THE WICKED SHALL BE TURNED INTO HELL

Pastor James J. Barker

Text: PSALMS 9:17




INTRODUCTION:


  1. Psalm 9:17 says, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."
  2. 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?

  1. 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."
  2. Today, some young people use the word "wicked" in a positive way. To them it means "cool."
  3. If you were to ask the average person today, "Who are the wicked," you would get a variety of answers.
  4. Some would say the wicked are the serial killers or the child molesters or the terrorists who blow up innocent people, etc.
  5. 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."
  6. 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).

  7. Webster's Scriptural definition helps us to understand what Psalm 9:17 is saying.
  8. The wicked shall be turned into hell."
  9. The word "wicked" is found 344 times in our English Bible; "wickedness" 127 times; and "wickedly" 23 times.
  10. In addition, there are many similar words.  For example, the word "evil" is found 613 times!
  11. The very first time a word is used in Scripture is significant.  Bible teachers call this "the law of first mention."
  12. 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."
  13. The men of Sodom were homosexuals ("sodomites").  Therefore we know that in the eyes of God, homosexuals are very wicked.
  14. 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.
  15. J.C. Penney, Home Depot, and the Gap, and many other big companies support so-called "gay marriage."
  16. Two thousand years after the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Jesus said, "Remember Lot's wife" (Luke 17:32).
  17. 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!
  18. 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.
  19. 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.
  20. 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!
  21. According to the Bible, all those who have sex outside of marriage are wicked.
  22. In I Corinthians 5:13, the apostle Paul refers to a certain fornicator in the church at Corinth as "that wicked person."
  23. I am not interested in what Governor Cuomo says or what Hollywood says or what the rap singers say.
  24. I am only concerned with what God says, and God says fornication and adultery are wicked.
  25. Hebrews 13:4 says, "Marriage is honourable in all, and the bed undefiled: but whoremongers and adulterers God will judge."
  26. 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."
  27. 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."
  28. 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."
  29. 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.
  30. Proverbs 10:27 says, "The fear of the LORD prolongeth days: but the years of the wicked shall be shortened."
  31. 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."
  32. You can choose the fear of God or you can reject the fear of God.  The choice is yours to make.
  33. Proverbs 1:29 says, "For that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear of the LORD."
  34. The repentant thief said to the impenitent thief, "Dost not thou fear God, seeing thou art in the same condemnation?" (Luke 23:40).
  35. 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."
  36. Therefore, "wicked men" are men without faith -- lost, unsaved, unregenerate, and on their way to hell.
  37. Which brings us to my next point...

 

II. WHERE IS HELL?

  1. Since all sinners are going to be cast into hell, it would be wise to know where it is located.
  2. Deuteronomy 32:22 says, "For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell."
  3. Job 11:8 says, "It is as high as heaven; what canst thou do? deeper than hell; what canst thou know?"
  4. Psalm 55:15 says, “let them (sinners) go down quick into hell.”
  5. Psalm 86:13 says, "For great is thy mercy toward me: and thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell."
  6. Proverbs 5:5 says, "Her feet go down to death; her steps take hold on hell."
  7. Proverbs 7:27 says, "Her house is the way to hell, going down to the chambers of death."
  8. Proverbs 9:18 says, "But he knoweth not that the dead are there; and that her guests are in the depths of hell."
  9. Proverbs 15:24 says, "The way of life is above to the wise, that he may depart from hell beneath."
  10. 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."
  11. Ezekiel 31:17 and 32:27 refer to soldiers "which are gone down to hell with their weapons of war."
  12. 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."
  13. Our Lord said, "And thou, Capernaum, which art exalted to heaven, shalt be thrust down to hell" (Matt. 11:23; Luke 10:15).
  14. 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."
  15. All these Scriptures teach that hell is down in the lowest part of the earth.
  16. 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).
  17. 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).
  18. Four times in Luke 16, our Lord described hell as a place of torment.
  19. 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.
  20. In Matthew 25:46, our Lord said hell was a place of everlasting punishment.
  21. Daniel 12:2 refers to hell as everlasting contempt.
  22. In Mark 3:29, our Lord said hell was a place of eternal damnation.
  23. In Hebrews 6:2, hell is referred to as a place of eternal judgment.
  24. In Jude 7, hell is referred to as a place of eternal fire.
  25. In Matthew 18:8, our Lord referred to hell as a place of everlasting fire.
  26. 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."
  27. In II Thessalonians 1:9, the apostle Paul referred to hell as a place of everlasting destruction.
  28. Notice the frightening repetition: everlasting punishment, everlasting contempt, eternal damnation, eternal judgment, eternal fire, everlasting fire, everlasting destruction, etc.
  29. 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..."
  30. No rest day nor night! Just eternal torment! Eternal fire! Everlasting contempt, eternal damnation, eternal judgment!
  31. 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).
  32. Hell is below us, but the lake of fire is somewhere out in space.
  33. 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.
  34. At the Great White Throne Judgment, sinners will be judged and cast into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:11-15).
  35. When criminals are booked in NYC they are sent over to Rikers’ Island while they wait for their trial to begin.
  36. There are also some criminals there who have been convicted and sentenced to one year or less of jail time on Rikers’ Island.
  37. There are about 20,000 inmates crammed into the jail cells on Rikers’ Island.
  38. After they are convicted in court, the judge sends most of them upstate to a much larger state penitentiary.
  39. 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.
  40. 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.
  41. 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).
  42. 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.”
  43. 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.”
  44. 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.”
  45. 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.”
  46. 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.”
  47. 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.
  48. 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.”
  49. 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)

  1. Sinners forget all about God.   They have no time for God.
  2. 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!
  3. People have plenty of time for work and school and entertainment and sports and shopping and politics and television and vacations, etc.
  4. But no time for God. No time for prayer.  No time to read the Bible.  No time for Sunday School. No time for church.
  5. But alas, soon it will be time to die! (Psalm 9:17)
  6. 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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