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The Admonition podcast brings you Bible lessons and sermons from the Collierville Church of Christ with host Aaron Cozort. Each episode focuses on interpreting Scripture in its original context, exploring the background of key passages, events, and teachings. Gain deeper insight into God’s Word as we study together, applying timeless truths to everyday life.
most people don't even prepare for it.
But it's coming for everyone.
It's about eternity.
We like to imagine that life will always be just the way it is.
We like to think we have time.
But the truth is there is coming a day for each and every single one of us.
And there's a place prepared for all of those who refuse God.
It's serious.
This place is real.
and ignoring it does not make it go away.
Today we're going to face the truth that many people try to shy away from.
We're going to see exactly what God says about the reality of hell.
Brethren, if the Bible is true, then hell is true.
If God is real, then judgment is real.
And if judgment is real, then there is a place prepared for the devil and for his angels.
and every soul that rejects the Lord.
The world mocks this idea of hell, but mocking will not erase reality.
What we believe or what we don't believe doesn't change what God has already said.
Hell is real and it is eternal and it is dreadful.
Now there will be people in our lives that will come in and say, well, hell is just a
myth, but truth does not need your belief
remain truth.
Gravity works whether we believe in it or not.
Fire burns whether we believe in it or not.
And hell exists if we believe in it or not.
Denial is not an escape.
Silence is not safety.
And disbelief is not deliverance.
If you walk blindfolded into a busy highway, the semi-truck is still coming.
It is the same for hell.
Men blind themselves every single day with different philosophies, different beliefs,
different excuses, and with different pleasures of life.
But death is coming, judgment is coming, and eternity is coming.
And when it comes, belief or unbelief will not change the outcome.
Incidentally, Jesus Christ spoke more about hell than he did heaven.
The fact alone should stop every preacher who stands in the pulpit and says, a lot of luck
to talk about hell.
Or I'll just say the place where we don't like to talk about.
That's not right.
Our Lord repeatedly warned us.
Why?
Because He knew how real hell was.
He knew the torment that was awaiting the lost.
He knew the terror of eternity, of being separated from God.
And He loved men enough to tell each and every single one of us the truth.
That's the God we serve.
who does not hide anything from us.
Silence on hell is not love, it's hatred.
Refusing to warn a man about danger is not compassion, it's cruelty.
If a bridge is out and you smile and wave as a man drives full speed ahead, that's not
love at all.
If a preacher stands in the pulpit and refuses to warn about hell while men speak toward
judgment day every single day, that is not love at all and he has blood on his hands.
Brethren, warning is love.
Hell is not a topic of debate, it's a reality.
And brethren, you cannot preach the gospel without preaching on hell.
You cannot understand the cross without hell.
You cannot grasp the love of God until you understand the wrath of God.
Why did Jesus hang on Calvary?
Why the blood?
Why the suffering?
Why the agony?
Because there was something worse.
than the crucifixion awaiting mankind.
was eternal separation from God forever.
The cross only makes sense when you see the penalty of sin.
If sin was nothing, then Calvary was nothing.
But if sin condemns to eternal hell, then Calvary is everything.
And this is why Satan tries so hard every single day to erase the thought of hell in our
minds.
Because if there is no hell, there is no urgency.
If there is no hell, there's no need for repentance.
If there is no hell, there's no reason to obey the gospel.
But brethren, if hell is real, then nothing else matters until we escape it.
Hell is a destiny for souls.
Every man and woman in here today will either spend their life in heaven or in hell.
There is no middle ground.
There is no third option, no escape.
Your eternal destiny is already being sealed by the decisions that you make every single
day.
This morning, I want us to examine what the Bible says.
Not my opinion, not church tradition, not philosophies, but by the word of the living God.
Hell is a real place.
It's not imagination, and it's not a metaphor.
It's not a fable created by preachers to scare people into obedience.
It's just as real as heaven and just as real as the earth that you're sitting on right
now.
Just as real as the God who made you.
Jesus said in Matthew 25: 41, "Depart from me you cursed into everlasting fire.
Prepared for the devil and his angels." Notice he said everlasting fire.
If words mean anything, means hell is a real place with real punishment.
He also said in Revelation 20: 14 through 15, "and death and hell were cast into the lake
of fire.
This is the second death and whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast
into the lake of fire." This is not an imagination.
That is God describing a destination.
The Bible uses the word Gehenna for hell.
The word referred to the valley of Heman outside of Jerusalem where garbage, dead animals,
and refuse were constantly burning.
The Jews understood that message very well.
It was a place of filth, of stench, of constant fire.
Jesus took that earthly message and said, is what hell, this is a picture of eternal
punishment.
It is real, it is dreadful, and it is eternal.
Now listen carefully.
Men everywhere have tried to deny this.
Some say this is purgatory, where sins are just purged for a little time and then soon
released.
But we know the Bible never says that.
But it does say in Hebrews 9.27 that is appointed and the men wants to die, but after
this, the judgment.
There are no second chances.
There is no halfway house and there is no escape of hell.
Others say this is an annihilation where the wicked will just simply cease to exist.
That contradicts what we just read in Matthew 24 or 25, 46.
Where Jesus said, these shall go into everlasting punishment.
but the righteous into eternal life.
I want you to think logically for a second.
If heaven is eternal, if heaven is forever, you know what that means?
Hell is forever too.
You cannot twist the word eternal in one half of the verse and then leave it alone in the
other.
If heaven is everlasting, then so is hell.
If hell is not real, then sin is not serious.
If hell is not real, then judgment is meaningless.
If hell is not real, then the cross was unnecessary.
But brethren, sin is dangerous.
Judgment is coming and the cross was very necessary.
Therefore, hell must be real.
The world says, I don't believe in hell.
But brethren, unbelief does not erase truth.
A man may stay, I practice that so much and I still got it wrong.
A man may stand on a railroad track and say, I don't believe in trains.
But unbelief will not stop him from getting ran over by that train.
It's the same way for a Christian.
The same way a man may live his whole entire life rejecting the thought of hell.
But on the day of judgment, unbelief will not protect him from reality.
Hell is eternal and hell is without end.
Once a soul crosses into that place, there is no coming back.
As we need to make sure we teach this because it's exactly what the Bible teaches.
When we look back at Matthew chapter 25 verses 46, did you read the word everlasting?
The same word that describes the length of heaven describes the length of hell.
If heaven is forever, then hell is forever.
If hell comes to an end, then so does heaven.
And who among us dares to say that heaven is temporary?
The Hebrew writer says Hebrews 9.27 is appointed to men once a day, but after this, a
judgment.
Some will argue and say, well, God is just
too merciful.
God is all loving and he's all caring.
He's not gonna let people to suffer for eternity.
But what did Jesus say in Mark 9, 43 through 44?
He said, is better to enter life maimed than having two hands to go into hell.
And to the fire there should never be quenched.
Well, the worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched.
Christ used the strongest words to describe that hell never ends.
If God wanted us to believe it was temporary, don't you think He would have told us?
Instead, all throughout these verses, He repeats it over and over again.
The fire is not quenched.
The worm dieth not.
Eternal means eternal.
Preachers, if we teach anything less than this, we make God a liar.
This is where some preachers speak soft about.
They want a God who is all mercy and no justice, but you cannot separate God's mercy from
his justice.
Romans 2, 5 warns us, but after the hardness of the impending heart, treasures up thyself
the wrath against the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God.
Notice the phrase righteous judgment.
If God allows the wicked to walk free after death, his judgment is no longer righteous.
The eternal punishment of hell is not only biblical, but it's necessary to uphold the
holiness and the justice of the Almighty God.
Think of a judge in a courtroom today.
If a man is going in there and he's guilty of crimes like theft, abuse, lies, murder, and
the judge just simply says, know what, today I'm just feeling nice.
Today I'm feeling merciful.
I'm going let him go free.
What would we think about?
How would that?
I've lost my...
train of thought.
How would we feel after that?
You know, if we can understand that about an earthly courtroom, how much more should we
understand that about God's courtroom?
If we can understand, well, brethren, God will not pervert judgment.
And here's a thought that should make us tremble.
Once the door is shut, it's never going to open again.
Revelation 22, 11 says that, the unjust still be unjust.
and he which is filthy let him be filthy still.
There is no changing sides after death.
The wicked will remain wicked and the righteous will remain righteous.
Eternity seals the souls of the person's destiny forever.
Hell is eternal because sin against an eternal God demands eternal consequences.
That's why in 2 Thessalonians 1, 8-9 says when the Lord comes back
in a flaming fire taking vengeance on them who know not God and that obey not the gospel
of our Lord Jesus Christ who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the
presence of the Lord and from the glory of his power.
Everlasting destruction away from God's presence, away from hope, away from peace.
That is hell and it never ends.
Jesus said in Matthew 7, 13 through 14, entry ye into the straight gate.
For wide is the gate and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction.
And many there be go in there at, because straight is the gate and narrow is the way which
leadeth into life.
And few there be that find it.
Brother, many are on that broad road today.
Few find that narrow one.
And once that road ends, there are no U-turns.
There are no detours.
There are no second chances.
Eternity means forever and forever means no second chances.
Hell is eternal and it's a thought that we shouldn't take lightly.
It's a reality to tremble at.
If this doesn't make us all examine our own souls, if this doesn't make us to want to stir
up and warn the lost, then we don't understand the weight of God's words.
Hell is forever and help us if we don't preach it like it is.
The torments of hell are beyond what words can express.
So far we've seen that hell is real and that hell is eternal.
But I want to go one step further with this.
Hell is not only real and forever, but it's place of unimaginable torment.
And God our Father did not hide this from us.
He gave us glimpses of what it would be like so that we can understand the seriousness of
sin and the urgency of salvation.
Read with me Luke chapter 16.
Turn your Bibles to Luke 16, 19 through...
Luke 16, 19 through 25.
And it says, was a certain rich man who had his clothed in purple and fine lining and
fared sumptuously every day.
But there was a certain beggar named Lazarus, full of sores, who was laid at his gate,
desiring to be fed from the crumbs which fell from the rich man's table.
Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores, and it came to pass that when the beggar
died and was carried by the angels to Abraham's bosom, the rich man also died and was
buried.
And being in torment in Hades, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham afar off and Lazarus
in his bosom.
And he cried and said, Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am tormented in this flame.
But Abraham said, remember that in your lifetime you received your good things and
likewise Lazarus' evil things, but now he is comforted and you are tormented.
So far we noticed two people.
The rich man and the poor beggar.
The rich man had everything in the world that he could possibly ever want.
And we see the poor man here who just was desiring to be fed by the rich man's crumbs.
We also see the two destinations that these men went to.
It does not say the rich man fell asleep or went to nothing less.
It says being in torments in Hades, he lifted up his eyes.
Brother Moser once told us that he couldn't see it other than being, think of you as a
child.
and you're falling asleep in the car.
And you don't know how you woke up the next morning in your bed while your parents picked
you up and took you there.
It's a thought that we should think about, but we do not, however, know.
But think about this man.
A man who feasted every day, dressed in luxury, lived in comfort, and now he would give
absolutely anything, anything for just one drop of water.
Not a glass, but just a drop.
He could never have it.
And I'm here to tell you, he never will.
Hell is a place of fire, but one that never dies down, not one that runs out of fuel.
Jesus said in Mark 9 through 43 through 44, he tells us that the fire is not quenched.
Revelation calls it the lake of fire and brimstone.
Brethren, God did not use that picture to just scare us for nothing.
He used it because hell is real.
Fire burns, fire destroys, but here's the thing.
Fire burns without ever consuming.
The body and soul suffer without end.
That right there is torment.
But hell is not just fire, but it's also darkness.
Jesus said in Matthew 8-12 that the loss will be cast in the outer darkness.
Jude 13 calls it the blackness of darkness forever.
Can you even imagine a fire that gives off no light?
A place where you cannot even see your hand in front of your face?
No friend to comfort you.
no glimpse of God's glory, only endless blackness and endless despair.
And it's not only fire and darkness, but it's a memory.
Abraham said to the rich man, son, remember.
Remember your life.
Remember your choices.
Remember the opportunities that you wasted.
Brother, can you even imagine every sermon that you heard, every invitation song that was
sung, every prayer, every chance you had to obey the gospel?
It's all going to come back to you.
That right there is torment.
Over and over and again.
And one of the worst parts is just knowing that you can't even change it.
That is torment of the mind.
But they're one of the greatest, or the greatest torments perhaps is separation from God.
Second Thessalonians 1, 9 says that the wicked will be punished with everlasting
destruction from the presence of the Lord.
Every good thing that you've ever known in your life.
laughter, sunlight, mercy, all comes from God.
James said, good gift and every perfect gift is from above.
In hell there are no good gifts.
There are no mercy, no kindness, no love, no peace, God is gone.
And that's the worst thing about it.
In that absence, that separation, that hopelessness, that torment beyond words.
Jesus said there will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.
Jesus repeated that phrase and he over again so that we would
we would realize and know that hell is not just silence, it's endless cries and endless
agony.
Now know somebody will say, well, preacher, do you really believe what you're saying?
Yes, I do, because it's exactly what Jesus said.
And if I or any of one of us preachers stand in the pulpit and say otherwise or act like
it's not that bad, we make God a liar and shame on us.
If the joys of heaven are beyond imagination, then the torments of hell are beyond
imagination too.
Every single day, souls are dropping, people are dying, and every single day people are
going to that place.
And we have the power to stop it.
We should want every single day to try to save somebody, try to help them to get back on
the right path, try to get more people to come through that door so they don't end up the
same way that other people have.
Brethren, if this ended here, we would have no hope of eternal life.
Hell can be escaped, but only through Christ.
Hell can be exsaked not by our own strength, but by the blood of Christ.
Romans 6, 23 says, the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through
Jesus Christ our Lord.
That's a reality.
That's the truth.
He also said in John 5, 24, he that heareth my words and believeth on him that sent me
hath everlasting life, and should not come into condemnation, but is passed from death
into life.
Brethren, the cross.
was God's rescue plan.
On Calvary, Jesus bore the wrath that we deserved.
He tasted death so that we might live.
He endured the cross so we could escape that fire.
Think for a second and really let that sink in.
Every thorn, every nail, every blood that was shed on the cross was God saying, I don't
want you in hell, I want you with me.
Brother, in Matthew 7, 13 through 14, what we read earlier, many will choose that broad
way.
that leads to destruction, but the narrow way still stands open.
Matthew 11 28, Jesus Christ has said the same things that he's saying long ago and he's
saying them today.
Come unto me, all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.
Brethren, if hell is real, and it is, if hell is eternal, and it is, and if hell is
torment beyond imagination, it is, and there's nothing more urgent than escaping it
through Christ.
Let me ask you something.
If death came today, where would you spend eternity?
Once you cross that line, there is no coming back.
The time to flee from wrath is to come now.
And 2 Corinthians 6.2 says, behold, now is the accepted time.
Behold, now is the day of salvation.
Not tomorrow, not next week, not next month, now.
Hell is eternal, but so is the life of Christ.
Hell is eternal, but Christ offers peace, joy, and love and rest forevermore.
The question now is not whether if hell exists or not.
The question is, will you accept it?
The only way to escape Christ is through His plan.
First, you must hear the word, Romans 10, 17.
So then faith cometh by hearing and hearing by the word of God.
We must believe in Christ.
Hebrews 11, 6.
But without faith, it is impossible to please Him.
We must repent of our sins, Luke 13, 3.
I tell you, nay, except you repent.
ye shall all likewise perish.
We must confess to Christ, Romans 10, 9 through 10, that thou shalt confess with the mouth
of the Lord Jesus Christ, and shalt believe in the heart that God hath raised him from the
dead, thou shalt be saved.
We must be baptized for the remission of our sins.
Acts 2.38, repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ for the
remission of your sins.
Finally, we must live faithful unto death, Revelation 2.10.
Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life.
Will you obey the gospel today or not?
Will you accept His plan or will walk away?
If there's any way that we can help you today, come now as together we stand and as we
sing.