A Tour of Hell

Intro:

Where is the last place on Earth you’d want to live?

Jakarata, Indonesia - 10 million people packed into less than 6 square miles (for perspective LAX is 5.5 SQ miles), most polluted city in the world, smog is so intense it looks foggy

Kathmandu, Nepal - 3 million people in LESS than 2 square miles, hit by MAJOR earthquakes every 70 years, large amount of burning plastic which can be seen in any direction with a stinging, eye-burning smell.

Tijuana, Mexico - 6 people are murdered everyday in TJ,

Of course you want to do some research before you move somewhere, before you take up permanent residence there. Imagine you get a job offer in TJ and think its a great opportunity because you thought TJ was Trader Joes not Tijuana

That is why tonight in our series, PREPARE TO DIE, we will look at Hell. Because it is 1 of the 2 destinations you can go to when you die.

A 2003 survey found that 71% of Americans believe in Hell but less than half of 1 percent believe they are going there

Need:

Underestimation of Hell is an underestimation of sin

What you believe about hell directly correlates to what you believe about God

When Hell is misunderstood the justice of God is misunderstood

When Hell is confused, God’s hatred towards sin is lost

When Hell is softened, Scripture is twisted

When Hell is lost, the gospel is cheapened

Jesus Christ came to SAVE - from what? - not from; depression, loneliness, purposelessness, boredom, our circumstances, being poor, being injured. He came to SAVE us from HELL.

So this begs the question; “If you don’t believe in a biblical Hell, have you actually been saved from it?”

It’s for this reason in evangelism we always MUST tell the unbeliever of the reality of Hell.

Think about it: Idk about you but sky diving sounds absolutely terrible to me. You’d have to literally force me against my will out of the plane. I’d do everything to stay in that plane. But if that plane is going down and going to crash, you’d have to fight me for a parachute. I’d do anything to be saved from the crash.

Similarly, the unbeliever is living on their comfortable plane of life, calm and content. But when shown the reality of their eternal destination, they see their need for salvation and trust in Christ like a parachute.

Maybe you tonight think “My life is pretty good and I like the way its going” BUT IF and WHEN you just see that the plane is going down, it WILL crash, and burn in Hell forever - I pray you will finally PREPARE TO DIE by repenting, believing and living for Jesus.

Others of us need to be reminded of the reality that this Hell is a real place that we have been saved from but our friends and family haven’t yet. We must do everything within our human ability to bring people to Christ. The first step to do that is to POINT and WARN unbelievers that Hell is a conscious, eternal punishment we all deserve.

Thesis: Hell is a conscious, eternal punishment we all deserve

Hell is eternal

This means that Hell has no end, it never ceases, you don’t complete your punishment and move on, there is no timer or countdown clock.

I will show you in a moment how clear scripture makes that but first let me tell you why it’s important;

Today many people inside and outside of the church refuse to believe that Hell is a place of everlasting punishment

ONE common belief is that when an unbeliever dies they don’t suffer eternally, the suffer once and are then annihilated. Some big names you may know believe in this idea but for the nominal American Christian this is common. Many people think ETERNAL HELL is too harsh, its punishment that exceeds the crime and so they DECIDE that what the BIBLE ACTUALLY means is that God just wipes unbelievers out if existence. - You tell me how that lines up with Scripture:

Matt 25:41 ““Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;”

Jude 1:7 “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the cities around them, since they in the same way as these indulged in gross immorality and went after strange flesh, are exhibited as an example in undergoing the punishment of eternal fire.”

Rev 20:10 “And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.”

2 Thess 1:9 “These will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,”

Rev 14:11 ““And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.””

Matt 18:8 ““If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than to have two hands or two feet and be cast into the eternal fire.”

There is so many more examples that we could look at but you get the point… 1 interesting one to look at though is Matt 25

Matt 25:46 ““These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.””

Here is an issue - if the Bible is true and Jesus said what he meant which he did, than either Hell is eternal like heaven is eternal OR hell is temporary and heaven is temporary

ILLUS: We need to stop thinking of Hell like a U.S. prison - a place where someone goes to PAY THEIR TIME for the amount of crimes they have done, rehabilitate and then re enter society.

Hell is infinite because our sin is an infinite crime against and infinite and HOLY God. So whether you sin once or a million times, Hell will be eternal. and Lets say for a moment Hell was a place like a penalty box in hockeywhere you just have to wait for the time to run out, YOU WOULD STILL never run out the clock because people in Hell are still SINNING, PEOPLE in Hell still HATE GOD, in fact people in hell are more sinful then they were on Earth, so the clock isn’t going down - it’s continually going up

So clearly Hell is eternal - but can we just let that sink in for a moment longer? Consider Eternity

In Eternity - it’s never tomorrow, you never get any further forward, you’re never getting closer to the end, the clock doesn’t stop or speed up it worthless because time is no longer relevant. It is a timeline that goes on forever and it is for eternity that unbelievers are punished in Hell. O it gives me a pit in my stomach to think of forever in that place - trapped in torment with no way out, no hope for rescue, no excuse.

Application: How often do you consider eternity? There is no better and NO MORE important time for you to seriously consider eternity than RIGHT NOW! Statistically the reality is in the HS years people make decisions on where they will spend eternity. It is in these years so often we see teens sadly chose to follow the path of life that is broad and easy that leads to destruction.

Satan is smart - it’s been said that as Satan was devising his plan to deceive humanity, he first though “I will tell them that God doesn’t exist, so there is no need to believe in Him”; But he knew everyone deep down believes in a higher being. So he then said “I will tell them Hell isn’t real so they don’t need to fear going there” But he realized everyone has a conciounce and believes there is some judgement for their life. Then he said “I will tell them God is real and Hell is real but they have plenty of time before they get there” He laughed knowing that those who procrastinate on Christ, usually never accept Him

Don’t wait to come to Christ because just like that Final Project, that due date that you knew about all year but it “snuck up”, so death will sneak up when you least except it and the time to decide has passed.

Hell is eternal - where will you spend eternity?

Hell is painful

I was listening to a sports podcast the other day and this guy was saying that Hell is going to be your least favorite thing on repeat like groundhogs day. He said “I thought my Hell would be installing car seats into the car BUT now I know it would be travelling on a plane with a 2 year old”

A surveyed showed that most people believe Hell is a physcological punishment

Many others think Hell is just a place that they will go to reunite with friends and have a beer.

But Hell is (like we talked about heaven last week) a real place. It is a place in the same way Murrieta is a place.

Mark 9:48 “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.”

The Bible speaks about the resurrection of the dead - thats when we are all raised up - given new bodies and enter our eternal destination. However it is not juts those going to heaven that get a new body but-also those going to hell.

In order for unbelievers to last in eternal fire forever, feel the pain and not die - they need a body that will last. So unbelievers will be given new bodies, perfectly designed for their punishment. So the worm never dies because the host is never consumed.

So Hell is a real physical place and the obvious characteristic than anyone off the street could tell you about it, is that is is fiery - just imagine the feeling of burning. You ever spilt hot coffee? Boiling water? I mean you pull your hand away as quick as possible, but just imagine that all over constantly - being burned to death has been said to be the worst way to die - it is so painful that it consumes your capacity to think about anything else, your existence just becomes a fiery painful experience. That is Hell always, no water breaks, no time outs.

Its fiery but its also dark - Job 10:21-22 “Before I go—and I shall not return— To the land of darkness and deep shadow, The land of utter gloom as darkness itself, Of deep shadow without order, And which shines as the darkness.””

Whats the darkest place you’ve ever been? I was just swimming in these caves last week, it was awesome but there was one spot where you had to go underwater around a corner to get air and we had flashlights to see. So were in this cave with no exposure to light besides our flaslights and when we turned them off it was crazy - it was the first time that I literally couldn’t see anything. Your eyes wont adjust - youre pretty much blind thats hell

You might ask “what is everyone doing there? like are people serving satan?” the asnwer is no - Ecc 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might; for there is no activity or planning or knowledge or wisdom in Sheol where you are going.” ETERNAL BOREDOM - that might be scariest of all

The only activities I can find going on in Hell are described in Matt 8:12 “but the sons of the kingdom will be cast out into the outer darkness; in that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.””

JMAC “agony, banishment, brimstone, curse, darkness, deprivation, destruction, distress, fire, teeth grinding, guilt, hopelessness, loneliness, pain, suffering, pressure, prison, punishment, ruin, separation, shame, contempt, smoke, sulfur, torment, trouble, trash heap, weeping – all forever.”

There is no fun in Hell, Hell is not just the lesser option, Hell isn’t better because you have friends there, Hell is indescribably awful - I think that the words “Lake of Fire” are just a symbol for what Hell is - people in Hell probably wish it was just a lake of fire

Hell is terrible. Its eternal, its painful and lastly it is JUST

Hell is just

I told you earlier about a view called annihilationism (You’re destroyed once and for all) but let me tell you about 2 more

TWO - others believe in whats called universalism - which is the idea that there is a Hell but no one goes there. God brings everyone to heaven in the end.

THREE - INCLUSIVISM - others believe that if you didn’t HEAR the gospel on Earth because of geography or language barriers, you don’t go to Hell because you can’t be held responsible.

Like I said before - I false view of hell results from a false view of God - the only reason to SOFTEN Hell is because you believe God is not perfectly Just. Because the Hell described in the Bible seems to harsh...

Let me ask you, who determines the penalty of breaking the law? The criminal? The public? No, the law giver. God is the Lawgiver and so he has determined the just punishment. God understand better than we do - that sin against him is the highest crime you can commit.

Jude 15 “to execute judgment upon all, and to convict all the ungodly of all their ungodly deeds which they have done in an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him.””

Sin is intolerable to God, it is disgusting, it is a high crime - that necessitates Hell -