage, you'll see several of the reasons this is important. But one reason it's important is that our time on earth is very short.

But life isn't short. Because eternity is long. And you will either experience for all eternity, eternity everlasting joy, or an everlasting torment among the cruel, the lying, the deceptive, the abusers, Something so terrifying something so horrific. I entitled a sermon a horrific inheritance because that's what this is Something so dire something so frightening something so fearsome that it just makes your hair stand on end when you think of such a thing. But the truth is, you'll either spend all eternity surrounded by people who are filled with the Holy Spirit of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

You'll either be with those kind of people or you'll be with these kind of people here. And it really is frightening. I also think this is such a critical verse for us because when you when you when you see these sins identified and we'll walk through them one by one. You're reminded that you do still have remaining sin, that these things still remain to some degree. God has been cleansing you.

He began by forgiving you of your of all your sins and then he began a work of sanctification setting you apart Convicting you of your sin showing you how to turn away from sin Increasingly showing you more sin in your life and it never stops because God is always working with remaining sin. And so when you see these words in this list, well, they're terrifying things. They also still exist in some measure in all of us, but there's one difference and that is that the Christian is wanting to run away from them. Now these these verses also I think are a refutation of a common argument against the Bible. The people who say the Bible is an ancient book, it's outmoded, it's not relevant, It has to do with an ancient culture.

It's not for our time. But what we find here is very clearly, this is a book for our time because it really describes reality. It describes life on earth. It describes what's inside of you and it describes the worst things that you see in the world. It really does tell the truth.

The Bible is not an outmoded book. It tells the truth about reality. It shines light. The Bible stands firm. The Bible is willing to confront.

The Bible doesn't flatter people. The Bible tells the truth about people. The Bible doesn't allow you to have an air conditioned ride to hell. The Bible is gonna tell you who you are and try to lure you out of that world that's headed toward destruction. Now, there's some theological categories here just as we think about the words that we find in verse eight.

How do you fit this into a theological framework? Well, the central message of the Bible is that God glorifies himself both in the salvation of sinners and the destruction of the wicked. God glorifies himself doing both things. And I think that the whole message of the Bible can be summed up in in five categories and And we're in one of those categories here in this passage of scripture. The first category is creation and then fall and then redemption and then restoration.

We've been talking about restoration all for weeks here as We've been in Revelation 21, but now we are in this category of damnation and perdition So we're following really the the contours of the doctrinal Layout of the Bible here and we find ourselves here in the doctrine of damnation. Now we live in a world where most people don't want to believe in damnation, they don't want to believe in hell. Everybody wants to believe in heaven, everybody wants to go to heaven, But nobody wants to go to hell. Now you, in this world, you know, will find people who will create their own kind of heaven and no kind of hell. You also have the doctrine of eternity here, and It helps us to understand how God constructed the universe in terms of the doctrine of time.

And the world, this world that we're living in is only our beginning in, our conscious beginning in eternity. This is the biblical teaching about time. Time is a matter of infinite, infinite external experience, Infinite physical experience, not just spiritual. And what is your conception of time? Well, maybe it gets very practical.

How much time do you have on earth? Well, you don't know. You may have had parents who lived a long life, but you don't know how long you'll live. If you live to be the average age of an American, how much time do you have to exist? Now, the truth is, your life on earth is the shortest time of your existence It's it's almost infinitely short Compared to the time that you will exist because you will exist your soul and your body will exist For all eternity whether you are in heaven or hell.

You know, when you're raising children, it's very clear to you that you only have a very short period of time, and then it's over. And you're training them to be adults, to live in an adult world. You know, the average lifespan of an American male is age 76. It's dropped slightly over the last couple of years. If you're in China, it's 82.

If you grow up in Malawi where we have some dear friends, the average lifespan of a male is 61. In Russia, today, it's 68. That's my age. So nobody knows how long that they'll live but life is short and the time you spend on earth is less than a nanosecond compared to the life that you'll spend for all eternity. That's the reality of this passage of Scripture here.

It's a very short run and your eternity is determined by what you do in a very short period of time and literally you frankly in in the grand scheme the grand scale of all eternity you have no time you must act because life really is short It's very short even if you live to the average age of the American male or female It's still very very short and it could be shortened Way before that Now in Revelation 21 22 you we encounter these two types of people. There are two lifestyles, there are two gates, there are two roads, there are two destinations, and what we find here is one kind of person. Now, you know, we've been walking through these verses one by one, and we first of all saw that God is making a new heaven and a new earth. It's a renewed heaven. It's like earth, but renewed.

It's, you look around and you see the things that are here, and that's what heaven is like only without the fall. It's exalted, it's far better than what you see here. God is making all things new. And we tried to, I wanted to make the point about heaven. What's the most important thing about heaven?

Well, it's not that the trees bear fruit all the time and the streets are streets of gold. It's that God is there. The only people that go to heaven are the ones who want God. They're the only ones that want his authority. If you don't want his authority now, you won't want heaven and heaven won't want you.

Because God is there. He will be with them. In verse three, behold the tabernacle of God is with men and he will dwell with them and they shall be his people and God Himself will be with them and he shall be their God. So heaven heaven is Wonderful because God is there So and the question that I was asking is do you want God because don't ask do I want to go to heaven don't ask your children do you want to go to hell because nobody wants to go to hell the question is do you want God do you want God's authority in your life that's what heaven is The beauties of holiness engulf the souls of those who are in heaven. If you don't like holiness here, you won't be in hell, in heaven.

So and then we saw what's not in heaven. There are six things listed here. They're not in heaven. Well, He'll wipe every tear from their eyes. There'll be no more death, no more sorrow, no more crying, no more pain.

The former things have passed away. Six things. And so we engage in the whole doctrine of pain. Why pain? Pain is here to point us to heaven, to lure us to heaven.

We talked about the beneficial, how the Bible speaks about suffering. You know, everybody has their own ideas about suffering, but God teaches his people how to suffer. And it's such a wonderful thing. Over and over again, I tried to remind us of the words of Thomas Brooks who said all saints shall enjoy heaven when they leave this earth some saints enjoy heaven while they are on the earth that saints might enjoy to heavens you can enjoy heaven on earth because you're bringing heaven down. Jesus taught us to pray on earth as it is in heaven.

So we're always bringing heaven down. Heaven is like a magnet but it's also a foretaste or the earth is a foretaste of heaven. So then we turn to verses five through seven and we looked at the inheritance of the Christian. I will give of the fountain of the water of life freely to him who thirsts and I will be His God and he shall be my son. That's the inheritance of the believer in heaven.

But now we get to verse eight Wham We get to verse eight out of all this glory all this beauty all all of this encouragement it's like we hit a brick wall. And we realize here in verse eight that people either experience this kingdom of everlasting light and living water and sonship and inheritance of every good thing. And Then there is the other inheritance the inheritance of fire and brimstone and the cowardly and the unbelieving and the abominable and the murders and the sexually immoral and the sorcerers and the idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone Which is the second death so either your inheritance is a fountain of life or its fire and brimstone It's either with those filled with the spirit or the abominable filthy. It's, it's such a contrast. So you have these two descriptions, you know, you first, you have those who are thirsting, they thirst for God and God fills them with living water.

And then you have the unbelieving, these two verbs that describe the way that people operate in the world. And there are only two kinds of people in the world. But in verse eight, you find this word, but, it's a startling statement, but, but the cowardly. Look for that word in the Bible. It's very interesting when you see it.

But the cowardly and unbelieving. And this word appears several times in Revelation 21 and 22. For some reason, God, in this disclosure of heaven, he wants to regularly bring us back to this reality, this reality of the other kingdom, To remind us that they're really, they're only sheep or goats. There are, as in Matthew 13, they're good fish and bad fish, or they're wheat and they're tares. There are good branches and they're withered branches.

They're good trees and they're bad trees. That's how Jesus described it. And so we find ourselves looking at these things again. And over and over, I hope you have your Bible open to Revelation 21, because I want to walk you through it right now. I want you to see how we're continually reminded somehow In this narrative, in this long narrative of two chapters on heaven, from time to time, the terrors of hell are presented before us so we don't forget what kind of kingdoms there are.

Verse 11, I'm sorry, verse 27 in chapter 21, but, there's another but, but there shall by no means enter anything that defiles or causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. He's talking about people. No one will bring anything defiling into heaven. No one will cause an abomination. These are people he's talking about.

These are people who are shut out. They will not come in and then in chapter 22 you see the same contrast it's made three times in chapter 22 The the unjust and the filthy are contrasted with the righteous and the holy verse 11 chapter 22 He who is unjust let him be unjust still he who is filthy. Let him be filthy still in other words. It's over You will be filthy forever for all eternity. We'll get to that in a few weeks, to that verse.

He who is righteous let him be righteous still. He who is holy let him be holy still. In other words the die is cast there's nothing that will change. The filthy will be filthy for all eternity and will be surrounded by filthiness and the righteous will be righteous for all eternity and will be surrounded with righteousness and no abomination will get in. Won't that be nice?

No more abominations, no more lies, no more lying to yourself, no more people lying to you. Verse 14, blessed are those who keep his commandments that they may have the right to the tree of life and may enter through the gates of the city, but, verse 15, but, there's that word again, but outside, Outside are dogs and sorcerers and sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters and whoever loves and practices a lie And then he talks about those who take away from the words of God. Verse 18, for I testify to everyone who hears the words of this prophecy of this book. If anyone adds to these things, God will add to him the plagues which are written in the book. If anyone takes away from the words of this book, of this prophecy, God will take away his part from the book of life, from the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book.

So, the Lord doesn't want us to forget the contrast as we go through these disclosures of heaven. He always wants to bring us back to understand this. And on the earth, while the people of God are bringing heaven down, while the people of God are bringing heaven down while the people of God are being filled with the Holy Spirit of love hell is also breaking loose in the earth through the cowardly through the immoral through the adulterers and the fornicators hell is breaking out as well at the same time on the earth. And so you find these eight characteristics here of the people that you will inherit and the characteristic of fire and brimstone. And there are many lists like this in the Bible, particularly in the New Testament.

Particularly in the New Testament. In Mark chapter seven, Jesus tells us where these things come from. And I want us to feel the weight of these things. And I want us to feel the weight of these things. And I want us to feel the weight in two ways.

First of all, feel the weight of this fallen world. But also, remember that God delivered you and is delivering you from these things. That God, you're walking away from these things. Praise the Lord that he's doing that in your heart. You've, He changed your heart.

He gave you a new wanter. You did not want these things anymore. But Jesus tells where these things come from, that they come from inside. Mark chapter seven, verse 20. And he said, what comes out of a man, that defiles a man.

For from within, out of the heart of men, proceed evil thoughts, adulteries, fornications, murders, thefts, covetousness, wickedness, deceit, lewdness, an evil eye, blasphemy, pride, foolishness. All these evil things come from within and defile a man. These kinds of things are the mind games of the unbeliever in Romans 128. We learn that. Paul tells the church there in Rome what the debased mind produces.

He says, and even though they did not like to retain God in their knowledge. God gave them over to a debased mind To do those things which are not fitting see it all begins in the mind the cleansing of the mind The changing of the meditations of the hearts is what changes your life. God gave them over to a debased mind to do those things which are not fitting. Verse 29 in Romans 1, being filled with all unrighteousness, sexual immorality, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, evil-mindedness. They are whisperers, back-biters, haters of God, violent, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents undiscerning untrustworthy unloving unforgiving unmerciful who knowing the righteous judgment of God that those who practice such things are deserving of death, not only do the same, but also approve of them who practice them.

In Galatians 5.19 through 21, Paul tells the Galatian church what this comes from. He calls it the works of the flesh. And it really is a picture of hell. It's a picture of the people in hell. Now the works of the flesh are evident, which are adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lewdness, idolatry, sorcery, hatred, contentions, jealousies, outbursts of wrath, selfish ambitions, dissensions, heresies, envy, murders, drunkenness, revelries, and the like, of which I tell you beforehand, just as I also told you in time past that those who practice such things will not inherit the kingdom of God But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control.

In Colossians chapter three, verses four through ten, Paul is telling this church in that city in Colossae to put to death the evil desires, and he names six of them. Therefore, put to death your members, which are on the earth. And this is what Christians are trying to do. This is what Christians do. Put to death fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Because of these things, the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience on which you yourselves once walked when you lived with them. In other words, you're not walking in them anymore. You used to live that way, but not anymore. And it's not to say that you're not tempted, but you you're not running to them anymore. You're running away And in first Timothy 8 or first Timothy 1 verses 8 through 11 Timothy got or Paul tells Timothy as a pastor there in that city in Ephesus he tells them how to use the law for the sanctification of the people he says but now we know that the law is good if one uses it lawfully knowing this that the law is not made for a righteous person, but for the lawless and insubordinate, for the ungodly and for sinners, for the unholy and profane, for murderers of fathers and murderers of mothers, for manslayers, for fornicators, for sodomites, for kidnappers, for liars, for perjurers, and if there is any other thing that is contrary to sound doctrine.

And then the apostle Paul in this very sexualized city of Corinth in 1 Corinthians chapter six, verse nine, Paul, He identifies the hope of conversion that you know all these sinful behaviors can be escaped and you don't have to live in them for your whole life. You can put them behind you and he says he says to this church full of full of people who had come out of such a corrupt culture, Do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God do not be deceived neither fornicators nor idolaters nor adulterers nor homosexuals nor sodomites nor thieves nor covetous nor drunkards nor revilers nor extortioners will inherit the kingdom of God and then he says this shocking thing and such were some of you but you were washed but you were sanctified but you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus by the Spirit of our God and that's why you the central work of a local church is the work of conversion. Is to come alongside all who've been trapped and say you don't have to live this way for the rest of your life you can be rescued by Jesus Christ you can you can be like these people in Corinth such were some of you no one has to spend their life as a sodomite no one has to spend their whole life as a thief and a liar and an adulterer and a fornicator and a godhead nobody has to spend their life that way the power of sin can be broken that's the power of the gospel of jesus christ And this really is the central duty of the church.

And whenever one of these pastors stands up here and preaches, he must help everyone there to understand whether they're believers or not. It's the most important thing. The work of conversion is the most important work in a church. Because God wants a holy people, a holy nation. My prayer is that God would make of us truly a holy people, progressively holy.

Okay, so let's get to these eight characteristics that are here. Every one of these are violations that you'll find in the Old Testament law. And remember, as we go through these, you know, is it possible for us to operate on two levels? You know, First of all, just to see how terrifying hell is, but on the other hand, to see how terrifying it is in our own hearts to still have vestiges of these sins in us, because we do. To continue to root out remaining sin, you know, let the sanctification process accelerate today.

That we would progressively turn away from these things. I've just read a list of so many sins and they remain in some level in all of us. And so this should also be humbling, very humbling for us and it should also help us to long, long for heaven. Well, the first, the first is cowardly. The cowardly will find themselves in the lake of fire.

This is the fearful one. This is the person filled up with the fear of man, so obsessed with acceptance that he's afraid to stand for the truth. He loves the favor of man, and so he's timid with truth. Jesus said, if you're ashamed of me, I'll be ashamed of you. This is to be ashamed of Jesus Christ.

He said in Matthew 1032, whoever confesses me before men, him I will also confess before my Father who is in heaven. But whoever denies me before men, him I will also deny before my father who is in heaven." These are the cowardly. We were reminded at the Father-Son Retreat that Gideon, as God was paring down his army, 22, 000 cowardly left the army. It's a picture of this, of not being able to stand for the truth and to go in and conquer the land. Now this isn't to say that if you've ever been cowardly as a Christian you're not going to heaven.

Every Christian will at some point struggle with cowardice. But this is the person who is intentionally and proactively and forever cowardly. He does not hate that sin. The second, the unbelieving. These are those who do not embrace the good news of Jesus Christ.

To believe is to cast your whole confidence in it. To believe isn't to say, I believe in Jesus Christ. That's not to believe, that's just lip service. To believe is to cast all of your weight on God and follow him, That's what it means to believe. You know, Eve did not believe that God was satisfying.

For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him should not perish but have everlasting life. And then he goes on to talk about what it means to believe and that is to love the light. To be an unbeliever is to love the darkness. It's not just intellectual assent to believe. It's actually to hate the darkness and to love the light.

And then third, the abominable. These are These are the partakers of the course of this world who love the ways of the Gentiles. Some of the translators call this the dirty-minded, the obscene, the depraved, the corrupted, polluted by sin. Illustrated all over the Bible, really, we're in Bible study, one of the men brought up Leviticus 1830, which, in which Moses is commanding the people to turn away from the abominable practices of the people, of the culture, the abominable customs of the people. The dirty minded, today the dirty minded have come way out of the closet, haven't they?

The LGBTQIA plus movement, who are now the privileged class. When I was growing up, you would never hear profane language in the media, now you hear it all the time. There's just an increasing profanation of the American culture. And now you have to celebrate it. Fourth, murderers.

These could refer to the murderers of the martyrs that have already been mentioned in Revelation, in Revelation chapter 6 verse 9 particularly. But Jesus told his disciples that to hate your brother is to be a murderer. Murderers of the heart are the angry, the resentful, the offended, the grudging, the irritated. These are the roots of murder in the human heart. You know, Charles Spurgeon, I was reading one of his sermons, it was a sermon called Heaven and Hell.

And he's telling a story of a lady who was visited by her minister, she was on her deathbed, and she she said, I have well I just have one question. I'm about to die. I have a question and the minister said, what is it? And she said, oh I want to know if there are two places in heaven. Because I could not bear that Betsy in the kitchen could be in heaven along with me.

She's so unrefined. And the minister turned around and said, oh, don't trouble yourself about that, madam. There's no fear of that. For until you get rid of that pride, you will never enter heaven at all. But murder, it resides in the heart.

And love is the mark of the true Christian. By the way, hell is not a party where all your friends are having a great time. Hell is the place where everyone hates the other person because they are abominable and they're murderers. All they do is betray one another and hate one another. So don't think about heaven as anything but that.

The fifth, sexually immoral. This has to do with all forms of sexual perversion. The word that the Lord uses here is the word pornos which can refer to fornication. It really refers to the whole range of sexual sin including pornography and adultery and homosexuality and and and bestiality and all forms of sexual sin. And I think what he's saying is the people who cannot stay away from pornography, the people who cannot stay away from their sexualized videos that excite them, here will not be found in heaven.

These things must be put away. Don't expect, don't expect that you're going to end up in heaven if you're addicted to these things. Because the sexually immoral are not there. You know, the public acceptance of sexual immorality is at such a high time in America. I was reading the Gallup poll the other day.

In 1996, 27% of Americans were in favor of what people call same-sex marriage. Now it's 71% today. It's astounding change. Sixth, sorcerers. He uses the word pharmacanos, pharmacaya, pharmacy, drugs.

That's what this refers. It really refers to the whole range of alternative realities that people seek. Hallucinogens. Today we have popular entertainers and podcasters who are telling us how helpful it is to trip out on mushrooms, you know, trip out on LSD. Oh, it makes you so much more insightful.

You know, it just helps you interpret your life. It's enlightenment. Oh, it's just so, it just gets you into another mode to help you see the truth. No, it's demonic. And these people are dealing with doctrines of demons absolutely they are and there's and there's some of the some of the most popular entertainers wealthy entertainers in the world today are promoting all these kinds of things and you know you see magic and superheroism everywhere We live in a world saturated with magic.

Kids shows, movies, magic is everywhere. Why? Because paganism is everywhere. That's why it's everywhere. Sorcery is everywhere.

And we live in a culture of magic and spiritism and crystals and mind-altering drugs and spells you know interesting over the just this weekend twice I encountered this among just people that I know. I heard of a man from a different state. His mother just died. He was telling me that his family was talking to their dead mother and pretending that they were hearing her talk to them. This is spiritism.

And he tried to talk the family out of cremating her, but they refused because they wanted to divide her ashes so that they could be close to her, so they could buy cremation necklaces and carry little pieces of her ashes around with them to be close to her. This is spiritism. And I don't think that the cremation movement has anything to do except with paganism. That's why it's such a great movement. And that's why it's new.

So many things ramping up in this culture, they're just nothing but paganism. So on the same day, I encountered some kids that I know very well, known for years. Their father died and they're telling me, they're telling me that they're talking to him and he's talking to their mother. It's spiritism, it's all it is. And that's what he's identifying here.

You have the sorcerers and it wasn't very long ago I met a man who was visiting this church and he was just becoming a Christian and he had a he was in a relationship with a woman who's who's using crystals and all kinds of occult practices and he knew he had to break it off. There was spiritism, it's sorcery, It's all over the place. It's in the people walk in this church and they they're seeing it, you know in their relationships and maybe even are tempted as well. Deuteronomy 18, when you come into the land which the Lord your God is giving you, you shall not learn to follow the abominations of these nations. There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or daughter pass through the fire, or who practices witchcraft or a soothsayer, or who interprets omens or a sorcerer or one who conjures spells or a medium or a Spiritist or one who calls up the death the dead for all who do these things are an abomination to the Lord and because of these abominations the Lord your God Drives them out before you that's what God does.

He drives them out just he drives them and keeps them from heaven But he says no, but you shall be blameless before the Lord your God. Seventh, idolaters. That's the seventh category of those who are not in heaven. Loving the creature more than the creator, taken up with this world, not caring about the kingdom of God. Horatius Bonner, he defined it like this, who worshiped mammon, pleasure, art, splendor, or gold for covetousness is idolatry.

Eighth, liars. Revelation 14.5 says, and in their mouth was found no deceit for they are without fault before the throne of God. You have those who are not liars in heaven and those who are liars in hell. Bonner comments on this one, he says, it's these who vow to serve Christ at his table, at the Lord's table, but give lie to their very vow every day of their life who vowed baptism to teach and pray for their children but they never do. They come to the sanctuary and they go away and serve the world.

They're at the prayer meeting one day and they're at the ball the next. They are liars, that's what he says. And then we come to the lake of fire and brimstone. This, we've seen who you will inherit, who will be your, who will be your relatives in hell But now what will it will be like it will it will? Be The lake which burns with fire and brimstone Which is the second death now again?

We we come into this fact that heaven is real and hell is real. It's described in the most terrifying terms. Jesus spoke more of hell than he did of heaven. He spoke more of hell than he did of love in order to warn all of us. In Matthew alone, he talked about it 40 times in 28 chapters.

In Luke, Jesus describes it as weeping and gnashing of teeth in Luke 13, 28. In Matthew 13, 42, wailing. In Matthew 8, 12, it's a place of darkness. In Revelation 20, verses one and two, it's the bottomless pit. These are metaphors to help to understand what it is like.

And Revelation, we learn it's a place without rest. It's a place of torment in Revelation 14, 11. The smoke of his torment goes up forever and ever and has no rest day or night. In Matthew chapter three verse 10, Jesus tells the religious people, who told you to flee from the wrath that come? Because it's coming.

Life is short. Life on this earth is very, very short. It's almost infinitely short compared to the length of your life either in heaven or hell So there is there really is no time That's why Jesus says if your if your hand causes you to sin cut it off and cast it from you for it is better for you to enter into life maimed rather than having two hands and two feet to be cast into everlasting fire and he said the same thing about your eye if your eye causes you to sin it's better to have one eye and go to heaven, then have both eyes and go to hell. So these are warnings of the inevitable moment for everyone who's ever born. And there's this experience of the second death.

The first death is when you die physically, and your body goes into the ground and your soul either goes to be with God or to be in torment. But the second death takes place after the second coming where Jesus divides the sheep and the goats. And only the unbelievers experience the second death. And that is in hell. So when you see these things in the world be reminded of two things first of all Be reminded of how important it is to flee every form of sin Think of how damaging sin is because God is going to eliminate it forever for those who love him.

And think also of just how sweet heaven is and how good God is and what he is trying to remove from your life. God is so good to try to remove these things from your life. He takes away the things that are hurting you the most and turning to him is the best thing you can ever do. He's such a good shepherd. God is such a good father and he wants to deliver all of us.

And he began that work by saving our souls and breaking the power of sin. And then he continues that work as we turn away from immoral thoughts as we have them and hatred and all these things that we've just gone over God wants to deliver us from all of those things he's so kind let that be a magnet of heaven Let that give you such desire to be holy as a church. And then finally, See how unwise it is not to believe, not to follow Jesus Christ. How unwise it is to stand in opposition to God, to resist him, to resist his spirit, and to continue to want to live your life your own way, because there's really no middle ground. And so don't stand before the face of God One more day without declaring that you want to follow him and that he is your savior and that you want to become part of the people of God.

Because you do not want to be part of this other crowd. This is a very bad crowd and God wants to deliver you from them. Only the righteous will stand before God with everlasting joy on their heads. Drinking from the rivers of the water of life, eating that bread that's eternal. I just want to read one last thing here out of Romans 5 about those who have turned and how to turn.

Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God and not only that but we also glory in tribulations knowing that tribulation perverse produces perseverance and perseverance character and character hope now hope does not disappoint because the love of God has been poured out in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who has who was given to us For when we were still without strength in due time, Christ died for the ungodly. And God demonstrates his own love toward us that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Let's pray. Father, we thank you that you have shown us a picture of the real world and your loving kindness towards sinners, that you can break the power of sin, that you can rescue us from darkness, and that you are so good, and yet we struggle with our sin, but we want to turn away from it. Oh Lord, help us all.

Sanctify this church in your truth. Bless this church with the spirit of holiness that you would cause all of us to turn even more away from our sin and delight even more in your righteousness. Amen.