People Who Die Without Christ Jesus Go to Hell — Tim Conway

The Certainty of Hell for Those Without Christ

I'm going to go, statistically, 100 of all people who do not bring forth good works, 100 of all people who die without Christ, they are in hell now. Second thing, the severity. I have literally trembled as I have studied this topic.

The Eternal Nature of Hell

What causes my soul to shake within me is the eternality, the foreverness of hell. Before I did a series on hell at my own church, I did a series on heaven. It's a glorious doctrine. It is glorious. But you know there is something glorious about the doctrine of hell too.

It is glorious in its dreadfulness, in its fearfulness, because it reveals to us a part of God that oftentimes we don't like to admit is real and exists. But it is necessary. We love to talk about God's love, God's goodness, God's mercy, God's compassion, God's forbearance, God's tender mercies.

Oh, and it is good, it is good, good to give thanks to the Lord for those things. But when you think about the severity of hell, you begin to realize it is no slap on the wrist. Hell is fearsome. It is dreadful.

Hell as Fire and a Fiery Furnace

We read our Bibles and we can pass over those texts so freely, so easily. Weeping, gnashing of teeth. In the ESV, in Matthew 18, it speaks about the hell of fire. Hell is a place of fire. I have thought about my grandmother's house.

I grew up in Michigan. My grandmother, she lived in a past age in the home she lived in. She actually had a fire-burning furnace in the basement. And I can remember times going down and throwing fire in the furnace to keep grandma's house warm in the winter.

And you open that door and there is a raging infernal fire inside that furnace. And Christ described hell as a fiery furnace. And imagine being pushed through that little hole and then the door is shut.

And it will never open. It will never open. God, You have burned Yourself on the finger. If anything can be attached to the idea of fire, it is the idea of pain. It should strike within our minds that hell is a place of pain.

The Unending Pain and Weeping of Hell

Unimaginable. The man in Luke 16, he cried out in his torments if only he could have a drop of water for his tongue. But not even that would be given to him. The thing that is so fearful about hell is not just that it is a fiery furnace.

Not just that Isaiah would say, not who can dwell with those fires, but who can dwell with the everlasting burnings. Everlasting. That is the horror of horrors about hell is it never ends. It is pain that is excruciating.

It is anguish. Our generation knows very little about pain. We have so many medications, so much to dull the pain. But here, there will be nothing to dull it. God will not relieve your pain no matter how you cry, no matter how you weep.

Think of weeping. Have you ever just wept uncontrollably? You've lost a beloved one. Something traumatic has happened in your life where you have just wept uncontrollably. That is how Christ describes hell.

It is a place of weeping. You will weep. Think of this. To weep forever. You will weep if you land in hell. You will weep more than all the weeping that has ever been done in all the ages of all the earth.

You will fill up the measure of the weeping of every individual who has passed through life. Because you will weep and you will weep and you will weep. And there is the idea of the gnashing of teeth. Whether it's in the unbearable, excruciating pain, there are places in the Scripture that attach the gnashing of teeth to anger as well.

Eternal Destruction and Contempt

The anger at others. The anger at yourself. The anger at God still. Hell is not what some make it out to be like purgatory. Hell does not make better. The doctrine of hell is about eternal destruction.

It doesn't make better. It destroys everything that has any semblance of good. The image of God that is upon you, man, will be eternally defaced and defiled. You will become more and more and more contemptible as the eternal ages pass by.

And think about that. Daniel describes it as a place of eternal contempt. Do you know what the word contempt means? It means that in the sight of God, He will find you absolutely vile, absolutely loathsome to behold.

I know 2 Thessalonians talks about destruction, eternal destruction, away from or apart from His presence. Christ would say in the Gospels, depart from Me. And there is a departing from all of God's goodness.

No One Escapes the Presence of God

Some of you may say right now, I don't mind that. I don't mind living apart from God. In fact, God makes me uncomfortable. I don't like the demands on my life. I don't like this thing about repentance.

I don't mind being without God. But nobody is without God. Not even in hell. Everything that you have right now, everything we are able to enjoy. You sink your teeth into an apple. Or you enjoy a piece of pie.

You have a nice warm blanket to cover up with. I talked with a young man yesterday. Scar from a bullet hole in his head. Been shot in the leg. He is here in Texas now because he is running from California because he has already got 2 strikes against him.

One more and he goes to prison forever. Forever in his life. He said, what has God done for me? My mom is dead. My grandma is dead. My dad is in jail for life. I don't know where my brothers and sisters are.

I have nothing. I said, that's not true. You have a coat on now. You have enjoyed the day. You just had a meal. You have rewrapped with a blanket. You see, in that sense, we are departed from God. But in a real sense as well, we do not leave God's presence because it is God Himself who with a perfect hatred forever will pour out His contempt upon us.

God's Perfect Hatred and Everlasting Wrath

Ezekiel. Some of the Old Testament prophets had very fearful things to say. God says in Ezekiel 8,. Therefore, I will act in wrath. My eye will not spare, nor will I have pity. And though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.

He will hate you with a perfect hatred. He will hate you and He will have you. That is the fearsomeness of hell. The text we read says that those in hell, they are going to be tormented. Where? In the presence of the holy angels and of the Lamb.

One of the most fearful things about hell is not the total absence of God, the absence of all of His blessings. Yes, can you imagine forevermore with not any joy, no more comfort? But God is going to be there.

One of the fearful things about God, it is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. He is a consuming fire. And when He sets His face against you, He will trample you out in the winepress of His wrath.

And it is forever.