The Reality of Hell
Kenneth W. Wright
The New Iberia Church of Christ
Sermon Outline
A. I am here to talk about the Reality of the Biblical Subject – Hell.
B. I will cover these main points:
1. Hell is not a popular subject these days.
2. The Error Taught by Some
3. The Evidence in the Scriptures
4. The Testimony of Jesus
C. You should care about these points, because:
1. Look around you – you may be sitting next to someone who will be lost forever in the fires of hell.
a. Mothers and Fathers – Look at your children… If you don’t make service to God a reality for them in this life --- they will exist eternally in torment --- hating you for your lack of love for them… They’re not going to care about all the toys you bought them --- all the spankings you never gave them --- They’re not going to care about all the fishing trips, little league games, or movies you ever took them to… Their not going to care that you gave them a car --- or a college education --- or that you let them make their own decisions about whether or not to go to church services …. They’re not going to care that you were more concerned about their school grades than you were about their immortal soul…
b. It could be your fishing buddy or your best friend or the guys you work with everyday… They’re not going to care that you laughed at their course jokes --- bought them lunch --- shared a six-pack of Bud-light with them after work --- or paid for every other round of eight-ball at the bar… Their not going to care that you gave them tickets to the Ice Gators game --- or that you were the power hitter on the softball team --- or that nine times out of ten --- they played your shot in a round of best-ball.
c. Children - It could be your mothers and fathers… If they go to hell --- they will never say to you again, “I love you.”--- You will never feel their hugs or their kisses --- or ride with them to the beach --- or anything else…
2. Or, folks, it could be you….
a. If you’re one of those poor individuals who thinks that you can reject the salvation offered by God through his son Jesus Christ – Then Hell is your destiny.
b. If you’re one of those people that have not truly been converted to Christ Jesus – Hell is your destiny.
c. If you’re one of those hypocrites Jesus speaks about – one of those people that simple go through the motions of living a Christian life without loving God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength and all your mind – Hell is your destiny.
d. If you’re one of those people who believe that just because your name is in a church directory some where but you do not have to support the work of the body of Christ – that all this ‘church stuff’ just get in your way – Hell is your destiny.
e. If you’re one of those people who cannot make time for service to God because your Day-timer is too full ---- or you have too much work to do --- or all this church stuff conflicts with the things you really want to do in life --- or your choose to hang around the house because you need your quiet time – Hell is your destiny.
D. My First Point Is: There has been a shift in the popular worldview of Hell.
1. There was a time that preachers talked about the destination of the wicked.
a. Jimmy Allen wrote a book entitled, “What is Hell Like.”
b. Jonathan Edward delivers a classic sermon entitled, “Sinners Falling Into The Hands of A Living God.”
c. Some where along the line – people became more concerned with what came to be called “The practicalities of Christian Living.”
d. There has been a tremendous emphasis on the Goodness and Grace of God --- To be sure --- the reality of Hell has all but disappeared from our pulpits.
2. The Reality of Hell has been undermined in our society.
a. We’ve all heard the jokes about “shoveling coal” or the salesman who is so good he could sell air conditioners to the Devil… Or the little man who was happy to be in hell because at last he could have some peace and quiet for him wife.
b. Willy Nelson’s Birthday Bash on television 2 weeks ago – Aero Smith’s lead singer Steven Tyler said, “Happy birthday Willie. Here’s hoping that we’ll have twice as much fun in hell as we did her on earth trying to get there.”
c. In 1999 a movie was made about a comic book superhero from hell by the name of Spawn --- He came back to save the world…
d. A few years ago --- Adam Sandler --- made a comic movie called, “Little Nikki” --- about the dumb son of Satan…
i. Many of you have watch the movie and laughed…
ii. I wish you would read your Bibles and weep!
3. Hell is not a place of fun and games.
4. Jude, the brother of the Lord wrote, “For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord. Though you already know all this, I want to remind you that the Lord delivered his people out of Egypt, but later destroyed those who did not believe. And the angels who did not keep their positions of authority but abandoned their own home-- these he has kept in darkness, bound with everlasting chains for judgment on the great Day. In a similar way, Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire. (Jude 4-7)
a. Notice that Jude says, “godless men have slipped in among you.”
i. Godless: (A-see-bas) – simply means men who living without regard for religious belief or practice.
b. These men have changed the grace of God into a license for immorality.
i. The word for “immorality” simply means self-centered lustful indulgence – they justify doing those worldly things that give self-satisfaction.
c. They deny Jesus Christ our only Lord and Savior.
i. The word “deny” means that they are acting contrary to what Jesus as Lord as Savior demands of their character and life… They are untrue --- false --- Christians…
5. Then Jude gives three examples:
a. God destroyed those unbelievers whom he brought out of Egyptian bondage.
b. The sinful angels are not above his punishment.
c. And then there’s Sodom and Gomorrah.
d. All of these, “They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire.”
e. Folk’s --- Hell is no joke!
Transition: One of the reasons Hell is not even thought about in our day --- is the reluctance of theologians to admit its existence. Listen to ----
E. The Testimony of theologians:
1. The Los Angeles Times, June 19, 2002: “The tendency to downplay damnation has grown in recent years as (churches) focus on everyday issues…(which have proliferated) and loyalty to churches has deteriorated…Bill Farris, a pastor of Crown Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship said about the subject of hell, “It isn’t sexy enough anymore.”
1. Karl Barth: “Bible verses on hell are only threats from God to keep us from arriving at such a destiny.”
2. Nels Ferre: “In the end, love must dissolve all evil.”
3. Emil Brunner: “Men will be annihilated – the punishment is only temporary.”
4. Billy Graham: “I believe that hell is essentially separation from God…(we are separated) from God, so we can have hell in this life and in the life to come. (I cannot) describe hell in vivid terms like I did 30 or 40 years ago… (I don’t know if) there is actually fire in hell or not, I do not know.”
5. Pope John Paul II: Hell should not be seen as a fiery underworld but as “The state of those who freely and definitively separate themselves from God…”
i. So What? What does this mean to me?
a. This means that for most of your lives --- the biblical subject of Hell has been placed on the back burner in favor of preaching on social issues --- by men in the pulpits…
b. This means that the world in which you live – categorically denies there is a place call Hell – wherein wicked --- sinful people will dwell throughout all eternity.
c. This means that for many of you --- hell is a figment of the imaginations --- and it certainly isn’t a deterrent to living self-centered life-styles wherein God has become a God of convenience.
Transition: No matter how far you push the subject of Hell and eternal punishment out of your mind --- It is still there…. Look at ----
F. The Testimony of The Scriptures
1. In the King James Version of the New Testament you will find three Greek words that are translated by the single English word, “Hell.”
a. The words are:
i. Hades – This is the present abode of the wicked dead. All those disembodied spirits that have lived and died on this planet without having accepted Jesus as their Lord, Master, and Savior inhabit it. It is a place of incarceration – where the wicked shall dwell until that Grand final day of the Lord – where their sentence and condemnation shall be carried out.
ii. Tartarus – This word is found only one time in the entire Bible – The wicked angels have been cast them into this realm where they are kept in the chains of darkness’ 2 Pe 2.4.
iii. Gehenna – This is the place of future punishment. This is the eternal abode of all those who have died in rebellion to God and His grace. All the wicked angels --- all those who have died rejecting Jesus – all those religious people who have lived a lie --- will be thrown into this place of eternal punishment.
G. The Testimony of Jesus concerning Hell
1. The subject of Hell is a prominent teaching of Jesus
2. He uses the word Gehenna 11 times and the word “hades” 4 times in Matthew, Mark and Luke.
3. So what does he say about it?
a. It is a place of torment
1. In Revelation 20:10 he says that those who follow the ways of the world and do homage to a world-view philosophy will be cast into the lake of burning sulfur and be tormented day and night forever and ever… It is a place where those who are condemned will never find rest --- no sleep will come to you there.
a. The horrible experiments of the Japanese in Unit 731 – where in they tortured P.O.W.’s by injecting them with anthrax and performing vivisections on living patients – are nothing compared to the eternal tortures of Hell.
b. It is a place of Darkness
1. In the parable of the wedding banquet – Jesus says that those who are not in proper attire – covered by HIS righteousness – will be thrown into the darkness where the in weeping and gnashing of teeth.
2. The word “darkness” is the opposite of “light” – it is the place where God is not present.
c. According to Matthew 25:41 - Hell is a place that will house Satan and his angels… The people who are following him now --- will be subjugated by him in eternity.
d. Hell is a place without the love of God… Matthew 25:41 tell us that those on his left at that final day will here the words, ”depart from me, you who are accursed into the eternal fire…”
e. It is a place of memory – Luke 16:25 – There you will remember all the times God begged you to live for him --- and all the times you rejected him… You may look into the faces of your loved ones and remember those evening that your children crawled into you lap and said, “Daddy read me a story about Jesus.”
f. It is a place of Fire – In Matthew 13:40 he tells us that those poisonous, counterfeit weeds that are in God’s kingdom will be “pulled up and burned in the fire”, at the end of time.
Transition: So what does this mean to me?
It means that you really need to start thinking about your relationship with God!
Illustration: If you had a choice concerning the length of time it would take you to die – would you choose a long – lingering – pain ridden death – that drug out of years and years --- or would you take some sort of instant death like getting hit by a Mack truck???
Instant death isn’t as instant as you might suppose --- it still takes a while for everything in your body to short-circuit… As a matter of fact as near as modern science can estimate --- instant death still takes all of seven-tenths of a second… This sound pretty quick doesn’t it…
Let me tell you a story:
Up until the early 1800’s the indigenous people of Hawaii who clamed to be descended from the goddess Pele --- performed human sacrifices to this goddess of the volcano. They would erect alters beside the lava streams that flowed from Mount Kilauea.
Pele was also a sorceress and they believed that unless she was continuously appeased by human sacrifices --- she would make life on the islands miserable for them…
They would take those warriors they had captured in battle up to the summit and engage in an elaborate ceremony with drums and hula dancing --- then they would take their hapless victims --- bind them hand and foot and throw them off into the molten lava deep in the bowels of Mount Kilauea… The victim died instantly --- but it still took seventeenths of a second…
Let me explain to you what happened to his body… and as I do so --- I want you to imagine yourself in his place….
The first tenth of a second:
Ø Your clothing catches fire and the hair is seared from the body.
Ø The epidermis layer of the skin is seared off immediately and the fluids in the dermis those miniscule amounts of liquid contained in your sweat glands – your hair follicles – and your fat cells --- are vaporized.
Ø Now – with two layers of skin gone --- every sensory nerve cell in your body is exposed to the searing heat --- you feel an unrelenting agony – as your body is engulfed in the molten lava.
The second tenth of a second:
Ø The surface liquid in your eyes – and the wax in you ears start to boil and evaporate.
Ø Your eyeballs IMPLODE as all the liquid inside them turns into a yellowish gas.
The third tenth of a second:
Ø Your striated skeletal muscles began to constrict uncontrollably --- and your body is contorted into a grotesque fetal position.
Ø Your feel the involuntary muscle spasm because of a mighty rush of adrenal fluid surging through your veins… Your adrenal glands are hopelessly trying to reduce the constrictions of your intestinal muscles and you colon.
Ø This extra surge of adrenal fluid causes the blood to race through every vessel in your body.
The forth tenth of a second:
Ø The bloods in the arteries --- the veins and the capillaries --- begin to boil as your body temperature instantly rises from 98.6 to 2100 degrees.
The fifth tenth of a second:
Ø You try to scream – but the super-heated air immediately sears your esophagus and lungs.
Ø Your lungs begin to collapse, as the fibers inside them curls up like charred nylon.
Ø You panic at the sensation of being suffocated.
Ø The last smell you are aware of --- is the putrefying stench of your own burning flesh.
The sixth tenth of a second:
Ø Your tendons and ligament begin to exert a force upon the large bones of your body --- those found in your arms – and your legs – and your neck… The force is so great that several of these bones SNAP --- like kindling…
Ø The marrows in your bones --- the fatty yellow marrow and the red pasty marrow --- are transformed into a noxious gas --- and as this gas expands – it causes every bone in your body to detonate.
The seventh tenth of a second:
Ø Your large internal organs begin to convulse as the superheated air penetrates into your body cavity.
Ø You can feel your heart pounding trying to pump blood through an arterial system that has been ruptured in a thousand places --- your heart --- your liver --- your kidneys --- all start to quake and shriveled up like a raw meat dropped into a garbage fire.
Ø Your brain is trying desperately to communicate with the rest of your body warning it to retreat from the all-consuming heat.
Ø The --- Your skull explodes – exposing the entire brain to the molten lava.
Ø First to go was the ability to see – the speech – the hearing – then smell. The last thing to go is found in the temporal lobe – the area of your brain that stores memory.
Ø You see visions of you mother and father – you see your wife and your children – your whole life goes before you and you realize that you will never be able to talk to them again.
Ø You’ll never be able to laugh and play with them again.
Ø You’ll never be able to hold their hand – or kiss their cheek – or feel their loving caress.
Ø Then you remember where you are – and death comes too slowly.
Ø You try to weep – but there are no tear ducks from which your tears can flow…
And then --- on the eight tenth of a second you are launched out into eternity ---
For your sake --- I pray that your life is right with God --- that you a haven’t been living a lie…
That Jesus REALLY is your Lord and Master…
For your sake --- I pray that you never suffer the pangs of Hell…
I would rather you suffered a thousand deaths like the one I just described --- for in that sort of death --- you could hope for an end…
The second death --- the eternal separation from God --- will be more horrible than you can imagine…
Hell is real… Jesus said so…
If your life isn’t right with Him now --- If you have been living a lie --- then your need to let him fix it for you right now…
Come to Jesus --- while we sand and sing…
You don’t want to go to a real place --- called hell.
