Glimpses into Hell
Series: Driven by Eternity
Sunday Sermon / September 30th 2007
Intro: The reality of hell is one of the most neglected doctrines in all of Scripture. Whenever hell is mentioned today, it is generally ridiculed, as if the whole idea of hell were so old-fashioned that only the naive and ignorant would really believe that such a place actually exists.
Or, as we will see more and more through the month of October, Hell, demons and Satan are considered cute and fun.
As pastor Mark Ainsworth says, “The carnal mind throws up objection after objection to the idea of hell because it does not want to face the reality of it.”
However, (And this is a big “however”) it isn’t what we “WANT” to believe or disbelieve that matters. The ONLY thing that matters is what does the WORD of God say?
Jesus put it this way in John 3 “men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.”
If you want to live in sin, the first Biblical truth you must get rid of is Hell.
You will not have to look very far to find even preaches claiming, “There is no Hell.”
Jude speaks about such teaches, he said “…to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.
If I had a choice, that is if Scripture were not so clear and conclusive, I would certainly not believe in Hell. I don’t want to believe there is a Hell.
What we want to believe has NO barring on reality. Reality must shape our beliefs. But you say, “I can’t see Hell. How do you expect me to believe it is real?”
I. Hell is Real
a. Jesus’ made teaching about Hell a priority
i. More attention than Heaven.
ii. He words weren’t spoken to manipulate or control.
In our world today, we are used to thinking about tactics such as blackmail, extortion, intimidation, fraud and threats from evil people to achieve their own selfish desires.
• This wasn’t the case with Jesus. He never sought his own.
• He did nothing for His own glory. He only spoke for the Father’s glory.
iii. He had no need for exaggeration
• I’m sure when Jesus said, don’t worry about the spec in your brother’s eye, when you have plank in your own eye, he was using a bit of hyperbole.
• And obviously there are some figures of speech in the Bible, If you took their temperatures, would the Laodiceans be lukewarm?
• This isn’t the case when he spoke about Heaven or Hell. His language is very different.
• Even though Jesus spoke with parables, the point was often the same: lazy, wicked, disobedient servants would be “cast into outer darkness”, “weeping and gnashing of teeth,” and “where the fire isn’t quenched and the worm never dies.”
b. Other Biblical passages speaking of Hell’s literal existence.
i. Paul
2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 “The Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven with his mighty angels, 8In flaming fire taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: 9Who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power...”
ii. Peter
2 Peter 2:4, 9 “…God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment;
9…the Lord…keep(s) the unrighteous under punishment until the Day of Judgment,”
iii. Jude
Jude 7 “Sodom and Gomorrah (are)…suffering the vengeance of eternal fire.”
Bill Wiese says in his book 23minutes in Hell “Our culture has become desensitized and conditioned to accept various forms of demonic creatures, caricatures of Satan, and glimpses of hell as simply ‘entertainment’”
Friend, Hell isn’t funny, it isn’t a holiday, and it’s real…very real.
You may ask, “Preacher, are you trying to scare me?”
John Piper, “I know of no one who has overstated the terror of Hell…We are meant to tremble and feel dread. We are meant to recoil from the reality. Not by denying it, but by fleeing from it into the arms of Jesus, who died to save us from it.”
II. What is Hell like?
a. Physical
i. Physical body –
Matthew 10:28 “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.”
Charles Spurgeon, “There is a real fire in hell, as truly as you now have a real body – a fire exactly like that which we have on earth in everything except this – that it will not consume, though it will torture you.”
ii. A place filled with unquenchable fire and absolutely no moisture
Luke 16:24 “Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame.’
iii. Decay / worms – Just as the flames of Hell are literal flames burning literal bodies, so are the worms literally eating hell’s inhabitants.
• Somehow literally burning but never consuming
• Somehow literally eating but never devouring.
Job 18:13 “It eats away parts of his skin; death’s firstborn devours his limbs. 14 He is torn from the security of his tent and marched off to the king of terrors. 15 Fire resides in his tent; burning sulfur is scattered over his dwelling.”
Matthew 18:34 “In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.”
Bill Weise, “Death penetrated me, but eluded me.”
iv. Sleepless / Restless
Revelation 14:11 “…the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night…”
• Physical and Mental torment / regret
v. Never able to die again
• Even now, death can be seen as a relief.
vi. Darkness (spiritual and physical)
Job 10:22 “…the land of deepest night, of deep shadow and disorder, where even the light is like darkness."
Bill Weise, “it was as though the darkness had its own power, a power that consumed me. That darkness was not simply the absence of light – it had a distinctive evil presence, a feeling of death, a penetrating evil.”
Scientists tell us that within our universe’s black holes, the pull of gravity is so strong that it actually stops light from traveling, and it cannot escape from the hole.
b. Spiritual
i. None of God’s presence
2 Thessalonians 1:9 ESV “They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might”
ii. No mercy, No hope and No Love (these are all components of God’s character)
Psalm 88:6&8 “6 You have put me in the depths of the pit, in the regions dark and deep…8…I am shut in so that I cannot escape”
iii. Total evil
Demonic hatred for God’s creation / their hatred and the torments are inflicted because of their insatiable hatred for God.
Satan seeks to kill, steal and destroy God’s creation here on the earth. And to a limited degree he is able to do so. But in Hell he will be completely unbridled in his evil desire.
iv. Unimaginable fear
How many of you have ever watched a terrifying scene in a movie? Your stomach comes up into your throat, you stop breathing, and fear consumes you. This happens for a brief moment, and your fear is for someone else. Now imagine that level of fear many times over, and hold it there for ever, and the subject of that fear is you.
Proverbs 10:24 “What the wicked fears will come upon him,”
The most terrifying aspect of all about hell is its length or duration. Hell is eternal. Hell will last forever. Can you comprehend eternity? No mathematical equation or formula can explain it. Your mind cannot conceive of eternity, but it is nonetheless real. This aspect of hell alone should cause men to cry out in repentance.
III. What is Hell for?
a. Hell is a place of containment and punishment for Satan and his demons
Matthew 25:41 Everlasting fire was prepared for the devil and his angels:
b. Hell is a place of containment and punishment for sinners.
i. Lovers of Sin
1 Corinthians 6:9-11 “Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: neither the sexually immoral, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor men who practice homosexuality, 10nor thieves, nor the greedy, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God. 11And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
ii. Lovers of self rather than God
• God hates sin, YES. But God has made a way of escape from sin.
Most people acknowledge that really bad sinners deserve to be punished. We have sense of justice whenever a murderer or rapist is convicted and sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty.
• What God hates even more than sin, is the rejection of His Son Jesus Christ.
• What God hates even more than sin, is the rejection of Gospel.
Rejection may seem too strong a word. But how many people say, “that’s not for me…those aren’t my beliefs…I have my own way…etc.” These are the self-sufficient strategies; they essentially are stating, “God, No thanks” That is rejection of God.
Isaiah 66:4 “when I called, no one answered, when I spoke, they did not listen”
Revelation 21:8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death."
These are “unbelieving” are those who just can’t grasp the gospel. They disregard and discount God’s great salvation.
The timid are those who know the truth and due to difficulties of serving God, they fall short of true faith. They are weak.
You see, you need not be a violent sinner to be cast into hell. The sin of pride in all it’s various forms will shock people on that Day.
Conclusion:
God offers a way of escape!
2 Peter 3:9 “God…not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”
The Gospel’s purpose:
Acts 26:17-18 ’to open their eyes, in order to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who are sanctified by faith in Me.’
What are you going to do?
