Opening illustration: Video of ‘HELL’ from center of the earth.
Introduction: Many pastors do shy away from the topic of everlasting damnation. "It’s out of fear they’ll not appear relevant. It’s pressure from the culture to not speak anything negative. I believe we’ve begun to deny hell. There’s an assumption that everybody’s going to make it to heaven somehow." The soft sell on hell reflects an increasingly market-conscious approach.
"When you’re trying to market Jesus, sometimes there’s a tendency to mute traditional Christian symbols," he said. "Difficult doctrines are left by the wayside. Hell is a morally repugnant doctrine. People wonder why God would send people to eternal punishment."
Human ideas about hell were still in ferment as the Bible was being written.
The ancient Hebrews focused on the afterlife following their Babylonian captivity, when they experienced the torment of ungodly enemies who seemed to have an unjustifiably good life on Earth. During the Babylonian exile, Jews were exposed to Zoroastrianism, which asserts there is an eternal struggle between good and evil, with good triumphing in the end. From about 300 B.C. to 300 A.D., those influences combined with Hebrew speculation about an eventual comeuppance to the worldly wicked.
1. What is Hell?
The Hebrew concept of "Sheol" — the realm of the dead. Place to which people descend at death.
In translating the Bible from Hebrew to Greek, the Greeks used the terms Tartarus, Hades and Gehenna. In Greek thought, Hades is not a place of punishment; it’s where the dead are separated from the living.
The term Gehenna referred to a ravine outside Jerusalem that was used as a garbage dump. It had once been a place of child sacrifice and became a symbol of pain and suffering. As a garbage dump, it was probably often a place of fire as trash was burned, emphasizing the symbolism of the flames of eternal damnation, he said.
Hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife, often in the underworld.
Jesus never soft-pedaled the concept of hell. "It’s not metaphorical according to Jesus; it’s a real place," he said.
The Bible contains a litany of colorful images of hell as both fire and darkness, as in the Gospel of Matthew, which refers to "the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels" and "the outer darkness" where "men will weep and gnash their teeth."
Either way, pretending that hell doesn’t exist, or trying to preach around it, short-circuits the Bible. "This is a doctrine, a teaching, that’s being neglected in churches." "It needs to be preached. It’s part of the Gospel."
2. Where is Hell?
Numbers 16: 32 & 33 “and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, with their households and all the men with Korah, with all their goods. So they and all those with them went down alive into the pit; the earth closed over them, and they perished from among the assembly.”
Proverbs 15: 24 “The way of life winds upward for the wise, That he may turn away from hell below.”
Isaiah 14: 9 “"Hell from beneath is excited about you, To meet you at your coming; It stirs up the dead for you, All the chief ones of the earth; It has raised up from their thrones All the kings of the nations.”
Isaiah 14: 15 “Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.”
Isaiah 57: 6 “You went to the king with ointment, And increased your perfumes; You sent your messengers far off, And even descended to Sheol.”
Matthew 12: 40 “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
Ephesians 4: 8 – 10 “Therefore He says: "When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men." (Now this, "He ascended" -- what does it mean but that He also first descended into the lower parts of the earth? He who descended is also the One who ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)
Illustration: There is a story of a chaplain who reported to a new duty station. Upon arrival some of the men came to see him and asked him this question; Do you believe in a literal hell? When he replied that he did not. The men asked him to resign and he asked them why. Their response to him was; ‘If there is no Hell then we don’t need you and if there is a Hell we don’t want you to lead us astray.”
3. What does it look like?
(a) Physical outlook of the place:
Luke 23: 43 “And Jesus said to him, "Assuredly, I say to you, today you will be with Me in Paradise."
1 Peter 3: 18 – 20 ”For Christ also suffered once for sins, the just for the unjust, that He might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive by the Spirit, by whom also He went and preached to the spirits in prison, who formerly were disobedient, when once the Divine longsuffering waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water.”
* Possibly the core of the earth (also called Paradise) was divided into 3 compartments ~
Paradise / Abraham’s bosom
Sheol / Hades (hell)
Prison (hell)
Apparently after the resurrection of Christ the compartment of ‘Paradise / Abraham’s bosom’ seems to be empty as now the souls were redeemed by Christ’s blood who had been in the waiting phase till Christ could come and conquer death and hold the keys to hades.
Hebrews 2: 14 & 15 “Inasmuch then as the children have partaken of flesh and blood, He Himself likewise shared in the same, that through death He might destroy him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and release those who through fear of death were all their lifetime subject to bondage.”
And in Romans 6: 8 “Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him,”
2 Corinthians 5: 8 “We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.”
Moreover Paul says in Ephesians 2: 5 – 6 “even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus,”
(a) Outlook of the souls present:
Matthew 13: 41, 42, 49, 50 “The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, "and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. "So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come forth, separate the wicked from among the just, "and cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing (weeping) and gnashing of teeth."
Luke 16: 24 “"Then he cried and said, ’Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.”
4. What was the purpose of Hell?
Matthew 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:”
2 Peter 2: 4 “For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment;”
5. Who are destined for Hell?
Psalm 9: 17 “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”
Matthew 5: 22 “But I say to you that whoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment. And whoever says to his brother, ’Raca!’ shall be in danger of the council. But whoever says, ’You fool!’ shall be in danger of hell fire.”
Matthew 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:”
6. How can one be saved from Hell?
Revelation 1: 12 – 18 “Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet and girded about the chest with a golden band. His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and His eyes like a flame of fire; His feet were like fine brass, as if refined in a furnace, and His voice as the sound of many waters; He had in His right hand seven stars, out of His mouth went a sharp two-edged sword, and His countenance was like the sun shining in its strength. And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead. But He laid His right hand on me, saying to me, "Do not be afraid; I am the First and the Last.” I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.”
Romans 10: 8 – 13 “But what does it say?” The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the word of faith which we preach): that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. For the Scripture says, "Whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame." For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same Lord over all is rich to all who call upon Him. For "whoever calls on the name of the LORD shall be saved.”
John 3: 16 – 18 “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life. "For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved. "He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.”
Illustration: A famous evangelist named Peter Cartwright was known for his uncompromising preaching. However, one day when the President of the United States, Andrew Jackson, "Old rough and ready," came to Cartwright’s church, the elders warned the Pastor not to offend the President. In those days, the President had great power to influence a denomination for good or bad. Content, that their Pastor would not say anything to discredit their church, the elders retired to the back of the sanctuary. When Cartwright got up to speak, the first words out of his mouth were, "I understand that President Andrew Jackson is here this morning. I have been requested to be very guarded in my remarks. Let me say this: "Andrew Jackson will go to hell if doesn’t repent of his sin!" The entire congregation gasped with shock at Cartwright’s boldness. How could this young preacher dare to offend the tough old general in public, they wondered. After the service, everyone wondered how the President would respond to Cartwright. When Andrew Jackson met the preacher at the door he looked at him in the eye and said, "Sir, If I had a regiment of men like you, I could conquer the world!" When we appreciate the power of the word of God and the Holy Spirit speaking from the lips of people with conviction we will make eternal differences.
7. What is the ‘Lake of Fire?’
Revelation: 20: 13 – 15 “The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death. And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.” (location unknown)
After we die there is a waiting period either in hades or heaven before the judgment takes place after which there will be those who will be sent either to eternity in heaven or the lake of fire where the second death takes place.
8. Application:
• Where are we destined?
• Where are our families and loved ones destined?
• Is everyone at church today given their life to Christ?
• Is there anyone you know who could be destined to it? What are you doing about it?
• Let us go out from here with a burden and challenge to reach out to the lost souls with the saving grace of Christ.
