Revelation chapter six and verse nine. And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God and for the testimony which they held. They cried in a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, does thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? White robes were given unto every one of them, and it was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled. This morning we were speaking on the subject of debt for the Christians. I hope that after listening to some of the things that were said, some of you were going to be asking the Lord to help you to get older quicker, because of the blessedness of old age and the blessedness and pledges of going home to be with the Lord. One of the ladies in the audience happened to have this in her Bible. She said she turned to it. when we're speaking on the subject of our bodies being like a tabernacle or a house, and moving time comes, when this body becomes elapitated and in need of repair but doesn't get the repair of desires, and so the occupant has to move out. I have read this track on two or three occasions during my life, and when I was studying on this this past week, I thought of it. Well, here it is, and I'm going to read it to you. Shows how an old man, Johnny Roberts, looks upon growing old for the Christians. Not growing old. They say that I am growing old. I've heard them tell it times untold. In language plain and bold, but I'm not growing old. This frail old shell in which I dwell is growing old. I know full well. But I am not growing old. I am not the shell. What if my hair is turning gray? Gray hairs are honorable, they say. what if my eyesight growing dim, I still can see to follow him, to sacrifice his light for me upon the cross of Calvary. What should I care if time's old plough hath left his furrows on my brow? Another house not made with hands awaits me in the glory land. What though I faltered in my walk, what though my tongue refused to talk, I still can tread the narrow way, I still can watch and praise and pray. My hearing may not be as keen as in the past it may have been. Still, I can hear my Savior say in whispers soft, This is the way. The outward man do what I can to lengthen out his life's short span shall perish and return to dust as everything in nature must. The inward man, the scriptures say, is growing stronger every day. Then how can I be growing old and safe within my Savior's fold? Here long my soul shall fly away and leave this tenement of clay. This robe of flesh I'll drop and rise to seize the everlasting prize. I'll meet you on the streets of gold and prove that I'm not growing old. Very nice piece of poetry. I suppose we could get a number of them if any desire. Our subject tonight is After Death for the Christless, not a very pleasant subject. I would far sooner speak to something we were on this morning, but we must give both sides of the story. There were some points we didn't emphasize this morning because of lack of time that we'll try and get into this evening. In other words, there's no such thing in your Bible as soul sleep. There are those false cults who try and tell us that when a Christian dies or an uncertain, saved person dies, they fall asleep. In other words, in a state of unconsciousness. And on the great judgment morning, why the trouble will sound, and everybody will wake up, and all will go before this one great white-blown judgment, and their good deeds will be there, and their bad deeds, and their good deeds outweigh their bad deeds. Why? It means they're lost forever. Rather, the good outweigh the bad they go to heaven. The bad outweigh the good they go to heaven. There's no such doctrine as that in your life. The very moment a person breathes his last, that very moment that person is in either heaven or in heaven. The Bible is very plain on that. There is no break in the soul's consciousness whatsoever. The life of the spirit is altogether independent of the body. showing that the Spirit is but the larger. Oftentimes a person is weak in spirit, but strong in body. On other occasions a person may be strong in spirit and weak in body, showing the two are independent. I've met many people, the body's weak, the body's frail, sickly, they're dying, they're hardly able to lift their hand, and yet there's a strong Spirit. The occupant of that house is strong, energetic, vital, a keen mind, a rejoicing heart, showing the inner man is strong. And the body is weak. If the two were so closely knit together, why, as the body weakens the soul or the spirit would weaken? I've seen others with strong, healthy bodies, but they have a very weak and faltering feeble spirit. They don't have the spirit for anything. if the inner man is dead at all, if there are Christians at all, he's mighty, mighty weak. And so we see the difference in the spirit and in the body. There is no pause or parenthesis in our existence between death and resurrection. The departure to be with Christ is far better. It certainly wouldn't be far better if it meant you were going into a state of centuries of unconsciousness. It wouldn't be far better to be in a state of sleep knowing nothing than here on earth walking with God in fellowship with the Lord Jesus. So I think it's far better to know the Scripture teaches that we're not going to pass into some sort of sleep. Far better to stay here empty in fellowship with the Lord than to be in that state of unconsciousness. But when we breathe our last, it means absent from the body. and presence with the Lord. No such thing as centuries or of unconsciousness without his presence. The Christian is never without the Lord's presence. The very moment you accepted Christ, that very moment, Christ came in and you're going to have his presence. Even when you come to die, though I walk to the valley of the taboo of death, I will fear no evil for thou art with me. Christ is going through the valley with us every step of the way. So there's no such thing as soul sleep or any period, any pause, or any parenthesis between death and resurrection. The moment of absence is the moment of its presence. Their souls have gone to be with Christ, or they could not be said to be coming with him when he comes again. You read that in First Thessalonians chapter four. They that sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. Well, it couldn't be their soul, their bodies. Their bodies are asleep, this truth. But it's their day of sleep in Jesus. Will God bring with him what's he going to bring? He can't bring the body there, here and there, in the grave. He must bring their soul. Well, when did their souls leave their body? When they died, their souls went to be with the Lord Jesus Christ and so on. How wonderful all this is when you see it in the life of the Scriptures. You read in the book of Revelation, blessed are the dead with dying the Lord. The moment of their blessedness is the moment of their dying. Blessed is the dead that die on the Lord. They direct from their labors and their works through all of them. Death is not a state, it's an act, it's not a condition. Death is a passage from time into Egypt. There are four texts of Scripture, I think we quoted most of them this morning. Philippians one and twenty-one, Paul says, he has a desire to depart and to be with Christ, which is very far better. Very far better, better than any on earth. Anything this poor world has to offer. Then we spoke on Corinthians five about the tabernacle, the earthly house of our tabernacle, giving it up for the house not made with hands eternal in the heavens. How we're moving out of this old house, moving into the new house. in one glorious experience, absence and stress. In first Thessalonians already referred to in Revelation, fourteen, three and thirteen already referred to. In all these texts, she's very plainly there's no such thing as soul slaves, not to mention the passage under consideration of the night. Christ was conscious. When the Lord Jesus Christ died on the cross, he didn't go into soul slaves. He didn't go into any state of unconsciousness. No, he said to the dying thief, Today shalt thou be with me in paradise, in Pontius' death. We believe the Spirit of the Lord Jesus went and preached unto those spirits that were then in prison that once were disobedient in the days of Noah. Christ was conscious immediately after death. And the thief, he says, Today thou shalt be with me in paradise. That was our compartment of bliss in the spirit world. We say that such a thing is so sleep that today Jesus Christ went into a state or lapsed into a state of unconsciousness, knowing nothing. On the Bible it simply says Christ is the first truth. Afterwards they that are Christ that is coming. What happened to him is going to happen to us. There was no such thing as soul sleep with the Lord Jesus Christ. We have his presence and comfort all through the valley. And over in Luke five and fifteen and seven, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repented. Here you have the shepherd rejoicing. Here you have the woman rejoicing. Here you have the father rejoicing, rejoicing over one sinner repenting. What does this mean? There is joy in the presence of the angels of God. All heaven is rejoicing. When is it rejoicing? when a sinner gets saved on earth you know there's something precious about this in studying this past week or two I was wondering whether loved ones in heaven will not know will they or will they not know when a loved one on earth the answer the the answer of many prayers a loved one on earth is trusted Christ I've seen people say And they've used this language, I wish mother was here. I wish my wife was here now. Oh, how happy she would be to know that I've gotten saved. Mother who paid so long, worked so hard, waited so patiently for me to get saved. She's in heaven now. I wish she had been here. Wouldn't she have been happy? How do you know she doesn't know? How do you know if she doesn't rejoice at that very minute? There is joy in the presence of the ages of God over one sinner that repented. All heaven celebrates. That means loved ones gone before. We all know we don't have exact scripture to put our finger on. It's quite possible for God always exceeds man's expectations. It's quite possible that loved ones in heaven know when loved ones on earth have come to know Christ as Savior. and they join in the celebration. Quite hardly be expected that they would rejoice and know who it is they're rejoicing and not know who it is they're rejoicing over. Heaven is rejoicing when a soul gets raised. I believe the Lord will have it known who it is that God says. So heaven can rejoice and those whose loved one has now passed from death unto life may really rejoice in the glory. Revelation five, we have the state of disembodied spiritism. I want you to notice it. Immediate consciousness. These three verses that I've read, they were packed full of such evidence as we've been giving. I believe these are tribulation saints. They undoubtedly were slain under the rider of the white horse, the second seal. That's likely when they were martyred. Now the last half of that fearful week of years has come. And there are to be many more slaves, and babies who have been slain during the first half, or under the awful days of the sword of the Red Horse rider, because they're slain with the sword, here they are, their disembodied spirits. They are to remain so long where they are until their brethren, their fellow servants are to be slain as they were, then they're going to be united with that. And you notice things concerning them. They have enslaved, that's one thing, that is the body has been killed. They're living. They're not non-existent. No such thing as annihilation here. They're living, you see that in verse ten. And in verse ten they're free. Now here are people, they don't have any body. But they're free. They have their souls and their fittest and they're free. They remember their former state of earth. And what's going on there in verse ten? They know the awful days, the awful conditions that are going on or taking place upon the earth. They have knowledge. They are witnessing to the holiness of God, as you'll notice, in verse ten. And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true? They know what's going on. It's according to the holiness of God. They're waiting till others join them in verse eleven. The white rose were given up to every one of them. It was said unto them that they should rest yet for a little season, undoubtedly the last three and a half years. until their fellow servants also and their brethren that should be killed as they were should be fulfilled. They are capable of receiving knowledge. You can see that because they are being spoken to from the glory. They are capable of receiving additional comfort. They are not in the full blessedness nor bliss that is to be their portion. You will see too that they are partially rewarded. White robes are given unto them and white robes speak of reward. They are impatient for the judgment of the strike in verse ten. How long, O Lord, holy and true, does our Lord avenge our blood? They are praying for God to do something about conditions on the earth, and as monsters of iniquity and smocking through the land. That coming beast, that coming monster. And they are praying that God will step in and halt those fearful days. does bring to an end that awful day that the Lord Jesus speaks of unless he does step in no flesh should be saved and so here they are impatient for the day of judgment we've come to an end the day their brethren might be slain they all might be united together the patience of God however is greater than the patience of his people you see that in this passage they're quite impatient but God is more patient we get impatient sometimes. We wonder why God permits things to continue in the world as they are continuing. Why doesn't he step in? Why doesn't he show his hands? Why this delay on the body Almighty? He's Almighty. He's all powerful. He's all knowing. Why doesn't he do something? The human heart is so impatient. But God is patient. And that's J, right here in this passage. It's not a fact. Here's a fact of existence after death. If ever you have a passage in your Bible, read these three verses. Do anybody come knocking at your door telling you that there's such a thing as soul sleep or there's such a thing as annihilation? Death ends all. How do they get around a passage like this? These are tribulations, saints, they're God's people. Why I'm telling you about them and speaking on the subject that I am, death and after for their priceless is simply this. to prove immediate consciousness after death for the same is to prove the same for the law. Eternal punishment. To establish a fact of consciousness immediately after death for the redeemed is to establish a fact and also prove the point there is immediate consciousness after death for the wicked. The Lord Jesus makes that very plain in John three. And thirty-six, he that believeth on this son hath everlasting life, he that believeth not the son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth upon him. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into life eternal. Here you have the one over against the other, and try and preach from this blessed book that many do, that those who are Christians born against people go to heaven. And instant death means instant glory, and to spend a happy eternity in God's presence and then say, well, there's nothing for the wicked. But death is a die like a frog to the end. That's the end. If you do away with eternal punishment, you do away with eternal life. If you do away with eternal punishment for the wicked, you do away with eternal life for the righteous. The one who over against the other, the spirit cannot die. No spirit ever died. God created the man's nostrils of death and life when man became a living soul. You cannot kill a spirit. You cannot exterminate a spirit. That spirit comes into our body and the spirit moves out when the body dies. And that spirit is going to be reunited to body and soul on the resurrection morning. So I trust that this proves the awful moment that's coming for the wicked. just as the righteous when they breathe their last, they go to be with Christ. When the wicked breathe their last, they're going to be with the dead. Dick of Cade, who refused salvation by blood, going back to Cade, likely the first human being to go to hell. Cade. Likely that compartment that abode of the wicked lost had its first oxygen. when Cain died. He was of that wicked one because he slew his brother. Why did he slay his brother? Because his own works were evil and his brothers were righteous. Cain tried to appease God with the works of his own hands instead of by blood, the blood of a victim. Instead of offering an animal as a substitute, he tried to approach God and appease God, satisfy God's demands by the works of his own hands and he was rejected and he went to hell. The Bible very plain on that. And saying there's still in hell, he's in that place of conscious punishment. Esau's another. He sold his birthright for a mess of potty. He sold so much for so little. Esau, poor Esau. Then think of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah The cities were the plague. You had their past, their present, and their future given to you in the Bible. Their past, they inhabited the cities were the plague. And the fire of God, hell, literal hell, came out of heaven. Fire and brimstone came out of heaven and destroyed their body. Now there are those who try and get a passage of scripture out of the last chapter of the Old Testament and tell you they were going to be burned up. the ashes, and that's going to be the end of it. That's exactly what happened to the people of Sodom and Gomorrah when fire and brimstone fell out of heaven. All that was left was ashes. But the Lord Jesus Christ tells us in the book of Jude, where are they? They're suffering a vengeance of eternal fire. That's their church. Yes, their bodies were burned up. But after their presence, their soul is suffering the vengeance of eternal fire. That's their vengeance. What about their future? He's ready to be easier in the day of judgment for the man of Sodom and Gomorrah than for you people who heard the gospel in a far clearer way than ever they heard it. The people of Sodom and Gomorrah are coming up in the judgment to receive a final sentence, a more fearful sentence, the lake of fire. where there would be weeping and waving and gnashing of teeth throughout all eternity. You have the past then of the people of Sodom and Gomorrah, the time when they live and their bodies were destroyed. The present bear souls in their spirit in a lost eternity. That's what you need to look into. You have their future, they're coming up in the dead. And it's going to be easier for the people of that very age. In other words, their punishment will be less sentence will be less than it will be for people who are there in people who like sickness all day tonight and are not born again hearing the gospel and clarity layman reject him greater will your judgment be in our days deeper down than psalm and slyden shall the Christ reject her be how sad how solemn are these things then think of Judas Iscariot the traitor the Bible says He went to his own place. Christ speaks of eternal conscious punishment more than anyone else. You'd think maybe Peter would speak more of it. You think possibly John would say more about it? No. What about Paul? No. Jesus Christ is the one who speaks the most about eternal punishment. I went through my New Testament this week and got a number of texts with Scripture. to the Lord Jesus Christ, and I want you to hear this. Listen to this one in Mark nine, forty-three and forty-nine. And if thy heron let them be cut it off, it is better for thee to enter into life man than having two herons to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, where their worms die of naught, and the fire that is not quenched. And if thy foot o' pin thee, cut it off. It is better for thee to enter halt into light, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched. Where thy worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy eye o' pin thee, pluck it out, it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire. Where thy worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, for everyone shall be slaughtered with fire, And every sacrifice shall be thwarted with thwart. If annihilation, what good if you had annihilation, whether you had two eyes or one eye, two hands or one hand, two feet or one foot? If annihilation is called your Bible. It simply means that in this Psalm passage, the more members you've got, the more you're going to suffer. Think of that coming from the lips of the Lord Jesus Christ. The more members you've got, the more you're going to suffer. And it's absolutely nonsense to say a thing can be punished if it doesn't exist. You can't punish something that doesn't exist. These are the words that pale from the lips of the Son of God. Far better, he says, enter into light. Having one foot, one eye, one hand. then have all your faculties and lose your soul and go to hell. Have that many more faculties and members to suffer the vengeance of eternal fire. What do you say in Matthew, twenty-five, forty-six, and remember the Son of God is the speaker. I already quoted it. And these shall go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteousness do like eternal. Who quotes Revelation fourteen, ten, eleven, if it's not an angel dispatched from the throne? Here are the words. the saints shall drink to the wine and the wrath of God which was poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation. And he shall be tormented with pardon and thimstone and the presence of the holy angel and in the presence of the land. And the smoke of their torment has ended up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night, for worship the beast in his image, and who shall be received in the mark of his name? Who is it that says in Revelation twenty, fourteen and fifteen, if it's not, the Son of God himself. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire. 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 girded with fire and blimstone which is the second death. Five times in the book of Revelation you read about the lake which girded with fire and blimstone. This is not the language of a fanatic. It's not the language of the expressions of a fool. It's the language of the Son of God. The Lord Jesus Christ himself. What did he say about Judas? Good for that man had he never been born. That's what Jesus Christ said. If death ends all, if annihilation means anything, then what matters? Whether he... was born or whether he wasn't born, that death ends all, that Jesus Christ did as good a work for that man if he had never been born. Implying the awful judgment of the way being that man who betrayed the son of God for thirty pieces of silver and had a front seat. The devil had a front seat to the eyes of Judas at the perfections and giddies of the son of God. What would it be like for Judas? To think how close he had How close he was to the Son of God. What a close look he had at the Son of God. He was with him for three and a half years. He watched the miracles. He heard his words. He saw the people healed. He saw the miracles. And yet he sold it all for thirty pieces of silver. What must his tale be? What a day when poor Judas meets the Christ of God. is consigned to the everlasting burnings. Then, Judas Shumbo, what Christ meant when he said, good will it for that man if he had never been born. Then, good will it for you, had the news not broken on the community that a bad child was born when you were born. Far better, loved ones didn't rejoice for the news that a girl was born. For you to be born and live and die and go to hell. Far better, your little cradle had been your problem. than to grow up and reject the Savior and be lost for all eternity. Hebrews nine and twenty-seven is appointed unto man, who wants to die. And after death, said Jason, after death, flee. No, after death, a judgment. That's what your Bible says. The appointed unto man wants to die, but after death, Joseph. You've got the verses. It's in the book. When our texts go over in Isaiah, fourteen and nine, Herald from beneath is moved to meet thee at thy coming. Think of it. Herald from beneath is moved to meet thee at thy coming. Everything is not silent and still in Herald. There's activity there. There's commotion. Here is another soul coming. Herald from beneath is moved is stirred to meet thee at thy coming. What a welcoming committee that will be. They will say, what a fool you were. After all of the warnings you heard, why did you make such a dreadful choice and come to this terrible place? Oh, that we could have gotten news to do it. There was one man who got a message through. That's the man in the six feet of loose. He said, son, send someone to my father's house. I have five brethren. lest they come to this place of torment. Maybe someone in the Herald tonight is trying to get a message through for you sitting in this meeting. The Lord knew lest you come to that base of torment and maybe the message is getting through. Through the speaker you're listening through the night for God didn't lay this on my heart for nothing. I trust the message will get through to somebody in this meeting lest you come to this awful place of punishment. He says, the Son of God, heaven, and I shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away. He says, in Mark concerning those who are in danger of eternal damnation, if they are guilty of the unpardonable sins, and they shall be punished with everlasting destruction. We read in Second Testament Romans, one and nine. The Apostle Paul speaks. Listen to this in Isaiah thirty-three and fourteen. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? Who among us shall dwell with the everlasting burning? These are dreadful passages of Scripture. These are solemn words. They're not mine. They're quotations from the Bible. Son of God uttered the most of them. Why does he speak thus? Because he loves you. And he wants to save you. And he wants to save you now. Though your sins be as scarred, they shall be as well as white as snow. Will they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool. Though your sins be as midnight, if you put them all away. Though your sins rise high as the mountains, though your sins be like the sand from the seven seas innumerable, the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, can cleanse from every sin from every state. He bore the judgment. He went through it all. He paid all. He met all. He finished all. He destroyed the part of death and he triumphed over the tomb. Jesus Christ. Nor the deliver you from such an awful place. Though this tale, which is only the temporary prison house until the penitentiary, after the great white-grown judgment, it will be the penitentiary. The lake which burneth with pire and brimstone forever. A man is apprehended, he's taken to your local court, and he's sent to jail for a little while, or he's put in jail, deserved in jail, until he's brought up when his cases finally tried before the judge can pass a sentence. People who died without Christ are in jail in a place called hell where torment. And under great white stone judgment, all unbelievers are going to be brought out of jail to stand before the Supreme Judge of the universe. There it will be the sentence for eternity. It will be the penitentiary of which there is no escape. It will be there forever, forever and forever. But oh, here is one. He offers life and rest for the soul. Here is salvation, full, free and everlasting for poor needy. Guilty, lost sinners. You don't have to die such a death. You don't have to entertain such melancholy thoughts of breathing your last and going to hell with a free time and brimstone forever. You may be saved. You may be saved tonight. You may be saved right now. The whole question is, will you receive the Lord Jesus? Why did he die? Sin must be awful. the necessitate such a sacrifice to put it away. Why do you think God sent his son to this world to die unless there must be something awful on the other side of death for man? To see the enormity of the sacrifice, the greatness and grandeur of the sacrifice offered at Calvary shows the greatness of man's sin, the enormity of his crime, and the fearfulness of the penalty if he doesn't turn from his sin. and receive salvation. These things are not to be plagued with either solemn facts. I have given you the word of God. If any of you turn up in a lost eternity, you'll remember this night, but I'll tell you one thing. I've washed my hands clean of your guilt. It'll be you and God. It won't be you in the picture. It'll be you and God. You're a sinner, you know it. You're lost and you know it. You're guilty and you know it. Christ died for you and you know it. You can be saved. You may be saved, you know it, but you won't. Only God knows why. I saw someone in this meeting this morning. I don't think she's in the meeting tonight. It's all the same as she is. For three years, she's been coming to the chapel. My dear stand every Sunday morning tackling a little battle, gripping her teeth, biting her lips, gripping the seat in front of her. refusing to make a decision. Her husband did about two years ago. My, what an eternity it'll be for one who's fighting against God like that. I wonder what you're going to do tonight with the Lord Jesus. You've heard all the endless of Christ. What a fearful, awful, terrible end to be. But you decide where you're going to be for eternity with Christ in glory. or with the devil and his angels of hell. Shall we pray? Our Father in heaven, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, be unto thee. We ask thy blessing upon thy word. We thank thee for the privilege of presenting it solemnly is. Yet we thank thee, Father, for thy truth. God will be have tundered up to what thou hast revealed. Oh, we think of the love of our Lord Jesus Christ, how we love sinners. We went to that cross. There it is put on the receive the stroke of justice aimed at me. He knew the fearfulness of thy wrath. He experienced thy heart this pleasure against sin. Under that awful, that fearful judgment he tried out my God, my God by himself has taken me. This will give a try of the damned throughout the long eternity. O Father, grant us someone in our meeting. May it come to Christ. May it come to life. We thank You. We cannot only warn them of the dangers of this before them, but we can tell them of escape. We tell them away. Salvation. It's all in our Lord Jesus Christ. self, to make up your mind tonight not to risk being lost anymore, or not steadless, steadless now, steadless whatever, we have to be known as the Jesus precious name. Amen. Shall we sing that in all those frustrated, two hundred and eleven? Two hundred and eleven. Almost persuaded now to believe, almost persuaded. Christ to the sea, seems now some so to say, goes spirit, go thy way. Some more convenient day on thee, I'll call. And so these words are we're going to stand and sing, if you come to Christ tonight, won't you come and tell us, if you haven't but wanted, it's your opportunity.