The Doctrine of Hell Part 1: The Inhabitants of Hell
We have just finished a three-part series on “Knowing our Enemy,” and now we turn to the opposite side of the coin so to speak. We will have a series on the Doctrine of Hell. Today, we will study from the Scriptures, “The Inhabitants of Hell. Turn to Isaiah 14: 9-15:
9 Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. 10 All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? 11 Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols (harps): the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee. 12 How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning! how art thou cut down to the ground, which didst weaken the nations! 13 For thou hast said in thine heart, I will ascend into heaven, I will exalt my throne above the stars of God: I will sit also upon the mount of the congregation, in the sides of the north: 14 I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will be like the most High. 15 Yet thou shalt be brought down to hell, to the sides of the pit.
We have a picture here of AN INDIVIDUAL GOING TO HELL– it’s really a picture of the Antichrist when he is slain in battle, as recorded in the 13th chapter of Revelation, but it’s also a picture of every individual who is cut down in his pride and brought down to the sides of the pit. The word “hell” used here comes from the Hebrew word “sheol” which means the unseen world. Sheol is also used to refer to the grave. When God says here, “Thou shalt be brought down to hell (sheol),” He means the spirit world of the damned. In Luke 16: 23, you will read, “And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom.” The word “hell” here comes from the Greek word “hades” which means the unseen world, the place of departed human spirits/ The Hebrew word “sheol” and the Greek word “hades” both refer to the unseen world, or place of departed souls. My friend, don’t be deceived by false teachers who say hell is just the grave, there is a hell. Our Lord Jesus Christ taught that there was a hell which was a place of torment.
Section 1: Contrasting Deaths of the Saved and the Unsaved
When an individual departs this life through the door of death, he either goes to Heaven (Paradise) or to Hades (Hell). THERE IS NO MIDWAY GROUND. The Scriptures do not teach a “purgatory” or “limbo.” I want to give you a picture of an unsaved person dying without Christ; Job 18:18 reads: “He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.” EVERY INDIVIDUAL WHO DIES OUT OF CHRIST IS DRIVEN BY DEMON SPIRITS FROM LIGHT INTO DARKNESS, that is, from this world into the unseen world of departed spirits prepared for the damned. Somewhere on the face of this earth is a shaft that leads to the bottomless pit. You see this truth in Revelation 9: 1,2: “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.” This fact is also seen in Revelation 20: 1, 2. Where that shaft is, no human being knows, but Satan knows, and God knows. In Revelation 1: 18, Christ said: “And the fifth angel sounded, and I saw a star fall from heaven unto the earth: and to him was given the key of the bottomless pit. And he opened the bottomless pit; and there arose a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace; and the sun and the air were darkened by reason of the smoke of the pit.”
So Christ has the key to the bottomless pit; no one can die and go to Hell without the sanction and the knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. He holds every individual in His Sovereign hand. “And in hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments,” so says Luke 16: 23. Why fight the Lord Jesus Christ, as He holds your destiny in His hands. And you can’t win by fighting Him, flee to Him and cry for mercy. Will you do that, my friend?
Christ is your Lord, whether you are saved or lost, whether you are an infidel or atheist, or whether you are a believer, CHRIST IS YOUR LORD. It doesn't matter whether you confess Him as Lord now, He is still your Lord. You are going to confess Him someday. If you confess Him as Lord now, you will receive mercy, but if you confess Him at the judgment bar of God after your physical death, there will be no mercy. Listen to Romans 14: 11: “For it is written, As I live, saith the Lord, every knee shall bow to me, and every tongue shall confess to God.” In Philippians 2: 10-11, we read: “That at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; And that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” Also read, Romans 10: 9: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus (JESUS AS LORD), and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved.” Now when are you going to confess Him? NOW, AND BE SAVED, OR AT THE JUDGMENT BAR OF GOD AND BE DAMNED?
Let us stop for a moment and give you a description of the death of the saints of God. In the first place, the Bible says that they “sleep in Jesus (1 Thessalonians 4: 14). The Lord Jesus always spoke of the death of the saints as going to sleep. That does not mean that they are unconscious in the other world; it does not mean that their spirits rest in the grave, but they depart to be with Chris, and the word “sleep” carries the deep meaning of being at REST WITH HIM. Luke 16: 22 says that, when they fall asleep, or come to rest, they are carried by the angels into Abraham’s bosom; that is, their spirits are carried by the angels into the Paradise of God that we speak of as heaven, the place of the departed spirits of the redeemed.
There is a great contrast given in God’s Word between the death of the wicked and the death of the saint: one is driven out of this world and driven into Hell; the other is CARRIED BY THE ANGELS INTO THE PRESENCE OF THE LORD JESUS CHRIST. Philippians 1: 23 reads: “For I am in a strait betwixt two, having a desire to depart, and to be with Christ; which is far better….” Every true believer in the Lord Jesus Christ desires to be with Him. So, my friend, do you?
Section 2: The Description of Hell
Hell is a place where SELFISH PASSIONS REIGN SUPREME, but with nothing to satisfy the desire. Hell is a living reality. In the resurrection of the damned, their bodies will be raised with all the passions of the flesh with which they died. Revelation 22: 11 reads: “He that is unjust, let him be unjust still: and he which is filthy, let him be filthy still: and he that is righteous, let him be righteous still: and he that is holy, let him be holy still.”
Then the Word also says that Hell is a place “where THEIR WORM DIETH NOT, and the FIRE IS NOT QUENCHED.” Consider the following:
The DRUNKARD will call for a drink but not be satisfied.
The DRUG ADDICT will have no drugs to satisfy him and he will have withdrawals for eternity.
The HARLOT will never have the lust satisfied.
The WHOREMONGER will be raised in all his filthiness with nothing to satisfy the lust of the flesh.
The COVETOUS man will find no gold in hell.
The MURDERER will be raised in all his brutality and with murder in his heart, hell will provide no satisfaction for his revenge.
The JEALOUS will have all the fiery jealousy in his heart with no one on whom to vent it.
The CHRIST-HATER will be unable to take out his hatred and revenge on God’s messenger or God’s truth.
What will make hell so horrible, is that it is a place where every selfish passion will reign supreme, but with NOTHING TO SATISFY THE DESIRES OF THE FLESH.
Hell is a PLACE WHERE REPENTANCE OF SIN IS ABSOLUTELY IMPOSSIBLE. Revelation 22: 15 reads: “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whoremongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” Understand this and I want you to get it, there will be no repentance in hell. There will be no grace in hell. There will be no mercy in hell. No sinner can come to the Lord except God grant him repentance to the acknowledging of the truth. No sinner would come to Christ if God did not draw him with the cords of kindness and love. This will be 100% missing in hell. NO GRACE. NO MERCY. NO REPENTANCE. NO DRAWING. NO HOPE.
Then Hell will be THE PRISON HOUSE FOR THE DAMNED, where there will be NO SONG, where there will be no praying except the wailing cries of the damned, where there will be no children. Stop and think my friend, there will be no singing in hell. You will have NOTHING TO SING ABOUT IN HELL: no Christ, no God, no love, no home, no hope, but one eternal woe will be your doom. On the other hand, THE SONG OF HEAVEN WILL BE PRAISES FOR THE LORD JESUS CHRIST AND FOR BLOOD REDEMPTION. What a contrast between the awfulness of Hell and the songland of Heaven!
May there go up a cry from the heart of every awakened sinner, “Lord, save me or I perish! Lord, hear me, I beg. Have mercy on me. I am the chief of sinners. Look upon me as You look upon the Mercy Seat.” I am crying to you today, my friend, “Awake thou that sleepest;” turn to Christ before it is too late! TOMORROW MAY BE TOO LATE!
Section 3: The Inhabitants of Hell
The VILEST of all the earth, with every UNSAVED RELIGIONIST and everyone WHO TURNS DOWN THE TRUTH OF THE GOSPEL message goes to HELL.
Revelation 21: 8 reads: “But the fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.” We have here a picture of the whole religious world going to Hell. We will look at this group of eight:
THE FEARFUL: You are afraid Christ won’t do what He says He will do, just afraid to lean in to Christ, just afraid you are too great a sinner, just afraid you can’t hold out, just afraid to believe God’s Word, just afraid to trust Him to take care of you. You are afraid to die and fear grips your heart. “Fearful” is a picture of the unsaved religious world.
THE UNBELIEVING: These are those who will not believe, those who doubt God’s Word. This group refuses to believe the truth about their sinful condition and refuses to humble themselves under the Gospel message and be saved. They will not believe in blood redemption and do not believe that Christ is the only Substitute for sinners. These are seen in the pulpit and pew. They may talk about the LORD, but they don’t know Him and they never did.The “UNBELIEVING” will wake up in Hell.
THE ABOMINABLE: This refers primarily to the filthiness of demon worship. The back of all demon worship is idolatry, and connected with idol worship is always the sin of fornication and all the filthiness and vileness of the flesh. Wherever you find idol worship, you will find fornication and adultery–you will find sex life predominant, and it’s all done under the cloak of religion. The secondary meaning of “abominable,” as used here, is vile, loathsome, it describes the individual who is given over to sin, but as we said the primary meaning is THE RELIGIOUS INDIVIDUAL WHO HAS A CLOAK OF RELIGION, BUT UNDERNEATH IS THE SIN OF ADULTERY. Under false religion is the filthy sin of adultery.
THE MURDERER: Every individual who harbors HATRED in his heart, according to God’s Word, is a murderer. 1 John 3: 15 states: “Whosoever hateth his brother is a murderer.” If a preacher compromises the message of truth just to build large church numbers or increase revenue, he has hate in his heart for his congregation. He is a murderer because he will be sending them to Hell because he failed to give them truth. Every individual who teaches a false doctrine is a murderer! The individual who teaches false doctrine that leads souls away from Christ is a murderer, and shall have his part in the Lake of Fire which burns with fire and brimstone.
THE WHOREMONGER: This takes in the class of fornicators. It comes from the Greek word, “to sell.” A whoremonger is a whoremaster who deals in prostitution. The world today is a fire of lust. The prevalent sins today are sexual. (Read Romans chapter 1) This sin will increase as we come near the end of the Age of Grace. The underlying thought of this category is that the sin of lust and uncleanness and sex perversion, and the sin of prostitution, is committed under the cloak of religion.
THE SORCERERS: The word “sorcerer” comes from the Greek word which means “a drug”; here it means one who deals in drugs, one who employs drugs for any purpose. Included in this class are: drug addicts, magicians, enchanters, mediums, those who deal in hypnotism, fortune telling, those who conduct seances, etc. Underneath sorcery is demonism. Demons work through drugs, hypnotism, and false cults. Remember, Satan works and moves in the realm of religion, and works on the mind of the individual. He will do whatever he can, using drugs, etc. to give the lost soul any substitute that will appeal to his religious nature. He will give anything but the Truth, which is the Lord Jesus Christ.
THE IDOLATERS: An idolater is a servant or worshiper of an idol. It may be an image made of gold or wood, or an image of any type of creation. It may be a picture, a “faith image” or anything created by your imagination. Let me repeat, BEHIND EVERY IDOL IS A DEMON, whether that idol is a serpent, the sun, a fish, or some combination, or even your lust. I have seen idol shops in India with shelves of “gods” for your choosing. WITHOUT CHRIST, YOU HAVE NO HOPE!
THE LIARS: It literally means”all liars,” which sums up all the other seven classes. “All liars” come from the verb, “to deceive, to speak falsely, or utter falsehoods,” and this form of the word refers to “corrupters of the truth of God, or perverters of religious truth, or practitioners of false religion.” Revelation 21: 27 states: “And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life.” Now get this (the old preachers would say, “Get ready we are going to jump a creek.”): IF YOU DO NOT KNOW CHRIST AS YOUR LORD AND SAVIOR, YOURS IS A FALSE RELIGION, and here it is called a lie. 2 Timothy 4: 4 calls these false religions, “fables,: which is the Word of God perverted. Those practicing a false religion, including a fake Christianity, are liars and will end up in Hell. A LIAR IS ONE WHO HAS PERVERTED THE TRUTH OF GOD’S WORD TO DECEIVE THE SOULS OF MEN. All false religions will “have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death.”
Conclusion
My friend, as I close this message, I want to appeal to your heart to turn to Christ. I don’t care what religion you practice, YOUR RELIGION IS FALSE WITHOUT CHRIST AND YOU ARE WORSHIPING A LIE UNLESS YOU KNOW CHRIST. Friend, do you know Christ? I beg you today, fall at His feet now and believe Him, trust Him. Make Him the Lord of your life and you will never be an INHABITANT OF HELL!
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