E T E R N I T Y - the flip side

Hell is a very real place, and children need to be taught the truth about it.  Jesus Himself taught about Hell when He lived on this Earth.  He did not do it in a scary way, but very matter of factly.  It is because of the Lord’s great love for us that He warns us about what is ahead if we die without having our sin problem taken care of.

Why did God create Hell?

Matthew 25:41 tells us that Hell is a place of punishment which God “prepared for the devil and his angels.”  God never intended for people to go to Hell.  But when Adam chose to believe and obey Satan instead of God, he became a sinner.  His sin separated him from God, who is holy.  Adam had made the choice, not just for himself, but for his family as well, to be on Satan’s team.  Because God must punish all sin, Adam (and all of his descendants) would now have to share in the punishment that God had intended for Satan and his bad angels. 

So, what does the Bible say that Hell is like?

We will use the word HELL to help us remember 4 things about that awful place.

Hell is H- horrible.

Luke 16:23-26 tells the experience of a man who died and went to Hell.

Hell is a place of suffering.  An eternal fire burns there- the flames will never be put out. 

Hell is also a place of utter darkness.

The sounds in Hell are weeping and wailing. 

There is no hope in Hell that things will ever be any different- there is only despair.

Hell is E- eternal.

God wants to forgive your sins and give you the gift of eternal life.  But if you will not receive His gift, and die without having your sin problem taken care of, then the punishment you will suffer is eternal death.  (Matthew 25:46)

There is no escape once you are in Hell.  You will spend eternity away from the presence of God.

Hell is L- lonely.

Some people think Hell is a place where they will get to party with all of their bad friends and do all the sinful things they want to do.  But that was not the case for the man in Luke 16.

Hell is a very lonely place.  There will be many people there, but each one will suffer alone for their sins.

Hell is L- for the lost.

When I came into this world, I was born lost in my sin.  If I go out of this world still in my sin, with no Saviour, then I will be lost from God forever.

These are some very sobering facts.  Next time we will look at what the Lord Jesus did so that no one need experience this horrible place. 

"He who believes in the Son has everlasting life; 

and he who does not believe the Son shall not see life, 

but the wrath of God abides on him.'

(John 3:36)

(Again, thanks to Craig & Nancy Rolinger for this teaching acrostic.)