======================================================================== THE VALLEY OF HELL (GEHENNA) by Keith Malcomson ======================================================================== Summary: This sermon delves into the deep significance of Gehenna, highlighting the historical context of the valley, the teachings of Jesus on Gehenna as a place of judgment and eternal punishment, and the tragic examples of individuals like Caiaphas and Judas who made their bed in hell. The urgency of rescuing souls from the brink of Gehenna is emphasized, calling for prayer and action to save loved ones and communities from the destructive path towards eternal damnation. Topics: "Judgment", "Urgency of Salvation" Scripture References: Matthew 5:22, James 3:6, Psalms 9:17, John 6:70, Matthew 26:3, John 13:26, Acts 1:18, Jude 1:23, Luke 16:23 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ DESCRIPTION ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This sermon delves into the deep significance of Gehenna, highlighting the historical context of the valley, the teachings of Jesus on Gehenna as a place of judgment and eternal punishment, and the tragic examples of individuals like Caiaphas and Judas who made their bed in hell. The urgency of rescuing souls from the brink of Gehenna is emphasized, calling for prayer and action to save loved ones and communities from the destructive path towards eternal damnation. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ CONTENT ------------------------------------------------------------------------ I want you to turn in your Bibles with me here this morning to 2 Chronicles chapter 28. How you find that is 1 and 2 Samuel, 1 and 2 Kings, then 1 and 2 Chronicles. Just an easy way to remember that and the flow of scripture. 2 Chronicles chapter 28, and I think I always have to say that because I hope by God's grace I am not dictating what we preach and where we go. I try to hear, listen, be led. That's always my desire. And so I think this is going to be our last message on the Valley series. We've done an entire series on the God of the valleys. In the church we emphasize mountaintops and I actually believe we passed through an extraordinary series on valleys. I have never heard this taught in my life, not even remotely close, but it's a seed planted maybe 30 years ago, maybe less. One little seed, one little thought and it's rolled for all that time. That's what this comes out of. See, I believe preachers like farming and gardening, you plant the seed, just water it. It doesn't happen immediately. It takes time, cultivation, rain, sun, all of the elements, pressure, all of that at work to bring forth. I believe preaching is like that. Ministry is organic. It is natural. It is God given. And so we come to the last message, part 11. And I almost reluctantly go to this message this morning, not because it's the last or I have to finish. I've been greatly blessed through this series. God has spoken to me in really profound ways. He really has. Don't think I'm just preaching. I'm actually receiving. I'm just giving you what he gives to me. And I'm telling you, if it affects me, I know it's going to affect you. He is speaking to me. He is opening up the word of God. He's showing me things. That's what I bring here. Don't just think that I understand or see all of this. God ministers it to me and it's life. I need it in my life. But in coming to the last part, part 11, it's the subject of it. And don't in any way think that I rashly or gladly come to it. I hesitantly. It's not because I don't want to preach truth. I do. It's because it's so sobering and serious of how we're finishing this series. My message here this morning is the valley of hell or as it is in our Bibles, the valley of Gehenna. I'm going to read from 2 Chronicles 28 verse 1. And then we're going to turn to Matthew chapter 5 in the New Testament for two verses of what Jesus Christ says. But 2 Chronicles, concentrate on this for a minute. 2 Chronicles 28 verse 1. Ahaz, or King Ahaz, was 20 years old when he began to reign. And he reigned 16 years in Jerusalem. But he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord like David his father. For he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel and made also molten images for Balaam. Moreover, he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Notice that. The valley of the son of Hinnom. That's Gehenna. And burnt his children in the fire after the abominations of the heathen whom the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. He sacrificed also and burnt incense in the high places and on the hills and under every green tree. Wherefore, or because of that, the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria. And they smote him and carried away a great multitude of them captive and brought them to Damascus. And he was also delivered into the hand of the king of Israel who smote him with a great slaughter. Then read in Matthew chapter 5 verse 22. And these are the words of the Lord Jesus Christ. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of judgment. And whosoever shall say to his brother, raka, shall be in danger of the council. But whosoever shall say, thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire or Gehenna fire. Let's pray here this morning. Father, we know every word of this book, every letter, every comma was inspired of the Holy Spirit. Lord God, some things encourage us, some challenge us, some make us to rejoice and shout. Lord God, some of these valleys have been profound. The valley of weeping, the valley of the shadow of death. Lord God, the valley of victory. There are amazing things that you have opened up to us. And Lord God, yet we find ourself on this last message. Lord God, at this valley of Gehenna, this valley of hell, Lord God, all of this is written for our learning, for our warning, for our edification, for keeping us and preserving our faith. Lord God, there are serious things in this book as well as things that make us glad. There are things that make us tremble when we really understand them because they're very serious. And none of us are ignorant of our own weakness or our own heart. Nor God, our hearts are naturally wayward. Apart from the grace of God, we would not be here. We would not seek you. It makes me tremble to think that if for one second, for one hour, that you lifted your hand or your grace from off this creature, where he would go, where my mind would go, my emotions, my decisions. But oh God, I am desperate to have your grace on my life. I tremble at the thought of where flesh would take me, even to the valley of Gehenna. Nor God, even to the very gates of hell and into hell itself. Lord God, we don't play games with your word because we know that hell is a reality. Those that go there do not escape and do not come again. Lord God, we know that Christ himself warned men repeatedly, earnestly, desperately to flee from hell and the wrath of God. And Father, we're asking of you today, open our eyes, open our ears. As a church, teach us as a church, as Christians, what it means to inherit this valley, to possess it, to own it, to understand it, to be taught about it, to consider it. Teach us as a church, right here in the center of this city of Limerick, Stab City, this wicked city. Lord God, teach us what it means to understand the valley of Gehenna. You put this here that we might know what Gehenna is, this valley, that we might, Lord God, consider it and ponder on it. And Lord God, how it affects our short time here in this city, in this church. Lord God, help this preacher by your grace and mercy in Jesus' name. Amen. My message this morning, part 11, the valley of hell. Are you going to see this word hell is the Greek word Gehenna. Gehenna. Jesus also used this word Gehenna fire. He wasn't trying to scare. He wasn't trying to use it to manipulate. It's a reality. If I warn a child about the danger of cars on the road, or strange men that may pick you up in a car, I'm not trying to scare that kid. I'm trying to protect that kid from danger. This is a vile day we live in. And you know what? I would have no love in my heart if I didn't warn. If I had a five-year-old girl, if I didn't warn her, I would have to try and communicate things to her I would rather she didn't know, and that I would rather not say. But because they are we live in, I go, I've got to warn her. I've got to tell her. Even if I do it simply, I don't do it to scare her. It's not to manipulate her or to use her emotions or to get her to do what I want her to do. None of that. I'm actually communicating something real because it's so dangerous and I care about her. I love her. It's the same with preaching on hell. I don't do this to scare you, alarm you, not to have an extraordinary sermon or to have something that stirs the emotions. I don't do that. I preach on hell because it's real. And you know what? If I didn't speak on it, I don't love you. I don't care about you. I'm not concerned about you whether you're a sinner here or a saint. In fact, Christ preached more on hell to saints than he did sinners. But if you're a sinner here, I need to warn you. If you're a saint, a born-again Christian here, you need to hear about hell. I need to preach to you about hell. Do you realize Christians need to hear about hell? And the valley of Gehenna isn't just for sinners, isn't just for them to consider. The entire church, a local church, every Christian, every preacher needs to understand the valley of Gehenna. It's a place that Israel had to inherit. When Joshua led the people in, this is one of the valleys they were to inherit. They were to make it their own. It was to be a boundary place between two tribes, I believe Judah and Benjamin. They were to own this valley, take it over, understand it. It was to become part of their inheritance. And see this teaching on hell, it's part of your inheritance. Every Christian needs to understand hell, needs to consider hell, needs to hear about hell, needs to be taught on hell. It's very, very important. This is a real valley today in the city of Jerusalem, in the land of Israel, and it was then. Jerusalem is not inside a valley. Jerusalem's actually on a few different hills. Some try to say seven, it's not. There's only three main hills there. But Jerusalem is built on hills, small hills, but hills nevertheless. But it is surrounded by valleys. And Jerusalem has three main notable valleys in around it. And I have to get my left and right here because you're looking differently than what I'll explain it. But to the side of Jerusalem, to the east of Jerusalem, you have the Kidron Valley, one of the most famous valleys in around Jerusalem. And we know that Jesus often walked through the Kidron Valley on his way either to Gethsemane or the Mount of Olives. He went down out of Jerusalem, through this valley, through Gethsemane, and then up onto the Mount of Olives. So it was one of those valleys. There's also the Central Valley, or they call it nowadays, Tyrophium Valley, which means Cheese Valley, Cheese Maker Valley, or something like that. But really that's not its proper name. It's the Central Valley. And so you have the Kidron Valley and this Central Valley come down and make a third valley. And this is the valley I'm going to deal with. It's called the Valley of Hinnom, or the Hinnom Valley. It's actually at the southwest point of Jerusalem. And as you look at the map, it makes an L shape in around Jerusalem, down the west side and the south of Jerusalem. You have this Hinnom Valley. And it joins up where the other two valleys join. That's where this valley joins. And you know what? It's at the lowest point in all of Jerusalem. The very lowest point in this whole area is in the Valley of Gehenna. That's where you find it. And you'll remember that I said a few weeks ago, when we preached on the Valley of Giants, how the Giants come up. There's an entire valley stretching up and it reaches up to Jerusalem and it has its end. The Valley of Giants has its end, the Valley of Rephium, where? In the Valley of Hinnom or Gehenna. That's where it actually ends. So the Valley of Giants brings the Giants, when they're attacking Jerusalem, right the way up. It carries them straight up into this valley to attack and besiege Jerusalem. This is where the enemy attacks the city of God from. From this valley. I want to preach to you this morning about this valley because this valley represents hell, Gehenna, the place of torment, the place of punishment where sinners go, hypocrites, unbelievers, atheists, Christians who play games with the gospel, who say, oh, I'm saved and I can live like a sinner. It doesn't matter. They go there just as much as an atheist. It's a very real place. When you come to the Bible, hell is real. Hell is very real. In the Old Testament, there's various words like the New Testament for hell. In the Old Testament, there's the word Sheol. It's used some 66 times. Sheol, the place of the dead. It's not just the grave. It's not. It's more than that. It's a spiritual place. There's also a place called Topheth, which when you study, it is in Gehenna, in this Valley of Gehenna. It's not the entire valley. Topheth is the worst, lowest place in the Valley of Gehenna. Topheth is a very serious and dark place. So the Bible talks about that. Then when you come to the New Testament, you have the Greek word Hades, which is used 11 times in the New Testament, 11 times, four times by Christ. Christ uses it more than anyone else. Hades, twice in the Big Acts, once in 1 Corinthians, and four times in Revelation. Hades, a real place. Then there's a place called the Abbas, and another called Tartarus. So there's various names for the one place held. It's the one singular place, but different names are used for it. I'm not going to re-deal with any of those. I'm just going to bring you to one single word, the word Gehenna. See the word Gehenna in the New Testament, it's not talking about a valley. It's talking about something more than that. We know Gehenna in the Old Testament is an actual place, a valley just outside of Jerusalem. But when we come to the New Testament, we find Jesus talking about the eternal place of punishment as Gehenna. And Gehenna was still a valley outside the walls of Jerusalem. But now Jesus takes that and begins to talk about something else concerning Gehenna. Do you know the word Gehenna is mentioned 12 times in our New Testament? And 11 of those times, guess who uses it? Jesus. He is the one using it. So it's very, very serious what we have here. Let me give you three points about this valley. You see, this isn't a message essentially about sinners going to hell. Oh yes, we'll deal with that. That is what hell is. That's what Gehenna is. But this is even more than that. This is what the valley of Gehenna, what we're going to learn from it. How the church is to respond to it. How it should affect your individual life. And that each one of you here, young or old, ought to understand something about this place. I've got three things I want to deal with this morning concerning this valley of Gehenna. Three things. Number one, the history of Gehenna. I want to take you for a moment back into the Old Testament. Because Jesus preached from the Old Testament. Why is he using Gehenna more than any other preacher? Are all other preachers in the New Testament put together? Why does he use it more than all of them? Put Paul, Peter, James, John, all of them together. Jesus talks about Gehenna more than any. That's extraordinary. That's to be noted. You know what? He preached out of the Old Testament. And so I want to take you for a moment back into the Old Testament to look at the history of this valley of Gehenna. What does the Old Testament say about it? You see, this name comes from the Hebrew word. And when you look in the Old Testament, we read about the valley of Hinnom. It's called the valley of Hinnom. Also the valley of the children of Hinnom are simply the valley of Hinnom. Thirteen times it is mentioned in the Old Testament. And you would do well to go through your Bible concordance and look up those thirteen times that Gehenna is mentioned or Hinnom is mentioned in the Old Testament. When you come to the New Testament, again, Gehenna is used eleven times in the New Testament. So we're going to begin looking at this. But you cannot understand Jesus talking about hell or Gehenna if you don't look at Hinnom or Gehenna in the Old Testament. Let me explain about the physical valley of Gehenna in the Old Testament. And I want you to notice this. The very first time that we read about this valley of Hinnom is in the book of Joshua when they were coming into the land. And the land started getting separated out between the tribes. It was used as a marker so that you knew where one tribe ended and another tribe started. It was a physical place, a literal place, a real place called the valley of Hinnom. And it marked out boundaries. It was outside this great city of Jerusalem. And Joshua said, this is all part of the land that we're to inherit. Do you realize while you're not going to Gehenna, I hope so. I hope not one person here is going to go to Gehenna. I'm going to beg you not to go to Gehenna. You don't want to go to Gehenna. Or if you likely would even think that or consider that, you won't be there one second until you're saying, please send someone to warn my family, my brothers to not come here. Please send someone from the dead. I cannot get out of here, but please send someone to stop anyone I know coming here. You know, in the days of Joshua, we see that the people of Israel were to inherit this valley like every other valley. It's not always the valley of blessing. There is a valley of Hinnom, Gehenna, that we the people of God need to inherit. It belongs to us. The knowledge of hell belongs to you and I. We have a clear teaching, an actual understanding. This message belongs to us. We're meant to live it out, live in the reality of it, warn people about a real hell. It's not to be left. You know, most preachers never preach on hell. You could sit in a church for years and no one ever preaches an entire sermon on hell. Why is that? Why is it we've come to a generation where we have pastors who say we love people too much to preach on hell or they won't preach on hell themselves. They barely mention it in person. Hell is real. So that's the first mention of Gehenna in the Old Testament. But let me move into the real understanding of it in the Old Testament. Do you know what this valley of Hinnom was? It was a place of apostasy. What do I mean by that? It is a place where when you move away from God, this is where you end up. It's a place of apostate religion. The real faith gone wrong. Do you know when Christianity goes wrong, begins to leave the Bible, leave truth, it really gets bad. It gets worse than the world. Even in Corinth, Paul said that to the church of Corinth. He said, why is it there's things happening amongst you that aren't even mentioned in the world? You see, when you get away from truth, Christianity goes really bad. Look at the Catholic church. Do you know the church at Rome started well? Read the book of Romans. One of the most extraordinary books in the Bible is written to the church in Rome. The first 200 or 300 years, certainly 250 years, they raised up remarkable leaders, dynamic leaders who are my heroes in the faith. It was a real genuine church. Let that church go off track. What do you have today? You've got an abomination for some thousand years or 1500 years. You've got something that is utterly unrelated to Christ. That's what happens. You see this valley of Gehenna is a place of apostasy. As soon as you start moving away from God, this valley becomes your abode. It becomes your place of worship. Who could imagine that hell would become a place? Hell on earth would become where you practice your religion. That's what apostate Christianity is. That's where it'll take you. This Gehenna, this valley became a place of worship. When the people left the God of the Bible, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, do you know they moved their worship out into this valley? It was in January that for the first time I visited Ephesus in Turkey. Just outside of this small community of Ephesus where Paul preached and raised up a great church, I went to that temple of Diana, the mother goddess. It's an enormous building. It's only the ruins, the foundations are left. But I'm telling you, my hair stood on the back of my neck as I stood there. This great temple, its worship dominated all of Asia, all through the Mediterranean. It dominated the mother goddess worship. That's where its headquarters were. It was a real place that dominated. Do you know the worship in Jerusalem? When they left the God of the Bible, they began to set up worship in this place. Worship to other gods, false gods, another Jesus, another Holy Spirit, another God, the Father. The church is filled with it. They preach a Jesus I don't recognize, and I know my Bible. I begin to hear them and go, what are they preaching? I mean, most of the preaching in this hour and generation, and I'm not extreme. I'm just a simple Bible believer. I'm very broad in my convictions for those who may differ from me in some way. I'm very broad, very gracious, very understanding. But I'm telling you, very few preach the real Jesus in this hour, the one who died in Calvary. But this valley was also a place of child sacrifice. Do you know they've done archaeology in this valley and found hundreds, several hundred graves? Lots of people say they're trying to destroy the truth of hell. Do you know what they say? No bodies have been found, no archaeology. That's a lie. I want to tell you, I've heard from the mouth of archaeologists who actually worked there, who had the evidence. There are hundreds of graves of little children that have been burnt in that grave and in that valley, especially in one area of it. See where we read an opening from 2 Chronicles chapter 28 and verse 1 here this morning. I read to you about King Ahaz, about what he did in that valley. Ahaz was 20 years old and he began to reign in the city of Jerusalem. It says that he walked in the ways of the kings of Israel. He followed them. Then listen to what it says, moreover he burnt incense in the valley of the son of Hinnom. Incense is worship. This is spiritual. He had a whole heritage of real biblical faith in God and yet one short step and he begins to veer off and the worship begins to change and he begins to worship in this valley. He is worshiping God, Yahweh. It's another God. He begins to burn incense. There's an awful lot of this across the church of R.D. We worship, we give the missions, we send, we go to other countries. We do all of this. Do you realize you could be in Gehenna? Do you realize you could have a church Christianity and you're worshiping, offering incense in the very valley of Hinnom as Ahaz did? He's a young man. He started to reign at a very young age. He's going to be there for a while. Do most of these movements last 16 years, a decade or so? Then something else arises. Ahaz is going to have his day. It says also that he offered incense in the high places and the hills and under every green tree where for the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of his enemies. He was a vile, vile young man. Do you know who his son was? Hezekiah, the king who seen revival, cleansed Jerusalem in seven days. You have Ahaz is destroying Jerusalem, apostate. He removed the altar of God, removed the blood. No more shedding of blood on the altar. We don't believe in the blood anymore. Let's bring in new worship in Gehenna. Do you see this is more than just about going to hell eternally? Gehenna is something right at your doorstep that is a warning when you see it. It is so hellish. Do you know those sinners that say, oh, I'm in hell now. I believe hell is on this earth. And we're very quick to correct them, aren't we, and say, oh no, hell's a real place eternal to come. Don't be so quick. Hell is a place here as well at your door. Hell's real and literal and eternal, but don't miss this. There is Gehenna at your doorstep, at the city gates, just outside the church. There is Gehenna here and now. And you know what? When religion goes wrong, here's Ahaz. His son will bring a revival. They'll cleanse Jerusalem in seven days. He'll sweep the nation in three months. National revival. This little boy, guess what? His father Ahaz took him down to the valley of Gehenna and dedicated him to Moloch in the fires. Do you know Ahaz had more than one child? We don't read about the others. We get told that he dedicated his children to Moloch in the fires in this valley of Hinnom. Do you realize how hellish that is? This is hell coming down in Jerusalem at the very gates, a place that should be filled with worship. Now the worship goes wrong. Let the worship in the never imagine. I want to tell you. Ahaz began this worship. He took his children down there. You know what I believe? And scripture hints at it. He killed his other children. But Hezekiah, he dedicated him. He's the next king of Israel. He dedicated him to Moloch, to false worship in the fire in Gehenna. Can you imagine young baby Hezekiah, you mothers that are dedicating your children in this church. What a wonderful blessing. And yet here's Ahaz with his false religion in Jerusalem, going down into the valley, holding up his child, going through the fire saying, I dedicate my child to Moloch. You know who Moloch was? You can Google it and see. That false God made out of iron or some other material and his hands would be out held and they'd sacrifice the babies there in the burning hands of Moloch. This is a very real thing. But you know what? That little boy dedicated to Moloch in the midst of the fire, dedicated to false religion. He grew up in that house. But thank God there was a real prophet of God in the land called Elijah, sorry, Isaiah, who eventually got sown in two. But do you know what he was preaching? And a young boy heard the preaching. So he used children. So he used younger ones. I pray God meets with you and that you make a difference in your generation from the very youngest in here. Hezekiah wasn't too young. He's surrounded by false religion, perversion, corruption, the destruction of the real faith. And he grows up in that, but he's got a heart for God. As soon as his father dies and he ascends the throne, he cleans the city. In one week, in one week, he purged everything. What a remarkable young man Hezekiah is. But he was dedicated in Gehenna to false religion, amidst fire burning to false religion. But thank God, God got his heart on fire, set him on fire, and out of all of that corruption, raised him up. Let me tell you about modern children in our generation. Most of you know about Elton John, the very gifted singer, writer, extremely famous and rich. I think he's about 73 years old now. Do you know in the 1990s, he got into a relationship with a man, married him. They then went on to adopt, in more recent times, two children, Elijah and Zachary, both biblical names, two men married, blatantly doing this. Who would, who hates God, call their son Elijah? Do you not think that's strange? It's not accidental. He calls his son Elijah. Do you know for years I prayed for Elijah, Lord take him back to scripture, make him a Hezekiah. For years I've been praying this. I've been very burdened for these kids that are being brought into all of this confusion. The other day I heard about a mother weeping, crying over her little boy, how she wants to go through a sex change. She doesn't want any restriction, says he's got to go through all the drugs. Messing up a five-year-old in body. Who would have ever thought we had reached an hour? Don't you realize hell is let loose on the earth? Hell is real and eternal, a place of punishment. But I want to tell you more than that. Hell comes to earth through individuals, systems, and at certain times it's at the gate of the church. I want to tell you. Do you know who Elijah and Zachary's godmother is? Any of you know? Lady Gaga. And you know what? They're shipped out to stay with Lady Gaga, one of the most wicked, vile, publicly. You know what? People like that are chosen and trained and prepared to go after your children. After a whole youth generation, Lady Gaga is an accident. Look at this Elton John, Lady Gaga. Do you think this is a joke? And here's poor little Elijah and Zachary, little baby boys adopted and being raised. I looked at a picture of them this morning. They are beautiful boys, dressed beautifully. It is hard to believe. What a wicked hour that we are living in. Do you know? Sadly, Hezekiah had a son called Manasseh. And in 2 Chronicles 33 and 6, he went back to child sacrifice in Gehenna again. Do you know what real false religion is? It sacrifices our children to this world. You say, oh, the church of this generation would never do it. I want to tell you, people calling themselves Christians will blatantly vote for politicians who want to murder kids up to nine months old. Do you know, I watched just yesterday, just a very short bit, I'm not pro-negative anything, I'm just telling you. I watched, listened to Trump's speech announcing that he's going to stand for the presidency in 24. I want to tell you, he said a statement that is so true that you won't get the Democrats saying. Do you know what he said? Do you know what his appeal to this generation and to America was? To vote for me. Do you know what it was? This nation of America is going to hell and only the real God can help us. No matter what you think of Trump, that statement, you don't even get pastors saying that. We live in a vile, vile hour. And so Manasseh, the grandson of Ahaz, he took them back. Then you've got Josiah, a young king, a young godly king. He arose, God set him on fire. And listen, he went immediately to Gehenna as soon as he becomes king. And it says, and he defiled Tusheth. That's a word for Gehenna. It's the lowest, darkest, most despicable place in the valley of Gehenna. He went straight there. This is the first thing he'd done. And he defiled it. You know what? There were statues, there were idols, there was worship, there was incense, all of that there. First thing he'd done, he went right back there and he destroyed it. He broke everything up. What a godly king, which is in the valley of the children of Hinnom, that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire again. You go to Jeremiah chapter 7, and Jeremiah there mentions about, they have built the high places of Topheth. And he mentions this several times, eight times, I believe it is, Topheth. Topheth is that same lowest place in this valley. And you know what Jeremiah says about it? He calls it the high place. Did you think high places in the Bible were always on mountaintops? No, they're not. Here's a high place in the lowest place around Jerusalem. It's a high place that exalts itself, but it's in the lowest point, right in the valley of Hinnom. And Jeremiah says, to burn their sons and their daughters in the fire, which I commanded them not to, neither came it into my heart. Topheth, the word means drum, or to smite the tambourine loudly. Do you know why it's called that? Because as they sacrifice the children, they up the worship, the drums, the tambourines, the shouting, the singing. Let's just drown out the noise of the little children. And so we're worshiping God, but all the time you're sacrificing the children. When Christianity goes wrong, we're sacrificing the young people. They're going off into false religion, the world compromised. We don't warn them about a real hell. Do you see how Gehenna is more than an eternal place of hell? And I believe it is an eternal place of hell. Listen, in Psalm 9 verse 17, King David writes, the wicked shall be turned into hell. The wicked should be turned into hell. See that word turned, very interesting word. In the Old Testament, we read about King Saul, when the Holy Spirit first came on him. It says he was, when the spirit came on him, he was turned into another man. In other words, he changed. His nature changed. He become a different man. Spirit of God comes on. He is turned into another man. Was it saying in Psalm 9, 17, the wicked shall be turned into hell. It's not just all about casting the hell. He says the wicked in. That man was more of a key man than you can ever imagine. Yes, the lid come off, this immorality, all the great people of the earth are connected to him. He could phone a Clinton. It's not that he desired to, he could phone any of the great men of the world. Prince Andrew, just phone him up, get straight through. And here's a man that wants to connect the young generation. And in certain areas, certain countries, he was experimenting on a whole young generation and they would target the orphan. Don't tell me there's a normal hour. I want to tell you, you know what? I know there's a real hell. Hell is drawn very near in the nature of our nations. Our nations are being turned into hell. You want to play with us, go ahead. Time is running out. Do you realize hell is coming to your schools, your politicians, to your city centers? Hell is being unleashed. It's not being restricted anymore. This is unbelievable. Do you know this? Gehenna was a place where they dumped dead bodies. Also, there was a dung gate in the city of Jerusalem and it went out into Gehenna. This is the entrance way. All the rubbish, all the trash, all the dung from the city, all the waste went into this valley. You know, today, if you go there, next time you visit Israel, go for a walk in Gehenna. Do you know what it looks like? It is a beautiful, green field, park, trees. It is stunningly beautiful. Go for a walk there. Isn't that what's happened to the church of this hour? Hell's not that bad. God's too loving. I couldn't preach in hell. Some of them, I get scared. We don't believe that anymore. In fact, there's some doubts about the Greek. Well, eternal doesn't mean eternal. That's my first point, the history of Gehenna. I hope you're seeing something about this valley. This is what the Bible says. And you know what? When revival comes to God's people, they invade Gehenna. They impact Gehenna. They ravage Gehenna. Point two, Christ's teaching on Gehenna. Christ's teaching. I'm not even dealing with what he says about Hades or other things. I'm limiting myself. You see, in our English Bible, hell in the New Testament is mentioned 23 times in the English. My Bible, it does 23 times. If you have a new version of the Bible, probably about 13 times. Mine, 23. Yours, probably 13. Selah. Stop and think on that. When you come to Christ in the New Testament, 13% of all the words recorded in the New Testament that Christ speaks, all those red words in some of your Bibles are about judgment and hell. Oh, I don't like it in the church, speaking about wrath or judgment or hell. I don't think we should do that. Then throw Christ out. 13% of what we preach should line up with Christ, shouldn't it? Out of about 40 parables that Jesus taught, remember the parables, nice little stories to communicate truth. Out of about 40 of these parables that Christ taught, more than half of them deal with God's eternal judgment upon sinners. That's remarkable. Christ is trying to communicate something and he uses parables. I preached a message a few years ago in the series on being born again. My last message on that was the consequences of not being born again. I teach an entire message, the truth on hell. I'm not teaching on hell. It's just a message on a valley I'm giving this morning. If you want the fullness of this, you go back and listen to that message, the consequence of not being born again. Are you here and not born again? You better go and listen to that. You better. You better make time because you know what? You're in a very dangerous position to be in this world surrounded by the gospel and not right. But I'm just going to deal with Gehenna, this one word Gehenna for a few moments. Gehenna is used 12 times in the New Testament. 11 of those times, Christ uses it 12 times and 11, it's Christ. When you put all those verses together about Gehenna in the New Testament, not once is it talking about the literal valley. It's talking about a spiritual place, a place of punishment and Christ is talking about it. Eight times in these references, it speaks about people's bodies going there, their hands, their tongues, their feet, their bodies going there, your actual body going there. So Gehenna is a place where your body gets cast into. Also eight times he mentions fire, not only in the parables, but when he explains parables, he says fire means fire. Some people say fire doesn't really mean fire. Worms don't mean worms. Gnashing of teeth doesn't mean gnashing of teeth. Actually, it's a nice story. It's a nice green field park with trees that you can walk through in Jerusalem. It's beautiful. That's what they try to do. Are you kidding me? Don't you know the history of Gehenna? This is so serious. Also eight times he refers to it being everlasting, fire that is not quenched. What is fire that is not quenched? And so if we began to go through all the scriptures that Christ speaks about, you get such a clear picture of hell. He calls it outer darkness. He talks about worms that never die. He gets very detailed. Most of the time he's talking to disciples, people who believe him, people who follow him, not to try and scare sinners. He's talking to real believers and saying, do you know Gehenna is real? It's an eternal place, a place where bodies get cast, a place of fire. You've got to know this. You've got to believe this. It's got to affect your life. It ought to affect you. How is your life so short? It's over. It's gone. What's the day of your death going to be? I watched my wife die. I watched Candice literally breathe her last breath. I knew two minutes time. I'm literally watching her last breath. And I knew immediately where she went. I watched how she lived, approaching her death. She ran a good run. She fought well. She died well. I'm praying, Lord, let me die the death of the righteous. Let me die well. Let my last days be like that. Let me be on fire, prayerful, faith-filled like her in her last days. She never wavered for a second. Do you know Christ first mentions Gehenna in Matthew chapter five in his sermon on the mount? Listen to what he says. But I say unto you that whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause, I've heard a lot of people get angry in my lifetime. Do you have a just right to be angry? Yes. About what? The most stupid things in this world. They're not angry over their sin. They're not angry over how they offend God. They're not angry over their disobedience. They get angry at others. And so Christ says here, he's about to warn about Gehenna, this place of fire where your body goes. Just by the way, see with the body, you may not realize this. Do you know every single sinner gets a new resurrected body? See, we think it's only Christians that get resurrected and get a new body and get a new life. Oh no. Everyone gets a new body. There's the resurrection of the righteous and the resurrection of the wicked. That resurrection of the wicked, why are they being raised from the dead? Why do they get taken out of hell and given a new body? A body that can't corrupt, fade away, decay. They get a new body. You know why? They're just about to be judged at the great white throne of judgment and then cast into the lake of fire. They get a new body for it that cannot decay. It'll never wear out. It's incorruptible. And they get this body to go there. And so Jesus begins, he's going to talk about Gehenna. And as he does, this is the first thing he says, whosoever gets angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. Do you realize how dangerous anger is? Or unforgiveness or lust or lying or some other thing. You go, but this is normal to mankind. Jesus said, if you get angry without a cause, anger is so dangerous that because of that, that could drive you to judgment. That anger in your heart is so dangerous, it could damn your soul. He goes further and says, and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raka should be in danger of the council. That's talking about a legal thing in the city. But whosoever shall say, thy fool should be in danger of hell fire. Some people don't like me saying in my preaching about someone being a fool. I'm saying it where the scripture says it, or if you neglect God. But do you know what this term actually means in this particular place? If you say to someone, you fool, you better be careful what you accuse someone of. I've got a very controlled tongue, I want to tell you. If you don't control your tongue, let me read. Do you know, I said 11 of the 12 times Gehenna is used, it's Jesus, 11 of the 12. Can I read you the one time that it's not Jesus? One and only time in the New Testament, Christ doesn't use it. Only once. Can I read the verse to you? Listen carefully, it's in James chapter 3 and 6. And the tongue is a fire, a world of iniquity. So is the tongue among our members, that it defileth the whole body and setteth on fire the whole course of nature, and it is set on fire of hell. If you have an uncontrolled tongue, do you know who set it on fire? Hell Gehenna. Gehenna set it on fire. Christ teaches 11 times that Gehenna is a real place of eternal torment. James says if you have a tongue set on fire, burning, accusing, hurting, your tongue is set on fire of Gehenna. Don't tell me Gehenna is just eternal to come and a place of punishment. See now, right now, Gehenna gets in right close from false worship to an untamed tongue. Do you know when you call someone a fool, do you know what it means? You're saying you cannot be saved. You fool. You reprobate. You apostate. You're not saved. You're past salvation. There's no hope for you. It's a very dangerous thing to say. I felt like all men many things in my lifetime, but never that. That's why I don't decide someone's future or judgment. I never give up. A person can cross a line. They'll never come back from that, but it's not my job to know that or to work that out. Christ goes on to teach. He says, if you say that, if you have a tongue set on fire of hell, you're in danger of hell fire. You've got no control. Your heart, your anger, your tongue, your accusations, your attitude, you're mad at everyone. You're in danger of the judgment. You're right at the gates. This is so dangerous. Christ goes on to teach further in Matthew 5. This is the great sermon on the mount. This is the teaching of Christ. If thy right eye offend thee, in other words, cause you to sin, your eye. Any of you struggle with your eyes? Any of you, it's your eyes that are leading you into sin. It says, if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee. For it is more profitable for thee to lose one of thy members, that one of your members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Jesus isn't saying to literally pull out your eye. He's saying to be so violent, to buffet your body. Because he says, you could have an untamed eye, not only an untamed tongue or an untamed anger in the heart. You could have an untamed eye that says, I will look. I can do whatever. That eye of yours could actually be so dangerous. It's going to take you to Gehenna. And Jesus says, you know what? You better do whatever it takes to stop that. Bust up your computer, throw away your phone, destroy whatever. You say, oh, I can't do that. Do you know you're playing with fire? You're in dangerous ground. Because Christ says, you know what? Your body, it would be better doing that than have your body cast into hell. And if thy right hand offend thee, cut it off and cast it from thee. For it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell. Do you think Christ is joking? Do you think he's just trying to use dramatic language or scare tactics? I've got a whole page of verses written right here with all this teaching on Gehenna. I'm not going any further than that. But you need to understand Gehenna is very real. And if it gets a hold of your anger or your tongue or your eye or your hand, Gehenna, hellfire. Do you know if it's burning in your members, your body, your life, driving you, I know where you're going to get driven to. I know. You think that anger won't have consequence? It will. That unforgiveness, that bitterness, that jealousy, that lust, it will. Third and finally, men who made their bed in hell. Do you know the Bible speaks about that? I'm going to only mention two men who should have known better who made their bed in hell and the Bible talks about them. If you go to Jerusalem today and you can go there and you go to the valley of Hinnom, the valley of Gehenna, and you keep walking, this isn't on many of the tour guides, okay? But if you keep walking in this valley to its lowest, lowest point that had all those dark deeds, do you know what you're going to find there? The tomb of Caiaphas. That's where it's sitting, right in the darkest, lowest point in this valley. Do you know who Caiaphas is or was? Is. He was the high priest who condemned Jesus Christ to death. He was the religious leader of Jerusalem. He was the religious authority in the nation when John the Baptist came preaching repentance and Herod condemned John to beheading. Who's the powerful religious leader? It's Caiaphas. He's religious. He prays. He's got robes. He's got titles. He's got position. He's got authority and he never uses it to save the head of John the Baptist. Caiaphas, I know where you're going. You'll make your grave in the lowest Gehenna and if only that's all that you had to suffer, you're going down into a hell that's eternal. Listen to what happened to him. It says in Matthew 26.3, then assembled together the chief priests and the scribes and the elders of the people unto the palace of the high priest. He lived in a palace. He's a religious leader living in a palace. He was called Caiaphas and consulted that they might take Jesus and subtly and kill him. I want you to see this Caiaphas, this great religious power wants to kill Christ. You've got to stop this man. Make sure it's not on the feast day. Make sure it's not during the day in daylight. Make sure it doesn't disturb our religious Passover, but we've got to stop him. So he draws all these leaders together and said, we need to hatch a plan. He gathers them. We need to kill this man, Jesus. He's a religious leader. Saints of God, I'm telling you religion when it's affected by Gehenna goes an awful long way from Christ. You will crucify Christ. You can be religious and you will crucify Christ. You will deny Christ. You will run from Christ. You're ashamed of Jesus Christ. That's what religion does. And listen to what he said. And so standing in the court, judging Christ to death without love, compassion, mercy, grace, or evidence. He says, now consider that it is expedient necessary for us. Oh, and smooth words. You don't understand I've got to do this. I don't want to do this, but we've got to do this. Listen to what he said as the high priest, that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation perish not. And this spoke he not of himself, but being the high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation. Here he is in a real high priest position. God is using him to prophesy using his hand. Do you want to be used by God that way? Do you know, let me, let me let you into a little secret here. Every single one of you in this room is fulfilling God's will and plan. Every one of you, even if you rebel against them, reject them, live a vile life, you are going to fulfill his plan. It's not his will you sin, but he's going to use you. And you're going to find out one day that what you did, he just used that and said, thank you very much. I didn't make you do it, but it's going to be a part of my plan. And so Caiaphas died, went to hell. His tomb is in Gehenna. That's not an accident. Let me tell you about the other man who has a tomb, a burial spot in Gehenna. Do you know who he is? Judas. It was just on the edge of Gehenna. He hung himself. Do you remember who Judas is? One of the 12 chosen to be an apostle. I don't believe he started as a hypocrite. I believe he was stirred by the message. I believe he said, yes, I believe this. I want this. Remember what he's called? The betrayer. This man is going to deliver Jesus up to die. He's going to kiss him on the cheek. Can you imagine kissing heaven and then going to hell, being that close? None of you will get as close as Judas. He kissed the cheek of the saviour before he went and bled and died. Judas, do you think that you're not going to be part of this plan? You're going to make a choice to live a vile life and God's going to use that to work out his plan in this world. You have a choice. You have a will on what you do with your life. It's your choice. But either way, it's going to work to God's glory and to his plan being fulfilled. Remember how Jesus used to always warn? He says, one of you is going to deny me. One of you has to deny me. You don't have to though. And whoever does it will want to you. God help you. See, God's plan was someone's going to do it, but you don't need to be the one. Someone is going to go to hell. You don't have to, but you're going to choose. And by your judgment and your death and going to an eternal hell, you're actually going to prove by your life that God's word's true. That he showed you mercy and grace and preserved you and protected you. And you were so stubborn. Can you imagine having your feet washed? None of you have had this. Judas has his feet washed by Jesus. And he didn't even say, no, don't do it. Peter done that. No, you can't wash my feet. And you're no part of me. Okay, go on then. Wash everything. See, Peter, the extremist. No, wash me from head to toe. No, I'm only washing your feet. He's hyper. What Judas do? Judas just sat there. You know, everything's in his heart. He's looking down, letting the son of God bow and wash his feet, wash his dirty feet. And all the time he goes in his heart and mind, I'm going to betray you. I'm going to sell you for 30 bits of silver. Do you know Judas had been making this plan for quite a time. Jesus called him the son of perdition. Extraordinary. Remember in John chapter 670, Jesus speaking to him and said, have not I chosen you 12 and one of you is a devil? Do you know all the time Jesus knew? And yet he said, you don't need to do this. You don't need to go there. I'm pleading with you. I'm washing your feet. Remember when it got to the Lord's table, the last supper, Judas didn't partake in it. Be very clear. Judas never took of the Lord's table. He leaves before it. Remember inquisitive Peter again, leans over to John. So it's Peter. It's John. It's Jesus. I know the seat in order there. And Peter leans in the young John who's leaning on Christ says, John. Yeah. Ask the master who's going to betray him because he says one of you is going to betray me. John ask him. So John leans over and says, master, they're whispering. Master, who's going to deny you? No one else has asked. You bunch, you would all ask publicly at the table. Rory would say, you're not getting out of here until you tell us. But here's John saying, who's going to do it? Jesus whispers back. If you don't ask, you don't get told. John, it's the one who dips the sop with me. When I dip, when I put the bread in, whoever does it with me, that's the signal. Only one man at the table has the signal and his name's John. There's only one man who reveals the antichrist clearly. And it's John in the book of revelation. That's not accidental. It's deliberate. John is sitting there. He's the youngest. He's watching this. He's watching like a hawk. The rest don't know the sign. See if you've got the sign, you can identify the betrayer. And so he's watching. John's watching. Jesus leans over and dips his bread. Guess who does it at the same time? Judas doesn't even know it's the sign. And they both dip at the same time. John goes, ah, it's Judas. None of us knew. None of us knew. Remember he's the one that said, this money could have been sold for 300 bits of silver and given to the poor. I care about the poor. They were all on Judas' side. How horrendous. Do you know what Jesus says sitting at the table? Judas, what you're going to do, do quickly. And the Bible says he walked out at that point. He got up from the table, went out. You know why? As soon as he put the sop in, do you know what happened? Satan entered into Judas. Remember it was before this that Satan put into his heart to betray him. Do you have betrayal in your heart? I know who put it there. I just want to live my own life. Do you think you originated that thought? I can just live my own life. Do you think you're the author of those thoughts? You're not. Someone fired the arrow and says with Judas, it had entered his heart to betray Jesus. That's why he went and arranged it. With the priests in the temple, with Caiaphas, 30 bits of silver. And I'll get them for you. I'll hand them over. I'll take you to him. But he's such a coward. He does it at night when there's no crowds around, privately. And guess where it was, Gethsemane. He used to go to Gethsemane with Jesus to pray. How vile. You used to come to prayer meetings with me. We used to sit at the table and talk about Jesus. We used to share testimonies. Remember what the Psalm says? We went up to the house of God together. If it would have been a stranger, I could have handled it. But it was my intimate friend who lifted up his heel against me. Judas was the man. Don't you know Christ's heart was broken over Judas? Man, not you. Man, you don't need to do this. We've also had some good times together. We have. What you're gonna do, go do quickly. And he got up and he left. And then he brought soldiers to betray Christ and he does it with a kiss. And after he does it, he goes, what have I done? You know why? Because the devil left him. You know when the devil uses you and then leaves you high and dry, you become suicidal. And so the devil leaves him, goes, ha ha, thanks champ. You've done my will, my bidding. Thanks a lot. And he leaves you high and dry and destroyed. And you know what we're told Judas done? He went back to the temple, back to the priest and he said, hold on, it's a mistake. This man is an innocent man. He's not guilty of anything. I can't take the money. And I said, what's that to us, Tom? You did it. We've got him. It's over. You did it. And he cast the money down and he went out and committed suicide. He couldn't even do that right. Judas couldn't even get his suicide right. You know why? You've got two instances of him going committing suicide, then his bowels spilling out. He made a right mess of it. Do you know what the priest done? They took the money and bought the field of blood. Just have a guess where that is. Gehenna. We can't use this money. We'll use it for strangers, for no hopers, for hopeless cases, for rejects and we'll dump them there. Like Judas. Let Judas be buried in Gehenna. The world laughs at him, uses him. You know the world will use you and then laugh at you. You know that. You've seen the drugs. You've seen the sin. You've seen the broken relationships. Let me close. C.T. stood that great missionary to Africa. Listen to what he said. Someone to live within the sound of church or chapel bell. But I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell. Saints have got that quote impacted deeply when we started this church and for the first years. Because it felt very like it. Do you know how many young people heard the gospel from here and they're in hell today? Young girls who used to watch the videos at home and get their boyfriend to watch it while they're taking their drugs. And they come up to the church and say, I believe this. I want this. Young guys, the same. I can't tell you how many. And we're pleading with them and praying for them and begging them. And we've lived to watch them go to a real hell. Saints of God, this church has been planted within a yard of hell. Hell is not just an eternal place of damnation and of fire. And it is. Hell comes right up close to the church door. It's right outside of Zion. It's the lowest place. It's just outside our own gateway. And I want to tell you some of the darkest filthiest things are going on in our doorstep and down the side of this building selling drugs and drug dealers out here. And they don't care about souls. I want to tell you, this preacher cares about souls. They don't care about souls. And I want to tell you pastors who don't preach the truth don't care about souls. And those that change the gospel don't care about souls. Say, I love people too much to warn them about hell. Then you have no love. And you don't know this Christ. I'm telling you about something so real. It's just at the door. And you know what? It's appointed on to man once to die. Then the judgment. There's an appointment all of us are going to keep in this room. And I'm so sorry to finish this series. It's been a wonderful series. I'm so sorry to finish on this note. It's not my choice. I've wrestled for weeks trying to find another message. Can't do that. This is how we finish. Because you know what? One day, all of us are either going to be rescuing men and women from Gehenna. And you can't rescue once they go to hell. I'm talking about from a hell on the street. People living next door to us are with us. Family members. And we're seeking to, as Jude says, to rescue men from fire. We're seeking to save them. Will you pray with me here this morning? Let's pray together. Let's just open our hearts. You know your loved ones both online and here. You know your loved ones. Let's pray as an entire church. Let's just unite our hearts together. Just simply just think of those loved ones. Those ones you're cared about. Maybe it's your own self. Maybe you're sitting here and you know Gehenna at this point is your destination. Unless a miracle of God's grace happens. Let's pray together. You pray for yourself. Pray for your friends, your family. Let's pray for the city. If you're online, you pray for your community, your village, your churches. This is so serious, so real. Let's pray together. Father, we ask you right now to have mercy, O God. We know that you're a loving God, a gracious God. We've seen how you dealt with Judas, pleading with him, washing his feet, reaching out in compassion, walking with him to the house of God. You are a God very, very patient and yet he took it for granted. He abused it. He misused it. He turned it against you. But Lord God, you're not a God to be mocked. There is a day in which you are God. The same one who died at Calvary is going to cast men, body and soul, into hell, into Gehenna. Lord God, we're praying for the city of Limerick. We pray for our families right now. We agree together. Lord God, we join together as a church and we pray for the city. Lord God, make this church a rescue shop within a yard of hell. My God, set our hearts on fire. Baptize with the Holy Ghost and fire. Come and fill us with your Holy Spirit. My God, we're asking of you that a fire would begin to blaze on these streets, that we would be men rescuing others. Lord God, because of the grace of God in our lives. Lord God, we want to snatch our own children from the fires of hell. We want to rescue friends and family members. We want to be faithful in praying, O God. We want to warn backsliders and sinners and apostates. Lord God, even Manasseh, who got so depraved to sacrifice his children in the valley of Gehenna, later repented and you restored him. He humbled himself and you saved him. My God, you're a merciful God and you're a gracious God and you're a kind God. Lord God, come and fill us in you. Lord God, come and stir us, O God, that we would walk holy and pure and right before you. In Jesus' mighty name. ======================================================================== Video: https://sermonindex2.b-cdn.net/gEflbAzixHI.mp4 Source: https://sermonindex.net/speakers/keith-malcomson/the-valley-of-hell-gehenna/ ========================================================================