Scott Ardavanis: A Sermon from Hell

Manny Pereira: Recovering the Righteousness of Hell

A Discussion on Hell

Many in the church today do not believe in Hell. Some think Hell is something that is just made up to keep people in line. Hell is very real because the Bible says it is. 

In this video from the Pastor Scholar Podcast, Ryan Day, Dr. Cory M. Marsh, and Chris Miller address the misunderstandings and theological reasons for Hell.

Tom Ascol Preaching on Hell

This sermon took place during the 2023 Founders Conference and is the best sermon I have ever heard on the subject of Hell.

What If There is No Hell?

The Doctrine of Hell is one where most people can never accept. There are even some Christians who say that a loving God can never send people to Hell. We have some who profess the name of Christ saying that God did not invent Hell, we did. Some would even say that Hell does not exist. 

Recently, Jory Micah tweeted the following:

I’m not mad at my parents for allowing me to believe that there was a literal hell. They taught me what they knew. But my whole family knows better now.

Hell does not exist.

It’s not a physical place. God does not torment people ever or forever. God is love, gentleness & mercy!

This is common among progressive Christians. They want to redefine what the Bible teaches. They want to do away with doctrines that have been in the church for over 2,000 years. We had Rob Bell with his infamous book, Love Wins, and now we have Jory Micah saying Hell is not real. 

Let imagine for a moment if Hell is not real. Let us think for a moment what that will do to the Christian faith. First, if Hell is not real then Jesus would have been a false teacher. Jesus mentioned Hell more than anyone in the Bible so if it is not real that Jesus millions of people astray. 

Second, if Hell is not real and Jesus being a false teacher, that means the Bible is wrong. As Christians, we believe that Scripture is without error, but if Hell is not real that means it is with error, which leads us to the third point, God would be a liar. Hebrews 6:18 and Titus 1:2 says that God cannot liar but it Hell is not real, that means the perfect Holy Father is not perfect nor is He holy. 

Fourth, if there is no Hell, why bother proclaiming the gospel. Why should we waste our time telling people about the gift of eternal life through Christ. Fifth, if there is no Hell, why did Jesus die on the cross. God place our sin on Christ to make propitiation for our sins. Our sins have separated us from God and if we do not repent, we deserve punishment. If there is no Hell, then what was the point of the crucifixion? What is the point of living a holy life? Let us just drop this thing called Christianity and live like life is a party, if there is no Hell. What will the point of celebrating the Resurrection if there is no Hell? Why have Good Friday?

Christianity would be another false religion if there was no Hell. The Bible would not be God's Word. Thankfully, the Bible is God-breathed and used to train us (2 Timothy 3:16-17). It has been given to us for life and godliness (2 Peter 1:3) and judges the intentions of our hearts (Hebrews 4:12). The Bible shows us there is a place called Hell. 

Hell is a place of eternal punishment (Matthew 25:46), where there will be away from the presence of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 1:9). It is the place of eternal fire where the wrath of God is poured on those who did not obey the command that "everyone everywhere should repent" (Acts 17:30, LSB). 

As we approach Easter, let us remember that Christ saved us from the wrath of God (Romans 5:9) and His kindness leads us to repentance (Romans 2:4) so that we can have the gracious gift of eternal life in Christ rather than paying for the wags of our sin which is death (Romans 6:23).

What Does Hell Tell Us About The Character of God?

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Is Hell Important To The Gospel Message?

Have you ever told someone that Jesus came to die for your sins and if you reject His gift of salvation you will end in a place called Hell? I am sure there are a few of us have done that a time or two especially if we are preaching the gospel in a worship service. The doctrine of Hell has been one that many Christians are very divided over.

Some go to the extreme that it does not exist. Some would say it is only used as a scare tactic. While others will say that no one will go there but all will be saved in the end.

How important is Hell in the gospel message? Greg Gibert in an article over at 9 Marks wrote about why it is and demonstrates why Hell is important in the gospel:

1. Scripture teaches that there is a real place called hell.

I won’t belabor this point. Others have made this case with crystal clarity. Suffice it to say that medieval bishops didn’t invent the doctrine of hell as a way to scare the serfs; they got it from the apostles. And the apostles didn’t invent it to scare the pagans; they got it from Jesus. And Jesus didn’t borrow it from the Zoroastrians to scare the Pharisees; he was God, so he knew it to be real, and said so. And besides, hell’s reality had already been revealed in the Old Testament.

At the most basic level, therefore, if we claim to be Christians and to believe that the Bible is the word of God, we have to recognize that the Bible teaches the reality of hell. But there’s more.

2. Hell shows us how heinous our sin really is.

Have you ever heard someone make the argument that no human sin could possibly deserve eternal torment in hell? It’s an interesting argument, one that reveals a lot about the human heart. Why is it that when people think about hell, they always conclude that God must be at fault and not themselves? You can see how the doctrine reveals our hearts: when we consider our own sin, our first inclination is always to minimize it, to protest that it’s not that bad and that God is wrong to say it deserves punishment.

The reality of hell stands as a massive refutation of that self-justification. Non-Christians will always see the horrors of hell as an indictment of God, but as Christians who know God to be perfectly just and righteous, we must understand that the horrors of hell are actually an indictment of us. We may want to minimize our sin, or excuse it, or try to argue our consciences down. But the fact that God has declared that we deserve eternal torment for those sins should remind us that they are not small at all. They are enormously evil.

3. Hell shows us how immovably and unimpeachably just God really is.

People have been tempted throughout history to think of God as a corrupt judge, one who sets aside the demands of justice simply because he likes the defendant. “We are all God’s children,” the argument goes. “How could God hand down such a horrible sentence on some of his children?” The answer to that question is simple: God is not a corrupt judge. He is an absolutely just and righteous one.

Over and over the Bible makes this point. When God reveals himself to Moses, he declares himself to be compassionate and loving, but he also says, “Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished.” The Psalms declare that “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.” What an amazing statement! If God is to continue being God, he cannot simply set justice aside and sweep sin under the rug. He must deal with it—decisively and with exacting justice. When God finally judges, not one sin will receive more punishment than it deserves. And not one will receive less than it deserves, either.

The Bible tells us that on that day, when God sentences his enemies to hell, the whole universe will recognize and acknowledge that what he has decided is unimpeachably just and right. Isaiah 5 makes this point with bracing clarity: “Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opens its mouth without measure.” It’s a grotesque image, the grave widening its mouth to swallow the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And yet by this means, Isaiah declares, “The Lord of Hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.” Similarly, Romans 9:22 tells us that by the torments of hell, God will “show his wrath and make his power known,” so that he might “make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy.”

We may not understand it fully now, but one day hell itself will declare God’s glory. It will—even in its horror—testify together with the psalmist, “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.”

4. Hell shows us how horrific the cross really was, and how great God’s grace really is.

Romans 3 tells us that God put forth Jesus as a sacrifice of atonement “to demonstrate his justice.” He did this “because in his forbearance he had left the sins committed beforehand unpunished.”

Why did Jesus have to die on the cross? It was because that was the only way God could righteously not send every one of us to hell. Jesus had to take what was due to us, and that means he had to endure the equivalent of hell as he hung on the cross. That doesn’t mean that Jesus actually went to hell. But it does mean that the nails and the thorns were only the beginning of Jesus’ suffering. The true height of his suffering came when God poured out his wrath on Jesus. When the darkness fell, that wasn’t just God covering the suffering of his Son, as some have said. That was the darkness of the curse, of God’s wrath. It was the darkness of hell, and in that moment Jesus was enduring its full fury—the fury of the wrath of God the Almighty.

When you understand the cross in that light, you begin to understand better just how magnificent God’s grace to you is, if you are a Christian. The mission of redemption that Jesus undertook involved a commitment to endure God’s wrath in your place, to take the hell that you deserve. What an amazing display of love and mercy that is! Yet you will only see and understand this display of love clearly when you understand, accept, and shudder at the horror of hell.

5. Hell focuses our minds on the task of proclaiming the gospel.

If hell is real, and if people are truly in danger of spending eternity there, then there is no more urgent and important task than doing precisely what Jesus told his apostles to do before he ascended to heaven—proclaim to the world the good news that forgiveness of sins is offered through Jesus Christ!

I think John Piper got it exactly right in an interview with The Gospel Coalition: “It’s very hard to give up on the gospel if you believe there is hell, that after this life, there is an endless suffering for those who did not believe in the gospel.” There are all kinds of good things that Christians can do—and in fact should do! But if hell is real, it is worth keeping in mind—no, it is imperative that we keep in mind—that the one thing that Christians can do that no one else in the world is ever going to do is to tell people how they can be forgiven of their sin, how they can avoid spending an eternity in hell.

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