Many roads to hell, one road to salvation.

A punishment that never ends, conscious existence, conscious life in a body resurrected and suited for everlasting punishment. The bible speaks of this occurring in a place called Hell.

We tend to look over the topic of hell, ignore it and pass by it. It is a touchy subject, is it not?

The truth is that Hell should be one of the first things we talk about when we talk about the gospel. The Gospels point is about salvation from hell, and salvation is only given by Jesus Christ. There is no way to preach the good news of the Gospel, without the bad news of Hell.

75% of Americans, according to Pew Research Center, believe that there is Hell. And of those 75%, only 4% believe that there is a chance that they will ever go there. Although the bible specifically states that, “ For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it. But small is the gate and narrow is the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.” (Matt 7:13–14) Interesting how the world completely contradicts what the bible tells us as a fact, yet too many are caught up in their own pride, their own sin, or even their own acts of being complacent to realize their road that they have chosen to take.

For those who did not know this scripture was even stated in the bible, I’d hate to be the bearer of bad news but…Hosea 4:6: “My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge, because you have rejected knowledge …” When the bible tells us to ‘meditate day and night’…it gives you the reason why there is no excuse, you will still be going down that broad road of destruction.

So the rising point that there is hell is acknowledged by everyone whether they choose to believe it or not. But the point that we are all headed there without repentance and acceptance of Jesus is not acknowledged by the majority.

Sin is freely exploited…all sin is acceptable except for the most heinous crimes. Murder and pedophilia for example. Yet, even murder, sometimes to people its acceptable if that person doesn’t deserve to live. Behaviors have no societal consequence.

There’s a warped understanding of good and evil and a distorted understanding of justice. We don’t know what sin is…sin can ever be what I do…only if it harms someone else. If the culture imposes no consequences along with the society placing no stigma on immoral behavior, that people get so used to sinning without consequences, that when you introduce the idea that they will pay in full for every sin they have ever committed in the eyes of God, that it’s just false allegations. Or it’s not that serious.

Rom 2: “You are storing up for yourself wrath on the day of wrath”…you’re not getting away with anything. Adultery, sin in the mind, sin of the lips, nothing. You’re just accumulating iniquities, which all will be confronted and judged.

This is a difficult thing to convince people about who are so used to sinning. Professing christians are just as used to getting away with sin just like non christians.

Another example of this is how parents are very reluctant to create significant consequences for their children’s sins. Which is crucial; apart from the Gospel this is one of the most important things your child will ever learn. That sin has immense and painful consequences. Every unforgiven sin, every sin that’s committed by the one who rejects Jesus Christ will be justly punished by God eternally in Hell. So when raising your children, it is crucial NOT to raise them to think otherwise about their sin, or they will have a distorted view as they grow. (Until accepting Jesus and turning from their sin). This teaching has been the same since the time of Moses, going back to the Pentateuch, the first section of books in the bible.

Matthew 5:22

Matthew 10:28

When you talk about salvation, the word Hell has to be used. It is a necessary topic. Without the understanding of Hell, and the need to know that we are all headed there, salvation is not going to be understood nor granted. What are we being rescued from? Without knowing this answer, how will you understand salvation? Salvation is a rescue from a real place, called Hell.

Jesus defied Hell as: conscious eternal punishment. He continuously talked about this and how to escape it. Luke 16- The famous story about a man who went to Hell. In this parable, Jesus tells us this is a place we go to after death: a place of torment, a place of thirst, a place of agony and a place of fire. Once you are there, you’re there, there is no getting out or second chance. This is our Lords story describing hell. Yet many people do not believe this.

There are 3 ways of denying the doctrine of hell.

1. Annihilationism

Unbelievers go out of existence. When they die they don’t exist anymore, they cease. The bible doesn’t support this; it talks about eternal conscious punishment

2. Universalism

All unbelievers in the end were saved. They don’t go out of existence, they stand with god. These people acknowledge that there is a Hell, but it was created only for the devil and his angels, so they are the only ones that will go there. In the end God is going to save everyone. Yet the whole message of scripture is that the ungodly are forever excluded from God’s presence and forever punished. If everyone was saved in the end, that everything in the Bible that speakeasy of eternal punishment is unbelievable and false.

With these 2 views we still don’t have an explanation of what the bible says about everlasting punishment.

3. Inclusivism –

some people will go to hell, but only those who heard and rejected the gospel. Those who haven’t heard the gospel will be saved because they aren’t responsible for their situation. The problem is that you won’t get salvation unless you believe in Christ.

• Inclusivist- those who say they never heard the bible.