Good News:Bad News
The Reality of Hell

“Of all the doctrines in Christianity, hell is probably the most difficult to defend, the most burdensome to believe, and the first to be abandoned.” — Peter Kreeft

“I can indeed hardly see how anyone ought to wish christianity true. For if so, plain language of the text seems to show that the men who do not believe, and this would include my father, brother, and almost all my friends will be everlastingly punished. This is a damnable doctrine.” — Charles Darwin

“There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than the doctrine of hell, if it lay in my power. But it has the support of Scripture and, especially, of our Lord's own words; it has always been held by the Christian Church, and it has the support of reason.” — C.S. Lewis

1. Is Hell fact of fiction?

• Atheist — Hell doesn’t exist because God doesn’t exist.
• Annihilationist — Believers go to heaven, unbelievers are annihilated.
• Ultimate reconciliationism — Hell is a purifying place and ultimately everyone will be reconciled to God.
• Universalist — Everyone automatically goes to Heaven.

2. What is Hell like?

• Hell is a dark place.

(Matthew 8:12 CEV) … in the darkness they will cry out and grit their teeth in pain.

•Hell is an awful place.

(Matthew 13:41-42 NIV) The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

• Hell is a permanent place.

(Matthew 25:46 NIV) Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.

• Hell is an isolated place.

(2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 NLT) in flaming fire, bringing judgment on those who don’t know God and on those who refuse to obey the Good News of our Lord Jesus. They will be punished with eternal destruction, forever separated from the Lord and from his glorious power.

3. Why does Hell exist?

(Matthew 25:41 NIV) Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.’

“There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done," and those to whom God says, in the end, "Thy will be done." All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell.” — C.S. Lewis

4. Who’s going to be in Hell?

(John 3:18 NKJV) He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.

(Matthew 7:13-14 NLT) You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it.

What’s the Good News?

• God doesn’t want you to go to Hell. (2 Peter 3:9, 1 Timothy 2:4)
• Hell is avoidable. (John 3:16, Romans 6:23)
• You can be certain you’re not going there. (Romans 10:9)
• You can warn others.

(Romans 10:13-15 NIV) Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”

"Sir, if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees, and be glad I had done so if I thought that action would result in saving one soul from an eternal hell like the one you have described."
— Charles Peace

“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our bodies. If they will perish, let them perish with our arms about their knees. Let no one go there unwarned and un-prayed for.” — Charles Spurgeon