The Reality of Hell

“If your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than, having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than, having your two feet, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. If your eye causes you to stumble, throw it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than, having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched." Mark 9:43-48

The reality of man’s lostness is an eternal Hell, not Hades as in death, but Gehenna as in eternal hell fire.

Hell is eternal....Mark 9
Hell is fire....Mark 9
Hell is darkness....Matthew 25:30
Hell is agony.....Luke 16:24
Hell is eternal separation....Luke 16:26

This has always been understood, that’s why Jesus came - to seek and save the lost. That’s why He told us to go into all the world! That’s why we preach.

The Apostle Paul said, “ Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men.” II Cor 5:11.
In other words, it is because of the terror of God’s judgment that we should be motivated to evangelize.

It is the knowledge of the coming wrath and judgment of the human race that motivated the great missionary movements –
• John Knox, 16th century Scottish reformer - On his knees for lost souls in Scotland, he plead with God, “Give me Scotland or I die.”

• Hudson Taylor, 19th century English founder of the China Inland Mission - As a young man he looked across the thousands of miles to the unreached multitudes of Chins and cried out to God, “I feel that I cannot go on living unless I do something for the lost in China.”

• Henry Martyn, 18th century English missionary to India and Persia - After landing in India he said, “Here I am in the midst of heathen midnight and savage oppression. Now, my dear Lord, let me burn out for Thee.”

The entire Bible is supportive of the truth that God is a God of wrath. However, many are denying this today, and in an attempt to escape accountability to a holy God, many deny God’s wrath.