A Hell of a Message: The Truth About Hell

The following message from Pastor Greg Laurie is made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Hey, I want to hear from you. Would you consider emailing me? You can reach me at gregatharvest.org.

Again, that's gregatharvest.org, and you can also make me one of your friends on Facebook and drop me a comment. We have to get our information about eternity from a reliable source. Pastor Greg Laurie looks to the Bible for the truth about hell. There's a lot of misinformation about hell, that hell's a party place, you know, just get together with your friends, and it's one long party, that the devil rules from hell, and the devil has red skin, pointed ears, a pitchfork, and horns, and hooves, and a tail, with a point, right?

None of that is biblical. This is the day when the lost are found. This is the day for a new beginning. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound. Again, you hear when the angels are singing.

This is the day, the day when life begins. There are things we don't like to talk about in polite company. Politics, of course.

How about embarrassing moments, a troubled past, those times we didn't tell the truth, the date that went very badly. Now, the top of the list would have to be death and the existence of hell. But today on A New Beginning, Pastor Greg Laurie points out our knowledge of hell may be dangerously limited, or worse yet, influenced by all the things we've heard in books, or on TV, or movies.

We'll get the truth today. This is the day, the day when life begins. We are in the Gospel of Luke chapter 16.

So turn there with me if you would. Luke chapter 16. We're in a little series right now where we're talking about eternal things. Last Thursday we talked about heaven. Tonight we're going to talk about that other place, not heaven.

That also starts with the letter H. I mentioned Survey Done in my last message. What people believe about heaven and hell. And many people believe that heaven is a place where people who have led good lives are eternally rewarded. And hell is a place where people who have led bad lives and died will be eternally punished.

Well, I've already pointed out that's incorrect. Heaven is not a place created for people who have led good lives and will be eternally rewarded because no one has led a good enough life to get to heaven. If we've learned nothing else from the book of Romans, thus far we've learned that. No one is good enough to get to heaven. Heaven is for forgiven people. So I pointed out there's going to be what we might call some bad people in heaven, bad people who turned from their sin and believed in Jesus, and in the same way there's going to be some good people in hell. And by good I mean people that maybe were moral and maybe self-righteous but never took the time to turn from their sin and put their faith in Christ.

Know this. Hell was not made for bad people. Hell was created for the devil and his angels. That's what Jesus said.

So it's not designed for people. It's designed for Satan and his angels. And I'll explain more in our next message about why these angels rebelled against God and followed Satan. And sometimes we don't want to talk about this, and sometimes people will acknowledge there could be a place like hell for the really, really bad people, you know, the Hitlers of the world, the Osama bin Laden's or the Mao Tse Tung's or the Stalin's or a member of ISIS. Yeah, they're going to go to hell.

But we don't ever want to think that we could ever go there or someone we know could go there. The fact is the idea of divine judgment is probably one of Christianity's most offensive teachings. And I think this is because there's a lot of misinformation about hell. One of them is that hell's a party place, you know, just get together with your friends and it's one long party, that the devil lives in hell, the devil rules from hell, and the devil has red skin, pointed ears, a pitchfork and horns and hooves and a tail with a point, right?

None of that is biblical. Okay, the devil is not that funny little creature. The devil does not live in hell now, nor does he rule from hell now. He's in the supernatural realm.

The Bible describes him as the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now works, and the children of disobedience. No, Satan is not in hell now, but he's going there one day. But he is not ruling from hell, as many people mistakenly think. So hell is there, and of the 40 parables that Jesus told, half of them relate to God's eternal judgment of sinners.

J.I. Packer said, and I quote, An endless hell can no more be removed from the New Testament than an endless heaven can, end quote. And that's true. But some atheists have criticized our faith because of the biblical teaching on hell. The late Christopher Hitchens, a well-known atheist, was quoted to say, Not until the advent of the Prince of Peace do we hear of the ghastly idea of further punishing and torturing the dead. Nothing proves the man-made character of religion as obviously as the sick mind that designed hell, end quote.

So Hitchens is basically saying this was a New Testament teaching that came from Jesus himself, which is not true. The topic of hell is taught in both the Old and the New Testament. Atheist Bertrand Russell said, quote, I must say that I think this doctrine, hellfire, a punishment for sin, is a doctrine for cruelty. It's a doctrine that put cruelty into the world and gave the world generations of cruel torture, and the Christ of the gospel could certainly be considered partly responsible for that, end quote.

Now, that is a pretty compelling argument. Basically, what they're both saying is hell, the teaching of hell, is at the root of a lot of the problems in the world today. And people, because they believe this, do horrible things in the name of religion. But actually, history would directly contradict that. In fact, history would show us that a lack of belief in God in the afterlife is at the root of atrocities.

Let me ask you this. If the atheistic Stalin really believed that he would be accountable to God and face God, do you think he would be as cruel as he was? Would Mao Zedong and other atheistic mass murderers have done the things that they did if they believed there was a final judgment they would face?

If Hitler believed in a future judgment, would he have murdered six million Jewish people? Timothy Keller points out, quote, A lack of belief in a God of vengeance is actually something that secretly nourishes violence, end quote. The truth is, a belief in hell can be viewed as a constraint or a restraint on cruelty. So the idea is, if you don't believe there's a God, and you don't believe there's an afterlife, and you don't believe there's a final judgment, what constraints do you have?

Why not just do whatever you want to whoever you want, whenever you want, because there's nothing to pay for later. But if you believe in a judgment, and you believe in a God that's watching over you, and you believe that the Lord will repay these things, it will affect you in the way that you live. The truth is, belief in the afterlife affects us in this life as well as the next life. The belief in heaven is a motivation to live a godly life.

Belief in hell is a motivation to not live a wicked, sinful life, because we know things will be coming out openly one day. Pastor Greg Laurie will have the second half of his message in just a moment. We send these daily studies out via radio, satellite, and over the internet, and we don't always know how these messages are touching lives. Hey Pastor Greg, I stumbled onto your daily Bible studies one morning while listening to the radio. I became so interested in the way you explained the Bible, but then the station went off the air. I searched and was able to find your Google podcast and now listen to you every day. The way you explain the Bible stories has finally let me connect with the Lord in a way I've never been able to before.

I grew up attending Christian school and church, and I've always believed in God. But I'm thankful to your ministry because it was like someone finally turned the lights on and connected the dots. After all these years, it took someone across the country from me to finally explain things in a way I can understand.

I appreciate you, and thank you for turning on the lights. We're so grateful to hear of the changed lives through Harvest Ministries. And if you'd like to download Pastor Greg's podcasts, you can do that through Google, Apple, or Spotify, or go to harvest.org.

That's harvest.org. And now Pastor Greg continues this hard-hitting look at what the Bible says about hell. We're going to look at Luke chapter 16, and sometimes this is called a parable. Let me explain what a parable is.

Jesus told a lot of parables. Parables are illustrations. Sometimes I'll tell stories to my grandkids. They'll say, Papa, tell us a story, and I'll just make up something on the spot, a random story.

Sometimes they're in the story, and I'll name little creatures from the forest, the names that they have, and they love that, of course. And I'll just make something up, or I'll come up with an illustration to bring a truth home to them. So a parable is an illustration. A parable is defined as an earthly story with a heavenly meaning. So Jesus told a lot of parables. A sower went out to sow seed, and some seed fell here, and some seed fell there.

Or a father had two sons, and one ran away, and the other stayed home. And these are generally parables or illustrations that may have been based on actual people, but in general, they were just stories that Jesus told to make a point. What we're about to read is not a parable, and I'll tell you why. Because Jesus begins with the words a certain man, a certain man, and more specifically, a name is given, the name of Lazarus.

Jesus never named people in parables. The reason I bring this up is you are about to read a behind-the-scenes look at the afterlife. This story that Jesus told, this true story, I might add, tells us what happened to a believer and a non-believer. So Luke 16, let's read together, starting in verse 19. There was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen, and he lived each day in luxury. I'm reading from the New Living Translation. And at his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus who was covered with sores.

As Lazarus lay there longing for scraps from the rich man's table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores. Finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet. So we'll stop there. Again, it's a real story.

This really happened. It's a glimpse into the invisible world. It's a story of two men. One owned everything and possessed nothing. That was the so-called rich man.

The other owned nothing but ended up inheriting everything. That would be Lazarus. One went to comfort, as we'll see in a moment. One went to torment. And this is where the redeemed criminal went when he was crucified next to Jesus. And Jesus said, Today you'll be with me in paradise. See, in the Old Testament days, before Jesus died and rose again, when a believer died, they went to comfort, to Abraham's bosom, in the comfort section of Hades. Hades used to have two sections.

It was comfort and torment, or smoking and non-smoking. So when you died, before Jesus was crucified and rose again, you would go to this place of comfort. But now that Christ has risen again, when a Christian dies, they go to heaven. So all that's left in Hades now, or hell, is a place of torment. So that's what happened to the thief who died on the cross and believed in Jesus.

But now let's find out what happens to a non-believer. Drop down to verse 22. Now I'm reading from the New King James Version.

The rich man also died and was buried. And being in torment in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried and 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. Abraham said, Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and likewise Lazarus evil things.

Now he is comforted and you are tormented. And beside all this, between us, there is a great gulf fixed so that those who want to pass from here to you cannot, nor can those from there pass to us. Then he said, I beg you therefore, Father, that you would send him to my father's house, for I have five brothers, and he may testify to them, lest they come to this place of torment. Abraham said, They have Moses and the prophets.

Let them hear them. And he said, No, Father Abraham. But if one goes to them from the dead, they will repent. And he said to him, If they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded. The one rise from the dead. So we'll stop there.

Okay, so let's understand. The rich man, so called. His sin was not being a rich man. His sin was being a sinful man. A wicked man who had no concern for God or the eternal. He was obsessed with greed and material things. Verse 19 says he was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared sumptuously.

That's King James 4. This guy was living large. This guy wore only the finest clothing, the designer clothing. This is the guy who would post a photo of himself laying on a pile of money, smoking a cigar, and posting it on Instagram or something.

And there are people that do that, of course. Flaunting it. Check out my bins. Check out my bling. Look at all this stuff I have. Look at these women. Look at my life.

Look at me. And that's the life they're living. That was this guy. If he was around today, he would have been that guy. Flaunting everything that he had to fare sumptuously simply means he had parties every day. Massive parties.

And all the people would come and watch this guy party his life away and he was living the good life. And he had unlimited funds to eat whatever he desired. All the fancy foods you could want. I really don't like fancy food.

Do you? Like French food. What's the deal with that? No, we're talking French fries.

I'm in, okay? But we aren't. You know, French food, oh, it's so, we can't pronounce what it is. And then you find out you're eating the brain of a snail or something. I mean, who eats snails? French people do.

It's called escargot, right? Well, they're in garlic. Anything tastes good in garlic, okay? You could eat dirt in garlic and it would taste nice. But why a snail of all things?

You ever look at a snail? And the portions are like minuscule. And you eat this meal and then the next course and then the next course and that's it. I'm like, I'm hungry still.

Right? I want food. I want a burger now.

I want pizza now. Something, a sandwich, anything but this stuff, you know. But this guy was living the luxurious life.

Eating all the fine foods. Meanwhile, outside of his gate was an impoverished man named Lazarus. The Bible says he ate the scraps that fell from the rich man's table.

Here's what that means. Back in those days, they didn't use napkins. They used bread. They used bread to wipe their oily, dirty hands on. So they would eat with their hands, not with a fork and knife or cutlery, as we call it, right? They'd just take the bread, dip it into the various things and put the meat in the bread or whatever it is, the fish in the bread. And then when they were done, they would take another piece of bread. They would wipe their greasy fingers and they'd throw it on the floor.

Usually, that's what the dogs would eat. Well, this is what Lazarus was living on. His diet was the bread that had been used to wipe the grease and the oil of the food off of the rich man's hands. And also, we read that he was carried to the gate, which would imply he probably was disabled. In some way, he could not move.

He was not mobile. So not only is this guy impoverished, not only is this guy eating scraps from this other man's table, but they have to carry him to the gate. So every day when the rich guy would cruise in or cruise out and the gates would open up, he'd see Lazarus.

And he'd say, pfft, who cares about him? Well, then one day, death came. And death is the great equalizer. And we're told that the beggar died, but he was given an angelic escort to heaven. And by the way, when a Christian dies, they are escorted by angels to heaven.

Isn't that great to know? An angelic escort. But that is not what happens for the nonbeliever. The rich man was not ushered into heaven like Lazarus. The sin again was not his wealth.

It was his disregard for the spiritual, which revealed itself in his prideful flaunting of resources and his neglect of a starving, disabled man sitting at his door. And they both died. And they both went to their respective places. One went to comfort.

The other went to torment. One of the world's wealthiest men, Malcolm Forbes, made this statement shortly before he died. Quote, the thing I dread most about death is that I know I will not be as comfortable in the next life as I was in this life, end quote.

That's true. Now if you've put your faith in Christ, you'll be much more comfortable in the next life. If you've put your faith in Jesus, the best is yet to come. If you've not put your faith in Jesus, enjoy life now, because it's all downhill from here. So the best thing, of course, is to believe in him now.

And then you're prepared for the afterlife. Some important insight today. Life and death insight from Pastor Greg Laurie and a message from his series, The Afterlife and the Eternal.

And there's more to come in this presentation here on A New Beginning. But listen, if you missed any of what Pastor Greg brought us today, you can catch up by following online to harvest.org. Or request a CD from us when you dial 1-800-821-3300.

We're here to take your call anytime 24 hours a day at 1-800-821-3300. Pastor Greg, we're so excited to make available your new book called Billy Graham, The Man I Knew. So much research went into this book, and you've thought a lot about Billy's life in the course of writing this. If he could somehow be with us right here, right now, for just a few minutes, what do you think you would ask him?

Wow, that's a good question. Well, I remember when I asked him, when I had the opportunity, I was in his home in Montreat, North Carolina, and I said, Billy, if an older Billy could speak to a younger Billy, what would he say? And really, without missing a beat, Billy said, I would tell myself to preach more on the cross of Christ and the blood of Christ, because that's where the power is.

And that was something he lived by throughout his entire life. As far as what I would ask Billy today, well, of course, if he was with us back from the other side, I would want to know a lot about the afterlife. So, Billy, what's heaven like, and what happened up there? But, you know, as far as any, I actually asked pretty much all of the questions I wanted to ask him, and I talk about them in the book, and I don't know that I would have anything new to ask him. But just, I think I would just tell him how much I appreciated him. I did tell him that. When I spoke with him for the last time, I told him I loved him. He told me he loved me.

I don't say that to people lightly, by the way. And so this, I had those opportunities to have final conversations with him, but I'd probably just say, you know, you're gonna be loved beyond the time you were on this earth, and your legacy will live on, and I want to just say to you, thank you for being a good example, not only a great preacher, but thank you for being a good example and a good model of what it means to be a real Christian. Well, the book reflects that kind of spirit. It's Pastor Greg's look at the life of a good friend and a mentor. More than that, it's an evangelist's look at the life of history's greatest evangelists.

It's a celebration of a remarkable life. The title is Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. In fact, Franklin Graham wrote this about the book. I've often said that the public Billy Graham, seen on crusade platforms and television, was the same private Billy Graham at home. This certainly is revealed in Billy Graham, the Man I Knew, which is based on Greg's personal thoughts on the special time spent with my father and how his ministry impacted Greg's own life and evangelistic ministry. I'm grateful for Greg's friendship, for his love for my father, and for his proclamation of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ. So can we send a copy your way? Pastor Greg is making it available to thank you for your donation of any size. And please know there are no churches or large organizations covering all the expenses. No, it's only through the investments of listeners that these insights can come your way each day.

So thanks for being a partner with us. With your donation today, be sure to ask for Billy Graham, the Man I Knew. You can write a new beginning, Box 4000, Riverside, California, 92514. Or call 1-800-821-3300.

Call any time, 24 hours a day, 1-800-821-3300. Or just go online to harvest.org. Are you receiving Pastor Greg's daily devotions? Get these inspirational thoughts in your email box every day.

Sign up free of charge at harvest.org. Well, next time, Pastor Greg continues his series called The Afterlife and the Eternal. We'll consider the reality of hell and how we can avoid that judgment. That's next time on A New Beginning with Pastor Greg Laurie. This is the day, the day when life begins The preceding message from Greg Laurie was made possible by Harvest Partners, helping people everywhere know God. Sign up for Pastor Greg's free daily email devotions at harvest.org.