THE HORORS
OF HELL
By Medford
Caudill
Goshen, Indiana
Matthew
25:46 “And these shall go away into everlasting punishment but the
righteous into life eternal.”
It
is impossible for me to convey to your minds or your hearts the horrors
of hell. How does one describe such a place? Jesus said it was better
to pluck out the offensive eye or cut off the offensive hand than to have
the whole body cast into hell. Hell is a place of fire, a place of darkness,
a place of guilt, a place of remembrance of sins past and acknowledgment
of the terribleness of sin. Yet hell is barely mentioned in our pulpits
today. Paige Patterson, a Southern Baptist, in a sermon at Southeastern
Baptist Seminary said; “You can traverse the entire United States on any
given Sunday Morning, and you very probably will not hear a sermon on the
judgment of God or eternal punishment from an evangelical pulpit. And so
evangelicals ostensibly believe in the doctrine but in effect have voted
by the silence of their voices that they do not believe in it anymore or
else no longer have the courage and conviction to stand and say anything
about it.”
Many in our day no longer believe in hell. They agree with the nineteenth
century skeptic Robert Ingersol who said; “No man can think of a greater
horror, no man can dream of a greater absurdity. For the growth of that
doctrine ignorance was soil and fear was rain. It came from the tangled
mouths of serpents.”
A more modern silly writer by the name of Lee Salisbury says; ”The doctrine
of eternal punishment makes hell a monument to the Devil’s work of sin
and death. “ Even a Primitive Baptist web site for the Harmony Primitive
Baptist church says; “A belief that eternal broiling awaits some if not
most of Adam’s race comes from pagan religion. This outlook prevents
the church from serving mankind.”
The Bible, however, is very definite about hell. Jesus said that, “every
tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into the
fire.” Jesus said, “fear not them which kill the body,
but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to
destroy both soul and body in hell.” Jesus said, “the Son
of Man shall send forth his angels and shall gather out of his kingdom
all things that offend and them which do iniquity; and shall cast them
into a furnace of fire; there shall be wailing and gnashing
of teeth.” Jesus said; “woe unto you scribes and Pharisees
hypocrites for ye compass land and sea to make one proselyte, and when
he is made, ye make him twofold more the child of hell than yourselves.”
Why don’t men believe in Hell? Arguments against the reality of hell
center on Man’s judgment and man’s logic. These are arguments such as it
is not fair. These sorts of arguments ignore the reality that we
are not God. His ways are not our ways.
Then there are those sort of arguments which try to be Biblical.
Such as II Peter 3:9 says the Lord is not willing that any
should perish but that all should come to repentance. These types of arguments
fail to examine the scriptural text closely to who it is talking about
and what circumstances it covers. We find Peter for instance is not talking
to everyone in the world but rather, “to them that have obtained like
precious faith with us through the righteousness of God and our Saviour
Jesus Christ.” (II Peter 1:1)
All of these arguments both logical and pseudo-scriptural fail to realize
the enormity of sin. “The wages of sin is death.” (Romans
6:23)
Eve saw the tree that it was a fruit to be desired and she ate and gave
to her husband and he ate with her and plunged the whole human race into
sin and death. Achan saw the Babylonish garment, desired it and took it
and the wedge of gold thereby killing himself, his wife and children and
his whole family. David sinned with Bathsheba and his baby boy dies. To
understand the terribleness of hell you must understand the terribleness
of sin. To understand the terribleness of sin you must understand the terribleness
of hell.
Hell is a real place. It is a terrible place and it is just as real as
the planet Earth.
It is terrible because of its torments. It is a place of fire. The rich
man in the actual historical conversation that Jesus related in Luke
chapter 16 said, “I am tormented in this flame.” (Luke
16:24) It is eternal torment. “The smoke thereof shall go up forever.”
(Isaiah 34:10)
Hell is a terrible place because of its inhabitants. Jesus said that the
everlasting fire was “prepared for the devil and his angels.” (Matthew
25:41) Think of spending eternity with Satan and all his demons. The
devil won’t be in charge of the place but will be your cell mate in that
awful prison house.
Consider the other
inhabitants of hell. Some say they want to go there to be with their
friends. You would not want your friends to be there. There will
be no parties there. You will be angry at those who led you into sin
and they will be angry with you for going along with them and increasing
their punishment.
Many songs have been written about meeting mama in heaven. One of the delights
of heaven will be seeing our long gone relatives there. There has never
been a song written, to my knowledge however, about meeting mama or daddy
in hell. It will be an acute extra torment to you to know that loved ones
are there with you. To know the tongue that spoke so many words of love
to you in this life is now parched in the flame is a horrible thing to
contemplate. What a terrible thing to know that your family and friends
are as you are eternally lost.
Hell is a terrible place because of the acute awareness you will have of
your situation. Hippolytus in 212 AD said; “Standing before Christ’s judgment,
all of them men, angels and demons crying out in one voice shall say
“ just is your judgment.”
There is no escape from hell. “If the tree fall toward the south,
or toward the north in the place where the tree falleth, there it shall
be.” (Ecclesiastes 11:3) “He that is unjust, let him
let him be unjust still and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still.”
(Revelation 22:11) Hell is a place of no hope. Once you are there
you are there for eternity.
Thankfully, I do not have to go to hell. I do not have to go to hell because
of what Jesus Christ has done for me. Because Christ was my substitute,
because He died for me I do not have to go to Hell. The only way to escape
the flames of hell is through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Believe
on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. Saved from sin and saved
from an eternity in hell.
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