 With that said, we're going to be looking today in Mark chapter 9. We're going to begin reading at verse 38. I'm going to read verses 38 through 41, give you an introduction, and then begin to look at the subject which is reward and punishment, and you'll be seeing that in a few minutes. So let's begin reading at verse 38. Mark chapter 9 verse 38, reading to verse 41. Mark writes, now John answered him saying, Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in your name, and we forbade him because he does not follow us. But Jesus said, Do not forbid him, for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterwards speak evil of me, for he who is not against us is on our side. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ assuredly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. And so as is my normal way of teaching, let me give to you a little reminder, a few things to help us to come up to speed to see what's taking place in the passage before us. We know that Jesus has been teaching his men, and he's been emphasizing two very basic and very important spiritual lessons. First, he had taught them about faith and how important faith is in service to the Lord, because serving the Lord is really a life that is lived by faith. His men had not been able to cast out a demon, and when they had failed to do that, Jesus actually referred to them as faithless in Matthew 1717. And he had told them that they failed to cast out the demon because he said of their unbelief, you saw that in Matthew 1720. So in response to this, Jesus made it clear that they needed to grow in their faith. So obviously faith is a very important element of serving the Lord. And if these men are going to be successful in their mission, they need to grow in their faith. The Lord Jesus Christ is about to depart. He's on his way, eventually he'll be dying on a cross. And also these men are being trained. They're being trained to be those who are going to present his message and ministry to the world. And so they need to begin to grow even more in their faith. So he taught them first about faith, and then the next lesson he taught them was about humility. Jesus and his men had left an area called Caesarea Philippi, which is in the north of Israel. And he had gone south to the city of Capernaum. The city of Capernaum is a coastal city, we would call it coastal because we have beaches, actually a lakeshore city to the south, about 50 miles or so, to the south of Caesarea Philippi. And so they had gone down and they were on their way down there to Capernaum from Caesarea Philippi. I mentioned to you that you would, if you're walking, you would walk probably 20 miles a day. So it was a journey for the men of no less than two, probably two and a half days. And so on the way, they had plenty of time to argue. And what they were arguing about was who is the greatest. And so we saw this last time, we saw that Jesus, in order to illustrate the answer, took a small child and he set this small child in the midst of them. And he made it clear to them that greatness in the kingdom of God is built on humility. In Matthew 18 verse 4, therefore whoever humbles himself as the little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven, Jesus said. And then he went on to say something else that's very interesting in Mark 9.37. He said, whoever receives one of these little children in my name receives me and whoever receives me receives not me, but him who sent me. In other words, the way that you treat one another is really a reflection of how you treat me. What kind of person treats small children the way you men have been treating one another. You see, on the road you were in a heated argument, you were concerned about something that you can't even control. You were arguing for positions that are not yours to determine. The decision belongs to my father. So the best that you can do is become a servant because in Matthew 2311, Jesus says, the greatest among you shall be your servant. So instead of arguing about who's the greatest, you should determine to be a servant. Now the question has been asked and I'll just repeat it here as I teach this. How many churches have divided over leaders wanting to be the greatest servant? Think about that for a moment. How many church divisions take place because the people within the congregation want to be a great servant? Doesn't happen that way. Normally they divide over who wants to be the most important. So the humble attitude is an attitude that Christ wants us to have and it's an attitude that was beautifully modeled by the apostle Paul. He had said this, he said, although I am less than the least of all the Lord's people, this grace was given to me to preach to the Gentiles, the boundless riches of Christ. I am less than the least is how he saw himself. It's this kind of understanding of greatness that Jesus's man needed to come to realize. Now in response to Jesus's rebuke, John wants to show that he's received Jesus. He's been stung by his words. He wants to prove that that he was his follower. He not only had to receive Jesus, but he'd go so far as to say, I won't receive anyone who hasn't openly decided to follow you. And that's what we're seeing here when we begin at verse 38. Notice how John answers. It says, John answered him saying, Teacher, we saw someone who does not follow us casting out demons in your name. We forbade him because he does not follow us. Now there's a certain individual using the name of Jesus as he's casting out demons and this man is in part of the people following Christ. And John is concerned about it. We need to remember that John and the other apostles had a very special relationship with Jesus Christ. They were being mentored by the Lord. They were very protective of that relationship. Not only was John one of the 12th, he was also one of the three closest disciples. And he became angry. He was angry that Jesus's authority was being used by an unauthorized stranger. Now the man is unnamed, but it's obvious that he knew something of Jesus and he knew something of his power. And the man obviously believed in Jesus or he wouldn't have been able to use his name and he wouldn't have been successful at casting out the demon. Now there's an interesting story that I encourage you if you haven't read it or haven't read it recently to remind yourself of. It's found in the book of Acts. It's found in chapter 19. And in Acts chapter 19, there's a story of the seven sons of Schiva. Schiva was a Jewish exorcist and they had tried to cast a demon out of a man and they said this. They said, we exercise you by the Jesus whom Paul preaches. So that's what they did. They had heard that Paul was preaching this one called Jesus, their exorcist. They see that Paul is successful. So they borrow his methodology and they say, we exercise you in the name of Jesus whom Paul preaches. And the response you might remember, but the response of the demon was very interesting in Acts 19 verses 15 and 16. The evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know and Paul I know. Now the word know in the English translation, we could get a little confused because the word know for us is simply that, but in the original language Greek, there are different senses of the word. So when he says, Jesus, I know the first time that word know is Ginozko. It's a word that means I have personal acquaintance with. I am well aware of him. Jesus, I know. How would this demon know Jesus because the demons believe in fear and trouble. They're well aware of who Jesus Christ is. So he says, Jesus, I know. Then he goes on to say and Paul, I know the word that is used when he says Paul, I know is a different Greek word. It means I've become acquainted with. I'm aware of him. Jesus I know and Paul I've heard of. I'm aware of him. Why? Because Paul is going out doing works of ministry. Miracles were performed through Paul and casting out demons was something that he had authority to do. So he's saying, I know Jesus very well. I know him and I'm aware, very much aware of Paul. But he goes on to say, who are you? Who are you? Then the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, overpowered them and prevailed against them so that they fled out of the house naked and wounded. The first incident of streaking found in Scripture. Imagine that. I'm aware of Jesus. I know Paul I've heard of. Who are you? They had no authority. They couldn't cast the demon out because they didn't know Jesus Christ. But this man believed in Jesus. He had seen Jesus do this very thing and he desired also to set people free from demons. Now commentators mentioned that because a man is unidentified, we really can't really say for certain who he was. And they postulate different things. They say he may have been one of John the Baptist disciples who had come to faith in Christ, that's possible. Or he may have been someone who had seen Jesus perform a deliverance and because he trusted Christ, he copied him. But their response in verse 38, the disciples' response is interesting because it says they forbade him from casting out demons. They did it because a man was not one of Jesus' group of followers. And so Jesus speaks to them concerning that. Verse 39, Jesus said, do not forbid him for no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterwards speak evil of me, for he who is not against us is on our side. In successfully casting out demons, he's revealing that he's one of my followers. For if he were not with me, he would be unsuccessful when he tries to do that kind of work. In Matthew 12, verse 30, Jesus said, he who is not with me is against me. He who does not gather with me scatters abroad. It's interesting how he puts that because it's not even something that you may even decide upon. It's just the fact that because a person has not come to faith in Christ, their whole life is really in opposition to what he wants to do. And so when a person doesn't have a relationship with God through Jesus Christ, their influence is never going to be necessarily that somebody should come to faith in Jesus Christ. As a matter of fact, if you're not with Christ, you are actually opposing him. If you're not gathering with Jesus, you're scattering people. So this reveals that they didn't understand Christ nor did they understand the heart of ministry. Ministers don't compete. Ministers encourage one another to succeed against a mutual enemy. This man obviously had placed faith in Christ. He was performing works in his name. And so their mistake is that they're presumptuously speaking for Jesus without his direction. Proverbs 18, 13 says it like this, he who answers a matter before he hears it, it's a folly and shame to him. This reminds me of something that we find in the life of Moses that's recorded in the Old Testament book of Numbers chapter 11. When you read that chapter, you discovered that there were two men prophesying to the people of Israel. And the news of these people prophesying to the people of Israel, well, the news was brought to Moses. In Joshua, Moses' assistant became upset over this. And so he says to Moses, my Lord, stop them. Numbers 11, 29. But Moses replied, are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put his spirit on them. Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that every person had a filling of the Spirit of God and that people would speak in his name. There was no competition in the heart of Moses. He wanted people to have what he had. It seems that the disciples are protecting their positions and not Jesus' ministry. They didn't appreciate the fact that this man was having success. And we need to remember that nine of them had just been unable to cast out a demon. And this man's succeeding. And that moves them to command that he must cease. Well, Jesus in verse 39 says, no one who works a miracle in my name can soon afterwards speak evil of me. The person that God gave such authority to will not be found among those who hate me. Because of this, don't go about forbidding someone from doing a good work. And notice verse 40, for he who is not against us is on our side. So this is a call for the disciples to pursue unity with others outside of their group. This serves to prepare them for the fact that there is room enough for all in his church. In 1 Corinthians 12, 13 and 14, it reads, for by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether slaves or free, and have all been made to drink into one spirit. For in fact, the body is not one member, but many. So this exclusivist thinking is strictly forbidden. The key to all of this is not speaking evil against Christ. Now I want to develop this with you for just a moment. That would include saying that which is incorrect about him. Jesus was not establishing a faith without content. Truth matters. And speaking truth about him is of utmost importance. Why? Because truth sets you free, but error places you in bondage. We've had people saying you've heard it, you know, it doesn't matter what you believe as long as you believe. And that's wrong because what you believe matters. My mom told me the story of a woman whose child was very ill and had medicine in the medicine cabinet, and the baby began to cry in the middle of the night, and the mama was sleepy and stumbled on in, opened up the medicine cabinet, couldn't really see clearly yet, reached out for where she had always placed the medicine, and then went out and gave a dose of medicine to the child, but didn't realize instead of giving medicine to the child she was giving a poison, and the child dies. Now the idea of this child, the mama is she's doing something good. She's giving the baby medicine, but just because your intentions are good doesn't mean that what you're doing is right. And sometimes people may have a faith and people say, oh they have faith, at least they have faith, but it depends on what you're believing in and who you're believing in. And so faith by itself needs to have content. There needs to be the one that you know is truly the Savior, Jesus Christ whom you put your faith in, not just some man or some philosophy, and that's the truth. And so truth matters. So we join hands in ministry with those who teach scriptural truth. Those who are teaching error in Jesus' name, well you might find this interesting, well they're even to be avoided, sometimes even exposed for being false teachers. Romans 16 verse 17 says it like this, Paul said, I urge you brothers and sisters to watch out for those who cause divisions and put obstacles in your way that are contrary to the teaching you have learned, keep away from them. And so a minister's responsibility is to teach the truth, but also to warn, to stay away from that which is false. You see humility should produce a desire to serve other people, not to be served by other people. And this is what Jesus now begins to say, because in verse 41 he says, whoever gives you a cup of water to drink in my name, because you belong to Christ, assuredly I say to you, he will by no means lose his reward. In contrast to the desire for greatness is the desire to serve. Whoever gives you a cup of water to drink he says, in other words it's not the great and noticeable things that you do, it's a small acts of kindness that you do, because these are the things that are noticed by God. Proverbs 22.4 reads the reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor and life. It's the reward of humility, it's the small things. You're not doing things to be seen by men. You're doing things because of the right things, but those things that you're doing that are the right things are noticed by God who rewards. And he says in verse 41, he will not lose his reward. This act of kindness is in his name, and because it is, it's something that is rewarded. So the motive behind the act is love for Christ, and it is this that is rewarded. He says in verse 42, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. That's pretty heavy, huh? Let's ignore that and move on, shall we? We are forbidden to cause a believer to stumble. The word stumble in the original language means to fall away, to cause to fall away. It's a word that means to entice someone to sin. It speaks of causing a person to begin to distrust and desert one whom he ought to trust and obey. So if you cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble, Jesus said there's a great penalty associated with that. And so to cause someone who believes in Christ to stumble to offend them is something that Jesus is warning his apostles about, and by way of extension is warning us about. To be aware that our lives actually influence and impact other people and the things that we believe and the things that we share and the way that we live and the things we encourage others to do, these things all matter. And so Jesus is giving a very, very severe warning here concerning that. Now at this point Jesus is emphasizing that he's creating something that is new. He's speaking of a new community. This new community is called the church. Now remember he had recently, when in Caesarea Philippi, I spoke into the Apostle Peter and he had said, you are Peter and upon this rock, I will build my church. That's the first time you ever see the word church mentioned in the New Testament. The word church is translated the called out ones. The word is used to speak of a religious congregation or a religious community. So Jesus says upon this rock I will build my religious community, my called out ones, and they're referred to as the church. And this new community that he's making is made up of both Jew and Gentile. And again those of you who've been with me on Wednesday night as we go through the book of Ephesians, you discovered that the fact that the Gentiles would be included in the family of God was a divine mystery that you didn't find in the Old Testament though there were hints to it, but are exposed to us in the new. In Ephesians 2 18 and 19 it says through him we both have access by one spirit to the Father. Now therefore you are no longer strangers and foreigners but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. He's writing to Ephesians who are Gentiles. He said at one time you were foreigners. One time you were strangers. You had no relationship with God. You were actually lost. You were without God in the world. But because Christ came, laid his life down and gave the gospel message to the apostles and the apostles and messengers of the gospel went throughout the world, that gospel came to you in Ephesus and you in Ephesus have come to faith in Jesus Christ and you who at one time were without God have now come to a relationship with God and God has created what is called a new community and that's what we are unless you're Jewish, a Jewish believer in here. We're all Gentiles but we have been brought into the promises of God through the gospel and as fellow members of God's household we have become brothers and sisters in Jesus Christ. The Bible says that we are God's home and by the Spirit Jesus lives in each individual believer in him. In Ephesians 3 17 Paul prayed that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. In 1 Corinthians 3 16 Paul said it like this. He said, do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you? So we're fellow believers. We're family and as fellow believers we are to be careful not to cause stumbling to other believers. The way that we treat each other reveals our actual love for Jesus Christ. First service I stumbled into something I think I might as well stumble into it second service too. It's not in my notes it's just in my heart and so it's this. We're living in a time when people don't really understand what the love of God is and we have to be very careful about that. We have to be careful about the various things that people are saying today. We have to be careful to distinguish and discern. We need to distinguish what is error and we need to discern what is truth. We need to have a discernment in all and we need to be careful with one another. How we treat brothers and sisters in the Lord because as mentioned we actually show our love for Jesus in the way we love one another and our love for one another is to be the evidence that we are Christians. In 1 John 4 7 and 8 beloved let us love one another for love is from God and whoever loves has been born of God and knows God. Anyone who does not love does not know God because God is love. And so Jesus is creating this creating this community of believers that will evangelize the world. But the enemy desires to undermine that work. He so sees a division to guard against the tactic. Jesus begins to give his man a strong exhortation. He says in verse 42, whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble it would be better for him if the millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. When you go to Israel as some of us will be going very soon you will see the millstone. It's a very large stone. We go to the city of Capernaum and while we're in Capernaum there's an exhibit. There's an actual millstone there and the millstone is very large. It's in the shape of a wheel and it weighs several hundred pounds. And Jesus is saying it would be better for that to be tied around your neck and you dropped into the sea of Galilee than to cause one of these little ones who believe in me to stumble. And so he wants his men to not yield to sin and he wants his men not to influence people away from him. Shortly before they were arguing about who's the greatest in the kingdom but he's telling them that they need to be careful with those ambitions because they're wrong. You need to guard against them because arguing for positions of prestige undermines the work of the spirit by dividing people and this is seen by others and causes them to stumble over it. You see both believers as well as unbelievers can be guilty of this kind of sin. Unbelievers can make you feel unsophisticated if you don't join in with them in sin. In 1 Peter 4-3-5 Peter said you have spent enough time in the past doing what pagans choose to do living in debauchery and lost drunkenness orgies, carousing and detestable idolatry. They think it's strange that you do not plunge with them into the same flood of dissipation. They heap abuse on you but they will have to give account to him who is ready to judge the living and the dead. Most maturing believers know that they can be stumbled or at least given the opportunity to stumble by unbelievers. Most of us know that. You're a Christian, you have a friend who doesn't know the Lord, you invite you to go to a party or whatever and you know that that could be a temptation to stumble. A lot of times they say oh I go there to be a missionary, I go to the party to missionize, I'm the apostle Paul and all of that. But the ones that I believe are the most dangerous are the Christians that can be referred to in this way, carnal, the carnal Christian, the carnal Christian who's the compromiser. Because the carnal Christian is the one who calls the sincere Christian a legalist. The carnal Christian generally gets upset when they're under conviction. And for this person, anyone who sincerely wants to do what is right, well they think doesn't understand grace. They mistakenly think grace gives them license to continue in sin and still be blessed. They seldom read the Word, they hardly ever pray, they infrequently fellowship but they never witness and they may attend church occasionally but they never give, they never serve, they never get involved. They want you to consider them to be mature because they've been Christian longer than you. But in fact they're still infants if they're believers at all. And we have people today and it's been going on for some time, it's not brand new, it's been going since the church was birth but we have people sometimes who refer to themselves as believers who want to evangelize you to do certain things that you know you shouldn't do. And so one of those things, and here we go, is the alcohol evangelist. I have had friends who you know get upset because I don't drink and well why don't you drink, you're over 21, yeah a few years past that, why don't you drink? Well because I don't want to, I can do anything I want to but I don't want to drink. Well why not, you're free to, are you telling me I'm insane? And now they get upset and they think that alcohol is the way to go and there are quite a number of guys that I've met over the years who actually will become argumentative about it and they seem to be more caught up sometimes with their freedoms in Christ and they don't realize the stumbling that they bring to the younger believer. They don't even consider that, they think the younger believer is just immature and therefore needs to grow up into the grace of God like I am. Be very careful that you don't become an alcohol evangelist, a sipping saint, somebody who thinks that you have freedoms and then you have to tell other people about it because you may be stumbling somebody who came out of alcoholism. You may be stumbling somebody that is struggling with that sin and instead of holding them up and helping them in the things of the Lord and showing them the love of Christ and the encouragement, then you can bring them down. I wonder how many people have been stumbled into backsliding because of those who profess to be strong Christians because of them encouraging them to go in a direction that they ought not to have gone. Listen if you have freedom to drink and I walk in and you're sitting there at the at the bar after church, you know just getting high in Jesus and all of that, I'm not going to condemn you. I won't condemn you. I'm not going to walk up to you and go, oh you're going to hell, sucker man. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to do that. I'm not going to say a word to you, let you know. I'm not going to judge you. I'm not going to be harsh with you. I'm not a legalist. I'm not going to do that to you, just know that. But understand that there are people that you may know that you're stumbling and Jesus does not take that lightly. You're offending this little one who believes in him and you need to be aware of that. You really do. You really do. I am telling you this is not something I'm making up. The carnal person, they're never in the word. They hardly ever pray. They really don't have sincere fellowship. They never witness. They never do any of the things that believers do and yet they want to make you feel that you're immature. In 1 John chapter 2 verses 3 through 6, John said it like this. He said, now by this time we know, now by this we know that we know him. If we keep his commandments, he who says I know him and does not keep his commandments is a liar and the truth is not in him but whoever keeps his word truly the love of God is perfected in him. By this we know that we are in him. He who says he abides in him ought himself also to walk just as he walked. And so I had a friend of mine was sharing for example of a young lady that had come from his fellowship which is in a different state began attending a certain fellowship and was joining the worship team and she had contacted her pastor and said to him, pastor, I need to ask you a question. I came here to grow in my learning how to worship. I'm part of a worship team here and she said after church the worship team went to a bar and they were all drinking and talking. She said, is that where I'm supposed to be? Is this a place I should be? And her pastor said, no you need to find a place where they actually take the faith of Christ with a deeper sincerity. Hang around with people who love Jesus so you can grow deeper in the things of the Lord because whatever you give up even if you have a sense of liberty to do that whatever you give up is never going to be something that you miss later on because it's always replaced by something that is so much better and walking closer to Jesus is where it's at especially in these last days and I believe a lot of young believers have stumbled other believers because of their perceived freedoms and their liberties to the point where others have stumbled into backsliding and some have never even returned. Be very careful with that. I say that out of love for you because I'm concerned for the church in these last days. The church needs to hear the power of the Holy Spirit and the freedom that we can have in Jesus Christ so that we can lead people to heaven and not encourage them to backslide. We need to follow Jesus closely in these last days and Jesus is making it clear it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck and he was dropped into the into the sea. You see not long before this the Romans had done this to Jews who were involved in insurrection and that would have been a clear message to the hearer you'd be better off dead than stumbling somebody. So this warning serves to move believers to live a godly life to encourage godliness. In Hebrews 10 24 and 25 let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. Let us not give up meeting together as some are in the habit of doing but let us encourage one another and all the more as you see the day approaching. Let us not forsake the assembling of ourselves together. We ought to be in fellowship. We ought to be alive in fellowship so that we can exercise our gifts so that we can receive the sacraments of baptism and and communion so that we can minister that we can be equipped that we can serve with other people and says don't give up in in in meeting together. Now he begins to speak and it's pretty strong what he has to say look at verse 43 I'll read to verse 48 he says if your hand causes you to sin cut it off it's better for you to enter into life maimed rather than having two hands and to go to hell into the fire that shall never be quenched where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched if your foot causes you to sin cut it off it is better for you to enter life lame rather than having two feet to be cast into hell into the fire that shall never be quenched where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched if your eye causes you to sin pluck it out it is better for you to enter the kingdom of god with one eye rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched now if that was literal we'd have a bunch of one-legged one hand one-eyed people I couldn't have you shake each other's hands you know unfortunately many years ago when I was a new believer somebody had read this believed it and cut off their own hand they took it literally it was in the newspaper I couldn't believe it this obviously is not to be taken literally this is obviously illustrations for emphasis what he's saying is this if you desire to lead someone into a righteous life then first begin by dealing with your own sin do all that it's necessary to keep from sinning or stumbling others now we know what's figurative because no physical part of our body forces us to sin and mutilation neither leads us closer to the Lord nor does it cleanse a heart Jesus is speaking of things he's speaking of a hand he's speaking of a foot he's speaking of an eye so these are pictures this is picture these are pictures of what you do where you go and what you see and he's saying you are personally responsible for all of these actions and activities so totally dedicate your entire being to serving the Lord what you do where you go what what you watch these are all to be dedicated to him in Colossians 3 17 it reads whatever you do in word or deed do all in the name of the Lord Jesus giving thanks to God the Father through him and Romans 12 1 and 2 I beseech you therefore brethren by the mercies of God that you present your body's a living sacrifice wholly acceptable to God which is your reasonable service do not be conformed to this world be transformed by the renewing of your mind that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God deal with sin ruthlessly why there are eternal consequences notice that Jesus uses the words causes you to sin three times this would indicate that the battle and struggle against sin is continual temptation to sin doesn't cease even though you've gotten saved it's an ongoing struggle now referring to hell Jesus emphasizes the seriousness attached to a life of habitual sin there's a judgment and since there is a judgment it's of utmost importance to reject anything that hinders you and verses 43 45 and 47 Jesus speaks of hell we'll look at that for a moment hell hell has been referred to as the abode of the wicked dead altogether this word is used 11 times by Jesus and one time by James the word hell is a word gheana gheana is in reference to what is in reference to what is called the valley of Hinnom and the valley of Hinnom when we go to Jerusalem the valley of Hinnom is just outside of the walls of Jerusalem to the southwest it's called the valley of Hinnom it was a place where the parents would give their children as offerings burnt offerings to Baal and a molek in the old testament you see that in 2 Chronicles chapter 28 Jesus speaks of it as a place notice where the fire is not quenched and the worm does not die now that impacted them because during their day it was the city dump it was constantly on fire because carcasses and trash would be piled up there and burned Jesus uses that to emphasize this final place of judgment hell is where the wicked endure torment not temporarily but for eternity as perpetual objects of wrath it is also called the lake of fire which is a final place of judgment in Revelation 20 verse 15 if anyone's name is not written in the book of life he was thrown into the lake of fire in Revelation 21 8 but for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone which is the second death hell was not created for man but for the angels who followed the devil and fell in Matthew 25 41 he will also say to those on the left hand depart for me you cursed into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels it is a place of torment reserved for those who have rejected God's offer of salvation Psalm 9 17 says the wicked shall be turned into hell and all the nations that forget God it is a fire he says in verse 43 that shall never be quenched it refers to punishment that is everlasting it's a picture of external torment but in verse 44 it's a place where the worm does not die that's the picture of internal torment you see ultimately all stand before the Lord and all give an account of themselves to God I had a guy in this church I mentioned this more than once because it left the lasting impression on me he was he was not a member of our church his wife was actually coming here his wife was a friend of my my wife from the early days and and so he would accompany her when she came to church and and one day he and I were talking after service and and he said to me you know I'm not a believer and I said I know and he says now I'm going to go to hell and he said it very casually he said I'm going to go to hell he said that's okay because that's where my friends will be and we'll just party and as I looked at him I thought how sad that you don't understand what you're speaking about because it's a place of torment it's plain a place of darkness it's a place of separation it's a place that there's no love there's no joy there's no peace there's no comfort there's no light Jesus used strong terms for us the worm died not for a reason the flame is never quenched for a reason it's to let us know how terrible it is to die without his grace and love and I for for over 50 years now I've attempted to understand what that really means because eternity is such a wide concept for me that I don't have the capacity to wrap my mind around that duration because it's much beyond anything that I can understand I I don't understand what eternity is because I'm limited by by by days and and weeks and and months and years and and and for me the idea of a continuing ongoing existence in darkness and and and since the torment is is beyond me and I've I've attempted to to come to grips with how do you describe eternity to to to those of us who really can't understand and and and I think of it like this I think of of it being like my task is to count every grain of sand on every beach and every desert on the face of the earth one by one one by one and then I finally count the last one and I start again I finally count the last one and I start again it's so beyond us what eternity is but it's so terrible Jesus warns us not to go there it is such a horrible judgment that God said I don't want you to go there you can't save yourself I will do something to save you and he sent his son Jesus Christ to die in that cross for us it took God's son God in the flesh to pay a penalty you and I could never pay for ourselves we cannot come up with the bail we cannot be declared not guilty by any work that we've ever done any good thing we've ever tried we have to trust him to make our bail for us to set us free that's the only way it happens and that's why Jesus says don't go there the worm diet not and the flames look at the rotted carcasses the flames are continual don't go there so for me as a young believer I didn't want to go to heaven alone so I told my parents and I still remember when I shared with dad and mom and and and my dad mom coming to faith in Christ and a few days after dad had given his life to the Lord I I came walking into their room and I sat down on the edge of the bed and my mom was there with dad and she said to my my father she said she used to call my father daddy she said daddy tell tell david um your dream that you had last night and my dad was an unemotional man my father didn't show emotions my dad held him in very very much a child of of his generation emotions were were very he was very disciplined in him so I didn't see my father cry in my life more than twice maybe three times my dad started to choke up and he said david I had a I had a dream last night and I said oh he said yeah I said it's unusual it disturbed me I said what is that he said I dreamed that I was in heaven not to me that's a good dream so far I was in heaven he says and I was looking down and I said I looked down he said I could see your mom and I could see your sisters I saw your brother but I began to look around frantically he said to me because I couldn't see you and he started to cry he started my father crying I couldn't see you and I'm sitting there I don't know how to this is not my dad he doesn't do this and so I'm kind of like processing this he says and then I turned around and I looked up and you were reaching for me that's how he got saved and I had made it my purpose in life to not go to heaven alone and I started with my family and I have spread it to you I don't want to go to heaven without you I pray that you know Jesus that's the fact because heaven is real and so is hell and Jesus spoke more about hell than he did about heaven because if he could keep you from hell you're going to go to heaven and he's speaking to his men who are going to take a message out and he's telling them this is the seriousness of the gospel it's just it's not just a nice story or something to help you get through or pass the time or make it through tough times now this is the thing that changes entire lives and entire destinies when you come to faith in Christ everything changes from there and your destination is to be with him and every day that we live we draw we draw closer and draw closer and draw closer to the day finally comes when we see him face to face and we're able to say thank you Jesus for making it possible for me to be with you thank you Jesus for giving me life I get touched by that I get touched by that because that is my life is to talk about him and then finally everyone verse 49 will be seasoned with fire and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt salt is good but if the salt loses its flavor how will you season it have salt in yourselves and have peace with one another salt salt is a purifier as a preservative and fire is a purifier everyone coming to faith in Christ must be fully committed over an entire lifetime and as such they should live a life that is pure before him you see in the near future they're going to endure fiery trials especially when he's taken and killed before them and these trials will purify their faith they're going to strengthen these people so he's saying don't grow tasteless remain strong in order to reach the world for Jesus Christ and he goes on and says in verse 50 and have peace with one another instead of trying to be the greatest learn to live in peace and unity love one another and serve one another in Ephesians 4 Paul said it like this he said I therefore the prisoner of the Lord beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called with all lowliness and gentleness with long suffering bearing with one another in love endeavoring to keep the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace love one another serve God together and one day we're going to have a great family reunion where we see each other in the presence of Christ and there's no tears no sorrow no pain no death just joy forever and ever and ever and ever and ever amen that's what we have waiting for us