Pastors in many, if not most, churches today avoid the topic of hell. You know, it's not really a subject that makes churchgoers feel warm and fuzzy, anxious to return to hear another inspirational message. Most teaching seems to trend toward cultural topics, basic spiritual life. or there are those motivating you to experience a more prosperous life.
Well, on this episode of Leading the Way, Dr. Michael Youssep does what he does best. Teach us what the Word of God says. And he'll put it all out there. even if it's the often avoided subject of hell.
You see, Jesus taught about hell and it is vital to know what he said about it.
So hold on as Dr. Michael Yousaf brings a message called The reality of hell. C S Lewis One day He went to hear a young curate in this Anglican church. preach and uh he heard him say the following and I'm gonna quote here If you reject Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord, You will suffer Grays eschatological ramification.
Well after the service Imagine you preaching as a young preacher on C.S. Lewis in the congregation, but After the service, he went straight for the young man and shook his hand and he said to him, Young man, did you mean to say that those who reject Jesus Christ will spend eternity in hell? He said, yes, that's exactly right. That's precisely right. He said, okay, why didn't you just say so?
I fully understand, however. the reluctance of this young curate. preaching about hell. I fully. sympathize with him because the term hell The Place Cold hell.
And the preaching. On hell. is not the most popular subject. that you talk about or address in polite company. Just read.
Not long ago, that 90% of American preachers, that's 9-0, 90%. of America's preachers avoid the subject of hell altogether. It doesn't surprise me either. And yet The very freedom of choice. that God gives us to either believe in him or not.
The very fact that God gives us a choice To be reconciled to God the Father through God the Son. The very fact that God went through an agonizing experience of sacrificing his one and only Son. In order to invite us to come to Him. This very freedom of choice. Supposes that we also free to reject him.
and end up in that place of eternal torment and suffering. But that's not all. Hello. was created, it was designed, was built. For Satan and the demons and his followers, the fallen angels.
Satan and the demons don't have a choice, they're going to end up in hell. But people have a choice. Humanity has a choice. The very concept of hell The very knowledge of hell. The very Description of hell.
And the Bible. Should make a sweep. over the fact that some people would choose to go there. For all of eternity. Revelation chapter 20 tells us that immediately before the return of Christ.
There will be a tidal wave of rebellion. And sin. Across the globe. The hatred toward God and His children. is rampant.
The anger. That we're watching on the screen night after night is just the beginning. Why? Because the devil and his fallen angels, his demons, they know that their time is about to come when they are thrown into the lake of fire. Revelation twenty verse ten.
And the devil who deceived them Was thrown into the lake of burning sulphur where the beast and the false prophets had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night. Forever. The great deceiver who deceived kids into rebellion, the great deceiver who deceived husbands and wives into destroying marriages, the great deceiver who deceived people into thinking that God does not love them, the great deceiver who deceived people into thinking that they can be good without God, the great deceiver who deceives people into stealing and murdering and destroying peoples and their reputations, he and all his cronies will be thrown into the lake of fire. Praise God.
Praise God. The Bible makes it very clear. that hell is a real place. Hell is not a state of mind. Hell is not the figment of imagination.
Hell is not a fig of speech. Hell is a real place, and real people are going to be there for all of eternity. Jesus was very explicit. about the intensity of the suffering of those who are going to end up there. For those who said God has so many ways, Jesus is just a way.
Jesus emphasized the fact that there is no return from hell. There will be eternal separation from the loved ones. There will be eternal separation from everything that is good and holy. and beautiful, and even God Himself. And so let me tell you four things that Jesus tells us about hell.
First of all, It's a place of confinement. It's a place of confinement. In Matthew 18, 21 to 35, Jesus gives us a picture. of hell like a prison. But not like physical prisons, because physical prisons can imprison the body, but cannot imprison the mind.
It cannot imprison the soul. Earthly prisons Cannot Imprison the spirit. And the spirit Even in physical prison, is free to worship. is free to create. It's free to imagine, it's free to anticipate, it's free to hope.
Paul and Salas who are beaten up so badly, and then they're thrown into the prison in Philippi. And yet in the middle of the night they were singing their heart out.
So much so that an earthquake took place. First of all, it's a place of confinement. Secondly, It's a place of darkness. Utter darkness. John the Revelator.
talks about the new Jerusalem. The beautiful city that's coming down for the believers, where we're going to be ruling and reigning with Christ forever. He talks about this new Jerusalem, the beautiful city. And he said, it will not need the sun because the sun of God, who is the light of the world, he's going to illuminate that city. In contrast, hell is a place of perpetual darkness.
continuous darkness. In Matthew 22, 13, Jesus said of these non-believers, he said, bind them. and cast them into the outer darkness. Utter darkness, perpetual darkness. In Matthew 25, 30, Jesus said to the wicked servant Throw him into the outer darkness.
Please think about this. In hell, there will be no day. On night. That was not Twilight. There will now beautiful sunrise and sunset.
Not only that, but there is moral Moral. and spiritual darkness.
So it's a place of confinement. It's a place of utter darkness. Thirdly, it's a place of suffering. Continuous suffering. Non-stop suffering.
In Matthew twenty-two, The one who intruded at the wedding feast. Remember, Jesus talks about this wedding feast, and the people who came, they had certain robes to wear. But there was an intruder.
Somebody he thought that he can go to the wedding without the wedding gown. that was handed to the people who've been invited and came in. He talks about that intruder. It represents anyone, anyone, anyone who thinks that they can come to God their own way. It represents that person who thinks that God has many ways other than Jesus.
That represents Those Who are not wearing the robe of the righteousness of Jesus Christ that He imputes on us when we repent and turn to Him and believe in Him and surrender to Him. This is the one Who Brought into the lie that he can be good enough for God without Jesus. And Jesus said to this intruder, He said, send him out. to the place where there's weeping and gnashing of teeth. Outer suffering.
Constant suffering. Continuous suffering. They will never experience one second of relief. They were constant agony. constant pain and constant suffering.
In Luke 16, It's not a parable. Luke 16, 22 and 24. Luke 16, when Jesus talked about Lazarus and so-called rich man, He was telling us a true story of something had happened that He, as the God of the universe who pre-existed before His incarnation, He knew it took place.
So He tells us real story and it's not so much the man was a rich man, but He was a selfish man. He was a self-centered man. We're seeing selfishness now become the religion in the West. And so when Lazarus died and This man, selfish, self-centered man, die, live under a reverse of their fortunes. The selfish, self-centered man.
ends up in that place of agony. in the place of suffering, And Lazarus. was in the bosom of Abraham. There was a huge gulf between them. And yet they could communicate with each other.
But when Jesus died and went to the place called Hades and he liberated all the Old Testament believers, he took them into paradise and opened heaven for them. And so This man in constant agony and pain He says, Father Abraham. Because you see, like many misguided people think that because he was ethnically Jewish, that Abraham is on his side. But the only people who are gonna make it to heaven not Who is ethnical descendants of Abraham, as Galatians and Romans tell us, but it does who have the faith of Abraham. Those who believe like Abraham.
And so he says, Father Abraham. Have mercy on me. Send me Lazarus. To dip the end of his finger in water, to cool my tongue. For I am.
I'm in anguish. And these flames. This guy would not lift a finger. To minister to Lazarus or anybody else for that matter.
Now he wants Lazarus to dip his finger. A ghoul is suffering. I often say All it took A couple of minutes in hell and he become an evangelist. He wanted Lazarus to rise from the dead.
So he can warn his brothers.
Some place of confinement. It's a place of utter darkness. It's a place of perpetual suffering. then it's a place of loneliness. A place of loneliness.
George Bernard Shaw. Supposedly have said The people in hell are among the most interesting people. Most interesting people. Revelation 21.8 gives us a very short list. The list is all over the scripture.
But this is a very short list of those interesting people. The cowardly, Faithless. Detestable Murderous sexually perverted.
sorcerers, idolaterers, and all the liars. Just a short list. of the interesting people. I'm sure you wouldn't want to have them in your birthday party. Even so.
These people without fellowship with each other. They're not going to be seeing each other and talking to each other. No. Hell is a place of solitary confinement. Everyone is alone.
Everyone is isolated. Once there, All feelings of attachment, of friendship and love are forgotten forever. Beloved. With the stakes this high, Are you surprised? The way I've been fighting an invisible war.
Are you surprised? at the intensity. and becoming intense by the day. of this invisible war. that we are seeing.
But praise God for The day is coming for us, the believers. We will fight no more.
Well the battle will be over. I want to take a few moments. To tell you. about the believers. Destination.
I love that subject far more. I want to tell you about your destination if you have committed your life to Jesus Christ as your only Savior and Lord. Those of us Who are battle-weary in this invisible war, more and more becoming visible now. Those of us who have fought the fight of faith, those of us Who stood our grounds and refused to compromise with Satan and the world and the culture? Those of us who have loved Jesus through faith.
Sick and thin. Those of us who have stood firm when many others are bailing out. We too are going to a physical place called heaven. Amen. Let me tell you this.
The same people who lie about hell They're the very people who lie about heaven. And they say that heaven is just a state of mind. Heaven is just an abstract idea. Heaven is just a wishful thinking. Heaven.
It's just a figure of speech. No one in a million knows. And I'm going to show you from the Word of God. This is not my opinion or my thought, it's from the Word of God in John chapter 14. In John chapter 14.
Jesus called heaven in Greek Topos, can you say topos? I want you to use that word from now on. In Greek it means a physical location. A place. That has boundaries.
People have space. And at verse 2 of John Fourteen. Jesus Said I go And prepare a what? Topos. For you.
Here's how I'm going to go and prepare a figment of your imagination. In Acts chapter 7, verses 56. Stephen, the very first Christian martyr. who's being stoned to death. Stoned to death.
And he's about to die. He's about to cross to the other side. And he said, I see the heavens open. and the Son of Man standing on the right hand of God. Beloved, that's what every believer in Jesus Christ will see as soon as you close your eyes in death.
Revelation chapter 4, verse 1. John said, I looked and behold, there is before me a door standing open. Let me tell you six things about heaven. First of all, Heaven is a place of uninterrupted fellowship with God. uninterrupted fellowship.
You know, when I think of some of the descriptions of heaven, of Jasper and all these things, nothing excites me more than to know that I'll be looking at Jesus' face. Twenty-four seven I'm looking at Jesus. 1 Corinthians 13.12 tells us That we now see dimly as in a mirror, but then. Face to face. Face to face.
When Jesus said to the disciples, I go and prepare a tautos for you. He said, There you will be With me, glory to God. Not only a place of uninterrupted fellowship with God, but secondly, It's a place of rest, from the battle. the spiritual battles. The spiritual battle.
Revelation 14, 13. They may rest from their labor. and their deeds follow them.
Now We're not going to be idols in heaven. We're gonna rest from Satan's harassment. We're gonna rest from the spiritual battle. We're going to rest from this constant temptation and attack and oppressing of the believers. But there And bring me to the third one.
We will be serving Jesus. Thirdly, we will be serving Jesus in heaven. I would be a place of serving God day and night. Revelation twenty two three And there shall be no more curse But the throne of God and the Lamb shall be in it. and his servants.
shall serve him. His servants shall what Is a place of uninterrupted fellowship. It's a place of rest from our spiritual battles. It's a place we're serving our great God, and fourthly, it's a place. We will.
Have Full knowledge. Full knowledge. We'll know everything. Will know everything.
Now, there's some people still think they know everything, but that's okay. God bless them. Uh I don't. Here on earth, We face The mystery of suffering. And we ask why.
The righteous. have to suffer so much. We don't know why earthquakes and diseases and hurricanes and pain and suffering. And why? Oh, but there.
We will know everything. We will know everything. 1 Corinthians 13, 12. Again.
Now we know in part. But there, say it with me, but I shall know just as I am known. Fifthly. It's a place of continuous glory.
Now, I need to explain that because a lot of people, a lot of Christian people, a lot of church people, Don't understand the word glory. They have all kinds of interpretation of what glory means. In 2 Corinthians 4.17, For our light deflection. Which is but for a moment. is working for us A far more Exceedingly an eternal weight of glory.
Please listen carefully. What does that mean? Glory In the scripture, Reflects the revelation. of the character of God in Jesus Christ. And in heaven, God's character Will be so revealed in us that we will be transformed and be like him.
Can you get greater glory than that? That's glory to me. That's glory to me. Colossians Three, four. When Christ Who is our life appears?
Then you also will appear with him in Glory. Finally, Number six. It will be a place of constant worship. One of the Most prominent British Member of the House of Lords several years ago. He said, you know, heaven used to bother me.
And I really didn't want to even go there. Because he thought worship means That is going to be A perpetual a continuous boring eleven o'clock service. And then, when he came to know the scripture, he rejoiced over the fact. What the word worship means, it comes from the Latin word worship.
So what is Jesus worth to you? A song and a prayer, and hallelujah, and a couple of bucks and a couple of hours a week. No, no, no, no, no, no. Worshiping Him is all engrossing, it's all engaging, it's all consuming. I don't know about you.
Farm ready. I'm ready. And I can't wait to get there. Father, forgive me. I'm a sinner.
I wanted to come to you my way. But now I come to you. through Jesus who died for me. Accept me. Because of the blood that He shed on the cross.
I thank you for your promise. that all those who come to you You'll never reject. In Jesus' name. Thank you for making time for leading the way with pastor and author of more than 50 books. Dr.
Michael Youssef. In fact, Dr. Youssef has a brand new book soon to release that complements the contents of this message and this current series on leading the way. Have you ever looked at the chaos in the world and confusion in our culture? or the struggles in your own life and ask the question.
What is really going on there? Why? Are my loved ones struggling? Why are the church leaders abandoning the faith? Why is this generation surrounded by anxiety and confusion?
Now here's the truth straight from the Word of God. Behind the headlines and behind the heartaches, the There is a real enemy. He would love to go after your mind, your family and your home. Sadly, many Christians, including pastors, are asleep. And many are fighting with the wrong weapons.
And that is why I wrote this book Winning the Invisible War. It is a guide to winning these spiritual battles. And these principles, they come straight from the Word of God.
Now. There's a lot of erroneous teaching about spiritual warfare.
Some make it very complicated. But it's actually very simple. Christ has already won the war. We need only to fight with the tools that he provided. Equip yourself for the invisible world.
Get back. into the front line. My new book, Winning the Invisible War, will help you do just that. and give you Biblical keys. to walking in victory.
Pre-order your copy of Winning the Invisible War today for your gift of any amount to leading the way. Your gift will help advance the gospel on the front lines of the spiritual battle. and equip believers with biblical truth. Get the details in order today. at 866.
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