TITLE: H-E-L-L , THE ETERNAL ABODE OF THE LOST
TEXT: LUKE 16:19-31
AUTHOR: JACK WOODARD
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The most solemn subject that a writer could set his pen to write on is the subject of @#!*% . The most solemn message that could come from the lips of a preacher is the subject of @#!*% . The most solemn subject that one could expose his ears to hearing is the subject of @#!*% . That makes it all the more reason that @#!*% be a subject that is not ignored nor taken lightly. It is a matter that deals with Eternity, with Real Souls, Suffering in a Real Place. It is a Great truth that must be preached and never allowed to be ignored or seldom heard from our pulpits. Before I begin the message I want to emphasize four great truths for us to think about as we look at the verses of Scripture before us, and turn our thoughts to the subject of H-E-L-L , THE ETERNAL ABODE OF THE LOST!!
1. It Is Jesus Who Is Telling This Story! ["...and He (Jesus) said unto them..." Luke 16:15]
Many people show their ignorance of Jesus and the Bible when they say; “If Jesus were here today He would never preach on @#!*% .” The fact is that while on earth Jesus had more to say about @#!*% and Judgment than almost any other subject that He spoke about. If a Preacher would pattern his pulpit ministry after Jesus, he would have 4 or 5 different sermons on @#!*% that he would preach to his same crowd every year. If nothing else, it would be like an occasional thunder storm, that after it has passed, the air has been cleared. Once in a while the preacher needs to thunder just to clear the air of all the frivolous and foolishness that we are so prone to let clutter our lives and our churches. All of that needs to be cleaned out once in a while, so we can again begin to focus our thoughts and energies on the Great Commission and our Relationship with Jesus. Nothing will do that like an old fashion, hot, thundering message on @#!*% !!
The Jesus who is: “…the same yesterday, and today, and tomorrow.”[Hebrews 13:8], would preach the Same Today as He preached yesterday and if He tarries His coming a thousand years, He would preach the same message Tomorrow, if tomorrow be a thousand years from Today!!
2. It Is the Religious to Whom Jesus Is Preaching To the Reality and Warning of @#!*% ! [Luke 16:14, 15a]
It is sobering to discover that whenever Jesus preached on @#!*% and Eternal Damnation, it was always unto the Religious Crowd and not to the Sinners, Tax Collectors or Harlots. No one is in more danger of @#!*% Fire than the Self-Righteous Religious Crowd. No one needs a clear and convicting message of @#!*% as does the Laodicean Church of this Apostate Generation!!
3. Jesus Is Preaching About A Real Place And A Real Person Suffering Real Torment!
This is not a parable, but literal in all aspects. This not only is not a parable, it also is not in the past tense, this same man that Jesus spoke of is still in the same place suffering the same torment today as he was the very day that Jesus lifted the cover off of @#!*% and let us have a glimpse of the eternal abode of the damned!!
4. The Doctrine Of @#!*% Is A Fundamental Of The Christian Faith!
To take away the doctrine of @#!*% , then you must do away with the Infallibility of the Bible, The Deity of Christ, The Blood Atonement of Christ, the Eternal Hope of Heaven. Those who would do away with the Horrors of a Literal @#!*% also must do away with the Hope of a Literal Heaven. If there is no @#!*% , then there is no reason for any other message and the Hope we preach.
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THREE GREAT TRUTHS ABOUT @#!*% :
1. H-E-L-L IS A FORGOTTEN FACT
This man in our story, like many today, was raised in a religious home and in a Bible teaching Church, who had taught him as a child about the Fact of @#!*% . But over the years it became a forgotten truth to him, a fact that he never gave much, if any thought to as he grew older. How did he forget such a fundamental to his childhood Faith? How could he of become so oblivious to the Fact of @#!*% . This is a great problem in our land today. So many who were once raised in a Christian home and Church as a child, are now living their adult lives as if they have never heard of a @#!*% , where the lost and wicked unbelievers in Jesus will spend an eternity. They are living the life of an unbeliever, though they once were raised in the Faith. How can that be? This is one of those things that are so discouraging to many parents and so disheartening to many good pastors.
A. A Disturbing Woe!
No one likes to think of such an awful thing as a devils @#!*% , it becomes easy just to put it out of your mind. That may have been what happened to this man. There are too many good things the world has to offer for our partaking, to spoil it by thinking about a literal @#!*% . That is the age old lie of Satan that the Rich Man must have accepted. Oh, if he would of have heard Jesus when He Preached; "FOR WHAT IS A MAN BE PROFITED, IF HE SHALL GAIN THE WHOLE WORLD AND LOSE HIS OWN SOUL?" [Matthew 16:26]
You, that find the subject of @#!*% too disturbing to think about, the thought of it takes the joy out of your sinful and worldly life, you owe it to yourselves to take a moment and give serious thought to Jesus’ solemn question. He would have you to give serious thought to it. There is an end coming for us all, then where will you be? You may not want to think about @#!*% today, so you can be at ease in your selfish and sinful life, but if you do not give it thought, I can assure you that you will surely go there someday, and after that you will never again be able to put it from any of your thoughts throughout eternity. Then, @#!*% will consume you forever and ever!!
B. The Distractions of the World!
[Matthew 13:22] tells us that each of us can easily have our attention diverted from the Lord and spiritual matters by the Cares of This World, The Deceitfulness of Riches and the Love of Pleasures.
There is little doubt that the devil uses these distractions to get our thoughts off of our Soul and our Eternity. I once saw an interview of a Rookie Basketball Player who had just signed a multi-million dollar contract (a name everyone would know if I mentioned his name) with the team that had just drafted him. The reporter asked him a question about his plans for the future. I will never forget this young man’s answer, he said: "I am not thinking about the future, I am having so much fun living in the present." That is the attitude of most of humanity today, and that will be the reason that many of those will wake up in @#!*% , and no one will be so shocked to find themselves there than they will be. You are not ready to live until you have first made preparation for death and eternity!!
C. The Deceptions of the Wicked!
This man in his day, like us in our day, had many Sadducees and Apostates that told him that there was no @#!*% , no judgment, no after-life, no heaven to gain or @#!*% to concern himself about. To the worldly man this becomes an attractive message that allows him to go on living a life of sin with a clear conscience. So like many today, he found him a liberal preacher and church that told him throughout all of his adult life, that there was no @#!*% to be concerned with. I have had people leave my church and tell others that the reason they were leaving was they wanted to find them a preacher that preached what they wanted to hear, something that made them feel good. The sad thing is they would have no problem finding them such a preacher (puppet) or church. Our land is littered with such. With the message of @#!*% being such a Disturbing Woe to this man along with the Distractions of the World, and the Deceptions of the Wicked, all played a part in this man forgetting the Fact that there was a real @#!*% to shun. Satan is still using these same tricks on our generation.
D. The Dereliction of the Warriors!
In [2 Timothy 2:3] the Apostle Paul challenges every Preacher of the Gospel, to "...endure hardness, as a GOOD SOLDIER of JESUS CHRIST." There are too many sissies in our pulpits today who do not want to endure any kind of hardship, and they know that they will certainly experience some hardships from their carnal members if they preach on the unpopular truth of @#!*% . The truth is that one of the main reasons that our Churches and our Nation has forgotten about the Fact of @#!*% is that very few Preachers any more are preaching on the subject of @#!*% and warning sinners to flee from it, for fear of being considered negative, becoming unpopular and losing their crowds. It seems they are willing to enlarge @#!*% to enlarge their crowd and be popular at the cost of eternal souls.
[Romans 10:17] tells us that "...faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the Word of God." People will not believe in something that they never hear the Preachers preach on. Preachers should model their ministry (especially their pulpit ministry) after the Lord Jesus. Jesus had more to say about @#!*% and Judgment than almost any other subject He spoke on. Jesus was a @#!*% -Fire and Damnation Preacher.
The Apostle Paul, the greatest Preacher since Jesus, never shied away from preaching on any subject. In [Acts20:26, 27] he tells the Elders in Ephesus that "...I am free from the blood of all men; for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God." Preacher do not shun away from the preaching of @#!*% , Jesus never did, John the Baptist never did, the Apostle Paul never did, no Truly Called Man of God ever has and if you do, it is a sure sign that YOU ARE NOT A TRULY CALLED MAN OF GOD!! What do you think you are trying to save souls from? The temporary hardships and poverty’s of this life, NO! A thousand times NO, this "...world passeth away, and the lusts of it; but he that doeth the will of God abideth forever." [1John 2:17] There is a @#!*% that we are to Rescue Perishing Sinners from. If you never preach it the world will forget all about it until they wake-up in fire and brimstone. Preacher, you that shun away from the subject of @#!*% for fear of the reprimands from your carnal members, you had better pray that you too are not a @#!*% Bound Sinner.
It will be an awful thing to find yourself in @#!*% with the ones you were sent to warn about the fact of @#!*% and you were not faithful in doing so. Read the Lord’s Warning He gives to all preachers in Ezekiel 33:7-9, where He tells those timid preachers, that the blood of the souls who the Lord gave him to warn and did not do so, will be charged to his hands. The Lord will see you as the cause for these lost and unwarned souls being in @#!*% , and in some way He will hold us accountable for allowing such.
11. H-E-L-L IS A FRIGHTENING FUTURE
In these verses we see how Frightening @#!*% really is. A man that is experiencing @#!*% finds it so horrible that he wants no other man to have to come to this horrible place.
A. A Place of Unending Punishment!
["And these shall go away into Everlasting Punishment..." Matthew 25:46]
I have watched as men convicted of a capital crime were given a life sentence without the possibility of parole, and thought to myself how horrible it would be to know that you would never again be free once those doors slam shut behind you. You will be behind bars for the rest of your natural life. Yet, that is what a person who goes to @#!*% will face. Only now it will be an eternal sentence, never again to be released from @#!*% . It is an ETERNAL SENTENCE. Lost soul, you need to think long and hard before you throw eternity away for a short life of sin and selfishness, not wanting Jesus to Lord it over you. Your freedom is short lived. You are headed for an eternal incarceration in @#!*% . Then you will be forced to bow your knee and confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord. [Philippians 2:9] He will then be in absolute control of your life and eternity and no power will be great enough to change your eternal destiny, as a matter of fact in that day they will be no powers but Jesus. He alone will be King of King’s and Lord of Lord’s. He will rule Supreme, even over the regions of the damned!! [Revelation 1:18]
B. A Place of Unbelievable Pain! ["...tormented in this flame..." Luke 16:24]
While serving in Viet Nam during the Viet Nam War, I had the unfortunate experience of grabbing a hot pipe one day and burning all of the skin off of the palm of my right hand, leaving exposed all of the nerve endings on my hand. I can tell you that there is no pain like that which results from a burn. Thankfully, there was a military camp nearby with a Doctor I could go to. He gave me some pain pills to relieve the pain and ointment that he put on my burn to begin the healing process. I have often read Jesus’ Words and thought of how horrible it would have been if after being so burned and in such torment that I could have never found a Doctor, if there had never been any healing, and if I had never been able to of found relief from the awful pain. There will be no such fortunes in @#!*% . In @#!*% there will be no healers, nor pain relievers, nor is there hope of ever having the pained diminished or stopped, not even for a second of time. Unbelievable Torment for All Eternity!!
Jesus tells us in [Matthew 5:27-30], that if a man is so dominated by lust that he cannot keep his hands off a women or look at a women without lusting after her, that it would be better if he would "pluck his right eye out", and "cut his right hand off", and stop that lust, (this is figurative language, not to be taken literally) than to let his lust keep him from coming to Jesus and in the end, go to @#!*% . Think how painful it would be to poke your finger into your eye socket and pluck out your own eye, think how painful it would be to take a chainsaw and cut off you right hand at the wrist. Yet, Jesus says that pain would be nothing compared to the horrible pains one will live with eternally in @#!*% !! Unbelievable Torment for All Eternity!! Oh, sinner, flee to Jesus from the wrath to come!!
C. A Place of Unheard Petitions! ["...nay..." Luke 16:24, 30]
Here is a man praying, but it is too late and to the wrong person. None of his prayers were answered, and all he could do was to argue and plead his case, but to no avail. All of the screaming petitions that the damned will utter in @#!*% will fall upon deaf ears. In @#!*% there will be no mercy available, there will be no second chances, no matter how loud or long the petitions may be. Sinner, if you are to find mercy and a second chance, you must pray to the Lord for it NOW! [ISAIAH 55:6..."Seek the Lord while He may be found, call ye upon Him while He is near], [2 Corinthians 6:2..."For He saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I helped thee; behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation."]
If a sinner has a prayer to pray he must pray it now. Jesus is deaf to the petitions from @#!*% !! Oh, how awful must be the sounds of the screaming petitions from the damned that echo through the corridors of @#!*% , but never heard in Heaven.
D. A Place of An Unusual Population! ["...beggar...laid at his gate..." Luke 16:20; Revelation 21:8]
@#!*% is no respecter of persons. This rich man lived as royalty, separated from poor, the violent, the criminal and those down and out. All of these were outside his gate. Like the more affluent do in our society that is filled with crime and violence, he lived in a Gated Community, separated and protected from the sight of the poor, and the dangers of the criminal elements of society. But there is no such separation in @#!*% . @#!*% is no respecter of persons. It is made up of what we would consider as an Unusual Population.
@#!*% makes no distinction on its claims for the young and the old, no separation from the hardened criminal and the tender offender, no separation from the white collar criminal and those who are guilty of capital crimes, no separation of the races. No separation from the good and the evil. @#!*% is populated different than this world. People like to live separate from the riffraff of the world, but if those same elite die without Jesus they will spend and eternity with the abominable, liars, adulterers, drug addicts, and every other type of evil men they are. What an offensive thought, but true nevertheless.
1. [Matthew 7:21] tells us that there will be Many Lost Church Members in @#!*% !
[Matthew 25:1-13] gives us the parable of the 10 virgins. We are told 5 were foolish, the reason being, even though they were lived as pure (virgins) lives as any Saint could do while living here upon the earth, they were lost and ended up in @#!*% , because they had never really trusted Jesus and asked Him into their hearts.
Careless about their salvation being real, was their only failing. Now these pure while on earth, are spending an eternity with the most, vile sinners who ever walked the face of the earth.
2. [Revelation 21:8] tells us that there will be the Worst of Humanity in @#!*% !
In [Matthew 5:22] Jesus warned of those who are "...in danger of @#!*% fire."
The word Jesus used for @#!*% here is "GEHANNA", the name of Jerusalem’s City Dump, where the trash was dumped and its fires continually burned. In other words, @#!*% is the garbage dump of humanity.
3. [The fearful…unbelieving …Revelation 21:8]
Good moral people, guilty of nothing, but being an unbeliever in Jesus because they were too fearful to publicly acknowledge Jesus. You will notice in [Revelation 21:8], where the Lord tells us of those who will be in @#!*% , the very first person that is listed is the "Fearful." The Holy Spirit, the Author of the Bible, placed every word exactly where He wanted it, and in placing the Fearful first He is telling us that FEAR is the Number One reason that people end up in @#!*% , too fearful to walk the aisle, too fearful to take a public stand for Jesus. Too afraid of what one of their old buddies will say. @#!*% will be crowded with cowards. The rest of their life may have been seen as ideal, but at heart they were cowards. My friend, if you are too big of coward to stand for Jesus now, just think about what it will be like to go to the most FRIGHTENING PLACE one can imagine? @#!*% is a place that was not originally created and prepared for man, but for the Devil and his angels. [Matthew 25:41]
Ye that are fearful listen to Jesus’ warning to you." And fear not them who kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul; but rather fear Him (the Lord) who is able to destroy both soul and body IN @#!*% !!" [Matthew 10:28]
4. Procrastinators! [ACTS 24:25]
In [Acts 24:25] the Apostle Paul’s gives his testimony to Governor Felix and his challenges him to trust in Jesus, after which Felix procrastinated and told Paul to "...go thy way for this time, when I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." We are never told that Felix ever found a better time, and no doubt he died and went to @#!*% . @#!*% is populated with many politicians and people who at one time, like Felix, had the opportunity to be saved, but procrastinated, putting it off for a better time, a time which never came. Satan tells people to put Jesus off until they feel more like it, knowing that they will never feel more like it than at that very moment.
E. A Place of Unthinkable Partings! ["... there is a great gulf fixed..." Luke 16:126]
What a horrible thought it is to know that when a man goes to @#!*% that he will have to part with everything that he holds precious, his family, his money, his good times, his fine house, the laughs of young children at play, the beautiful sunrises and sunsets. No more rainbows in his sky, no more rain drops in his world, no more dew dampened grass in his mornings. No more the sound of the bird’s chirruping. Nothing that makes life worth living will be in his world evermore, the underworld of the damned!! The following Poem pictures it well.
H-E-L-L ! THE PRISON HOUSE OF DESPAIR
H-E-L-L ! The prison house of despair,
Here are some things that won’t be there;
No flowers will bloom on the banks of H-E-L-L ,
No beauties of nature we love so well;
No comforts of home, music and song,
No friendship of joy will be found in that throng;
No children to brighten the long, weary night,
No love nor peace nor one ray of light;
No blood-washed soul with face beaming bright,
No loving smile in that region of night;
No mercy, no pity, pardon nor grace,
No water; O God, what a terrible place!
The pangs of the lost no human can tell,
Not one moment’s ease - there is no rest in H-E-L-L !!
H-E-L-L! The prison house of despair,
Here are some things that will be there;
Fire and Brimstone are there, we know,
For God in His Word hath told us so;
Memory, remorse, suffering and pain
Weeping and wailing, but all in vain;
Blasphemers, swearers, haters of God,
Christ-rejecters while here on earth trod,
Murderers, gamblers, drunkards and liars,
Will have their part in the lake of fire;
The filthy, the vile, the cruel and mean,
Yes, more than humans on earth can tell,
Are torments and woes of eternal H-E-L-L!
Oh, ye who are now rejecting Jesus, offended by the thought that Jesus would call you are a @#!*% deserving sinner; give serious thought to where you are going to, and what you will be abandoning forever. What a frightening future awaits you!! Flee to the arms of Jesus from the wrath to come!
111. H-E-L-L IS A FOOLISH FINISH
[Luke 16:30, 31... they have Moses and the Prophets; let them hear them."] (The first 5 Books of the Bible, and the Prophetic Books of the Bible)
Here is a man that was truly a Fool if there ever was one. He, like his brothers had been given the Word of God, which is filled with warnings about @#!*% . He also had many other warnings and opportunities to repent, but he ignored them all, then died and went to @#!*% . 2Peter 3:9 tells us that the Lord does all He can do to block the road to @#!*% . [2Peter 3:9..."The Lord is...long-suffering toward us, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance."] Jesus does everything He can to make it difficult for a person to go to @#!*% . He has placed so many roadblocks in a lost sinner’s way as he marches to @#!*% , that there is no need for any to die and go to @#!*% .
A. The Roadblock of the Bible! [Luke 16:30, 31]
God has given us His Precious Word to reveal to every man all he needs to know to stay out of @#!*% . The Bible tells you there is a God who created you.[Genesis1] It tells you what sin is in God’s eyes, [Romans 7:7] and shows you that you too are a sinner, [Romans 3:23] it tells you that God has said the wages of sin is death, [Romans 6:23] It also tells you that, you are a @#!*% deserving sinner, it tells you that in spite of that, that God loves you and Christ died and shed His blood to pay for your sins that you could be forgiven and receive eternal life and an eternal home in heaven with Him. [John 3:6; Romans 5:8] The rich man probably had his childhood Bible in his home, he probably had heard the Prophet, John the Baptist preach the Word of God, and he may of heard Jesus speak to him, yet it all fell on deaf ears and a hard heart!! He climbed over the Bible to go to @#!*% . What a Fool!!
B. The Roadblock of the Church!
I am convinced that in @#!*% the damned will remember every church building that they had ever driven by with a Steeple pointing towards the heavens. Churches that they paid little or no attention to, even though the Lord and His people had built those buildings as a monument to the truth that there is a Real God and there is a real eternity to which every person must go into, to be there eternally, either in heaven or @#!*% !! Many of these damned watched each Sunday as the Body of Christ gatherer together to worship their Lord. They watched them drive by, dressed and headed for Church as they were mowing their lawns, or hooking up their boats for a day on the lake, or preparing the grill for a Sunday Barbecue. Did they not ask themselves one time about why these Christians were gathering together? Did they not ask themselves one time why these people built those great building’s. If they did or did not they were still a constant testimony to them that there was a heaven to gain and a @#!*% to shun, but they stumbled over it into an eternal @#!*% .
C. The Roadblock of the Efforts and Influence of Godly People!
[Christian Parents…Sunday-School Teachers…Pastors…Soul Winners…Godly Grandparents…etc.]
There are so many influences that no man need go to @#!*% . How the damned will be haunted by the memory of the teachings of a Saintly Parent, a Faithful Sunday School Teacher, their childhood Pastor, our that faithful Soul-Winner that had taken time out of their life to come to his home, knock on his door and ask for the opportunity to share with them the Gospel, only to be refused entrance. That soul-winner that they turned away could have kept them from @#!*% if they would have just taken a moment out of their life and gave him a serious hearing, but now it is too late, now they are damned in a devils @#!*% forever and ever.
Oh sinner if you go to @#!*% you will have to climb over the many Godly Influences that the Lord has placed in your life to turn you away from that awful place!!
When I went to Pastor my first Church I was told of a Hard Case in the community that every preacher and evangelist that had gone through that community had witnessed to, but to no avail, and my visits did not turn out any different. Years later, after I had been long gone from that Church, I received a call from one of its members that I had stayed in contact with over the years. He told me that this man had finally gotten saved. I asked him to tell me how it came about and he commenced to tell me that this man had gotten deathly ill and had to hospitalized, he later told that on one particular night while in the hospital he came near to deaths door, and as he did, he said that all of a sudden that he had his life flash before his face and in that moment he saw every preacher and evangelist that had ever attempted to share Jesus with him, and at that moment he finally realized that they had been right and he was wrong, that the Lord had sent them to him and he had rejected them. Now realizing he was a lost sinner, near the gates of @#!*% , he right then and there repented and cried out to Jesus to save him.
I am satisfied that every damned soul in @#!*% will live with the constant recall and vision of the faces and voices of every Godly Influence the Lord had ever placed in their life to turn them off the path to @#!*% . Then they will realize, but eternally too late, that Jesus had sent them across their path as sure as He sent Phillip, the Evangelist to the Gaza to cross paths with a hungering sinner, the Treasurer of Ethiopia, the Ethiopian Eunuch!! [ACTS 8:26-40] Sinner, the next time a Christian shares Jesus with you realize that the Lord has sent them across your path at that moment in time to keep you from going to @#!*% . Don’t climb over them and go to @#!*% .
D. The Voice of the Holy Spirit! [John 16:8-11]
How many times have you heard a still small voice telling you that you were a sinner, that as a sinner you were under the condemnation of God, but He loved you so much that He gave His only begotten Son, that if you would just believe in Him, He would forgive you of your sins and give you eternal life
[John3:16; 16:7-11] The damned in @#!*% would give anything to hear that still small voice speak to them again the invitation to come to Jesus for mercy and salvation. But it will be a hopeless wish and an empty dream, for He will never speak to them again. The moment passed, as the voice went un-heeded and now they are DAMNED for Eternity. [HEBREWS3:7, 8] "TODAY IF YE WILL HEAR HIS VOICE, HARDEN NOT YOUR HEARTS...!”
E. The Many Sermons One Has Heard Over Their Lifetime!
Preachers have given their lives to preach the Gospel and to warn sinners of an eternal @#!*% . The damned will have perfect recall in @#!*% . He will hear every sermon he or she set under or turned the channel on because they did not want to hear any more of that old stuff. They will then realize that each of those messages was a roadblock placed in their way by the Lord, to keep them out of the @#!*% that they are now confined to!! Then they will know how that time and time again they climbed over a Sermon to go to @#!*% !
F. One’s Own Conscience!
How many times had their own conscience smote them after committing a sin, a condemning conscience telling them they were a sinner in need of a Savior, a haunting conscience they tried to drown out through booze, drugs, sex, and even religion. A haunting conscience they seared and deadened by their continual defiance and wickedness. In @#!*% they will be haunted by the memory of that tender conscience that had once sounded the alarm to flee from the wrath to come, but now it is too late. If your conscience has smitten you, if you can still feel the pangs of guilt and shame, come running to Jesus for salvation and let His Blood give you a Clear and Clean Conscience before it is too late.
G. Providential Warnings!
How many times has a man had his brush with death, and was shaken by the thought of his own mortality and his need to Prepare to Meet God. How many times have we encountered people or situations that have given us pause, and made us aware that these incidents were not just normal, there was something of God about these moments. Like Jacob we were awakened to sense that God was in this place at that moment in our life. [Genesis 28:16] And yet, they choose to climb over warning after warning to go to @#!*% !!
H. The Cross!
Every Sermon on Calvary, every Cross that has dawned the Skies, or dangled from some ones neck, every Passion Play, every Hymn on the Old Rugged Cross they have ever heard sung is a providentially placed roadblock in the sinners pathway to @#!*% . Sadly, most will shut a deaf ear to them, turn a blind eye to them, and even mock and ridicule them to their own damnation. Sinner, look and listen the next time you encounter the Cross. It tells you that you are a sinner in need of a Savior and that 2,000 plus years ago the Sinless Jesus Died on Such a Cross and Shed His Blood to Pay For Your Sins that you would not have to die and go to a Devil’s @#!*% for Eternity!!
"I OWED A DEBT I COULD NOT PAY; HE PAID A DEBT HE DID NOT OWE!!"
That is the message of Calvary.
CONCLUSION:
The story is told of a Court Jester (Clown) during the Dark Ages, when they were called Fools. A particular Fool so entertained his King that the King honored him with the gift of his Staff, and told him to keep it until he met a bigger fool (clown) than he, then he was to pass it on to him.
Months later the Jester was summoned to the bedside of his dying King. As he stood by his bedside he began to question his King;
My King, what is the matter? The King replied; I am going on a long trip.
My King, where are you going? The King again replied, I do not know!
My King, how long will you be gone? I shall not return, replied his King.
My King, Have you made preparation for your journey? No! The King replied.
The Jester said to his King; “You are telling me that you are going on a long trip, from which you will never return and you have made no preparation?” The King said; “I guess that is so”.
The Jester handed the Staff back to his King with these words. "Here is my staff I have finally met a man who is a bigger Fool than I."
There is no more Foolish Finish to a Life than to go to @#!*% after all the Roadblocks that God has put in man’s way.
INVITATION:
Don’t Forget That @#!*% Is a Fact, don’t be sidetracked, nor deceived by liars and false prophets, no matter how distasteful you may find the subject, deal with it, and get it settled with you and Jesus before it is everlastingly too late to do so!! Do not forget what a Frightening Future awaits all who reject Jesus as their Lord and Savior. An Eternal Punishment, filled with Unbelievable Pain, Unheard Petitions, an Unusual Population, people you shun on earth, you be forced to share @#!*% with for eternity. You must not forget the Unbearable Partings you will face in the world of the damned.
The saddest part about @#!*% is no one that is there had to go there. Jesus loved them and died for them and did everything possible to keep them from going there. It didn’t have to happen. The damned torments will no doubt be compounded by that one thought that will eternally ring through their minds; "IT DID NOT HAVE TO HAPPEN, I DIDN’T HAVE TO COME HERE, TIME AND TIME AGAIN JESUS TRIED TO SAVE ME, BUT, I REFUSED TO LISTEN. WHAT A FOOL I WAS, WHAT A FOOL I WAS, WHAT A FOOL I WAS!!"
Do not be a FOOL Come to Jesus NOW while you still have a chance. TODAY IS THE DAY OF SALVATION. Tomorrow you may be in @#!*% , THE ETERNAL ABODE OF THE LOST!!! The Question today is what you will do with Jesus!! If you continue to reject Him and die lost there will be no question what He will do with you!! @#!*% AWAITS YOU!!!
~Jack Woodard
[1 Corinthians 2:2; 2 Corinthians 4:5,7]
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Bro Woodard lives in the Jackson, Mississippi area, and is available for Revivals, Conferences, etc.
Contact Information: jackwoodard@bellsouth.net
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Join Me On Facebook: http://facebook.com/JackandClaraWoodard
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Visit My Blog: http://jackwoodard.wordpress.com
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Sermon Contributor To: http://www.pastorlife.com
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