Why Are We Not In Hell Today?

Why are we not in Hell today?

1/17/03

Opening statement… Why are we not in Hell today?

Why are we not in Hell.?

Take your Bibles this morning if you would and please turn to 2ND Thessalonians chapter 1.

Read 2 Thess 1:5-9

Why are we not in Hell?

Today is the day that the Southern Baptist Convention observes sanctity of Human Life Sunday. This is the day that we as Southern Baptist… we as Christians, take the time to recognize the Value of Human Life….

It is a day that we discuss the Holiness of our creator GOD.

It is the day that we discuss the fact that God valued the life of mankind enough to form mankind in his own image… and to form a personal relationship with Human beings.

It is the day that we recognize that Jesus Christ valued our lives enough to hang on an old rugged cross in our stead… to bring us back into a relationship with God after the sinfulness of man caused a great separation.

It is the day that for years now, on this day, I have heavy heartedly mentioned the Millions of unborn babies…. Around 40 million now… that have been executed in Utero… all in the name of “Choice” .

Today is the day that in thousands of pulpits, the sanctity of Human Life on earth will be touted… just as I usually do on this day.

But the Lord led me in another direction for today’s messages. This evening’s message will tie into this morning’s message also.

You see, as much as the Lord loves Human Life… as much as God desires for us to live life abundantly as Christ himself said in John 10:10.

As much as God is concerned with our lives on this earth……

HE IS SO MUCH MORE CONCERNED ABOUT OUR SOULS………….

So again… why are we not in Hell at this very moment?

Now, we could get different answers to that question.

One of the answers many people give today is … “Well, we are not in Hell today… because there is no hell….”

Even some people who say they believe in the Word Of God may say there is no Hell.

And of the people who do believe in Hell, many of those do not believe in .. or at least understand Hell as it is described in the Bible.

Why are we not in Hell??

I want us today to understand the terrible realities that the Bible has to say about Hell…. If a man accepts the Cross of Christ…. He must also accept the realities of Hell…

Now, to understand the realities of Hell, I think it is important to understand how the word Hell in our English Bibles is translated from the original languages.

The Greek and Hebrew languages that the Bible was originally written in , were very complex languages. The same word could have many different meanings depending upon the context in which the word was used.

Now, the word Hell is used 54 times in the King James Version of the Bible… but it is not always referring to our topic at hand this morning.

There are three words most commonly used in Gods word that are translated as Hell…

First, there is the word “ Sheol” . This Hebrew or Old Testament word is used 65 times in the Bible and is translated as Hell, the grave, the pit, and a few others but it is usually not actually talking about the place of eternal punishment.

The Greek word “Hades” is translated 10 times in the New Testament, and out of these 10 times.. it is referring to the place of eternal punishment three times.

And then there is the Greek word “Gehena”

I would love to give you the origin and background of this word.. it is very interesting, but I am going to be pressing my time this morning and these words are not the main focus of today.

The word “Gehena” is used in the New Testament 12 times and it is always referring to the place of eternal punishment… or , the place that we are referring to when we say the word Hell…

And then there are also 7 or 8 other words, terms, or phrases that are scattered throughout the Word of God that are describing Hell.

Now, my intentions today were not to focus on these words, although I would like to some day. But I wanted you to understand that every time we see the word translated as Hell in the Bible.. it is not always referring to the place of eternal punishment that we are looking at.

And the reason I wanted you to understand this is because someone could be reading the Bible and depending on the translation, they may read the word hell when the writer was actually referring to the grave, or death, or the absence of life……