Sugar Land Bible Church

Dr. Andy Woods: Let's have a word of prayer and we'll get started. Father, we're grateful not just for a new year but a new month. We pray that You'll have Your way this month in our lives and at Sugar Land Bible Church. We pray for Your hand of blessing this morning as we take communion together and enjoy fellowship lunch together. We ask that You will take the things of Your word and apply them to the needs of Your people. Only You can do that. In preparation for that ministry, we're just going to take a few moments of silence to do personal confession before You if need be, not to restore our position, but to restore fellowship if necessary.

We're thankful, Lord, for the promise of 1 John 1:9 and the many promises You've given us. We do ask, Lord, that today people would leave Sugar Land Bible Church changed people. Whether it's salvation, correction, or encouragement, we pray that You would do something eternal in the lives of Your people today. We'll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name, and God's people said, amen. Well, if you could find the book of Revelation, which is pretty easy to find when you think about it, chapter 20 and verse 14.

It's good to see everybody today. If you showed up last week, you probably thought you missed the Rapture. I knew that Al Gore made one of his global warming speeches because it's almost like clockwork. Every time he gives a big speech, it's the coldest day on record. Sure enough, I've been monitoring this for years. It's almost fail-safe. He was there at Davos talking about global warming, and boom, it's the coldest day on record. This happens over and over again. I'm just saying, I don't know what it means.

We had been in this series dealing with annihilationism versus eternal torment, and we had introduced those terms. Arnold Fruchtenbaum identifies conditional immortality, which means that the soul is not inherently immortal. People don't become immortal or live forever until they get saved. If you're unsaved, you won't live forever. What happens to unsaved people? Well, at some point after they go into hell, they cease to exist. That's called annihilationism.

These have been views that have been floating around for a long time. They've recently come into the mainstream of Christian thought through Kirk Cameron, who apparently is sympathetic to these views. Here's something from December 6th, 2025: Kirk Cameron denies eternal conscious torment and is now an annihilationist. He's framing the issue as if we just need to have a conversation about this. He just came out with a two or three-hour YouTube video where he's in a roundtable discussion with other theologians talking about how this view is acceptable and okay.

Even if you disagree with it, it's still within the purview of Christian thought. Let's not call each other heretics. I saw a post from Eric Metaxas. He said whoever calls Kirk Cameron a heretic is a heretic. I guess that makes me a heretic. This is the kind of thing that's happening. It's known as the Overton Window, the realm of acceptable thoughts. What's happening is the Overton Window is shifting, and now Christians are thinking certain things are within the realm of discussion that normally Christians in the past hadn't embraced.

This is being framed as an in-house conversation, no different than whether you should have your communion service before the sermon or after the sermon. To me, what's happening is this is huge because it's redefining scripture. That's the reason that we're getting into this. What I laid out to you after introducing the controversy is the biblical arguments against annihilation. I gave you all these verses and we walked our way through them saying that, yes, hell is forever and people will be there forever. These are the strongest verses on the subject.

From there, we moved into theological arguments, not so much individual texts but broader theological arguments why hell is forever and people will be there forever. With all of that being said, we now move into the arguments that their side uses. I'm going to give you the verses that they use to say that people will not be in hell forever. Here are ten total big-idea uses of verses where people are trying to say people will not be in hell forever.

Part of being a good theologian is not just giving your own side, but being able to interact with the other camp. That's why so many conversations aren't real conversations. They're more like snowball fights where people are just throwing their verses that they think support their side at the other side. The other side has their snowballs and they're throwing them back at the first side. The reason the conversation is going like this is everyone is camping on their favorite verse but they're not interacting with what the other side is saying.

These people, the Kirk Cameron types, annihilationists, and conditional immortality types, have verses that they use. If they didn't have verses, their movement would have no traction. What are some of their verses? The first one that I have down here is the references to the Second Death. Notice Revelation chapter 20, verse 14. I had an annihilationist send me an email. He kept in the email talking about the second death. Finally, I started to see that what he means by the second death is something really different than what I mean.

When he sees the expression "second death," he's talking about the soul of the unsaved going into non-existence. That's how he's defining the second death. Notice Revelation chapter 20, verse 14. This, of course, is the Great White Throne Judgment for unsaved people. It says, "Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire." If you look back at verse 6 of Revelation 20, it says, "Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years."

There are a couple of references to the second death. The first time the expression "second death" is used is Jesus' words to the church at Smyrna, the suffering church, earlier in the book of Revelation. If you go back to Revelation chapter 2:11, you'll see a reference to it. "He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes will not be hurt by the second death." The annihilationist has a definition of second death which means lack of consciousness. You go into hell as an unsaved person for I'm not sure how many years it is, but you reach a certain point where your soul just goes out of existence.

That's how they're defining the second death, and frankly, that's how they define death. Notice the prophet Ezekiel, chapter 18, verse 4. "Behold, all souls are Mine; the soul of the father as well as the soul of the son is Mine. The soul who sins will surely die." Look at Ezekiel 18:20, same chapter. "The person who sins will die. The son will not bear the punishment for the father's iniquity, nor will the father bear the punishment for the son's iniquity; the righteousness of the righteous will be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked will be upon himself." There's a penalty for sin. Sin is death, and the annihilationist says death means you reach a point where you don't exist anymore.

Are they using this phrase "the second death" correctly? The answer is no, because the first death does not involve annihilation. If the first death involved annihilation, then it would make sense that the second death would involve annihilation. The truth of the matter is the first death doesn't involve annihilation, so the second death doesn't involve annihilation. Now, what do we mean by these expressions "first death" and "second death"? Well, you physically die, and then if you know Christ personally, your soul will not go into hell. You'll escape the second death.

The saying that has helped me with this is: If you're born once, you'll die twice. If you're born twice, you'll die once. Meaning if I'm born physically but I'm never born again because I've never received Christ as my Savior, then what's in front of me are two deaths. I'll die physically, but then I'll go into the second death, which is the lake of fire. Conversely, if I'm born twice, the very worst thing that could happen to me is I'll die once. If I'm born physically into the world and then I'm born again spiritually, what's the worst thing that can happen to me? I can die physically, and that might not even happen if we're the Rapture generation.

I have no part, I have no place, I have no connection to the lake of fire. You'll notice that in this way of thinking, if the first death is not annihilation, then how could the second death be annihilation? Norman Geisler writes in his systematic theology, responding to the annihilationist, that for one thing, the second death is no more annihilation than the first death. The first death is the separation of the soul from the body for a short time. To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord.

The first death is a separation of the soul from the body for a short time until the resurrection, which for us is the Rapture, not the soul's annihilation. The second death is the separation of the body and the soul from God forever. If you're going to make the second death annihilation, and it's the exact same Greek word for death, how can you do that if the first death doesn't involve annihilation? When you die physically, you don't cease to exist. If you're a Christian, absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. You go, waiting in the presence of the Lord, awaiting your future resurrection body.

Beyond that, this is very important to understand. Death in the Bible never means annihilation. Death in the Bible never means ceasing to exist. What death in the Bible always means is separation. In 21st-century medical terminology, when we use the word "death," we talk about it in terms of ceasing to exist. But that's not how the biblical writers use the expression. Death in the Bible never means cessation of existence. It means separation from God. When you become an annihilationist and start to use the expression "death" to support your view of eventual non-existence, you might be using the word "death" the way it's used in medical terminology in the 21st century, but you're using the word in a way that the Bible never uses it.

Just look at the whole situation with Adam and Eve. This is what God said to Adam at the very beginning. Genesis 2:16 and 17: "The Lord God commanded the man, saying, 'From any tree of the garden you may freely eat; but from the tree of knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day you eat of it you will surely die.'" We know how this story ended. Adam and Eve decided to partake of the forbidden fruit, and they died. When they died, did they stop existing? They continued to exist, but in a state of separation. There is the first use of "death" in the Bible, and it doesn't mean ceasing to exist. It means separation.

When you look at Genesis 3:9 and 10, you'll see very clearly that Adam and Eve didn't stop existing, even though they had died. "The Lord God called to the man and said to him, 'Where are you?'" How do you have a conversation with someone that doesn't exist? Why is God calling out to Adam if he didn't exist when he died? So death obviously must mean something different than what they're arguing it means, because they died just like God said they would, but they're still in existence. Adam said, "I heard the sound of You in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked, so I hid myself." There's no point in hiding yourself if you don't exist.

Obviously, this concept of death, they're doing something with it that the Bible doesn't do. Did you know that before we come to Christ, we are dead in our trespasses and sins? Paul in Ephesians 2:1 explains that to us, what we were like before we came to Christ. He said, "You were dead in your trespasses and sins." Now, can I ask you a question? Before you knew Christ personally, were you in existence? I sure hope so, because someone preached the gospel to you. How do you preach the gospel to someone that doesn't exist?

Obviously, death doesn't mean non-existence the way the annihilationist is trying to use the term. Acts 16:30 and 31 says to a dead man, the Philippian jailer, who's dead as a doornail in the sense that he is born into the world and separated from God. He says, "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?" Paul and Silas said, "Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved." There's a guy that was dead and was still in existence. If death doesn't mean non-existence, then the second death doesn't mean non-existence either. It just means you're in a place where you're eternally separated from God, which obviously wouldn't be a good place to be in.

This comes from the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, which is a classic exegetical work defining the Hebrew word for death. Remember, the Old Testament is written primarily in Hebrew, with a few touches of Aramaic, while the New Testament is written in Greek. How does the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament define death? It never defines it as non-existence. You might define it that way today if you're into 21st-century medical terminology, but who cares about that? We care about how the biblical writers use the expression.

The Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament says death is a consequence and the punishment of sin. It originated with sin. A grand theme of the Bible is God's holiness, which separates Him from all that is not in harmony with His character. Death, then, in the Old Testament means ultimate separation from God due to sin. So when someone comes along and says what death really means is your soul goes into the common grave and ceases to exist, they're using the Hebrew word "death" in a way that the biblical writers never used the word. I heard this years ago from a Jehovah's Witness. In fact, I knew so little about the Bible at the time, I was emotionally drawn into what he was saying. He was trying to tell me that death is just the common grave, which means cessation of existence. That's an easier concept to swallow because it's hard to think of the unbelievers in a place of eternal conscious torment. Emotionally he had me, and intellectually he had me too because I didn't really understand what death meant.

But now I know better. He was abusing the Bible. Kirk Cameron is abusing the Bible. When Eric Metaxas says anybody that calls Kirk Cameron a heretic is a heretic because he's his friend, Eric Metaxas is spouting heresy. I know he writes all these books about Bonhoeffer and has all these wonderful things to say about the culture war and all these kinds of things, but what these guys are floating out there is heresy. It's just outright heresy and they're manipulating words to get the Bible to say something that it's not saying.

Old Testament written in Hebrew, New Testament written in Greek. Here is a very reputable Greek lexicon, Thayer's, and here we're dealing with the word "thanatos," which means death. How did the Greeks define death? They defined it as follows: "That separation, whether natural or violent, of the soul from the body by which life on earth is ended." So what happens when you die is your life on earth ended, but your soul continues to exist in a state of separation from God. There's absolutely nothing in these definitions about cessation of existence.

Take a look at 1 Corinthians 15:26 and 27. They like these verses too. It says, "The last enemy that will be abolished is death." Verse 27: "For 'He has put all things in subjection under His feet.' But when He says 'all things are put in subjection,' it is evident that He is excepted who put all things in subjection under His feet." They love these verses where it talks about how death has been abolished.

Notice 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 10. "But now has been revealed by the appearing of our Savior Christ Jesus, who abolished death and brought life and immortality to light through the gospel." Your annihilationists want these things to mean that not only is death non-existence, but you reach a point where death doesn't even exist anymore. They kind of use that as you disappear if you're an unsaved person. I mean, you were never given the gift of immortality to begin with.

The thing to understand about 1 Corinthians 15:26 and 27 and 2 Timothy chapter 1, verse 10 is it's a statement of the first death only. The first death is abolished. In other words, when we get into the resurrected state, you're not going to have people dying anymore. They're in a resurrected body. It's not a statement that the eternal separation from God in the second death goes out of existence. When they talk about the abolishing of death, Paul is talking about the time in history when the first death is abolished. He's not making any statement whatsoever concerning the second death.

They do a number on "Sheol" and "Hades," which they think means death and oblivion, meaning cessation of existence. But that's not how the biblical writers use the expressions "Sheol" and "Hades." For example, in that horrifying account of the rich man who died in unbelief and went into hell, which is given to us in Luke 16:19-31, where exactly did that guy's soul go? Well, if you look at Luke 16 and you look at verse 23, you'll see exactly where it went. It says, "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom."

The rest of the verses say, "He cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.' But Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and Lazarus also bad things; but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over here to you will not be able to, and that none may cross over from there to us.'" Now, you look at this. Did the guy disappear? Was he annihilated? Did he go into oblivion? Obviously not, and yet he is in Hades. Verse 23 tells you he is in Hades. He is in Sheol, death, and Hades. They want those terms to mean cessation of existence and oblivion, and all you have to do is look at verse 23 which says Hades and read the rest of the story. He's not in oblivion. He's continuing to exist in a place of separation from God.

They do a number on Genesis 2:7. This is where we discover that we were formed out of the dirt. So don't get too high of a view of yourself. When you start to get a little arrogant, just remember you came from the dirt and you're going back to the dirt from which you came. I'm feeling dirtier every day, to be honest with you. It says, "Then the Lord God formed man of the dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being." So here is man in his original state having a physical being, and then God, step two, breathes into him, which I think is the soul, eternity.

They'll take that verse and they'll use it over in Genesis 3:19, one chapter to the right, where it says, "By the sweat of your face you will eat your bread, till you return to the ground, because from it you were taken; for you are dust, and to dust you shall return." The annihilationist loves this verse because what they think it means is we're just our bodies going right back into the ground, so that means there's coming a point in time where unsaved people won't exist anymore because they're going right back into the ground, right back into the dirt from which they came.

And yet it's just another example where they're abusing the verse because that verse, Genesis 3:19, is a comment on the body only. It's not a comment on what God breathed into the body, which is the life-giving soul. There are two things that are happening in Genesis 2:7. There's physical formation of man from the dirt, and then there's step two where God breathed into his nostrils the gift of life. As part of the curse when it says we're going back into the ground from which we came, it's not making a statement about part two. It's making a statement about part one. It's the body that goes back into the dirt, it's not a statement about what happens to the soul. But they don't want you to focus on part one and part two. They want this just to be a statement about people in general, body and soul, that it ceases to exist. That's not what Genesis chapter 3, verse 19 is even talking about.

If you want to know what happens to people after they die, I don't think it's hidden in the Bible. There's a separation of the body and the soul. Yeah, the body may deteriorate and go back into the earth, but the soul lives forever. Notice what happened to Jesus when He died. Matthew chapter 27, notice if you will verse 50. "And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice and yielded up His spirit." See how the body went one direction and the soul went another? So when Genesis chapter 3, verse 19 is talking about you're going back to the dirt from which you came, it's talking about what happens to the body. It's not talking about the spirit, sometimes called the soul, that left Jesus. That lives forever, although your physical body doesn't in its corrupted state.

Notice what happened to Stephen in Acts 7:59. Stephen being the first martyr of the church age. "They went on stoning Stephen as he called on the Lord and said, 'Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.'" Does it look like his body and soul went back into the ground? That's not what is happening at all with Stephen. Yeah, his body is dying as they're throwing rocks at him, and in its unresurrected state, it will decay and go right back into the earth from which it came, but the soul is alive. The spirit is alive, and it's separating from the body. In Stephen's case, because he was saved, absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Although Stephen physically died here, he was just as alive when that separation happened.

You've got a clear Old Testament example of this happening with Rachel. Remember, Rachel died giving birth to Benjamin. Genesis 35:18, this is Rachel's death as she's giving birth. By the way, God said there would be trouble in childbirth as part of the consequences of sin. Here is an outworking of it. This is Rachel dying. "It came about as her soul was departing," it doesn't say she stopped existing. Her soul was departing. It's like moving; you move from address A to address B. "For she died," and that she named him Ben-oni, but his father called him Benjamin. Here's Rachel giving birth to who was later named Benjamin, and as she's dying, she gives him a name and then her soul departs and goes into the presence of the Lord. She didn't stop existing, even though her physical body went back into the dirt from which it came.

So it's obvious when you look at these things that they're doing something with the second death that the Bible isn't doing. They're trying to turn it into cessation of existence, which is how we use the term in the 21st century. But the Bible nowhere uses that expression. People don't stop existing. With the unsaved, they exist forever in a place of separation, not non-existence.

Another verse they use is Revelation 11:18, where it says "destroy." To the annihilationist, destroy is like the Death Star shooting the laser against Alderaan. I'm talking about Star Wars: A New Hope. I'm not endorsing everything in Star Wars, but I'm just using an illustration. What they want "destroy" to mean is you disappear, just like the planet disappeared when the laser beam hit the planet. So they'll use a verse like Revelation 11:18. "The nations were enraged, and Your wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to reward Your bondservants the prophets and the saints and those who fear Your name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."

God says I'm going to destroy you. When they see the word "destroy," they're thinking Star Wars, cessation of existence. The word there is "diaphthirō." There's a similar word used over in 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 12. This is the word "phthirō" without the "dia" prefix. 2 Peter chapter 2, verse 12, speaking of false teachers, "These, like unreasoning animals, born as creatures of instinct to be captured and killed, reviling where they have no knowledge, will in the destruction of those creatures also be destroyed." Your annihilationist says look what happens to unsaved people. They're destroyed, meaning they cease to exist.

Again, do those words "phthirō" and "diaphthirō" ever mean anywhere in the Bible cessation of existence? The answer is no. Let's talk about "phthirō" first. Let me just show you a few usages of it. Notice 1 Corinthians chapter 3, verse 17. This is talking about people that abuse the church. It says there if any man destroys the temple of God, God will destroy him, for the temple of God is holy and that is what you are. So when people come in and abuse the church and the Bible says destroy the church, does that mean they destroy it to the point where the church doesn't exist anymore? No, the church is in a state of wreckage. That's what it means by destroying.

It's like your car. You want to get a new car, so you've got to get rid of the old car. You take it to the junkyard where they mash it and break it and put it in a state that's unusable. They destroy it. But does that mean that the car that you took to the junkyard doesn't exist anymore? It's in existence, it's just in an unusable state. It's in an irreparable state. It's in a state of non-usefulness, non-utility. It doesn't mean the metal went out of existence. That's what happens to unsaved people when they die. They go to a place of destruction, meaning they're in a place that's irredeemable, a ruin state, but they're still there just like the metal from the car is still in the junkyard.

Notice 1 Corinthians 15:33, another use of "phthirō." "Do not be deceived; bad company corrupts," that's the same word, "good morals." When I hang around people with bad morals and imitate their immorality, does that mean I don't exist anymore? No. Look at 2 Corinthians 11:3. Paul says, "I am afraid that as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, your minds will be led astray," that's our word "phthirō," "from the simplicity and purity of devotion to Christ." Paul is worried about their doctrine being corrupted or ruined. But does the doctrine stop existing? No, it's just now in a warped state.

Notice Revelation 19:2, talking about the harlot in the end times. "Because His judgments are true and righteous, for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting," that's "phthirō," "the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bondservants on her." When the harlot corrupts the world, does the world stop existing? No, it continues on in a warped, perverted state.

How about the stronger expression where the prefix "dia" is added at the beginning, "diaphthirō"? Well, when you study that one out, it's used about five times or so in the New Testament and it never, never, never means to take out of existence. Luke 12:33, Jesus' Sermon on the Mount teaching: "Sell your possessions and give to charity; make yourselves money belts which do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near nor moth destroys." When the moths come and destroy earthly treasure, does that mean the earthly treasure doesn't exist anymore? No, it means the earthly treasure is in a state of corruption.

Notice 2 Corinthians 4:16. This is talking about our bodies. "Therefore we do not lose heart." Why would I lose heart? Because I look at myself in the mirror and I'm not the man I used to be. So if my whole self-image comes from how I look or used to look, what do you do when you don't look like you used to look anymore? Because something's going wrong with our bodies. Well, you lose heart. But Paul says for the Christian, you shouldn't lose heart because although our outer man is decaying, that's "diaphthirō," the inner man is being renewed. So as I'm getting older and I look at myself in the mirror, does that mean I don't exist anymore? What he's describing is my body because of original sin is going through a state of corruption.

Notice 1 Timothy chapter 6, verse 5. "Constant friction between men of depraved mind," that's "diaphthirō." Is he saying their minds don't exist anymore? Well, sometimes when you listen to these depraved people talk, you ask yourself what happened to your brain, man? But Paul says their brain didn't disappear; their brain or mind became corrupted.

Notice Revelation chapter 8 and verse 9. This is talking about the trumpet judgments and it's talking about ships in the water. "A third of the creatures which were in the sea and had life died, and a third of the ships were destroyed." That's "diaphthirō." When a ship is destroyed, it's broken up. The assembly of it is damaged to the point where it doesn't do what its job is anymore. Doesn't mean the wood and the planks and the matter just disappeared. See, and that's what hell is like. Hell is like being in a place where you can never be what you're supposed to be anymore because you're separated from the God that made you. It doesn't mean you didn't exist anymore.

So go back to Revelation 11:18 and you'll notice there that the word "destroyed," "diaphthirō," is used twice. "And to destroy those who destroy the earth." God is going to "diaphthirō" those who destroy the earth. So whatever you're doing with the earth in terms of destruction, you're doing with people. So let me just ask you a basic question. When the tribulation period judgments come, does that mean the earth has just been taken out of existence? Absolutely not. This earth is needed to be renovated so God can bring in His earthly kingdom. Then one day after the thousand years are over, it'll be replaced by the new heavens and new earth. But for a thousand years after this judgment, the earth is not destroyed, it's just ruined. So what is God going to do with unbelievers? He's going to destroy them to the point where they're not usable anymore, they're in a ruin state, not in a non-existent state.

What about the Antichrist? Look at 2 Thessalonians 2:8. We've done "phthirō" and "diaphthirō." Let me give you another word that's used for destruction, "katargeō." "Then the lawless one will be revealed, whom the Lord will slay with the breath of His mouth and bring to an end," that's "katargeō," "by the appearance of His coming." So God is going to take the Antichrist and bring him to an end. When the Antichrist is defeated, does he disappear? He does not disappear. He continues on in a state of separation. Notice Revelation 19:20. "The beast was seized, and with him the false prophet who performed the signs in his presence, by which he deceived those who had received the mark of the beast and those who worshiped the image; these two were thrown alive," they're still alive even though they've been defeated, "into the lake of fire which burns with brimstone."

And guess what folks, a thousand years pass and they're still in there. Because at the end of the thousand years, the Lord is going to take Satan and throw him into the lake of fire where the beast and the false prophet are. So they're still in there a thousand years later. Why is that? Well, I guess this idea that some people have conditional immortality is wrong. I think the Antichrist is immortal because he's still existing even though "katargeō" he's been destroyed.

Notice one more if I could, Romans 6:6. This is dealing with your sin nature. This is what happened to your sin nature the moment you placed your faith in Christ. Your sin nature was destroyed and the verb "katargeō" is used to describe the destruction of your sin nature the moment you trusted Christ. Notice what Romans 6:6 says: "Knowing this, that our old self was crucified with Him, in order that our body of sin might be done away with," that's "katargeō," "so that we would no longer be slaves to sin." Well, isn't that neat? When I trusted in Christ, my sin nature was done away with. Okay, then why is it that when someone cuts me off on the freeway, I go into a rage? I thought my sin nature was taken care of.

And that's where the Bible comes along and says you don't understand what "katargeō" means. "Katargeō" does not mean non-existence. It means your sin nature has been disabled. It has been defeated, not eradicated or annihilated. Why do you sin as a Christian? Because you still have a sin nature. Well then what does it mean when "katargeō" is used in reference to the sin nature? It means you don't have to obey the sin nature anymore. You have the resources of Christ to tell the sin nature no. So here is an example where "katargeō" does not mean annihilation.

They'll talk about how the Antichrist is annihilated and that's the word "katargeō." He's not annihilated. He continues to exist in a ruined state. If you doubt the fact that you still have a sin nature, look at Romans 13:14. Paul says, "But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh in regard to its lusts." Why would you make a statement like that when you just got finished telling us who we are in Christ and we're new creatures? And Paul says, well you don't really understand what the word "katargeō" means. "Katargeō" doesn't mean your sin nature disappeared. "Katargeō" means your sin nature, although it's still there and always exists to pull us back into its wicked clutches, has been defeated but not annihilated. Not eradicated. So when "katargeō" is used to describe unsaved people, it doesn't mean eradication at all the way annihilationists are using these expressions.

Pretty heavy stuff for the first Sunday in February. Have a great day. Father, we're thankful for Your word, Your truth, and help us to rightly divide Your word in these last days. We'll be careful to give You all the praise and the glory. We ask these things in Jesus' name, and God's people said, amen. Happy intermission.