IS THERE REALLY A HELL?
Matthew 7:13-23
Illustration: “How many people will die in the world in 1 hour? The answer is 6,480 people. But here is a major problem - It is estimated that only 7% of the world’s population is ready to go to Heaven. That means 6,026 go to Hell ever hour. …and it means only 454 are Christians and are going to heaven. If you died right now and stood before the Lord Jesus and he asks you “why should I let you into heaven, what would you say. I want to think about that question as I preach the word to you today
1. Can I share with you that the church is inoculating
people against Christianity when they don’t preach
all of what the word of God teaches?
2. Do you remember when you got your shots as a child?
a. To inoculate someone and prevent them from
getting a certain disease, is to introduce a miniscule
amount of the disease so the body will produce
natural agents of the body to fight the disease.
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Illustration: A Contagious Christian Recently, I saw a letter written by a relatively new Christian to the person whose life had influenced hers so greatly. She actually lists about a dozen qualities she found contagious in the life of this older Christian. Listen to some of what she wrote: You know when we met; I began to discover a new vulnerability, a warmth, and a lack of pretence that impressed me. I saw in you a thriving spirit - no signs of internal stagnation anywhere. I could tell you were a growing person and I liked that. I saw you had strong self-esteem, not based on the fluff of self-help books, but on something a whole lot deeper. I saw that you lived by convictions and priorities and not just by convenience, selfish pleasure, and financial gain. And I had never met anyone like that before. I felt a depth of love and concern as you listened to me and didn’t judge me. You tried to understand me, you sympathized and you celebrated with me, you demonstrated kindness and generosity - and not just to me, but to other people, as well. And you stood for something. You were willing to go against the grain of society and follow what you believed to be true, no matter what people said, and no matter how much it cost you. And for those reasons and a whole host of others, I found myself really wanting what you had. Now that I’ve become a Christian, I wanted to write to tell you I’m grateful beyond words for how you lived out
your Christian life in front of me.
Basically, she was saying, "Thanks for being a Contagious Christian."
• Can you apply that spiritually?
• 1 Corinthians 1:18 18 For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God.
ILLUSTRATION: The word used in the Greek to describe salvation is DUNAMIS, the root word for our English word DYNAMITE. It speaks of an explosive power that has an effect on everything around it.
1. These people we’ve read about in Matthew 7 have died
like some of you may one day die expecting to go to
heaven and opened their eyes in hell.
2. Can’t think of anything sadder than to die expecting to
walk streets of gold and open my eyes in the fires of
hell.
Luke 16:19-31 Want to take the remainder of this message from these verses:
Luke 16:19-31New King James Version (NKJV)The Rich Man and Lazarus
19 “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously every day.20 But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate, 21 desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell[a] from the rich man’s table. Moreover the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s bosom. The rich man also died and was buried. 23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
c 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented. 26 And besides all this, between us and you there is a great gulf fixed, so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us.’
27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.’30 And he said, ‘No, father Abraham; but if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent.’ 31 But he said to him, ‘If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rise from the dead.’”
I. Hell is a real place! (verse 23)
23 And being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.
A. You may say I don’t believe that there is a place called hell but that doesn’t negate it’s existence.
1. You may have doubts about there being a real place called hell but the RICH MAN KNOWS BEYOND ANY SHADOW OF A DOUBT THAT HELL
IS A REAL PLACE Jesus.
Illustration: C. S. Lewis was told about a gravestone inscription that read; “Here lies an atheist – all dressed up and nowhere to go.” Lewis quietly replied, “I bet he wishes that were so.”
ILLUSTRATION: In a national poll conducted several years ago by USA Today - 67% of American adults said they believe in a hell. Less than 25% believed that they would go there and 25% believe their friends will be there. Many Christians reject the idea of hell. They do not understand why a loving God would send people to such a horrible place.
2. The Bible teaches that hell is a very real place.
the concept of hell was not invented by the
church as a way of scaring your children to be
good at bedtime. It is an actual place.
2. In this passage Jesus gives us a very clear picture of what it is really like. Heaven and hell are very real.
John 14:2 2 In My Father’s house are many ansions;[a] if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.
32 All the nations will be gathered before Him, and He will separate them one from another, as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats.
33 And He will set the sheep on His right hand, but the goats on the left. 34 Then the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world:
1 “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:’
3. Like heaven, hell is also a real place. Satan
rebelled against God. Hell was prepared for those
who, like the devil, choose to run from God.
4. It is a place of choice. God gave man a choice; to be with Him or apart from Him. Since God is everywhere He created one place in creation where He is not present
II …Hell is a place of torment
2 Thess 1:9 They will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the majesty of his power
A. On this earth, as good or bad as it might be, we
have evil people and good people.
1. The Bible says God still sends the sun to shine on the evil and the good. We all benefit from the goodness of good. We still live in His creation although it's not perfect yet. We still benefit from His compassion and patience.
2. In hell, there will be none of that. No compassion, no creativity, no patience. It's a place where we are separate from God forever.
3. I have heard many people say when they are going through a very difficult time that they are going through “hell” but it is not true.
4. Our lowest days on earth will seem like a vacation compared to hell. It has been said that the pain of hell is not so much caused by the presence of evil as from the absence of good.
5. Darkness is not dark because of the presence of darkness but because of the absence of light.
III. Hell is a place of unfulfilled desire 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.’
A. The desire of thirst isn’t satisfied in hell--Not even
one drop of water in hell and none of the desires we have of this earth will be satisfied.
• Cigarettes and nicotine
• Alcoholic and drug addict
• Sexual perversion
• Whatever it may be in the fires of
hell there is no satisfaction
B. Imagine if you will opening your eyes in hell my friend
and being burned with fire hotter than any here on
earth but no light being given off to see by.
1. UTTER DARKNESS! The screams of the murderer, the rapist, the vile and ungodly that have tortured and hurt humanity being in that place with you.
2. Hearing the screams of others like you, why didn’t
I listen, why didn’t I do all that God commanded of me. If I could just have one more chance O GOD!
IV… Hell is a place of memory (verse 27-29) 27 “Then he said, ‘I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, 28 for I have five brothers, that he may testify to them, lest they also come to this place of torment.’ 29 Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them.
A. The rich man remembered his family and he also remembered the example he set for them. He still loved them and didn’t want them to come to the
same place that he was for his sin.
1. The rich man never heard a gospel of grace but he had within him the same "conscience" that all men on earth have according to Rom 3:18-20…
18. “There is no fear of God before their eyes.”[a]
2. 19 Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God. 20 Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law;rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.
B. The rich man in hell knew that the key to salva-
tion Was repentance and unless his family found
the place of repentance, they would come to hell
with him.
1. He remembered every time that his conscience convicted him of his sin by breaking the law of
God as given to him in the 10 Commandments.
v. Jesus died so you don’t have to go to
this place
A. Jesus died so you don’t have to go to this place
called hell for the breaking of God’s law that you’ve committed.
1. If I had to think about it, I can’t think of anything worse unless it be going to hell expecting to go to heaven like the people in Matthew 7.
2. They died thinking about mansions in glory and streets of gold but opened their eyes in hell. Good people!
3. The only thing worse than that would be to go to hell and one day hear the screams of your children in hell with you because they followed your example
B. If hell were to open up for one moment, I wonder
what the unsaved dead would tell us? Do you think
they would beg you trust Christ?
1. Would they beg you to listen to the still small voice speaking to your heart right now?
IS THE SPIRIT OF GOD SPEAKING TO YOU?
Deut 30:15 15 “See, I have set before you today life and good, death and evil,
C. The rich man begged God to send someone back
to tell his brothers that hell was real and that there
was a way to avoid it.
1. How many people in hell cry out for that same thing. The greatest truth about hell is that it is a choice. You do not have to go there.
One day, when Vice-President Calvin Coolidge was presiding over the Senate, one senator angrily told another to go “straight to hell.” The offended Senator complained to Coolidge as presiding officer, and Coolidge looked up from the book he had been leafing through while listening to the debate and wittily replied. “I’ve looked through the rule book,” he said, “You don’t have to go.”
The good news is that through Christ our sins have been paid for. In Christ there is hope.
1 John 1:9
9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us oursins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness
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