THE OTHER SIDE OF THE CHASM
A Discussion on the Doctrine of Hell
Luke 16.19-31
"...and besides all this between us and you is a great chasm fixed,
in order that those that wish to come over from here to you may not be able,
and that none may cross over from there to us." -- Luke 16:26 [NASB]
Hell is out of fashion, or at least the teaching about Hell is. When is the last time you heard a preacher preach on hell, I mean really preach it, not just mention it as part of a sermon, but devote the entire message to enlightening you about hell? How many Bible studies have you been to lately where this was the primary topic? Pretty rare isn't it. The fact is I haven't heard a preacher preach or teach specifically on hell in over two years. It has become so infrequent that when a child hears the word hell they giggle and laugh because the preacher used a "swear" word. Well, let me assure you that while the teaching on hell may have become cold, the eternal fires of hell are as hot as they have ever been.
If teaching on hell is out of fashion it is because people don't want to hear about it. I will be among the first to admit, it's easier to hear a sermon on the wonder and glory of Heaven than it is to hear one on the torment and fire of hell. It's easier to prepare and study for a lesson on love or forgiveness than it is to prepare a lesson on the doctrine of hell. But hell must be taught and preached. We must receive the lesson and heed the warnings. You see, whether you are a Christian or not, we are all going to enter into eternity, the question that remains is, "Where will you spend that eternity?" I want us to take a closer look at hell, as we examine the view on the other side of the chasm and contemplate our eternal destiny.
Let me begin by giving you three reasons why we must teach on hell.
I. THREE REASONS TO TEACH ON HELL
(1) We must teach on hell first of all because it is included in God's Word. If, when I came and you interviewed me I asked you this question: "Do you want me to teach my own ideas and the popular subjects and issues, or do you want me to teach the Word of God?" the answer would have been a resounding, "PREACH THE WORD!!" Paul charged young Timothy with that same challenge. Regardless of how difficult the lesson is to teach and to receive because it is in the Word, I must teach it.
I can teach about heaven and all its glory and splendor, and I can teach about God and His grace and mercy. I can teach about stewardship and the importance of tithing, and I can teach about fellowship and the command to love one another. I can teach about sin and the damage it has done to god's creation, and I can teach about Jesus, God's holy and pure Passover lamb. In fact, I can teach about all of those things, and I must, but that same mandate hods just as true concerning hell. I must teach the glory of heaven, and delight in God's love and grace, but I must also teach the fires of
hell, and tremble in view of God's judgment.
(2) We must teach on hell to awaken sleeping Christians. Listen brothers and sisters in Christ: have we forgotten that there is an eternal place of torment? Have we, like the world, decided that there is no literal hell? Have we believed like so many that in the end, everyone is going to go to heaven? Because if we believe in a literal hell, a place of eternal torment and fire, and we believe that if you are not a Christian that is where you will spend eternity, then why are we doing so little about it? Why are there millions of people who have never heard the Gospel message of Christ? Why are there so many baptisteries filled with cobwebs and dust? If we really believe in a literal hell then why aren't we out there telling someone about it?
General William Booth, of the Salvation Army, once told a graduating class of the Armies training school that he wished that, instead of the many days and weeks of work through the school, he could send them to hell for twenty-four hours. He wished they could experience all the torment, all the heat, all the suffering, all the hell that hell is. He wanted them to be able to hear the weeping and the wailing, see the darkness, feel the loneliness. That would be an experience more valuable than any seminary degree, any mission experience, any training we can hope for in this life because after experiencing that horror we would do all in our power to keep people from going there. Nothing would stop us from teaching the Gospel of Jesus Christ, witnessing to our family, telling our friends and neighbors about Jesus, and even inviting people we meet on the street to come to church with us.
What keeps us from doing that now? Perhaps it's fear of rejection, or maybe it's that we don't really believe what the Bible says about hell in our hearts. Hell must be taught so that sleeping Christians will wake up and will have compassion on those people sentenced to eternal damnation unless they repent and turn to Christ. Christians, you must hear this message.
(3) Finally, we must teach on hell to warn sinners. What an awful thing to remember that you could be in hell in another minute. No doctor can guarantee you even a single second more of life. You could leave here this morning and a tree could fall on you and you could die! Are you ready? What if you have never made Jesus Christ your Lord, what if He is not your savior? Then, man, woman, boy, girl, you would be doomed forever.
There are multitudes of people who had no use for the Gospel. They laughed at the teachers and evangelists, they mocked the Sunday school teachers, they ignored the truths of the Bible. Today those multitudes weep bitterly as they long for one more opportunity to hear the message and respond. Now, in the fires and torment of hell, those who once laughed at Christ on the cross weep bitterly as they look across the impassable chasm to see Him seated on the throne. Not one of them intended to go to hell. Most simply didn't believe there was such a place; others waited, hoping to make peace at the very end of their lives, but they waited too long. then there are those who thought they were ready through church membership, giving, living a moral life, but they soon discovered, tragically, that they were no more ready than the unrepentant murderers and thieves which occupy the depths of hell.
So, we must teach on hell because it is part of the "whole counsel" of God. We must teach on hell to awaken sleeping Christians and to challenge them to work to fulfill Christ's great commission to believers. And, we must teach on hell to warn lost sinners of the certainty of the coming judgment. People are dying every day, and one day you will die. Are you ready?
II. THE CERTAINTY OF HELL
If more people believed that hell is a reality and that people who reject Christ are sentenced to eternity there we would never be able to drain the baptistery, and we could not build a church large enough to contain the congregation of believers we would have. Unfortunately the devil, in his diabolical scheme has woven lies into our society and people are eagerly accepting them.
(1) The foremost lie that he attempts to slip by us is that there is no God and that we control our destiny. It amazes me to see the vast number of people who accept that. Look around you when you leave. Take a good look at the beauty and order of this planet. Do you really believe that all this just "happened"? Sadly, many people never take a look at all of creation and see that it couldn't just happen, and they buy into the lie that there is no God, and thus no eternity. What a terrible day it will be for them when they find themselves in a place of fire and torment and look across that great gulf and there see Almighty God looking back at them.
(2) Another of his favorite deceptions is to lead us to believe there is no hell, after all, if God is love then how could he have created a place of such pain? Since there can be no hell, no eternal punishment for our deeds, then anything goes here. Since there is no hell, then--even if there is a God--I need not worry about the afterlife.
One woman approached an evangelist following a powerful sermon on hell. She asked him if he had any children. He replied that he did. "Do you love them?" she asked. Oh, yes." replied the preacher. "Well," she began, "what would you think of a father who could save his children from suffering and pain, but refused to do it?" The evangelist replied, "I would think he was a tyrant and a monster." "That is what you make God appear to be when you preach as you do on hell," she said. "God would be a monster if he sent His children to hell instead of delivering them by His power." Then the preacher said, "But, lady, you have made one mistake. God doesn't have any children in hell, and He never will. The people in hell are the devil's children. They chose to reject God's offer of adoption through Jesus Christ, and thus rejected him as Father, and He then rejected them as children. Those who go to hell are not there because God sends them there, they walk in by their own choosing."
(3) A favorite lie of Satan's is to tell us there is no hurry. Go ahead, live it up now, you have plenty of time to make your peace with God. I wonder how many lost souls in hell thought that, but now they look back and wish they had not bought that lie. As I mentioned before, no one can promise you one more second of life. If you have never prayed and accepted Christ as your savior please do not leave this place this morning until you have. It's true, the Lord may tarry another two thousand years, and you may live many more years, but it's also possible that at this very moment He and all His army are mounting up preparing to come and reclaim His creation, just as it is possible that you will not live through this day. Do not hesitate, come to Christ this morning.
III. THE BIBLE'S DESCRIPTION OF HELL
(1) The worst thing about hell is going to be that those who are there are separated from everything they once held dear. Hell is a place of eternal separation. those who go there will be forever separated from God. That means that there will be no purity, no love, no grace, no righteousness, no light, nothing that is associated with God will be found in hell. While prayers may be prayed they will be to no avail as is illustrated in the Rich man's futile request in our text.
Not only is it a place where its inhabitants are separated from God, but they are also separated from family and loved ones. Have you ever been really alone, I mean so alone you felt like you might be the only person on the planet. No cars, no sounds, nothing. Do you remember the sense of relief you felt when you saw a familiar face? In hell, that lonely feeling will be eternal. You will find no comfort from family or friends, for in hell you have no friends; you have no family. Hell is a place of eternal separation from everything that may be precious to you.
(2) Hell is also a place of eternally unsatisfied desires. Consider how simple the request of the rich man was. "Give me a drink, for I am thirsty." Yet, even this simple desire for a drop of water went unsatisfied. In hell men and women will burn with desires that will not be fulfilled. I once heard hell described as a place where your greatest desire was right there with you, but always just out of reach. As the rich man looked across the chasm and saw Lazarus reclined in the Lord's presence, sipping the divine wine, he was a man with a burning desire, but that desire is eternally unsatisfied.
(3) In addition, hell is also a place of vilest companionship. The very worst people, the meanest vilest, filthiest people will be in hell. How my heart breaks for the one who has striven to live a good and moral life, clean, cultured, and educated, a model citizen. What will their first reaction be when they step through the door into hell and find their eternal dwelling among those vilest of people? I think about the good men who have been wrongly accused of crimes and must spend time in prison among the criminals. that must be terrible, but how much worse for that man in hell, for there is no parole, and he is guilty of the crime he is charged with--rejecting Christ.
(4) When you thought it couldn't get worse it does. Hell is a place of separation, and unsatisfied desires, as well as the vilest of companionship. So far we can probably relate a little to what hell will be like. We've all been lonely, separated from loved ones for a time. We've each had desires go unsatisfied, and we have been in the presence of vile and disgusting people. But here we have hope, there is no hope in hell. Here we have the thought that it will get better over time, there it will never get better. Dante writes in The Inferno about a sign on the doorpost to hell which reads: "Abandon all hope, you who enter here." I can't imagine what life here would be like without the hope of tomorrow. In hell there will be no hope. There is no early release program, no weekend passes, nothing, just eternal torture, and torment. Does it sound terrible to you? Always remember, it is even worse than it sounds.
(5) It doesn't stop yet. Hell is all that we have mentioned, plus it is a place of eternal suffering. Right no you are thinking that to have to endure what we've already talked about would be too much to bear, but the Scripture records for us time and time again that hell is a place of torment, torture, and suffering. A place where men groan and moan in agony, where souls wail for relief that never comes. A place where the fire is never extinguished, and the pain never subsides. Dante continues his comment on hell by adding, "There sighs, lamentations, and loud wailing resounded through the starless air so that at first it made me weep; strange tongues, horrible language, word of pain, tones of anger, voices loud and hoarse, and with these the sounds of hands, made a tumult which is whirling through that air forever dark, and sand eddies in a whirlwind." The inhabitants of hell will be in agony and distress all of eternity with no rest from the torture, no relief from the suffering.
(6) Then comes what I believe must be the absolute worst part, what I would consider to be the hottest fire of hell that will burn the souls that are banished there. Hell is a place of eternal separation; a place of unsatisfied desires; a place of the vilest companionship; a place where there is absolutely no hope; a place of torture and suffering, and that would be horrible enough in itself. But hell is also a place of eternal memories. We have all been haunted by a memory I am sure. Perhaps it was something you had done, or maybe something that was done to you. Your memory could be something that you wish you had done, but didn't, and now it's too late. One day, if you are a Christian, you will go to heaven and there shall be no more grieving or mourning over past mistakes, no more pain from past wounds. Hell, however, is entirely different. In hell, you will remember everything. You will remember every sin you committed, every mistake you made. You will remember everything you had taken from you, and every wrong you ever suffered will be suffered again in your memory. In hell, you will remember every opportunity you had to accept Jesus Christ--Satan will take great pleasure in replaying that memory over and over again--and you will remember how you chose to reject Jesus for the pleasures of the world. Most painful of all--I believe--you will remember every family member and loved one that you will never see again. Consider the thought of spending all of eternity without your spouse, without your children, that is what hell will be. Heaven will be a joyous reunion, but hell will be eternal separation and a place of burning memory.
IV. WHEN DOES HELL BEGIN?
Hell begins at the end of a Christ-less life. If you are here today, and you have never surrendered yourself to Jesus Christ, then for you hell may begin this afternoon. If you leave this world, and you have never accepted the sacrifice God made on Calvary, then you leave this world headed for hell. Listen, if you are without Christ you don't know how close to hell you are! Today you have an opportunity to escape hell but this opportunity may not come again for you.
V. HOW CAN I ESCAPE HELL?
The only chance for escape lies in the blood of Jesus Christ, shed for you on a cross atop a rock that resembles a skull. You were condemned to die and spend eternity in hell, but Jesus took upon Himself your condemnation and he died your death. You bore an unpayable debt for the sin in your life, but Christ came and he erased that debt by paying it Himself. If you are willing to accept his sacrifice--the payment for your unrighteousness--then your sins will be forgiven and you are saved. You become a child of God and an heir to the kingdom. Christ paid the price for your eternal life, you just have to accept it and it's yours.
In northern Scotland, far off in the hills, there was a railroad bridge over a small stream. Heavy rains overnight had rapidly turned the normally gentle stream into a torrent of rushing water and debris. the force of the water was so great that it washed away the center column supporting the bridge. That morning a young shepherd was tending his sheep near the stream when he noticed the support was gone. In the distance, he could hear the train whistle. Realizing that if the train wasn't stopped many people might die, the boy ran quickly to try and stop the train. When he got to where he could see it he removed his coat and waved it furiously. The engineer, however, didn't pay the boy any attention. realizing the train wasn't slowing down the boy stepped onto the tracks. The engineer blew the whistle long and loud, but the boy did not move. realizing that he wasn't moving the engineer applied the brakes. The train slowed so quickly that many passengers were thrown from their seats. When the train finally came to a halt they were mere yards from the bridge and the raging water. As the passengers got off the train, and they saw how close to disaster they had come, they grew pale and ill with fear. Just then the engineer appeared from the rear of the train. "Come," he said, "I want you to meet the one who stopped the train, and saved our lives." they walked around the back of the train and saw--several yards back--the mangled body of a young shepherd boy. "If he had not died to save us, we would all have perished today."
As Jesus hung dying on the cross he was in effect placing himself between us and the train of God's wrath. His sacrifice on our behalf has opened up the opportunity to escape the destruction of hell. Can you ignore the love of that caliber? Are you able to simply walk over Jesus, trampling Him underfoot as you make your way toward hell? Why should you spend eternity in hell, a place of fire and torment? He has already done everything that needs to be done to save you; all you need to do is believe Him and trust Him. Surrender, and accept Jesus Christ today. Surrender the pride that keeps you from asking for forgiveness. Surrender the arrogance that keeps you from repenting. Surrender the fear that keeps you from this altar. Surrender you life, and escape the eternal fire and torment that awaits those who do not. Surrender, and come to Jesus Christ today.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Barclay, William. DSBS: The Gospel of Luke. Philadelphia, PA: Westminster
Press. 1957.
Ford, W. Herschel. Simple Sermons on Heaven, Hell, and Judgement. Grand
Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing. 1969.
Holman Bible Dictionary. Nashville, TN: Holman Bible Publishers. 1991.
Robertson, A. T. Word Pictures in the New Testament Vol. II. Nashville, TN:
Broadman Press. 1930.
Ryrie, Charles C. Basic Theology. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books. 1986.
Stanley, Charles. The Glorious Journey. Atlanta, GA: Nelson Publishers. 1996
Stein, Robert H. New American Commentary: Luke. Nashville, TN: Broadman
Press. 1992.
Swindoll, Charles R. The Consummation of Something Miraculous. Anaheim, CA:
Insight for Living. 1995.
The Zondervan Pictoral Encyclopedia fo the Bible. Vol. 3. Grand Rapids, MI:
Zondervan Publishing. 1975.
. Wilcock, Michael. The Bible Speaks Today: The Message of Luke. Downers
Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press. 1979.
David D. Bentley
PO Box 245
East Wallingford, VT 05742
wallingfordpastor@gmail.com
