'Folks, you've never known a fire this hot'

For unsaved people, their station in hell will vary because there are degrees of punishment based on accumulated guilt.

Romans 2 makes clear, “But after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up unto thyself wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; Who will render to every man according to his deeds.”

“God will 'reward' men based on the accumulation of their guilt and the more guilt there is—the more hardness against God’s goodness, the more impenitence, the more lack of sorrow and contrition, the more rebellion of heart—the more wrath there’s going to be.

“Jesus Christ warns in Matthew 10:14, 'Verily I say unto you, It shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrha in the day of judgment, than for that city.’

"He’s saying the people of Sodom and Gomorrha won’t have eternal judgment as bad as the people who reject the Kingdom.

“Basically, the more light, the more responsibility; the more opportunity, the more judgment. The greater the light and the privileges given, the greater the sin and the greater the wrath obtained. It’s all degrees of punishment.

“Just as Believers have the opportunity to lay treasures in heaven for themselves by living godly lives, unbelievers are laying up their own treasures in hell and it’s all about degrees of indignation, tribulation, anguish and wrath.

“God’s judgment is on the basis of divine justice. God doesn’t put people in hell because they don’t deserve to be in hell. He puts them in hell because they DO deserve to be in hell and He puts them there on the basis of their activity and what they’re seeking after. Judgment is on the basis of the man’s deeds—what the man seeks after.”

*****

In a study Tennessee preacher Darryl Mefford once gave about the Second Coming of Christ, he assured, “When Jesus Christ comes, this world's going to experience a flame and a fire so hot the likes of which nobody’s ever experienced before and He's going to kindle it! He's getting the coals hot.

“Over in Daniel 3, it talks about that ‘burning fiery furnace . . . being seven times more than it was wont to be heated.’ It's going to be hotter than any fire the world's ever known or seen.

"Psalms 18 says, [13] The LORD also thundered in the heavens, and the Highest gave his voice; hail stones and coals of fire.

[14] Yea, he sent out his arrows, and scattered them; and he shot out lightnings, and discomfited them.
[15] Then the channels of waters were seen, and the foundations of the world were discovered at thy rebuke, O LORD, at the blast of the breath of thy nostrils.

"The great day of the Lord is further detailed in Zephaniah 1: [14] The great day of the LORD is near, it is near, and hasteth greatly, even the voice of the day of the LORD: the mighty man shall cry there bitterly.

[15] That day is a day of wrath, a day of trouble and distress, a day of wasteness and desolation, a day of darkness and gloominess, a day of clouds and thick darkness,
[16] A day of the trumpet and alarm against the fenced cities, and against the high towers.
[17] And I will bring distress upon men, that they shall walk like blind men, because they have sinned against the LORD: and their blood shall be poured out as dust, and their flesh as the dung.

[18] Neither their silver nor their gold shall be able to deliver them in the day of the LORD's wrath; but the whole land shall be devoured by the fire of his jealousy: for he shall make even a speedy riddance of all them that dwell in the land. 

“He's going to make a speedy riddance and you know fire is a very destructive power. He will devour the land with the fire of his jealousy. Nahum 1:2 says, ‘God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies.’

“I want to tell you something, God has got wrath reserved and built up. When we go to war, we call on our reserves; stuff we've got stockpiled. That verse there tells me God's got wrath stockpiled. He's got a treasure house, and a storehouse, of wrath and He's got it reserved for His enemies.

“And, folks, the course of that Tribulation--it begins and it intensifies as it goes through, and when you get to the end of that 70^th week, when Jesus Christ comes in His Second Coming, it's going to be the great culmination of His wrath and His judgment and, folks, the world’s going to experience the wrath of God.

“The verse in Revelations says it will be ‘poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation,’ and that’s just another way of saying what Nahum’s talking about when he says ‘He reserveth wrath.’ He's got wrath built up, laid up, reserved and held back for His enemies—wrath such as like the world has never experienced before.

“Nahum 1: [5] The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.

[6] Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.
[7] The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.
[8] But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.
[9] What do ye imagine against the LORD? he will make an utter end: affliction shall not rise up the second time.

[10] For while they be folden together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards, they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry.

“When He comes there's going to be flaming fire that engulfs and surrounds Him, and wherever He goes the intensity of that flame will be so hot that the hills are going melt and the earth is going to be burnt at His presence. I tell you, folks, you’ve never known a fire that hot.

“You talk about naked vengeance on them that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ’! For those who reject the gospel, Jesus is coming back in flaming fire and He's going to take vengeance, and those that know not God and obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, shall be punished with everlasting destruction."

(new article tomorrow)