Nobleton Community Church
29084 Sentinel Street PO Box 224
Nobleton, Florida 34661
Rev. Paul V. Lehmann, Pastor
813-389-8683
Nobletoncommunitychurch.org
info@nobletoncommunitychurch.org
OUR VISION IS:
To experience SPIRIT-FILLED WORSHIP AND PRAYER
To be involved in EVANGELISM, DISCIPLINING AND TRAINING PEOPLE
To use our SPIRITUAL GIFTS
To SERVE AND REACH PEOPLE FOR CHRIST, BOTH
“ACROSS THE STREET AND ACROSS THE WORLD”
Nobleton Community Church
Date October 27, 2024
Text: Matthew 7:13,14 Luke 16: 19-31
Pastor Paul Lehmann
Hell is a real place!. For several hundred years, the low, swampy area was occupied mostly by the Potawatomi tribe. Later in the early 19th century, it was the most unpleasant part of a trail between Lansing and Dexter, MI. It was a point on the route taken by traders going between the Huron River and the Grand River. It still exits today 20 miles North West of Ann Arbor.
What a place to live! I wouldn’t want to live there just because of the name. They sponsor a 10 mile race every year called the “Run Thru Hell” race, and you get a T-shirt that says “ I Ran Thru Hell.” The name came about probably because of some German travelers in 1830. When the stagecoach stopped there one sunny afternoon one said to the other, “So schon und hell!” roughly translated as, “ So beautiful and bright!” Their comments were overheard by some locals and the name stuck. Some think that after Michigan gained statehood, George Reeves who began the first trading post there was asked what he thought the town he helped settle should be called, and replied, “I don’t care, you can name it Hell for all I care. At any rate the name became official on October 13, 1841.
Now this isn’t the real place of course that we want to talk about this morning. This time of year—Halloween—it would seem that most people treat anything to do with death, or demons or hell as something like Santa Claus. It’s fun to use all the symbols and icons that portray the season.
However, there was an article in the Los Angeles Times a few years ago written by a Korean American journalist Connie Kang, entitled, “Next stop the Pearly Gates…or Hell?” she states from a George Barna survey, that an overwhelming majority of Americans continue to believe that there is life after death and that heaven and hell exist. But only one-half of 1% said they were hell-bound. These are the people who think that they want to be with other people like themselves in hell, where they will just enjoy themselves sitting around eating and drinking so to speak. This of course is a false picture of what hell is like. The Bible doesn’t depict anything at all enjoyable. You would think if you believed in hell, you wouldn’t want to be there. The survey found that 71 % of Americans believe in hell. Nearly 4 out of 10 (39%) believe hell is “a state of eternal separation from God’s presence,” while nearly one-third (32% believe it is “an actual place of torment and suffering where people’s souls go after death.” Only 13% believe hell is just a symbol of an “unknown bad outcome after death.”
For every American who actually believes he is going to hell, there are 120 who believe they’re going to heaven.
This optimism stands in stark contrast to Christ’s words in our text. (Matt. 7:13,14) “Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.”
The Bible clearly teaches that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. (Rom. 3;23) Sin separates us from a relationship with God. (Is. 59:2) God is so holy that he cannot allow sin into his presence. (Hab. 1:13)
Because we are sinners, we must have our sin taken care of before we can enter into God’s presence. We can’t do anything ourselves to become holy enough or good enough for heaven. We cannot enter heaven just as we are, but we can come to Jesus Christ, just as we are, and place our faith and trust in Him, who paid the price of our sin, which is death; if we receive this salvation.
There is a question asked by Randy Alcorn in his book called: HEAVEN “ — “IS HEAVEN OUR DEFAULT DESTINATION…OR IS HELL?” Most people today understand immediately what the implication of this question is. However if you haven’t used a computer very much or at all, you may not have understood what is meant by “default.” The dictionary gives definitions that are well known, like if you default on a payment or something similar. This means you do nothing, or very little. Your action taken wasn’t sufficient. Understood in this way the default position is automatic. There will be some action taken by the opposing party. Now apply this (like with a computer—it brings up something automatically on your hard drive.) When applied to heaven or hell; everyone does not go automatically to heaven, even though to hear what is said at a lot of funerals, or the assumptions made in movies or even general conversation you would think so.
· Heaven is not our default destination
· HELL IS!
No one goes to heaven automatically. Hell will have people in it who have not received God’s free gift of redemption. (The price was paid in full by his son Jesus.) but we must receive this new life by accepting this gift so that our names are recorded in “the book of Life” (Rev. 20:12-15)
In spite of the fact that the Bible clearly teaches that there is a heaven, that all people do not automatically go there, and that there is a literal place of punishment called hell or hades in Greek, many pastors and theologians do not like to preach and teach that unbelievers are destined for a literal place of torment, fire, and sulfur (the KJV & RSV says brimstone, an old English word meaning sulfur.) There are many verses in the book of Revelation which state this. It is where we get the expression — “fire and brimstone preaching. “
Over the years it has become commonplace for theologians to question the Biblical doctrine of hell. The truth is that published doubts about the reality of Hell began in the 1800s and have continued throughout the 20th century up to this century. Even the late great Charles Haddon Spurgeon, spoke about this problem. In 1865 he said, “There is a deep-seated unbelief among Christians just now, about the eternity of future punishment…there is a suspicion that sin is not, after all, so bad a thing as we have dreamed. There is an apology, or a lurking wish to apologize to sinners…but I am afraid it is the old nature in us putting on…charity, which thus leads us to discredit a fact which is as certain as the happiness of believers.”
Today the problem isn’t any better, and it isn’t just the liberal theologians who ignore this biblical truth. So-called evangelical pastors and theologians have a hard time reconciling hell and punishment with the love of God.
Is “fire and brimstone” preaching just an expression?
The doctrine of hell has driven many people away from Christianity. One man said that he would not want to be in heaven with a God who sends people to hell. His preference was to be in hell so that he could live in defiance of such a God. If such a God exists,” he complained, “He is the devil” Comments like that are blasphemy to the committed Christian who believes the Bible.
To some the punishment of hell does not fit the crime. Yes, all men do some evil and a few do great evils, but nothing that anyone has ever done can justify eternal torment. And to think that millions of good people will be in hell simply because they have not received Christ, (as the Bible affirms) strains credulity. Unbelievers think it’s like capital punishment for a traffic violation.
I want to remind us again that hell was not created for people but for Satan and the fallen angels. They are the ones who will be the tormented, not the tormentors. The suffering of hell will be given out by God, not by Satan and his demons. God will also include in that punishment, those who reject the salvation He has provided. The rejection of Jesus Christ is what merits the punishment of hell.
However, I’m sure that you have heard many times, as I have, that God wouldn’t send anyone to hell. It just doesn’t fit what we know about God—who is LOVE. Some people believe that ultimately everyone will be saved and go to heaven. Others say: that Jesus never spoke about heaven or hell, he was just concerned about how we live on earth. Of course, this comment is totally one of ignorance because Jesus spoke much about both and in fact, he spoke more about hell than heaven.
The classic answer to the question about a loving God sending people to hell is: “God doesn’t send anyone to hell, we send ourselves there when we refuse to accept His son Jesus Christ who as the substitute for our sins, and receive Him as Savior and Lord of our lives, and when we insist on living a life of rebellion and disobedience to Him.” That of course is a true statement and might help sometimes to answer someone. Other times it doesn’t do much good.
We must share this idea, that God doesn’t want anyone to go to hell. The Bible says that He is not willing that anyone should perish. but because of His justice, He must condemn unbelievers to hell. Jesus explained this in Matthew 25:41 where he told about the sheep and the goats, that those on his left (the goats) were told; “depart from me, you who are cursed into ETERNAL FIRE prepared for the devil and his angels.”
This aspect of hell, eternal fire is what people don’t like to hear about, and particularly in recent days the gospel is frequently given with no mention of it. I understand this, and I myself have talked to people about the Love of God when telling what Christ has done for us, but there must be a time when we do explain the consequences of not accepting Christ. Here I believe we have all failed at some time or another. We must share Biblical truth with love though. People need to know that the wages, or salary—the payment for sin—is DEATH. (Rom. 6:23) That is; spiritual death. It isn’t the end, and you just die, and nothing afterward. The Bible teaches everlasting punishment in a literal hell. However, it doesn’t do any good to do what some new Christians have done with their friends and family. They just blurt out—“you’re going to hell unless you repent.”
It is the Holy Spirit that will “convict the world (people) of sin.” It is only the Holy Spirit that will make the reality of hell understood. It is horrible and we must let people know that there Is indeed punishment for rejecting Christ. The fire is literal, but not like we understand fire. The Bible communicates to us in a way that we can understand. Since we understand how fire burns and hurts, we know that pain is involved. But what is hard to understand, and therefore theologians try to explain it away, is that the fire is eternal and can not be put out. That it doesn’t consume those who are cast there. Because when we think in human finite terms we think, how is it possible that fire won’t burn someone up and they are totally gone? Unbelievers will have different bodies someday too, or else it will be just their soul and spirit, the very essence of who we are that will suffer pain. The use of the word fire is to help us understand that this will be a painful punishment and it won’t ever stop.
The descriptions which are familiar to most of us and make it clear what hell is like would be;
“fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” (Matt. 13:42) Have you ever been in such pain, that you grind your teeth? Rarely do we suffer like that, but in order for us to understand how serious this is, the Bible explains it this way.
Fiery lake of burning sulfur (Rev. 20:10)
Lake of fire is used 5 times in Rev. 20:15, 21:8. This is the second death, after the judgment.
What is the bottomless pit? The abyss is used 9 times; it refers to the lower regions as the abode of demons, out of which they can be let loose at times.
· Gehenna is used 12 times; Aramaic, a dialect of Hebrew is Gehinnom –the Valley of Hinnom, or dump. Where children were burned with fire as sacrifices to Molech one of the pagan gods In the Old Testament. (I Kings 23:10), and (Jeremiah 7:31)
Jesus mentioned the reality of hell many times. In Matt. 23:33, He called the Pharisees a brood of snakes, and said, how will you escape being condemned to hell?
He talked about outer darkness. Matt 8:12; 22:13; 25:30. He said that the “subjects of the kingdom:
(the unbelieving Jews) will be cast into outer darkness, and here it is again, “… there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.)
· Hell is a place of torment (Luke 16:23, 28) also called Hades.)
· Matt. 5:22—- anyone who calls his brother “fool” will be in danger of the fire of hell. .
· Matt. 18:8,9 speaks of eternal fire, and the fire of hell.
· Matt. 13:42; 50—fiery furnace, and gnashing of teeth.
· Mark 9:44, 48—where the worm doesn’t die, and the fire is not quenched.
The specified duration of hell has also been watered down by many today. By those who preach part of the gospel, but refuse to accept the clear teaching about hell. You see, there is no need for “good news” –that we can be saved because, without hell, there is nothing to be saved from.
It is eternal and everlasting, just as life with Christ is eternal and everlasting.
Matt. 25:46 –it is an everlasting punishment.
Mark 25:46—It is eternal condemnation
Heb 6:2—It is eternal judgment
Matt 18:8,9—eternal fire.
Mark 9:43-49—unquenchable fire.
II Thess. 1:9—everlasting or eternal destruction
Now it is here that some theologians and pastors preach that if something is destroyed it can’t go on forever. But the word destruction does not mean annihilation. This same word is used in Matthew 9:17; Luke 15:4 and John 6:12,17. In none of those instances does it mean “to pass out of existence.”
Robert Morey writes, “There isn’t a single instance in the New Testament where this Greek word apollumi, means annihilation in the strict sense of the word. Greek lexicons define it as “to be delivered up to eternal misery.
It is true that the Greek word which is usually translated as eternal, does not by definition mean eternal (like we usually think of it). It specifically refers to an “age or “eon”, a specific period of time. However, it is clear that in New Testament usage it is sometimes used to refer to an eternal amount of time. Rev. 20:10 speaks of Satan, the beast, and the false prophet being cast into the lake of fire and being tormented day and night forever and ever.
It is clear that these three are not “extinguished” by being cast into the lake of fire. Why would the fate of the unsaved be any different (Rev. 20:14,15).
The most convincing evidence for the eternality of Hell is Matt.25:46. “Then they (the wicked) will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” In this verse, the exact same Greek word is used to refer to the destiny of the wicked and the righteous. If the wicked are only tormented for an “age,” and then are totally annihilated, then the righteous will only experience life in heaven for an age also. If believers will be in heaven forever, and they will, unbelievers will be in hell forever.
Our other text that Carol read is Luke 16:19-31
About the rich man and Lazarus. Lazarus was a beggar that sat outside of the rich man’s house. But when they both died, the rich man was in hell and complained about the heat and cried out to Abraham to send Lazarus to give him just a little bit of water for his tongue. This can’t be done, because of the Casim between them. Then the rich man begs to let him go back from the dead to warn his brothers. He is told that they have Moses and the prophets to warn them. And “even if someone comes back from the dead they still will not believe.”
It is still true today, that even when people are told about the realities of hell they won’t believe it.
Jonathan Edwards, that great 18th-century preacher said that the reason we find hell so offensive is because of our insensitivity to sin. It seems that the greatness of sin is determined by the greatness of the One against whom it is committed, (and that is God.)
It is only the Holy Spirit that can convict people of their sin, and bring them to repentance. In Edwards’s great sermon: “Sinners in the hands of an angry God” he couldn’t finish his sermon, because of the noise of weeping, as people were clinging to the posts that held up the roof of the sanctuary— because they felt the power of the Holy Spirit and it felt like they were sliding into hell.
David committed adultery with Bathsheba and then sent her husband to the front of the battle so he would be killed, so he committed murder. Nevertheless, when the prophet Nathan pointed out his sin, he said; “against you and you alone, oh God have I sinned.”
If we understand that, we might understand better that God has no choice but to condemn us to a hell of eternal punishment if we continually reject His son Jesus Christ, and want to live our lives without Him. He will say to us then someday, Okay—have it your way—you cannot spend eternity with me. Depart from me, I never knew you!
The important thing is for us to come to Jesus, just as we are—sinners. We can be assured because of what we read in the Bible that there is a literal hell that is for the Devil and his angels, and for all those who refuse to accept Jesus Christ as their savior. But we can also be assured that we do not have to go there if we receive Jesus. If you have never been assured that you have this kind of relationship with the Lord, you can come to him this morning. Do not leave this sanctuary without knowing for certain that you have eternal life.