Hell Is No Joke!!!

By John Stallings

I’d like to share with you what to me is the most disturbing story Jesus ever told.

It doesn’t disturb in the sense that it makes me fearful. The reason it doesn’t make me fearful is that I long ago trusted Christ as my Savior & I plan to spend eternity in heaven with Him. It disturbs me because I know in my heart & I think you do also, that Jesus was incapable of telling a lie. Jesus is the truth!!!

What story do I speak of? First of all let me make it very clear that this story isn’t one of Jesus’ great parables that He used to such great effect. You will remember that in His parables, He never used names. But in this story He does, so what we have here is Jesus giving us a documentary using actual names. This was a story He knew about & a man named Lazarus.

In Luke’s gospel, chapter 16, Jesus takes us to a place called hell & gives us a glimpse of it so we’ll be forewarned not to go there. In this story Jesus answers the questions; what happens when a person goes to hell? What kind of place is hell? What kind of person goes to hell? Why does anyone go to hell? Truthfully, any kind of person can! Equal opportunity is the rule of the day for both heaven & hell.

HELL HAS BEEN CALLED THE FORGOTTEN DOCTRINE

You could say that many of America's pulpits have "Frozen out" the doctrine of hell. Friend let me assure you that for me, preaching or writing about hell is hard. There have been many times when I felt an onslaught from the corridors of hell against my very soul; satanic harassment for daring to lift the lid on a subject Satan doesn’t want people to think about. Now personally I don’t believe we should see Christianity as a fire escape. I also don’t believe many people have ever gotten saved because some preacher scared them. I just don’t think that’s human nature. Maybe I’m wrong about that, I don’t know.

The purpose of this message isn’t to try to convince you hell is real because if you don’t believe in hell I doubt if anything I say will change your mind. One of the reasons speaking or writing about hell is tough for me is I know some people that have probably gone there. Having said all that, I might add, if I thought I could scare anyone from hell to heaven, I would.

If we read the New Testament we’ll find that Jesus spoke more about hell than He did about heaven. Most of what we know about hell comes straight from the lips of our Lord. I find it interesting that for 2,000 years the Christian Church has always believed in hell. Catholics, Protestants, Orthodox & Evangelicals have long united in saying that if a person dies having rejected Christ they will spend eternity in hell. Some have added things like purgatory but the basic truth remains that the Christian church has always believed & preached the reality of hell. Studies say 89% of Americans believe in heaven while 73% believe in hell. The number of believers has actually risen over the last twenty years.


The story Jesus tells in Luke 16:19-31 offers our best & clearest picture into the nature of hell. Because these are the words of Jesus, we must treat them with utmost respect because He speaks with divine authority. What He says can be trusted. First; Jesus tells us-

THERE IS NO CLASS DISTINCTION IN HELL!

This story is about two men, one was rich, and one was poor. The poor man lay daily at the rich man’s gate hoping to catch the crumbs that fell from his table. As happens sooner or later to everyone, both these men died. Irrespective of what their lot was in life, it was the rich man, the Bible says, who lifted up his eyes in Hell being in torment. It was the bag of bones, the beggar at that rich man's gate who had angels come to escort him to Heaven. The tables are being turned now. Here was a rich man who fed his body, yet his soul was lean. He provided for things temporal & ignored that which was eternal & spiritual. But there is a great truth in this: the destination of these two souls was determined before the grave. Eternal destinies are fixed at the moment of death & can’t be changed nor can the situation in hell be changed.

I don't know why this beggar had become a beggar & become so poor. I do know that this rich man was religious, and that is a warning for many religious folk who don't have faith in Christ and are not born again. If you read this story you will find out that it was the love of money that took the rich man to Hell.


One thing is for certain: this beggar, with the little he had of this life's goods, had his eyes on God & the things that matter. It was obviously well with his soul because when he died he went straight to heaven.

In Hell Abraham called the rich man “Son.” Now that is frightening. He was a son of Abraham! He was religious, that means he was a Jew. He was among the people that God had chosen ethnically to be a light to the world. Yet his ethnic origin did not guarantee him a place in Heaven. That principle still holds true. God has no grandchildren - meaning He has only children. You have to deal with God yourself. You don't get to Heaven because your mother or your father is saved, or your grandpa was saved, or granny - no! It's something you must deal with. Here was a man who was secure in his religiosity, & yet he ended up in Hell.

None of the distinctions we make in this life are made in Hell. The only distinction is those who have faith in Christ & are born again, & those who are not. Jesus taught that those who enter Hell will experience never-ending torment. This is Jesus’ story. These are Jesus’ words. In verse 23, this rich man was able to see the beggar Lazarus in Abraham's bosom in paradise. People will be able to see in eternity, whether in Heaven or in Hell.

Verse 24 says the rich man spoke. People will have speech in Hell. He is in torment it says, meaning he’s experiencing pain. His senses are alert in Hell. Verse 24, he's thirsting in Hell, so much so that he asks that the beggar be allowed to dip his finger in water & cool his tongue, but the answer is no! This teaches us that mercy is only before the grave. The rich man had sinned away his day of mercy and now it’s too late. If he had felt his need for water when he was on earth, he would have gotten it, for the Lord Jesus said:

Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they shall be filled.

Verse 25 shows that the rich man had his memory in Hell, for Abraham told him to remember the opportunities he had in his lifetime. Even in hell the rich man could see, hear, feel, recognize, speak, reflect, plead, suffer & think ahead. But there was one thing he couldn’t do—he couldn’t get out of hell.

We often hear at funeral services that there are no pockets in a shroud. An individual won’t take their bank account, golf clubs, or Mercedes-Benz to the grave.Our holdings in life are on very short tenure. Death strips them all away. What you don't so often hear is that people will, according to the Word of God; take their memory beyond the grave. Son, remember - that's a frightening prospect, and yet it's so real. God will cause folk in hell to remember those golden opportunities. In hell a man's memory will be his accuser, witness, judge & jury.If the sensual torments of Hell were not enough pain, those mental torments surely will be enough for all eternity!

There will be great loss in Hell. This rich man was separated from his five brethren, so much so that he wants to warn them. But it’s a one-way ticket to Hell. Those who go in do not come out. It’s a place of confinement where the doors only swing one way. There is a great gulf fixed. Abraham told him, those in Hell cannot pass to Heaven, and those in Heaven - not that they would want to - but if they could help those in Hell, they cannot pass over there - it's one way.

If only he’d cried out to God when he was alive; “Lord, save me! Lord, remember me when you come into your kingdom,” like the dying thief did. If he had prayed these same prayers, not to a man like Abraham, but to the living God, he would have been heard!

IT JUST MIGHT BE THAT THE GREATEST PRAYER MEETING IN THE UNIVERSE RIGHT NOW ISN’T ON EARTH-BUT IN HELL!

But they're all unanswered prayers, because they're praying when it's too late! This former rich man was desperate that other people not join him in hell. If a person in hell could speak to those on earth, he’d be a million times a better preacher than any TV evangelist.

The rich man said to Abraham:, send Lazarus back to warn my five brethren that they don't come to this place. What a cry from Hell. But Abraham said no, They have Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. Nowadays that simply translates--we have the word of God, what more do they need? We have the Christ of God telling us, the living Lord Jesus in whom none could find a fault, who died for our sins and rose again the third day to prove who He was. He's telling us that hell isn’t’ a joke, but a real place. What more do we need?

A man once asked me; “Do you believe a loving holy God could put a person in hell & burn them there forever & justify Himself in doing so?”

SOME PEOPLE DON’T BELIEVE IN HELL BECAUSE THEY FEEL GOD WOULDN’T KEEP PEOPLE THERE FOR ALL ETERNITY.

Even some well respected Bible scholars have come up with something called annihilation ism; the unsaved are at some point incinerated by God & simply cease to exist. They feel that to espouse the idea of an eternal hell makes God look too vindictive. But God is the only reliable source we have & He uses words like, smoke, fire, burning, torment, bottomless pit, wrath, weeping, wailing, gnashing teeth, unquenchable fire, eternal fire, the second death, damnation, furnace of fire, blackness, darkness & burning sulfur. I’d like to say something different, but these words, images & symbols don’t sound like annihilation to me.


Let me use an illustration that might shed some light on the subject of an eternal hell. First of all this is God’s word, God’s idea & God’s plan. With what God can do in mind, let’s look at what man can do. If a person is convicted of cold blooded murder or murder in the First degree, in many states they are given the death penalty. Now when that person is put to death, would their actions not be eternal for that individual? When they kill the person is it not with the complete understanding that it’s being done for all eternity? They aren’t put to death for a period of time, & then brought back. Man has imposed on man an eternal punishment. That’s not so strange is it?


Some people don’t believe in hell because using their own logic they feel no sin or infraction of God’s law could be serious enough to put a person in a place like hell forever. If the average person lives to about eighty, they couldn’t possibly do enough in those eighty years to justify being punished forever. This- to them doesn’t make sense. But we have to leave it up to God to decide what is serious & what’s not. His Word clearly presents the fact that in the eyes of God, to reject His Son’s death on the cross as their substitute is to commit the greatest sin against Him that is possible. In God’s eyes this is an outrage. This is the sin of all sins; to reject what His Son has done for us. There will be sixteen year old kids in hell; maybe younger. IMHO, if the age of accountability was 12 in Jesus’ day, in our day of enlightenment, wouldn’t it be more like 10?

Look at it another way. Man doesn’t punish man for his crimes on the basis of how long it took to commit the crime. It’s not the amount of time it took to pull off the crime; it’s the severity of the crime. Let’s say a man plans to crack a safe. He takes months & months to plan his crime & then he takes several hours to sit & work on opening the safe. Maybe in all it took him 24 hours to finish the job. When this safe cracker is caught, in all probability, depending on all the circumstances, he’ll get a few years in prison which might be reduced to no more than several months.


Down the street from this crook, another man picks up a gun & kills a person in a fraction of a second. When these two men get to court will the judge ask how long it took to commit these crimes & hand down punishment based on that? No! He will mete out punishment based on the nature & seriousness of the crime. So as we’ve said, a person will go to hell not according to any timeline of their sins but because of the seriousness of the infraction in God’s eyes. And rejecting Christ as Savior is a “high crime” in God’s sight.

Some people believe Hell is on earth. But, if you want to see Hell on earth come with me now to Calvary. Come with me to the cross where Jesus is hanging on nails. He has been rejected as the Jewish Messiah, & put to death. He's dying the death of every man. But look at that scene & tell me it's not Hell on earth! The Bible says Hell is a place of outer darkness, & for three hours on the cross the Bible records that there was a darkness that covered the whole land, a supernatural darkness. Jesus was experiencing the wrath of God for our sins. The Bible says that Hell is a place of weeping, wailing, & gnashing of teeth. Jesus cried from the cross: 'I thirst'. We've seen the rich man thirsting in Hell. Now we see Jesus there on the cross crying I thirst. Is it not Hell He's going through? The Bible says that Hell is a place of separation from God. Listen very carefully as Jesus cries: My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?’ He’s being separated from God because God is laying on Him the sins & iniquities of us all.

Jesus is undergoing our Hell! It’s as if Hell has been put into His bosom. That's why Isaiah says His soul was made an offering for sin. That's why Jesus is letting us see this documentary, this glimpse into the awful, real, literal place called hell.

THE LAKE OF FIRE

I must confess that the following words are so gruesome they are hard for me to write. Almost unbearable! In Revelation 20:11-15, we discover the final destination of all who will not accept Christ as Savior & Lord. Think about it-A lake of fire! I'm deeply humbled here for I'm undertaking to describe something that essentially defies description. I submit that the following are the most terrible words in the Bible;

If anyone’s name isn’t found written in the book of life, he is thrown into the lake of fire.

What would a lake of fire be like? It’s a lake so large you can’t see to the other side. A lake filled with fire & burning smoke. The roar of the hot fire never stops & the smoke ascends forever. Into that lake the unsaved dead are tossed one by one, screaming, pleading, begging for mercy. But it’s too late. Too late for repentance. Too late for remorse. Too late to give your heart to Jesus. That day is long past.

DEATH WITHOUT DEATH

If you are there that day you’ll be thrown headfirst into the lake. The heat will be unbearable. First scorching your skin, then turning it black, then baking your organs, & enveloping your head. You inhale the awful smoke praying to die but you can’t. As the flames blacken your body you feel such pain no words can describe it. Worse & worse it becomes until you reach the moment of death but you can’t die. Frantically you swim for shore but there is no shore. Only wave after wave of hot sulfur washing over your charred body. You are lost-eternally, hopelessly, terribly, consciously lost. You curse God but it does no good. You raise a bloody, blackened fist & the sulfur washes over it producing a soundless scream of agony.


“Oh Jesus” you pray but no one answers. How did this happen? How could it have ended this way? On & on you swim burning but not consumed, tortured with no relief, hoping for rescue but no one comes to your aide.


This is the second death. It’s the final destination of those who don’t know Jesus Christ.

If someone objects to my description I assure you I mean no harm or offense to anyone. Jesus certainly never hesitated to bring up the subject of hell & expound on it & He’s never lead us wrong. I believe the lake of Fire is real & I’m sure it’s worse, far worse than my ability to portray it.

The other day I passed a funeral procession headed to the cemetery. The thought hit me; “I’ve conducted plenty of funerals. Someday I’ll be in the hearse." My day is coming...so is yours. The Bible says- Man is destined to die once, & after that to face judgment. One day we’ll be in the hearse. What will happen then? The way to heaven is as narrow as the cross. Only those who trust Jesus Christ as savior will enter the gates of heaven.

There are really only two possibilities regarding hell: either it’s real or it isn’t. Nothing I could say would change it either way.To deny hell belittles sin & would cause us to wonder what Jesus died to save us from. An atheist was asked what happens when we die. He said, “Nothing. Our bodies are buried & our soul dissolves into nothingness.”

Most people would say that leaves a haunting question that lingers in the mind; What if he’s wrong? Isaiah 14:9 says;-- 

The denizens of hell crowd to meet you as you enter their domain. World leaders & earth mightiest kings, long dead are there to see you.--Living Bible

Friend, the real point of the whole thing is- you & I don't want to miss heaven, wouldn't you agree? If you intend to go the heaven you need to do something about it now if you haven’t already.

You & I will live forever somewhere! Where will it be? The joy of heaven or the unending misery of hell?


Blessings,


John