What the Bible Really Says About Hell

has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. Welcome to All In With Pastor Jordan Easley. Today's message is about to begin and we invite you to prepare your heart and mind to hear an inspiring message from God's Word. We hope and pray for God to speak to you today as you seek to live your life. All In For Jesus Christ. And now from First Baptist Church in Cleveland, Tennessee, here's Pastor Jordan Easley. (congregation applauding) We are concluding a series that we're calling, "Heaven is Greater Than Hell." And I was thinking about that this week. I'm like, man, God wants me to preach this message. I think the devil doesn't want me to preach this message because hell has literally frozen over to Sundays in a row. (congregation laughing) But we are here, right? And hopefully we are ready. We've got to have our Bibles ready today. We've got to have our notes ready today. Even if you're not a note taker, let me just encourage you. Write some stuff down today. You can grab a pencil, a pen, some paper, some mascara. I don't care what you grab. You can do it on your phone.

But there are some things in this message that I believe you need to be aware of. And we're talking about something that's pretty important today. So let me say a quick prayer that we're going to jump in. Are you ready? Lord, get me out of the way today and speak directly to every single one of our hearts. God, we want to see you. We want to see your Word clearly. We want to learn more about who you are and learn exactly what it is you want us to know about you today. It's in Jesus' name we pray. And all God's people said, amen. Well, when you think about it, there are a lot of subjects that people preach about around the world. But I just think there's one subject that most Christians feel uncomfortable talking about. And that just happens to be the thing we're talking about today. It's the thing called hell. It's the place called hell. It's an uncomfortable situation. And it's not necessarily fun to talk about. Now you can talk about heaven all day long. When you talk about heaven, people get excited and people are encouraged.

And it sounds comforting and it sounds hopeful. But man, when you start talking to somebody about hell, it makes us all feel a little uneasy. But let me tell you why we can't avoid this topic called hell. It's because Jesus didn't avoid the topic called hell. In fact, Jesus talked a lot about what we're talking about today. In all the scripture, no one speaks more clearly or more frequently about hell than Jesus himself. And the question is, if hell wasn't real or if hell were just symbolic, then why in the world would Jesus spend so much of his time warning people about hell in the way he did? Listen, if we don't take hell seriously, we're not gonna take salvation seriously. And if salvation isn't serious to us, the cross is gonna become, it's gonna become confusing and grace is gonna become cheap and worship becomes casual and eternity becomes an afterthought. And that's exactly where the devil wants you to be with your mind. He wants you to think about this as just something to do. So before we rush into the hope of heaven, I think it's appropriate for us to slow down just a little bit and to deal honestly with the reality of hell. If you're here a couple weeks ago, you may remember, we played a little theological mythbusters with heaven. In fact, we saw several things that people believed about heaven that don't show up in your Bible at all. And today we're gonna begin our time

by doing the exact same thing. We're gonna see that some people believe things about hell that didn't come from scripture. They came from other places like movies or media or cartoons or even bad preaching, all right? And so we're gonna look at all those things so that we can walk out of here not just knowing what the Bible says about hell, but also what the Bible doesn't say about hell. So that's where we're starting our time together. What does the Bible not say? If you're a note taker today, I want you to jot down the first one. And that is hell isn't a place of pleasure. Hell isn't a place of pleasure. In popular culture, hell is often treated like a joke. People talk about hell very casually as if it's a place where friends reunite in eternity or rebels celebrate together. I've actually heard people say things like that. They're like, hey, I'll see you in hell, right? It's like a joke. They'll say, well, if I end up going to hell, at least me and my buddies will be there together and we're gonna have a great time with one another forever, right? You've heard those things, I have. But let me just tell you, that idea is completely foreign in scripture. When Jesus talks about hell,

he uses words like darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth. You go back and read Matthew chapter 22 or Matthew chapter 13. You have a very vivid description of a place that is not a place of enjoyment. It's an image of a place of anguish and regret and fear and loss. And you need to get this today. You need to read this carefully that hell is never described as a place where people finally get to live, how they want to live. But instead, the Bible says it's a place where the consequences of rejecting God will finally settle in. One of the most sobering things that Jesus ever said was in Matthew chapter 7 verse 13. And I want you to read this chapter or this part of the chapter with me. He said, "Enter through a narrow gate for the gate is wide and the road broad that leads to destruction and there are many who go through it. How narrow is the gate and difficult the road that leads to life. And few find it." You know, if you're like me, you've read this passage several times in your life. And when you read it, you read it in a calm voice. But I just believe with all my heart that when Jesus is saying these words for the very first time, He is pleading with people. He is begging people to listen to what He's saying. And the message is, "Hey, enter through the narrow gate. Don't go through the wide gate. All right. I know the world is going through the wide gate. But when you go through that gate, it's going to lead to a place of death and destruction. You don't want that. Go through the narrow gate because when you go through that gate, it's going to lead to life and you want life. So think about eternity as you're living today. Listen, so many people treat hell like it's a joke. But let me ask you, why would Jesus plead with people like this, if it were? Hell is not a place of pleasure. The second thing I want you to see is this, that Satan doesn't rule in hell. Satan doesn't rule in hell. A lot of our images of hell actually come from medieval literature. This one I actually pulled from Dante's Inferno. And this is an image that is very famous in depicting Satan and it's portraying him in hell, almost like ruling hell. And like hell is a kingdom and Satan is the king of that kingdom. Well, if that's the image you have of the devil, I just want you to understand that the Bible doesn't depict this image at all. In fact, Revelation chapter 20, verse 10 puts it this way, it says, "The devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur where the beast and the false prophet are and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever."

Here's what that tells us. Satan isn't in charge of hell. He will be judged in hell. Do you get that? It's important that we understand his position in place when he is in hell. In fact, get this, hell isn't Satan's kingdom, it's Satan's prison. He is a prisoner in hell, not the chief or the leader of hell. And that matters because sometimes people can assume that Satan is somehow equal to God. Like God rules heaven and Satan rules hell, but that's not true. If your mind ever slips into that, just go ahead and tell you that ain't right. That's not the way it is at all. Satan is not God's equal ever. That's a good place to say, amen. Come back at me just a little bit, all right? Satan is not God's equal, amen? In fact, the Bible says this about Satan. It says that Satan is a created being. He is a rebel. He's a liar. He's a deceiver. He's a thief. Satan is a loser. And hell is not his domain. In fact, it says hell is his doom forever and ever and ever. So get that today. Satan doesn't rule hell. Let me give you a third one as we keep moving forward. Hell isn't temporary. Hell isn't temporary. There's a lot of people who believe that. Like hell, it's like a temporary stop. Some modern teachers actually suggest that hell is momentary or it's actually even corrective. People believe that the people may suffer in hell for a little while, but then eventually make it to heaven. Like it's a bridge that can get us there. In fact, you'll hear people say things today like, well, a loving God wouldn't punish someone forever. Have you heard that before? Or hell is just a refining fire to prepare people for heaven. People say, well, love wins in the end. All of that is true. Love is going to win in the end, but that cannot change and it does not change what the Bible tells us about hell. I know that's hard to hear. I know that's heavy, but the word of God is the word of God. And the word clearly says that when we die, all of us, when we die and we leave this earth, every single person will then step into eternity, not a second chance, not a holding room, not a we will leave this earth, we will step into eternity. And what it clearly says is we will either go to be with God in heaven forever, or we will be separated from God in a real place called hell forever. Hell is not temporary. Let me give you a fourth one today. God doesn't enjoy judgment.

Yeah, of course he doesn't. Well, some people believe he does. In fact, there are a lot of people in this culture. I've had conversations with people in this town who say that I believe that God is just up there just enjoying this whole thing. Like he's a big God with a thunderbolt in his hand and a smile on his face. And he's like, I love condemning all these bad people. If that is your image of God, that is not an image of the God of the Bible. You never have that image of God. In fact, I'll say it this way. The Bible says it this way. It says God does not delight in judgment. God hates the fact that people are being judged. God hates the fact that people reject Jesus. But that's not, he doesn't have a smile on his face as he's walking through that season. In fact, in Ezekiel 3311, the Lord says this, "I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that the wicked person should turn from his way and live." Second Peter 3.9 says, "The Lord is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but all to come to repentance." Since Jesus wants every person to turn to Christ and be saved, it breaks the heart of God when this happens. So if you've ever wondered if God wants people to go to hell, the Bible says, no, absolutely not. But hear me when I say this,

God's love doesn't cancel his holiness and his mercy doesn't erase his justice. Meaning hell isn't God's desire, but it is the consequence of rejecting Jesus Christ and living your own life and following sin instead of following him. God doesn't enjoy judgment. Let me give you one more thing that the Bible doesn't say, you ready? Hell is not merely symbolic. It's not merely symbolic. There are many people who believe that hell is just a metaphor. They think, you know, there's a lot of things in our life, like inter turmoil and regret and depression. We think about all those things in our journey that can be described as hell on earth. And there are a lot of those things, betrayal can feel like hell, right? Guilt can feel like hell, addiction can feel like hell. But that's not what Jesus was talking about when he talked about hell. If hell were merely symbolic, then most of Jesus' warnings in the scriptures would make absolutely no sense because Jesus speaks about these places as being very real. In fact, here's an example. Mark chapter nine, beginning of verse 43, Jesus is using vivid language in his text, and he says this,

if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It's better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and check this out and go to hell where the worm does not die and the fire is not quenched. Right here, Jesus is not being dramatic. He's not using some poetic exaggeration. He was trying to save people and warn people from going to a very real place. That's terrible. In the Bible, Jesus often uses parables and symbols. And when he uses those things, the Bible often tells you about those things. It lets you know this is a parable or this is a symbol. But even in the parables, Jesus never issued this kind of level of warning about something that was imaginary. Why would he? I said, no loving parent in this room would look at their kid and say, hey, if you touch that hot stove, you're gonna feel emotionally uncomfortable. We wouldn't say that. No, if the stove is hot, the warning is urgent, right? We're gonna lean in. We're gonna give a graphic description. And we're gonna be very specific. Why? Because the danger is real. And Jesus speaks the exact same way about hell.

Not to frighten us unnecessarily, but to rescue us lovingly. He tells us the truth. And he lets us know that this place is not symbolic. Listen, those are five things the Bible doesn't say about hell. Now let's shift gears. And I wanna follow that up of five things the Bible actually does say. The first one is kind of a piggyback off of what we were just saying. And that is this, hell is real. We need to get that down. We need to write that down on our hearts. And remember that this is a real place. That people go when they die. When Jesus speaks about hell, he always refers to it as a real place. He bats a thousand on this one. It's not a metaphor, it's not a superstition. In fact, one of the clearest statements that Jesus ever made about hell is written right here in Matthew 25. He said, "Depart from me, you who are cursed, "into the eternal fire prepared for the devil "and his angels." Now look at those words. For those who are cursed, they will experience eternal fire that was prepared. Check that out.

Hell is a prepared place. I don't know if you've ever thought about that before, but hell was prepared by God. And the Bible says it was prepared specifically for whom? For the devil and his angels. Now that's important. You gotta take note of that, because what it says is hell was not originally designed with humanity in mind. God didn't create hell for you or for your loved ones or for people who are terrible. No, hell was prepared for the final judgment for Satan and his rebellion. Now, when Jesus talks about the devil and his angels, I do think it's important to understand. He is referring to what we commonly call demons. He's referring to demons. And the Bible teaches us some things about demons. We don't talk about demons a lot. If this is your first time here, my bad. All right, but this isn't like a common thing. But I think it's important when the Bible talks about it for us to understand it. So when the Bible talks about demons, here's what it's telling us. These are fallen angels. They were created beings who rebelled against God and they followed Satan into his rebellion. Demons are not equal to God. They are not all powerful.

They are not omnipresent. They're not everywhere at the same time. So the question people ask about demons is, well, where are demons then? Well, I'm gonna give you three quick things about demons. We're not gonna stay here long, but I think it's important you get this. The first thing you need to know is demons are not in hell yet. They're not in hell yet. Hell is their future destination. It is not their current residence. In fact, Revelation 20 makes it clear that Satan and his demons will be cast into this lake of fire when at the final judgment. So it's important to understand, if your image in your mind is hell is filled with all these demons right now, it's not. So where are they? Well, here's another thing. Demons are active in the world today. And I don't say that to freak you out. Listen, if you're saved, you don't have to worry about this at all. Because demons and God are, I mean, it's no comparison to the power, but we still have to battle demons and evil powers in this world. In fact, and even in Ephesians chapter six, Paul tells us your enemies are not flesh and blood.

Like you're not going to battle against people in this world. He said you are going to battle against spiritual forces that are behind the scenes. Well, who's Paul talking about there? It's talking about demons. Demons are active in the world and they are trying to disrupt what God is trying to accomplish. And so understand, they're not in hell right now. They are amongst us and they are trying to move people away from the will of God in the best way they can. But the third thing is important to understand and that is demons are real, but they're limited. They're not as big and bad as they think they are. In fact, they can influence and they contempt and they can deceive, but they are always 100% of the time under God's authority. When you read the Gospels, you read story after story about Jesus saying a word and demons are trembling, right? Demons are doing what Jesus says. They're obeying Jesus. Why? Because they are under his authority. They are not powerful compared to Christ. So when Jesus says hell was prepared for the devil and his angels, he's pointing to a real future judgment where evil will finally and fully be dealt with. That's what the Bible says. One day the devil and every single demon

will be cast into a real and eternal lake of fire and they will be away from the presence of God and the people of God forever and ever amen and amen. But the Bible also says that even though hell wasn't created for us, that people can still choose to go to hell. Did you know that? People can still choose to go to hell. You say, Jordan, how does a person choose to go to hell? Let me give you two things to write down. They choose to go to hell by doing this, by rejecting God's rule and by refusing God's rescue. By rejecting God's rule and refusing God's rescue. When we do that, we are choosing hell instead of heaven. This is not a fairy tale. This is not just another movie that you've seen. This is a real place and it's one of two places where people will spend eternity. Second thing the Bible says is hell is separation from God. To me, one of the most haunting verses in the whole Bible is where Jesus said in Matthew 25, "Depart from me." Three words that absolutely terrify mankind, and they should if you don't know the Lord. Jesus saying, "Depart from me from someone "who doesn't really know him." Did this moment in the future where you come face to face with Jesus and he's either like, "Come in, well done, "my good and faithful servant." Or he looks at you and he says, "Depart from me." Listen, those three words to me are the definition of hell.

At its very core, that's what hell is. It is eternal separation from Jesus Christ. In 2 Thessalonians 1-9, it says, "Then they will pay the penalty of eternal destruction "from the Lord's presence and from his glorious strength." I want you to notice that phrase. That is hell. It is, it's saying when people go to hell, they go from the Lord's presence. In other words, hell isn't just pain, it's not just torture, it's loss. It's loss of the greatest single thing in all the universe, which is the presence of Almighty God. Think about this for just a second. Every single person on the earth right now is experiencing the grace and the mercy of God. Whether you're a believer or a non-believer, whether you're in church or you're not, whether you've known Jesus your entire life or whether you are a professing atheist, we are all experiencing to some degree the grace and the mercy of Almighty God. Theologians call this common grace, by the way. All of us experience these things, no matter who you are. You say, what are you talking about? Listen, today, no matter who you are, you will experience things like sunlight and love and laughter and beauty and good food and moments of joy and even the restraint of evil. All of those things are God's mercy and grace

on display for you to see. And all of that is true, right? For all of us, we'll experience those things. But the Bible is very clear that hell will be existence without grace. Hell will be existence without mercy. It'll be the eternal absence of God's goodness or joy or comfort or kindness. None of those things will exist ever again for all of eternity. Does this make sense? Shake your head if you're tracking with me. Hell is the eternal outcome of choosing life apart from Christ. And that's why Jesus' words are so terrifying when he says, depart from me. Because at its core, hell is eternal separation from Jesus, the only one that will really matter in your life. The only one that you were designed for and made for, the only one that can save your soul, the only one that can forgive your sins, the only one that can allow you access to heaven for all of eternity and you'll be separated for him with him forever. That's the picture the Bible gives us. Hell is separation from God. The third thing the Bible says is hell is the expression of divine justice. And many of us may not understand this completely, but Paul really unpacks it well in Romans chapter two.

He says, because of your hardened and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself in the day of wrath when God's righteous judgment is revealed. Look at verse six. He will repay each one according to his works. Right here, Paul was actually quoting Solomon. He wasn't being original. He was actually reading the book. Solomon wrote these words originally in Proverbs chapter 24, I believe in verse 12, but what he was unpacking here was a truth that applied to them and us and everyone. And he was reminding us of basically three simple things. And that is this. God sees and God knows and God will judge righteously. Listen, God sees everything. He knows exactly what's going on in your heart. God knows everything. There is nothing that's hidden from him. And God will judge righteously. That's what the word of God says over and over again. Let's go to number four. The number four is that hell is final. And I know that's a scary thing to think about unless you know the Lord, but the Bible says hell is final. Hebrews 9, 27 says, and just as it was appointed for people to die once and after this judgment. And I know that verse is short, but it carries a lot of eternal weight. But it teaches us something that scripture is very clear about from the very beginning to the very end.

And this is what it says. This life is not a rehearsal. And death is not a doorway into endless second chances. And that's final. Ecclesiastes 12, verse 14 puts it this way, says, "For God will bring every act to judgment, "including every hidden thing, whether good or evil." Daniel chapter 12, verse two says, "Many who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, "some to eternal life, and some to disgrace, "and eternal contempt." In other words, scripture presents eternity as being settled. That's why when you look at this verse in Hebrews, and it says after this judgment, it's pointing to a person's destination beyond the grave. And it says that destination is a final destination. That's why scripture gives us so much evidence and really gives us no indication that repentance is a possibility beyond death. Hell isn't a place of reconsideration. It's not a place of negotiation. I know there's a lot of people who can talk their way out of anything. You'll never be able to talk your way out of hell. If you die without Christ and go to hell, it is not a place of negotiation. It is a final outcome of what? Of rejecting God's rule and refusing God's rescue. And that's why this message is important. That's why urgency matters.

And that brings me to point number five. You ready for this one? Hell is avoidable. Hell is avoidable. I think this is my favorite point of the whole message. Y'all better lean in. I love this point. Because you can talk about it, and it's a scary thing to think about, but the fact of the matter is there's not a single person within the sound of my voice that has to go to hell. You don't have to. When I was in elementary school, I went to a church event on Halloween night, and I thought I was going to just like a harmless haunted house. I was expecting to see like, you know, clowns with chainsaws and that kind of stuff, but I didn't see a single clown because it wasn't a haunted house. It was an intentional production that was designed to scare you to death. In fact, I'm walking through this old house and every single room is a different scene. And I'm looking around and there are devils and there are demons and there are dark noise or dark rooms and loud noises. The whole thing was built to scare the HE double hockey sticks out of me and it worked. It scared me to death. But when I left that day, I'm just telling you guys,

that was a reality check for me. And I'll say it this way. My mind was made up in that moment that there's one place that I never want to go and that's hell. I never want to go. And I don't know why you're like, really, that's what got to you? There's a lot of things that get to you, but the Lord actually used that in my life. I mean, I'm looking around thinking, man, why would anyone want to be in this environment for all of eternity? And you know what? That didn't even touch how horrible hell's going to be. But for me, that's when it went from being kind of theoretical or symbolic to just being real. I just knew that I never want to go to hell. And I left that day asking this question, man, is there any way that I can avoid it? Is there any way that I can know without a shadow of a doubt that no matter what happens, I will never have to go to hell. In church, let me tell you, that is the question that Jesus came to answer. That's the question that Jesus came to answer because the message of the Bible isn't just hell is real and hell is scary and hell is forever. No, the message of the Bible is, God has made a way from you to be rescued from hell.

You ain't got to go. That's the message. When you read John 3 17, it says, "For God did not send his son "into the world to condemn the world." That's not why Jesus came, it's to condemn you. But it goes on to say he came to save the world through Jesus. That's why God sent Jesus, is to save the world through him. That next verse says, "Anyone who believes in him "is not condemned, but anyone who does not believe "is already condemned because he has not believed "in the name of the one and only son of God." So none of that's heavy, but I think it's also very hopeful. Jesus didn't come to create hell. He came to rescue people from it. But that rescue only happens at the cross. Listen, at the cross, Jesus absorbed the judgment of sin and he did that for you and he did that for me. He took what we deserved so that forgiveness could be freely offered. And the Bible says that in Romans 6, 23, it says, "For the wages of sin is death, "but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." I want you to see two words in that verse before we shut this thing down. The word wages and the word gift. You know what a wage is, if you aren't a minimum wage You work for it, you deserve it, you're entitled to it. It's a wage, you earn a wage. A gift on the other hand is something you not earn, but you receive.

So you earn the wage, you receive the gift. And here's what Jesus is saying. He's saying because of your sin and you're rebellion against God, your life is entitled to hell. You have earned hell, whether you've said one time or a million times. But that's just what we deserve. You see, the grace of God is the fact that Jesus came and he took our place and because he did, you don't have to get what you deserve. Aren't you grateful for that? You don't have to get what you deserve. So yes, hell is real, let's be clear about that. Hell is just, hell is final, but it's not the only option. You are going to live forever somewhere. Your heart will stop beating at some point. Your lungs will stop breathing and you will step into eternity. And Jesus has already stepped into judgment so that you don't have to go to hell. He carried the weight of sin. He opened the door to salvation. And even today, he may be knocking on the door of somebody's heart saying, why would you continue to live like hell and point your life towards hell when I came to set you free and make heaven a reality? But you know what, he can knock all day long. But if you refuse to open the door

and respond to the Lord, nothing will change. That's why there's urgency today. Jesus says now, now is the day of salvation. - Before we wrap up today's episode of All In, I want to ask you a very important question. Are you ready to deepen your daily walk with Jesus in the coming year? Every year I release a brand new edition of my annual devotional, Going All In With Jesus. A full year of daily readings designed to strengthen your quiet time, ground you in scripture, and help you start each day centered on Christ. And every year since we've launched this devotional book, this resource has completely sold out. These books don't sit on shelves, they disappear quickly. And once they're gone, they're gone. That's why I want to encourage you. If you want to copy for yourself or for someone you love, please don't wait. Follow the instructions on your screen and order yours right now while they're still available. Each day's reading begins with God's word and ends with practical gospel centered insight to help you grow deeper in your faith. It's simple, meaningful, and a powerful way to stay connected to Jesus every single day of the year. I don't want you to miss this. So take a moment, go ahead and order your copy today and secure your devotional before this year's edition sells out too.

I'm praying for you today, and I can't wait to walk through this year together as we go All In With Jesus together. (dramatic music) - Hey, we never want to end our broadcast without giving you the opportunity to know Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior. If you'd like to make the decision to trust Jesus and want to know more about what it looks like to follow Jesus, get in touch with me right now. Follow the instructions at the bottom of the screen so that we can pray for you and also put information in your hands right away. Today, we celebrate your decision and look forward to being a part of your personal journey of going All In With Jesus Christ. - This episode of All In With Pastor Jordan Easley has been made possible by the generous support of viewers like you. We hope today's message encourages you as you strive to live your life fully committed to Jesus Christ. (upbeat music)