PROV.27:20 "HELL HAS NOT GONE OUT OF BUSINESS"
A) In Gatlingburg Tenn. they assembled a replica of hell & called it, "A journey through hell."
* But it was so horrible and graphic that the people complained & petitioned to get it removed.
B) So the town council of Gatlingburg got together and voted to close hell down!
* Friend, the hell in Gatlingburg has gone out of business, but I can tell you for a fact,
* That the real hell has not gone out of business!
C) Is hell real? Is hell a place of fire and brimstone? * Do some people actually go to hell?
* Many in this generation seem to have rejected the idea of hell!
* But if hell is real, denying it’s existence will only soothe the conscience for a brief time here
on earth! * For centuries most religious people (and non-religious) have believed in hell.
D) But few Pastors today say much about it, possibly for fear of offending people!
* Regardless of what modern people believe about hell, Jesus not only believed that hell was real,
He taught that most people, even very religious people, go to hell!
* Christ spoke more about hell than He did about heaven in the Bible!
E) He described hell as a place of everlasting fire, wailing & gnashing of teeth!
* Our text says that hell is never full! * No matter how many die & go to hell, it’s never satisfied!
* I want to look at Luke 16:19-31 for a few minutes today for an outline.
(1) HELL IS A PLACE OF SUFFERING - V.23 * "And in hell he lifted up his eyes ......."
* Here, many times we will endure great pain & go to the E.R. & get a shot to ease the pain!
A) But in hell, pain will never end! * One of the worst pains is a bad burn!
* This rich man was suffering in the torment of flames!
(2) HELL IS A PLACE OF UNSATISFIED DESIRES - V.24 * "And he cried and said ..."
* When we have desires, we can usually satisfy them, but in hell, there is no satisfaction!
A) No food, no water, no booze, no dope, no sex, no money, no friends, etc.
* Many will scream and beg for these desires, but there will be no way to satisfy them!
* You may feel there is some sin you can’t give up, but one day you will give it up!
* Oh, by the way, there is no laughter in hell!
(3) HELL IS A PLACE OF MEMORY - v.25 * "But Abraham said, Son, remember ......."
* Your memory will be like 10,000 mirrors around you, recalling all the sins of your life!
A) You will remember how you sold your eternal soul for the pleasures of this world!
* You will remember every sermon you have ever heard, every invitation song,
* You’ll remember how the Holy Spirit begged you to come to Jesus and be saved!
B) How the preacher begged you to get back in church & rededicate your life!
* You’ll remember how you held back, how you resisted and rejected Jesus!
* And now you are in hell without God and without hope!
(4) HELL IS A PLACE OF HOPELESSNESS - v.26 * "And beside all this, between ..."
* Hope is the mainspring that keeps us going! * When we get sick, we hope to get well!
A) When things are really going rough, we hope it will get better!
* But there is no hope in hell! * It wont surprise me if there’s not a sign over the door
as you enter that says, "Abandon all hope forever and ever and ever and ever .......!"
(5) HELL IS A PLACE OF PRAYER - V.27 * "Then he said, I pray thee therefore ......."
* One of the greatest prayer meetings of all time is in hell!
A) You may not pray and talk to God here, but one day you will!
* You say, "Well, when does hell begin?" * At the end of a Christless life!
* Hell is a reality realized too late! * When you arrive there, first thing you’ll do ... pray!
(6) LET’S IMAGINE HELL’S FIRST MOMENT ... THROUGHOUT ALL ETERNITY!
* Try to imagine for every second, throughout eternity, your body with the most excruciating
sunburn! * Add to that, the awful pain of your whole body scalded with boiling water!
A) To this, add the agony of bodily movement! * The skin stretches!
* Untold daggers of pain flash through your body! * You want to hold still, but you can’t!
* Because the burning from the flames wont allow it!
B) The bubbling brimstone makes you scream! * Your hair is on fire!
* Your feet and hands blister, while you gnaw your tongue, trying to relieve the torment!
* Your throat is raw from screaming and wailing! * Spasms of anguish drop you into the
molten lava and you go under the surface gnashing your teeth!
C) The burning brimstone flows into your mouth, runs down your throat & into your stomach!
* You are on fire inside and outside! * Lava, red hot and smoking flows in your ears!
* As your eyes try to focus in the endless, everlasting permanent dwelling place of total
torment, a feeling of melting of your eyes overwhelms you.
D) You look and focus on the worms that have totally engulfed your body!
* They are crawling on you and in you! * You can feel them!
* A scream comes from your burning, flaming fiery lips! * A cry for water is felt throughout
your whole being!
E) You are falling in the darkness! * Oh, if you could only stop falling!
* You feel something solid! * Your body tries to cling to the solid surface!
* Suddenly, you are slipping! * Again, you fall into the bubbling lake!
F) You swallow another mouthful of burning slime!
* The horrid smell of blazing sulfur combine with the sickening odor of burning hair,
and scorched flesh! * Nausea overwhelms you!
G) Suddenly, something reaches out of the darkness and grasps you in terror!
* They begin to gnash on you with their teeth! * All the time you are both screaming at
the top of your lungs. * You shake the gnashing person off in the darkness!
H) Breathing heavily from the exertion, you fill your lungs with smoke!
* While you cough and gasp, the word, "water" escapes your inflamed lips again!
* Your throat is on fire, your tongue feels like a hot iron against the parched roof of your mouth!
* Your gums pulsate with agony while every nerve in your teeth stabs you with flashes of
indescribable permanent pain!
I) The roar of the flames and the piercing screams of the doomed and the damned,
* They seem to tear at your eardrums! * Oh, for just a moment of silence, but it never comes.
* You can’t run away this time! * Thoughts of so-called Christians didn’t tell you of this place!
* Your thoughts go to & fro from the time you were in a Bible-believing, preaching church.
J) Thoughts you can so clearly remember! * You remember the time when:
* The Preacher was talking to you about this hopeless place of darkness & pain!
* He talked about Jesus and His saving blood & how you need to accept Him .......!
K) You begin to cry out, "He told me I was a sinner, now I accept Jesus as my Savior!"
* "I accept what He did for me on the cross, can’t you hear me?"
* "I want to be saved! You know, born again, what the Preacher said!"
* "Wont you listen? Can’t you hear?" * Another scream escapes your burning lips!
L) For eternity you scream those words again & again, over & over, but go nowhere!
* Words, meaningless words that can’t be heard by God, but by the doomed!
* "I want to be born again ... saved, Can’t you hear me?"
M) "Why didn’t someone tell me about this place?"
* "Why didn’t they continue to tell me when I ignored them, didn’t they care?"
N) The doomed tell you, "It wont work, your words are not heard!"
* "You are condemned here for eternity just as we are!"
* Another scream escapes your burning lips, "NO!"
