In this sermon, the preacher discusses the topic of hell and emphasizes the importance of remembering certain aspects of it. He starts by acknowledging the permanency of sin in the world, even for believers. He then goes on to talk about the certainty, subject, duration, and deliverance of hell. The preacher shares a personal experience of speaking about hell in a town hall and expresses his reluctance to discuss this topic. He concludes by mentioning the advice he received to approach the subject with compassion and tears.

Or, if we may please, the rather solemn and yet so instructive sixteenth chapter of Luke. Luke, chapter sixty. Now, before I read it, I want to pass a comment, a comment that I often pass, but I believe it needs more than ever, in the day in which we live, to be said. I want to remind you that while the sixteenth of Luke, in some measure, is written in parabolic language, it is not a parable. No need for me to remind you that in parables names are not given. Names are mentioned in this parable. And I want to overemphasize, if I may please, overemphasize the fact that with all my heart, I long that it's not a parable. I was saying this to the young folk up on Mountain Top, and I'd like to say it to you. I don't know very many things about lots of subjects, but I do know a little bit about homiletics. I do lecture on them sometimes. And I want to point out the first principle of homiletics. It's this, that an illustration is never bigger than the thing it illustrates. Now, if you'll think with me, you'll know that's true. Can you think of any parable that Jesus told that was bigger than the thing that it was parabolic of? Okay? Think of the many parables that Jesus told. But every parable he told was smaller than the thing it was parabolic of. That's the first principle of homiletics. I want us never to forget it, because if we do, and then we lightly say, the 16th of Luke is a parable, remember if it is a parable, what it's parabolic of is a thousand times bigger. I think it's bad enough for it to be true, without it being parabolic. With that remark, may we please read the tremendous words in the 16th of Luke, commencing reading in verse 19. There was a certain rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen, and fared sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores, and desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table. But the dogs came and licked his sores, and it came to pass that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died, and was buried. And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments, and seeeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and son Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in water, and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this way. But Abraham said, Son, remember that thou in thy lifetime receivest good things, or thy good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things. But now he is comforted, and thou art tormented. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that they which would pass from hence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee therefore, Father, that thou wouldst send him to my father's house, for I have five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come into this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, Nay, Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded, for one rose from the dead. May the Lord just add his blessing to the reading of his own precious word. O God and Father, we bless thee that there are so many of us here this evening who are waiting for his coming. Perhaps today we'll hear the shout, Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him. We only know that we want to be ready to see him face to face. So grant, Lord, that while we may be occupied with what will happen at death, grant that we may be ready for what happens in life, for Jesus' sake. Amen. Amen. Those of you that were with us last evening, and that's most of you, thank you for coming back again tonight, know that I'm dealing on these two evenings with two subjects that I believe to be very vital, God's Heaven and God's Hell. Last evening, we thought of God's Heaven. We saw some of the things the Word of God had to tell us about that place. Tonight, I want to talk with you for a moment or two about God's Hell. And I want you to understand right at the beginning that I find no joy in doing it. The man that led me to Christ gave me many words of good counsel. But I remember as though it was yesterday, he talked to me on this subject of Hell. He said, son, never you preach about Hell unless you've got a break in your voice and a tear in your eye. Well, I can't make tears come to my eyes very readily. I could put a break in my voice, and it'd be just preacher's vocabulary. But I do want you to understand that I feel, and I feel very deeply, the tragedy of men and women who may be on the broad road that leads to Hell. Now, that's the word I'm going to use tonight, Hell. There are other words, of course, I could use, for I'm not unmindful that there are a number of words which are translated with the word Hell. You're aware of the fact that sometimes it's called Hades, on eleven occasions, actually, in the New Testament, it's called Hades. You're aware of the fact that sometimes it is the word Gehenna, and that word, of course, is used on twelve occasions more than the word Hades. There is one word that is used just once that speaks of the eternal abode of fallen angels, and so I'm not going to make reference to that. But you did not come tonight to hear a theological discourse on the subject of Hell. If you did, you will go away disappointed. You came to know what the Bible says about it in terms you can understand, and I can understand. And so this is what, with your permission and God's help, I want to do this evening. I want to talk, if I may, and I have no alliteration tonight, but I want to talk tonight about four things. I want to talk about the certainty of a place called Hell. I want to talk not only about the certainty, I want to talk about the subjects that are there. I want to talk about the duration of it. And maybe, when we come to the end, the Lord will give me special help, as I want to remind you that it is possible, to use words you will understand, it is possible for us to know that place shut for us, that we need never go there. There's no need for any man or woman, for it was never made for you, it was made for the devil and his angels. I want us to understand God has done everything to stop you going there. But, as I said last evening about Heaven, I want to say again this evening about Hell. If God is what the Bible says He is, there has got to be a Hell. There has got to be. Of course, if you don't mind whether God speaks the truth, if you don't mind whether God is righteous, if all you want is some figure to which you can turn and bow your knee and not affect your life, then, of course, there hasn't got to be a Hell. But, if you want a God who is truthful, if you want a God who is righteous, if you want a God who is just, if you want a God who never, never, never breaks His word, then there has got to be a Heaven. I reminded you yesterday, as I said, there had to be a Heaven. But, there had to be a Heaven for the very simple reason that in the beginning, God gave to man the ability of free choice. God did not make us puppets on the edge of the screen. He did not pull a string and say, you do this, you say that, you go here, you go there. God gave to man a free will. And that man can, on his own free will, say to Jesus Christ, I will accept thee as my Savior. The tremendous words of Jesus as He wept over Jerusalem come to every one of us. O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, ye who stole at the pockets, how I would have gathered thee as a hen, dad, or as a chick, but ye would not. Ye would not. He would have done it, but ye would not. And if God has given to man a free will, then that moment that man with faith in his heart towards Christ and repentance towards the Father, turns in Christ for mercy. God says, I'll give Him my Son. So as many as have seen Him commanding the power to become the Son of God, the apostle writes to the church in Ephesus and says, that it is possible for every one of us to have Christ residing in our hearts, that Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. And if you'll say to Jesus Christ, Lord, I'll trust thee, God will give you His Son. And He'll give you His Son for eternity, because it's an eternal establishment. So there has to be a place, not only in time, where you can dwell with Christ. God does not take His gifts away. He gives them. And if you say no to Jesus Christ, God will not give Him to you. Listen friend, I want to say this very, very sincerely, I hope you will not be shocked by it, but if you want to go to hell, you can go to hell. I mean, it's as simple as that. If you say, I don't want Jesus Christ, God won't give you Jesus Christ. And so when life's journey is over, there has got to be a place where Jesus Christ cannot be found, because you didn't want Him. You said, I won't have Him. And in its final definition, that is hell. Forgetting all the other things we're told about, that is hell. To be where Christ cannot be found. Where you have no link with God whatsoever. So the certainty of hell rests on this fact. Is God reliable? Does He give gifts that He takes away? Does He say He wants to do something, and then doesn't? As I open my Bible, I am amazed, utterly amazed, what evidence I have that there is such a place. The Old Testament leaves me in no doubt of the fact that there is a place called hell. It was prophesied in the Old Testament, and when I think with you the verse that comes readily to your mind in the seventeenth verse of the ninth psalm, the wicked shall be cast into hell, and all nations that forget God. So the Old Testament prophesies it. The Lord Himself announces it. And that's tremendous, isn't it? You see, when I turn my Bible into the ninth chapter of Mark, I remember tremendous words that are used. The Lord Jesus says, If thy hand offend thee, cut it off. If thy hand offend thee, cut it off. It's better that you shall face eternity, He says, if I may paraphrase, better for you to face eternity with one hand than to have two to be cast into hell fire. Now please, those are not my words. I haven't paraphrased those words. Those are the words of Jesus. Now whatever they mean, God delivered me from it. God delivered me from it. He dares to go on, this blessed Savior, and say, Cast into hell fire, into a fire that shall never be quenched, where the worm dieth not. And the fire is not quenched. Now please, I just want to say this to you, and say it very lovingly, that the man that made that statement was the man who preached the Sermon on the Mount. The lovely man who loved you so much that he went to tell the Scots that they are the punishers here. I hear men very lightly say, Hell, is down here on earth. There is only one person who ever, no one else ever has. I may be talking to someone here who's gone, I may be talking to someone here who's gone through problems, and is going through problems. There's only one person who ever has hell on earth, but I just want you to know that in its final analysis, hell is the place where God is not. And there's not a man or woman here who can reach the position where you could not reach. He's never been to hell. And I have a quote to one Calvary's cross says, My God, life is over, says it. There's nobody here, whoever you are, however bad you feel, says it, that could say that. You know, I love the story of your great vision of God. And when he was standing before a crowd of Episcopalian Methodists, he said, Brethren, I would not cost the world to take a new cult of ethics to Japan, or a new standard of mold to India. And I've gone round the world a dozen times to tell one sinner that there is a passion filled with blood born from Immanuel's veins, and sinners must believe it's love through all their guilty things. You know, I feel like singing the old chorus of the Welsh Revival. Hallelujah to the Lamb who died on that Calvary. Hallelujah. Hallelujah. Hallelujah, Amen. Oh, I say, what a Savior. That whoever you may be, a violent offender who truly believes, that moment when Jesus, the pardoner, sees you can touch Him. And there was one on Calvary's cross that God forsook. For you and me. He knew hell on earth. No one else in mind. And He was the one who dared to say, Where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. But if it was prophesied in the Old Testament, if it was announced by the Lord Jesus, never forget it was confirmed by the Apostles. In Peter's second letter, he dares to say in his second chapter, If God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down into hell. Cast them down into hell. I can't do it. I wish I could. I wish I could bring here into our witness box on this platform this evening, men, men who've left their mark in the history of the world, and ask them the question, Is there a hell? If I could, I know what they would say, and I would like you to listen to them. And I'll tell you this, every seat in this chapel would have been full. If we could have announced they would have been here. But of course they can't be here. You know who I'd put in that witness box first of all? I'd put in that witness box, Moses. I'd say, Oh Moses, tell me. Tell me. Is there a hell? Moses would look at you and me and say, Have you never, never read the 32nd chapter of Deuteronomy? Have you never read what I recorded in the 22nd verse? A fire is kindled in my anger, says God. A fire is kindled in my anger, and shall burn in the lowest hell. Now Moses recorded it, but God said it. And you'd get that. You know who else I'd put in that witness box? I'd say, Oh, thank you Moses for what you've said. But I'd place in that witness box the old David, and I'd say, David, thou sweet singer of Israel. Thou whom you love so tremendously. Tell me, David, is there a hell? And David would quote to me the words that we've already quoted in the ninth psalm that came from his pen. The wicked shall be cast into hell and all nations that forget God. I'd put in that witness box Isaiah, McKinney's courtier. I'd say, Isaiah, tell me, is there a hell? And he would say, Therefore hell hath enlarged herself and opened her mouth without measure. You ask me if there's a hell? Their glory and their multitude and their pomp, and he that rejoices shall descend into it. I have quoted, as you know, from the fifth chapter of Isaiah and that great portent verse. You ask me is there a hell? I'd go to the New Testament, and I'd put the man, dives into that witness box. And I'd ask him, is there a hell? And to think I could almost see the perspiration on his brow as he said, is there a hell? Is hell, I lifted up my eyes, being in conscience. I'd tell you who I'd put in that witness box. I'd put John the Baptist. Oh, John, you suffered so much, you passed through so much, the man of the world would say you tasted hell. But is there a hell? You know what John would say when speaking of the Lord Jesus, he'd say, whose hand is in his hand, and he will burn up the church with unquenchable fire. Oh, the third chapter of Luke is in your Bible as much as it's in mine, and that seventeenth verse is still there. But please, I'd go further, I'd place into that, I'd place into that witness box Paul. I must place him there. He wrote so much of the New Testament, under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Paul, tell me, is there a hell?" I got a feeling that Paul would turn me to his epistles of the Romans, and he'd say, and I'll read it again, the eighth and ninth verses of the second chapter. "'You ask me, is there a hell? Listen, but unto them of a contention, and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness. Obey unrighteousness, indignation, wrath, tribulation, and anguish.'" Oh, friend, it's so solemn, isn't it? It's so solemn. You see, on life's journey, there are four things I believe we need to remember. I need to remember. I need to be constantly reminded of them. On life's journey, I need to remember the permanency of sin. If there is one thing I have found in my life, that while, for the believer, he can say, sin shall not have dominion over me, yet sin is there. I sometimes meet these people who preach a gospel of a larger hope, and they talk about the eradication of the old nature, and sinless perfection. Well, I had a very dear friend, he's home with the Lord now, and Edwin Lewis was one of the great preachers of my country, and I was in his company on one occasion when he met one of these preachers of a... well, I don't know what to say, and this man said he hadn't sinned for 20 years, and I well remember a dear Edwin's statement to him. He said, you know what I'd give you... That's it. No, said the man. He said, I'd give you a nagging wife and ten children, and he wouldn't say it then. Isn't it remarkable, please, we smile, but isn't it remarkable that mostly the people that talk like that are people that have a nice character, disposition, they have a lovely home, no problem. At the end of the week, they're not looking, as it were, for just a little bit to pay their way. Mostly, people that talk like that are folk that are what we call well-heeled, and my Bible says, if you have no sin, or you say you have no sin, the truth is not in you. You lie, and the truth is not in you. And, in the case of John, when John used those words, he was using the words of the truth. As I look around, I see the permanency of sin. It's as permanent as anything can be. And, because of this, God says, if man is going to live in sin, then there has to be a day of reckoning. I not only realize that sin is permanent, but sin leads us to something else. It leads us to broken laws. The law of God is broken. It leads us to the denial of the truth of God's Word, and it leads us most of all to the death of Jesus Christ, we responsible for His death. And, as I open my Bible, and I see that there is an eternity without God, I can say, Lord, You're just. In the light of continual sin, continual broken law, in the light of continual denial of the truth of God's Word, and the crucifixion of Christ, there has got to be a hell. But, who are there? Who are the subjects of hell? May I please use the words of Revelation 20? Now, I am fully aware that we're speaking now of a day that's yet to come. We are speaking of that final abode. Please let us remember that principle runs right through the Word, and so I would borrow, if I may, the 20th chapter of Revelation, in verse 15, and I would remind you that those that are cast out, whosoever was not found written in the book of life. Whosoever was not found written in the book of life. Is it not remarkable that God does keep books? Is it tremendous that God keeps accounts, that if you trust Him, He wants your name in the last book of life? You don't have to worry about that, do you? You see, I sometimes get these folks who say to me, Oh, Mr. Fordham, I'm so worried. Well, why are you worried about that? Because most of the time, they worry about everything. That sort of person, if they haven't got anything to worry about, they worry about the fact they haven't got anything to worry about. But they come to me and they say, Oh, Mr. Fordham, I'm so worried. Why are you worried about that? I couldn't tell you what I was saying. I hear you stand up and tell us you were saved on July the 15th. You tell us the very minute and the very year. I couldn't tell you what I was saying. I always look at them, smile at them, and say, Now, you love the Lord Jesus, now, you know, today, now. Oh, yes, you know that. Well, don't you, Carl? What do you get all day? The first thing you do, you tell the Lord you've got my permission to do it. When you get to heaven, the first thing you do is you say, Lord, Now, you look at the book and you say, Is this the moment you trusted in when he wrote your name? My friend, the question is this. Are you trusting in tonight as it was? Don't you be disturbed if I'm not able to tell the moment of the day. Yes, you are. You're trusting in tonight. But don't forget there was a moment and there was a day when he wrote your name on it. When he crossed the way to the church at Phillipi. Why, you remember in that glorious fourth chapter, he speaks of some women, and he says of them whose names are in the book of life. Isn't that great? Whose names? And here it says, Whosoever was not found written in the book of life, cast into the lake of fire. My friend, has your name been written there? Has there been a time when you trusted Jesus Christ? If not, then your rejection of Jesus Christ means that he rejects you. It's as simple as that. I said last evening as I came to a close, I want to repeat it about this subject as I did last night's subject. I want to say that after 40 years of the daily reading of the word of God, I have come to this conclusion that no one ever has been able to shake from. That the truth of the Bible can be summed up in this expression. The place I give to Jesus Christ in time is the place he gives to me in eternity. Did I say no room for Jesus? He'll say no room for you. Did I say room for Jesus? Hallelujah, he'll say room for me. Room for me in that time. Oh, what place have you given to him? The awful thing is, here was a man in the 16th of Luke, and this man, we're told his name, at least we're not told his name, we're told the name of the beggar that was with him. We're told about his burial. We are told many things about him. And then we're told that he's in hell. And I want to remind you that he was a very religious man. Please, please, he was not an irreligious man. He was a very religious man. He came from a family where the word of God was read, and I suggest to you read daily. When Abraham spoke to him concerning his request that someone may be sent to his brothers, his family, Abraham said, they have Moses and the prophets. They have them. You called me Father Abraham. You are familiar with all the promises that God made to Abraham concerning his family. Your brothers in your home had Moses and the prophets. A religious man. I say, a man who had so much of this world's goods. I know not, I must not go beyond the canon of scripture, but I sometimes wonder if it was because he had so much of this world's goods that he never had time to think about the next world's goods. But you remember a beggar came that he might get the crumbs off the rich man's face. Now, I don't think they were crumbs as we think of crumbs, do you? You know, you think of a crumb of bread. You just throw it, that little crumb, to a sparrow. What the word means, of course, is the things that were left over from the rich man's table. Now, please, please, I hope none of you must understand, but I do want to say this, and I want to say it very kindly. I have seen, since I have been in your lovely country, and you know this is not the first time I've been here, so you know how much I appreciate it, but I've seen more wasting of food than I could possibly tell you. If I could take some of the food that I've seen wasted in your land, away to Africa, my brethren in Angola, away in Molten Peak, in Botswana, they would think of it as Christmas every day. Maybe it is because we have so much here that even the crumbs would feed the beggar, that we haven't thought of another table, another feast for which we didn't come. We're full up already, so we think. But this man was religious. This man had all the world's goods that he needed. And yet this man is found, at the end of the journey, in hell. He was stuck in the potty. We are told he was buried. We're not told the beggar was buried. Whoever goes to the funeral of a beggar. But when a rich man dies, you tell everyone so they can go along and say, he was a nice man, and say all the nice things about him they never said when he was alive. And we're told that the rich man was buried. So his body wasn't in hell. He was buried. But he was in heaven. Saul was there. Him. Not the house in which he lived, but him. And it's remarkable that while he was not in the body, he had the five faculties of the body. Everything you do in your body, he did. Here was a man who indeed could see. He saw Abraham. But he didn't have eyes. They were in the grave. But he could see. He could speak. But he didn't have a tongue. It was in the grave. But he could speak. He could hear. But he didn't have ears. They were in the grave. But he could hear. He could remember. But he didn't have a brain. It was in the grave. Most of all, he could feel. And yet all his nervous system was in the grave. He had the five faculties of the body, though he wasn't there. And if you know not Jesus Christ, you'll die in your sin and you'll perish. But you'll have the five faculties of your body as a subject. But what is the duration of hell? Is it for a period of time? Is it until we are annihilated? I can only turn to the Scripture. I only know what the Word of God says, and I can only say this, that Matthew 25 and verse 46, and linked with it many other Scriptures, that Matthew 25 and verse 46 simply says this, they will go away into everlasting punishment. And the word everlasting is the same word that John 3 and 16 use, shall have everlasting life. If trusting Jesus Christ you get everlasting life, by rejecting Jesus Christ you get everlasting punishment. Where the worm dieth, not. And the fire is not quenched. I would not like to get into a discussion with you as to whether it's literal play. I want to tell you I believe it's literal play. But if at the end of the journey, somehow I know not what we will know in glory, but at the end of the journey it isn't literal play. What it illustrates will be bigger than the thing that's used to illustrate. But there's one thing I must say to you, that if there is the certainty of hell, and if there is indeed the subjects in hell, and if there's the duration of hell, oh hallelujah, there's the deliverance of hell. And when in the great tent hall in the city of Glasgow, maybe 30 years ago now, I was just a young fellow trying to stay awake in the morning, I came to the close of an address, and as I looked around, as I looked around I felt I had to say something. As far as I know, I've never said it before, I haven't prepared to say it, and I don't have a brain big enough to sort of compile words like me. But I looked around, and as I looked around, I said, friend, I've got a feeling that here in this tent hall tonight, there are many of you spoken, all you've got to say is, a heart message with your head. I thank God I've got more than a heart message with my head. I thank God I've got a cross. I thank God I've got a savior. I thank God I've got one who's willing to wash my sin away, never to remember it anymore, and give me a new life, his life. And I drew the service to a close. As I stepped down from the big platform in the tent hall, someone put his hand on my shoulder and said, Mr. Ford, there's a man down in the inquiry room crying. And I went into the inquiry room. I looked into the face of a man in his late fifties, maybe early sixties. As I set my hand on his shoulder, I said, sir, can I help you? And he said, who told you about me? Who told you about me? I looked at him and said, sir, I don't know who you are. As far as I know, I've never seen you in my life. I don't know your name, and I don't know a thing about you, and no one's said anything to me tonight about anyone. But he said, you pointed your finger right at me. Ah, I hope I'm pointing my finger at you tonight. He said, you pointed your finger right at me, and you said, between you and hell, all you've got is a heartbeat. I said, you better tell me the story, hadn't you? And this is what he told me. That Saturday evening, he had gone to the doctor's surgery for weeks he had been feeling pains across his chest and, you know, took all the things you take for indigestion. He said, tonight I went to see the doctor. My wife had been keeping on to me and keeping on to me, and at six o'clock I went to the surgery. He examined me, spent a long time with me. I asked him for the truth, and he said, I think you've got six months to live. So I came out of the surgery, and I went down to Argyle Street, and I went down to Glasgow Cross, and I saw all the little bands there. You know, they've got a concertina band in the tent hall. And I saw the little bands, and I saw them line up, and they marched down the street, down the salt market, into Steel Street, and I followed them along. I wanted to be where people were, so I wouldn't care. And I've never been in the tent hall in my life. And you pointed your finger at me and said, between you and hell, you've got a heartbeat. I looked at him and I said, yes, sir, but can you tell me what else I said? No, he said, I can't. Well, let me tell you. You can have a saviour between you and hell. You can have a cross between you and hell. You are on the stretch marks of faith. You can take that saviour as your saviour tonight. And I told him of a saviour who died, that his sin might be forgiven, or that he might be forgiven, that his sin might be removed, never to be remembered anymore. And I thank God that day, when we came away, he had more than a heartbeat between him and hell. He didn't laugh six months. Well, two months later, I was asked to go up to Glasgow, to stand by the side of a grave. And as I took a handful of earth in my hand, as always we do, and cast it upon the coffin, with these tremendous words, word for word, connected to it, I did it to assure the certain hope of the resurrection, not to death. Good Lord. How about you, friend? You young people now. You're not suffering with a heart attack. Let me ask you, what have you got between you and hell? Is there nothing you can have, sir? Is there what's called Jesus Christ's case? Boondied for our transgressions, bruised for our iniquities, that we might have life eternal. Friend, make sure you trust the Savior. Make sure you trust Him tonight, and with us. Heaven-bound, for His name's sake. Amen. I do want to say that I do realize I've only touched the hem of this subject. I do want to remind you that if there's portions of the subject I haven't touched on, and you have difficulties concerning, I don't think I'm unavailable. And unapproachable. I don't know much, but I can tell you what God says in His Word. I can open the Scriptures and show you it. Why not, after the service, come forward and ask me for a little copy of this safety, certainty, and enjoyment? We'll speak with you. There are trained taxers here. We'd love to help you. Friend, take Christ as your Savior tonight. I'm going to ask my good friend Mr. Andrews to close his prayer. Shall we pray?