From Hell’s House to Heaven’s Palace

I. Fear is the beginning of knowledge

Proverbs 1:7

It is amazing what you will do when you are properly motivated

Robert Sichta, Vietnam: four GIs in a jeep hit an ambush. The road too narrow to turn. They jumped out, each took a corner, lifted the jeep, turned it, set it down, and drove the other way. Back at camp the buddies jeered. They went back and tried to lift it. They could not. Not then. Motivation.

Pain, or the threat of it, wakes us up

A young man from Kentucky joined the Rebel army, deserted, came home. The Union had his house. They court-martialed him as a spy and sentenced him to hang. A friend went to Lincoln. Lincoln: if a man had more than one life, a little hangin’ wouldn’t hurt this one. But once a man is hanged, we cannot bring him back, no matter how sorry we are. He pardoned him.

Bring the two together. If we took a little trip to the house of hell, raised the window, peeked inside — and in the process felt a little hangin’ — we would be motivated to change. Don’t you think?

II. The house of hell

Luke 16:19-31 — the rich man and Lazarus

Why is it torment? Because Satan will be there (Revelation 20:10). Who is he? Where did he come from? Ezekiel 28:12-17. Show at least this:

1. An angel — not eternal (Colossians 1:16).
2. A place of special significance in heaven.
3. A special assignment in Eden.
4. He sinned against God.
5. He was cast down to earth (Revelation 12; Luke 10:18).
6. He became a horror (verse 19).

He is stronger than man (2 Peter 2:11). In hell it is the law of the jungle. He hates God with a passion no words can hold. God is good, righteous, holy (Psalm 92:15; 97:10). Satan is the father of lies (John 8:44). There is a power struggle (Luke 4:1-13). We are the battle zone, and battle zones get hurt (Romans 6:23; 8:2; James 1:15). For the Christian: He who is in you is greater than he who is in the world (1 John 4:4). That motivates a man to want to become a Christian.

One sin is enough. The wages of sin — not sins (Romans 6:23). But he wants to pile sin on sin: lust, then the act, then the consequence. God wants to control you for good (Philippians 2:13). Satan for evil (1 John 3:8; Romans 1). Until you are in a whirlpool so miserable you think there is no way out — and then you lift your fist and blame God for what Satan has been doing. He cannot destroy God. He can destroy you, and in doing that he hurts God. Have you ever been blamed for something you did not do, by someone you love? It is a power struggle.

One day Jesus comes with his mighty angels in flaming fire. He turns his back on those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel. They are cast away (Hebrews 9:27) into the place prepared for the devil and his angels. Hell is worse than Satan’s control in this life.

III. Where is that?

Hell is an address. How long you live has nothing to do with how long you’re dead. God has to use words suited to our five senses. Three are major: seeing, hearing, feeling.

Seeing

• Jude 13 — blackness of darkness.
• 2 Peter 2:4 — chains of darkness. A prison.
• Matthew 8:12 — outer darkness. Outside anyone else’s care. The opposite of heaven.

Feeling

• Matthew 5:22 — fire.
• Matthew 13 — furnace of fire.
• Luke 16:24 — “I am tormented in this flame.” The only source the rich man named.
• Matthew 25 — eternal fire. A peppermint stick with neither end on it.
• Mark 9 — unquenchable fire.
• Revelation 20–21 — a lake of fire and brimstone.

Willie Tolison: a Volkswagen under a gasoline tanker. Two people penned, not hurt. The patrolman could not pull them out. He called a wrecker. The gasoline caught. They screamed, “Shoot me. Please just shoot me.”

Hearing

• Matthew 13:42; 22:13 — weeping and gnashing of teeth.
• Matthew 13:50 — wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Imagine being thrown in. The reality hits. It is a real address, and you are there. The blackness covers you. The fire smacks your face. The screaming deafens you. You want to run. You are chained. After a while you too will gnash your teeth. “Oh God, no. Not me.”

IV. Do not end here

Oh Lord, give me Abraham’s bosom.

Luke 16:22 — heaven, not torment. A place for a prepared people (Matthew 25:34). No death, no mourning, no pain, no crying. God will be there to hold you and sing to you (Zephaniah 3:17). Revelation 21:3. If there were no hell — and there is — I still want to go to heaven and be with God. I don’t care if the streets are coal. I want God.

V. Closing

Satan hates God and tries to destroy His work of salvation in Christ. The only way off this planet alive is in Christ (Romans 8:1). There is good news:

1. Jesus died to take away your guilt.
2. Jesus rose to take away your death.
3. You can have heaven.
4. Surrender to His lordship.
5. Turn from walking with Satan — repent.
6. Confess His name.
7. Obey the gospel, and get that forgiveness and life.

Hell is not a good death. The answer is to live the good life. The only good life there is, is found in Jesus. Come to Jesus tonight.