Pastor Mike will be speaking on What is Hell Like?. He will be reading out of Matthew 25: 41-46.

I just think I’m doing enough good out there and God’s going to give me that opportunity to go into heaven. But I’m here to tell you that God doesn’t grade on a curve and God doesn’t weigh your good against your bad. Here’s the only thing that matters.

Do you have faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Hello, this is Pastor Mike Sanders from the Open Door Church and we welcome you to the Hope Worth Having radio broadcast. We’re delighted that you’ve tuned in and we look forward to sharing God’s Word with you today. We’re going to be in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, and we’re going to talk about what is hell like.

Now, some people don’t even believe in hell, but I’m telling you, friends, hell is real. It’s a place that you want to shun and you certainly want to turn your heart towards God and live for Jesus Christ. Let’s get into our study.

In the Bible this morning, I want you to join me in the Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25. The Gospel of Matthew, chapter 25, our focus will be verse 41 through 46. We’re in this series on five questions about heaven and five questions about hell.

The most prolific teacher of hell in all of scripture was the Lord Jesus himself. Did you know that Jesus talked about hell more than he did heaven? He gave over 70 references to hell in the scriptures. Teaching on hell is really the most compassionate and merciful act that one could do.

Warning people of the reality of hell is a very loving, gracious, and kind thing to do. And most importantly, it’s important to warn self-righteous religious people that they are going to end up unintentionally in hell. And this is something that we cannot retreat from.

And we think about the scripture reading that we experienced earlier in our service, and I guarantee you there was never a moment in the rich man’s life that he thought he was going to hell. But yet, his life ended up there because he did not have a relationship with Jesus Christ. And hell is full of people who are unintentionally there.

They didn’t plan on it, and they thought they were okay because they were involved in all these rituals, and they were religious, and they partook of whatever the church might require of them or the religion might require of them. Only to find out that it’s not about rituals, but it’s about a relationship, and a relationship with Jesus Christ. We cannot forget the words of our Savior in Matthew 7 in which he said, depart from me because I never knew you.

And that’s the key. How do you get to heaven? It’s who you know. But if you’re to get to heaven, you’ve got to know the Lord Jesus Christ.

We’ll talk more about that at the conclusion of our sermon. But I want us to learn in Matthew 25 some key points here this morning. I want you to pick up with me.

Jesus again is speaking to a religious crowd, and he is reminding them of what the future judgment is waiting for those who do not believe. In verse 41 of chapter 25, he says, 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. For I was hungry and you gave me no food.

I was thirsty and you gave me no drink. I was a stranger and you did not take me in, naked and you did not clothe me, sick and in prison and you did not visit me. Then they also will answer him saying, Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison and did not minister to you? And then he will answer them saying, assuredly I say to you in as much as you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me.

And these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. What do we need to learn this morning on this great question, what is hell like? Well, the first thing I want you to learn is there is a real place called hell. Jesus spoke of heaven, but he also spoke of hell as a real place.

And we see in his teaching throughout the scriptures that he always is referencing in Matthew 23, verse 33, again speaking mainly to those comfortable religious people, Jesus called them serpents, brood of vipers. How can you escape the condemnation of hell? If hell were a myth, Jesus certainly would never have given such a strong warning and a frightening description of hell. If hell was a myth, then Jesus was the most deceived person ever on the planet of the earth.

And so I want you to know that Jesus was very clear that there is a real place called hell. He referenced it. He taught that those who believe in Christ spend eternity with him and those who reject Christ and do not know Christ as their savior, they are separated from God in a place called hell.

Now, everyone dies. One out of one person dies. That’s the latest stat.

But not everyone goes to heaven. Not everyone does. Again, look at verse 46 of chapter 25.

He says, these will go away into everlasting punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. There is a contrast here of heaven and hell, eternal life with Christ, everlasting punishment in this place that is called hell. We need to know that it is a real place.

The second thing I want you to learn is that hell was made for Satan and his angels. We read in the scriptures in verse 41 that Jesus said, those who do not believe he will tell them to depart from me, you curse it into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. If you’re not familiar and maybe don’t fully understand that God had created Lucifer and Lucifer was the great angelic choir leader of heaven.

And Isaiah teaches us that he was a glorious and majestic creation of God, but he became so full of himself and he lifted up his heart against God and he desired to be God. And over and over again, he said, I will, I will, I will. And this pride led to Satan and a third of the angels being kicked out of heaven and cast into hell, a place that was prepared for them.

So I want you to know that hell was not originally intended for those who would be born into this world, but it was intended for Satan and his angels. And scripture is clear that hell was not intended for us. But rather for Satan.

So God created hell for Satan and his angels or his demons who now crisscross the world, who now lead to so much havoc and chaos in this world. And one might say, why did God do that? Why did God do that? Why didn’t he just overpower and annihilate them? God created you and I, he created angels. He created Satan who was an angel.

His name was Lucifer. And he gave them the ability to choose and they could choose. You don’t want somebody to love you because they have to.

You don’t want somebody to be a robot. I mean, we’re all getting excited about AI, but listen, AI has no emotions. And what I want you to understand that what God desired out of his creation is that they would give glory to him out of their will, that they would choose to love him, obey him, and follow him, and worship him, and give glory to him.

And for those who would reject God and have nothing to do with God, they would be cast into everlasting punishment, a place that is called hell. Jesus prophesied about this day of judgment in which he will separate those who believe and those who do not believe. And he reminds us that if you believe in Christ, you will spend eternity with him.

We know that great verse in John 3, 16, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son that whoever believes in him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. What a wonderful promise, amen? But what I want you to note is those in this text, particularly verse 41 and 46, that the wicked, the unbeliever, share in the same fate as Satan and his demons, in that they do not believe in Christ. Revelation 20, 10 says, 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 forever and ever.

Now, some might embrace a teaching, well, they just become annihilated. They just dissipate. There’s no more existence.

Annihilism is what is often referred to by scholars. But I want you to know the Bible teaches just the opposite, that those who do not believe in Christ will be not only separated from God in a place called hell, but they will suffer everlasting punishment. And as if you did not get it, the Bible says in verse 10 of chapter 20 of Revelation that they’ll be tormented day and night forever and ever.

There’ll be no end to the torment. The third thing I want you to learn today is that hell is a place of eternal fire. This always brings up a lot of good questions.

The Bible says in verse 41 that it’s everlasting fire. It’s everlasting fire. The fire that you and I understand in this world is certainly a distinct fire.

But Jesus in other passages of scripture would describe hell as a place of outer darkness. How is it that fire that gives off light could somehow lead to a place that hell being of outer darkness? What I want you to know is that we may not fully understand the elements of what this fire is, but it is a real fire, and so much so that it would bring torment and suffering and punishment to those who would experience it. And in some way, somehow, and there is scientifically proven that sometimes fire does not always give off light.

Charles Spurgeon, the great preacher of the 18th century, said this about hell. There is a real fire in hell, as truly as you have a real body. A fire exactly like that which we have on this earth, except this.

It will not consume you, though it will torture you. So it’s a unique fire and something that will continue to bring punishment. Revelation 14 11 says this, the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest day or night.

I do not say this gleefully, nor do I say this with great joy, but hell is a place of constant torment. Certainly not a place that you want to gather with your friends. It’s certainly not a place that any of you want to go to, or that you want any of your family to go to.

If nothing inspires us to share the gospel with our family, surely the understanding of the torment of hell would motivate us to overcome our shyness and our lack of courage and be bold in telling others about Jesus. I want you to learn something else, is that hell is separation from God. I want you to take your Bible this morning, and I want you to go to 2 Thessalonians.

Now, different scholars have debated this, but I want you, again, to know that everything that we strive to teach you, we always want to make sure it aligns with the Word of God. That it’s not just the thought process of Mike, or that some kind of a ritual religious system that he is imposing upon you, but rather that we can actually say, this is what the Word of the Lord says to you. For the Word of God has authority, and it has authority over us as believers.

So I’ll help you understand some of the confusion, but let’s just read 2 Thessalonians chapter 1, and let’s look at verse 8 and 9. And again, the Bible reminds us of this great judgment. In flaming fire, taking vengeance on those who do not know God. Underscore that, because it’s not those who aren’t religious enough, or didn’t go to church enough, but those who do not know God.

On those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. What is the gospel? We know the gospel is the death, burial, and resurrection. What is the response to be the gospel that Jesus gives to us? It is to repent and believe in Jesus Christ.

When Peter stood before the thousands on the day of Pentecost, he implored them and pleaded with them that they would repent and believe in Jesus Christ. That’s what it means to obey the gospel. Verse 9, referring to these who do not know God and do not obey the gospel, these shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.

So what does that mean? Because we understand that God is omnipresent. We understand that God is everywhere at the same time, and we embrace that and believe that, because the Bible does teach that. But is there a contradiction? What I want you to know is that there is what we understand as the general presence of God that is everywhere, but there is also the manifested presence of God.

Even the book of Proverbs reminds us that the manifested presence of God is before us, whether we are among the just or the unjust. The sun shines upon the just and the unjust, and the rain comes upon the just and the unjust, and that all that we experience in life, we are experiencing many times the grace of God, and we are experiencing the blessing of God, but the beauty of that sun rising. Some people hadn’t seen the sun rise in quite some time, but you know, you rise and you see the beauty of the sun, and you see the creation, and you see God’s handiwork all around us.

Not only do I get to enjoy that as a believer, but unbelievers get to enjoy it, right? That’s the manifested presence that is all around us. We experience his presence. We sense his presence as we are worshiping the Lord in different aspects of our life, whether it’s personally or it’s corporately in the family of God.

Maybe we’re out there witnessing, or maybe we’re sharing, caring, and helping others, and we just have a sense of the presence of God in our life. This is what we are talking about. His manifested presence that often appears into our life and begins to bring great strength and comfort and peace in our hearts.

It’s not that we can always fully explain it. The Bible says we’re given a peace that passes all understanding. It’s not of the understanding of the world, but there’s just a peace that God puts upon his people, that they are not wrapped up in the anxieties of the world, or perhaps even the worrisome of the problems of certain circumstances in your life.

But God has just granted this manifested presence of peace in your hearts, and that’s what I’m talking about in this passage in 2 Thessalonians chapter 1 verse 8 and 9. It’s not that they’ll be separated from the omnipresence of God, but they will be separated from the presence of God that manifests itself in his love, his grace, his forgiveness, his peace, his hope. So many different things that we could talk about in relation to the presence of God, and the Bible tells us that he gives those perfect peace whose mind, as the King James says, stays. It means that are focused on him.

The reason so many of you are so full of anxiety and trouble in your heart is because you got your eyes on people, and I’m just going to tell you, people are never going to meet all your expectations. You better just adjust that, and you got to know that people will fail you, and it sometimes can be very painful and disappointing to your heart. But let me tell you, get your mind focused on Christ, and he will give you that peace, and he will give you that strength to just keep moving forward for him.

That’s what I want you to know. That will not exist in hell. They will not experience the love of God, those who do not believe in Christ.

In hell, people will be isolated from God’s manifested presence, and they will be isolated from his goodness, his loving kindness, and all that is pleasant that you and I enjoy in the general creation of this world. Speaking on hell is very difficult for me. It’s very, you know, just kind of rips at my heart, and so in preparing this sermon, I wanted to make sure that you understood some things.

That what all we’ve described about what hell is like, I want you to remember that Jesus is our only ticket to heaven. And I want you to understand that because Jesus was very straightforward. He said in John 14, verse 6, I am the way, the truth, and the life, and no one comes to the Father except through me.

Jesus was not pretending. He says what he means, and he means what he says. And so Jesus is the only way, and I want you to be encouraged that the reason Jesus is the only way is because he went to the cross relating to Holy Week and coming into the culmination of the resurrection of our Savior, Jesus Christ.

But do not forget that Jesus Christ endured much anguish, and that he went to the cross on your behalf, my behalf, and that he endured literally, if you can, without misunderstanding what I’m saying to you this morning, Jesus took your hell on the cross. He took the wrath of God. He took the punishment of sin.

The Bible says for all have sinned and come short of the glory of God. There are no perfect people. They’re just not around.

I know there’s a lot of people who think they’re perfect, amen? And we know that they circulate into our circles, and they sometimes annoy us and frustrate us, but the bottom line is that we are all sinful, selfish, flawed people. And that would help you as you’re dealing with people, by the way. Just understand we start out with this premise.

That would help you in your parenting. The greatest parenting lesson a parent could ever learn is that that little child is a sinner in need of a Savior. But that would cause me to depart from what I want to teach you, and that is that you need to understand that God doesn’t grade on a curve.

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve talked to people and I said, you know, how do you know you’re going to heaven? And they say to me, well, I just feel like my good is going to outweigh my bad. I just think I’m doing enough good out there, Mike, that it will just on the scale of life will help me, and God’s going to give me that opportunity to go into heaven. But I’m here to tell you that God doesn’t grade on a curve, and God doesn’t weigh your good against your bad.

Here’s the only thing that matters. Do you have faith in Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior? Did you remember the words that Jesus said? Do you remember what we read to you? The Bible says that they did not know God. Jesus said, depart from me because I never knew you.

And I know that goes against our American idealism and that we work hard and we pull ourselves up from the bootstraps and we make ourselves something in this world. And I do want you to be a hard worker, and I want you to see dignity in work, and I want you to see great value in all of that. But when it comes to your spiritual life, Jesus already did all the work on the cross.

Can God’s people say amen? And that’s why we celebrate. That’s why we’re rejoicing, because we’re not out there trying to earn points with God. We’re not out there trying to merit our salvation.

We are coming out of great gratitude, and we are putting our faith in Jesus Christ. So how should we then live? Well, consider these thoughts this morning, and that is, first of all, we need to trust God with our questions. Now, a lot of people have a hard time because they have so many questions about faith, God, and Jesus, and they can’t seem to take that step of faith until all their questions are answered.

These are people that overthink everything. You ever met these people? They overthink and they analyze till they paralyze. You know what I mean? And I have to be honest with you, and I know you’re not going to like this, but I’d rather make a bad decision than no decision.

Some of you, you haven’t come to Christ because you’ve got 30 more questions, and until those 30 questions, well, we certainly can do our best. Many, many years ago, after the first Iraq war, when I pastored in Indiana, one of the wives came to me and asked, would you meet with my husband? He has a lot of questions about the Bible, and I’ve been praying that he’ll get saved, and I said, I’m glad to. Well, it ended up that we would meet every Monday night at 6 p.m., and I would try to answer his questions, but every time I answered a question, he had 10 more.

What I’m trying to say is that we’re never going to get to all the answers. Here’s what I want you to do, that just live by faith, not explanations. Now, I’m not asking you to check out your brain, and I’m not asking you to not try to understand, but I am saying to you, there comes a point you become the dog chasing the tail, and the secret things belong to the Lord, and if there was a good answer for everything, I promise you, long before Mike, it would have been discovered.

And so, there are things that we need to just trust God, and that we have faith, and we believe, and even though we may deal with doubt, that doubt does not keep us from having faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. And when we study the great book of faith in Hebrews chapter 11, we see that even these great men and women who made the hall of faith still dealt with doubt in their hearts. And I want you to know, doubt does not disqualify you from following Christ.

And we think about this great man, John the Baptist, the Bible described him as a very courageous and bold man who stood before thousands and preached to them that they should repent and believe. He witnessed at the baptism of Christ, the Father saying from heaven, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. He witnessed the falling of the Spirit like a dove upon Christ.

He experienced and learned at the very feet of Jesus Christ in all the great miracles and ministries that he conducted. John said, he must increase and I must what? Little did John know what he was saying, so much so that when he stood before the king and called the king out for his adulterous lifestyle, the king had John thrown in prison. John was definitely going from the throngs, the thousands of people to a lonely jail cell.

He must decrease. He was so discouraged and so filled with doubt, his disciples trying to keep him encouraged came to visit John and John asked his disciples, and this is all recorded in the gospels, and John asked his disciples, he said, would you go ask Jesus if he’s the one or do we look for another? And I know you’ve been there and I know you’ve questioned and doubted, but that never stripped you of your faith. Do you understand that? And when John’s disciples came to Jesus, Jesus said, go tell them.

And he made this long list of all the wonderful things that were happening and people getting saved and the miracles that were happening. And though John did not get to experience all that in that he was decreasing, he was a man of great faith and Jesus gave a great epitaph to his life as being a man of faith. How should we then live? Not only to trust God with our questions, but to tell people the good news about Jesus.

You see, before Jesus ascended into heaven, he gave a commission to each one of his disciples and that was to go. It was not to sit on the couch and eat Doritos, but it was to go and make disciples of all nations. All that you’re doing in this world, even your career, even your responsibilities and your roles is all about making disciples and you need to gear everything in that direction.

Now you can’t go to work and say, hey we’re going to have church today, or you can’t go to work and say we’re going to have Sunday school in the secular world. But what you can do is work with people one-on-one and you can witness for Christ and you can encourage people and you can share God’s word with people. And you know we got these little contraptions, it’s called the cell phone, and you could share and you can use it as a tool of discipleship.

But get the good news out church. The third thing I want you to do is how then should we live in light of the fact that hell is real is that you and I need to be winsome people, not combative. Now we see this in 2 Timothy chapter 2. We certainly understand that our goal is to win as many people as we can.

And I want to tell you, treating people like trash and calling them names and yelling and screaming at them isn’t going to help. As I tell people and remind people, as I witness for Christ, I just gently lead people one step closer to the cross. Our job is to be a part of the rescue squad.

But I want you to be out there winsome and I want you to be the kind of person who’s trying to reach people. And I want you to be the kind of person who’s making the case for Christ everywhere you go in your life with your words and how you live. Some of you are retired and you say, well you know I’m getting bored in my retirement.

Well that’s your fault. You know get back out there. There’s a shortage of workers so get back out there.

We could use you. The last thing I want to share with you is to remove every obstacle you can that is hindering you from being an effective witness for Christ. Here’s what I mean.

In 1 Corinthians 9 the apostle said that he became all things to all men that he might win some. It doesn’t mean that he became a wrestler so he could win wrestlers. He didn’t become a drunkard so he could become a drunkard.

But I’ll tell you what he was willing to do. He was willing to sacrifice some things so he could relate and connect and reach people for Christ. Now let me just say this to those of you that are here and you do not know Christ.

I want to say this. How do you escape hell? And it is simply this. By believing the saving gospel.

Believing in Jesus Christ who died for your sins and trust in him alone for your salvation. What does that mean? It means to turn away from your sin and your selfishness and to embrace Christ as your Lord and your Savior. And what will be the result? God will pour into your heart a renewed spirit and he will grant you a new life and forgiveness and grace in your life.

And you will spend eternity forever in heaven. And so we understand that hell is real and we understand that the torment is real and it motivates us as believers. But if you’re an unbeliever today, may the reality of hell motivate you to escape it by believing in Jesus Christ.

We’re not gleeful when we preach on hell. We’re not wanting anybody to go to hell. We certainly desire the salvation of all and we are like what the scripture says, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance.

Please make sure that heaven is your home and that you have put your faith in Jesus Christ for your true salvation. This is Pastor Mike Sanders reminding you that in Christ there is hope worth having.

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