The 'H' Word: Why Christians Believe in Hell

Let's open up to Luke 16. We're going to read a parable that Jesus told his disciples about called the rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16 verse 19 to the end of the chapter. Luke 16 verse 19. Jesus said, gave this story: 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 in anguish in this flame." But Abraham said, "Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things and Lazarus in like manner bad things. But now he is comforted here and you are in anguish. And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed in order that those who would pass 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 they 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, "Oh, father Abraham, but if someone goes to them from the dead, they will repent." He said to him, "If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead." So far, our reading.

This morning, this week rather, I had a haircut. I hope you noticed. And I was sitting I go to a local barber shop regularly when I have it, and I was sitting in the chair, and one of the young ladies there was doing my hair, and we started a conversation. She knows I'm a pastor. She knows that I work here at Open House. She decided to share a little bit with me her experience of Christians and Christianity, and she has a, she said to me, a Christian aunt who was involved when her dad, so this lady's grandfather was diagnosed with cancer.

And she shared with me how appalled and angry the family had become when this aunt tried to explain with urgency the need for him to accept Jesus Christ as Lord before he would pass away. The lady cutting my hair said that she was outraged that her aunt had talked about hell and told her dad that he would end up there if he didn't accept Christ into his life and received his forgiveness. To her, the idea of hell was deeply offensive. The idea of pleading with someone that it may be their eternal destination was offensive. Now I listened to this sympathetically and because in part I understand that pain.

I listened to it and unfortunately didn't have the time nor the right context to really go into it. She was done with my head before we really got into the story, and I didn't have the opportunity to share with her the loving motivations of this aunt for her dad. But there was also a part of me that was quite frankly scared what she might do to my ears if I attempted. But it did make me think this week about this H word, this deeply, deeply offensive word, hell, in our society today.

I'm sure you've heard the irony of people who consider themselves unbelievers, believing or knowing that God does not exist, for sure, for certain He does not exist, that there is no truth in the words of scripture at all, it is all fable, it is all myth. And yet they become very, very angry when you, when they are confronted by our belief that they will end up in hell if they do not put their trust and their faith in Jesus Christ. Why become angry at something that does not exist?

This morning I want to make the point that hell is not a fad. I wanna make the point that it is a reality, that it is not something that comes and goes, that it's true for one generation, maybe a generation before us, now it was true, and now it's not true. It's not an optional theological premise that Christians can hold or let go of. This doctrine of hell, this teaching of hell is a spiritual reality that every Christian who truly believes will know exists, will believe exists, and will be deeply motivated in one way or another by it.

The biblical teaching on hell is a very important doctrine, and it is important for several reasons that we'll investigate this morning. Firstly, the doctrine of hell, the teaching of hell is important because Jesus taught it more than all the other biblical authors put together. We read this morning a parable of Jesus in Luke 16. Very symbolic, very visual, very visceral. You can feel the torment and the pain happening in the story, but it talks about a hard-heartedness of a man.

The hard-heartedness of humanity. And the fact that even if someone was to come back from the dead to warn people of the reality of hell, some people would not listen. This is obviously, if you understand the context of where Luke is going, an allusion to Jesus Himself, dead and resurrected, having preached about this as a reality, and people still not listening, people still not responding. Jesus, throughout the gospel, speaks of eternal fire and punishment. He uses those words, eternal fire and punishment, as a final destination of not just human beings, but of the angels who have rebelled against God as well, who have rejected God.

Matthew 25 talks about that. He says those who give in to sin will be in danger of the fire of hell. Matthew 5:22 and 18. The word Jesus often used for hell is the word Gehenna. And if you've studied Greek before, you will know that this is a valley near Jerusalem.

I've been to Jerusalem. It's still there, the valley, Gehenna, where piles of rubbish, it was the trash heap of the town, where rubbish was poured into the valley, piles of it, where people who had died, who had no family to bury them, their corpses would be dragged out there and burnt, corpses were left to decompose in this valley. Well, in Mark 9:43, Jesus speaks of someone going to Gehenna where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Jesus refers to maggots that live in these corpses on this garbage pile.

But instead of maggots that will disappear when all the flesh is consumed, Jesus warns of a spiritual decomposition of hell that never ends and that their worm does not die. Now the first point that we make this morning is this: if Jesus, the Lord of all love and grace, spoke about hell more often than any other biblical author, if He spoke in such vivid blood-curdling ways more often than anyone else, then this is a truth that is crucial to believe, a truth that is crucial to understand and accept. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus said, "Do not fear those who can kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather be afraid of the one who can destroy both the soul and the body."

Remember who He's talking to here. He's speaking to the disciples who will be tortured to the point of death. Yet He says this is not something that you can compare to hell. For Jesus, hell is not a made-up story to scare people straight. It's not a lump of coal in your stocking at Christmas if you're not a good boy.

For Jesus, hell is a real place. And He said that after judgement day, people will experience it. It's not a place of simply physical misery, but spiritual misery as well. So why is this then so important for Jesus? Why did Jesus talk about this so often and make such vivid points about it?

Well, that leads us to our next point. Because it is important to show how infinitely dependent we are on God for absolutely everything. Virtually all commentators and theologians believe that biblical images of hell, like fire, like darkness, are metaphorical. Jonathan Edwards pointed out that the biblical language of hell was symbolic, but then he added, when metaphors are used in scripture about spiritual things, they always fall short of the literal truth, the full extent. So when we imagine hell, it is not like the pictures of a red little devil with a pitchfork and flames everywhere.

It's not the biblical image that we find. What we do find and what the questions of this fire and this darkness point to is that they are vivid ways to describe what happens when we lose the presence of God. The darkness of hell refers to the isolation of that eternal destination, the loss of light, the loss of God's presence, and the fire refers to the disintegration of being separated from God, being away from His favour, the favour of His face. We literally, horrifically, and endlessly fall apart. Jesus taught that the ultimate condemnation from the mouth of God is this: the greatest fear that we will hear is "Depart from me."

That is the greatest, ultimate condemnation: "Depart from me. I never knew you." Now why is that considered to be the worst? Well, because we were originally created to be in God's presence. Remember Genesis 2?

Man and woman were created to dwell with God, to spend wonderful fellowship with Him. Adam and Eve had that great special moment where they would walk with God in the coolness of the afternoon. We were created to live in God's presence. Now even today in one sense, God is everywhere and He does uphold everything. Only in Him do any of us speak and move and have our being, Paul says in Acts 17:28.

In that sense then, it is impossible in this day and age still to be away from God. But the Bible says sin removes us from God's face. Isaiah 59:2. All the life, all the joy, all the love, all the strength we have finds meaning when we exist in relationship with God. Life at its best, even to the unbeliever, is inseparably connected with God.

Even the most staunch atheist received God's blessing and His love today. But sin and its ultimate consequence removes us from this aspect of God's power. It's like a fish being taken out of the water with its life slowly ebbing away. That is why for Paul, the everlasting fire and the destruction of hell is the exclusion, he says, in 2 Thessalonians 1:9. It's the exclusion from the presence of the Lord, he says.

Separation from God and His blessings is the reality to which all these symbols of darkness and fire point to: separation from God and His blessing. The human soul was built, created to worship God, to enjoy the true God forever, and all truly human life flows from that. In this world, all of humanity, even those who have turned away from God, are still today supported by God's providences. Today, even if you're not a Christian, God keeps giving you wisdom. God keeps giving you love to experience.

God provides joy and freedom and goodness for you. But when we lose God's supportive presence completely, that is hell. But how then do people end up there? Well, it leads to the third point: that a biblical belief of hell is important because it unveils the seriousness and danger of living life for yourself.

In Romans 1 and 2, Paul couches the entire gospel in this idea that God in His punishment against those who reject Him gives them over to their sinful desires. God as a way of punishing, God in His wrath gives people over to their sinful passions. And it means that the worst, but arguably the fairest punishment God can give a person is to allow them their heart's desires. The harshest, but the fairest punishment is to allow them their heart's desires. And what is this desire?

It is independence from God. It is autonomy from God's law. We want to go our own way, Isaiah 53 says. There is and this going away from God is no idle wandering off the path. It is no misstep or a mistake.

We want to get away from God, but that is the very thing that is most destructive to us as well. And so hell is this: God giving us up to the fate that we have freely chosen for ourselves, heading down the path of our own making. It is God banishing us to the regions we have desperately tried to get into all our lives.

J. I. Packer, the theologian, writes, "Scripture sees hell as self-chosen. Hell appears as God's gesture of respect for human choice. All receive what they actually choose: either to be with God forever, worshiping Him, or without Him forever, worshiping themselves."

If the thing you most want is to worship God in His holiness, in the beauty of that holiness, then that is what you'll get. If the thing you most want is to be your own master, then the holiness of God will be your greatest, and the presence of God will be the terror that you flee from. Today, the concept of hell is so offensive and thought to be so unfair, especially for minor mistakes, minor sins, such as not believing in Christ, such as not believing in Jesus and not being a Christian. That is seen as a very minor mistake.

And today, very few people will say they know someone that deserves hell. Many very few people will say, "People really deserve this. So and so really deserves it in my life." But the Bible tells us, firstly, that people get in the afterlife only what they have most wanted: either to have God as a saviour and their master or to be their own saviours and masters. And secondly, the Bible tells us that hell is a natural consequence for our decisions.

Even in this world, it is clear that self-centredness rather than God-centredness makes us miserable and blind. The more self-centred, the more self-absorbed, the more self-justifying people are, the more breakdowns occur. The more damage there is to relationships, the more damage there is to ourselves physically, emotionally, spiritually. So hell is firstly a door that is locked from the inside by us. And then as we saw in Luke 16, that chasm is confirmed by God later.

That door is then locked and barred from the outside, but we lock it from the inside first. But then lastly, the doctrine of hell is important because by it, only because of it will we know how much Jesus really loved us. In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says to His disciples, "No physical destruction can be compared with the spiritual destruction of hell. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear Him who can destroy both body and soul."

And again this morning, we reminded friends that exactly this happened to Jesus on the cross for us. If and when you are tempted to reject the reality of hell because it is so horrifying, it is so terrifying, because it is too awful to think that a friend or a loved one may end up there, I want you to remember the power of this reality as well: that Jesus Christ has broken the power of any person who looks determined to end up there, because Christ Himself has been there.

We know that on the cross, He was forsaken by the Father. In the presence of God, with God's full permission, the Father removed Himself from the Son. And again, this week, as I've been thinking and praying about this, I've been convicted again that unless we come to grips with the doctrine of hell, we will never fully understand the depths of what Jesus did for us on the cross. Yes, His body was destroyed.

His body was beaten and broken in the worst possible way, but that was a flea bite compared to what happened to His soul. When He cried out that His God had forsaken Him, He was experiencing hell Himself. Consider, friends, the significance and the terror of that moment. The Son of God who has existed with the Father and the Spirit for eternity past never knew, never experienced that sort of separation. When we have an acquaintance of some kind with someone and they denounce us and they reject us, that hurts.

That stinks. If we have a friend that we love and care for more than that and they denounce and reject us, that hurts far worse. If we have a husband or a wife who walks out the door and says, "I never want to see you again," that devastates us. Can you imagine?

God the Son, having experienced the full perfection of the Godhead's love, being removed, denounced, rejected from that. That was truly horrifying, but He did that for us. That is the extent of His love for us. You see, if we are happy to believe in a god and a faith that ignores hell, that downplays it, that minimises righteous punishment for sin, the question is, what did it cost your god to love you? What has it cost your god to embrace you?

If your answer is, "I don't think that was a cost that was necessary. God is about love. There is no cost involved," then ironically, in our effort to make God seem more loving, we actually make Him less loving. His love in the end needed to take no action.

If we believe that God's love is easy, it is, at the end of the day, sentimentality. The worship of a God who didn't suffer hell on the cross will at best be ethical. We will sing songs here about a concept. There will be no joyful abandoning of myself. Why?

I will not experience humble boldness. I will not experience a moving sense of wonder at His grace. We will not sing passionately, "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound." Only if hell exists and only because our eyes have been opened to the reality and the fact that we deserve to be there.

Will we be able to spend an eternity praising and worshiping the God who saved us from that? And we see that, don't we, in the Bible? We see that in Revelation 5. The voice of the elders saying, "Weep no more. Don't cry anymore.

Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David has conquered." Verse 11: the voice of many angels I heard, John says, numbering myriads and myriads and thousands upon thousands saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive all the power, the wealth, the wisdom, the might, the honour, the glory, and the blessing." If hell doesn't exist, and if we don't truly see it as a reality, then Jesus did not experience hell itself on our behalf. And if hell doesn't exist because we argue that a loving God would not send just people there, then our salvation is devalued. And even what God thinks of us is devalued.

In the prophecy of the Messiah in Isaiah 53, Isaiah speaking about Christ says this: that Jesus would see the results of His suffering and that He will be satisfied. The Messiah sees the results of His suffering and He is satisfied. What a thought. Jesus suffering infinitely more than any human soul in hell would, looks at the Christian and says, "It was worth it. It was worth it.

I am satisfied by my decision to save her. By my decision to save him." What could make us feel more valuable than that? What could make us feel more loved than that? A Saviour who waded through our well-earned hell to save us.

And I wish I could have said that to that lady. That is the God I trust in. That is the God your aunt believes in. And understanding and belief in the reality of hell is therefore very important for us as Christians. Without it, we can't understand our complete and utter dependence on God.

Without it, we don't rightly understand the character and the danger of even the smallest sin. Without it, we don't appreciate the true scope of the costly love of Jesus. So what does this mean for us when we need to tell people about the gospel and the reality of the afterlife? Well, the great preacher Charles Spurgeon once said this to his church, "When you speak of heaven, let your face light up. And when you speak of hell, well, then your everyday face will do."

Obviously didn't think very highly of the attractiveness of his church members. But I think it's important that we are wise and that we are consistent and that we do this urgently in how we speak and we share this news with our friends and family that don't know Christ. Many people, for fear of doctrinal compromising, will want to put all the emphasis on God's judgement, will say that there is no grace available for them. Some preach hell in such a way that people will reform their lives only out of a self-centred interest of avoiding the consequences, not out of love and loyalty to the one who experienced hell in their place.

But the gospel is bad news to the sinner before it is good news. And we shouldn't hide that. We are all called to lovingly but honestly explain the whole truth of the gospel to our friends and call them to join with us in rejoicing the powerful and costly love of our Saviour Jesus Christ. Friends, if there are some of you that are moved by this this morning, that know that they are not right with God, who may, in this moment, know that hell is a real possibility, an eternal destination for them, then this morning, I want to urge you to come and take up the forgiveness of Christ, to give your heart and your life over to this one who offered Himself for you.

He is good. He is faithful, friends. He will not disappoint. Come and give your life. Give your heart to Him.

Let's pray. Father, we thank you that though our hearts and our minds may condemn us, though often we see the writing on the wall, though we know that as hard as we try, we cannot attain to the goodness, the majesty, the perfection that you call us to. God, I pray that we may also know that dealing with this issue, dealing with our sin, dealing with the reality of the afterlife is important for us, is important for our friends and our family. And Father, that we need to deal honestly and urgently and with integrity with these things. I pray, God, that you will forgive us our sin, Lord, that you will sweep us in those arms of love and grace.

God, where we need comfort this morning, give comfort. Where we need assurance of your love, give assurance. We thank you, Lord, that we can still hear that you love us, that you have removed our sins as far as east is from the west by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Holy Spirit, will you confirm this in our hearts? And Father, if there are some of us who are not right with you and we know that.

Father, if there are some of us that have never placed our whole life, our whole mind, our whole soul into your care, have never repented truly of our sins, have never placed our entire trust and dependence on you, Father. May today be that day. We will not walk out of here unchanged. We will not leave this place without having made ourselves right with you. Give us the courage to stand by these convictions.

Father, may your grace be known in this church as we urge and as we plead, as we intercede for those we know that are lost. Father, may we urgently, may we lovingly, wisely testify to your grace, to your love for us, us who are the greatest sinners, who have found the greatest love. In Jesus' name, ask for your power and strength. Amen.