The Horrors of Hell, Part 2

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Lance Sparks

Series: Revelation | Service Type: Wednesday Evening
The Horrors of Hell, Part 2
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Scripture: Revelation 20:15

Transcript

As we have spent some time talking about it, we have looked at at least twelve different aspects of hell, going from A to Z about the horrors of hell. We began by looking at it being a place of abiding wrath. Moving from there to look at the place of darkness.

How it's a place of crying, a place of damnation, a place of everlasting punishment, a place of indignation and filthiness and hopelessness. Judgment, keeping, and of course, a lake of fire. The amazing thing about hell is that it's everlasting, it goes on and on forever. And never, it will never end. And I guess that is probably, of all the horrors, the worst. Because it goes on forever. And yet, as I study on hell, I have to ask myself the question, and hopefully you'd ask it too. What is our response going to be when we see our mother or f or brother or sister or son or daughter?

Or best friend, hear that verdict: depart from me. I never knew you, you who practice lawlessness. What is our response going to be? What are we going to do? That's not our response today. Our response today. Is that knowing the fear of the Lord, knowing the terror of the Lord, we persuade men, you don't want to go here, you don't want to be there. You want to go to heaven. You want to be with Jesus Christ forever and ever. You want to be in His presence, not outside of His presence. You want to know fullness of joy.

You don't want to know the fury of Jesus. So we tell people. We compel people. We do all we can to persuade them. Why? Well, because of the characteristics we've already given you. I'm going to close with the next 14 and pick up. The letter M in the alphabet and say this, that in hell, hell is a place of memory. Hell is a place of memory. That's why you don't want to go there. It's a place of me. Luke 16, 25. Let me take it back there.

The rich man and Lazarus. Luke 16, 25, and the text says this: But Abraham said, This is after. The rich man looked up, saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus, and cried out and said, Father, Abraham, have mercy on me, and sent Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue. For I am in agony in this flame But Abraham said next two words, what are they? Child, rem. Remember, all your memory is going to kill you in eternity. It's going to kill you because it's going to be with you forever.

Son, rem. That's enough to want to keep me out of hell. I try to forget what happened yesterday. I don't want to remember it. But next letter N no rest No rest. Remember Revelation:? Blessed are they who die in the Lord from now on. Yes. Says the Spirit of God, for they rest from their lab. There 's rest in gl, but hell. There's no rest. How do we know? Because right before Revelation 13 is Revelation 14, Revelation 14:1 is Revelation 14, 11 and 12. We read 11 earlier when it says, And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day and night, those who worship the beast and his image.

And whoever receives the mark of his name, they have no rest. Why? Because a memory haunts them. Their memory haunts them. The fire keeps them awake. The gn of their teeth keep them awake. There is no rest. For the wicked. Isaiah fifty seven, twenty and twenty one says, But the wicked are like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked. No peace, no rest for the wicked. Jesus said, Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden.

And I will give you what? I'll give you rest. I'll give it to you. Nobody else can give it to you, but I will. Take my yoke. Take my yoke. Upon you, and learn from me, for I am meek and lowly in heart, and you shall find rest for your souls. Wow. Makes that verse seem a lot different now, doesn't it? When you think of the fact that those who burn in hell will have no rest. Oh, oh, it's for oblivion. Oh, it's for oblivion. Heaven is a I mean, hell is a place of oblivion. It means the state of being blotted out from the memory, the state of being forgotten.

You will be forgotten. By who? By the righteous. That's it. You'll remember the righteous. You'll remember the words they spoke to you, but they will not remember you. They won't. The Bible teaches in Psalm 112, the righteous shall be in everlasting remembrance. But Job says something very unique in Job 24. Verses 19 and 20, he says, Drought and heat consume the snow waters, so does the grave those who have sinned. The womb shall forget him. The worm shall feed sweetly on him he shall be no more remembered, and wickedness shall be broken as a tree.

He shall be no more remembered. Why? Because he's in a place of oblivion. No one will remember him. No one will care about him. Psalm 9:1 says, The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God. Next, P stands for pain. Hell is a place of pain. Four times in Luke 16, it speaks of the torment of the rich man. In Hades. He lifted up his eyes, being in torment, the text says. He said, I am tormented in this flame. It was responded, yes, you are tormented. It was called a place of torment.

Revelation 14: says, And the smoke of their torment. Ascendeth up for ever and ever and ever. There is no respite for their pain. Listen, we live in a world that has an antidote for pain. If you have a headache, you take 2-Tylenol or 2 or a leave or whatever it is that knocks out the headache. If you got some pain, you take whatever medicine you got to have. If you can't get it over the counter, you go see your doctor. He gives you whatever you need to take care of the pain. We don't like pain. Some of us like to rid our pain because we get involved in drugs and alcohol, thinking that will take away all of our pain.

Do all we can just to put pain out of our minds. We don't like pain. Hell is filled with pain, torment, day and night, forever and ever. No relief. You ever had a migraine headache? I have. Oh, I hate them. Can you imagine un migraine headaches for eternity? I die. I got a small threshold for pain, man. Oh, I hate pain. But man, can you imagine being tormented in the flame forever? It's a place of pain. It's a place, Q, of quand. A place of quandary. Quandary means just simply a state of difficulty, perplexity, uncertainty, and predicament.

Would you not agree that hell is this and a lot more? Hell puts you in a specific quandary. It says over in Isaiah 33, 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? Here God speaks of those who dwell with devouring fire and with everlasting burnings. They are put in a situation of extreme difficulty, of extreme perplexity, and never able to get out of that quandary.

When we find ourselves in a difficult situation today, what do we do? We look for every avenue to escape, every route of escape. There's always a path that will lead us out of our present predicament. But in hell? There's no path out. Hell is a place of quand, no escape. Hell is a place of retribution. A place of retribution. Colossians 3:2 says, But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done, and there is no respect of pers. Ezekiel 7 says, Now will I shortly pour out my fury upon thee, and accomplish mine anger upon thee, and I will judge thee according to thy ways, and will recompense thee for all thine abominations.

and mine eye shall not spare, neither will I have pity. I will recompense thee according to thy ways, and thine abominations that are in the midst of thee and ye shall know that I am the LORD that smiteth thee. Over in 2 Thessalonians 1, verses 6 to 9, it says, Seeing it is a righteous thing with God to recompense tribulation to them that trouble you, and to you who are troubled, rest with us. When the Lord Jesus shall be revealed from heaven and with his mighty angels, inflaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God and that do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ.

who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power. Hell is a place of retribution. Hell is a place of shame. It's a place of shame. Daniel 12, 2 says, that many of them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. Hell is a place of shame. What are you ashamed of? You're ashamed of yourself. You're ashamed of what you didn't do. You're ashamed of what you could have done.

And all you have to blame is you. There's Nobody else to blame but you. Hell is a place of thirst. Luke:. Rich man cried. He said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me. Send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame. He wanted just a single drop of water. It's a place of thirst, agonizing thirst, un th. Hell is a place of ungodliness. 1 Peter 4:1, ask a question: where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear? The answer the psalm gave us: the ungodly are not so, but are like the chaff which the wind driveth away, the way of the ungodly.

Shall perish. Hell is a place of ungodliness. It's where all the ungodly people go. You know, it's so hard to imagine. You know, we were in the mall today with my folks and doing some shopping for the kids. And you always want to do shopping for the kids when grandma and grandpa come to town, you know. We're in the store, and they got this music blaring, you know, and it's like unbelievable the music they have going. Such ungodly music. And all that is is just ungodly music. But hell is filled with ungodliness.

Everything about it is ungodly. There's nothing godly there. At least the store had me in it, some godly representation. As weak as that may be, at least me and my folks and kids were there to bring some kind of You know, rep to the store. But in hell, there's nothing like that. It's ungodly forever. It's a place of ungodliness. It's a place of vengeance. That's V. Vengeance. Romans 12:19, Vengeance is mine, I will rep, says the Lord. Deuteronomy 32:3, God declares, to me belongeth vengeance and recompense.

their foot shall slide in due time, for the day of their calamity is at hand, and the things that shall come upon them make haste. Listen to the words of Jonathan Edwards in his sermon, The Sinners in the Hands of the Angry God. You know, he preached that sermon in a monotone voice. Can you imagine? In a monotone voice, he preached that sermon, and people came down the aisle, and they wept and they cried and repented of their sins. Jonathan Edwards would not make it in today's society. Nobody would listen to him.

He's too boring. He has no inflection in his voice, no enthusiasm behind his message, no joy in his life. He's a boring preacher. Nobody comes to his church. But in his day, when he preached, people listened. Listen to what he said. It is true that judgment against your evil will work. Against your evil work has not been executed hitherto. The floods of God's vengeance have been withheld. But your guilt, in the meantime, is constantly increasing, and you will every day treasuring up more and more wrath.

The waters are continually rising and waxing more and more mighty. And there is nothing but the mere pleasure of God that holds the waters back. That are unwilling to be stopped and pressed hard to go forward. If God should only withdraw His hand from the floodgates, it would immediately fly open. And the fiery floods of the fierc of the wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable fury. It would come upon you with omnipotent power. If your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yes.

ten thousand times greater than the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it. And he didn't say that with excitement at all. He just said it in a monotone voice. If God's fury was unleashed. No matter how strong you are, you could not stand against it. It would destroy you in your footsteps. And people realiz it's a terrible thing to fall into the hands of a living God. Terrible thing. Yeah, that message isn't preached much anymore. We want to show God as A loving, caring, sensitive, compassionate, merciful F.

And wild He's all that, and much more. He is a God of wrath, a God of fury, a God of vengeance. He says, While you might not have experienced my vengeance now, you will. If you do not, turn from your sin and follow me. W stands for woe. Hell is a place of woe. Isaiah 3:11, woe unto the wicked. It shall be ill with him, for the reward of his hand shall be given him. Jesus said concerning Judas, Woe unto that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed It had been good for that man if he had not been born.

In Christ's last public sermon. In the book of Matthew, he pronounced seven woes upon the religious establishment of his day, seven curses. Woe to you scribes and Pharisees. Woe to you, you generation of vipers. How shall you escape the wrath of God to come? Cather Dang has written a stirring poem entitled The Horrors of Hell. That's where I stole the title for my sermon from, The Horrors of Hell. Hell, the prison house of despair. Here are some things that won't be there. No flowers will bloom on the banks of hell, no beauties of nature we love so well.

No comforts of home, music, and song, No friendship of joy will be found in that throng No children to brighten the long, weary night, No love, nor peace, nor one ray of light. No blood washing soul with face beaming bright, No loving smile in that region of night No mercy, no pity, pardon, nor grace, No water, O God what a terrible place The pangs of the lost, no human can tell Not one moment's ease there is no rest in Hell. Hell, the prison house of despair, Here are some things that will be there Fire and brimstone are there, we know, For God in His Word hath told us so Memory, remorse, suffering, and pain, Weeping and wailing, but all in vain.

Blasphemer, swearer, hater of God, Christ rejecter, while here on earth trod, Murderer, gambler, drunkard, and liar, Will have his part in the lake of fire. The filthy, the vile, the cruel, the mean, What a horrible mob in hell will be seen Yes, more than humans on earth can tell Are the torments and woes of eternal hell. The horrors of hell X is for exclusion Exclusion. The dictionary gives the meaning of exclusion this way: the state of being excluded, to be shut out, to be put out. Excluded implies that you are not included in what everybody else is.

Hell is a place of exclusion. That's what it says in Revel 21, 27, and there shall in no wise, or they shall in no wise enter into It anything that defile it, neither whatso worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life. Nobody enters heaven except whose names are written in the Book of Life. Meaning if your name's not written there, you're excluded. Banishment from the presence of the Lord is the very essence of destruction of a spirit that was made for God.

And if that banishment lasts forever, it is ever. Destruction. Hell is a place of yearning, a place of yearning. To yearn means to feel mental uneasiness. From longing desires, to be filled with eager longings, to crave for something. Hell is a place for those who will yearn for something they will never have. They will never receive. Mark 9:4 speaks of the worm that never dies. The gnawing worm is emblem of the conscience, a fully informed conscience. And that gnawing worm represents the fact that man's conscience will ever be aware of that which he could have had but will never receive.

An unending yearning for that he could never have. Never. Forever. Hell, last, is a place of Zero ex. Zero existence. Zero meaning the lowest point of existence. There is no lower place to ex than in hell. In hell, no one has influence, significance, mean. They are nothings, zeros. The Bible says in Deuteronom: twenty-two.

For a fire is kindled in mine anger, and shall burn unto the lowest hell. Psalm 86: says, For great is thy mercy toward me. And thou hast delivered my soul from the lowest hell. The lowest hell. Why is it the lowest hell? Because it's the place of zero existence. There is no place lower. Outside the universe than hell. Isn't it ironic? Then Luke 6: that you can go to heaven and be called the children of the high. What a contrast. You can either be among the lowest or you can be among the highest.

The choice is yours. One evangelist said this way, When I was just a little child, I heard my mother tell Of Jesus born in Bethlehem. I knew it very well. I let it go. The years rolled on. My heart grew harder still. Now I am lost in hell today for my own stubborn will. In Sunday school, they taught me of a Saviour from above who travel all the way to Calvary because of his great love. I neglected then to heed the call. I said, I'll let it pass. But I would give a million worlds for one more day in class.

One night in a revival I remember very well. The preacher made it plain'T either heaven or hell. When they sang, al pers, very near I entered in, I sold My one last chance to live. I died and died in sin. Lost forever. Escaping, no, never. I am lost forever and ever. I spurn his pro off grace I'll never see his face. The saddest words of tongue or pen Are these it might have been. It might have been. How about you? Do you know Jesus? Will you be among the children of the highest? Or among those of the lowest.

Let's pray.