Shane Idleman addresses the difficult topic of hell in his sermon '3 Things Jesus Said About Hell,' emphasizing that Jesus spoke more about hell than any other biblical figure. He highlights three key points: the existence of hell, the fear of hell, and the fact that going to hell is a choice. Idleman stresses the importance of understanding the gravity of sin and the necessity of accepting Christ's sacrifice to avoid condemnation. He encourages believers to have compassion for the lost and to actively pray for those who do not know Christ, reminding them that the gospel is urgent and always a priority.

The message this morning is Three Things Jesus Said About Hell. Three Things Jesus Said About Hell. I changed the title three times so that's probably why this slide is a little bit different. I isolated just three things. We're talking about, the series we're in is Theology on Fire, God's Word, Theology, and Empowered by the Holy Spirit. I think this is part 18 or so. Three Things Jesus Said About Hell. And also, before I forget, I want to encourage you, we have a new podcast me and Luke are doing. It's on shaneidelman.com and we're talking about everything from politics to contemporary worship to the spirit-filled life to the gifts of the spirit. Oh, there you go, there it's at. The webmaster who put our website together came up with that title, not me, but I think it's kind of catchy. So unplugged means we're just having a discussion freely about very controversial things in some cases, singleness, marriage, divorce. So you can subscribe to that, it'll come to you automatically. Again, on shaneidelman.com, and that's one way we're kind of staying connected and answering a lot of the questions that come in on email. So let's talk about this subject of hell. And I will just tell you up front that it's a very difficult subject. I think for most of us it is, correct? It's a thing that gives Christianity supposedly a bad name and people joke about it. I've seen it on atheist sites where they'll have Jesus knocking at a door, let me in. And the person says, why? And Jesus says, so I can save you. And the person says, save me from what? And Jesus says, from me. You know, it's just making fun of this concept of hell. And the problem is I think we can't in our minds fully understand it. Fully understand how this could come about, how this could take place. And I'm hoping scripture will shed a little bit of light on it for some of us. But I did want to let you know up front that it's a hard topic. It's a topic that should make us feel a little bit uncomfortable. It should be a difficult one because those who approach this subject nonchalantly kind of concern me. It's almost like they smile. Well, it's God's good pleasure to send people to hell. Well, really, how would you feel if that was you? See, there's no compassion there. There's no, the heart of Christ and you would see Jesus weeping, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, and people weeping over the condition of lost souls. And the closer you get to Christ, the more this will challenge you. The more compassion you will feel. The more, when I was living in the world, I didn't care too much about hell. Oh yeah, okay, whatever. But then when I came back to Jesus and realized how close I was, so close my clothes still smell like smoke, right? And you realize that this is a heavy doctrine. And the reason we can't avoid it is because it's clearly taught in the Bible. Instead of all these different scriptures, Old Testament, New, Gehenna, Sheol, different things, I just isolate to three things that Jesus said about hell. Fifteen years ago, a research group discovered that 64% of Americans expect to go to heaven. So 64% of what you see out there expects to go to heaven. And 1% thinks they might go to hell. Fifteen years ago. I think that might have shifted by now, right? The reason is, here, just, this could take a while, but I'm going to get right to the point. Most people think that they are good. Because what do we like to do? We like to compare. Compare to Bill down the street who gets drunk and yells at his wife. Compare to Adolf Hitler, I'm a saint. Compare to, well you should see my cousin Mike, oh my Lord, and he's just, so we compare ourselves. What the Bible does though, it compares us with Jesus Christ. And we see that even our good works, even our good works are filthy rags in the sight of God. Why? Because often even our good works are done with wrong motives. Look at what I'm doing, look at me, self-promotion. So once we realize that the Bible teaches that no one is good, no not one, that our doing good things will never get us to the level of where God needs us, or wants us, or desires us to be. God said because of sin there's this great gulf that you'll never, never be able to fellowship with me. So what I'm going to do is send my son to pay that price to pay the full penalty of sin so now you can have fellowship with me and you can know me, the shed blood of Jesus Christ, the atoning sacrifice. His sacrifice covers our sin. So because he was good enough, now I can stand before God in Christ righteousness. That's what theologians call imputed righteousness. We take on the righteousness of Christ. That might change your worship if you can get a glimpse of that. That might change the way you view God and church if you can get a glimpse of what Jesus did for you. So that's what we understand, but many people don't think that way. They base goodness on others. Why don't I cheat on this? I don't lie all the time. I'm pretty good. God doesn't look at any of that. He looks at did you accept the sacrifice that paid the price on your behalf? That's it. End of story. Now it makes sense when Jesus said I am the only way. I am the only truth. I am the only life. The only way. There's no other way. There's no backup plans. There's no plan B. It's the narrow road that leads to eternal life. In light of scripture, that makes perfect sense. In light of how the world thinks, that makes no sense because everybody basically thinks they're good. Have you ever watched that Way of the Master? Those guys that interview people on the street? Everybody thinks they're good until he breaks down the Ten Commandments, of course, and shows them that they've fallen in pretty much all areas. I believe it's a trick of the enemy or it's our own deceitfulness in our minds to think that we are basically good. Now on the flip side, I also think that we need to remember that we are created. You are created. Remind your children that they are created in God's image. So there's high value on life. That relationship, that image has been marred. It's been damaged. It's been broken. How much more do we need Christ to restore that? Martin Lloyd-Jones, who I would recommend reading any of his books, theological books. We differ on a few different things in eschatology and things. He said this. He gave this example. If I were to go home and a person says, hey, while you were out I paid a bill for you. Okay. Well, I wouldn't get excited until I knew what he paid. If he says it was a $15 gas bill or I just paid off your entire house mortgage. There's going to be a different reaction, isn't there? Why? Because the value of what was paid determines my response. Same thing with this topic. People have to know the other side of the coin. That's why those who just talk about heaven but not hell can actually hurt people because they don't understand the gravity of what Jesus did. Heaven is going to taste pretty good after you see the other side. It's going to make sense once we see that our debt has been paid. A lot of times we have backup plans in this area as well. I'm talking mainly as unbelievers. Do you have any backup plans? I do sometimes or I have. They go like this. I will start saving money when I'm older. Is that a backup plan for young adults? I would rarely save money until like, oh, I better start doing this later in my life. I will change. Here's my favorite. I will change my diet when it's time to get serious. When the doctor says, hey, wake up, this is happening, or a disease comes in, then we go to the backup plan. Unfortunately, most people say this too. I will turn to God after I have fun. I will turn to God after I have fun. It's realizing that I'm either on the highway to hell or on the highway to holiness. Those are the two highways. Those are the two choices. So here are the three things Jesus said about hell. I think he might know a little bit more than we do. I think he's the ultimate authority, right? Not our friends down the street who got a Bible degree online. Not some of these pastors who actually, liberal pastors who are leading countless of people astray saying that there is no hell, that gay marriage is fine. Don't worry, God hates Trump too. It's that whole kind of pulse in our culture that wants to remove everything that's difficult and embrace everything that is not of God. It's the wrong spirit. Now, of course, I'm not endorsing our president. I don't follow a lot of what he does, but it seems to be all tied in there, and I don't know why. Everything that God is trying to do with talking about the difficult things with hell, with sin, now that we say this is a sin, the world says, no, it's not, and we get into this battle. So let's just get right to the point. A lot of this you can find at Tim Keller's website. He talked about this topic. I'm going to quote a few things. Number one, Jesus said that hell exists. Jesus said that hell exists, and I don't know, we might have this up on the screen. So did you know that Jesus said hell exists? He mentions hell more than any other biblical author, more than actually all the Bible authors put together. If you take all the Bible authors who spoke about hell, Jesus spoke about it more than all of them put together. Out of 1,870 verses recording the words of our Lord Jesus, 13% of those are about judgment and hell. So 13% of everything that Jesus said is about this topic. He mentions the eternal fire and punishment that we see up there as the final destiny of the angels and human beings who have rejected God, Matthew 25. He says that those who give into sin will be in the danger of hell fire, of the fires of hell, Matthew 5. And it's interesting, giving into, and I think this is where we can do people damage, we can hurt people sometimes, is we either don't preach about hell or we make it so narrow and we condemn people who are struggling. What he says, what Paul says is giving into it. Is it a practice? Is it a lifestyle? Saying, yes, I'm a liar, I don't care about it, I'm going to continue lying. Yes, I love my drunkenness, I'm going to continue in it, I don't care what God's word says. Yes, I love my sexual immorality, I'm going to continue in it, I don't care what God's word says. See, that's practicing it. That's continuing in it. A lot different than the person who says, Shane, I love God and I'm struggling in this area. I need help. I hate my sin. Oh, see, you hate the sin. You're caught. That's different than a person like a pig wallowing in the mud who loves their sin. So the Bible always emphasizes if you're giving into it, if you're practicing it. The word Jesus uses for hell is Gehenna. You've probably heard that if you've studied your Bible. And there's Old Testament references of a different word. But the primary word that he's using is Gehenna. And some of you know it was a dump right outside the city of Jerusalem. They didn't have waste management back then. You just pull out your trash can every what, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, whatever day it is, you just pull it out and they come and get it. They didn't have that. Their trash had to be put out, out in past the city. Even dead bodies. Where worm does not die. He's talking about the maggots. It's a very, very hard illustration. Very needed illustration. It's Gehenna. You see that dump, you see that where that worm does not die, where the, where the flesh is being burnt, where the trash is, the smoke is never going out, the fire's never not burning. Do you see that? That's what is going to be where you're at if you reject Christ. So the word he uses is Gehenna. In Mark 9, 43, Jesus speaks of a person going to this place, again, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. I'm going to quote Tim Keller here. Jesus is referring to the maggots that live in the corpses on the garbage heap. When all flesh is consumed, the maggots die. Jesus is saying, however, that the spiritual decomposition of hell never ends and that's why their worm does not die. Now in this framework is something called annihilation. You've probably heard of it. People like John Stott. There are some famous Christians who have embraced this. There's people still today I know, friends of mine. They embrace annihilation or they'll embrace different forms of hell not being eternal, being temporal. It's a temporary, temporary spot. The reason is, there's a couple different reasons. Just so you know up front, I don't embrace that looking at scripture. To me it's eternal there. However, you look at the heart of God, the mercy of God, the love of God, and to punish, say, an 18-year-old who wrecked his car drinking, was on rebellion against God, and then punish him for eternity doesn't seem to go with the heart, the character, the nature of God. It's their thought process. So before you throw them out and say, oh, how could you? And they would look at these words, eternity, not meaning eternally. It would mean a temporary state where the person is punished. After that, they are annihilated. They cease to exist. It's called annihilation. And there have been some Christians who have embraced it. Jehovah Witness, I believe, embraces this. And there's some different denominations. But just a straightforward reading of scripture, again, in my opinion, I find that it is eternal. It's an ongoing thing. The reason I believe is because we are eternal beings. We are there from eternity. And we are eternal beings, meaning we don't stop existing. We continue existing. Don't worry, it's going to be hard service today. I've already had a lot of little gremlins getting in my way this morning. So it's spiritual warfare. And if we are eternal, then it would be eternal. If we're not, then it won't be eternal. So there's different dialogues on that. You can read discussions if you want. But I don't see that, number one. Number two is, I don't want to find out. It's probably just temporary, then I'll vanish. Do you really want to find that out? You really want to go there? Because I don't want to go there. And people often, you can tell them this, people come and say, I can't believe you're God. I can't believe, look at hell, this concept of hell. I don't understand it. How can this God's child sacrifice is what, and they start going off on you. And you know what I have to end up saying is, I don't want to go to hell over a mystery. I don't understand everything there is about God, but I'm not going to reject him. I'm not going to fight against him. I'm not going to mock him. I'm going to submit to the Lordship of Jesus Christ. I'm going to bow my knee to the creator of heaven and earth and say, God, your ways are above my ways. You're much higher than I am. I don't understand it, but I'm not going to reject you and blaspheme you. I'm going to follow you with all of my heart. So don't go to hell over a mystery. Don't go to hell over a mystery. Don't be upset at God over a mystery. Why did he take my child? Why did he take my life early? It looks like with my health failing, why, why, why? And now I'm miserable and upset at God. No, that's not God's fault. It's sinful fallen man. Job had the audacity to say, though he slay me yet will I trust him. And that should be your mentality Lord, though you kill me, though you slay me, though you take everything from me, I will trust you until the day I die. I will glorify. I will raise you up. I will thank you. I will worship you, God, because you are worthy of our braces. That's the Christian walk. That's the Christian life. And all these people are disgruntled and angry about God. They're doing nothing but hurting themselves. Same thing with hell. Don't go to hell over a mystery. Don't, don't challenge God's authority. And you walk them through it. Let's just say he created you. Let's just say he put Saturn in its place. He told the Pacific and the Atlantic here no further. You better wake up and listen to that creator. How dare you challenge him? How dare you think you're going to stand on the day of judgment and question him? You won't question anything. You'll be on your face weeping. You can't question almighty God. Oh, Lord. It broke my heart. 20 years ago, I was telling this person this. He said, I can't believe that about God. When I get to heaven, I've got a lot of questions for him. I'm going to demand an answer. And I said, you will never get that answer. You won't demand anything. When a holy, righteous God is in your presence, you might just evaporate. You think you're going to sit there and composure and question God? God said, Job, will you question me? Were you there when I formed the earth and hung the heavens? Were you there? How dare you question me? The same thing applies today. How dare we question him and his authority? So here's the conclusion. Are you ready for the conclusion? If Jesus, Tim Keller here, if Jesus, the Lord of love and the author of grace spoke about hell more often, and in more vivid, blood-curdling manners than anyone else, it must be a crucial truth. Three things Jesus said, we can just leave with one. I'm off early. What do you guys think? Do we need more? Well, let's look at the second thing. This is a hard one, too. Jesus said to fear hell. Jesus said to fear hell. Fear is the opposite of indifference. So many people are living as if it doesn't matter. They're indifferent. They say, I'll handle that when it comes up. Or I'll cross that bridge when I have to. Indifferent. But Jesus says, no, you fear hell. Do not fear those who can kill the body. Jesus said, do not fear those who can kill the body, but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Jesus said it, not Shane Idleman. Jesus said, fear him who can cast both body and soul in hell. The problem is we secure our homes but not our hearts. Would you say that 99% of the entire world is worried about terrorism? Is worried about their homes being broken into? Is worried about what man can do? Those same people could care less about what God could do. Jesus says, no, be careful. Don't worry about man who can kill your body. That's nothing. Worry about him who can kill both body and soul and cast it into hell. That's who we need to fear. But see, this is good fear. Did you know there's good fear? There's good fear. I want my kids to fear rattlesnakes. You hear that? Oh, walk away. Back off. Back off. Don't grab that exposed 12,000 volt electrical line that just got hit by a car. Don't go by it. Don't go near it because it resets in 10 minutes. It's going to blow you 10 feet in the air and you're going to die. Fear electricity. Fear gas. Fear propane. Fear rattlesnakes. Fear can be a good thing. Fear driving on the wrong side of the road. Fear texting while driving. Fear often changes our behavior to save us from ourselves. Fear is a good thing. Very good thing. Matthew 25, 31, when the Son of Man comes in his glory. See, he is coming again. He is coming again. When he comes and all the holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him and he will separate them from one another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. And he will set the sheep on his right hand. So, interesting fact here, the right hand of God. Right hand of authority. The position of power. It's often on the right side. Jesus sits on the right side of God. The right. Good. Sheep. But guess who he puts on the left? The goats. And it's a dividing point there. There will be a judgment. There will be a division. And he will say to those on the left, depart from me. You cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Now, I don't know about you, but this is a wake-up call. Especially if I'm on the wrong side. If I'm sitting on the left side, I'm not going to like this message. This is not going to get a lot of likes on Facebook. This isn't going to make it on Christian television. Joel Stein wouldn't even look at this type of sermon outline. Right? It's not going to go anywhere because man doesn't want to fear God. It's not popular, but it's powerful. It's not going to increase your ratings or your popularity. My God, churches and Christians and leaders have to stop being popular and have to start worrying. Am I pleasing God? Am I pleasing God? I want to be popular with God. I want to be known in hell. I want them to say, oh, Jesus, I know. And Paul, I know. And that guy up in Leona Valley, I know because he seeks me. But you, I don't know. You can't cast out the demonic realm because I don't know you. You don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus said, fear him. Fear God. And I was at Barnes and Noble many years ago and I saw a book and I still cringe over the title. It was written to young adults, very inappropriate, not good, leading many young adults astray. And it said, I hope they serve beer in hell. How deceived. No, they won't serve bear in hell, but they do serve misery. They do serve depression. They do. They do serve darkness. Don't play around with this topic. You're going to tell the creator of heaven and earth what to do. Fear God. If I get any more passionate, I'm going to lose my voice. My Lord. Well, think about how ridiculous, we're so fearful of the government. Aren't we? Remember that time when they just, everybody, we're out of ammunition. They're not making bullets anymore. Their AR-15s are going out. They're not going to be able to sell AR-15s anymore. The fear factor was unbelievable. I just sat there and my jaw dropped. I got it. I understand. I like to buy some rounds. Okay. But that's what you're going to fear. That's your hope. Man. Number three, and probably the most important. Jesus said, going to hell is a choice. Did you know that? It's a choice. And here's what people need to understand. They say, why would God send? He doesn't send. The person makes a choice. I don't want to spend time with Jesus and God the father. I want to spend time with my father, the devil. Okay. Go to the home you choose. What parent do you want to live with? Even though they're not, you know, but who do you want to live with? The person chooses. For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whosoever believes in him, what should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world, but the world through him might be saved. Isn't this interesting? Jesus didn't come to condemn. He didn't come to condemn anyone. That's what, there was a big mystery. His disciples even thought, bring down fire. Jesus said, I'm not here to condemn. I'm here to save the world. Condemnation comes by rejecting what I'm about to do. So God says, I'm sending my son, no condemnation. He's going to, he's going to pay the price for condemnation. Believe in my son. Here's your get out of hell free card. Believe, believe, believe. He's not coming to condemn. Oh, but be careful when he comes back. Right? You heard me say in Bakersfield, the lion, the lamb is turning into a lion. He's coming back as a, as a taking a vengeance. He's coming back. No army can stand no nuclear arsenal. He'll just whisper and things will explode. He'll just say enough. And the world will be redesigned. It's that powerful. That's Christ. That's who we worship. So he said, I didn't even come into the world to condemn it. I came to save it. He who believes in him is not condemned, but he who does not believe is condemned already because he is not believed in the name of the only begotten son of God. See, here's the hard truth is I believe we're condemned already. Cute little five-year-old Johnny as he's growing up and, and you look at this child and it's already under the condemnation of hell. There's condemnation already on his life. He's condemned. How's that fair? Again, I'm not going over hell, going to hell over mystery. I'm not questioning all I've got. I don't understand everything. See, I'm really not concerned with what I don't understand. What I'm concerned with is what I do understand. That's what concerns me. I understand these truths. I understand that there is a decision that must be made. So the person is already condemned. It's like a dead man walking. You know what that is, right? Dead man walking. They're walking to their execution. They're already condemned. It says they're condemned already. Jesus says, Hey, by the way, taps on the shoulder. Here's the way. Here's your pardon. Here's your pardon. The person says, I don't want that pardon. I'm going to continue my death walk. And they reject that offer. What about the person who's never heard the name of Jesus? So there's no missionaries reached it. I know reached this person. I know that God is better than me. He's wiser than me. You go online and listen to all the Muslims coming to Christ in faith through dreams and visions and different things. And God, God doesn't need a missionary. He'll use them, but he doesn't need them. He just needs a willing heart, a broken heart to saying, Lord, I want to know who you are and God will visit that person. So what's the conclusion? The conclusion of point three is this. The gospel is always a priority. The gospel is always a priority. Show me one scripture where it's not a priority. It's always a priority and it's always urgent. Show me another scripture that says tomorrow is a day of salvation. Think about it tonight. Isn't that funny? God doesn't say, think about it. We do. Hey, before I buy that car, I'm going to think about it. Before I make an offer in the house, I'm going to think about it. Before I make that decision, I'm going to think about it. Let me think things through. God doesn't do that. He's certain. It's always urgency. Make the decision today. That's why I love that verse when Jesus was in the temple and he began to preach and he said, the spirit of the Lord is upon me, upon me. What's the first thing? To preach the good news to the poor in spirit, to bring the gospel to them. The priority, the urgency. Revelation 21.8, but the cowardly, which is faint hearted, the spineless, the God rejecters, the unbelieving, the vile, the murderers, the sexual immoral, those who practice magic arts, the idolaters and all liars will be consigned to the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death. Wow, you can see why this isn't read very often. Today's reading from the pulpit will be from Revelation 21.8. But see, if God wrote it, and God said it, and God wants people to know about it, we can't avoid these things just because they're difficult. I don't know about you, but I don't want my kids growing up believing in some cosmic bottle of love, some genie in a bottle that where you pray to you get your every wish. I want them to fear God, fear who he is. But notice how it said, do you practice these things? And again, I already clarified that. Do you practice these things? So if you struggle with lying, if you've, man, Shane, I've had people say, I went and I looked at my horoscope. I know I shouldn't have I felt drawn back into that. And I know it's wrong. I hate that I did that. So you're not practicing that not a good idea. But there's a difference between practicing it and struggling it those who practice those things. Paul actually said, those who practice different sexual sins, those who are drunkards and liars and thieves and covetous, they will not inherit the kingdom of God because their lifestyle is rejecting God. Here's a good point. It shouldn't be how close I can get to the edge and still go to heaven. It should be how close can I get to Christ? See the person who says, well, how much thing can I get away with? I want them to examine their heart. That have you truly been saved? Because it's not you a true believer with the Holy Spirit in them is not going to go, how close can I play on this fence before I'll fall into hell? I like playing on this fence, but I see if you like it, there's a problem there. It's not how close can I get? It's like how far away do I want to get from it and draw to Christ? See, that's the real, the real passion. The real passion of your heart shows you where your heart is at. If you enjoy sin more than God, you might be on the broad road to destruction. Let me break this down a little bit. I'm going to it's not a long sermon, but I'm going to finish with a few points. Basically, in my opinion, hell, hell is God leaving the person alone, casting the outer darkness. God is holy. Those who dwell with him must be holy, set apart. God cannot dwell and habits the praises of his people, not sin. So there's a gulf. So hell is a person leaving, being left alone with themselves, without God. And this was a, this really woke me up this week. I said, wait a minute, eternity with myself? Eternity with myself? See, there's one person I'm more worried about than the accuser. I'm more worried about this person than the adversary, the antichrist, Beelzebub, the devil, the deceiver, the destroyer, Lucifer, the thief, and the wicked one. Do you know who I'm more worried about? What's in? Shane Idleman, without the Spirit of God. Brings chills down my spine. To be left with myself for eternity. The weeping, the gnashing of teeth. That's what the pictures paint. God says, I can't dwell with you. So this outer darkness with me, without the Spirit of God, let that sink in. That's heavy. And C.S. Lewis brought up an interesting question. He said, in the long run, the answer to all those who object the doctrine of hell is itself, is itself a question. Listen, all those who object the doctrine of hell actually is itself a question. Basically, what, okay, if you don't believe in hell, what are you asking God to do? What are you asking God to do? Are you asking him to just wipe out past sins? Are you asking him to do this at any cost? Are you asking him to just give you a fresh start, smooth out every difficulty and offering miraculous help? Is that what you're asking God to do? Well, guess what? He has already done it on Calvary. What you're asking him to do has already been done. All you have to do is submit and repent and obey the gospel. That's why the call goes out, repent. The cry goes out to repent. The virgins, repent. Be ready for the bridegroom. Are you ready for the bridegroom? There's no plan B. There's no second chance. It's been paid. It's been finished. That's the wonderful thing Jesus said on the cross. He said, it is finished. It's already been done. Because people say, yes, I think God should just wipe away my sin. I think I should just be allowed interest in heaven. The price has been paid. That ticket is here. You just have to register. You have to pay the correct price. Accept Christ's sacrifice. Remember, hell has no exit signs. That was the first title. Hell has no exit signs. But you can exit now. He who believes in him and Christ is not condemned. He who believes in Christ is not condemned. At this point, I want to remind you of the flow of the service. The worship team is going to come up in just a minute. I knew it was going to be a heavy message. I don't want to go real long on it. I want to just get our hearts right. But remember the flow of the service. Remember what I talked about. Don't be in a hurry. Don't let your mind go into what you have to do later. If anyone's busy, I know what busy is. If anybody's got things to do, I know what it is to do. But pray for your friends, for your family members. Pray for those who don't know Christ. Pray for them. Because I believe heaven can hear and heaven answers. I believe God can orchestrate situations. I believe he can bring people into people's lives. I believe, I think, and hear my heart here, God doesn't always play fair according to what we think is fair. He's not in heaven going, well, I hope that person chooses me someday. But if you pull down heaven, you fast and you pray and you say, God, would you do something? He says, is that my son, my daughter crying? Do they need my help? Oh yeah, I can make that. I can flip that car and save that person and now they're going to think of me. I can take everything away from them so now they'll bow to me and confess me as Lord and Savior. I can give them, I can allow their body to get sick so they turn to me and then miraculously heal them. I can do that. I can put things in the favor of convicting that heart. So let's not be in a hurry. When was the last time we waited on God and prayed for others? Look at your prayer list. Isn't it embarrassing sometimes? Mine is. It's all about me. And maybe my kids and wife and family. It's right there, a nice package chain on my prayer list. Where's all the lost souls who are going to spend eternity separated from God? I believe God hears the prayers of his people. I believe that's why I'm here today. I believe that's why many of you are here as well. You know you've had praying moms and dads, not as many dads. Isn't that sad? So let's change that this morning as well. Let me close. Again, I remind you, the flow of service, we're just going to continue. Whatever the atmosphere is, we're not in a hurry. It might flow into the second. It might stop way beforehand. We don't know. We just know we need to seek God. Charles Peace was condemned to death, Roe, in the United States. You might have heard this story before. As is the practice there, the clergyman led a condemned man to his execution reading the prayer book liturgy. As he was reciting it word for word, he mentioned the word hell. Charles Peace tapped him on the shoulder and said, Sir, do you mind me asking you a question? Do you believe what you're reading? And the man said, Sure, I guess. He said, If I believe what you believe, I would crawl on my hands and knees to the four corners of the world across broken glass to warn people of such an eternity. See, the early church had the view of hell in its rearview mirror. It knew. It knew of this reality. It preached this reality. Look at the book of Acts. They walked in the power of the Holy Spirit and the fear of the Lord. Look at the early sermons. Can you imagine Peter? Peter? Oh, guys, it's okay. Just encouraging. Think positive thoughts. God's in all of us. Go team. First sermon. He's been a Christian, I don't know how long, a week. He just walks out of the upper room, maybe days. And he said, You put Christ on the cross. You stiff-necked people. You put Christ on the cross. You put the son of glory on the cross in open shame. And they cried out, What must we do to be saved? What did he say? Repent. Repent and believe in the gospel and be baptized. Repent, believe in the heart and be baptized. An outer expression of an inward change of the heart. He preached repentance. Sometimes we have to go back to those difficult truths. People need to be woken up out of spiritual darkness. That's why the message is so heavy. You've seen it before. I brought up here before. I was tempted again, but I have what's the biggest they make. It's a 25 pound sledgehammer. You tried using that for 10 minutes. Rich, you know, hitting concrete. My daughter has a little pink hammer. I had to break up a 10 by 10 section of concrete. You think I brought the pink hammer? This can take a while. I said, Shane, go get the, you know what? And here it comes. Boom, boom. See, sometimes you need to hear the booms of hell, the powers of darkness that need to be defeated. You need to be hit by the sledgehammer before you wake up. You need the power of God to ignite your heart and feel, feel the flames of heaven reach the flames of hell reaching up. So you reach up to heaven and cry out, Christ, I need you. Many people don't reach out to Christ because they don't understand the darkness of eternity. Sometimes you got to bring out the sledgehammer and crush the hardness of the human heart. Sometimes America needs to hear the judgment is coming, that the judgment and hand of God will fall upon a nation, upon a people that reject him, that mock him, that do not fear him, that blasphemy him, that call good evil and evil good. Sometimes you got to bring out the sledgehammer and say, here it comes. Watch out. And you crush the hardness and the prideful and the arrogant heart. All right, now the service is going to get good. I feel it now. My goodness. You got to wake us up sometimes, don't you? Is not my word like a fire? God says there's nothing stronger than fire. Is not my word like a hammer that does what? That breaks a rock in pieces? The Supreme Court needs to hear this message. Senators, Congress, Washington, you need to hear this message. My God, Sacramento, Governor Terry Brown, you need to hear about the judgment of God, the fear of God, the wrath of God, not in arrogance, but in boldness, in brokenness, in love, saying, I love God's word. I fear God. And you need to turn from the judgment that is to come.