A Hell of a Message | The Truth About Hell

Greg, Lori, and Harvest Ministries would like to send you the movie Unsung Hero, the backstory of the music group for King & Country. It's a story of a mom and a dad and their seven kids putting their faith into action. You're going to be deeply moved by this story of the amazing small-boned family that have gone on to impact so many through their music, and we are offering this film to you for your gift of any size.

Get the DVD and digital download of Unsung Hero at harvest.org. We have to get our information about eternity from a reliable source. Pastor Greg Lori 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.

There are things we don't like to talk about in polite company, politics of course, how about embarrassing moments, the 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 Lori 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. 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, about heaven. It also starts with the letter H. I mentioned survey done in my last message, what people believe about heaven and hell. 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. 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 Hitler's 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. In fact 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 is a party place.

Just get together with your friends and it's one long party. That the devil lives in hell. The devil rules from hell. 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. Ok. 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. 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. And he was 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 love to hear stories of how lives have been changed through the teaching of God's word like this one. Pastor Greg, you were one of the first pastors I listened to when I gave my life to the Lord. I'll never forget that night at Calvary Chapel when you made the altar call and I accepted the Lord. I continue listening to you and your sermons are always spot on, convicting and full of the Spirit. God bless you abundantly, Pastor Greg. It's a blessing to know that listeners are hearing these messages and God is using his word to touch hearts. How have Pastor Greg's studies impacted your life?

Would you let them know? Find an email to Greg at 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. 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. Through 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. Only 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 will 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 will 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 is left in Hades now or hell is a place of torment. So that is 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 am 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 that one rise from the dead. So we will stop there.

Ok 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. You know and that's the life they are 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? Now we are talking French fries. I am in. Ok.

But we aren't. You know French food. Oh it is so. We can't pronounce what it is. And then you find out you are eating the brain of a snail or something. I mean who eats snails? French people do. It is called escargot.

Right. Well they are in garlic. Anything tastes good in garlic. Ok. You could eat dirt in garlic and it would taste nice. Why a snail of all things?

You ever look at a snail and the portions are like miniscule. And you eat this meal. And then the next course.

And then the next course. And that is it. I am like I am hungry still.

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

I want pizza now. Something. A sandwich.

Anything but this stuff you know. 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 is 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. Now with a fork and knife or cutlery as we call it.

Right. They 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 would throw it on the floor.

Usually that is 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 would see Lazarus.

And he would say who cares about him. Well then one day death came. And death is the great equalizer. And we are told that the beggar died. That 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 is true. Now if you have put your faith in Christ you will be much more comfortable in the next life. If you have put your faith in Jesus the best is yet to come. If you have not put your faith in Jesus enjoy life now because it is all downhill from here. So the best thing of course is to believe in him now and then you are prepared for the afterlife. Some important insight today on a new beginning. Life and death insight from Pastor Greg Laurie in a message from his series The Afterlife and the Eternal. Pastor Greg let's talk to the listener who wants to know how to believe on the Lord now.

That invitation is open to everyone right? That's right. The Bible says whoever will call upon the name of the Lord will be saved. So think of it this way. Maybe you're out in a riptide in the ocean and you can't get your footing and you're in trouble and you see a lifeguard call out for help and the lifeguard will rescue you.

The same is true spiritually. You're drowning in your sin. You need help. Jesus will save you. He will rescue you but you must call out to him and you know how you do that? You do it in prayer. So let me just lead you in a simple prayer and you can pray this prayer after me. You can pray it out loud if you like and this is where you are calling out to Jesus to save you.

Just pray this. Lord Jesus I know I'm a sinner and I know you are the Savior who died on the cross for my sin and rose again from the dead. Now Lord I turn from my sin and I put my faith in you. Be my Savior, my Lord, be my God and my friend.

I choose to follow you from this moment forward. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. Hey if you just prayed that prayer I want you to know that Christ himself has come to live inside of you and I have a resource I want to send you. It's called the New Believers Bible. So the New Believers Bible is the New Testament in the New Living Translation with hundreds of notes that I wrote that will encourage you in this commitment you are making to follow Christ. There are some other materials included as well in what we call the New Believers Growth Pack but let me get this New Believers Bible into your hands as quickly as possible.

Here's Dave to tell you more. Yeah we'll be glad to send it all your way free of any charge if you prayed along with Pastor Greg today. Just ask for the New Believers Bible when you call 1-800-821-3300. You can reach us anytime 24-7 at 1-800-821-3300 or go online to harvest.org and click Know God. And Pastor Greg we're so thankful for the work God is doing through this ministry. We're touching lives for eternity and we're really thankful for our friends who see the fruit of this ministry and invest so this work can reach even further.

Isn't that right? Absolutely. When you invest in Harvest Ministries you're investing in the souls of men and women, boys and girls. And what is the value of a soul?

Well let me personalize it. What's the value of your soul? What's the value of the soul of your husband, your wife, your son or your daughter or your mom or your dad or your best friend?

Well I would say you probably couldn't put a price tag on it. It's so valuable. Well listen, God says all souls are mine.

God loves us and sent his son to die on the cross to pay the price for all of our sins so we could be forgiven and come into a relationship with him. I can't think of a better investment of my resources, of my money, than in the work of the kingdom of God. So we would ask you to prayerfully consider investing in Harvest Ministries as we continue on to fulfill the Great Commission. Yeah that's right and you can make your donation right now at harvest.org or call 1-800-821-3300.

That's a 24-7 phone number 1-800-821-3300. 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. Join us here on A New Beginning with pastor and Bible teacher Greg Lord.