The Reality Of Hell

I have entitled our message this morning “The Reality of Hell.” Hell is a topic that tends to be avoided in a lot of churches and by a lot of pastors today. One person has accurately identified the perception of hell today when he said, “Since the days of fiery sermons from Puritan preachers like Jonathan Edwards, it seems that hell isn’t as hot as it used to be.”(1) Let me tell you that God’s Word speaks of the reality of hell, and there is no way we can question the existence of hell without questioning the authority and inspiration of the Bible.

Some people reason that hell is contradictory to God’s love and mercy. You have likely heard someone ask before, “How can a loving God send someone to a terrible place like hell?” What would be our answer to this question? The Lord doesn’t send people to hell, but individuals choose to go there by refusing to accept God’s gift of salvation found in Jesus Christ. People fail to realize this fact though, and so they reason that God would not send someone to hell; therefore, hell is an outdated belief that shouldn’t be taught anymore in the church.

Others believe that preaching about hell should be minimized because we should never try to scare people into heaven. In an article called “Whatever Happened to Hell?” Larry Dixon states that many people think that a fear of hell is an outdated and terrible motive for moving a person toward Christ. However, in response he says, “Upon hearing the rattle of a diamondback, who would stand and debate the persuasive power of [fear]? If running for one’s life makes sense in the presence of a snake, how should we respond to the soul-threatening reality of hell?”(2) He goes on to say, “If we neglect the bad news, some people won’t listen to the [Good News].”(3)

Dr. K. P. Yohannan, founder and director of Gospel for Asia, tells us that, “In His earthly ministry, [Jesus] made more references to hell and judgment than He did to heaven. Jesus lived with the reality of hell, and He died on Calvary because He knew it was real and coming to everyone who doesn’t turn to God during his life.”(4) “There are over 162 references in the New Testament alone which warn of hell. And over 70 of these references were uttered by the Lord, Jesus Christ!”(5) Hell is a reality, and until we come to grips with this truth and preach it, we will be ineffective in seeing people come to Christ.

While speaking in London, evangelist D. L. Moody was once approached by a British companion who wanted to know the secret of his success in leading people to Christ. Moody directed the man to view the people outside of his hotel window, and what he showed him revealed why he had so much success in ministry. He stated, “I see people going to hell without Jesus. Until you see people like that, you will not lead them to Christ.”(6) Hell is a powerful motivator in both preaching about the Lord Jesus Christ and in receiving Jesus as one’s Savior.

Some recent polling has shown that most people think of hell as “an anguished state of existence” rather than a real place.(7) Robert Jeffries, in his book entitled “Hell? Yes!” thinks that “many rationalize that hell is for evildoers such as Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein or Charles Manson. But Jeffries says they draw the line at swallowing the idea someone should go there just for not believing in Christ as Savior.”(8) It is apparent that many individuals have a skewed understanding of hell; therefore, our task this morning is to gain a better handle on what hell is really about, and see why people wind up going there.

Gehenna or “Hell” (Mark 9:43-48)

43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched – 44 where “Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched – 46 where “Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.” 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire – 48 where “Their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.”

Mark 9:43-48 will be our focal passage this morning, but as we go along I will point out numerous other Scriptures. Now, depending on which translation of the Bible you use, you will find one having either more or less uses of the word “hell.” The King James Version appears to contain the most uses of this word. The reason why we find some translations having more and some having less renderings of the word “hell” is because there are two different words in the original Greek that are translated as “hell” – one word is Gehenna and the other is hades.