Somebody Loves You

Raul Ries: And I think we have come to a time where we need to be careful and be very open to be able to share and to be sensitive to people when they come and talk to you. When there's an open door, we need to walk right through it and share our faith with them and share about heaven and share about hell, that hell is a real place.

Guest (Male): Welcome to Somebody Loves You Radio, the Bible teaching ministry of Raul Ries in Diamond Bar, California. Thank you for joining us today for our study on living in accordance with God's wisdom. Today, Raul will urge us to be more proactive in sharing the Gospel. Talking about your faith can feel awkward and even intimidating, but time is of the essence for those that don't know the Lord Jesus. Stay with us for a challenge to remember that other people's eternal lives are more important than your comfort. Here's Raul Ries with our lesson, "He Who Wins Souls Is Wise." If you have your Bible, join us in Proverbs chapter 11 verse 30.

Raul Ries: Solomon says, "The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life, and he who wins souls is wise." Notice what he said there. When is the last time you led someone to the Lord? When is the last time you led someone to Christ? When you look at your boys, or you look at your girls, you look at your nephews, your nieces, you look at your family, your aunts, uncles, whoever it may be, grandpa, grandma, and you know that they don't have Jesus Christ in their lives, do you think that there's enough time for you to be able to share with them? But at the same time, don't you understand that today or tomorrow they may pass away? And if they die without Christ, it's over. You will never see them again. It will be over.

And I don't think we realize the importance of eternity, that there are millions of people going to hell every single day. And as the Scripture says, there are only two places, heaven or hell, and no such thing as purgatory. The Bible says that a person is either unregenerate or he's regenerate, or he becomes a Christian or non-Christian. And at the same time, we're not talking about joining a church and becoming part of that church that makes you a Christian or being born in a Christian home or having a Christian family. Salvation is the gift of God given to a person individually as that person cries out to God and sees himself in unrighteousness and sinfulness. And then God reaches down through his son, Jesus Christ, and touches our lives. Because surely we want to choose eternity. We want to choose heaven. Heaven is not only a beautiful place, but eternity is forever and ever and ever. It's timeless, no time there. Once we die in this body, in this soul, in this spirit, it's gone. The body goes back into the earth, becomes nothing, but the spirit lives forever and ever, either in heaven or it will live in hell.

And yet you and I have a great responsibility to tell people about Jesus Christ. Yes, we do. We are responsible. One day God is going to stand before us and we're going to stand before the Lord, and we're going to have to give an answer to God according to the book of Corinthians chapter 3, 11 through 15. The Bema Seat of Christ is for those that have believed in Jesus Christ by faith. And when we die, we will stand before the Bema Seat of Christ and God is going to test every one of our motives, why we did it, our witnessing, our giving, our preaching, teaching, reading, studying. He says he's going to take whatever we did, gold, silver, wood, hay, and stubble, he'll throw it into the fire and whatever remains in the fire, that will be your reward. It will be approved. And the Bible says there that there will be people that will come to the Bema Seat of Christ and everything they did will burn up and they'll have nothing to show but salvation is the free gift of God, that's it. They made it because of God's gift, but they have nothing to show.

It's really important that we understand and remember that if Jesus had compassion for people and we're supposed to be his disciples, we're supposed to have compassion for people too. Because even Paul the apostle in the book of Romans chapter 10, 14 says this, "How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him in whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent?" As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Gospel of peace and who bring glad tidings and good things." But they have not all obeyed the Gospel, for Isaiah says, "Lord, who has believed our report?" And so then faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God. Notice the great responsibility we have to share with people the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Remember what God told the prophet Ezekiel, that he was to be a watchman to watch over the city, to warn people of judgment to come. In the book of Ezekiel 3:10, 11, he said, "Moreover, he said to me, son of man, receive into your heart all my words that I speak to you and hear with your ears and then go and get to the captives, the children of your people and speak to them and tell them, 'Thus saith the Lord God,' whether they hear or whether they refuse." I'm responsible, you're responsible to lead people to Christ because once a person dies, he goes into eternity, either heaven or hell, and there's no turning back.

It's very dangerous times that we're living in today where people are going to all these churches that don't want to talk about sin. People are afraid to step on people's toes because they're afraid to lose people. And I think we have come to a time where we need to be careful and be very open to be able to share and to be sensitive to people when they come and talk to you. When there's an open door, we need to walk right through it and share our faith with them and share about heaven and share about hell, that hell is a real place. Remember, we only have one life to live. How long? That's up to God. And then it'll be over. It'll be over. And the only thing that will count is what you have done for Jesus Christ, period, that will count. Everything else will never be remembered. It will burn in the fire.

And yet there are people that don't care. There are people that are very complacent in their lives. We're living in a postmodern church age. It doesn't really matter what you do, as long as you feel good, that's what matters. No, that's not what my Bible teaches. The Bible speaks about sin. The Bible speaks about the conscience and the heart and that the heart is deceitful, desperately wicked, who can know it? I, the Lord, know your hearts. And yet we need compassion and we need passion in our hearts to come on Sunday mornings, to come on Sunday nights, to come on Wednesday nights, to come whenever the house of the Lord is open, why? Because we're teaching by example our children and our grandchildren and our great-grandchildren from generation to generation that it's important to be in the presence of God and to know God intimately. Is there such a place called hell? Yes. It's not a myth. Do people really go there? Yes. Many people go there from the beginning of time. How long do people spend time in hell? Well, right now it's temporal, but it's going to become eternal. Right now it's temporal because hell will be thrown into the lake of fire one day.

And then how can I keep myself or people from going there? Number one is to repent, to believe by faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior and to live right before the Lord in obedience to his word. Because the Bible describes hell as an everlasting fire. Never stops burning, never ever stops burning. In the book of Matthew 25:41, Jesus said, "Then he will also say to those on his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'" Notice what he said there. Hell was never made for man, hell was made for the devil and his angels. Heaven was made for those that believe by faith and want to go there. God doesn't force people to go to heaven or to hell. You make the choice. We were created with a will, a will to choose, what's right, what's wrong, white or black, you see. No one can ever stand before God and say, "God, you damned me, you sent me to hell," or blame me or blame you. We cannot do that. You made the choice. You made the choice to go to that place. Nobody sent you there but yourself. And you will be with the devil and his angels forever and ever in everlasting fire.

Guest (Male): This is Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Browse somebodylovesyou.com for biblical resources to anchor your faith and guide you in God's ways. You can also join Raul for Straight Talk on the Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel every Tuesday at 10 AM West Coast time. Let's continue now with more from Raul Ries.

Raul Ries: Secondly, it's an everlasting punishment. It doesn't stop. Think of a toothache for ever and ever and ever, or pain, or a headache, or something that really, really disfigures your body and hurts. In Matthew 25:45, he says, "Then he will answer them saying, 'Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it unto one of the least of these, you did it unto me. Depart from me, you evil servant of iniquity.'" Heavy. God's going to judge. And then at the same time, it will be a place not with any light, it will be utter darkness. If you've ever been in a cave where it's real dark, you can't even see the front of your hand, dark, and yet pain and fire, but you can't see. Matthew 8:12 says, "But the sons of the kingdom will be cast into outer darkness. There will be weeping and gnashing of teeth." Just for about ten seconds, twenty seconds, gnash your teeth and hold on to it. Imagine forever like that, gnashing your teeth. It will be an everlasting destruction. In 2 Thessalonians 1:9, it says, "These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power." Totally separated. You'll never see your loved ones, you'll never see your friends ever again. The only place is now, my friends, right now. Right now while we can breathe. Right now is the time. Because after that, they will end up in the lake of fire. That's another place different than hell. In Revelations 19:20, it says, "Then the Antichrist was captured, and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image, and these two were cast alive into the lake of fire that is burning with brimstone and fire."

Look at Revelation chapter 20 for a second, turn there. Beginning with verse 11 of chapter 20, this is called the white throne judgment. This is the end of all judgments. "And then I saw a great white throne and him who sat on it, whose face the earth and the heavens fled away, and there was found no place for them." Who's them? The people in hell. Notice that. "And I saw the dead, the small and the great standing before God, and the books were opened and another book was opened which is the Book of Life." Interesting that after people die, they still have to stand before God, especially those in hell. And the books are going to be open. God's going to open the books. You say, "What books?" From the day you were born to the day you died, everything you did will be on the screen. You can't deny it. Look what else he says, "And the dead were judged according to their works by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead which were in it, and the dead in hells delivered up the dead that were in them. And they were judged, notice, everyone according to his works. And death and hell were cast also into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone was not found written in the Book of Life was also cast into the lake of fire." God means what he says. Whoever's name was not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.

You say, "Well, how do you get your name in the Book of Life?" You repent. You confess him. You accept him by faith and he receives you and writes your name in the Book of Life and you become a Christian. And then you live a life of obedience. That's what keeps you from hell. But yet those that will be going to hell, it will be such an incredible place. It will be a place prepared, notice again, it is a place prepared for fallen angels. 2 Peter 2:4, "For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down into hell and delivered them into chains of darkness to be reserved for judgment." It is also a place for the beast and the false Messiah, the Antichrist and the false Messiah. Revelations 19:20 as we read, "Then the beast was captured and with him the false prophet who worked signs in his presence by which he deceived those who received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped his image. And these two were cast alive into the lake of fire burning with brimstone." It is a place for the devil and his angels, according to Matthew 25:41, which we already read. "And then he will also say to those on his left hand, 'Depart from me, you cursed into the everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels.'" It is also a place for the wicked. In Revelations 21:8 it says, "But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral people, drug users, sorcerers, idolaters and all liars shall have their part in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."

So much in the Bible. Jesus spoke more about hell than heaven. More about hell than heaven. Why? Because it's a scary place. It's forever. This is the place where the disobedient go. Romans 2:8 says, "But those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, indignation and wrath will come upon them." Remember the story of Lazarus and the rich man. The rich man died, poor man died, they went to hell before Christ died and rose again. The rich man ended up on the other side in hell after he died. And there he cried out and he said, "Father Abraham," never seeing Abraham, never knowing Lazarus, even though he was in front of his house. And he said, "Father Abraham, can you please have Lazarus dip his finger in cold water and come over to this side and just put it in my tongue because I am burning in these flames." And Abraham said, "Son, remember that in your lifetime you had everything in life." In hell they can think. Five senses are working. They can smell, they can touch, they can taste, they can remember. They can do all those things. He says, "Remember that in your lifetime you had everything in life, but this beggar had nothing and now he's comforted and you're being tormented." And then he said, "I beg you, I have five brothers at home. Do you think that you can send someone from the dead so they can go tell them about this place of torment lest they come here too?" And he said, "Even if someone went back from the dead, they still would not believe." And who's that? Jesus came and people still do not believe. Nobody is without an excuse. Jesus came. He left the Holy Spirit to be a witness.

How we need to be so careful in these last days. Liberal theology, where they're trying to take God and say that the Bible is not good for you to read and not to study it because it's not valid. We need to be careful. This is a time for people to really be in the church studying God's word, memorizing God's word, because we need to know what God's doing. And yet hell also is a place for rejecters of the Gospel. In Matthew 10:15 he says, "Assuredly I say to you, it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in that day of judgment than for that city." The more light you get, the greater the judgment. Everyone has light. Why? The sun, the moon, the stars reveal the glory of God, that there is a creator. The flowers, the grass, the oceans, the mountains, the snow. There is a creator. And yet men rejects his creator. And then it says God gave them over to a reprobate mind to do those things that they didn't really want to repent of. Why? Because they loved the creature more than the creator, who is blessed. Men rather love deception than truth. Men likes to be deceived but he cannot accept the truth of God. And did you know that hell will be a place of deep punishment? Yes. Punishment of the body, the soul, and the spirit according to the Bible. The body in Matthew 5:29, he says, "If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you for it is more profitable for you than one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and cast it from you for it is more profitable for that one of your members perish than for your whole body to be cast into hell." He's talking about not plucking your eye or cutting your hand, it's getting rid of the sin before your whole body ends up in hell. Secondly, the soul. Matthew 10:28, "And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul, but rather fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." Those are the words of Jesus. And then there are going to be degrees of punishment in hell. Matthew 23:15, "Woe to you scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, for you travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves." That is speaking of hypocrisy. You will be judged if you're trying to lead people to Christ and you yourself are not in Christ, and you're trying to have people be obedient and you're not obedient, God will judge. There will be great degrees of punishment. To much is given, much more is required.

Guest (Male): We hope today's message has filled you with a fresh sense of urgency to share Jesus' love and salvation. You're listening to Somebody Loves You Radio with Raul Ries. Today's study was titled "He Who Wins Souls Is Wise." If you'd like to get an unedited version, we'll be happy to send a copy to you for a donation of five dollars or more. Just call us at 800-634-9165. Now, as you seek the Lord for witnessing opportunities, we'd like to offer you a resource that will help you grow in understanding and discernment. Raul's four-part series is simply titled "Wisdom," and it's available on CD and USB. As you learn to give your personal devotions daily priority, you'll find that God will direct your steps and equip you with the right words for the right time when you talk with those who don't know the Lord. Visit somebodylovesyou.com or call 800-634-9165 to order Raul's four-message wisdom series. We'll send you the CD set for eighteen dollars or the flash drive for just ten dollars. That's 800-634-9165. Or you can write to Somebody Loves You Radio, PO Box 4440, Diamond Bar, California 91765.

You can access our faith-enriching resources anytime, anywhere. Check us out on Spotify and iTunes to download podcasts of all of these programs. These podcasts are also available on the Somebody Loves You worldwide YouTube channel, which is home of Raul's weekly Straight Talk program. Join Raul every Tuesday at 10 AM West Coast time. Every tax-deductible gift makes it possible for us to share the Good News of Jesus from the word of God. Thank you for your partnership. And join us next time as we continue this spiritual wisdom series with encouragement to be more intentional about listening for the Lord's voice. You'll see that every moment in the Bible and prayer gives God another opportunity to fill you with his perfect insight. Now with the closing comments, here's Raul once again.

Raul Ries: We need to know God and we need to know His word. And we need to humble ourselves before Him and get rid of pride and not be so caught up in loving this world as this world is perishing, but to fall in love with Jesus. And then one day you will hear the words, "Thou good and faithful servant, come on in. Look what I prepared for you. Come on in, look at this." And then you will hear these other words, "I never knew you. Depart from me, you servant of iniquity, cast into the lake of fire." You make the choice.

Guest (Male): This program is sponsored by Somebody Loves You Radio in Diamond Bar, California.