Introduction:
1. The famous preacher John Killinger & his wife attended a small country funeral where the pastor got up & for most of the 15 minute sermon talked about the horrors of hell & how tragic it was that the deceased was probably there at that very moment. When they left John complained & his wife agreed that it was just about the tackiest thing either of them had ever seen. "However," his wife said, "it would be truly unforgivable except for the fact that it was all true."
2. The statistics about the number of people in America today who believe in heaven and hell is pretty high. Consider this poll.
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A Harris poll found that 89% of Americans believe in heaven, and 73% believe in hell. However, when defined as a place of actual torment where people will be sent— only 31% believe in hell.
3. Strangely enough a newer poll shows that far from more and more people writing hell off, more people believe in hell now than did earlier. Consider these statistics.
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Strangely enough a poll conducted by US News and World Report showed that there are more Americans who believe in Hell today than there were in the 1980’s or even the 1950’s. However, today most people no longer believe it’s a real place. [US News and World Report. "Hell Hath No Fury." January 31,2000. p. 46]
4. Many people have an image of Hell that is not based on reality. For instance Mark Twain said, "I’ll take heaven for the climate and Hell for the society." Media mogul Ted Turner once said "I’m looking forward to dying & going to hell because that’s where I’m headed." People would not be so flippant about Hell if they understood the reality of it.
5. Hell is being "frozen out" by many preachers who downplay God’s judgment in their sermons. According to a lengthy report June 19, 2002 in The Los Angeles Times, the mention of hell from pulpits is at "an all-time low" as a result of the influence of secularism on Christian theology. 6
6. (Set off a smoke alarm using test button.) The sound you just heard is very unpleasant. It is loud, it is annoying, and you probably would rather not hear it. Nevertheless, this noise can save your life because it is a warning of impending danger so that you will take action to save your life. Today I will be speaking to you about Hell. It too is unpleasant and disturbing. It is like the smoke alarm in that we had rather not hear it, but the teachings Jesus gave us about Hell are intended to warn us of impending danger. To let us know of God’s coming judgment.
7. It’s true that many people who know little or nothing about the Bible and Christianity have a lot of misconceptions about hell, but they aren’t the only ones. Sometimes the things we hear even in church are based more upon tradition and what we’ve heard from others than on scripture.
8. I’ve had several people tell me over the years that you can tell how good a preacher, or man of God is by the frequency which he preaches on hell. The problem with that is that scripture never says that & even more dramatically, the word "Hell" isn’t even mentioned in 49 of the 66 books of the King James version of the Bible. My point is that while we need to understand what scripture says about hell, we don’t want to be guilty of what the Pharisees were, making scripture say what we want it to, rather than letteing God speak for Himself.
9. I don’t know how many times I’ve heard over the years that hell is one of the most frequent topics in scripture. I’ve listened to sermons where I have heard the preachers make statements about hell that I am not at all convinced were true. Let me show you one example of what I’m talking about.
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A Common Misconception Christians Have About Hell—
1) "Hell is spoken of much more in scripture than heaven."
2) The word "Hell" is used 14 times in the NIV New Testament.
3) The word "Heaven" is used 223 times in the NIV New Testament.
10. Just because we haven’t always got it right doesn’t mean the topic of hell is not an important one. The truth is that one of the reasons we frequently don’t get it right, is that we are more likely to simply repeat what others have said about hell than we are to study the scriptures which talk about it. So this morning I would like for you to lend me your thoughts for the next few moments as we see what scripture has to say about this very important subject. However, before we begin our study let’s pause and ask the Lord to guide our thinking.
PRAYER—
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I. The Words Used for Hell
1. When it comes to understanding what the Bible says about hell, there is no better place to begin than by looking at the actual words used in scripture. Before we actually look at the words, let me remind you that the Old Testament was written in Hebrew and the New Testament was in Greek. So you need to understand that the words used in the Old and New Testaments will not be the same. Let me show you what I mean.
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The Old Testament Hebrew word used most often
for hell is the word, Sheol.
It is roughly equivalent to the NT Greek word Hades.
Both of these words also sometimes refer to where Christians go at death. In other words, these words most accurately refer to the place of the dead.
2. There is another word, however, that is quite different. In every case this word clearly refers to the place where those who die without Christ will spend eternity.
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The Greek word that most clearly speaks of hell is Gehenna. It was a
dump where bodies were burned outside Jerusalem.
Jesus used this word to speak of hell 12 times in the NT.
3. Let me explain the significance of the word Gehenna. The people hearing Jesus use this word in His teaching would have immediately pictured the burning dump on the edge of town where trash was taken and burned. The bodies of criminals were taken there to be disposed of as well. It was a bad place. There would have been no more disgusting, distasteful place that Jesus could have mentioned that would have struck a raw nerve with His audience. He obviously wanted to paint a very severe picture of the place where those who rejected God’s message would be punished after this life. Not only did the place strike a nerve with the people, the way Jesus dealt with it did as well and here is the reason why . . .
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Jesus spoke of hell as a real place where real people would go.
4. As serious as these words about hell are, what I want to show you next takes the seriousness of this subject to an entirely new level. Let’s turn our attention to the details that Jesus gave out about hell. Jesus presents it as a very frightening place. That fact brings us to the second major point in this morning’s sermon. . .
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II. The Horrors Of Hell
1. Actually, I want to go farther than looking at just what Jesus said. I want to also focus on what other New Testament writers had to say about hell as well. The book of the Bible which is most famous for dealing with the end times is the Revelation. So why don’t we begin there by looking at something the Apostle John was inspired to pen.
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Revelation 20:14-15
14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. 15 And if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. (NASB)
Hell is described here as the lake of fire.
2. Can you think of anymore terrifying place to be that in a lake that was on fire? However, earlier in the same chapter John describes another terrifying factor that will be a part of hell as well. It is perhaps a little less dramatic, but it would also be quite terrifying, especially for those of us who are scared of heights. Read Revelation 20:1 with me.
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Revelation 20:1
1 Then I saw an angel come down from heaven with the key to the bottomless pit and a heavy chain in his hand. (NLT)
Hell is described here as the bottomless pit.
3. Do you remember that dream everyone has from time to time of falling? I used to have it when I was just a child. I would dream I was falling & would wake up with a start. Let’s go to what Jesus says in Luke 16, where we learn more of the terrifying details about how awful hell will be.
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Luke 16:22-24
22 "Now the poor man died and was carried away by the angels to Abraham’s bosom; & the rich man also died & was buried. 23 "In Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, & saw Abraham far away & Lazarus in his bosom. 24 "And he cried out & said, ’Father Abraham, have mercy on me, & send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water & cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.’ (NASB)
The condition in hell is described here as: 1) Torment (23) 2) Parched (24) 3) In agony in this flame. (24)
4. It may surprise you to know that the person in the Bible who spoke most often and in the most forceful terms about hell, was neither one of the fiery Old-Testament prophets, nor John the Baptist, but Jesus Himself. As I indicated earlier when looking at the word Gehenna, twelve times in the gospels Jesus talks in explicit terms about hell & how terrible it’s going to be. It’s not just Jesus though, every description of Hell is one of suffering, torment and agony. In the story about the rich man and Lazarus the word "torment" is used four times, and all four places it speaks of definite pain.
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Some have suggested that the words used in scripture to describe hell are merely symbolic. Should that be the case then we can assume that just like with heaven, the reason words are used symbolically is that reality is worse than the symbols suggest. (R C Sproul, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith p. 286). 7
5. I said last week that I belive heaven will be far greater than we can comprehend and that it’s wonder will exceed our highest expectations. I believe the same thing will be true of hell in reverse. I don’t believe words can fully communicate the horror of the place.
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III. Tough Questions About Hell
1. Why have so many people quit believing in hell in our day? I believe it’s because it’s not pleasant. Too many people would rather not acknowledge that God is God and as such, has the right to pass judgment on all of us.
2. I think one of the biggest reasons people today aren’t willing to accept the reality of hell is that they would rather just not think about it. It’s a tough thing to accept & the would rather just assume & live as though it’s not a reality.
As tempting as this is for many people it doesn’t work. Let me illustrate with an example that really happened a few years ago in the Middle East. When England closed it’s Libyan Embassy Muammar Qaddafi became so angry that he ordered England to be removed from all maps in Libya. If you buy a map in that country today, that area will be represented by a new arm of the North Sea bordered by Scotland and Wales. Simply removing England from all maps in Libya, however, does not mean it doesn’t exist. Just because we’ve never been to Hell or the world makes light of it, or says it’s a fairy tale doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist. Hell is very real. Tragically, the fact that it isn’t something popular to believe in it doesn’t change the fact that it exist.
3. I’ve saved the most difficult question for last. One of the biggest reasons people today aren’t willing to accept the reality of hell is this one.
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How could a good God send people to hell?
4. That is the one that people really struggle with. We cannot cover that question extensively, but there are at least a few points that I think need to be made. We don’t ask, "How could a good judge send a serial killer to the electric chair?" Why don’t we ask that question? The answer is because in that situation we understand that the judge is not the one responsible for him going to the electric chair, his own choices as a serial killer are. We never ask, "How could a good nation like America attack and punish Al Quida? We don’t ask that question because we recognize what they did on September 11. It is the same with God, He is good, but people end up in Hell because of their own choices. God is a loving God, but He’s also a God who is capable of passing judgment when it’s needed. Let me show you a verse that communicates that very point.
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Romans 11:22a
22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God..." (NASB)
5. We often focus so completely on God’s love that we have a difficut time seeing Him also as a Judge. In Old Testament times, the very opposite was true. The Israelites were so in awe of God that they focused more on His holiness and justice than they did on His love. As Romans 11:22 indicates, God is both a God of "kindness" and a God of "severity." God’s severity comes from His holiness, IE how much He hates sin.
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God provided a way for every person to miss hell. People choose to reject the incredible sacrifice of God’s own Son.
5. Let me put it like this. It might be more understandable if people were frustrated with God for judging them when He had done nothing to help them, but that is not at all the case. What He did was send His, "only begotten Son." The solution He provided for our salvation cost Him everything, but He made it out of love. He provided what was required for our salvation at the cost of His own Son. God is both a God of love & a God who is our "Judge" as well.
6. We need perspective to understand our responsibility and God’s mercy. I thnk the great theologian C S Lewis got it right when he wrote that. . .
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There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who
say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God
says, in the end,"Thy will be done." (C.S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, ch. 9.) 8
Conclusion:
1. Most of you have probably seen the famous sculpture called "The Thinker" by Auguste Rodin. It depicts a man sitting in serious contemplation. What you probably don’t know is that the statue was originally created in 1880 as part of a larger work by the artist called "The Gates of Hell" as an ornamental door for a proposed Palace of Decorative Arts. But that raises a question, What is "The Thinker" thinking about? According to the artist, "The Thinker" is sitting in mute amazement as he contemplates lost people in hell.
2. This morning’s message isn’t just for those who don’t know Christ, it’s also for those of us who do. Knowing what eternity will be like for those who don’t know the Lord should motivate us to share our faith with those who don’t yet know Him.
3. To be quite honest, that is the major influence that makes me so committed to Judgment House. We need many of you to get much more involved as it’s getting closer. Everyone in our church family can help in one way or another and should, whether it’s acting, assisting with food preparation, praying, or doing one of the other things that are required for this massive outreach. This year’s event has greater potential to bring people to Christ than perhaps any ministry we’ve ever done at FBC Oakville, including the previous year’s Judgent Houses. What is at stake is the eternal destination of many of the 2,200 people we are hoping will come through this year’s event. I’m going to ask you as a church family to stand with me and by standing to indicate that you are making a commitment to do what you can to reach those who will attend. Would you stand with me right now? When those who are willing to make this commitment are standing then I’m going to have a special prayer for all of us that we will be able to make a difference in the lives of those who will attend. PRAYER. There are two ways to participate this coming week. Tuesday evening will be our casting call where tryouts will be held and room directors will be chosen. We need many of you here. Last Friday night five people were here to pray for Judgment House. Church family, if we really believe in the eternal punishment I’ve shared about this morning, we must do better about reaching those who don’t yet know Christ, we must!
4. Now, I want to issue another challenge. If you are here this morning and you don’t know Christ as your personal Savior, you need to do some serious thinking about that. Hell is a terrifying place. It is a place that you need not go. God offers you a means of avoiding it, but you must accept His offer to miss the frightening place we’ve been talking about this morning. As we prepare to sing our hymn of invitation this morning there are Christians here this morning who would love to help you begin a relationship with God or answer questions you may have about that. As we sing our invitation hymn will you take that step of faith?
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1) Michael Luke, Would a Loving God Send Anyone to Hell, (Sermoncentral.com. First Christian Church of Washington, IN) July, 2005.
2) Philip Harrelson, Hell’s Biggest Party, (Sermoncentral.com. The Pentecostals of Dothan) May, 2004.
3) John Hamby, What If Hell Is Real? (Sermoncentral.com. First Baptist Church of Vilona AR) December, 2002.
4) Larry Sarver, Four Things Everyone Should Know About Hell, (Sermoncentral.com. Palm City, FL: New Life in Christ) July 21, 2002.
5) Joel Smith, Would God Really Send Someone to Hell? (Sermoncentral.com. Wellspring Community Church) March 18, 2001.
6) The Los Angeles Times, June 19, 2002. (from an article on hell)
7) R C Sproul, Essential Truths of the Christian Faith, p. 286.
8) C S Lewis, The Great Divorce, chapter 9.
