"Dead Man Talking: the reality of a place called Hell"
Matthew 7:13-23
In 1875 General William Booth shared what happened to be a prophetic message of the greatest danger facing the Church in the 20th Century of being a false gospel that would preach Conversion without Conviction, Renewal without Repentance, Salvation without Lordship and The church would believe in Heaven but not also believe in the reality of Hell. Believe that as we look at the church in the dawning of the 21st Century we see that General Booth obviously had a connection with the Spirit of God. We can say that because all we must do is look at the church with no power in it. All we have to do is study our beliefs and see that "easy believism" has taken over the church. A few years ago one of the largest denominations in the world noted more than 294,000 conversions in year from 11,500 churches across the world.
A year later only 14,000 of those new "converts" could be accounted for by the church and there were more than 280,000 missing in action. Where did they go? Is this a real problem? How do we justify our methods of evangelism when preachers like Finney and Moody and Spurgeon had almost an 80% retention rate 10 YEARS LATER! Is it merely because of "follow up"?
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? Do you remember when you got your shots as a child? When I was a police officer they gave us inoculation shots to protect us from contracting Hepatitis B. 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.
· Have you ever tried to witness to someone who "used to be a Christian"?
· Some of the most bitter and hard hearted people I’ve ever contacted
· I should know because I used to be one of them
If someone came to you as you were seated on an airplane and handed you a parachute telling you that it would improve your flight experience, would you put it on? If we put it on the first thing we would notice is that it was bulky and uncomfortable because it pressed against us as we were seated. We would also notice everyone looking at us and snickering at our foolishness. We would quickly take off the parachute when we realized that it hadn’t improved our flight experience and hide from the stares of those around us because our pride would be hurt.
On the other hand if someone came to another passenger on that same plane and handed us an identical parachute but told us that we would be needing it in a short time to jump out of the airplane, would that change the circumstances? Believe that we could honestly say we wouldn’t notice the bulkiness of strapping it to our back because we would know that in a short time this parachute would be the only thing to save our life when the moment came. We might indeed be whispered about and snickered at by the other passengers but knowing that we were coming to a moment of jumping from the aircraft, do you think you would take it off? No you wouldn’t take it off because you would know that the only hope you had when the time came to exit the aircraft was the parachute strapped to your back.
· Can you apply that spiritually?
· 1 Corinthians 1:18
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. (ILLUSTRATE)
When I was born into the family of God they didn’t have to send a MEMBER SEARCH COMMITTEE to find out where I was! The didn’t have to send the Bible Police around during Sunday school to see if I had been reading my Bible nor did they have to cater to my every whim to keep me in the fellowship of believers! I had encountered the Lord Jesus Christ in a real and personal way and HE HAD WASHED ME CLEAN FROM THE SINS THAT HAD DOOMED ME TO HELL! Glory to God!
Oh, Brother Mike you used the H-E- double tooth picks word. Know what you’re thinking right now in the pew, the God that I serve is a God of Love and Mercy so he could never send someone to the place you call hell. Want to deal with that issue very quickly from the 10 Commandments that contrary to popular opinion haven’t become the 10 Suggestions. Do you remember the Commandment, You shall have no other gods before me?
You have created a god in your mind that doesn’t resemble Almighty God!
You’ve also broken God’s commandment and according to Holy Scripture the penalty for breaking God’s law is DEATH!
"And the Lord said unto Moses, I have seen this people and behold it is a stiffnecked people, Now therefore let me alone that my wrath may wax hot against them and that I may consume them…" Exodus 32:9,10
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. 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:
First, Hell is a real place! (verse 23) You may say I don’t believe that there is a place called hell but that doesn’t negate it’s existence. I can believe that I have 5000 dollars in the bank and put my faith in my belief by writing checks on that 5000 dollars I believe that I have. In reality I only have 100 dollars in the bank and all my checks are bouncing and they’re charging me with felony theft. When I go in front of the judge and use my defense strategy that I really believed I had 5000 dollars so I couldn’t be held accountable for what I had believed, will that change the reality of my checking account? 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. I don’t know what his theology was before he died but we know what it is now, hell is a real place and real people go there every day without Jesus.
SECOND…Hell is a place of torment (verse 24) I hear a lot of people tell me that if they go to hell when they die, at least they’ll have plenty of company and all their friends will be there. Hear the words of Abraham to this rich man in hell, HELL IS A PLACE OF NO MERCY! You have a chance while you’re here on earth but if you fail to meet Christ Jesus to save you from your sins, you’ll never get another chance after your eyes close in death. Hell is a place of no mercy and unanswered prayer! Deuteronomy 30:19 says that God has set before us the way of life and the way of death, the way of blessing and the way of cursing so THEREFORE CHOOSE LIFE! CHOOSE LIFE! CHOOSE JESUS TO WASH YOU IN HIS BLOOD TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS SO THAT YOU MAY FLEE THE JUDGMENT TO COME!
Within 3 to 100 years after Jesus told this story, He and all of his disciples had died and gone to glory but that rich man was still crying out for mercy in hell. Within a little over a 1000 years, Martin Luther has flung his inkpot in the face of the devil and nailed his thesis of justification by faith on the doors of the Catholic church but that rich man was still crying out for mercy in hell. In 1964 a 9 pound baby boy was born to King and Marie DePhillips in Baptist Hospital of New Orleans Louisiana and that same rich man was still crying out for mercy in hell. On September 10,1995 I was born into the family of God because of the conviction of my sins by the Holy Spirit and that God led me to a place of repentance that I could ask forgiveness through the death, burial and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ but that same rich man was still crying out for mercy in hell. If somehow hell were to open up for us to hear, we would still hear this same rich man crying out for mercy in the fires of hell. Oh friend don’t play with your soul! Play with anything in your possession but please don’t play with your soul.
THIRD… Hell is a place of unfulfilled desire (verse 24) Just the desire of thirst isn’t satisfied in hell. I remember my brother in law ODELL begging me for a drop of water at Singing River Hospital of Pascagoula while he was dying of pancreatic cancer. 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
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. 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. 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!
FOURTH… Hell is a place of memory (verse 27-29) 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. 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 Romans 3:19…
"Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped and all the world may become guilty before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in his sight for by the law is the knowledge of sin."
The rich man in hell knew that the key to salvation was repentance and unless his family found the place of repentance, they would come to hell with him. 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.
· Thou shalt not…
Last thing I want to do is show you that 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. 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. They died thinking about mansions in glory and streets of gold but opened their eyes in hell. Good people! The only thing worse than that would be to go to hell and one day hear the screams of your children and family in hell with you because they followed your example. Maybe the memory that I didn’t have to go to hell because God had given me chance after chance to repent of my transgression but I had refused.
I WONDER HOW MANY TIMES THE RICH MAN HAS PRAYED FOR ANOTHER CHANCE TO DEAL WITH HIS SIN? A CHANCE JUST LIKE THE ONE YOU’RE WASTING HERE TODAY WORRIED ABOUT WHAT EVERYBODY MIGHT THINK OR WAITING FOR A BETTER DAY TO GET SAVED.
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? 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?
