What Jesus Says About - Hell

Scripture: Matthew 25:31-46; Revelation 20:10-15

Title: What Jesus says about Hell

Sermon: Given in the tone of love and with a heart towards God and all of creation we must allow God to reveal to us the realities of Hell – 1. Hell exists 2. Hell is Honest 3. Hell never has to be our everlasting home

INTRO:

Grace and peace from God our Father, Son and Holy Spirit!

This month we have been looking at Scary Things-

+We have looked at the subject of Fear and how in Christ and through the Holy Spirit we can have victory over fear, anxiety and even depression

+We have looked at the reality of demons –

Yes, they do exist and they are doing their best to interrupt our lives, possess our hearts, minds and souls and cause us to miss everlasting life with God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. That has always been their ultimate mission.

But, at the same time we realize that in Christ – IN CHRISTOS – we have the power to defeat demons and all evil. In Christ and through the power of His Holy Spirit we can enjoy salvation and freedom and live the abundant life here on this earth and on the New Heaven and Earth to come.

This morning, I would like for us to look at another scary subject. It is a subject that very well may bring a bit of unease into our hearts, minds and souls. And it is a subject that we must approach with the proper tone of love, of grace and mercy and understanding. We also must allow God to speak and reveal to us His truths regardless if those truths are pleasant or not.

The subject this morning is about the place the Bible calls Hell.

Now, in just saying that word – Hell - it might bring some uneasiness and some pain. It’s a difficult subject to think about and talk about. Hell is not a popular subject in the post-modern church.

Heaven, however, is just the opposite. The majority of people in the United States like to talk about heaven. It’s popular. Over 80% of the people in our nation state that they believe in a place called Heaven and almost that many believe that is exactly where they will go when God calls them home.

Hell though is a whole different matter. Only about 40% believe that there is a literal place called Hell. That is a 40% gap – or if you put it in raw numbers – 261 million people in our nation believe in Heaven while only about 131 million believe in a place called Hell – a gap of around 130 million people.

And while almost 75% of our nation believes that they will be ushered into the gates of Heaven fewer than 10% actually believe that someone they know or have lived near is bound for Hell. The only people really going to Hell are the very worst of society and even then many believe that 10% is a very liberal number – it should be more like 6% or less that are actually going to Hell.

The word HELL is a common and popular word in our post-modern age. It is virtually impossible to watch a movie or even listen to some radio stations without hearing the word Hell said a few times. There is no doubt that the world uses the word Hell more times than it is said in most churches and in most pulpits.

More than once we have heard people say things like – “War is Hell” or even “I went through Hell” after enduring a sickness or a tragedy. These expressions of course are not to be taken literally but they do reflect our tendency to use the word hell to describe something that is full of pain, suffering, death, depression and/or destruction.

At other times, the word Hell is trivialized and of course it is often used as a common sports metaphor referring to what kind of game a certain player has just played. The word Hell is also used as a curse word and one that is most popularly used when someone is angry at another person and wants them to let them know that they are angry.

But, this morning there is no biblical concept more grim or terror-invoking than the idea or subject of Hell.

Let me say that again – “there is no biblical concept more grim or terror-invoking than the idea or subject of Hell.”

It is a subject that many people do their best not to think about, read about or even listen about. A great many people have merely decided to:

+Skip the whole idea of Hell – ignore it – act like Hell does not exist or that there is no way that it could exist.