Avoiding Hell

[0:00] Well, if we could, this morning, with the Lord's help and the Lord's guidance, we could turn back to that portion of scripture that we read, the gospel according to Mark, in chapter 9.

[0:15] Now, if we read again the verses from verse 43. Mark 9, verse 43. And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

[0:39] And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off, it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

[0:55] And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire, where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.

[1:11] These are some of the most solemn words that Jesus spoke during his life and ministry.

[1:26] We know that Jesus said many things, and that Jesus did many things. We know that he told many parables. We know that he taught many people. We know that he performed many miracles, and he healed many diseases.

[1:40] But for all that Jesus said and did during his earthly ministry, I believe that the words of this passage are some of the most solemn words that Jesus ever spoke.

[1:53] Because there cannot be a more solemn subject than the subject of hell. But when we hear Jesus talking about hell, we have to first of all ask, why is he talking like this?

[2:07] Why would Jesus say these things to us? Is he trying to manipulate us? Is he trying to scare us? Is he trying to take control of us? Or is it a loving warning?

[2:21] And as we've walked through the Gospel of Mark, and we have witnessed the life and ministry of Jesus, we've seen that Jesus is the most loving man who has ever lived. Even those who were rejected by the rest of the world, they were deeply loved by Jesus.

[2:38] Therefore, the reason Jesus warns us about hell, it's surely because he loves us, and he doesn't want us to go there. He wants us to avoid going to hell.

[2:50] But Jesus also knows that if we reject God throughout our lives, then God will be just and right to reject us. Jesus knows that if our sin is left undealt with, it will take us to a place of unimaginable pain and unending suffering.

[3:10] Which is why he warns us. He warns us because he loves us. And he wants us to be saved. And as a servant of God, who has been called to this congregation, that is the reason I preach to you about the subject of hell.

[3:34] I love you dearly, and I want you to be saved. I want you to be saved. And you know, there isn't a week that goes by where I don't worry about your soul and your eternal well-being.

[3:50] But my longing, my longing is that you will worry about your own soul. And that you will ask Jesus to save you.

[4:02] And I look at some of you here, and I see your faces every week. And you and I both know that if you were to enter eternity today, you'd wake up in hell.

[4:24] I don't take delight in preaching about hell. If I'm honest, I tremble at the thought of it. But I do it in order that you will see your need and that you will run to Jesus.

[4:42] And so as we come to this solemn teaching of Jesus, it comes at the close of Mark chapter 9. And as we've considered this chapter over recent weeks, we've seen the disciples being taught many lessons by Jesus.

[4:57] At the beginning of the chapter, we saw Jesus teaching the disciples about his future glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. Then we saw Jesus teach his disciples about the importance of faith in the valley with the incident of the demon-possessed boy.

[5:15] And then last week, we saw that the disciples were back in the school of Christ and they were in the classroom with Jesus. And they were learning about the importance of humility and availability as a disciple.

[5:29] But now Jesus issues this solemn warning against being tempted away from following him. And my unconverted friend, these words are a solemn lesson on how to avoid going to hell.

[5:45] And they are relevant to you. They are written for you. And so I'd like us to consider them just under four headings.

[5:56] A deterrent, a detachment, a description, and a determination. A deterrent, a detachment, a description, a determination.

[6:07] So we'll look firstly at a deterrent. Look with me again at verse 36. Verse 36. He took a child and set him in the midst of them. And when he had taken him in his arms, he said to them, Whosoever shall receive one of such children in my name receives me.

[6:24] And whosoever shall receive me receives not me, but him that sent me. And John answered him, saying, Master, we saw one casting out devils in thy name, and he followeth not us. And we forbade him because he followeth not us.

[6:37] But Jesus said, Forbid him not. For there is no man which shall do a miracle in my name that can lightly speak evil of me. For he that is not against us is on our part. For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ.

[6:52] Assuredly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. And whosoever shall offend one of these little ones that believe in me, it is bet over him that a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into the sea.

[7:07] And so what we saw last week as we were in the school of Christ, we saw that Jesus set a little child in front of the disciples. And he used this child as a visual aid in order to teach the disciples that they need to be humble and willing to learn.

[7:23] But as we read, John disregarded what Jesus said and he proudly proceeded to tell Jesus that he had rebuked a man for speaking in the name of Christ.

[7:34] But Jesus responds to John by emphasizing that there is no room for pride in the kingdom of God. There is no room for two kings in God's kingdom. Because any service done in the name of Christ, he says, it's worthy of praise.

[7:49] Even if it's as little as giving someone a cup of water to drink. But Jesus not only warns his disciples against hindering people from serving in his name.

[7:59] He also warns against causing people to stumble by leading them away from the truth. Because he says, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, and Jesus, he's still using the visual aid of the little child in front of the disciples.

[8:17] That's his visual aid. And what Jesus is saying is that if anyone acts in his name and causes those who are humble and willing to learn, if they cause them to stumble by teaching them lies, then it would be better for them if a millstone were tied about their neck and they were thrown into the sea.

[8:40] And listening to the words of Jesus, we might be tempted to think, well, that's a terrible thing for Jesus to say about anyone. But Jesus doesn't mince his words because he wants us to know the seriousness of telling people the truth and the seriousness of withholding the truth from anyone.

[9:00] And my friend, preaching the gospel, it's a serious business. And Jesus warns the preacher here that if you teach people lies and if you give them false hope, if you only tell them what they want to hear and not what they need to hear, then it would be better for you if a millstone were tied about your neck and you were thrown into the sea.

[9:26] And what Jesus is saying with this stern warning is that we dare not tell a lie. about the seriousness of this message. And you know, my friend, these words, they hit home with me.

[9:39] Because on the day of judgment, I will be judged for every word that I have spoken from this pulpit. Every sermon will be accounted for before God.

[9:51] Which is why I spend hours preparing so that I am sure that what I am telling you is the truth. Because there's one thing I don't want to do and that is tell you that everything will be okay.

[10:04] And that's what Jesus is warning against. He's deterring us from preaching a false gospel. He's warning us against the dangers of listening to false teachers who lead people away from the truth.

[10:17] And you know, Paul was the same. He stressed to young Timothy who was a young minister who just started in the ministry and Paul said to the young minister, he said, preach the word.

[10:29] Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come, says Paul, when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires.

[10:44] Because they have itching ears. They will heap up for themselves teachers and they will turn their ears away from the truth and they will be turned to fables.

[10:55] And my friend, that time has come. There are many who are presenting a false gospel. There are many who present a prosperity gospel. That if you become a Christian, then you will have the best life ever.

[11:10] Where everything will change and you will become a new person with lots of money and God will bless you with a nice house and a fancy car and great friends. But that is not the teaching of Jesus. Because Jesus says, whoever, whosoever desires to come after me, let him deny himself.

[11:28] Let him humble himself. Take up his cross and follow me. Therefore, following Jesus, it is not a life of luxury. It is a life of submission. But there are some false teachers and they tell people just what they want to hear.

[11:44] Tell them that they are good people. They tell them that everyone goes to heaven and that it is only pedophiles and rapists and murderers that ever go to hell. Everyone else goes to heaven.

[11:56] And when we die and our funeral is taking place, they will tell everyone there how much of a good person we were in life and how we have now become bright, shining stars in the sky, looking down on everyone.

[12:09] Oh, my friend, if only. If only that were true. If only everyone went to heaven. If only we could all escape the judgment of God. If only there was another way to be saved.

[12:22] If only we didn't need our sins to be forgiven. If only there was another way of salvation other than the way of the cross. If only there was another way to heaven other than the way of Jesus.

[12:33] But there isn't. Jesus is the only way. But you know, there are some false teachers who will go as far as to say, well, there's no such thing as hell.

[12:46] No such thing as hell. How can a good God send good people to hell? And we might say, well, that's unfair. That's not right. That's not just. But why do we always start with the wrong question?

[13:00] Why do we always start with the wrong question and view it from our perspective? Because the question is not why does a good God send good people to hell? The question is why does a good God and a just God and a holy God who demands absolute perfection in the life and conduct of mankind, why should he allow anyone into heaven?

[13:22] Why should he allow anyone into heaven if they willfully reject the message that his son came to die for sinners? You know, it's easy for people to believe in heaven.

[13:35] It's far harder for people to believe in hell. There was the world-renowned Christian author John Blanchard. He said, to believe in heaven but not in hell is to say that there were times when Jesus was telling the truth and times when Jesus was lying.

[13:56] And so if hell doesn't exist, then Jesus must have been lying a lot during his ministry. Because during his ministry Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about heaven.

[14:09] And why was that? Because he knew the seriousness of telling people the truth. The seriousness of telling people the truth.

[14:21] Which is why he went on to explain that we need to detach ourselves from our sin. The sin that will condemn us under the righteous anger of God. So let's continue to look at this solemn lesson in avoiding hell by looking at a detachment.

[14:39] We've looked at a deterrent but secondly a detachment. It says in verse 43 if thy hand of honesty be cut it off it's better for thee to enter into life maimed than have two hands to go into hell into the fire that shall never be quenched where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.

[14:58] If thy foot offendi cut it off it's better for thee to enter halt into life than having two feet to be cast into hell into the fire that shall never be quenched where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.

[15:10] And if thine eye offend thee pluck it out It is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hellfire, where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.

[15:23] You know, these verses, they shift the focus away from the solemn responsibility of the preacher to the solemn responsibility of the individual. And like it was with the illustration of tying the millstone around the neck of a false teacher and throwing him into the sea, Jesus says cutting off the hand or severing the foot or plucking out the eye.

[15:43] It only seeks to emphasize the seriousness of the message and the seriousness of our sin. Now, of course, Jesus is not saying that we must literally amputate our hand or our foot or pluck out our eye in order to be saved.

[15:59] What he is saying is that we must detach ourselves from whatever it is that is holding us back from coming to Christ. Because our sin, it's so serious that a failure to comply with Jesus' teaching or a refusal to obey Jesus' teaching or just to neglect the problem altogether, it's a sure way to go to hell.

[16:24] Therefore, the way to avoid going to hell is to give up whatever stands in our way of salvation and cut it out. We're to ensure that we detach ourselves from it.

[16:35] And what Jesus is seeking to drive home to us here is the seriousness of our sin. Because far too often we take our sin lightly. We think of sin as the naughty stuff that we do, which we can enjoy or we can ignore or we can cover it up.

[16:50] But Jesus says that it will be better for you to be maimed, lame or blind than for you to go into hell. The disability of being maimed, lame or blind, it's only temporary.

[17:04] Jesus is saying hell is eternal. It will have no end. Hell is the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. It's eternal damnation.

[17:16] And Jesus says it's far better for you to cut whatever sin it is out of your life than for it to take you all the way to hell. My friend, the seriousness of our sin is that we need to cut it off if it's keeping us from Christ.

[17:33] And Jesus mentions cutting off our hand because it's the hand that holds on to possessions. The hand is what has a firm grip upon our possessions and we can't let it go.

[17:46] And it's so true, isn't it? Our things are the very thing which keep us from Christ. The blessings which we have in life that have all come from God himself, they become the very idols which keep us away from praising God.

[18:07] And you know that was the case for the rich young ruler. We'll meet him as we go into chapter 10. But the rich young ruler, he thought that he had done everything that was required of him in order to avoid hell and go to heaven.

[18:21] Because when he asked, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Jesus said to him that his possessions are what's holding him back. The problem wasn't having possessions.

[18:34] The problem was that he was clinging to them for his hope and his security rather than clinging to Jesus Christ. And the rich young man, he went to hell because he couldn't let go.

[18:46] I wonder, my friend, is that what keeps you back? That you can't let go? You can't let go of the possessions that you cling to for your hope and security.

[19:02] You can't let go. But you know, Jesus not only speaks about our hand, he also speaks about our foot. And he says that it's better for us to be lame in life than go to hell.

[19:14] It's better for us not to be able to walk than to walk a road which leads to hell. And what Jesus is talking about is the places which keep us from Christ.

[19:27] And the desire to go to these places which keep us from Christ. These places which we know aren't the places that we should be in. These places, the pubs, the clubs, the dances, the concerts, the parties, all the entertainment where we are being entertained all the way to hell.

[19:48] Because these places, they can only be found on the broad road. Which Jesus says in the Sermon on the Mount, it's wide and the way is easy.

[20:00] It flows with everyone else. It doesn't go against the grain. It doesn't make you stand out and look different. It doesn't make you abnormal because there are many other people there with you.

[20:12] But what it does do is that it takes you to hell. Because the broad road, says Jesus, leads to destruction. But the narrow path, all that leads to life.

[20:26] And Jesus says, few there be that find it. But why would Jesus say that? Why would Jesus say, few there be that find it? Why would he say that there are so few that find this narrow path?

[20:39] It's not because they can't come on to the narrow path. It's that they're not willing to give up what's on the broad road. There are many people who have good intentions of one day coming on to this narrow path.

[20:53] They have good intentions of giving up the broad road and cutting these things out of their life and coming on to this narrow path that leads to life. But far too few people do it.

[21:08] They don't do it. They have good intentions. But they do nothing with them. And I'm sure that we've all heard the well-known phrase, the road to hell, paved with good intentions.

[21:22] Good intentions. But intentions are only good if they're acted upon. And Jesus says, cut it off. Whatever it is, cut it off.

[21:35] But then having spoken about the hand and the foot, he then speaks about our eyes. If your eye offends you, pluck it out. It's better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast into hellfire.

[21:50] I'm sure you all remember the little children's rhyme. Be careful little eyes what you see. Be careful little eyes what you see.

[22:02] For your father up above is looking down in love. Be careful little eyes what you see. And although it's only a children's rhyme, it says everything.

[22:15] Because our eyes see a lot. But our eyes also say a lot. They say a lot about the condition of our heart. And Jesus, he's warned against the lusts of the flesh in the Sermon on the Mount.

[22:29] He says, everyone who looks at a woman with lustful intent, they've already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, he says, pluck it out.

[22:40] Throw it away. It's better for you to lose one of your members than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. My friend, this is the seriousness of our sin.

[22:52] That if it's stopping us from coming to Christ, it's going to take us to hell. But what we must see here is that Jesus isn't giving us the cure for our sin by telling us to cut off our hand or to cut off our foot or to pluck out our eye.

[23:08] That's not the cure. Because even if we were to do that, the knife would never go deep enough. It would never get to the heart of the problem, which is the problem of the heart.

[23:21] And no matter what we do and how much amputation and moral rectification we embark on in our lives, we cannot cure our heart problem ourselves.

[23:33] And our greatest need is to deal with the heart problem of sin. My friend, that's why Jesus came. He came to deal with our sin.

[23:45] And this is the good news. This is the good news amongst all the bad news. This is the really good news. That Jesus went to the cross in order to deal with our sin and to endure our hell.

[24:00] And he's told us again and again throughout Mark's Gospel that we need to believe in him. We need to follow him in order to be saved. We need to give up everything that we're clinging to in order to be saved.

[24:12] And as Spurgeon once said, if you think lightly of the cross, you will think lightly of hell. If you think lightly of the cross, you will think lightly of hell.

[24:28] But what we must see with these solemn words of Jesus is that he lovingly exposes us here. He lovingly exposes us as to what we are really like.

[24:40] And he does it in time so that we will respond to him while there is still time. Is it not better for us to find out the truth about ourselves and the seriousness of our sin while we still have time to do it?

[25:00] To do something with it? Is it not better for us to know now than to know in eternity? Because Jesus gives us a description of the outcome of our sin when it's not dealt with.

[25:19] That's what we see next. We've looked at a deterrent, a detachment, and thirdly, a description. A description.

[25:32] We'll read again at verse 43. If thy foot offend thee, cut it off.

[25:49] It's better for thee to enter and enter halt into life than having two feet to be cast into hell into the fire that shall never be quenched. Where their worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.

[26:01] And you know, it's at this point that J.C. Rylan, his commentary, he says, we see in these verses the reality, the awfulness, and the eternity of future punishment.

[26:31] Three times the Lord speaks of hell. Three times he mentions the worm that never dies. Three times he says that the fire is not quenched. These are awful expressions, he says.

[26:45] They should be pondered, considered, and remembered because there is one thing at least that is very clear. The worm and the fire are emblems of real things. There is a real hell.

[26:58] And that hell is eternal. And with these awful expressions of hell and the worm that never dies and the fire that is not quenched, they all vividly describe what God's eternal judgment will be like for those who have not dealt with their sin.

[27:15] Those who have not cut it off. Jesus says that if a Persian doesn't detach themselves from their sins and run to him for salvation, then they will be cast into hell.

[27:28] But when Jesus uses this word hell, he's actually using the name of a place that was outside Jerusalem. Because the word which he uses in the original language is the word Gehenna.

[27:42] Gehenna. And Gehenna is said to be in the valley of Hinnom which was on the south side of the city of Jerusalem. And Gehenna was this steep ravine, this cliff edge where at the bottom of the ravine there was this fire that was continually burning day and night.

[28:00] It was continually looked after and stoked day and night. And the fires they were kept burning in order to consume the dead bodies of animals and the dead bodies of criminals and all the rubbish that came from the city.

[28:13] Gehenna was a dumping ground. It was a pit in which everything was consumed by fire. And in that sense it was a bottomless pit because nothing escaped the fires of Gehenna.

[28:28] And Jesus uses this word to describe hell to the disciples and to his first century audience in order to give them this vivid description of the eternal punishment that the ungodly will receive.

[28:43] Therefore he's saying to go to hell would be to be thrown to where the fire never goes out. And that's why Jesus goes on to describe eternal punishment as the place where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

[29:01] But what's interesting with these words that Jesus repeats three times is that they are the last words in the book of the prophet Isaiah. Isaiah in chapter 66 he's been prophesying about the day of judgment and the great divide that there will be between the righteous and the ungodly.

[29:21] And Isaiah prophesies and he says behold the Lord will come with fire and with chariots like a whirlwind to render his anger with fury and his rebuke with flames of fire.

[29:34] And the last thing Isaiah says is that when God's judgment takes place the righteous will go forth and look upon all the corpses of those who have transgressed against God and then he says for their worm does not die and their fire is not quenched.

[29:52] And the imagery from Isaiah and here in the words of Jesus they give this awful picture of worms gnawing at rotting flesh and the fire burning flesh and I believe that that's what Jesus means elsewhere when he says that hell will be like wailing and gnashing of teeth.

[30:15] There will be the wailing of burning flesh and the gnashing of teeth as the worms eat on rotting flesh and it's an awful image it's a gruesome image but what we have to see is that the emphasis of the sentence or the statement it's not upon what happens to someone when they go to hell it's upon the fact that it never ends.

[30:41] The worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. But you know some people think that this imagery of hell it's all too far fetched.

[30:54] It's too much of a fantasy. But all I want to say to that is God created hell and if you can believe that God created the earth if you can believe that God created you if you can believe that God created heaven then you must believe that God created hell and if God created hell then God must be present in hell because there is nowhere where God is not present.

[31:24] that's what David was saying in Psalm 139 ascend I heaven lo thou art there there if in hell I lie God is everywhere because heaven heaven is the immediate presence of God of a holy God with a mediator hell is the immediate presence of a holy God without a mediator which means my friend that the greatest difference between heaven and hell is Jesus and as you know Jesus makes all the difference because God is a consuming fire that's how he's described in scripture he's a consuming fire and to stand in his holy presence with your sin and without Jesus on your side that's what makes hell hell but some people ignorantly say that well they don't mind going to hell because all their friends will be there but my friend hell is not only the immediate presence of

[32:31] God without Jesus as their mediator it's also the immediate presence of God without grace it's the immediate presence of God without restraint it's the immediate presence of God without mercy without love without kindness without goodness without relationships without compassion there will be no friends in hell because everyone will hate one another they will hate God and they will want to kill one another but that will never happen because in hell you are dying but never dead dying but never dead it will go on and on and on and on and you know some people like to watch horror films they get a kick out of watching these films that are awful and they contain some of the sickest things that you'll ever see and they make a mockery of the devil and they make a mockery of hell but you know every time I see a clip of one of these horror films and it's shown on the TV

[33:35] I always think if that is the invention of a human mind then what must hell really be like but there is one thing for sure there are no unbelievers in hell there are no agnostics in hell there are no atheists in hell there is no one who is ignorant in hell because they all know who God is and they all know that their sin has brought them to hell therefore my friend if you are unconverted today you ought to thank God that you are not in hell you ought to thank God that you are not in hell today it was in the middle of the 18th century that an American preacher well known Jonathan Edwards and he preached a sermon at the time of the great awakening in

[34:39] America and the sermon was entitled sinners in the hands of an angry God but in the course of the sermon Jonathan Edwards he describes those in his congregation who are unconverted and as they are sitting there on the pew in front of them he says to them every one of you has heard that you are out of Christ and as you sit here that world of misery that lake of burning brimstone it's extended abroad under you there is the dreadful pit of glowing flames of the wrath of God there is hell's gaping wide mouth and it's all open and you have nothing to stand upon nor anything to take hold of there is nothing between you and hell but the air and it's only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up and Edward says in a sermon you can read it in his works he says you're probably not aware of this that's what he says to the unconverted that it's

[35:44] God's hand of mercy that is keeping you out of hell but if God should withdraw his hand nothing would keep you from falling if God were to let you go you would immediately sink and descend and plunge into the bottomless pit and your health your wealth your righteousness they will have no more influence to keep you up out of hell than a spider's web could stop a falling rock oh sinner says Edwards consider the fearful danger that you're in it's a great furnace of wrath a wide and bottomless pit full of the fire of wrath and you're being held over it by the hand of God you hang by a slender thread with the flames of divine wrath flashing about every moment to singe you and to burn you asunder my friend you ought to thank

[36:54] God that you are not in hell today and you know there were many people who were converted under that sermon as they fled to Christ for safety but what about you what about you my friend will you not flee to Christ for safety you've heard about the deterrent you've heard the need for a detachment from sin you've heard a description of hell but lastly and very briefly a determination a determination look at verse 49 for everyone shall be salted with fire and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt salt is good but if the salt have lost its saltness wherewith will you season it have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another so Jesus concludes his lesson on avoiding hell by stressing to the disciples of Jesus that this lesson must be like salt it must be used as a preservative it must be used in order to remind people of the seriousness of their sin and the reality of hell and Jesus says if the salt loses its flavor what use will it be if we don't tell people about hell what kind of gospel are we sharing if we don't tell people how much danger that they're really in then why will they want to be saved and how can they ever understand how good the good news is if they don't first of all understand how bad the bad news is and it was the apostle

[38:42] Paul who said he said all must appear before the judgment seat of Christ and give an account of the things done in the body whether they are good or bad and Paul knowing that that day was looming for all the unconverted he went on to say knowing the terror of the Lord we persuade men knowing the extent and the awfulness of hell we persuade them to flee to Christ my friend as a congregation and as Christians in the workplace in our homes in our families and in our community we need to take opportunities that arise to us and have the fearless determination to share this message we need to be urgent with our message we need to tell people that there is a heaven to be gained and a hell to be shunned we can't stay silent we can't stay in our holy huddles there are people in this community and in here who are going to hell and we need to lovingly warn them because do you know what my greatest fear fear as a minister and a

[39:59] Christian is my greatest fear is that someone will turn round to me on the day of judgment and say why didn't you tell me all this time you knew but you never said a word why didn't you tell me that's why Jesus says have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another tell them tell them lovingly so there is a lesson from Jesus on avoiding hell a deterrent a detachment a description a determination but I'd just like to conclude with five short questions first question is why why is there a hell because sin must be punished if it's not punished on the cross it's punished in hell what what is hell hell is the truth realized too late where where is hell hell is at the end of a

[41:25] Christless life how how do I avoid hell I flee to Christ when now may the Lord bless these thoughts let us pray O Lord our gracious God we give thanks to thee that thou art one who is so loving loving enough to warn us loving enough to send thy son to die in our place loving enough enough O Lord to give to us a glorious gospel to cling to and a Christ to follow O Lord enable us we pray to flee to him to flee from the wrath to come to look to Jesus the author and the finisher of our faith that these things would be impressed upon our heart and that we would know them for time and for eternity do us good then we pray go before us for Jesus sake

[42:33] Amen we shall conclude by singing in Psalm 116 Psalm 116 page 395 in the Scottish Psalter singing from the beginning down to the verse marked 6 I love the Lord because my voice and prayers he did hear I while I live will call on him who bowed to me his ear of death the cords and sorrows did about me compass round the pains of hell took hold on me I grief and trouble found upon the name of God the Lord then did I call and say deliver thou my soul O Lord I do thee humbly pray God merciful and righteous is yea gracious is our

[43:35] Lord God saves the meek I was brought low he did me help afford these verses in conclusion will stand to sing to God's praise I love I love the Lord because my voice and prayers he did hear I will I know you will call on him who are to need in fear hold earth the courts and sorrows yet about me come as round the pain sought them to hold on me

[44:42] I keep and trouble found upon the name of God the Lord then did I call and say deliver thou my soul O Lord I do thee humbly pray God merciful and righteous is ye gracious is the Lord God saves the peace

[45:44] I was brought Lord he took me help upon the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ the love of God the Father and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all now and forevermore Amen