THE WICKED SHALL BE TURNED INTO HELL
Pastor James J. Barker
Text: PSALMS 9:17
INTRODUCTION:
- Psalm 9:17
says, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the
nations that forget God."
- My message this morning will be very simple:
- Who are the "wicked"?
- Where is "hell"?
- What does it mean to "forget God"?
I.
WHO ARE THE WICKED?
- The word "wicked" does not convey the same meaning today
as it did in the past. For example,
there is a popular Broadway musical based on the "Wizard of Oz" called
"Wicked."
- Today, some young people use the word "wicked" in a
positive way. To them it means "cool."
- If you were to ask the average person today, "Who are
the wicked," you would get a variety of answers.
- Some would say the wicked are the serial killers or the
child molesters or the terrorists who blow up innocent people,
etc.
But the dictionary definition is much broader than that:
"morally bad in principle or practice, mischievous or
roguish, causing injury or harm; troublesome, unpleasant, or
offensive."
Noah Webster's 1828 Dictionary gives a definition that is much closer to Scripture,
and it actually refers to Scripture.
Evil in principle or practice; deviating from the divine
law; addicted to vice; sinful; immoral. This is a word of comprehensive
signification, extending to every thing that is contrary to the moral law, and
both to persons and actions. We say, a wicked man, a wicked deed, wicked ways,
wicked lives, a wicked heart, wicked designs, wicked works...Cursed; baneful;
pernicious; as wicked words, words pernicious in their efforts. The wicked, in Scripture, are persons
who live in sin; transgressors of the divine law; all who are unreconciled to
God, unsanctified or impenitent.
But wickedness expresses
also the corrupt dispositions of the heart.
"All that do wickedly, shall be stubble" (Malachi 4:1).
"I have sinned, and I have done wickedly" (II Samuel
24:17).
"What wickedness is this that is done
among you?" (Judges 20:12).
"Their inward part is very
wickedness" (Psalm 5:9).
"In heart ye work wickedness" (Psalm
58:2).
Webster's
Scriptural definition helps us to understand what Psalm 9:17 is saying.
The wicked shall be turned into hell."
The word "wicked" is found 344 times in our English
Bible; "wickedness" 127 times; and "wickedly" 23
times.
In addition, there are many similar words. For example, the word "evil" is found
613 times!
The very first time a word is used in Scripture is
significant. Bible teachers call
this "the law of first mention."
The very first time we see the word "wicked" in the
Bible is in Genesis 13:13 -- "But the men of Sodom were wicked and sinners
before the LORD exceedingly."
The men of Sodom were homosexuals ("sodomites"). Therefore we know that in the eyes of
God, homosexuals are very wicked.
We can go further than that and say, those who condone
homosexuality and promote homosexuality and support homosexuality (e.g.,
politicians, people who own gay bars, etc.) are wicked.
J.C. Penney, Home Depot, and the Gap, and many other big
companies support so-called "gay marriage."
Two thousand years after the destruction of Sodom and
Gomorrah, Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32).
Second Peter 2:7 says Lot
was "vexed with the filthy conversation of the wicked." He may have been vexed, but he should
have gotten his family out of there!
Let me go further -- the wicked are not just homosexuals
and their supporters. According to
the Bible, all those who have sex outside of marriage are
wicked.
Mayor Bloomberg and his girlfriend live together. According to the Bible, they are
wicked. Governor Cuomo and his
girlfriend live together. According
to the Bible, they are wicked.
By the way, these two politicians were responsible for
forcing so-called "gay marriage" on the citizens of New York State. The majority
of people here in New York did not want it and we did not vote for
it!
According to the Bible, all those who have sex outside
of marriage are wicked.
In I Corinthians 5:13, the apostle Paul refers to a
certain fornicator in the church at Corinth as "that wicked
person."
I am not interested in what Governor Cuomo says or what
Hollywood says or what the rap singers say.
I am only concerned with what God says, and God says
fornication and adultery are wicked.
Hebrews 13:4 says, "Marriage
is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will
judge."
Revelation 21:8 says, "But the fearful, and unbelieving,
and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and
idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with
fire and brimstone: which is the second death."
Let's go further. Psalm 9:17 does not say, "Only
the sexually immoral shall be turned into hell." It says, "The wicked shall be
turned into hell."
In the book of Proverbs there are many contrasts between
the righteous (or the "just") and the wicked. For example, Proverbs 10:16 says, "The
labour of the righteous tendeth to life: the fruit of the wicked to sin."
By studying the book of Proverbs we come to understand
that the righteous are those who are saved and on their way to heaven, and the
wicked are those who are not saved and are on their way to
hell.
Proverbs 10:27 says, "The
fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened."
This tells us the wicked have no fear of God. Ecclesiastes 8:13 says, "But it shall not be well with the wicked, neither shall he prolong his days, which are as a
shadow; because he feareth not before God."
You can choose the fear of God or you can reject the
fear of God. The choice
is yours to make.
Proverbs 1:29 says, "For that they hated knowledge, and
did not choose the fear of
the LORD."
The repentant thief said to the impenitent thief,
"Dost not thou fear
God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?" (Luke
23:40).
In II Thessalonians 3:2, the apostle Paul asks them to
pray "that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men: for all
men have not faith."
Therefore, "wicked men" are men without faith -- lost,
unsaved, unregenerate, and on their way to hell.
Which brings us to my next
point...
II.
WHERE IS HELL?
- Since all sinners are going to be cast into hell, it
would be wise to know where it is located.
- Deuteronomy 32:22 says, "For a fire is kindled in mine
anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell."
- Job 11:8 says, "It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper
than hell; what canst thou know?"
- Psalm
55:15 says, “let them (sinners) go down quick into
hell.”
- Psalm 86:13 says, "For great is thy mercy toward me: and
thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell."
- Proverbs 5:5 says, "Her feet go down to death;
her steps take hold on hell."
- Proverbs 7:27 says, "Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of
death."
- Proverbs 9:18
says, "But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in
the depths of hell."
- Proverbs 15:24
says, "The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from
hell beneath."
- Referring to the
king of Babylon and to Lucifer, Isaiah 14:9 and 15 says, "Hell from
beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming...Yet thou shalt be
brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit."
- Ezekiel 31:17 and 32:27 refer to soldiers "which are
gone down to hell with their weapons of war."
- Amos 9:2 says, "Though they dig into hell,
thence shall mine hand take them; though
they climb up to heaven, thence will I bring them down."
- Our Lord said, "And thou, Capernaum, which art
exalted to heaven,
shalt be thrust down to hell" (Matt. 11:23; Luke 10:15).
- Second Peter 2:4 says, For if God spared not the angels that sinned,
but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of
darkness, to
be reserved unto
judgment."
- All these
Scriptures teach that hell is down in the lowest part of the earth.
- Not only is it important to know where hell is located,
it is also important to know what hell is like. Our Lord described it as a "furnace of fire" (Matthew 13:42,
50).
- Seven times
Jesus said that in hell there
shall be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth (Matt. 8:12; 13:42, 50; 22:13; 24:51; 25:30; Luke
13:28).
- Four times in Luke 16, our Lord described hell as a
place of torment.
- The great evangelist R.A. Torrey used to preach a
message called, "Obstacles on the Road to Hell." Dr. Torrey said the # 1 obstacle
on the road to hell is the Bible.
- In Matthew 25:46, our Lord said hell was a place of
everlasting
punishment.
- Daniel 12:2
refers to hell as everlasting contempt.
- In Mark 3:29,
our Lord said hell was a place of eternal damnation.
- In Hebrews 6:2, hell is referred to as
a place of eternal judgment.
- In Jude 7,
hell is referred to as a place of eternal fire.
- In Matthew 18:8, our Lord referred to hell as a place of
everlasting fire.
- In Matthew
25:41, our Lord said, "Then shall he say also unto them on
the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels."
- In II
Thessalonians 1:9, the apostle Paul referred to hell as a place of
everlasting destruction.
- Notice the frightening repetition: everlasting punishment,
everlasting contempt, eternal damnation, eternal judgment, eternal fire, everlasting fire, everlasting destruction, etc.
- Revelation 14:10 says sinners shall be
tormented with fire and brimstone. The next verse, verse 11, says, "And the
smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day
nor night..."
- No rest day nor night! Just eternal torment!
Eternal fire! Everlasting contempt, eternal damnation, eternal judgment!
- The terms "hell" and "lake of fire" are often used
interchangeably, but there is a distinction. We preachers often say, “Sinners
will spend eternity in hell,” but strictly speaking they will spend eternity in
the lake of fire (cf. Rev. 20:14, 15; 21:8).
- Hell is below us, but the lake of fire is somewhere out
in space.
- Hell is the temporary abode or holding place of the
disembodied souls of the dead. It
is not the grave as the religious cults
teach.
- At the Great White Throne Judgment, sinners will be
judged and cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).
- When criminals are booked in NYC they are sent over to
Rikers’ Island while they wait for their trial to
begin.
- There are also some criminals there who have been
convicted and sentenced to one year or less of jail time on Rikers’
Island.
- There are about 20,000 inmates crammed into the jail
cells on Rikers’ Island.
- After they are convicted in court, the judge sends most
of them upstate to a much larger state penitentiary.
- Hell is like sitting in a jail cell in Rikers’ Island
but much, much worse. The lake of
fire is like the state penitentiary, but much, much worse - and eternal - there
is no parole and no chance of escape.
- Dr. CT Schwarze was a professor at NYU many years ago.
Back in 1938, he wrote an interesting article about the lake of fire for a
theological journal.
- He wrote: “The word lake must connote a body of matter having liquid
form. Therefore, if Scripture is truth, this
eternal fire must be in liquid form” (Bibliotheca Sacra, cited by J.
Dwight Pentecost, Things to Come).
- Note that although Dr. Schwarze was a scientist, he
acknowledged that “Scripture is truth.” Jesus said in John 17:17, “Sanctify them
through thy truth: thy word is truth.”
- Let me continue with more of CT Schwarze’s interesting
statements. He refers to the enormous density of the
midget or white dwarf stars. He says, “Most
people know the sun, our nearest star is rather hot…there is general agreement
that the temperature at or near the center of stars is between 25 million and 30
million degrees Fahrenheit…at such temperatures, much can happen, like the
bursting of atoms, which helps to explain the phenomenon of the white
dwarf.”
- CT Schwarze goes on to point out that at such high
temperatures all matter would be in the form of gas…”in a white dwarf the
pressure is so great that gasses become compressed to the consistency of a
liquid although they
may still respond to the characteristics of a gas.”
- Continuing on this theme, he says, “Before such a star
could cool off and generally become dark it would have to expand to normal
proportions. That is, it would have to get to be more than
5,000 times its present size. Here is the difficulty. Such expansion would cause enormous heat
which, in turn, would absolutely keep the star compressed, so that, insofar as astronomers and physicists know,
the midget stars can never cool off!…The white dwarf, to all
intents, can never burn out.”
- Dr. Schwarze concludes by saying, “May I summarize to
show that the Bible, God’s Word, is scientifically accurate?
We find, first, an eternal fire which cannot
burn out. Being of a liquid consistency it is,
secondly, a lake of fire. In the third place, it cannot be quenched,
for any quenching material, such as water, would immediately have its atoms
stripped of electrons and be packed in with the rest. In the fourth place, since
astronomers have been, and still are, studying this strange phenomenon, it is
only too evident that the lake of fire has been prepared and is now
ready.”
- Dr. Schwarze is speaking from a scientific perspective,
and of course, his conclusions are thoroughly Biblical. He says the lake of fire is an eternal fire
which cannot burn out, and the fire cannot be quenched.
- Dr. Schwarze says, “It is only too evident that the lake
of fire has been prepared and is now ready.” That is precisely what Jesus said in Matthew
25:41 - “Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil
and his angels.”
- Therefore, we can be certain the lake of fire is
a literal lake of fire.
III.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO FORGET GOD? (PS.
9:17)
- Sinners forget
all about God. They have no
time for God.
- We heard that
great song the other night, "No Time For the King of Kings." Time for business and time for pleasure
but no time for God!
- People have
plenty of time for work and school and entertainment and sports and shopping and
politics and television and vacations, etc.
- But no time for
God. No time for prayer. No time to
read the Bible. No time for Sunday
School. No time for church.
- But alas, soon
it will be time to die! (Psalm 9:17)
- Spurgeon said,
"Forgetters of God (are) the moral who are not devout, the
honest who are not prayerful, the benevolent who are not believing, the amiable
who are not converted, these must all have their own portion with the openly
wicked in the hell which is prepared for the devil and his angels. There are
whole nations of such; the forgetters of God are far more numerous than the
profane or profligate, and according to the very forceful expression of the
Hebrew, the nethermost hell will be the place into which all of them shall be
hurled headlong. Forgetfulness seems a small sin, but it brings eternal wrath
upon the man who lives and dies in it" (Treasury of
David).
CONCLUSION:
The Horrors of Hell
Hell, the prison house of despair, Here are some
things that won't be there: No flowers will bloom on the banks of Hell, 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, Oh God, what a terrible place; The pangs
of the lost no human can tell, Not one moment's ease - There is no rest in
Hell.
Hell, 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; Blasphemer, swearer, hater of
God, Christ-rejecter while here on earth trod; Murderer, gambler, drunkard
and liar, Will have his part in the lake of fire; The filthy, the vile,
the cruel and the mean, What a horrible mob in Hell will be seen; Yes,
more than humans on earth can tell, Are the torments and woes of Eternal
Hell.
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