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The following sermon has been adapted from one by the same title, given by the late evangelist, Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980).

A Methodist preacher once wrote to Dr. Rice saying he had studied much liberal theology and had learned that there is a definite teaching about Heaven in the Bible, but that we are not definitely told about Hell, or what kind of place it is. Dr. Rice wrote to him that he had been reading the wrong books. If he had read the Bible instead of the foolishness written by unbelievers he would have known about Hell. Dr. Rice reminded him that Hell is discussed more often in the Bible than Heaven.

Many preachers have sinned by not preaching more about Hell. And the Bible is very clear on this subject. Dr. Rice says:

The word "Hell" in our English translation of the Old Testament is usually a translation of the Hebrew word "Sheol." Words grow in meaning down through the centuries, and usually become more definite. So the Hebrew word "Sheol" generally means "the unseen state" or "The realm of departed spirits." Thus if the term is used symbolically, it might be translated "grave" and was sometimes so translated in our Old Testament. But usually that is misleading. The word is not used about any particular grave or sepulchre. Rather it refers to "the unseen world" or "the realm of departed spirits."

The Greek word "Hades" is equivalent to the Hebrew word "Sheol"… The New Testament was written in Greek. So "Hades" originally meant "the unseen world" or "the realm of departed spirits." But gradually the terms began to refer not to all the dead, but only to the unsaved dead; not those in Heaven, but only those in Hell. So, when Jesus told us in Luke 16:22-23 that "the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments," He used the Greek word "Hades" to picture a literal place of torment for the unsaved dead. It was a place of fire. It was a place without water. It was a place where the unsaved dead saw, heard, felt, remembered, were tormented, cried out to any who would listen.

In the New Testament there are other words used for Hell in the original Greek. One of these is "Gehenna"… I can say after long years of study that the English word Hell, as generally understood, properly represents both "Hades" as used by the Saviour in Luke 16:19-31, and the word "Gehenna" as used through the rest of the New Testament… Hell is already a place of fire, a place of torment, where… sinners are hopelessly and eternally shut off from salvation and God in Heaven (John R. Rice, "Who Will Go To Hell?" in Soul-Saving Sermons for Sinners, Sword of the Lord, 1963, pp. 69-88).

The Bible is clear in its description of Hell. As I preach the main points of Dr. Rice's sermon this morning, I hope you will listen carefully. I hope you will become awakened and come to Christ for salvation so you will not spend eternity in Hell.

It is important to know who will go to Hell. If it were not important, the Bible would not be plain in telling us who will go there. Here are the plain descriptions in the Bible of who will go to Hell.

I. Satan will go to Hell forever.

In Revelation 20:10 we read of the vision John saw of Satan being cast into Hell in the future:

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever"
       (Revelation 20:10).

The Devil is not in Hell now. He will be cast into Hell by God in the future.

The Devil does not rule Hell. He will not rule Hell in the future. He will be thrown into Hell in the future and will be tormented and confined there for eternity.

Satan was once a pure and sinless archangel in Heaven. His name was Lucifer. The Bible tells us that he was thrown out of Heaven because of the sin of self-will against God.

"How art thou fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!" (Isaiah 14:12).

Satan was cast out onto the earth. He is now "the prince of the power of the air" (Ephesians 2:2). He roams the earth like a "roaring lion…seeking whom he may devour" (I Peter 5:8). Satan tempts people to sin. He tempted Adam and Eve. He is behind all the sin and treachery in the world. He is behind all wars and murders and deceit in the world. Can you conceive of the horrible wickedness of Satan?

Jesus told us that Hell is a place of "everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). Hell was made primarily for Satan and the demons.

Don't you see that an eternal Hell, of separation from God and torment for sin, is necessary? If you do not believe in Hell, what would you do with Satan? He has had every opportunity to repent. It would be impossible to give him more of an opportunity to be saved than he has already had. For thousands of years he has hated God and Christ. He has tried to ruin God's creation. No one but a fool would say that Satan ought to be received into Heaven.

Hell is God's prison, God's penitentiary. The Devil is a serial killer. He must be locked up in God's prison forever. And every person who screams and pleads in Hell, like the rich man who was tormented in flames, will be in the company of the Devil, because Hell is waiting for the Devil:

"Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming: it stirreth up the dead for thee, even all the chief ones of the earth; it hath raised up from their thrones all the kings of the nations. All they shall speak and say unto thee, Art thou also become weak as we? art thou become like unto us? Thy pomp is brought down to the grave, and the noise of thy viols: the worm is spread under thee, and the worms cover thee" (Isaiah 14:9-11).

II. Secondly, fallen angels will inhabit Hell.

We are told that "God spared not the angels that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment" (II Peter 2:4). Again, the Bible says, "And the angels which kept not their first estate, but left their own habitation, he hath reserved in everlasting chains under darkness unto the judgment of the great day" (Jude 6).

These are the fallen angels Jesus spoke of when He said:

"Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41).

Are some of these fallen angels the same as the demons that Christ so often cast out? Dr. Scofield says, "They may be identical with the demons" (note on p. 1292 Scofield Study Bible). I think they are clearly identical. Some fallen angels were consigned to the abyss, to the pit. Others were allowed to roam the earth as demons.

Dr. Rice says:

Evil spirits are all around us. In Bible times they caused insanity, dumbness, and many kinds of suffering and sin. There is no doubt that evil spirits are back of much of the murder and drunkenness, insanity and rages, and diseases of mankind today. I believe that Hitler was demon-possessed. Foreign missionaries often tell how heathen people are possessed of devils, how they show the same symptoms as those in Bible times… Read for example Pastor Hsi by Mrs. Howard Taylor, published by the China Inland Mission, Philadelphia. It is a great book and thoroughly authentic. It tells how an earnest Chinese Christian…cast out devils.

These horrible and wicked demons, or devils, or evil spirits, are all around us. They seek to curse people's bodies, warp their minds, to enslave them (ibid.).

I am thinking of a pastor's wife right now who seems to have become demon-possessed by rebelling against her father. Her face has become like an ugly mask as she grows older. Another one torments her husband continually through what seems to be a demon attached to hypochondria. Neither of these pastors is spiritually aware enough to realize that he is being tormented, and his ministry is being harmed, through a demonized and unconverted spouse. Dr. Rice says:

The maniac of Gadara, possessed of a legion of devils, was made to cry out to Jesus, "What have I to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of the most high God?" (Mark 5:7). Those horrible unclean spirits who had made that man insane, had given him superhuman strength to break chains so that no man could bind him, had put into his heart to live in the tombs, and when they were (about to be) cast out of him begged to be allowed to go into a herd of pigs - these unclean spirits knew that they were to be judged and tormented! Luke 8:31 tells us, "They besought him (Jesus) that he would not command them to go out into the deep." I think "the deep" meant the bottomless pit. They feared Jesus would send them…to Hell. And Matthew 8:29 tells us that these demons cried out to Jesus, "What have we to do with thee, Jesus, thou Son of God? art thou come hither to torment us before the time?" These evil spirits knew that there was coming a time of eternal torment for them in Hell. They (prayed to) Jesus that He would not begin the punishment "before the time."

How hideous, how horrible, will be the company in Hell, peopled by millions of unclean spirits who hate mankind and who have for these thousands of years been doing the Devil's business with him, and who will suffer with him, tormented in Hell! (ibid.).

If you do not believe in Hell, I ask you, "What would you do with these demons, these unclean spirits?" Hell was prepared as a prison-house for them.

"Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41).

III. Third, the Beast (Antichrist), or coming world dictator, and his
  false prophet, will be cast into Hell to be punished forever.

The coming Antichrist will be the ruler of the world. In II Thessalonians he is called "man of sin," "son of perdition," "that wicked," "whose coming is after the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders" (II Thessalonians 2:3-10).

This evil Beast, or Antichrist, will horribly persecute the Jews for not worshipping his image, a statue of himself that he will erect in the rebuilt Temple in Jerusalem. The false prophet will try to force everyone on earth to worship the Beast. The false prophet will be the Antichrist's high priest. The Beast will behead Christians by the millions for not taking his special mark in their hands or foreheads. He will persecute Christians and kill them for not worshipping him.

But this world-ruler and his false prophet will be destroyed by God! This dictator, this Beast, this Antichrist, will be thrown into Hell:

"And the beast was taken, and with him the false prophet that wrought miracles before him, with which he deceived them that had received the mark of the beast, and them that worshipped his image. These both were cast alive into a lake of fire burning with brimstone" (Revelation 19:20).

These two men, the Antichrist-Beast and his false prophet, will be even worse than Hitler and Rasputin. The very depths of human wickedness will be attained by them. They will enslave, persecute and exterminate believing Jews and Christians all over the world.

When the Devil is thrown into Hell, the Devil will be there with the Beast and his false prophet:

"And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever"
       (Revelation 20:10).

The Antichrist and his false prophet will be in Hell. Where else could they go? They have never-ending souls. Where could God put them if there was no Hell? Oh, what horrible company you will have when you go to Hell! You will be with Satan, the demons, the Antichrist, and his false prophet. What a horrible crowd of people will be around you in the flames!

IV. Fourthly, Judas will be in Hell forever.

Judas was one of Christ's twelve apostles. But he was never converted. Jesus said, "But there are some of you that believe not" (John 6:64a). Again, Jesus "knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who should betray him" (John 6:64b). In the same chapter we are told that "Jesus answered them, Have not I chosen you twelve, and one of you is a devil? He spake of Judas Iscariot the son of Simon: for he it was that should betray him, being one of the twelve" (John 6:71). Judas was one of those "that believed not" (John 6:64). Jesus knew that from the beginning. Judas was a devil, which means, I think, that a demon had entered into him. So Judas betrayed the Saviour for thirty pieces of silver and led the Roman soldiers where Jesus was, to arrest Him.

Before Jesus was crucified, we are told,

"Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned…cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself" (Matthew 27:3-5).

Judas was condemned by his own conscience. But instead of turning to Christ for mercy, he went in despair and hanged himself.

Every evidence indicates that Judas went to Hell. Peter said, "Judas by transgression fell, that he might go to his own place" (Acts 1:25). That place was Hell. Jesus had said, "Woe unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born" (Matthew 26:24). That terrible statement could only have been made about a man who was going to spend eternity in Hell. If Judas could ever get to Heaven, Jesus would not have said, "It would have been good for that man if he had not been born." So Judas Iscariot, the apostle, the preacher, the one who prayed and saw miracles in answer to his prayers, Judas who cast out demons, Judas who heard Jesus preach countless times and was with Jesus every day for three and a half years - Judas will be forever in Hell!

And where else could he go? He has an eternal soul. He has to go somewhere. He rejected Jesus, stole money, betrayed Christ and the disciples, continued to rebel against God by committing suicide instead of getting saved. Where else could such a person - rebellious to the end - go for eternity?

V. Fifthly, unrepentant murderers, whoremongers, sorcerers, idolaters,
as well as unbelievers, shall have their part in the Lake of Fire.

The lost from all ages of history will be in Hell. That is made clear by this description:

"The fearful, and unbelieving, and the abominable, and murderers, and whoremongers, and sorcerers, and idolaters, and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death"
       (Revelation 21:8).

All unbelievers will be in Hell. And unbelievers are counted along with murderers in Hell. And unbelievers as well as whoremongers (immoral people) will spend eternity in Hell, where the fire is not quenched and the worm dieth not.

Unconverted, Christless people surely cannot live in Heaven. All of them will be in Hell. Their sins have not been washed. What about you?Jesus said:

"So shall it be at the end of the world: the angels shall come forth, and sever the wicked from among the just, And shall cast them into the furnace of fire: there shall be wailing and gnashing of teeth" (Matthew 13:49-50).

That is also the teaching of Psalm 9:17,

"The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God."

Most of the world is going to Hell. That was made clear by Christ when He said:

"Because strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, which leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it" (Matthew 7:14).

You see, the world is going to Hell because of sin. Sin must be cancelled out or there is eternal punishment as a result. And there is only one way to get your sins cancelled out.

You must believe on Jesus to be saved from the penalty of sin. Christ died on the Cross to pay for your sins. He rose from the dead to give you life. He is alive in Heaven, on the right hand of God. You must come to Jesus, and believe on Him, to have your sins cancelled, washed away in His Blood, so you can go to Heaven instead of Hell.

Scripture Read Before Sermon: Matthew 13:49-50; Matthew 25:41; Revelation 21:8.
Solo by Benjamin Kincaid Griffith: "If You Linger Too Long"

by Dr. John R. Rice (1895-1980).