A LIVING HELL

Matthew 13:40–42 (NIV)

40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

I. INTRO:

Recent surveys conducted among church-goers concluded that a small minority actually believe in a literal hell.  The survey concluded that 35% of Baptists; 54% of Presbyterians and 58% of Methodists, do not believe in hell!  Worse yet is the fact that 71% of the students studying to be ministers in the 8 leading seminaries in the United States do not believe in a literal Heaven or Hell. 

The average person seems to discount and throw away the notion of Hell. That there is a real literal place that people will burn and suffer for all eternity. Many scholars and even people in the church will argue the belief of annihiliation or universal salvation.

Annihilation is the false belief that people in hell will eventually cease to exist. This false doctrinal position was held by an early church heretic, Arnobius. it has been promoted in the Adventist tradition. According to them immortality is conditional upon being a believer therefore, the damned will be annihilated at the judgment. People say all the time “How can a loving God send anyone to hell to suffer for all eternity”? The truth is that God doesn’t send anyone to hell. People send themselves by not receiving God’s gift of salvation through Jesus Christ our Lord!

Universalism is the false belief that eventually everyone will be saved. This concept was introduced by the philosopher named, Origen. His teachings on this were deemed false by the church. This belief was re-popularized in the 1800’s and even was spoke about at length in a recent book by Rob Bell entitled “Love Wins”.

The Word of God tells us something different though. That Hell is a real place that those who reject Christ and His salvation will suffer for all eternity!

II. THE PLACE OF HELL

Matthew 10:28 (NIV)

28 Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

So we see here how Hell is referred to a physical place “In Hell”. There are many different terms for Hell mentioned throughout scripture. Such as....

Sheol/Hades

Sheol is a Hebrew term which means underworld or world of the dead. In the Old Testament its where the dead have their dwelling. A space underneath the earth where the dead are gathered in.

Sheol was used interchangebly with pit, death and destruction.

Sheol is a place of utter silence. It’s a place that has no life and is described as a land of forgetfullness.

The psalmist said those who dwell there cannot praise God. In revelation it is called the bottomless pit!

Sheol is the equivalent of the New Testament term Hades and means the same thing. But is more personified.

In ...Matthew 16:18 (NIV) Jesus says “And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not overcome it!

Many of us imagine that Jesus meant that satan and his demons will not defeat the church. That they will attack the church and we will survive the on-slaught. But if we look at the text we see it mentions the gates of hell not the gates of heaven. The gates of hell are stationary. So what Jesus is saying is that hell, hades and death WILL not be able to stand the attack from the church. The Church is the one that should be on the offensive. The Church is the one who grabs the gates of hell by it horns and smash it to pieces. The Church is not the one that is under siege but we raise victorious in the on-slaught of evil and wickedness!

Then there is Gehenna....

Gehenna

Gehenna is “the valley of Hinnom,” Geographically. Some say its located in modern day Jerusalem. it is a deep valley on the south and west sides of Jerusalem.  Historically, it was a place where child sacrifices were made to Molech.  Molech was a great metal idol which was hollow inside and the priests would stoke a fire inside the idol where it would be white hot.  Then people would bring their little babies by and place them in the searing hands of the idol where they would die immediately.  It is a place of perpetual fire where the bodies of executed criminals were burned. It is a fitting word to be used in a spiritual sense to describe hell, the place of never-ending punishment.

Then there is tartarus...

TARTARUS

Tartarus was a low place in the underground. Where the wicked were sent to suffer a torturous existence. The greek word is used once in scripture in “2 Peter 2:4 (NIV) For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them in chains of darkness to be held for judgment. The word hell, here is translated from the word Tartarus

Sinning angels are mentioned in Genesis 6:1–4 where they were called "sons of God" and they took advantage of human women and their offspring.

Jude 1:6 describes: "And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day."

These are believed to be the "spirits in prison" to whom Jesus proclaimed in 1 Peter 3:19–20. Evidently these particular fallen angels are in Tartarus, which is what it seems other demons feared in Luke 8:31.

III. THE EXPERIENCE OF HELL

A. It’s separation from God

Hell will be total separation from God who is love therefore, hell is total separation of all that is good. Hell will be experienced in torment, corruption, destruction, gnashing of teeth, unquenchable fire, total darkness, pain to the uttermost horror.

Pastor Kent Edwards compares hell to a Coleman Lantern. They are the things most people take when they go camping. They are good for light for when you want to read a newspaper or a book at night while camping. You would just fire up a lantern by turning the valve and lighting a match and the mantle catches fire and burns. Then you could see the newspaper or book with no problem. The issue with reading a newspaper or a book while camping ,Everything in the whole campground could see [the light], including every bug. The worst were the moths. They like the light, and they come, and they’re bouncing around this thing as I’m trying to read. You can’t help but notice what’s happening to these moths. They’re drawn to the light—they’re coming as close as they possibly can.

Some of them decided they didn’t want to stay on the outside of the mantle. They wanted to enter the very presence of the fire. They wanted to touch the mantle, so they climb underneath where you see the glass globe there, underneath that globe sits a little metal plate, and there are air holes underneath. The moths would climb underneath through those holes and come into the very presence of the fire.

What happens when the moth touches the fire? Zzzap. Not because the fire is mean, not because the fire hates the moth, but because the fire is fire. And bound up in the nature of fire is the fact that nothing that is physical, nothing that is consumable, can enter its presence without being consumed. It’s just the way it is. That’s the nature of fire.

Friends, God is holy. God is a burning fire. In Him is light. In Him is holiness, unquenchable holiness. When we enter the presence of God and behold Him we move from glory to glory and we enter into His presence—if we come with our flesh, if we come with that which is consumable, if we haven’t done away with our sin before we enter His presence, the very nature of God is that it will “zzzap” our sin. Hell exists, but not because God is mean. Hell exists because God is holy. Anyone or anything that is unholy that dares enter His presence will feel the flame of God’s holiness. Stop, drop and roll doesn’t work in hell!

Then we have the finality of Hell....

IIII. THE FINALITY OF HELL

Luke 16:26 (NIV) (Abrahams Bossom)

26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been set in place, so that those who want to go from here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over from there to us.’

This scripture reveals how final hell is. The Rich man lived a life of luxary and comfort in this life whereas Lazarus lived a dreadful and miserable life. in the afterlife it would be reversed. After death the rich man was in such agony in the fire that any relief at all would be a blessing. Even water from the tip of a finger from Lazarus would lesson the degree of this unquenchable fire but even such a small deed was not possible for it was just to late.

Hell is final. There is no escape hell free card. In Mark 9 Jesus describes hell as an unquenchable fire....where there worm does not die. it is a never ending torment and punishment.

In Matthew 25 Jesus speaks of the final judgment at His second coming. It is the separation of the sheep and the goats. The believers and the unbelievers. The righteous and the un-righteous. Jesus decides who is who based on what they’ve done with their lives and their hearts. He says to one “Depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. To the other He says well done good and faithful servant. We will either go into everlasting punishment or everlasting life!

How will Jesus respond to your checklist of Christian activities. Your Bible studies, your tithing, your church potlucks, your serving in sunday school and district events, your serving in ministries. Many who expect to enter the gates of heaven will be denied access with the words of “Depart from me for I never knew you.

Matthew 7:22 (NIV)

22 Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’

V. APPLICATION

C. S Lewis wrote in The Great Divorce, “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’”