The document discusses whether hell is real and provides biblical support for the existence of hell. It describes hell as a place of eternal punishment and separation from God, with descriptions including outer darkness, flames, weeping, and torment. The document warns that many deny the reality or eternal nature of hell. It provides passages from Matthew and 2 Thessalonians indicating hell is a place of everlasting or eternal punishment for those who do not believe in or obey Jesus.

1. Is Hell Real?
We started our look at the gospel by answering the question- “Why Did Jesus Come?”
Jesus didn't come to make bad people good but to make dead people alive!
What is the Gospel? Three Questions - Focus on Jesus
1. Why do we need Jesus?
2. What did Jesus do for us?
3. How do we receive salvation through Jesus?
In order to answer the question “Why Do We Need Jesus?” we have looked at the
answers to three questions so far - What is Sin?, How Does Sin Begin? and What are the
Consequences to Sin?.
Satan works in our lives the same way he did Eve and Adam:
1. Doubt God’s word
2. Doubt God’s character
3. Doubt God’s goodness and provision
4. Told to take control and be like God
How Sin Begins and What it Results in
1. Unbelief
2. Idolatry
3. Rebellion
4. Breaking God’s law
5. Denying God His glory
What are the Consequences of Sin? Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death…
If you die physically you only have one thing to look forward to and that is judgment
before Jesus then to be cast into the Lake of Fire, Hell, Gehenna.
Hell’s Relationship to Hades
1. Hades/Sheol- waiting place of all the dead without Christ until judgment.
2. Tartarus- place of waiting for angels that sinned until judgment.
3. Abyss- place of waiting for demons until the day of judgment.
4. Gehenna- Hell, Lake of Fire, place of eternal punishment for sin.
The Bible’s Description of Hell (from Charlie H. Campbell)
• Outer darkness (Matthew 25:30)
• Weeping (Matthew 8:12)
• Wailing (Matthew 13:42)
• Gnashing of teeth (Matthew 13:50)
• Flames (Luke 16:24)
• Everlasting fire (Matthew 25:41)
• A furnace of fire (Matthew 13:42)
• Separation from the righteous (Matthew 25:46)
• Eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord (2 Thessalonians 1:9)
• Torment (Luke 16:23)
• Everlasting punishment (Matthew 25:46)
• The lake of fire burning with brimstone (Revelation 19:20)
My Thoughts on the Lake of Fire - it will burn everything around you so you have nothing.
Today - Is Hell Real?

2. Warning! There are many people today who deny the reality of Hell or the eternal aspect of it.
2 Timothy 4:3
For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own
desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears
want to hear.
Eternal Punishment
Matthew 25:41 & 46
41 “Then He will also say to those on the left hand, ‘Depart from Me, you cursed, into the
everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels… 46 And these will go away into everlasting
punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.”
2 Thessalonians 1:7-9
This will happen when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven in blazing fire with his powerful
angels. He will punish those who do not know God and do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus.
They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his
glorious power.
Thomas Aquinas
“The magnitude of the punishment matches the magnitude of the sin. Now a sin that is against
God is infinite; the higher the person against whom it is committed, the graver the sin—it is more
criminal to strike a head of state than a private citizen—and God is of infinite greatness.
Therefore an infinite punishment is deserved for a sin committed against Him.”
Are There Different Degrees of Punishment in Hell?
Matthew 11:20-22 (NIV)
Then Jesus began to denounce the towns in which most of his miracles had been performed,
because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles
that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented
long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the
day of judgment than for you.
Hebrews 10:29 (NIV)
How much more severely do you think someone deserves to be punished who has trampled the
Son of God underfoot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that
sanctified them, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace?
A Way of Understanding Why We Need Jesus
• The bad things you do show something is wrong.
• Just as having a fever, sore throat and a cough are symptoms that show something is
wrong inside you.
• The bad things you do show something is wrong with you in your heart.
• They show that you are spiritually dead – separated from God because of sin.
• You have bitten into Satan’s lies about God’s character, goodness and provision for you.
• You have turned from God to be your own god.
• You have rejected and rebelled against God and there are consequences for that if you
die physically without Jesus.
• You will stand before Him one day to be judged for your sin.
• If you are guilty of any sin you will be cast into Hell, the Lake of Fire.
• Where you will experience God’s righteous punishment for your sin for all eternity.
Last Word - Someone will pay the price for your sins. Will it be YOU or JESUS?
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