The Truth about Hell - Part A

What you need to know is the Bible does not describe how about we order something far worse: you also need to know that your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ absolutely believe in hell, and he spoke on it a lot. To believe that hell exists. They think everyone will end up in a good today connect with Skip Skip reveals to you what the Bible has to say about hell. Now we want to tell you about a resource that will help you walk in the Holy Spirit, especially difficult moments in life stands between the more fruitful walk with Jesus hell for prominent women in the Bible thinks their struggle to be teaching theories from my thing called Queens of the Bible on the Queen of Sheba hearing is the first step toward spiritual life right now, hearing step toward blessing because faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of God hear more from Lang, she explores the faith in the failings of four different queens in Scripture. The Queens of the Bible collection of teaching is our way of saying thank you $35 or more today to support this Bible teaching ministry. The cost of following Christ is to go wherever healing your copy of these unique teachings when you call 819 eight or give online securely connectwithskip.com/offer connectwithskip.com/offer Matthew chapter 25 joined today's venture a guess that most of you don't know the name of Joe McCarthy.

Charlotte Abbott baseball fans.

Joe McCarthy was manager for the New York Yankees in the night, 30s and 1940s is why most people wouldn't really understand who he was. Unless you were an avid baseball fan because he is in the baseball Hall of Fame. But Joe McCarthy on one occasion said that he had a dream that he went to heaven and in heaven.

Standing before him were all the players baseball players the grades of the past that he would've known people like Ty Cobb, Lou, Garrick, Babe Ruth, all standing before him on a baseball team. He was so ecstatic that it's like the dream team. I so here he is in his dream in heaven. Seeing this class of grapes on a team and he gets a phone call from hell from the devil and it's the devil challenging that team in heaven to a baseball game and coach Joe said you have got a chance I got all the great players and the devil said yes but I have all the empires. Let me be honest with you I I have not look forward to preaching this message is not a message. I enjoy preaching. It is a message that most people don't like to hear. In fact of all the sermons we've done in the series and the 2020 series. This is going to be the hardest it.

It should be the hardest.

It should make everyone feel uncomfortable because no one likes to even think of hell. It is considered an offensive topic. I don't want you to be offended, but you do need to hear the truth and some of you do need to be warned very very stringently about it, you know, I've noticed that most people in general don't want to talk about eternal things you can talk about anything, but if you if you get to the deep stuff, especially where are you going to spend forever. Most people don't want to have a conversation and if they really do want to have a conversation as an indication there about to be saved. There's a reason they want to go there, but most people want to avoid, especially the idea of hell and I've noticed a lot of preachers I don't like to talk about now I say that, but at the same time, I noticed that a lot of people will use the term hell a lot in their daily conversation uses sort of as a fill word right or or an expletive will say things like, what in the hell are you doing and there's no need to put that word in their you to say what are you doing, but it's like a fill word. I am madder than hell or I've heard he was a my feet hurt like hell. I I seriously doubt that, or that scared the hell out of me. Now that's a good thing if that happens, I'm glad that happens. I even had a man walked up to me on a Sunday after sermon. No joke put his arm on my shoulder so excited about the message of the that was a hell of a sermon pastor I did not know how to respond to him. Didn't know if I should say thank you or just let it go also.

One time he was the first time I was in Israel and I first went there to live. It was the first time I had turkey's coffee Turkish coffee is a coffee they have in Israel. They call it coffee boats which means mud. The gives you an indication of strength source Turkish coffee very strong and the dog serving the coffee said would you like hell I said no I don't want hell what he was talking about is there is a spice that in Hebrew is cattle and tallow is cardamom and it's really good in Turkish coffee, so coffee with hell is really good in that circumstance probably the only circumstance I was thinking of all sorts of titles to call this message clever titles. I thought a call at what's down with hell or I thought maybe all all color highway to hell like the AC/DC song or I even thought I call it smoking or non-smoking.

But the more I thought about the title. I thought this subject is way too serious to just give it up tacky or kitschy your cute little clever title though I'm just calling this message.

The truth about health as if there's one thing you don't want to get wrong is this survey that I came across a pew forum survey indicates that 87% of Americans believe in God pretty high. It goes down a little bit after that though 74% of Americans say they believe in heaven and only 59% say they believe in helping out why that really interests me is because all of those topics have the same source material comes to God or heaven or hell. It's all come from this book so you got a lot of people believing in God you last believing in heaven, but a whole lot less believing in hell a Rob Bell who is a name some of you may be familiar with. He was sort of a rock star in evangelical circles years ago a young upstart pastor in Michigan are wrote books that got a lot of airplay velvet Elvis is one of them. I think his first book.

Another book love wins. He has since his start taken a very liberal approach to truth as so as to deny even biblical truth when he was asked in an interview very simple and forthright question. Is there a hell. Here's his answer. I actually think there is a hell because we see hell every day.

He described hell is greed, injustice, rape, abuse we see hell on earth all around us all the time we actually see lots of people choosing hell we see oppression, we see tyranny. We see dictators using their power to eliminate opposition literally. In other words Rob Ellis saying gathers her hell, but not an eternal hell. The just hell on earth is when bad people do bad things to hurt a whole lot of people. That's hell.

What you need to know is the Bible does not describe hell. That way, but if something far worse than hell on earth.

You also need to know that your Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ absolutely believed in hell and he spoke on it a lot in one of the places that he spoke on it is Matthew 25 to begin reading in verse 31, when the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all his holy angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate them one from another as a shepherd divides his sheep from the goats. He will set the sheep on his right hand but the goats on his left, then the King will say to those on his right hand, come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world. If you would go down to verse 41, then he will also say to those on the left hand apart from me you curse into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels, for I was hungry and you gave me no food, I was thirsty and you gave me no drink, I was a stranger, you did not take me in naked, you did not clothe me sick and in prison and you did not visit me then he will also answer him, saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked, or sick or in prison, and did not minister to you, then he will answer them, saying, assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me in these will go into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life element is cut to tell you some preliminary stuff. Some people see what I just read as an event called the judgment of the nations eschatological. He they see this as an event taking place in the future were God judges nations after the tribulation.

Based on how they treated the nation of Israel during the tribulation. To determine their admission into the kingdom age or not. That's one way to interpret other people see this as a general description of judgment for all saved and all unsaved. I am not here to unravel that. I just want really want to focus on this topic so I just wanted to get that out there.

I really want to focus on verse 41, where it says he will say to those on the left, depart from me, you cursed, into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. Now the illustration that our Lord uses is an illustration they would have understood the shepherd separating sheep and goats in the Middle East.

Even to this very day you can see this happening.

You will see shepherds on hillsides. They have a flock that is mixed. Some sheep and some goats with their walking together but then the shepherd will separate the sheep from the goats at two very important times during the day grazing time sleeping time and that is because sheep and goats have very different temperaments. Sheep are docile, sometimes clueless is sort of kind of meander around, wander around. Goats are are sort of impervious to things their aggressive their rambunctious bill Belleville charge things that sheep would not do that. So when it comes to feeding.

It's not good to keep them together when they eat is not good to keep them together when they rest. They don't rest well together so the shepherd will separate the sheep from the goats. That's the background of this. What I like to do is kind of zeroing in on these verses, but mostly verse 41, I want to share five fax about hell in the first is that hell is an actual place that actual place you see Jesus in this section is speaking of an actual event that will take place in the future. Verse 31, when the Son of Man comes in his glory. Now here's a simple question. Is Jesus going to come literally yes he is. He said that on a number of occasions. So did all the apostles. So were dealing with a literal event in the future and then in that same context. He speaks about eternal punishment and eternal kingdom of your to do a quick search of the word hell in an English Bible like the new King James version that I speak from, you find that the word hell in English shows up 32 times in the Bible.

32 times, but all of the references about hell throughout the Bible. Total 162 times and sometimes they're just sort of plain in-your-face upfront like Psalm 917.

The wicked shall be turned to hell, and the nations. All the nations that forget God. Pretty straight up or Daniel chapter 12 were Daniel predicts a time that is coming the worst time ever in history called the tribulation.

And afterwards he writes. Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt. But by far the majority of all the biblical teaching we have on hell comes from the Lord Jesus Christ more than anybody else.

Jesus spoke on hell. In fact, Jesus spoke on hell more than Jesus spoke on heaven. It is estimated if you look at Matthew Mark Luke and John, all the times he refers to it 70×70 times Jesus spoke about or referred to health and in in the kind of language that nobody can like Jan at you going to yell whatever is it's a kind of language that strikes terror, or it should into every heart. He spoke about hell is a place of weeping and gnashing of teeth. He spoke of hell is a place where the fire is not quenched. This is the Lord Jesus Christ.

He spoke of hell is a place with a worm never dies. He spoke of his outer outer darkness place where one is tormented by flames and past memories, and he spoke of it as a place where there is a great golf that is fixed between hell and paradise.

Jesus in Matthew 10 verse 28, said 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. This is Jesus, man of love. Now here's my question.

If we cease to exist after we die. That's it. We just live in. We die we cease to exist and why did he spend so much time warning people about hell and and and if you think with us.

Not very loving. I contend it's the most loving thing you can do if you know there's a hell and you don't warn people of it. That's not loving. If there is a hell and you warn people of it that's loving and you warn people. A lot of it. CS Lewis wrote in his book the problem of pain these words, there is no doctrine, which I would more willingly removed from Christianity than this. If it lay in my power, but it has the full support of Scripture and especially of our Lord's own words, it is always been held by Christendom and it has the support of reason." See if there is no hell. The Bible is a book of myths. If there is no hell, then Jesus was just a misguided soul. If there is no hell than the crucifixion was pointless.

There is no significance in dying to save us from what if there is no hell, then you should send as much as you possibly can. As is not sin is just fun right this is all about you getting pleasure in this life sucking it like an orange dry every drop of enjoyment.

You can, but if there are consequences for deeds and beliefs, we should receive the warning hell is an actual place and there are several words the New Testament uses to describe what is the word Hades I Hades.

The Greek word, Hades is the equivalent of an Old Testament Hebrew word she old, which simply means that the grave is spoken about a couple of different ways.

Sometimes refers to the just the grave in the ground where bodies are buried.

Sometimes refers to life after the grave, the soul's existence after death.

That's one word Hades.

Another word is the word Gehenna is used 12 times, mostly by the Lord Jesus did you know that Gehenna originally referred to a Valley outside of Jerusalem, the southwest corner of Jerusalem has a Valley. To this day, a ravine called – you know the valley of the son of Hannum and in ancient days was a garbage dump to your garbage. There's always a fire going on bodies of criminals were incurred or were placed there and burned up their bodies of animals taken from the city that died. So the city would be defiled, thrown into hell Gehenna in the eighth century BC it was the place where under King Ahaz and King Manasseh.

People offered their children as sacrifices to pagan gods and because of that detestable, horrible, smelly burning place became a metaphor for an eternal place of punishment. Hell, 1/3 word that is used as the word Tartarus only used once in the New Testament.

Second Peter chapter 2 is a place for bound fallen Angels awaiting final judgment. The fourth term is the lake of fire's Revelation 19 and 20 lake of fire is name of a place of eternal torment. You might call it the final hell. The Bible calls it the second death so so hell is an actual place, there's a second fact, I want you to notice and that is hell is an intentional place where I mean by that is, God created hell for a very specific reason. Verse 41, he will say to those on the left hand depart from me, you curse into the everlasting fire here is prepared for the devil and his angels, God did not create hell as a place to punish people originally it became that eventually but it was not created that way originally and noticed the work prepared for the devil and his angels. Compare that with verse 34 the King will say to those on the right. Come, you blessed of my father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you. That's what God prepared for people heaven.

Jesus said to his disciples. I am going to prepare a place for you. So heaven is prepared for people hell is prepared for the devil and his angels. However, there's something about God, you need to know God is pro-choice when it comes to salvation when it comes to salvation. God lets people choose where they wanted on if they don't want anything to do with God. I want nothing to do with God. God's I can force you to be in heaven where he is all the time, hell let's you and respect your choice. GK Chesterton wrote hell is God's great complement to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice person went up to God and said God would use send me to hell and lock me in forever. God said no I will not send you there. But if you choose to go there. I could never lock you out so it is an intentional place. Originally created for the devil and his angels, but here even in our text. There are some people that they Jesus is the judgment says you're going there.I want to turn with me to Revelation chapter 20. It's a book we've been looking at the last few weeks and there is an unmistakable future event that you need to see couple of Revelation chapter 20 verse 10. Here's a really good part I love this verse.

The devil verse 10, the devil, who deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone to the beast and the false prophet are, and they will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

Can I get a hallelujah networks psych yeah. Finally, he gets what's coming to him. So that's what Jesus meant when he said, is prepared for the devil and his angels then Skip the message from the series 2021 to let you know about a special opportunity to pursue biblical studies in a way that works with your schedule going to church is a great way to learn about God, but if you want to learn more, go deeper. Calvin College offers classes studies courses like worldview. Learn how to defend your faith on your schedule evening classes on campus or online transfer credits to Cambridge University Veritas international University for an accredited college degree that will impact your spiritual life for the rest of your life. Apply now would tell the church college.com.

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