We Must Talk About Hell
“The Bible has much to say about Hell so we cannot ignore it, even though it makes people uncomfortable”
-the word hell is used in thousands of conversations in hundreds of different ways every day.
Ex. people use it in swearing, or to describe their daily lives like I am in a living hell, or hell on Earth
-it is such a common word that there is no belief that it is a real place so pastors gloss over its significance.
-New testament: again and again are direct references to the subject of hell and most of them are made by Jesus Christ.
-people have come to associate hell with a kind of outmoded theology in which the devil is pictured as a red creature with a fork, tail, split hoofs and horns so it is not taken seriously.
***Bible tell us us about the love of God and the beauties of Heaven also tells us about judgment and hell
-there is only one authority who is qualified to speak of our future life, and that is Jesus Christ
New Testament statements:
“Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell” (Matthew 10:28).
“Whoever says (to his brother), ‘you fool’ shall be in danger of the hell fire” (Matthew 5:22).
Four words translated as hell in our Bible:
1.-Shoel: Old Testament means unseen state, sorrow, pain, and destruction
2.-Hades (Greek): New Testament used 10 times; means judgment and suffering
3.-Tartarus: Found only once in 2 Peter 2:4; refers to disobedient angels, place of judgment, prison, dungeon where there is intense darkness
4.-Gehenna: Used 12 times in New Testament; illustration that Jesus used of the valley of Hinnom, a place outside Jerusalem where rubbish and debris burned continually
-No one can read the Bible without recognizing that there is a hell.
We should shun Hell:
1-God’s warning concerning hell is not idle chattr, so heed His tender, loving warnings,
“For if God did not spare the angels who sinned, but cast them down to hell and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved for judgment; and did not spare the ancient world, but saved Noah, one of eight, a preacher of righteousness, bringing in the flood on the world of the ungodly…the Lord know how…to reserved the unjust under punishment for the day of judgment” (2 Peter 2: 4-5, 9)
“The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23)
2-Christ doesn’t mince words as he called hell an everlasting punishment in outer darkness where there will be weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth.
-Christ called hell a “furnace of fire” and “a place prepared for the devil and his angels” and “where their worm dieth not” and “fire is not quenched.”
-Christ told us that it is a place where we have consciousness and the use of our faculties.
Luke 16: 19-31 Ex.
- In the story of Lazarus, Christ said the rich man in hades lifted up his eyes-He was in agony, being in torment.
-He spoke saying “Father Abraham, have mercy on me.”
-He had memories saying “I have five brothers….testify to them, lest they come to this place of torment.”
“It is better for you to enter into the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire” (Mark 9:47).
-Jesus used every descriptive word at His command to warn people to flee the wrath of God that will fall upon sinners who reject God’s plan of salvation
3-we should shun hell because of what it cost God to save us from it. God would not have given His only Son, and Christ would not have willingly died on the cross, if the penalty facing mankind had been a light one.
-Jesus died in our place to save us from the judgment of our sin.
“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3: 16).
4-God did not create man for hell. Hell was created primarily for the devil and his angels.
-if you insist on rejecting Christ, then you are destined to spend eternity with the devil and his angels.
***Hell is the ultimate separation from God. It is the second death and banishment from the presence of all that is joyous, good, righteous, and happy.
What to do?
-prepare yourself for death. Answer the assured question of where will you spend eternity?
“It is appointed for men to die once” (Hebrews 9:27).
-people would like to ignore death, but everyone will face it. Death knows no age limit or partiality to the saint to the murderer.
-after death, there is an appointment with God on the judgment day, and all who have deliberately ignored God during their lifetime will be banished from His presence.
-if you are out of Christ and away from God now, in many ways you are in hell, for hell is a separation from God.
-we were not made for sin or made for bondage
-we were made for life, for joy, for peace, for happiness, for love, for Heaven, and for God
“He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life” (John 3:36).
***Renounce your sin, Repent of your sins, and Receive Christ as your Lord and Savior. At this moment surrender yourself to Him. Let Jesus into your life. Give Him your heart and your devotion.