What Will Happen To The Wicked?

Illus: We get the picture of a herd of wild horses, kicking their heels up, just running and having a time. However, when they get to a certain place, a cowboy rushes from the rear of the herd to the front and turns the herd in the direction he wants them to go.

God said, the wicked shall be “...turned into hell...” Who will be turned? THOSE WHO FORGET GOD! The devil’s crowd is kicking up their heels, but there is coming a day when they are going to wish they had never forgotten God.

One thing we can say about America is that it seems the majority of the people are trying to forget God.

- The wicked ACLU, every year, files lawsuits against schools or cities when they display Nativity scenes in public.

- The wicked people want to take the teachings of God out of our schools.

This makes no sense! They say it is all right to teach little Johnny that he came from a baboon, but it is not all right to teach him God created him.

Wicked men want to remove “In God we trust” from our coins because it offends them. So selfish they are, refusing to even recognize the existence of One who loves them so He paid the ultimate sacrifice for them!

The mainstream of America fits into Psalm 9:17, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

They prefer the name of God not be mentioned unless it is in a negative way. It is not that they do not want to hear the word “hell.” It is that they have relegated it to a slang word. They wish to forget that it is a place where wicked people will spend eternity!

We all know people who use the word “hell” frequently in their conversations. It is ironic that sinners use “hell” frequently, but the place is seldom mentioned in many churches who claim to be Bible-preaching churches.

Cult’s shun the mention of “hell,” that is, unless they want to mock the teaching of hell from the scriptures. For example...

Illus: The cult leader, Ted Armstrong, made mockery of those who believe in hell. In cartoon form he showed a man being placed into a wheel barrow being pushed over a cliff and dumped into a burning valley below that was supposed to represent hell. Then he faced the television camera, laughing, saying, “Now you do not believe that a loving God would do that to anyone, do you?”

But, in spite of the scoffers, in spite of those who no longer preach what God’s Word says about hell, God’s Word still stands! God warned, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

I would like to show you at least THREE reasons why we must believe there is a hell.

I. WE MUST BELIEVE THERE IS A HELL BECAUSE THE SCRIPTURES DECLARE IT.

The Word of God says, “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.”

The Bible teaches the reality of hell!

- The Old Testament mentions it at least 31 times.

- The New Testament mentions it at least 22 times.

That is at least 53 times hell is mentioned in the Bible.

Jesus frequently spoke about hell. I know liberals would have you believe He only preached that God is love, and promoted social programs, like feeding the poor. But, the fact is, He frequently preached on hell.

For example, in

-Matthew 10,

-Mark 9 and

-Luke 16, the Lord spoke quite a bit about hell. In the book of Matthew alone He mentioned that dreadful place called hell 12 times.

In fact, if you examine scripture closely you will find He had more to say about hell than He did about heaven.

In Mark 9:33-48 we read, “And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire: Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”

Notice, five times the Lord spoke of hell as being a place, “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched.”