To Hell and
Back
By Dr. Jack Hyles
Electronic Printing
by FFEP
Tonight I close the series of messages on the Second
Coming by giving a rather detailed Bible study on the subject of Hell. Now I
will not necessarily preach an evangelistic sermon; rather, I would like to
acquaint you with Hell and explain exactly what the Bible teaches about it,
using twenty-two different verses of Scripture. Rather than look them up,
perhaps I could quote them, or give you the references as I bring the
message, and you make a note in the margin of your Bible, or on a piece of
paper as to what the Bible says about Hell, then you may have them for
future references.
There are three worlds in existence. The world about
us here who live on this earth. Then there is the world about which we spoke
this morning. I always like to preach something about Heaven close to the
time when I preach on Hell, because invariably somebody will nip at me and
say that all I do is preach on wrath, Hell, and judgment. So I preach
on Heaven to balance it off.
I will teach awhile tonight, with a little preaching
interspersed, on the subject, "To Hell and Back." Actually the Bible teaches
that people do go to Hell and come back.
The Bible has a great deal to say about Hell. In fact,
it has more to say about Hell than about Heaven. There are more Scriptures
In the Bible that teach about Hell than teach about Heaven; there are more
verses in the Bible which tell about the conditions of Hell than you find
telling about the conditions of Heaven. Now for a person to close his eyes
on the subject of Hell is to refuse to believe a portion of the Word of God.
Modern scholarship says, "There is no such thing as
Hell ." For example: Dr. DeHaan, the famous radio preacher, had preached
many years ago on the subject of Hell on the radio. Some preacher--I say
preacher--"reverend"--wrote him and in these words he said:
"Dear Dr. DeHaan:
"I am surprised that a man of your training and
background, from college, university, and seminary, could believe in that
antiquated, moth-eaten, disproved theory of the age of superstition that
there is a literal Hell. No modern scholar believes that any longer."
Well, no modern scholar believed the flood was coming
either, but it came. No modern scholar believed that Sodom and Gomorrah
would be destroyed, but it was. In fact, all the modern scholars were
destroyed with them.
Don't misunderstand me; I believe in education. It
seems I spent all my life in school. I spent eighteen years hunting the "x"
in algebra! I never found it, but I spent eighteen years hunting for it! I
hate to disillusion you, but It ain't there! You can't find it. I believe in
education. I believe in study. I believe in reading. I read three and a half
books last week. Usually I read three to five books a week. I believe in
study. But I want to say that if modern scholarship does not believe the
Bible, modern scholarship can go down the garbage can of human history as
far as I am concerned. I am going to believe the Word of God. And a fellow
who is an educated person bit who does not believe the Bible, is just an
educated fool. I would rather be a little fellow who had never seen the
inside of a school, and believe the Bible is the Word of God, and be born
again and love God and love the Word of God and believe the Bible and what
God says In the Bible, than to be a man with all the degrees a mile long and
not be able to understand and believe the Word of God.
There is no truth without the One who says, "I am the
Truth." And when you get to the place in your life where you think you are
too modem for this Bible, you are too modern for God and you will go to Hell
like all the other scholars will who do not believe the Word of God.
The Bible is very plain. You will have to decide one
or two things: whether you do not believe the Bible, or you believe in Hell,
because if you believe the Bible, you have to believe in Hell. A lot of
people would say, "I don't believe in a burning Hell. I don't believe that
folks who die in their sins burn forever." You do not believe the Bible
then. "Oh, yes, I believe the Bible." No you don't. If you don't believe
there is a Hell, if you don't believe there is a burning Hell, you do not
believe the Bible is the Word of God, for the Bible is very clear about this
matter. We will discuss many Scriptures tonight that will leave no doubt in
any Bible-believer's mind about the truth and the doctrine of an eternal,
literal, burning Hell-fire where people who die in their sins must spend
eternity and must live forever without God.
Several years ago Audie Murphy, I think the most
decorated of all the World War II heroes, wrote a book entitled To Hell
and Back. Audie Murphy likened World War II to Hell. He told about the
men whose heads were disengaged from their bodies; about the men who were
mangled; about seeing horror and death and bloodshed and mangled bodies, the
torn battlefields and all the horrors of World War II. Then in coming back-
-he likened that as to coming back from Hell. So he titled the book, To
Hell and Back.
Audie Murphy had an awful time In World War II. My
heart certainly goes out to all those who suffer in all wars, and who give
their lives and their health and many times the members of their bodies for
our lives. But may I say this, my precious friends: World War II, World War
I, the coming World War III, the Battle of Armageddon and all the rest of
them, will never have one little iota compared to the suffering of Hell-fire
where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
I will give you Bible facts about Hell tonight. I will
not say one thing in this pulpit tonight unless it is authenticated by the
Word of God.
The first thing I would call your attention to is The
Reason for Hell. In Matthew 25:41 the Bible says, "Then shall he say also
unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting
fire, prepared for the devil and his angels ."
What is the purpose for Hell? Why was Hell made? Often
children ask that question.
One little girl asked her mother one day, "Mother,
what does the world rest on? What does the world rest on?"
The mother didn't know what the world rested on any
more than the child did. So she said, "Oh, the world rests on er. . .er. . .er.
. .on a big man. . .a big man. A big man holds the world up." Then she went
about her business.
"Mama, what does the man stand on?"
"Oh, honey, the man stands on a...a.. .a. . .a. . .oh,
he stands on a big... a big rock. That is what the man stands on.
"Mama, what does the rock sit on?"
"Oh, the rock sits on a big pole. A great big long
pole."
"Mama, what does the pole sit on?"
"Ah, hush, honey! The pole just goes all the way down
to the bottom.
Now many boys and girls have many questions to ask.
Many have asked me this question, "Brother Hyles, why
was Hell made? What is Hell for? Who made Hell? Why was Hell prepared in the
first place?" So I will discuss with you the reason for Hell. There was a
reason.
Before the world was ever created, before there ever
was an earth, a Mars, a Jupiter, a Venus; before there ever was a sun, or
moon, or stars, there was a Heaven. God lived in the Heaven, in fellowship
with His angels. It is thought there were three different companies of
angels under three different archangels, Gabriel, Michael, and Lucifer, who
is the Devil. Three different (you might say) battalions or regiments of
angels. Now Lucifer decided he wanted to take over Heaven, so Lucifer
rebelled against God and took his group of the angels and started a war in
Heaven. Immediately God put down the rebellion of Lucifer, and cast him and
his angels out of Heaven. They were excommunicated from Heaven.
If that be so, immediately God prepared a place for
the Devil and these angels, Heaven's fallen angels and the Devil. The place
was called Hell. In Matthew 25:41 it says they were cast into everlasting
fire "prepared for the devil and his angels." As I have said many times, if
you go to Hell, you will be an intruder. Hell was not made for you. But if
you do not receive Christ, you will go there, and you will burn forever. I
don't care how many degrees you have; I don't care how smart you are; I
don't care how rich you are; I don't care how influential you are; you will
go to Hell and you will burn forever unless you have been born again. So
Hell is a place made for the Devil and his angels.
Let me tell you something. I get a little sick
sometimes with certain classes of people. The only thing I can't stand in
this world is prejudice. This idea that there are two kinds of preachers-
-the Hell-fire-and-brimstone preacher, and then there is the educated kind.
The Devil thought that up. "There is that Hell-fire-and-brimstone preacher,
the kind that hangs you over Hell. Then there is the kinder, sweeter type."
Let me tell you something, if you are going to Hell and a fellow doesn't
tell you about it, he isn't sweet; he is the biggest enemy you have! If a
world is lost without God, if a world is headed for damnation forever, to
live in the fires of an eternal torment forever, and a man stands in a
pulpit and some of his people are headed for Hell, and that man does not
tell them about Hell, he is the worst enemy they have. I don't care how
sweet he is, or how kind. The best friend you have, the sweetest preacher
who stands in anybody's pulpit is the one who reminds you to escape the
fires of Hell, for there is a prepared place for unprepared people
somewhere, where people suffer in the world to come forever and forever. The
reason for Hell.
In the second place I call your attention to The
Location of Hell.
Where is Hell? People are always asking me. Where is
Hell located? How do you go there? In what part of the universe is Hell? I
am not sure about that except to say this: the Bible seems to imply that
Hell is down. Usually in the Bible when Heaven is mentioned, it is up, and
when mentioning Hell, it is going down. So Hell must be down. I personally
believe that Hell is in the heart of the earth. I believe that future
Gehenna, Hell will be in the heart of the earth. Scientists say that beneath
the earth there is a boiling volcanic disturbance constantly going on in the
heart of the earth. And so I personally believe Hell will be in the heart of
the earth.
Now then, Hell is also called "a bottomless pit." In
Revelation 9:2 it says the angel "opened the bottomless pit; and there arose
a smoke out of the pit, as the smoke of a great furnace... ." A bottomless
pit.
My precious friend, you can be a Baptist, you can be a
Methodist, you can be a Presbyterian, you can be a Catholic, you can be an
Episcopalian, you can be a Lutheran and all the rest of them; you can be
baptized in this pool, and sprinkled in another church, and confirmed in
another, and reared in another, but if you die without Jesus Christ, without
being born again, the Bible says you will go to Hell and suffer in a
bottomless pit.
I believe in Hell people constantly fall forever and
forever. There is no bottom to Hell. It is a bottomless pit. While people
are burning, they shall also be falling. While people are screaming and
crying and begging for mercy,
and pleading for water, and while they are gnashing
their teeth, and chewing their tongues, and looking to God and saying, "0
God! Send Lazarus that he may dip his finger in water and cool my tongue,
for I am tormented in this flame" - -the Bible says that is a bottomless
pit. Constant falling! Constant falling! Again and again; no foundation, no
rock, nothing to stand upon- -a bottomless pit forever and forever and
forever!
In World War II, I was in the paratroopers. I made
nineteen parachute jumps or "push-outs"! I know what it is to fall. On my
fifth parachute jump, my parachute did not open. One hundred feet from the
ground.., one second from death, my reserve parachute finally opened. I know
what it is to fall. I fell seven hundred feet in the air. I twisted. I did
not know whether my head was up or down. My arms were completely
uncontrollable. I could not hold my body with any co-ordination at all. I
was just falling and twisting in the air, just completely uncoordinated..
.falling. . .falling.. .falling; turning.., turning; twisting... twisting.
Think of it. In Hell- -a bottomless pit. Forever and
forever! Falling and burning and crying and twisting in a bottomless pit
forever!
The location of Hell is a bottomless pit, which I
believe is down.
We have seen the reason for Hell; we have seen the
location of Hell; now I call your attention to The Prophecy of Hell.
In the Bible it plainly teaches that people can go to
Hell and get out. In fact, people who are in Hell tonight will get out
someday. I am not talking about the person going to purgatory and if he gets
enough prayers and enough money paid for him, he can get on up to the next
place. I am talking about the fact that people who are in Hell shall some
day be discharged from Hell. Here is why.
Revelation 20:13, 14 says this: "And the sea gave up
the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which
were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works. And
death and hell were cast into the lake of fire."
Ken (our song leader), I will use you for an example.
You be in Hell for a minute. The place where you are sitting represents
Hell. It is torment, constant soul-torment. But in Hell tonight the
soul-torment is all there is. The body is not tormented in Hell tonight, but
just the soul. The body of the lost man goes to the grave; the soul goes to
Hades or what is commonly called now Hell. The soul goes to torment.
Now John (assistant pastor), you be the body of an
unsaved person. Ken is the soul. The soul is in Hades burning; the body is
in the grave. Now one day, at the resurrection of the unsaved, at the end of
the thousand-year millennium, the soul shall come out of Hell, the body
shall come out of the grave and body and soul shall be reunited, for Hell
now is only disembodied spirits. But in that day it shall be embodied
spirits, and the body and soul shall be together again, and both body and
soul shall stand before God at the great judgment that Ken sang about a bit
ago, they will stand before God and He will give them degrees of punishment
in the lake of fire, and every one of them will be cast again, both body and
soul, back into the lake of fire to be tormented forever and forever.
So the soul which is in Hell tonight will come out of
Hell, and be delivered for awhile, just for a moment as it stands before God
and then God will take body and soul and cast them into the lake of fire.
That word "cast" in the Greek is a very interesting
word. It is the word ekballo, which means to hurl as you would hurl a
ball or throw a rock. In the Bible when someone would throw something, as a
rock or stone, it was ekballo. They would hurl it, throw it. And that
word "cast" in Revelation 20:14 actually means people shall be taken both
body and soul and shall be thrown into the lake of fire.
I tremble when I think about these preachers standing
before God one day and He looks at them and says, "My Bible was full of
Scriptures about Hell and you were afraid to tell them about Hell. You had
some educated folks, and you were afraid to tell them about Hell. You had
some folks who thought Hell wasn't true, and you cut your message, you
trimmed the corners." Woe be unto any preacher who stands before his people
and for fear of preaching something the folks don't like, he fails to warn
them of the wrath of God to come!
There is going to be a time when the body shall come
from the grave and the soul shall come from Hades, and body and soul
together shall be hurled into the lake of fire. Like it or not, it is there.
It is in the Bible. If you don't believe it, it is still in the Bible. The
Bible is clear about the prophecy of Hell.
We have seen the reason for Hell, we have seen the
location of Hell, we have seen the prophecy of Hell; now I would have you
notice The Duration of Hell.
How long is Hell? What is the duration? I believe in
purgatory, but not the purgatory that some of our friends believe in. The
Bible says in Hebrews that Jesus purged our sins on the tree. And if you
want to know what the Bible says there, in the original language it says He
purgatoried our sins. It is the same word as purgatory. Jesus purgatoned our
sins. On the cross of Calvary, Jesus Christ suffered and purged our sins for
us.
Consequently, we who are in Him will not go to
purgatory, and those who are out of Him have not had their sins purged
already, and so Hell will be forever. In Revelation 14:11 it says, "And the
smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever...."
Go home tonight, turn on your kitchen stove, put your
finger in the fire, hold it there ten minutes, and see what you pull out.
You go home tonight, you put your finger in the fire, you hold it five
minutes, just five minutes, then see what you pull out.
"Oh," you say, "I wouldn't do that." Okay;
what about four?
"Why," you say, "I am not that big enough
fool." How about three?
"Why," you say, "preacher, you are foolish."
How about two?
"Why," you say, "I still am not going....
How about one?
"Why," you say, you are crazy.
All right, how about ten seconds then? We
will leave the minutes off. How about ten seconds?
"Why," you say, "preacher, I wouldn't pull
back anything but a stub."
Well, how about five seconds? Turn the fire
on, you put your finger in the kitchen fire one... .two... three.. .four...
... five seconds - -see what you pull out.
You say, "I won't do it."
Well, how about four seconds? How about
three? How about two? How about one? How about putting your finger in the
fire and saying, "One second," --pull it out?
No, you wouldn't do it. Yet my friends, Hell
is longer than one second! Hell is longer than two seconds! Hell is longer
than five seconds! Hell is longer than ten seconds! Hell is longer than ten
minutes! Hell is longer than ten days! Hell is longer than ten weeks! Hell
is longer than ten months! Hell is longer than ten years! Hell is longer
than ten thousand years! Hell is longer than ten million years! Hell is
longer than ten billion years! Hell is longer than ten trillion years! There
are many people who would not be so foolish as for one single second to put
their finger in the fire of the kitchen stove, yet who are plunging their
souls toward a place of torment where they will burn for millions and
billions of years forever, without hope in the world to come! Oh, think of
it! Hell is eternal. It never ceases. The duration of Hell!
We have seen the reason for Hell, the
location of Hell, the prophecy of Hell, the duration of Hell; now we come
lastly to the sufferings of Hell.
We will spend most of our time tonight on the
sufferings of Hell. I don't want anybody to go to Hell. God knows I don't.
And I want to make this clear. If I did not believe in Hell, I would get out
of this business. If I did not believe in Hell, I would close my Bible and
not preach another sermon. If I did not believe that people who are lost and
die without God will burn forever, I would close my Bible and get in some
lucrative profession and I would get as much out of life as possible. I
would say the Epicureans are right: I will live and eat and drink and be
merry, for to -morrow I die. Because I believe in Hell, the motivating power
of my ministry is the fact that I believe people to whom I preach may go to
Hell.
Sometimes I am criticized for being
evangelistic all the time. Many times people say, "Why don't you give the
Christians more?" I do try to give the Christians more. The crowd that
thinks I don't give the Christians enough is the crowd that doesn't come
back on Sunday night or Wednesday night. I try to give Christians something.
But there Is always that constant inner motivating power that people to whom
I preach on Sunday morning and Sunday night and Wednesday night are
eternity-bound people headed somewhere, and some of them will live forever
in the place of the unprepared.
Oh, as I have preached sermon after sermon
after sermon, and many people have heard me preach and have not been saved,
and they have plunged their way toward Hell, they have died without hearing
the Gospel again; I stop and think there are people tonight burning while I
am preaching tonight; they are screaming while I am preaching tonight; they
are in Hell, falling in the bottomless pit, gnashing their teeth, in
darkness forever and ever and ever and ever! How in the name of good common
sense can any man who calls himself a preacher of God's Gospel help but warn
people about the wrath of God to come is more than I can understand.
I promised God years ago that I would be the
kind of a preacher to preach all the Bible. I promised Him that nobody would
change it. I promised God that no one would influence my preaching but Him.
If you want to make me real mad, where I tell you to sit back where you
belong, you just try to tell me what to preach. Oh, you will have your hands
full! You really will! You can tell me my tie isn't straight, and I will try
to straighten it up. You can tell me that my suit isn't exactly the right
color, and I will try to buy a new one. But you leave my preaching alone.
That is between me and God.
I want to say this tonight: the Bible plainly
teaches that there is a place of suffering called Hell.
There are severai things about suffering. In
the first place It is fire.
F-I-R-E--fire! In Mark, chapter 9, verse 43,
we read: "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to
enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into hell, into the fire
that never shall be quenched."
Suppose you have a hand that is keeping you
from Jesus Christ. Suppose you have a hand that is sending your soul to
Hell. Suppose your hand has some sin; there is something your hand does you
cannot give up, and that thing keeps you from salvation in Jesus Christ. The
Bible says cut it off. Better for you not to have any hands than to go to
Hell.
Again in Mark9, verse 45, it says: "And if
thy foot offend thee, cut it off: it is better for thee to enter halt into
life, than having two feet to be cast into hell, into the fire that never
shall be quenched."
If that foot has an enjoyment that you cannot
quit; if that foot has a sin it commits that keeps you from God and will
send you to Hell, the Bible says "cut it off." Better for you to enter into
life without a foot or hand than having feet and hands to be cast into the
lake of fire where the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
Verse 47 says: "And if thine eye offend thee,
pluck it out: it is better for thee to enter into the kingdom of God with
one eye, than having two eyes to be cast into hell fire."
If there is something that your eye does that
makes you reject Jesus Christ, if there is something your eye does that
makes you say no to the Gospel and plunges you toward Hell, the Bible says
"gouge it out," "pluck it out." Better for you not to have any eyes or hands
and feet than to be cast into the lake of fire where the worm dieth not and
the fire is not quenched.
Hell is fire!
I wish people who don't believe the Bible
would quit riding under the name of Christianity. I wish people who don't
believe what God says in the Bible would quit calling themselves Christians.
Oh, my soul hungers for a simple belief in the Word of God.
I wrestled with this thing when I was a kid
preacher. Numbers of people tried to counsel with me. Older preach -ers far
down the line tried to tell me I should not preach Hell -fire and brimstone.
I had to wrestle about this thing. I went through a brief period where I
wondered if there really were fire in Hell. But I had to have a basis; there
must be a foundation. There has to be something as the criterion for what
you believe. So I decided the Bible is true. I decided this Book is the Word
of God, and if this Book says it, I am going to believe it. And this Book is
plain about the fires of Hell.
Matthew 25:41 says "everlasting fire."
Revelation 20:15 says "the lake of fire," which means liquid fire, lava.
Revelation 21:8 says, "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 ."
In Luke 16:24 the rich man said, "Father
Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his
finger in water, and cool my tongue; for I am tormented in this flame."
My precious friend, if you have not received
Christ as your Saviour, I plead with you, receive Him, come to Him, for in
Him alone is escape from the fires of Hell. If you tonight belong to this
church, you may be a respectable member, but if you have never been born by
the Spirit of God, if you have never been saved, I beg you to come to Christ
and be saved. Far better for you to be embarrassed tonight than to be
embarrassed when you stand before God.
The second suffering besides fire is Weeping
and Gnashing of Teeth.
In Matthew 22:12, 13 it says about the man
who came to the wedding feast having no garment: "Then said the king [Jesus]
to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and take him away, and cast him
into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth."
Falling, burning, weeping, gnashing of teeth!
I wish I could describe it--a person gnashing his teeth because of pain.
Recently I got a call from the Chairman of
the Board of Deacons at my former pastorate in Garland- -one of the best
friends I ever had. He said, "Preacher, little Bobby was out in the barn
(they live on the farm) playing with some gasoline and the gasoline turned
over and little Bobby was just a bundle of fire. He was burned terribly and
he has been in the hospital. He will live, but he was burned terribly. Pray
for little Bobby."
My heart was broken, crushed! We are so
burdened for Bobby; and the folk at Miller Road Church are so heartbroken
for Bobby because Bobby has been burned.
Listen, nobody said, "Don't be a fanatic."
Oh, they rushed Bobby to the hospital. They got him, smothered the flame,
they rushed him to the hospital. Pastor Tom Landers spent all night at the
hospital. The deacons gathered around his bed and had prayer because Bobby
had been burned. Nobody called them fools; nobody called them fanatics.
Nobody said they were narrow-minded because here was a little boy who had
been burned. But if these same people plead all night for a sinner to stay
out of Hell where they will burn forever, somebody will say they are
religious fanatics, fools for Christ.
Not only is there gnashing of teeth and
weeping, but there is Darkness.
Years ago Mrs. Hyles and I were in Colorado
for a few days' rest. We went to the Cave of the Winds. This Cave is like
Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. They took us way back through one tunnel,
then we went through a smaller tunnel. All these stalagmites and stovepipes!
They were hanging down. One fellow said they were 40 thousand, or 40 million
years old--I don't know which. We went through. Water was seeping on our
heads. I thought, "Man, oh, don't anybody kick these electric wires! We have
been in here thirty-five or forty minutes and if these lights go out, we
have had it! Boy, don't anybody kick these electric wires!"
Then all of a sudden it got dark! I looked at
my wife- -and I didn't look at her! I looked at my hand, and it wasn't
there! And I thought, "Dear Lord in Heaven, don't blow a fuse now on these
wires!" So dark! So dark you couldn't even see your wife, you couldn't even
see your hand- -couldn't see a thing, just darkness, total darkness.
And think of it! People who live with you;
folks who work with you are headed for eternity without Christ forever, to
burn and scream and cry and gnash their teeth in total darkness forever! If
you loved them, you would tell them about Jesus. If you cared for them, you
would witness to them. We dress in our robes of righteousness, pull our
Christianity around us and show off how good we are in a world going to Hell
and nobody cares! Our soul in Heaven, when people are headed for outer
darkness, without God forever!
Darkness! How many times in the night have I
been at the hospital. I can recall in a little town way down near the
Louisiana border I received a call at three o'clock in the morning from a
little lady who had a one-year-old baby. Our little Becky was a year old
then. We stayed all night at the hospital. Little Sheila never pulled out of
it completely. Though she still lives, she is afflicted. No one knew what
the disease was. I can hear that dear mother as she looked outside and saw
the darkness. "Brother Hyles, I wish morning would come! I wish morning
would come! Oh, it is not so bad in the daytime, but in the nighttime, at
two or at three o'clock in the morning!" I can still hear the cries of that
little mother saying, "Brother Hyles, I wish morning would come! I wish
morning would come!"
Think of it! In Hell, no morning! No
sunshine! No brightness! No glow of God's love! No radiance of the presence
of our Saviour! Oh, darkness forever and ever and ever! In a bottomless pit
which burneth with fire and brimstone. Darkness! Gnashing of teeth!
Suffering! Fire forever!
The suffering of Hell is fire, darkness,
weeping and gnashing of teeth, and in the next place the suffering of Hell
is Conscience.
People who know more about the Bible than I
do say that when it says in Mark 9:44, .... .where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched," their worm means the worm of their conscience. It
does not say "the worm," but "their worm." In Mark 9:46 again it says,
"Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched." In Mark 9:48 the
third time it says, "Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not
quenched." What worm? The worm of conscience.
Somewhere I heard about a picture entitled
"Napoleon in Hell ." It pictured the little General Napoleon in Hell. Here
was his hell: Around him were gathered all the mothers he had left with dead
little babies. Around him were gathered all the little orphaned children
caused by his tyranny. Around him were gathered all the widows who were left
because of Napoleon's ruthlessness. Napoleon had to look at them, had to
look forever in Hell at those orphans, at those widows, at those maimed
bodies, and the empty places in the homes. He had to look forever at those
because Hell was the conscience of thinking of the awful things he had done
on the earth.
My Bible says when people stand before God,
the books will be opened, and the deeds done in the body shall be manifest.
Oh, the conscience of Hell! I believe there will be songbooks. You will have
to hear the songs you heard sung about Jesus, but refused to accept the
Gospel. Ibelieve there will be books of sermons that you will have to hear
over and over again- -sermons you heard but rejected the Gospel after you
heard them. Conscience! Oh, the conscience of all the sins, to remind you of
all the wickedness, and all the vile, and all the corruption in Hell forever
and forever.
We hasten on. Suffering of Hell is fire,
darkness, weeping and gnashing of teeth, conscience; but the suffering of
Hell also is Lust.
Revelation 22:11 says: "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."
So that which is unjust here shall be unjust
in eternity. That which is filthy here shall be filthy in eternity. The
drunkard here shall be a drunkard in Hell. He will crave liquor in Hell. The
lustful here will lust in Hell. The abominable here will be abominable in
Hell. There will be no difference except one thing: Brother, when you get to
be an alcoholic here, you can find some liquor to satisfy your crave, but in
Hell it will be an unsatisfied hunger all the time. Filthy still! No liquor!
How many times have I seen men reach for the
bottle in my own presence! I was in a home one time when a man said,
"Preacher, I hate to drink in your presence, but I have got to have a
bottle." He took that hand, shaking like a leaf in a storm, opened the
refrigerator, pulled out the bottle when he could hardly hold it still
enough to drink it, and poured it down his mouth, into his stomach, and
said, "Preacher, I had to have it!"
But in Hell he will beg and lust for it, but
it won't be there. The adulterer will lust, but his lust will not be
satisfied. Hell is a place of constant lust. The same unholy passions you
had here, you will have there, except there will be no satisfaction offered.
Same desires, unholy lusts. He that is filthy shall be filthy still.
Suffering of Hell is fire, darkness, weeping
and gnashing of teeth, conscience, lust; and then Hell is a place of
Eternal Death.
Revelation 2:11 speaks about Hell as being
the second death. Revelation 20:14 calls Hell the second death. Revelation
21:8 calls Hell the second death. Hell is called eternal dying, eternal
death. I believe Hell is that state constantly on that little narrow divide
between life and death.
Several years ago I was called into a home at
midnight. An eighty-odd-year-old man was dying. I felt his pulse. His hands
were cold, his eyes were set in death, it seems. I can hear him as he cried
in the night, "Preacher, Preacher, pray for God to let me live! Pray for God
to let me live!"
I said, "I will."
Then after awhile he said, "No Preacher, pray
for God to let me die."
I can hear the screams of the eighty-year-old
man as he said, "0 God, let me live! Let me live! Let me live! Let me live!"
Then he would scream again and say, "0 God, let me die! Let me die! If I
can't live, let me die! If I can't die, let me live! But the horror of being
here on the borderline! I can see life on one side and death on the other.
God, let me go from one to the other!"
The Bible says Hell is eternal dying. People
in Hell shall be dying all the time. They will never live. It will be a
constant, never-ceasing, endless dying process always, forever and ever.
Sixty people die a minute. Since I have been
preaching tonight, over two thousand people have died. March... march...
march! Onward! Onward! Two thousand people in the last thirty-five minutes,
sixty every minute, thirty-six hundred an hour, eighty-six thousand a day,
thirty million people a year! 0 God, help us! Every time we have a service
on Sunday morning in this church, over five thousand people plunge out into
eternity, and most of them without God.
How can we sleep at night? Oh, it is a wonder
that God doesn't destroy the church of the twentieth century. The churches
of our day were built and born in the revival fires of Charles Finney, and
Jonathan Edwards, and Dwight Moody, and Billy Sunday. They were born in
those revivals. Somebody has said, "Since the days of Billy Sunday, the
church of Jesus Christ has made no progress whatsoever." The last shaking
this world had was in the days of these fellows who preached Hell-fire and
brimstone.
When Jonathan Edwards preached the old
sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," people fell under such
conviction they reached for the pillars in the church building and held on
for fear they would fall that night in the fires of Hell.
Sixty people a minute! Every tick of my
watch, another. Tick.. .Tick. . .another! Tick.. .another! Every tick of the
watch, every hour of the day, march... march... march - -thirty-six hundred
people die! Hell, a place of fire! Hell, a place of lust! Hell, a place of
conscience! Hell, a place of weeping! Hell, a place of darkness! Hell, a
place of eternal separation from all that is good and all that is holy!
But, Thank God, You Don't Have to Go There!
A famous artist painted a picture showing a
beautiful forest, a lovely wooded area. But his teacher said, "Never paint a
forest without painting a path leading out."
Tonight I have described the doctrine of
Hell- -the reason, the location, the prophecy, the duration, the
sufferings--all of it; but I am so happy there is a path out. What is the
path? Jesus said, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto
the Father, but by me." If you will come to Jesus Christ tonight, you will
never have to go to Hell. But if you reject Him, as sure as this Bible is
true, without Jesus you will go to Hell. But just as sure as it is true,
with Christ you can go to Heaven.
I am so happy tonight that I will never go to
Hell, Jack Hyles has taken care of all that already. Thank God, I will never
burn one minute in Hell. I will never cry in the darkness of Hell, for Jesus
paid it all, all to Him I owe. You say, "Oh, you must be pretty good. If you
are not going to Hell, and you know you are going to Heaven, you must be
pretty good."
No, I am a scoundrel--just like you. I am no
good.
"Oh," you say, "you must live a pretty good
life."
The best I can, but I fall short.
But you say, "You know you are going to
Heaven; you know you are not going to Hell. You must be spotless, pure."
No, I am not, but I will tell you what. I am
trusting Someone who is spotless, pure.
My college president said he was preaching in
a revival campaign. He went down to a local restaurant to eat a noon meal.
He walked out to pay his bill and he asked the little waitress, "Little
Lady, do you know Jesus?"
She looked at him and said, "You are
preaching in a revival down at the First Baptist Church, aren't you?"
"Yes, I am."
She said, "Huh! I am not going to go down
there because those folks are all hypocrites ."
He looked at her and said very tenderly, "But
little lady, I didn't come to tell you how wonderful the folks are down
there. I came to tell you about Jesus. Can you find anything wrong with
Him?"
Great big old tears welled up in her eyes as
she looked up at him and said, "Sir, if more of the people down there would
live like Him, more of us people out here would come down there."
I am telling you about Jesus tonight, not the
First Baptist Church, not the Baptist denomination. If you will trust Him as
Saviour, you will never know what Hell -fire will be for yourself.
Tonight, are you bound for the Promised Land?
Or are you afraid if you died tonight, you might go to Hell? If you will
come to Jesus, you can settle all that. Bow your heads for prayer, please.
Our Father, we come tonight at the close of
this sobering sermon on the subject, "To Hell and Back." Oh, our hearts
think of those again and again and again plunging every sec -ond into Hell,
over and over and over and over again plunging into eternity. Thirty-six
hundred an hour, sixty every minute, thirty million people a year, the army
continues to march. We pray, 0 God, that You would help us to be concerned.
Help us to care. Help us to witness, and love, and warn, and plead with
people not to go to Hell.
While our heads are bowed, our eyes are
closed, I can put one hand on the Bible and the other hand high in the air
and say, as for me, I will not go to Hell because I know Jesus. I deserve to
go to Hell, God knows, but I am not going there because of Jesus. Three
cheers for Jesus! Hallelujah for Him who made it possible through His death
on the cross. And since I have trusted Him, I am going to Heaven.
How many of you can say, "Brother Hyles, I
believe in Hell as much as you do, but, preacher, I'm not going there, for I
am in Christ. He is my Saviour and I am His child." Are you willing to lift
your hand tonight and say, "I am saved, too, and I am going to Heaven when I
die"? As your hand goes up, there ought to be a hallelujah in your heart.
Now dear precious unsaved friends, do you
believe the Bible? If you do, you must believe in Hell. How many of you
would say tonight, "Preacher, I couldn't raise my hand, couldn't lift it,
for I have never trusted Jesus. I do not know that I would go to Heaven if I
died, but I wish I did. I believe in Hell, and I don't want to go there"?
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