Learning from the Bible - Hell?
There is a tendency in our presentation of the gospel to stick with what makes people feel good. God loves you, God gave his life for you; He wants to be in a relationship with you. Now these are all wholly true, however in the whole gospel there is part of the gospel that many people shy away from. I'm referring to the final judgment and hell. We would rather talk about God's love and grace and mercy of course; these are essential to the gospel message but they are not sufficient. Something's missing!
It's not enough to tell people they can be saved; we are commanded to tell them what they are saved from! When you think about the subject of Hell, it is a very serious subject. it's a very biblical subject and I want to begin in John 14:2-3 and talk about the opposite side which is heaven. Jesus said “In My Father’s house are many dwelling places; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.” Heaven is a prepared place for a prepared people, but did you know that hell is also a prepared place? In fact Jesus taught with his own mouth and Matt 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels”. I want you to notice that hell is a prepared place but it was not originally prepared for humans. The Bible says it was prepared for the Devil and his Angels, but you know what God says? Whoever chooses to follow the devil will follow the devil right into Hell.
The place of Hell
The Bible makes it clear that Hell is a real place. It is a place to be avoided. We notice from Matt 5:30 Jesus warning people about coming to this real place. Jesus says “If your right hand makes you stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; for it is better for you to lose one of the parts of your body, than for your whole body to go into Hell. In Matt 10:28 Jesus said “Do not fear those who kill the body but are unable to kill the soul; but rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell”. Hell is a place of destruction. It is a place where people are eternally being destroyed and not only are their bodies but they're souls are being destroyed eternally. Peter also wrote about Hell (2 Pt 2:4-6) and he said “For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a preacher of righteousness, with seven others, when He brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; and if He condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to destruction by reducing them to ashes, having made them an example”, you see what God was doing when He destroyed the earth with water and when He destroyed the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah? He was telling people that these are an example of what not to do. What if you were eternally being burned like Sodom and Gomorrah, being turned into Ashes eternally, forever and ever.
What is Hell like?
The first property is it is very very hot. Almost every time the Bible describes this place, it describes it as a place of burning fire. Mark 9:43 - 48 “hell, …. the unquenchable fire “, is mentioned three times. In Matt 25:41 the Bible calls it “eternal fire”. Matt 13:42 calls it a “furnace of fire “. In Jude 7 it is called “punishment of eternal fire“. In Rev 20:10 it's called a “lake of fire and brimstone”.
The Bible says in Rev 20:12 “And I saw the dead, the great and the small, standing before the throne, and books were opened” that's the 66 books of the Bible (John 12:48) “and another book was opened, which is the book of life; and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books, according to their deeds”. So God is telling people, the way that you can avoid this place, is if God compares the book of life and the 66 books of the Bible, and He sees that you obeyed the Bible, that you lived the Bible! If we read on in Rev 12:13 “And the sea gave up the dead which were in it, and death and Hades gave up the dead which were in them; and they were judged, every one of them according to their deeds. Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire.” We need to be clear, we must do works of righteousness. We will be judged by those works. It's interesting to me too that the 66 books of the Bible were opened to be the basis of judge. Rev 20:15, in the very last verse it says “And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire”. You see that is Hell, that's what it will be like, eternal burning for all eternity.
It is very very scary. In Matt 13:41 Jesus says “The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will throw them into the furnace of fire; (and notice here) in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. The word gnashing of teeth literally means to bite down. You heard the stories back in old times when they would do surgery on people and they didn't have the medicine that we have today? They would just fill them up with alcohol, but they were still awake and they had to amputate a leg or something like that, they would just give him a piece of wood to bite down on. That's the idea of this word gnashing of teeth. It is so painful, it is so hot, it is so scary, that these people are biting down so hard because there's nothing else to do. You can't relieve the pain, you can't take away the fear. Jesus also said in Luke 13 “In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth when you see Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but yourselves being thrown out.” One of the worst feelings in the world, is when someone forces us to leave. Hell is horrifying for that reason because he said you yourselves will be thrust out.
In fact the Bible says it is a place where we will be scared, will be burning, and will be all along. So it's hot, it's horrifying but the next property of hell we notice when we go through, people are absolutely helpless. Nobody can do anything to relieve the pain and the torment for anyone. In Matt 18:12 it's described as outer darkness. I want to look at Matt 22:13 with you just for a moment. I really need you to take in how it will feel “Then the king said to the servants, ‘Bind him hand and foot, and throw him into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” He's all alone, he's all by himself in a dark place, in a hot place, in a scary place, and nobody will help you. Part of our human nature, we have this thing within us, to sort of help each other. But in hell no one will care.
In Rev 14:11 he said the wicked shall have no rest day or night. In Rev 20:10 it says “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.” It's hopeless your helpless, it's horrifying and it's hot.
The people that are in Hell
We've talked about the place of hell, we talk about the properties of Hell, but what kind of people are we going to see there?
The first group of people are the Angels of the devil and the devil himself. The Bible says in Matt 25:41, “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, Depart from Me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels”. So the first people that we see is the devil and his angels.
We meet all the people who are disobedient to God. The Bible teaches that most people will be disobedient to God (Matt 7:14). It's a sad thing and it's a shame but the Bible says in 2 Thess 1:9 “These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power”.
I want to ask you today, do you see yourself there? Have you obeyed the gospel, are you remaining steadfast in the Faith? The Bible says in Mark 16:15-16 “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who has believed and has been baptized shall be saved; but he who has disbelieved shall be condemned.” These are the words of Jesus. We do not want you to go there we want you to be a part of the saved the body of Christ.
Escaping Hell
That’s what Jesus came to save sinners from. Came to save you, from the punishment that is demanded by a just God for rebellion. We all live rebellious lives, and there is no statute of limitations when it comes to our disobedience to God!
In the Bible it says in Acts 2:38 repent and be baptized everyone of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins and you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. In Acts 2:41 they gladly received his word they were baptized in the same day they were added unto them about 3,000 souls and in Acts 2:47 they added to the church daily such as were being saved. The way out of Hell, is through a door. It’s not a man-made door, but a spiritual door. Jesus said “I am the door” (Jn 10:9). Won’t you knock? He promised that everyone who knocks will be allowed to enter (Matt 7:7). Will you please be saved this very hour? Will you please be saved this day!