The Reality of Hell

Well, good morning. The last time I was privileged to teach on a Sunday morning, we looked at the question of what does Jesus look like? We let Scripture renew our minds and hopefully clear out a lot of maybe some cold garbage that we had in our head. And today we're going to do something somewhat similar. We're going to be examining the doctrine of hell and gleaning what we can from Luke chapter 16 and other Scriptures that deal with what we're calling today the reality of hell. That's the title of our message today, the reality of hell. And we'll answer some questions like what is hell? Who is it created for? Who is there?

What happens there? And is there any escape from hell? We'll do our best as time and attention will allow to answer those questions. So before we get into it, we should establish why. Why study on the doctrine of hell? Why such a grim subject? Well, first of all, it's for the church itself. There's a lot of error within Christian circles around the doctrine of hell. If we're going to take up the shield of faith and the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God and the things we've been studying in Ephesians, then we must know what the Word says about these things.

Secondly, a study on the doctrine of hell exposes what we really believe about the holiness of God and the sinfulness of man. A study here will bring two questions to the surface. Does sinful man deserve hell as described in detail in Scripture? And is God just in sending people to hell for all eternity? And these are critical questions as they expose our worldview. It exposes what we believe about God and ourselves. Now in a moment I want to read you a quote from an author who was very popular and lauded for a period of time.

I've spoken about this before, different context, but in high school, I was very blessed to have worked at a local, non-denominational Christian bookstore. And I've got stories I could tell you all day long about working in a local, non-denominational Christian bookstore that would keep you entertained. But I remember one of my tasks was putting together the displays for books. They called them point of sale displays. They were usually these cardboard stands you had to put together in order to put books up that somebody had written. And I remember putting together a pretty large display for this author in particular. It was unusually large.

It had like a video component to it. They would play in a loop on it. It was very elaborate. He got the full retail push for his material. I'm pretty sure he sold a lot of books in his day. So this is the quote I want us to read, and this is from Love Wins by Rob Bell. And it's a good introduction to our study today in a bad way. This is the quote, "Of all the billions of people who have ever lived, only a select number make it to a better place. And every single other person suffer in torment and punishment forever. Is this acceptable to God?

Does God punish people for thousands of years with infinite eternal torment for things they did in their few finite years of life?" This doesn't just raise disturbing questions about God. It raises questions about the beliefs themselves. If there are only a select few who go to heaven, which is more terrifying to fathom? The billions who burn forever or the few who escape this fate? What kind of fate is that? Or more important, what kind of God is that? And I hope you hear how skewed this author's worldview is. And I think today we classify him as a false teacher. He has elevated the good of humanity above the holiness of God.

He is a humanist, which is to say he's an idolater. Because he's done this, he has to rewrite scripture to fit his worldview. And one of the first things to go is the reality of hell that is so clear in scripture. Another reason for this study in the doctrine of hell is for the believer's heart for the lost. We can firmly reject this kind of humanism, but that doesn't mean that we aren't human. And we don't have very human reactions to the doctrine of hell. I want to read you a quote from Wayne Grudem on the doctrine of hell. "What then are we to think of this doctrine?

It is hard, and it should be hard, for us to think of this doctrine today. If our hearts are never moved with deep sorrow when we contemplate this doctrine, then there is a serious deficiency in our spiritual and emotional sensibilities. When Paul thinks of the lostness of his kinsmen, the Jews, he says, 'I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.'" It's from Romans 9-2. "And as a people saved and rescued from the reality of hell, what should our heart be for the lost around us? How should we persevere in prayer for them?

And how urgently should we engage them with the gospel?" And finally, a study in the doctrine of hell is for the unconverted. And I don't believe in using the doctrine of hell as fuel for evangelical theatrics. And I personally disagree with the cheap theatrics that many churches use in the form of things like judgment houses and the like. That's my personal opinion. We can talk about it afterwards if you want to, but that's something I just couldn't personally get involved with. You can't scare someone into conversion with cheap theatrics.

But I do believe that the preaching of the Word of God and the work of the Spirit of God is sufficient to awaken people to the reality of their sinful, lost condition before God. The short version of that is you just need to preach the Word. You just need to preach the Word. It's sufficient. We don't need theatrics. We don't need to have some guy with a chainsaw and no chain on it running around scaring people. You just need to preach the Word of God. Anything above that is just cheap theatrics. I remember the moment I had this kind of awakening to the preaching, the teaching of God's Word.

I was 15 years old and I found myself in a revival service where these realities of sin and condemnation were laid out. And as a 15-year-old kid to say I was alarmed would be underselling it. If they would have asked me to literally jump through hoops, I'd have said, "Yes, sir." I'd have done it. I was approached with the gospel. It scared me to death. I remember I walked the aisle because that's what they asked you to do. And somebody tried to counsel me. I don't remember a word of what he said that night. I think all I heard in my ears was just that I'm in trouble with God. I'm in trouble with God. And he handed me a card to fill out.

And the card itself had check boxes on it asking me why I was there. Asked questions that like, "Are you coming to join the church? Are you coming to rededicate? Are you coming to, as a candidate for baptism? Are you coming to be saved?" I think I checked all the boxes because I had no idea what I was there for. So I was just, "One of these is going to be right." So I'm just going to mark them all. I was not converted that night, but it was the beginning of my path to salvation that happened some months later. To me, when I read the parable of the prodigal son, there's this moment where he's awakened to his condition.

He finds himself in the pig pen longing to eat what the pigs eat. And he has this moment of soberness, of sobriety, where he realizes the condition that he's in. And it's not his moment of conversion in the parable, but it is the beginning of this path home to his father. And to me, that's what happened that night. The preaching of hell added a lot of soberness and awakening to my spiritual reality. A doctrine of hell can provide that kind of soberness to the unconverted. So we have to ask today, what does Scripture say about the doctrine of hell and what is profitable for us?

So let's open to Luke chapter 16, which is going to be our primary text tonight. Luke chapter 16. Starting in verse 19, Luke chapter 16. There was a rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen and who feasted sumptuously every day. And at his gate was laid a poor man named Lazarus covered with sores, who desired to be fed with what fell from the rich man's table. Moreover, even the dogs came and licked his sores. The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's side. The rich man also died and was buried. And in Hades being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.

And he called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am an anguish in this flame." But Abraham said, "Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things and Lazarus in like manner of bad things, but now he is comforted here and you are an anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed.

In order that those who had passed from here to you may not be able and none may cross from there to us." And he said, "Then I beg you, Father, to send him to my Father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them, lest they also come to this place of torment." But Abraham said, "They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them." And he said, "No, Father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." He said to them, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophet, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." I think there's your proof against theatrics on top of evangelism.

Even Jesus himself says the preaching of the Word is enough. So while our use of the Scripture is primarily related to its teaching on hell, we do need to address the context that this teaching sits in. The chapter is devoted to parables and teaching by Christ on stewardship, teaching directed at the Pharisees' love of money. The Pharisees would have found the story very shocking because they would have viewed the rich man as being very blessed by God because he was a Jew and he was wealthy. They would have also viewed Lazarus as being unclean and unrighteous.

They would have equated his afflictions and impoverished life as a sure sign that he was a sinful person being punished by God. So you see, this teaching flips all that right on its head and forces them to rethink true righteousness and stewardship of blessings in life. And for our purposes today, we're coming to this teaching to glean the things that it has to say about the eternal state of the rich man because there is a lot there. Which brings us to our first point. Number one, upon death we are immediately translated to our eternal destination.

In this teaching, both Lazarus and the rich man are immediately taken after death to their eternal destination. I believe the rich man gets a comma. He dies and is buried and then in Hades. There's just a simple comma there. The rich man died, his body was buried, but his spirit was immediately taken to the place the text refers to as Hades, which is the Greek word closest to the Hebrew word used in the Old Testament, shiel. It's a general term for the afterlife. There is no in-between place between life and eternity, no purgatory, no soul sleep, no oblivion. There is instantaneous translation from death through eternity.

Which brings us to our next point. Number two, there is consciousness in hell. There is consciousness in hell. That may sound inconsequential, but it's critical to all the other realities of hell that we'll discuss today. The rich man is fully conscious. He's aware of who he is, where he is. He's conscious and he's talking. I think most people, if they're honest, are banking on some sort of oblivion after death and end to their conscious existence. But scripture teaches us that we are made in the image of God and that we will exist eternally in either life or death. Number three, there is torment and suffering in hell.

Not only is the rich man conscious, but he's in a state of agony and suffering. Listen to what he says in verse 24. "And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and Lazarus, so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue, for I am in agony in this flame.'" You have to see the contrast here. The rich man is begging for the relief, even if that relief were to come in the form of a drop of water from the finger of a dirty, diseased beggar that used to sit outside of his gates. A man he wouldn't even look at probably, but passed by most days.

Now he's begging for a drop of water from this man's fingertip. That highlights the agony that he's in. Listen to what Jesus says in Mark 9, verses 43 through 49. "And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out.

It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched, for everyone will be salted with fire." Jesus is giving some pretty shocking statements here that he says, "Losing a limb or an eye is infinitely favorable to going to hell." He's not telling people to literally cut off limbs or gadget eyes. He's giving them a lesser to greater argument saying, "It's better. It would be better to lose a limb or lose an eye than to have those things and go to hell." He's given the contrast to paint a picture of how severe it is, the torment there.

He describes a fire that will not die, an unquenchable fire. Here, fire burns until it runs out of fuel or oxygen, but in hell the fire is unquenchable. And the question has to be, how much wrath does God have against our sin? And the answer has to be an eternity's worth. Believer, this is what we are saved from. Jesus also describes a worm here where the worm does, where their worm does not die. You see that it's a personal pronoun here, their worm does not die. What is this? That brings us to our next point, number four, there is memory in hell. A quote from John MacArthur will help us here.

"Many of the old commentators through the centuries saw the worm as a reference to conscience, annoying, nagging, relentless guilt pressed upon the soul, tortured in hell. The worm that never dies is the relentless accusing conscience of the sinner, keeping up an unending and unmitigated and undiminished torment as it hammers the truth of the sinner's guilt and wretchedness without ceasing." Years ago I was listening to a podcast where they were interviewing people who had a condition. It's called hyperthymesia or idetic memory, where a person has an almost perfect recall of any event. Their memory is just locked.

It's in there, they can always call it up in perfect recall. It's an extremely rare condition. One source I read said that there are only about 60 people in the world with this condition. And that sounds pretty useful, right? It sounds like you would make a lot of use of that, remembering where you last put something, or remembering dates, or remembering where you were, how long ago it's been since this or that. Sounds pretty useful. But the people being interviewed, one in particular that I remember talked about struggling with this condition. They remember every argument, every hurt in perfect detail.

They were tormented by their perfect memories. One lady being interviewed described how, as now a middle-aged person, she would often recall in perfect detail a particularly hurtful argument she had with her mother when she was a teenager and how it hurt her all over again every time she remembered it. She said, "Every time I remember it, I get mad at my mother all over again." She literally cannot forgive and forget. So what if the memory of all your sins and mistakes played in your mind at every waking moment? And it begs another question, how many of your sins have you forgotten?

Just because you've forgotten them, does that mean that you won't be held accountable for them? What if there was a worm that never dies in hell that would never let you forget any of your sins? Every thought, every hurtful word, every sin brought in perfect call for all eternity. Number five, there is no reformation in hell. You may be thinking, what does it mean, no reformation in hell? It means that the unrighteous on earth will continue to be unrighteous in hell, if not more so. The rich man exhibits this very clearly. Most of his behavior is expected of someone in torment, but he actually argues with and contradicts Abraham.

He asks that someone is be sent to warn his brothers about hell, but Abraham says no, they have Moses and the prophets and the scripture to warn them. But the rich man argues that someone from the dead would convince them. He literally says, no, Abraham, you're wrong. Here he is in hell suffering for his sins, and yet he has somehow the wherewithal to tell Abraham, who he can see clearly existing in some sort of paradise of Lazarus, that he is wrong. He is fighting from hell with one of the patriarchs of his faith. Again, I have a quote from a sermon by John MacArthur that will help us. And here's the key. Centers who go to hell never repent.

They never repent. They continue to rebel. Every description of hell indicates to us that it is, listen carefully, it is not a remedial experience. It is not a remedial justice. It is a retributive justice. They remain God haters forever so that the punishment never catches up with the sin. Understand that? It is really important. In hell, they continue to hate God. In hell, they continue to curse God. In hell, they continue to mock God and blaspheme God and hate Christ. So the punishment never catches up with the sin because sinning never, ever, ever ceases. And another quote from the same sermon.

I believe that sinners are more sinful in hell than they were on earth because their sin on earth is mitigated to some degree, necessarily mitigated. Everybody can't be as wicked as the world, as he would choose to be because there are consequences. There are restraints. There are expectations. But in hell, there are none. Everybody can be as evil as he can be. There's some affirmation of this in a quote from Wayne Grudem. "The argument that eternal punishment is unfair because there is a disproportion between temporary sin and eternal punishment wrongly assumes that we know the extent of the evil done when sinners rebel against God.

David Kingdom observes that sin against the Creator is heinous to a degree, utterly beyond our sin-warped imaginations and ability to conceive of. Who would have the temerity to suggest to God what the punishment should be?" He also responds to this objection by suggesting that unbelievers in hell may go on sinning, receiving punishment for their sin and never repenting, and notes that in Revelation 22.11, points in this direction, "Let the evil doer still do evil and let the filthy still be filthy." There is no reformation in hell. For our next major point, I want to pose it as a question first before we move to an assertion.

Number six, "Is God present in hell?" Is God present in hell? Now, this is a particularly difficult part of the doctrine of hell, the question of whether God exists in hell. It may not be something that you've contemplated before, but it's critical to our understanding of the doctrine of hell. There is an idea that floats around Christian culture, and I've heard it before, and maybe you have too. It's the kind of thing I would call bumper sticker theology today. It's the idea that hell is the absence of God's presence, the idea that hell is a vacuum of God's presence, and that's what makes it an insufferable place.

And they think there's some balance there. Heaven is a place where God is, and hell is a place where God is not. And that sounds very clean, but it doesn't agree with Scripture as a whole. Those of you who participated in the attributes of God study should have an answer to this. From our study on the omnipresence of God, the doctrine that God's presence is everywhere. Psalm 139 speaks directly to this in verses 7 through 8. "Where shall I go from your spirit? Where shall I flee from your presence? If I ascend to heaven, you are there.

If I make my bed and shield, you are there." In order to be in alignment with Scripture as a whole, we have to believe that God is in fact present in hell. Let's look at 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, 5 through 10, verse again. We read it earlier before. A verse that some of you used to contradict the idea of God's presence in hell. You don't have to turn there. I'll read it to us.

"They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might, when He comes on that day to be glorified in His saints, and to be marveled at among all who believe, because our testimony to you is believed." And some argue that the phrase "away from the presence of the Lord" means that God will not be present in hell. But we know that doesn't line up with Scripture as a whole, and with clear teaching found elsewhere in Scripture, and it doesn't make sense to this.

The key is found in the rest of the phrase, "away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His might." This is a contrast of experience for those who are welcome into His presence and His glory, and those who are sent away. Those in heaven dwell with God in His glorious radiant presence, and those in hell dwell with God with the only facet of God's being that is relevant to them, His wrath. Here is the assertion to answer our question, "Is God present in hell?" God is present in hell in His wrath. I would say that what makes hell a place of torment is the presence of God, not His absence.

Romans 2.4 says that we live in a period of God's forbearance, meaning that God is not presently pouring out His wrath on us like our sins deserve and deserve immediately. The Scripture says, "Or do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God's kindness is meant to lead you to a repentance?" Sometimes pictures and illustrations help me. Imagine a dam holding back a great body of water, and I'm sure something comes to your mind, something like the Hoover Dam, allowing a town to exist below and holding the waters back from flooding the town. That is God's forbearance.

It is for a period of time and for a specific purpose to lead us to repentance. So what happens in hell when a period of forbearance ends, when the dam holding back God's wrath at bay is removed? You see, hell is a place that God both created for a purpose and is sovereignly reigning over. There is this error in our culture that hell is a place where demons reign, like headquarters for demonic activity. Heaven is God's headquarters and hell belongs to the devil in some sort of cosmic balance between the forces of good and evil. But that is not so.

I remember the Looney Tunes episode, any of you watched Looney Tunes when you were a kid, with Yosemite Sam. Those are some of my favorite. There was an episode, or I don't know what they call them then, probably not episodes, but there was one where Yosemite Sam fell off a cliff or something high up, and when he hit the ground he busted a hole in the ground, and he went straight into a cartoon version of hell. And there waiting for him was this large man, all red horns, pitchfork, standing behind a desk like he was the concierge for hell. And that's funny to us now, but that's the picture a lot of people believe.

They believe that hell is a place that's run by the devil, and that it's run by demons like it's a hotel and there's a concierge waiting for him. But I remember that very vividly. It's a doctrinal error that is often repeated in stories that our culture comes up with for movies and the like. Once again, let's go to a quote, and I'm pretty sure I owe John MacArthur some money for the amount of times I've quoted him today. I'll send him a check later. What is hell? Hell is where God punishes people forever. Hell is where God pours out his fury on people forever. God is the power behind the punishment in hell.

When you say that hell is being separated from God only in the sense of his comforting presence, not in the sense of his punishing presence. He is the one who destroys both soul and body in hell. He is the king of hell. Satan is not. This is a reminder to all sinners that while hell is the fury of God's personal punishment presence, he will never be there to comfort. He will never be there to show sympathy. He will never bring relief. It is both the punishment of God and the absence of comfort. That's hell, punishment without relief. Did you hear what he said? God is the sovereign king of hell. The people there will never repent.

They will never reform. They will never cease to sin and rebel against God and God's wrath will never cease to be poured out on them. And I really hope this is helping us, giving us a more full picture of the reality of hell. Which brings us to our last point for today. Number seven, there is no exit from hell. We need to go back to our text in Luke 16 to Abraham's reply to the request of the rich man in verse 23 through 26. "And in Hades he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom.

And he cried out and said, 'Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus so that he may dip the tip of his finger in water to cool off my tongue. For I am in agony in this flame.' And Abraham said, 'Child, remember that during your life you received good things. And likewise Lazarus bad things, but now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you, there is a great chasm fixed, so that those who wish to come over from here to you are not able, and none may cross over from there to us. There is no path out of hell. There is no exit.

Where would they go that the wrath of God would not find them?" Revelations 14, 9 through 11 says, "And another angel, a third, followed them, saying with a loud voice, 'If anyone worships the beast in its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will also drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb, and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever. And they have no rest day or night.

These worshippers of the beast in its image and whoever receives the mark of its name." No exit. There is no relief. There is no reformation. And there is no exit. Only the wrath of God being poured out for all eternity. If you find all of this distasteful, I would challenge you to examine your beliefs about the sinfulness of man and the holiness of God. Tommy Clayton says, "If you reject, diminish, or neglect the doctrine of hell, you undermine the gravity of our sin in contrast to the holiness of God." We haven't even been exhaustive in our study of the doctrine of hell today. So what do we do with this teaching?

How is it profitable for us? If you have a lesson to take away from the rich man of Luke 16, I hope it's that you shouldn't assume that you are right with the Lord just because you are religious and come from a line of religious people. You shouldn't assume that because you are blessed by God, and I put that in quotations, in this life, that you are bound for eternity in God's glorious presence. The people who heard this teaching were probably shocked that the rich man woke up in the hill. He was the poster child for Jewish righteousness. But his heart was corrupt and deceitfully wicked.

He had no heart to serve Lazarus, who sat at his gates daily begging. He lived a life full of fine clothing and fine foods and self-righteousness, and he died and found himself in torment. His heritage didn't save him. Abraham called him son. Did you catch that in the Scripture? When he cried out to Abraham, he calls him Father Abraham, and Abraham addresses him as his son. He's the son of Abraham. He comes from a line of very religious Jewish people, but he's still in torment. He's still in hell. His heritage didn't save him. His religion didn't save him. His family didn't save him.

His status in society didn't save him, and his riches didn't save him. I've got a quote here from the book "An Alarm to the Unconverted." I think we used to have some copies of it sitting in the front row. We'll have more if you want to pick this up. It's a very good book. I highly recommend it. Joseph says, "Oh, better were it for you to die in a jail, in a ditch, in a dungeon, than to die in your sins. Your sins will follow you when your friends leave you, and all worldly enjoindments shake hands with you.

Your sins will not die with you as a prisoner's other debts will, but they will go to judgment with you and there be your accusers, and they will go to hell with you and there be your tormentors." I will tell you what Jesus told a very religious, very educated Nicodemus. He must be born again. Believers, I want to read you a quote from Charles Spurgeon on what our heart for the loss should be in light of the doctrine that we just talked about today. "If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay.

If hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unprayed for." We have to have a heart for the loss. I'm with Wayne Grudem on this. If you can read through these doctrines of hell and not feel any amount of emotion or reaction to these things, and there's something critically wrong with your spirituality or your emotionality, we should have a heart for the loss. There's somebody in your mind, and maybe there's several people in your mind that you're thinking about as we read through this, somebody maybe that you've been praying for for a long, long time.

You continue to pray for that person. You continue to exhort that person with the gospel. Over decades, over a lifetime, you continue to pray for that person. That should be our heart for the loss. Let not one go unwarned or unprayed for. And, believe it, if there's a lesson to take away from Lazarus, it's also that the poorest of poor could have riches in Christ. No one was lower than Lazarus. He existed at the bottom of the barrel of their society, but he had faith that was counted to him as righteousness, just like Abraham. There's a reason why Abraham's there. These two had righteousness because of their faith.

Believer, we should learn the doctrine of hell because it tells us everything that we have been saved from in eternity. It tells us the exact weight of sin that was paid for by Christ on the cross. Jesus drank the cup of God's eternal, infinite wrath against us in our sin in a finite moment of time. He died and was buried, and he walked away from all of it with the keys of death and Hades in his hand. That's what we sang earlier. He is the one that holds the keys of death and Hades in his hand. It's the only name we can call upon to rescue us from the reality of hell, the name that was given to him that is above every name.

He rescued his church and his people from the reality, the reality of hell. That in and of itself is something that we should be celebrating and rejoicing over for all eternity. Let's pray.