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What would be on a scale that would call for the God who can create the universe

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just by speaking? It would call for Him to take human flesh in Jesus Christ, then

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to go to a cross, and in the flesh, die as a man in agony. Now here’s the answer –

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Jesus Christ entered hell so that you should never know what it is like.

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Welcome to Open the Bible with Pastor Colin Smith, I’m David Pike. And Colin, what an

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amazing demonstration of God’s love for us. Yes, Jesus entered everything that hell

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is when He was on the cross. You think about it, He’s surrounded by darkness, He’s

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bearing the guilt of sin not His own, but ours. Evil is unleashed all around Him, He’s

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forsaken of the father, no longer can feel the father’s love. Everything that hell is

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he experiences. And surely if there’s anything that points us to our desperate need of a

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saviour, it’s this fact of how much it took for Christ to become that saviour and to save

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us. And all of that we see on the cross.

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Today as we finish our series Restore My Soul, we do catch a glimpse of hell, but we also

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catch sight of heaven.

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It’s marvellous that right at the end of the prophecy of Isaiah that we’ve been looking

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at together, you have a glimpse of both of heaven and of hell. He’s been speaking to

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us about all that God does in our lives in this world. Restoring faith and prayer and

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justice and all that happens in the Christian life. But ahead of us there’s one of these

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two awesome realities. Every person you ever meet will forever either be in the presence

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of Christ in heaven or separated from his love

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and from the knowledge of him forever in hell and we’re given a glimpse of both right at

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the end of Isaiah. We’re going to look at both today. And may it be for the glory of

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God and for the good of our own souls.

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If you can I hope you’ll open your Bible with us at the Book of Isaiah as we conclude our

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message Restore Creation. Here’s Colin.

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Please turn then to Isaiah chapter 65 where Isaiah gives us a marvellous description of

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the new heaven and the new earth in which every believer will surely rejoice. And then

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we’re going to look at the very last verses of Isaiah’s great prophecy where significantly

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he speaks about the miseries of hell. Now I want us to look at heaven first and we’ll

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spend most of the time here. And I’ve described heaven as a world of love. And I want us to

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notice here and really to savor the delights that Isaiah lays before God’s redeemed people

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as he speaks about the new heaven and the new earth. Now notice verse 17 that he is

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speaking about the new heaven and the new earth quite clearly stated. So what Isaiah

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is speaking about here in chapter 65 according to verse 17 is the same thing as the Apostle

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John speaks about in chapter 21 and chapter 22 of the book of Revelation, that is the

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new heaven and the new earth. In other words, he is speaking about what God will do after

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the thousand year reign of Christ that is described in Revelation and chapter 20. That’s

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very important to grasp what verse 17 clearly says so that we know how to understand the

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rest of this passage. It’s about, Isaiah says, the new heaven and the new earth. And in the

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new heaven and the new earth, here are some delights that God’s people will savor forever.

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Are you ready? Number one, a restored joy. Verse 17 through 19, Behold, I will create

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new heavens and a new earth. The former things will not be remembered nor will they come

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to mind, but be glad and rejoice forever in what I will create. For I will create Jerusalem

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delight and Its people a joy. I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people

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and the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.’ There is ahead

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of every redeemed person restored joy. Number two, There is ahead of every redeemed

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person restored vigor. Verse 20, Never again will there be in It that is now in the new

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Jerusalem. An infant who lives but a few days or an old man who does not live out his years,

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he who dies at a hundred will be thought a mere youth and he who fails to reach a hundred

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considered a curse. Now, let’s take the last part of the verse first. Isaiah is telling

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us here remembering that he is talking about the new heaven and the new earth. He is saying

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in language that we can understand. Death will be no more. Restored joy, restored vigor.

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Number three. Restored community. Verse 21. They will build houses and dwell in them.

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And they will plant vineyards and eat their fruit. No longer will they build houses, and

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others live in them, or plant and others eat. For it’s the days of a tree. So will be the

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days of my people. My chosen ones will long enjoy the work of their hands. Wonderful.

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And then he says, they will not toil in vain or bear children doomed to misfortune. Now

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again he’s using an analogy from the world that we know to help us think about the world

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that we do not yet see. And of course we will not be bearing children in heaven. How could

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you have a community, some of whom knew what it is to be redeemed from sin, and others

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who had no idea what we were talking about. That just doesn’t make any sense. No, no,

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that is a whole new order for those who have been brought into the joy of Christ’s redeemed

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community. But what he’s saying here is, look, in this

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world, there are children who are born into desperate circumstances. Kids who are born

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into poverty, kids who are born into war, kids who are born into violence and hatred

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and crime and sometimes terrible abuse. But instead of war and hate and violence and crime,

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God’s people in the new heaven and new earth will live together in love and in harmony

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and in peace and enjoy restored community. Number four, restored communion. Verse 24,

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God says, before they call, I will answer, and while they are still speaking, I will

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hear. This is an amazing promise of God. Nothing will inhibit your access to Him. God will

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hear you. Now people say, oh, I need to be heard. Boy, you will be heard for all eternity

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by Almighty God Himself. And because all your desires will be fully tuned to His, He will

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give you all the desires of your heart. Your fellowship will be closer with Him than anything

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even Adam and Eve knew in the garden of Eden.’ That’s what’s being said here. Before they

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even call, I will answer, and while they’re still speaking I will hear.

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And then fifthly as we savor the delights of the new heaven and the new earth, please

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notice the new creation, verse 25, because God’s great purpose is not simply to restore

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people, to redeem people in Christ, but rather to redeem all things in Jesus Christ, and

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therefore there will be a new heaven and a new earth that is perfectly adapted to reflect

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his full glory, untainted by sin, and for all eternity.

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And in this new creation, notice that he says the wolf, verse 25, and the lamb will feed

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together.

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Now, just remember, wolves destroy lambs.

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So, wolves and lambs eating together in the new heaven and the new earth means that old

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hostilities have been reconciled.

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God creates a new animal kingdom that reflects the reconciliation of all things in Christ

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and a new animal kingdom reflects the glory of this, the wolf and the lamb feeding together.

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Now, think of what that is telling us to live in a new heaven and a new earth where old

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hostilities are reconciled.

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What that means is redeemed Hutus and redeemed Tutsis who have warred and hated each other,

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these two races for generations.

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Redeemed Hutus, redeemed Tutsis will rejoice together as neighbors in the presence of Jesus

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Christ in the new heaven and the new earth.

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Jews and Arabs will rejoice in their oneness in Jesus Christ in the new heaven and the

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new earth.

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Dare I say it today.

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Redeemed Republicans and Redeemed Democrats will speak well of each other in the new heaven

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and the new earth to the praise and the glory of God forever because old hostilities have

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been reconciled as we see all things clearly as none of us do right now.

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And secondly, old natures are changed.

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You notice here that the lion will eat straw like an ox.

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Has anyone seen a lion eat straw?

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Lions don’t eat straw in this world.

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Lions eat red meat and they kill to get it.

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It’s their nature.

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But in the new heaven and the new earth every source of violence and pain and destruction

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is gone.

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The lion joyfully eats straw just like an ox and the end of old nature with all the

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trouble that it causes points us forward to what that will mean surely for us as well.

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Every remnant of your old fallen nature that you struggle with as a Christian right now

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will be gone too.

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The impulse of the flesh that tempts you will be gone.

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The coldness of heart that makes you sluggish even in worship and reluctant to pray.

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It will be gone.

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You will have joy in the presence of the Lord forever.

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All that you struggle and fight against as a Christian believer in your Christian life

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will be gone forever.

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We will be changed is the way Paul says in the moment in the twinkling of an eye and

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then at the last trumpet.

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Heaven a world of love.

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And it will endure forever.

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You’re listening to Open the Bible with pastor Colin Smith and our message Restore Creation.

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It’s the last message in our series Restore My Soul.

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And if you’ve missed any of the series or if you want to go back and listen again come

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to our website openthebible.org.uk

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There you can listen to the whole series online.

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You can also find the series as a podcast go to your favourite podcast site search for

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Open the Bible UK and subscribe to receive regular updates of future series.

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Back to the message now.

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Here’s Colin

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Now, here’s the last thing and much more briefly.

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But Isaiah wants us to know and he keeps it for the very last verse of his book.

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He wants us to know that outside heaven, the world of love, there is hell, the world of

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hate.

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And he speaks there of those who have rebelled against the Lord, a life of sustained rebellion

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against Him, and he says of them, their worm will not die and their fire will not be quenched.’

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Now, we might pass over this verse, except for two things.

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One is, it is the last verse of the prophet Isaiah.

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It is the last word God spoke to this remarkable prophet.

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Now, the last words often have great significance.

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They usually do, and so I think we will want, having studied this book, to pay due attention

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to the last word God spoke to the prophet Isaiah.

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The second reason for drawing attention to this verse is even more compelling.

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That when our Lord Jesus Christ spoke during His ministry on the subject of hell, and He

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more clearly about the subject than any other place in the Bible.

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Of all the texts in the Old Testament that He could have quoted, the one He chose when

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He spoke about hell was the one open in your Bible in front of you right now Isaiah chapter

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66 and verse 24, and you’ll find it in the lips of the Lord Jesus in Mark chapter 9 in

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verse 48.

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And Jesus says quite clearly – He’s using these words to describe hell – so on the

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authority of Jesus, we know that Jesus tells us that’s what Isaiah was talking about.

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He was talking about hell.

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And Jesus picks up these words, of all the words He could have chosen, to say – this

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gets at the heart of it, this is what you most need to know about it – that a worm

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will not die, nor will their fire be quenched.

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What does that mean?

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The fire speaks of God’s presence.

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The Bible speaks of our God as a consuming fire.

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And for this reason it says with regards to the wicked that it is a fearful thing to fall

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into the hands of the living God because our God is a consuming fire.

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Sometimes people speak about hell as being separated from God forever and there is a

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sense in which that is an appropriate way to speak.

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But I think actually it’s far more biblically perceptive to say, because no one can ever

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escape God, that sinners in hell will find that they can never escape the God they hate

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or the burning of his hostility towards them.

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Sinners hate God.

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They’re fire.

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They do not love him.

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They are never reconciled to him.

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How could they be without a Redeemer?

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Without the operation of the Holy Spirit to change the human heart?

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The Bible says, as the tree falls so shall it lie.

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But while they can never be reconciled to him or never outgrow their own hatred of him,

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they cannot escape from his presence either.

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The tragedy of the sinner in hell is that he or she is locked into a war that they cannot

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win and they can never end.

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Think about that.

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They’re fire.

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You know, to use an old phrase, you know, the old, you can run, but you can’t hide.

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You can run from God all your life, but you cannot escape him in eternity.

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And God’s so gracious to tell us that, isn’t he?

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They’re fire.

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Secondly, sinners not only hate God, they’re fire.

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Sinners in eternity will hate themselves.

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That is the meaning of the worm.

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The worm, of course, speaks of conscience that eats away on the inside of the heart

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or the mind of a person.

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I want you to think about this.

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Paul says in, Christians rejoice in this, Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13, now I know

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in part, then I shall know fully even as I am fully known.

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For a believer in Christ that’s a wonderful promise.

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I’ll know myself fully to be forgiven and redeemed and enter into all the joy of that.

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But you know, the same thing is true of the sinner in hell.

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He will know she will know.

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Himself, herself fully even as they are fully known.

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That is a person in hell will see and know the full extent of their own resistance to

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Christ, rebellion against God.

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They will their for see and know that God’s judgment upon them is entirely just.

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There will not be a person in hell who goes on doing the sort of thing that so many people

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do in their own life here.

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You know, telling himself what a great good guy he is and just how wonderful he is because

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he cares for his family and all that is really wrong in his life is that he’s just been misunderstood

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and so forth and so on.

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A sinner in hell will know that the single reason that he or she is there is their continued

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resistance and rebellion against the God who made them, and that is why Jesus speaks about

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weeping and gnashing of teeth, because sinners in hell not only hate God forever, they hate

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themselves forever.

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Their worm does not die.

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That’s what it means.

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So here then are these two death days.

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One indescribably good and one indescribably bad.

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Let me just say this in these last moments.

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The Bible speaks about being saved and honestly I think there are a lot of folks who find

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it difficult to really understand what it is that they need to be saved from.

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I mean, after all, you’re doing okay in your life, you could use a little bit of help from

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God now and then, you reason.

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You’re glad that you can say a prayer when you feel that you need to and it’s a good

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thing to come to church, but you don’t actually feel that you’re in such a condition that

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there’s much that you need saving from.

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Listen, Isaiah tells you what you need saving from, and that leads me to this last thing.

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The Bible’s teaching about hell, perhaps more than anything else, helps us to understand

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why Jesus Christ came into the world and why He had to die on the cross.

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See, what would be on a scale that would call for the God who can create the universe just

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by speaking, that would call for Him to take human flesh in Jesus Christ, and then to go

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to a cross and in the flesh die as a man in agony?

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What would be on a scale that would call for God to do that?

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Now, here’s the answer.

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Jesus Christ entered hell, so that you should never know what it is like.

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He saves people from hell by going there himself.

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See, when Jesus died on the cross, this is the very heart of what was going on.

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He experienced all that hell is.

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The Bible tells us, he bore sin, the worm, and he came under the judgment of God, the

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fire.

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That’s why Isaiah says, the punishment, the fire of God’s judgment that brought you peace

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was upon him.

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This is why in agony on the cross the Son of God cries out to the Father,

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my God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

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What do you think this was about?

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Christ entered hell on the cross, so that you should never know what it is like.

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That is how the reformers understood the marvelous words of the Apostle’s Creed.

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Do you remember these words?

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I believe Jesus, Christ God’s only Son, our Lord, he was conceived of the Holy Spirit,

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born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, dead, buried.

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What does it say next?

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He descended into hell.

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The reformers said this is what it means.

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Not that he went on some trip between his death and his resurrection into the underworld.

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This is what it means on the cross.

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On the cross.

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He bore your sin, he took your punishment, he took your hell.

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He went there for you so that you should never know what it is like.

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Think of it this way, hell has a summons for every person who has ever lived, because we

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are all sinners.

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And either you go there yourself, or Jesus Christ goes there for you.

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And I say with heartfelt thankfulness to God today, Christ answered my summons.

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If you’re a Christian you’ll be able to say that too.

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He went there on my behalf, this is how He is able to save me and this is how He is able

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to save you today because He didn’t end in hell.

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The Lord Jesus Christ rose in triumph and the living Christ actively seeks, even in

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the preaching of this gospel today, He seeks your salvation.

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He died so that you should never know what hell is and rather enter into heaven.

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So today don’t turn away from Jesus Christ as if He were your enemy,

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you embrace Him with faith, because He is your friend.

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You’ve been listening to Open The Bible with Pastor

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Colin Smith and our message Restore Creation.

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It’s the last part of the series, Restore My Soul.

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And if you’ve missed any of the series, do come online to our website,

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openthebible.org.uk, or find us as a podcast on your favourite podcast site.

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Search for Open The Bible UK.

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Maybe as you’ve been listening to the message today,

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you’ve heard God calling you into a relationship with Jesus Christ.

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You’d like to know more about how to enter into that relationship by

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the saving Grace of God.

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And if so, I hope you’ll seek out a trusted Christian friend or family member

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or maybe go along to a Christian church fellowship.

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Take time to speak with the lady there, the pastor or simply members of that fellowship.

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Tell them about your journey to discover faith for yourself.

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You’ll find they’ll be ready to pray with you, to help you make that step or

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if you’re not yet ready to make that step and still have questions

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and we all have questions, there may well be a Bible study course or a home group

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or an Alpha program that you can join.

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Open the Bible depends on your generosity to keep Pastor Collin’s

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teaching on this station and online.

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And as you set up a new monthly gift to the work of Open the Bible this month,

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We want to thank you by sending you a free copy of Chris Lungard’s book

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The Enemy Within, straight talk about the power and defeat of sin.

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Collin, who would you say this book is for?

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Well, first is for anyone who is a Christian.

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By definition a Christian is a person in whom the Holy Spirit dwells.

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And also by definition a Christian is a person who is engaged in a serious battle against sin.

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The Apostle Paul says we got to put to death

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the misdeeds of the body by the power of the Holy Spirit who lives within you.

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And here’s the thing, as you grow in the Christian life you actually

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become more aware of the sins that you need to fight against in your life.

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Not less aware of them.

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So there’s an increasing sense of battle that a Christian experiences.

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This book by Chris Lungard, The Enemy Within

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is one of the most helpful books I have ever found

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on the subject of the battle of the Christian life.

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It is really encouraging.

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I’ve found it helpful and I think that everyone who reads it will find it helpful too.

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Well we want to send you a copy of this book

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Chris Lungard, The Enemy Within

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straight talk about the power and defeat of sin

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and it’s our thank you gift to you if you are able to set up a new donation

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to the work of Open the Bible this month

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in the amount of £5 per month or more.

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Full details on our website

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OpenTheBible.org.uk

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For Open the Bible and for pastor Colin Smith

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I’m David Pick and I hope you’ll be able to join us again next time on Open the Bible.

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There’s a lot of talk these days about your soul

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but what is your soul?

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Find out next time on Open the Bible