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I've talked to a lot of folks through

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the years about their eternal destiny.

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I've gone door to door in neighborhoods ringing

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doorbells and talking to people about their soul.

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I've stopped them on the street to hand

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them a gospel track and say a word

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to them about their salvation.

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And one thing I've learned is that seldom

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have I ever talked to anyone who thought

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they were going to hell.

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Every single one of them thought one of

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two things, that either they were good enough

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to get to heaven or that God was

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too good to send them to hell.

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The title of my message today friends is

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God's too good to damn me because that's

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what most folks think.

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Those are the two responses I've heard from

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time and time again.

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I can't tell you the countless times I've

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heard people say to me that they were

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good enough for heaven because they weren't as

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bad as somebody else.

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I had a friend ask me to go

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to the hospital to talk to his dying

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aunt who was the member of a Methodist

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church because he was concerned about her soul.

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He didn't think she was really saved.

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So I went to see her and as

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I sat by her hospital bed I asked

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her if she thought she was going to

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heaven when she died and she told me

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yes because I haven't robbed a liquor store

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or murdered anyone.

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That was her criteria.

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She wasn't as bad as others so that's

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why she was good enough for heaven.

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The other response I've gotten from folk is

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that God is too good to send anybody

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to hell.

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They believe that God was too good to

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damn them but their misconceptions of the God

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of the Bible won't keep them out of

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hell.

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In Matthew 10 28 Jesus spoke plainly when

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he said, And fear not them which kill

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the body, but are not able to kill

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the soul, but rather fear him which is

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able to destroy both soul and body in

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hell.

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The most hated doctrine in the church today

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is that God will and must punish sin.

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People refuse to believe in that kind of

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God.

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Their God wouldn't act that way.

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Their God would never send anybody to hell.

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Their God is too good to damn them.

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But my Bible says that God is a

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God of justice as well as a God

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of mercy and God is a God who

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must punish sin.

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The slain Christ on the cross is a

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vivid reality that God must punish sin.

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When Christ was led away to Calvary to

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be crucified as the Roman soldiers took Jesus

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to fasten him to that cross, they drove

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nails into his hands and feet and every

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stroke of their hammer was an explanation point

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that God must punish sin.

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God must punish sin.

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God must punish sin.

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But if you were to stand in the

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pulpit of most churches in America today and

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tell folks that God will punish sin, they

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would reject that message and persecute the preacher

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who gave it because their God wouldn't punish

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sin.

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But the God of the Bible will.

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And the folks I've witnessed to who told

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me they felt they were good enough for

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heaven held a false concept of God as

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well because good people don't go to heaven.

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Only forgiven people get to go there.

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Those who have had their sins washed in

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the blood of the Lamb.

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You go and tell folks today that they

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must repent or just go on to hell

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and all hell be thrown at you because

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men hate the doctrine of repentance because they

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love their sins.

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They love darkness more than light.

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They will accept a Jesus for a savior

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but they'll have nothing to do with him

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as their Lord.

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Men want a God who won't get in

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the way of their daily living.

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So they get out their pocket knives and

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whittle out a God for themselves that they

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can live with.

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And their God is too good to damn

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them.

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He just wouldn't act that way.

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But the God of the Bible of Matthew

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22 13 declares that God is a God

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who will punish sin.

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Then said the king to the servants bind

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him hand and foot and take him away

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and cast him into outer darkness that there

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shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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Weeping speaks of grief and loss and gnashing

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of teeth signifies great anger and regret.

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And that's what hell is like friends.

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A region of outer darkness where there is

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continual weeping and gnashing of teeth.

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Repent before it's too late.