In 2003 I encountered this message on Hell presented by Bill Hybels, pastor of Willowcreek Community Church from a weekly newsletter resource. I saved it because often a person like Bill Hybels is accused of presenting a cheap message of salvation because of the large crowds that their church attracts. The message is anything but cheap or shallow. It is instead clear and convicting. I have been accused as well by some of presenting a less than complete picture of salvation because I have not spoken much on hell. Our church has been unfairly perceived in the community of not taking hell seriously. While none of those accusations or perceptions are true still today I want to spend our time taking a clear, serious look at hell.

Several of Jesus' disciples were fishermen. No doubt, that is why, while Jesus was teaching about the afterlife, he used a commercial fishing illustration to make a very abstract truth come to life. It's recorded for us in Matthew 13:47-51. The setting was a common one for the people of his day. Picture yourself by a large lake, there are a couple of men stretching a fishing net that comes all the way up to the surface, goes all the way down, and drags along the bottom of the lake. Imagine that the guy would be on one side of the lake and the other one on the other. They would start on one side, drag all the way across to the other side of the lake, and pull the net up on the bank. They then sit down, pull every single fish out of the net, determine which are marketable fish, put them in one pile, and then put the garbage fish in another pile. The good fish go to some useful purpose; the junk fish are burned.

Jesus was saying, you can learn some truths about the afterlife by a simple illustration about a dragnet, a lake, and some fish. First, you can learn that all people will be brought to judgment some day. Every fish in the lake will be gathered up. It's a dragnet; it's not a hook and line. The whole lake is dragged. Every fish will be up on the beach. Every person will come and stand before a holy God in the Day of Judgment, even you and me. Second, there will be a separation process. The fish are sorted out and people will be sorted out. Every person will end up in one of two places. Third, the saved will be assigned a place for eternity in heaven. But the unsaved, the unbelievers, the self-centered, the self-deceived people will be assigned a place in hell for eternity. There they will receive the punishment for their offenses against God and for their rejection of his offer of salvation and forgiveness extended through Jesus Christ, his Son.

When Jesus finished his teaching, he looked at his disciples and aid, "Have you understood the illustration and the principles associated with it?" And they all said, "We understand."

I want to ask you: Do all of you really believe in a hell as well as a heaven? Or have you done your best not to think much about it? It is not a pleasant thing to teach about hell. I don't like the fact that people I know are headed in the direction of hell, based on the decisions they're making every day. But I have a difficult time blocking it out of my mind. You cannot read your Bible without being confronted by the fact that Jesus believed in a hell and taught about it more than he did about heaven--probably because he knew most people would try desperately to block the reality of hell from their thoughts. We just don’t want to think about it.

Not only does Jesus teach frequently about it, but also other Bible writers do. But even if you weren't going to rely on Scripture, you have within you an innate sense of justice that calls for people to receive punishment for the wrong they have done. Any sense of justice we share demands there be a hell. In a moral economy governed by a holy, completely righteous God, offenses against that perfectly holy God will be paid for--if there is not the intervention of forgiveness or a pardon--for an eternity in hell. Justice demands it.

I want to address a question many of you have asked over the years: What is hell really like? The most authoritative truth source concerning the afterlife is the Bible, and it uses some frightening language and pictures to communicate what hell is like. The Bible speaks of four different types of suffering or anguish in hell. Anguish is extreme pain or distress. The Bible describes emotional, physical, relational and spiritual anguish.

First it talks about people suffering emotional anguish. The word gehenna (Matt.5:22) is often used in Scripture interchangeably with hell. The word refers to a deep valley outside the city of Jerusalem. All of the garbage that had accumulated throughout the day was thrown into that valley at night and burned there. It was a dump that smoldered 24 hours a day, year after year. When you go to a dump, you don't feel bad about throwing the stuff in the dump. The stuff you bring to a dump is useless, worthless, and completely disposable. The Bible teaches that unbelievers will be assigned a place in hell. It uses the word gehenna, which illustrates that people in hell will be consciously aware that they have wasted their lives! Can you imagine the emotional anguish of that?

Another form of emotional anguish derives from a phrase Jesus used in Matthew 13: "In hell, there will be gnashing of teeth."(Matt. 13:42) Gnashing of teeth means the sound we make when we regret a mistake or a decision. If I forget something that I should have remembered I'll go "Arrrgh!" and gnash my teeth. But usually that only lasts for a moment. I feel bad and wish I hadn’t messed up but eventually I get over it. Most of us can convert frustration into anticipation that it will be different next time. We don't gnash our teeth for long; just make up our minds to do it differently next time.

The Bible teaches that when people wake up in hell, part of the emotional anguish will be expressed by a continual, on-going, never-ending, eternal gnashing of the teeth, when people go "I blew it, I blew it, I blew it!" It just doesn't stop. "I knew better. Jesus was the Son of God. I had the opportunity. I rejected him. I was self-willed. Arrrgh!" The self-reproach is almost unbearable: "How could I have been so stupid!" What's awful is there is no next time. There is no anticipation of doing it differently next time around. There's just eternal self-reproach, gnashing of the teeth forever.

Now that's just a few examples of the emotional anguish that people suffer in hell, but then there's the physical anguish. What kind of physical anguish? Luke 16 includes the parable of the rich man who went to hell and sees a poor man in paradise named Lazarus. In Luke 16:24 and in other places throughout Scripture, we constantly hear the phraseology describing hell that pertains to fire, flames and a furnace. Those physical pictures are the source of relentless, suffocating, tormenting heat, to the extent that the rich man questions a man named Lazarus about the possibility of receiving the treasured relief that a single drop of water would offer. The rich man doesn't ask for a barrel of water or a jar or a thermos or a cup or a gulp. He just says a drop or two would be precious beyond description. The Bible says that that type of unrelieved physical anguish will go on day and night forever. Pain doesn't go away in hell. It intensifies, but it doesn't go away. Emotional anguish, physical anguish, and then there's relational anguish.

Hell involves relational anguish. I honestly don't know who ever conjured up the idea that there will be good fellowship in hell--poker games, fraternity parties, orgies. That's a flat-out lie. There's no fellowship in hell. There's no sense of companionship. There are no relationships in hell. It is a place of absolute loneliness. Hell will be filled with people so personally demolished by self-reproach, emotional pain, and physical agony, there will be no energy nor interest in brotherhood, companionship, or fellowship. Every individual will be so completely entrenched in their own anguish that any sense of relationships will be a distant memory at best. Solitary suffering forever is the picture we get of hell from Scripture. Don't plan any parties. No one shows.

Emotional anguish, physical anguish, relational anguish, and finally, spiritual anguish. This is the worst part of it all, but it's the most difficult for me to try to explain. The most ungodly, hard-hearted, insensitive of all sinners still benefits from living in an age where God's grace shines on the just and the unjust. Here God is still at work for our good and his purposes. But in hell, God doesn't intervene any more. He chooses to be conspicuous by his absence. His absence unleashes a reign of spiritual terror that words cannot describe. The Scripture writers resort to word pictures.

"Outer darkness"(Matt.8:12) is one; it refers to absolute chaos and confusion, hopelessness, infinite ages of futility. The morning never comes, and the light never comes on, and there's never a breakthrough and understanding—only an eternal, infinite age of hopelessness, futility, confusion and chaos in a state totally separate from God.

Another Scripture writer calls it "the bottomless pit."(Luke 8:31) That conjures up dreamlike feelings of falling away--falling, falling, falling. You've all had dreams like that; where when you woke your heart was beating because you were falling. Picture in your mind hanging over a precipice, and God is hanging on to you and you're hanging on to him. You decided you don't need him any more. So you let go. But the moment you let go you know you made a mistake. You're falling, and every moment you fall further and further away from the only source of help and truth and love, and you realize you made a mistake. Yet you can't get back up and you fall further and faster and further and faster into spiritual oblivion, and you know you're going the wrong direction and you'd give anything to go back but you can’t, and you fall and you fall and you fall and you fall. How long do you fall? Forever. All the while you're falling, you're saying, "I'm further, now I'm further, now I'm further from the only source of hope, truth, and love."

In hell there is never the bliss of annihilation. You'd give anything for annihilation, but it's unavailable, only the conscious continuations of emotional, physical, relational, and spiritual anguish forever.

Why do people end up in hell? We end up in hell if we reject the person and work of Jesus. I know some of you are saying. "My goodness. What awful crime must a person commit to warrant going to hell? A place that horrifying must take an awful lot of sin." Well, you can reduce hundreds of pages of Scripture to a sentence: You want to end up in hell? The ultimate crime that will get you there is to reject the person and work of Jesus Christ. Reject Jesus. Ignore him. Walk away from his saving grace and his love, and you will seal your fate in hell forever. That's what the writer said in Hebrews 10:29: "How do you ever expect to survive if you have trampled underfoot the Son of God--the blood of Jesus Christ?"

Here's the picture: We're all over here on this side of the platform and we'll take a little journey together. On the other side of the platform is the afterlife. Now we're all heading together toward the afterlife. We're all aging; we're all going down the road of life. The Bible tells us--and you can bear this out in personal experience—that all along the way we stumble and fall and we commit sins. We violate the standard of holiness that God has asked us to keep. Now some of us don't think sin is serious, and probably that's because we don't realize who it is we're sinning against. The Bible says sin is nothing short of treason against God.

Recently former President Clinton said that the ultimate reason for his moral failure during his presidency was, "Because I could". He said that it was the most indefensible argument for what he did. That same spirit lies in every one of us. God shows us what is right and simply because we can we say, "No!" All along this journey we say, "I don't care what you say. I'm going to do it my way." It's treason against God. So here's the whole community going along the road of life, committing treason right and left simply because we can. We don't call it that, but that's what's going on.

We're getting closer and closer to the afterlife, the Day of Judgment. By God's grace we have run smack into a pulpit, a Christian, a Bible study, a missionary, pastor, teacher, church, whatever. We hear that there is a solution for sin, that there was payment made that can forgive us of all of our sin and can reroute us to eternal life in heaven instead of going with all the masses straight toward the afterlife in hell. So as we bump into the cross, the person and work of Jesus Christ, it's decision time.

The Bible says the Holy Spirit is calling us, trying to get us to kneel down and repent and receive Jesus Christ. Yet there's something in us that wants to keep that back stiff, and say, "I'm not going to repent; I'm not going to bow. I don't need this." So the Holy Spirit's urging us to do the right thing, and other Christians are cheering us on, saying, "Do the right thing! We did the right thing; you do the right thing." A certain group of people fall to their knees and say, "I know I committed treason against God, and I know if I stay on that path I'm headed for hell. Justice demands it. But now I'm going to ask Jesus Christ to forgive my sins, to blot out all my treason, and to not only redirect this life but to redirect my eternity." Those people are born again. Those people are Christians. Those people are rerouted in this life and for all of eternity.

But the mass of humanity cruises along committing treason against God, comes up to the person and work of Christ, bumps into it, says, "I know I should follow, I know I should repent, but not me." They take a big step around the cross. They rejoin all the rest of the mass of humanity. They didn't bow at the cross. They walk over the cliff to a Christless eternity. That's why it grinds when people accuse God of arbitrarily casting people into hell. God doesn't cast people into hell. C. S. Lewis says that sin is our saying to God throughout life, "Go away and leave me alone!" Hell is God’s way of saying to us, "You may have your wish!" (Christian Theology, p.1240) People take the big left turn. They walk around the cross they bumped into. Some of you have bumped into this every Sunday for so many years! Every Sunday you make a conscious decision: "I'm not going to bow. I'm going to cruise right around the cross and keep doing my thing."

When you end up in hell, don't blame God. He pleaded with you. He did what it took. The Holy Spirit was moving. The whole Christian community was cheering you to do the right thing. You made your choice in this life, and your choice will be borne out in the next life. You wanted to live separate from God in this life; you'll live separate from God in eternity. It's just that you have no idea how awful it is, and when you get there, there's no second chance. It's forever.

I'd like to close with three implications. The first implication is for those of you who are unbelievers, who are moving with the mass of humanity and coming to the point of decision. I plead with you to fall to your knees and admit your treason against God and ask Jesus Christ to be your own Savior. Trust him for forgiveness and trust him for love. You'll receive a love you never knew was possible before. It will be a very personal, love relationship that you'll develop with the Lord if you’ll open your heart to him. He'll redirect this life and he'll redirect your eternity. Trust him.

There's an implication for believers: Rejoice over what you have been spared from, that awful description of hell you just sat through so patiently. You won't endure that. Praise God for what he has taken off the list of possibilities for your life. You're done with that. You'll never go there. Thank God for that. In your lowest moments here on earth, thank God, worship him for sparing you from hell. Be reminded of the stakes that surround our mission as we are called to give a witness to the truth of Christ. There are consequences. What we are doing is serious business. May we never get calloused or cold or forgetful about the realities of heaven and hell.

Finally there's an implication for this church. There's a whole mass of humanity all over the world moving toward the afterlife, and God has ordained churches all over the world. He has ordained this church to be a beacon, an information center, and a rescue operation to get the word out about eternity, about heaven and hell, but most importantly to get the word out about Jesus Christ. We are not a country club where you come to socialize, pay a few dues, and leave. We are not a performing arts center where talented people do their thing up on stage and the congregation applauds and nods approvingly and leaves unaffected. We're a body of people that God has anointed and empowered to proclaim to our world that people will spend more time in eternity than here.

We need to proclaim that heaven is real and hell is real and God has paid the price through Jesus Christ to make heaven available to everybody if they'll just bump into the cross and bow down and trust Christ to be their Savior. Sometimes we lose perspective as a church, don't we? Sometimes we wonder why we serve, why we teach classes, why we do extended session, why we study so hard to present messages and music and all that stuff. Because, friends, it's high-stakes living. It's not just life and death; it's eternal life and eternal death that hangs in the balance.

How important is what we're doing here? More important than anything else you're doing anywhere, because God has ordained the church and all of you in it to play a part in being a lighthouse and a beacon and a rescue operation for that whole mass of humanity. So be a part of that church. I thank you for your willingness to hear the truth.

Do you know how hard this message was to give? I hate the thought that some of you are going to walk out of here deeply troubled in your spirit that you might be going to hell. I hate the fact that some of you are saying, "Gee, my mom, my dad, my daughter—they’re on that road!" I hate doing that, but I cannot subject you to the counterfeit comfort of falsehood. Sometimes the truth hurts. Sometimes the truth jabs you. This is one of those days. The Bible says the truth sets you free. Hell is there, but the cross is here. Are you ready to stop going around the cross and today chose to bow at the cross?

(This sermon was adapted with permission from a sermon by Bill Hybels, "A Look at Hell")

Sunday, June 27, 2004

Dr. Bruce Tippit, Pastor

First Baptist Church

Jonesboro, Arkansas

btippit@fbcjonesboro.org