Hell is for those who hate God.


"What are we talking about? What is it we want people saved from? That is the compelling question. The answer to that question, as far as Scripture is concerned, is a simple answer. We want to see people saved from eternal punishment, punishment that never ends. Conscious existence, conscious life in a body resurrected and suited for everlasting punishment. The Bible speaks of that as occurring in a place that we know as hell. In the Old Testament, the word Sheol makes reference to that in a general way. In the New Testament, the word Hades is sometimes with reference to that. But always the word hell coming from the Greek word Gehenna speaks of what the book of Revelation calls this Lake of Fire where people are punished and tormented forever.

I think we sort of comfortably distance ourselves from that reality. Certainly in general in the church it is looked over, passed by, ignored. There are those who claim to be preachers who don’t ever talk about hell, wouldn’t talk about hell, avoid it at all costs, when the truth of the matter is, it ought to be the first thing that we talk about when we talk about the gospel. This is about salvation from hell.

The doctrine of hell, the truth of hell, the reality of hell has found its way into the thinking of our culture. According to the latest survey that I could find, seventy-five percent of people living in America believe in hell. They believe there’s a hell. That’s the influence of Christianity, 75 percent. Of those 75 percent, four percent believe there is any chance that they will ever go there. So we’ve gotten our point across. There is a hell. But we haven’t gotten the point across that you’re headed there already. That’s the issue."


The Truth About Hell (Selected Scriptures)


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