DO YOU REALLY BELIEVE IN HELL?
• “If there are so many people in Hell, then I can tolerate it too.”
• “If my relatives and friends are in Hell, then I would rather spend my eternity there with them.”
• “I'm on the highway to Hell, So... going to Hell is a place of freedom, happiness, party time, and friends.”
Who came up with idea that Hell will be full of good times, “Goin' down,” party time? THAT IS A LIE! Hell is a place of individual, solitary torment, not fun and friends. People will have their own emotional and physical anguish, with weeping, gnashing of teeth, and pain in the flames.
People often correlate their experience on earth with Hell–“This is Hell on Earth.” The book of Revelation denies such a belief, relating that a day will come when the world as we know it now will be replaced by two types of existence: one within the walls of the New Jerusalem and one outside. Revelation 21:27 states that only those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life will enter the city. Anyone whose name is not in the book belongs in the existence outside of the New Jerusalem, which is Hell.
Hell is a place where unsaved sinners will be kept away from God who is the Source of all goodness and blessings (Luke 16:19-31).• If someone still believes in Hell, they are called old-fashioned, out of touch, out of step with reality, foolish and ignorant.
• Appealing to rationality and reason, others say that the concept of an eternal Hell where sinners burn forever is ludicrous and demeaning.
• Appealing to the nature of God, others say that it flies in the face of everything God is to teach that He will consign some people to Hell.
• Still others turning to religion tell us that man is capable of redeeming himself so every man is working out his own Heaven, and there will be Hell for no one.
• The cultists, without exception, have all concocted a plan whereby they, and their followers, can escape eternal damnation and live joyfully in a better world.
Expulsion from God’s presence is seen throughout the Bible as those who are against God.
• When Adam and Eve disobeyed God, He forced them out of the Garden of Eden. This meant more than leaving a particular location on earth. It symbolized their separation from God and losing His favor. The curse on the original creation order in Genesis was inevitable due to the sin in the garden. Humans from then are born sinners.
• According to Paul in Colossians 1:21, “unsaved sinners are separated from God” and “separated from the life that God gives us.”
• In Revelation 20, we find an ultimate reality that the separation is the existence of Hell.
In the end, it won’t matter what anyone believes about Hell. The Scriptures will be proven correct, and every philosophy and opinion of man will perish. Here is the truth about Hell.
HELL IS A REAL PLACE. Hell is as real as any other geographic location.
• Jesus believed in Hell (Mark 9:43-48; Luke 16:19-31).
• Hell will be outer darkness (Matthew 8:12; Matthew 22:13; Matthew 25:30; 2 Peter 2:17; Jude 1:13).
• Hell is absolute, eternal separation from the presence of God (2 Thessalonians 1:8-9).
HELL WILL BE FILLED WITH REAL PEOPLE
• People you know and people I know will populate Hell.
• Hell wasn’t made for people (Matthew 25:41), but those who reject Jesus Christ as their personal Savior will go there.
HELL CONTAINS REAL PUNISHMENTS.
• Unquenchable Fire (Mark 9:43; Luke 16:24).
• Memory and remorse Rich man (Luke 16:25-28).
• Intense, unsatisfied thirst (Luke 16:24-25).
• Misery and pain (Luke 16:24-26; Revelation 14:10-11).
• Frustration and anger (Luke 13:28; Matthew 24:51).
• Eternal separation (Revelation 21:8).
• Undiluted wrath (Habakuk 3:2).
In Hell, God’s fury will be unleashed! If for nothing else, this ought to make everyone want to be saved!
HELL GUARANTEES REAL PERMANENCE
• The rich man was told that he had to stay there. He is still there today!
• If you die without Jesus Christ, you will most certainly go to Hell! If you go to Hell, you will be there forever (Revelation 20:11-15).
HELL CAN BE AVOIDED THROUGH A REAL PROMISE
• The rich man is told that the Word of God holds the answer.
• of God’s love for sinners (John 3:16).
• of Christ’s death to save them (Isaiah 53:1-12; Romans 5:6-8; 2 Corinthians 5:21).
• of Christ’s resurrection that guarantees eternal life to all who come to him by faith (Matthew 28:6; John 11:25-26).
• of a God who will save all who will come to Him by His grace.
Jesus Christ tells us that there can be no passing from Hell to Heaven or from Heaven to Hell. The day of judgment has nothing to do with reclaiming the lost sinner. It is purely punishment. 2 Thessalonians 1:6-10 says Hell is a place of
• spiritual torment away from the presence of the Lord
• physical destruction, not annihilation, with very extreme pain and sufferings. Persons annihilated have no sense of feeling or pain or pleasure, and much less do they feel that punishment which carries in it and extreme pain or suffering.
Wicked humans will suffer the same kind of death as devils (Matthew 25:41). Punishment of the wicked will last even after the end of the world. It is everlasting (Matthew 25:46; 2 Thessalonians 1:9-10; Jude 1:7; Revelation 14:11; Revelation 20:10; Revelation 20:14; Revelation 21:8).
Think of this: the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23). Consider what it is
• to suffer extreme torment forever and ever
• to suffer day and night
• from one year to another, from one age to another, and from a thousand ages to another
• adding age to age, and thousands of thousands of ages.
• Pain. Wailing. Lamenting. Groaning. Gnashing your teeth.
• Your soul full of dreadful grief.
• Your body and every member full of racking torture without any possibility of getting ease.
• Consider how dreadful despair will be in such torment.
This could be you if you have not accepted Christ as your Savior.
The Bible locates Hell in the sight of heaven. The smoke of their torment as it rises up forever and ever is in full view from the heights of the Heavenly City. Hell is a horrible, eternal place from which there is no escape for all eternity. Those who don’t know God or obey the Gospel are headed there (2 Thessalonians 1:8-10; Revelation 20:14-15).
Hell is eternal, and it is real.
• Matthew 25:46 - Eternal punishment
• Hebrews 6:2 - Eternal judgment
• Matthew 18:8 - Eternal Fire
• Mark 9:44 - Where the fire is not quenched
Different words are used in the Scriptures to describe the place of the dead until the time of the resurrection. Observe that the wicked will go to a place just as Heaven is a real place and not a mere state of mind.
• The first is “Sheol” translated “Hell,” “grave,” and “pit”. This was the Old Testament word for the abode of the dead, both a state of existence and a place of conscious existence (Deuteronomy 18:11; 1 Samuel 28:11-15; Isaiah 14:9). God was sovereign over it (Deuteronomy 32:22; Job 26:6). It was regarded as temporary and the righteous anticipated the resurrection out of it into the millennial age.
• The second word is “Hades.” In the New Testament, this word is practically equivalent to “Sheol” and is translated “Hell” in every instance but one, 1 Corinthians 15:55, where it is translated “grave”. Generally this word has in view the unsaved dead who are in misery awaiting the resurrection unto the great white throne (Matthew 11:23; Matthew 16:18; Luke 10:15; Luke 16:23; Revelation 1:18; Revelation 20:13-14).
• The third word “Gehenna” is used twelve times in the New Testament, a geographical term for the final state of the unsaved, a place of eternal punishment of the wicked. Gehenna was a deep valley used as a garbage dump, always smouldering because of burning trash.
- In Hell, you will no longer be relevant, just dumped as worthless, putrid, ugly, broke, garbage.
- You will have mental anguish knowing you are now considered refuse.
- It will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, the sound of frustration and regret. Gnashing goes on forever.
- There is no next time in Hell.
- And you sit there, a piece of trash in the city dump for eternity.
The lake of fire must denote a body of matter having liquid form which cannot burn out and cannot be quenched. Both body and soul are cast into it. It is only too evident that the lake of fire has been prepared and is now ready for the resurrection body of the unsaved which evidently will be indestructible even in the midst of such a fire (Matthew 5:22; Matthew 5:29-30; Matthew 10:28; James 3:6).
• The fourth word is “Tartaros” and is used only in 2 Peter 2:4 regarding the judgment of wicked angels and their eternal abode.
HELL IS NOT
• a parable
• a scare tactic
HELL IS
• a reality
• a choice you must make
It’s your choice to go to Heaven or Hell. This is your wake up call, and your opportunity to do something about it. I’ve told you about Hell.
What if it isn’t true?
What if it is?
THE INVITATION
★ You can't depend on your own goodness to get to Heaven. We've all sinned (Romans 3:23). Jesus paid the penalty for your sins with His death on the cross and His resurrection (John 3:16).
★ To be forgiven and be guaranteed a place in Heaven, you need to repent of sin, confess that you are a sinner, and believe on the Lord Jesus Christ in your heart (Acts 2:21).
★ You can use the following prayer or your own words, but you must actually believe in your heart that your prayer is real:
Lord Jesus, I believe You are the Son of God. I confess that I have sinned against You in thought, word, and deed. Please forgive all my wrongdoing and let me live in relationship with You from now on.
I receive You as my Savior and recognize that the work You accomplished once and for all on the cross was done on my behalf.
Thank You for saving me. Help me to live a life that is pleasing to You.
In Your name I pray, Amen.
Dr. Nicholas J. Gray, Pastor Broadway Baptist Church Sedalia, Missouri April 19, 2015
