Podcast: Play in new window | Download

Subscribe: Google Podcasts | Email | RSS | More

Where Their Worm Does Not Die

• Today we are going to talk about Hell. What it is. What it means. How you can escape it.
• Before we even Get into the text there are some baseline agreements that mentally you need to agree to before you begin to try to understand the meaning of this text.
• I believe Hell to be a real place. It exists. I am not afraid of it because I am not going there.
• I don’t live for Jesus because I’m afraid of Hell, I live for Jesus because I’m a afraid of life without him.
  

• First agreement: Jesus is God in the flesh. Everything he speaks is truth. He can be trusted. He means what he says and says what he means. Some things he has said were symbolic or figurative, but where Jesus speaks plainly, we should allow him to speak plainly. In addition to his Messiahship, Jesus preaching was to ‘set the record straight’ so to speak. People did not understand God as they should
• Second agreement: The Bible is true in its descriptions of all things regarding truth pertaining to YHWH, the people of Abraham and followers of Jesus Christ. It is true in its entirety
• Third agreement: What we think about what Hell is, or what it should be is irrelevant in a discussion about Hell- we must let the scriptures speak for themselves. Hell is what the scriptures say it is
• Fourth agreement: Talking about Hell does not negate God’s love for you as described in the Bible
• Fifth agreement: None of us decide who goes to Heaven and who goes to Hell- the Bible describes it, and we can read it, but the ultimate decision rests on God alone upon our exit from this earth
• Sixth agreement: People who have repented of their sins and received Christ as savior do not have to fear Hell. Those who are ‘in Christ’ on the day of their death will be welcomed into heaven

• So what does this text say?
• We’re going to break it down into a few pieces, but first off, I want to solidify the definition and description of Hell, so when we speak of what Jesus meant in this scripture, you know what he meant.
  

1. Hell in the OT

• The word “Hell” doesn’t exist in the OT, but the word “Sheol” does. Sheol is “the deep”
• Scholars differ on why the OT isn’t expressly clear on the doctrine of Hell in the NT sense
• But the OT DOES Speak about a few themes that are part of God’s nature and character
• God’s wrath will eventually be meted out upon the Earth:
• Psalm 110:5 The Lord is at Your right hand; He shall execute kings in the day of His wrath.
• Read Zephaniah 1– The imagery and description of God’s wrath and his eventual day of judgment upon the Earth and his covenant people cannot be understated. God will have his day
• Daniel 12:2 And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, Some to everlasting life, Some to shame and everlasting contempt.

• God will have his day of vengeance:
• Malachi 4:5 Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet Before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the Lord.
• Isaiah 14:15 Yet you shall be brought down to Sheol, To the lowest depths of the Pit.
• The fact that the OT doesn’t expressly say the words “Hell” doesn’t discount what Jesus and the NT says about it. Did Jesus get it wrong? Was Jesus misinformed? Was Jesus lying? NO NO NO

1. Hell in the NT

• In Jesus Sermon on the mount which is arguably the most agreed upon discourse of our Savior by which people judge his nature, character and theology describes Hell
• Matt 5:29 If your right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you; for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell.
• Jesus warns that Jews without faith will Go to Hell (Mt 8:10-12). He describes it as dark, outside and a place of suffering. He tells his disciples to fear Hell (10:28). In the parable of the weeds he describes Hell as separation from God using the imagery of Fire and suffering. 18:8 describes Hell as a place of Eternal fire. He says that those who don’t repent will never escape Hell (23:33)
• Many places in Matthew he speaks of Hell and describes it as punishment for disobedience, a place where people are cut into pieces, where people suffer, where people are excluded, where it is dark, and utter and complete banishment from Jesus and his Kingdom.

• It continues in the other Gospels as well. Its in all four of them
• Paul discusses Hell, wrath, destruction and pain and suffering in Romans and many of his other letters
• Future punishment, God’s judgment, Trouble and distress, Death, Destruction,
• Revelation 14:11 And the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever; and they have no rest day or night, who worship the beast and his image, and whoever receives the mark of his name.”
• Revelation 20:10 10 The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
• greatest theologian about Hell was Jesus himself. He talked about it a lot. We understand H bc of JC

1. What Is hell?

• When Jesus talks about hell in the NT he uses the word Gehenna which was the burning trash heap on the outskirts of town where they took garbage, excrement, and dead bodies
• To the people of the time, Jesus used this imagery to describe to people what hell would be like, so he gave them a description of it. A burning dump full of dead bodies and human waste
• Who wants to go there? Even using that word it was indescribable. Valley of Hinnom
• 2 Kings 23:10 says they used to sacrifice childen to Molech there and Criminals were burned
• Fiirst- it is a place of punishment. The punishment for sins, actions against God and his standards is the purpose of Hell. This is deserved based on the sinners actions. It will be suffering it will be eternal.
• Secondly- It is a place of destruction- Much like death, the bible calls it a second death. First death sounds horrible, being subjected to a second death sounds even worse
• Thirdly- Punishment is where the actions of Hell are manifest, but the essence of it is what unbelievers miss- eternity with God within his kingdom experiencing his goodness

• One of the greatest descriptions of Hell can be found in Luke 16 and the story of Lazarus
• A rich man dies and goes to hell and a man named Lazarus dies and goes to heaven
• What we see in this story is that the Man in Hell is conscious. He’s aware that he is in Hell and being tormented and cries out and says Luke 16: 24 “Then he cried and 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.’ 25 But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus evil things; but now he is comforted and you are tormented
• Hell is real folks. Jesus talked about it numerous places
• 3 Times in our text today he says “‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’
• Matthew 24:51 and will cut him in two and appoint him his portion with the hypocrites. There shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth

1. Who is going to go to Hell?

• According to the Bible, there is no in between. You are either Going to Heaven, or you are going to Hell. There is no third option.
• People who do not believe in Jesus
• According to the Bible, there is only one path to Heaven- John 14:6 Jesus said to him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through Me.
• John 3:18 “He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
• People who do not obey the Gospel
• 1 thes 1: 8 in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power,

So what about the text for today?

1. Don’t be the person who causes a young Christian to stumble

• 42 “But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble, it would be better for him if a millstone were hung around his neck, and he were thrown into the sea.
• When Jesus says “little ones” he’s not talking about Children here, he’s talking about young Christians- the newbies. The ones who are just coming to Christ who don’t know any better
• If you’re going to be in that position to discourage, attack, repoint, or send into sin, Jesus says, go drown yourself before you do that. That’s not where you want to be
• How do we do that?
• One- expecting more about of new believers that we expected out of ourselves
• It takes a while to grow in Christ- give the Holy Spirit the time to do to the work
• Even on sports teams, the less time you’ve been playing, the more you need to grow

• Haven’t you ever had someone expect you to know what you’re doing while you’re just learning? Its ANNOYING. No one likes that. Give me some time to LEARN MAN
• Two- Deal with the puppiness of new converts. Puppies don’t know how hard their bite, they make messes, they are WAAAAY excited. Deal with it. It brings life to your life
• Three- Don’t overburden them with high level theology- Let the theology of Jesus reign in their hearts long before you’re trying to decipher revelation with them.
• Romans 12:10 Be kindly affectionate to one another with brotherly love, in honor giving preference to one another;
• Now how to keep yourself from Hell?

1. Don’t put your hand to sin- or you get the worm

• What are the sins of the hands? How you do your work, How you treat those around you, are you prone to violence, stealing, hurting, not helping, not being generous, devising wicked plans against other people,
• There are many sins that you can commit with your hands and Jesus says, it would be better if you cut off your hand than to commit the sin
• What’s the point? You should take seriously what you are doing with your hands.
• 43 If your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter into life maimed, rather than having two hands, to go to hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 44 where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’
• There is a personal responsibility upon us to watch what we are doing in regards to our sins
• This is serious business. You don’t get this right- you “Go to hell into the fire that shall never be quenched, where the word does not die and the fire is not quenched”
• I understand that some say that we can’t sin our way out of heaven-
• Romans 6:1 What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin that grace may abound? 2 Certainly not! How shall we who died to sin live any longer in it?

1. Don’t put your feet to sin

• You bring yourself to sin, sin rarely finds you.
• 47 And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire— 48 where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’
• You cant take part in the sins that you don’t put yourself in front of. Rarely does sin come knocking at your door. You put your feet to them
• Its where you go, its where you hang out. Its who you hang out with. It’s the decisions that you make with your life. Don’t take that job, don’t move to that place. Move to that place, take that job. Don’t go to that place. Don’t hang out with those people. Don’t buy that product, don’t go to that movie, don’t buy that electronic. Its on YOU.
• 45 And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame, rather than having two feet, to be cast into hell, into the fire that shall never be quenched— 46 where ‘Their worm does not die, And the fire is not quenched.’ People will end up ruining their life on a Friday or Saturday night because their feet took them there!

• There is rarely an instance of “this shouldn’t have happened” sure it shouldn’t have- you should have decided long before you put yourself in that situation to take your feet there
• Psalm 119:133 Direct my steps by Your word, And let no iniquity have dominion over me.
• Proverbs 10:9 He who walks with integrity walks securely, But he who perverts his ways will become known.
• 1 John 1:6 If we say that we have fellowship with Him, and walk in darkness, we lie and do not practice the truth.
• Galatians 5:16 I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.

1. Don’t put your eye to sin

• Envy, pride, jealousy, lust, anger. Often the entrance point and spark to this fire is through your eyes
• Typically its what you put in your eyes that enter into your mind that result in your focusing and ruminating on your sins
• Psalm 101:3 I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; It shall not cling to me.
• Psalm 119:37 Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way.
• Job 31:1 I have made a covenant with my eyes