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THE PLACE CALLED HELL - NO. II

By George W. Sinquefield

Matthew 25:40 (KJV)
40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.

Matthew 25:46 (KJV)
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

       There are those who say there is no hell. To say such is to make God a liar.

1 John 5:10 (KJV)
10 He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself: he that believeth not God hath made him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son.

       These who teach such are under the judgment of God.

2 Thessalonians 2:11 through 2 Thessalonians 2:12 (KJV)
11 And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: 12 That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.

       If you deny that hell exists, you classify yourself with the devil who is a liar and the father of lies.

John 8:44 (KJV)
44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

       Paul strongly affirms that one led by the Holy Spirit cannot make light (wrong) remarks against the Bible of Christ. Therefore, to believe and preach that which is contrary to the Bible means that one must be filled with the spirit of the devil.

1 Corinthians 12:3 (KJV)
3 Wherefore I give you to understand, that no man speaking by the Spirit of God calleth Jesus accursed: and that no man can say that Jesus is the Lord, but by the Holy Ghost.

       Many times the Bible tells us that there is a hell.

Matthew 5:22 (KJV)
22 But I say unto you, That whosoever is angry with his brother without a cause shall be in danger of the judgment: and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council: but whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of hell fire.

Matthew 5:29 (KJV)
29 And if thy right eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into hell.

Matthew 10:28 (KJV)
28 And 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.

Matthew 18:8 through Matthew 18:9 (KJV)
8 Wherefore if thy hand or thy foot offend thee, cut them off, and cast them from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life halt or maimed, rather than having two hands or two feet to be cast into everlasting fire. 9 And if thine eye offend thee, pluck it out, and cast it from thee: it is better for thee to enter into life with one eye, rather than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire.

Matthew 23:33 (KJV)
33 Ye serpents, ye generation of vipers, how can ye escape the damnation of hell?

Matthew 25:41 (KJV) 41 Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels:

Matthew 25:46 (KJV)
46 And these shall go away into everlasting punishment: but the righteous into life eternal.

Luke 16:23 (KJV)
23 And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.

       And the Bible declares that God never lies, that He always tells the truth.

Titus 1:2 (KJV)
2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;

Hebrews 6:18 (KJV)
18 That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:

       It is very important that we heed the advice given us by God.

Romans 3:4 (KJV)
4 God forbid: yea, let God be true, but every man a liar; as it is written, That thou mightiest be justified in thy sayings, and mightiest overcome when thou art judged.

I.   Some would tell us that we can have our hell here in this life..

       The way some people live is hell. Some homes, some marriages, and some lives are hell on earth but God's Holy Word teaches an experience of hell in Hell beyond this life.

       A preacher called on a lady once. She had several children and a drunkard for a husband. She told the preacher how her husband beat her and how he'd stop at the beer garden and drink up his check. The preacher tried to get her to become a Christian. He said to her, "Wouldn't it be a shame for you to live this way and then miss Heaven too -- endure what you have endured and then go to hell?"

       She said, "I am getting all my hell right here. I won't get any more. God is letting me have my hell right here."

       He said to her, "Lady, God bless you. My heart goes out to you for what you have suffered but if you're not saved and you continue to reject the Savior, you are going to hell. No, you're not getting your hell here."

       Dr. R. Von King has said, "May I suggest to you a few things that hell is not? Hell is not an underpriviledged family living in a slum area. Hell is not a widow with five children, meager fare and a leaky roof. Hell is not a young student in college struggling with academic and economic realities and unable to pass the tests or make the grade. A broken home with orphaned children is a tragic and unpleasant reality but it is not hell. And contrary to the often quoted saying of Sherman, War is no Hell. The Biblical concept of hell is worse than any of these grim and gruesome tragedies or worse than all of them put together."

II.   A Place of Outer Darkness

2 Peter 2:4 (KJV)
4 For if God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment;

Jude 1:13 (KJV)
13 Raging waves of the sea, foaming out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is reserved the blackness of darkness for ever.

Matthew 8:12 (KJV)
12 But the children of the kingdom shall be cast out into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

Matthew 25:30 (KJV)
30 And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness: there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

OUTER DARKNESS

       But it is not only darkness, but it is called "outer darkness." We may translate it as "Uttermost darkness." A place so far removed from God and probably from the universe as we see it today, that not a single ray of light will ever penetrate. To grope in stygian darkness without one ray of hope, banished from God forever, in the place of which Jesus says: "There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth." - Mat. 24:51

       A preacher friend down in Florida was telling me about another preacher who went to a penal institution (just where it was I don't know) and wanted to see what the men go through. He asked the warden to let him go inside the place which he had heard so much about, and see what it was like. The warden said, "No, we can't let you go in there. We reserve that room for only the worst of criminals. You couldn't stand it in there very long." "But just let me go in there for five minutes," the preacher insisted. But the warden told him "No." But he was so persistent that at last the warden let him in. When he got inside the door was closed, he held out his hand in front of him to see if he could see it. He couldn't. He held his hand nearer his face and finally right up to his eyes and still he could not see it. It was pitch dark. He began to walk around. He jumped up as high as he could to see if he could reach the ceiling, but he could not. He walked to the side of the room and found that the walls were padded. Running his hand along the wall he walked along to where he thought the corner would be, but he found it was a circular room. When he thought his five minutes were up, he walked toward where he thought the door was, but he felt nothing but the padded wall. The door was padded too and he couldn't tell where it was. As he waited it seemed to get even blacker, and the darkness seemed to envelop him still stronger than before. It began to bother him. Still no door opened to let him out. It seemed as though a quarter of an hour had gone by, and then he seemed to even feel the darkness pressing in upon him. It began to get on his nerves as he waited. It seemed as though a half an hour had gone by. But still now one came to let him out. He called out, "Warden!" But no answer came, except the echo from the other side of the room. What was wrong? Had the warden gone off and left him? His mind felt the time going by and it seemed like the intense blackness of the darkness was pushing him down, down, down, while he waited. His nerves began to crack. It seemed as though hours had gone by. At last he sank exhausted down upon the floor. And then over on the far side of the room he saw a ray of light; it was the door opening. He crawled over to it and fell down outside at the feet of the warden. "Warden!" he cried, "Why didn't you let me out in five minutes like you said you would? I nearly died in that room of darkness/1" The warden looked at him and said, "Man, I didn't even keep you in there five minutes; I let you out in three minutes time. I told you you couldn't stand it."

       One says, "I don't know how you feel about it, but I think you don't like darkness. As a matter of fact, I sometimes thought that darkness, a fear of darkness, was in us innately. Seems like we're almost born with a fear of darkness. Seems like there's something in us that causes us to rebel against this idea of being in darkness and if there were not another word in all of God's Bible on the question of hell except that it's to be a place of perpetual darkness that's enough to convince me I don't want to go. I don't want to live in a land of darkness, a land of endless night."

       A preacher tells of being burned badly when he was a boy. The doctor came but there was no complete relief from burning. They did the best they could for him. That night his mother sat by his bed. He said, "I thought I would go out of my mind. I could not stand it. An awful fever gripped me, until I thought I would die from the fever alone." He said, "Oh, the tormenting pain all over my body." Every once in a while he would say, "Mama, what time is it?" He said, "She would give me the time." He said, "It seemed like an eternity until midnight came and finally passed. Then came one o'clock and two o'clock and in the midst of my fever and agony and torment I wanted the sun to come up. I was tired of the dark. I cried out in the night, "Mama, will daylight never come?" She said, "Son, it will come after awhile, just hold on. Daylight will finally come."

       People who hear the Word of God and turn down the offer of life through Jesus Christ, will cry from the horrors of hell,"Oh God, will light never come?" God will have to say to them, "There will be no light. This is the land of eternal night."

       While I was pastor of First Baptist Church, Madison, Alabama, Mrs. Matthew, the wife of a deceased pastor wrote the following and gave me a copy.

IT'S DARK OUT THERE

We read in the Bible, God's Holy Word,
Of a dark and awful place,
Prepared for all rejecting the Lord,
Who turn from his offer of grace.

It's dark out there - so dark out there,
No one to love - no one to care,
Away from God - beyond His grace,
It's dark, so dark - an awful place.

There's never a song in that awful place
Music and laughter's unheard
No little children, no smiling face.
Never a kind gentle word.

Jesus is calling, salvation is free,
"Come, give me thine heart,
Lest at last the verdict must be,
I know thee not -- depart!"

CHORUS

It's dark out there - so dark out there,
No one to love - no one to care.
Away from God, beyond His grace,
It's dark, so dark - an awful place.

       During the blitz in London, the lights were turned off in the great city at midnight. A reporter wrote the next day. "It was so dark that even the cats ran into each other." An astronomer described the total eclipse of the sun in Norway, "I watched the instantaneous extinction of light and saw the glorious scene on which I had been gazing turn to darkness. It seemed to speak of terror, death and judgment and as I beheld it, I thought how miserable is the soul to whom Christ is eclipsed. The thought was answered by a voice, the voice of a fierce seabird sweeping around us, pouring out a stream of despairing agony in the dark. It was a picture of an eclipsed God and a lost soul. It is the hour and power of darkness."

       God is Light.

1 John 1:5
5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.

James 1:17
17 Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

       Jesus, the Savior of the world is the Light of the world.

John 8:12
12 Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.

John 12:46
46 I am come a light into the world, that whosoever believeth on me should not abide in darkness.

       Jesus said that if we follow Him we will not walk in darkness but He also stated that men (wicked, lost) love darkness and hate the Light.

John 3:19
19 And this is the condemnation, that light is come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.

       Notice what God says about those who reject the Light and continue in darkness.

2 Thessalonians 1:7 through 2 Thessalonians 1:9
7 and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

       God is omnipresent. He is everywhere and can be found by those seeking Him.

Jeremiah 23:24
24 Can anyone hide himself in secret places, So I shall not see him?” says the LORD; “Do I not fill heaven and earth?” says the LORD.

Psalms 139:7 through Psalms 139:10
7 Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? 8 If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. 9 If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, 10 Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.

       Take note of what God promises those who seek Him.

Psalms 119:2
2 Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart!

       If man fails to seek Him now, one day he'll call upon Him but it will be too late.

Proverbs 1:24 through Proverbs 1:30
24 Because I have called and you refused, I have stretched out my hand and no one regarded, 25 Because you disdained all my counsel, And would have none of my rebuke, 26 I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your terror comes, 27 When your terror comes like a storm, And your destruction comes like a whirlwind, When distress and anguish come upon you. 28 “Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; They will seek me diligently, but they will not find me. 29 Because they hated knowledge And did not choose the fear of the LORD, 30 They would have none of my counsel And despised my every rebuke.

Proverbs 29:1
1 He, that being often reproved hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.

Isaiah 63:3 through Isaiah 63:4
3 I have trodden the winepress alone; and of the people there was none with me: for I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury; and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. 4 For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come.

Isaiah 33:12 through Isaiah 33:14
12 And the people shall be as the burnings of lime: as thorns cut up shall they be burned in the fire. 13 Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. 14 The sinners in Zion are afraid; fearfulness hath surprised the hypocrites. Who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire? who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings?

       One day God is going to show His wrath in all its fury upon those who deny and reject His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Revelation 14:10 through Revelation 14:11
10 The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: 11 And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever: and they have no rest day nor night, who worship the beast and his image, and whosoever receiveth the mark of his name.

Isaiah 66:24 24 And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh.

III.   Hell is awful but no one is forced to go there.

       The Bible makes it very clear that God loves the lost sinner and will save him and take him to heaven if only he'll repent of sin and let Jesus come into his heart.

John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

2 Peter 3:9
9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.

       God has provided a way whereby you can escape the damnation of hell. He has paid a great price to redeem your soul. The best illustration on why God let Christ die was given by a Gideon in February of 1960. He told us of a man in Florida who operated a huge drawbridge over a large river. He would lift the bridge to let the boats go through and then lower it back in place for the trains to cross the river. One day, a boat blew its horn for him to lift the bridge, which he did. It was only twelve minutes before a large passenger train was due with over three hundred passengers on it. The train was running one hundred miles an hour, and there was no way to flag it down. After the boat had gone under the bridge, the operator saw his five-year old son sitting on top of the great cogs that raised the bridge up and down. There was no way in the world for him to get his son off and get the bridge down in time for the train to cross in safety. The man cried with a bitter cry, turned his head, and pushed the button for the bridge to be lowered. The bridge barely got in place when the train came dashing across. The man went where his son was and found him ground to pieces beyond recognition, every bone crushed.

       This man had two choices. One, to let his son live and the people die, or, let his son die and the people live. He chose the latter. God looked down on this earth and found man sinning and living for the devil. He had to let His Son die for them or let them go to hell and the lake of fire. So God let His Son die to save everyone who would trust Him. On the cross suspended between heaven and earth, between two thieves, God's Son became sin for you. When He took your sin, God turned His face from His Son, and Christ cried, "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken me?" That is the lament and wail of a damned soul in hell. God forsook His Son because He had become sin. Will you not trust Him as your Saviour at this very moment? One day you will be forced to bow before Jesus and acknowledge Him as God's Saviour for the world at the Great White Throne Judgment, then it will be too late to be saved, and you will be hurled into eternal torment, the lake of fire burning with fire and brimstone. "That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" ((Phil. 2:10, 11). Why not bow and accept Him as your Saviour, live for Him and do His will, then, you will spend eternity in heaven.

       The Lord is calling today to the lost - "Come unto me." Those who refuse will one day hear Him say, "Depart from me."

2 Corinthians 6:1 through 2 Corinthians 6:2
1 We then, as workers together with him, beseech you also that ye receive not the grace of God in vain. 2 (For he saith, I have heard thee in a time accepted, and in the day of salvation have I succoured thee: behold, now is the accepted time; behold, now is the day of salvation.)