*THE TRUTH ABOUT HELL*

Rev 20: 1 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.

2 And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years,

3 And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season.

4 And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.

5 But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.

6 Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.

7 And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,

8 And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.

9 And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.

10 And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

11 And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

12 And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.

13 And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.

14 And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

15 And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire.

*THE TRUTH ABOUT HELL*

As a preacher, I’m often confronted with death. One thing I’ve observed is that when someone dies, that person’s loved ones want to believe their relative went to “a better place.” We’ll say things like, “She wasn’t a religious person, but deep down, she

had a good heart,” or, “He wasn’t a saint, but he did some good things.” When it comes to death and eternity, it’s human nature to hope for the best and avoid contemplating the worst. 

Research shows that while almost three out of four people believe in heaven, less than half believe in hell. Think about the ramifications: if hell didn’t exist, unbelievers would easily reject Christ with no fear of God whatsoever, and believers would be unmotivated to share their faith in Christ with nonbelievers.

While I may not have to convince most of you of the existence of HELL, I want to talk about HELL so as to motivate us to whatever we would have to do in order to keep someone from ending up there.

There are many different beliefs about HELL.

1. Some say it is the grave.

2. Some say it is only for the devil

3. Some teach it is here on Earth

4. Some say it is an outer darkness and we just float out there away from God.

In all these ideas of HELL, there is a little bit of truth. It is a place where God is not. But half truths are wholly lies.

People are reluctant to think about judgment and punishment. People like to think of God’s blessings and Heaven. Because of this, Satan fools us with many schemes to stop us from thinking or taking seriously the punishment for not obeying God.

1. The reality of Hell has been undermined in our society.

a. We have all heard jokes about Hell. The salesman who is so good, he could sell air conditioners to the devil. Or, the man who was happy to be in Hell because at last he could have peace and quiet from his wife.

b. Willy Nelson’s birthday bash – Aero Smith’s lead singer, Steven Tyler said “Happy Birthday Willie”. Here’s hoping that we will have twice as much fun in Hell as we did here on earth trying to get there.

A few years ago – Adam Sandler – made a movie called “Little Nicky” about the dumb son of Satan trying to serve his dad.

Some believe Hell is going to be a party. Some believe they will not be alone. Yet in all these ideas, the BIBLE claims loud and clear what HELL is.

Horrors of Hell

a. A lake of fire (Rev. 20:15) huge-raging fire – people in it that never burn up – but the pain will be there forever.

b. An abyss (pit) (Rev. 20:1) falling – fear – awful fear

c. A place of weeping (Matt. 8:12) crying because of pain and fear – memories of where you could be – but you are not

d. A place of gnashing of teeth (Matt 13:42) 

e. A furnace of fire (Matt. 13:4-42) It is hot, so hot – like lava hot

f. A place where there will be no rest (Rev. 14:11) No sleep ever – No rest from pain ever.

g. A place of everlasting punishment (Matt. 25:46)

h. A place of darkness (Jude 13)

i. A place for the devil and his followers (Matt. 25:41)

j. A place where there will be tormenting, burning, suffering, the smell-the pain

k. The fire is not put out (Mark 9:44)

There will rain fiery coals on the people and the Devil (Rev. 11:6,7)(Psalm 140:10) burning coals falls upon them like a volcano erupted and the lava and rocks exploding on the people. You never get use to this.

l.   Place of torment (Luke 16: 23, 24)

m. It is a place without the slightest hope of release      

     (Matt. 25:46)

o. It is a place where the worm does not die 

    (Mark 9:48) (fire burning – worms eating your 

      flesh)

   No mercy – No hope – No love – unimaginable  

   fear that never ends – depression so great.

Hell is real and the most awful, horrible palace anywhere.

Maurice Rawlings, a cardiologist and professor of medicine at the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, was also a devout atheist. But in 1977, while trying to resuscitate a man who had been screaming in terror, something happened that changed his thinking. He gave this report to Omni Magazine.

Each time he regained heartbeat and respiration the patient screamed, “I am in hell.” He was terrified and pleading with me to help him. I was scared to death, said Mr. Rawlings. 

Then I noticed a real alarmed look on his face. He had a terrified look worse than the expression seen in death. This patient had a grotesque grimace expression of sheer horror. His pupils were dilated and he was perspiring and trembling. He looked as if the roots of his hair was on fire! Then still another strange thing happened. He said “Don’t you understand? I am in hell. Don’t let me go back to hell. The man was serious and it finally occurred to me that he was indeed in trouble. He was in panic like I had never seen before.

Dr. Rawlings said “No one, who could have heard his screams and saw the look of terror on his face could doubt for a single minute that he was actually in a place called hell. 

If we truly understood what hell was like, we’d be much more motivated to help people avoid going there. 

Hell is a place of unspeakable suffering. Jesus says in Matthew 5:29, “If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.” Can you imagine gouging out your own eye? According to Jesus himself, as horrible as it would be, digging your eye out would be far better than being punished for your sins in hell.

In Revelation 14:10 – 11, an angel speaks about those who will worship the beast. It says that they “will drink of the wine of God’s fury, which has been poured full strength into the cup of his wrath. He will be tormented with burning sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment rises forever and ever. There is no rest day or night for those who worship the beast and his image, or for anyone who receives the mark of his name.” Those verses are difficult to read. They’re even more difficult to imagine. The Bible calls hell a fiery furnace, a place of burning sulfur, the outer darkness, and a place where there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.

God has created a universe with a heaven — and a hell. He’s told us about both. And Christians must take these truths to heart. The Good News is that no one has to go to HELL. We are here to help others come to terms with reality. Are we living as lights in a dark world? Be honest. When was the last time you were so burdened for someone far from God that you spent the whole day or night praying on their behalf? We have on our prayer list, those who have not yet given their life to Jesus, do we really pray for them? Do people come to mind when praying for the LOST? 

Hell is Real, it is the destination of all who have not received Christ as LORD. What are we going to do about that? I am open to any suggestions to make us more fruitful in our evangelistic efforts, let us pray that God will give the wisdom, the courage, the strength and the words so that no one we come in contact with will end up in this awful place.