Big Topics: Are There Degrees of Punishment in Hell?

Big Topics: Are There Degrees of Suffering in Hell? 

• Hell will be worse for some, but hell for everyone there! 
• Heaven will have greater rewards for some, but heaven for everyone there! What we’re not told is in what way the suffering will be greater for some than others. 

Text: Romans 2:4-5: “Do you presume on the riches of his [God’s] kindness and forbearance and patience, not knowing that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing [or treasuring] up wrath” 

• This one’s so striking because of the word thēsaurizō, which means to store up. 
• That’s the word, only here it’s used for wrath. 
• We’re supposed to store up treasures in heaven by doing good deeds day after day, 
  • But these people are doing the opposite:

• • But we are certainly told that there will be degrees of suffering in hell.
  • Every day is a precious opportunity to lay up treasures in heaven, and not store up wrath in hell.

“Lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven” (Matthew 6:20)

• God will give rewards in heaven at the bema, or the judgment seat of Christ, based on our faithfulness in service to Him 
  • 2 Corinthians 5:10 For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.
    • These will be burned up if the heart’s motivation is selfish
    • These will remain if done in faith and the motivation was the glory of God. 

Home is where a person’s heart is. 

• The more you love God, the better heaven will be.
• The more a person chooses to love sin and run from God, the worse hell will be.  
• So hell is very bad, but the unregenerated and unrepenant heart in hell will make it even worse. 
  • Hell will be the complete absence of God, which the heart was made to live in the presence of. 
  • A person will have for eternity while suffering will be their own vile and wicked heart. 

If you remain in your sin, your own heart will condemn you, your own heart will set the very fires of hell ablaze in you. 

The door of hell, so to speak, will be locked from the inside by you. 

• Because you refused to turn from your sins and ask God to save you through Jesus Christ.

Your heart and what you love reveal where you will spend eternity.

• If you remain in your sin, your own heart will condemn you, your own heart will set the very fires of hell ablaze in you. 

Matthew 15:18-19 But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, slander.

Examples 

• Luke 12:47-48: “That servant who knew his master’s will but did not get ready or act according to his will, will receive a severe beating. But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating.” 
  • That’s just a picture at the end of a parable, but everybody I’ve ever read says it points to greater or lesser torment in hell.
• Here’s Matthew 10:15: “Truly, I say to you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.”
  • So, more or less bearable points to degrees or differences of suffering.
• Matthew 11:21-22: “Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you.”
  • More or less bearable signifies greater or lesser suffering.
  • Chorizon and Bethsaida, along with Capernaum, were called the evangelistic triangle. 
  • Jesus spent most of his time here within a 3-mile radius of three Northern Galilean villages. 
  • Nearly all of His miracles and healings were here.

Jesus had a three and a half year ministry, and He preached on Hell 33 times. 

• So, almost once a month 
• He would bring a message on the subject of Hell. 
• You might not have wanted to attend His church because you have heard so much.
• The Bible talks about Hell 167 times, 167 times. 
• And most pastors have never preached even once on the subject. 

In my opinion, to deny the existence of Hell is to deny Jesus Christ 

• And to deny the Bible because Jesus preached on hell even more than He did on the subject of heaven. 

So, in Luke 16, Jesus tells us about Hell.

• And that is why many people don’t understand this, this is a true story. 
• Here are some reasons why. It doesn’t say — “and He spoke this parable to them.”

And Luke 16 talks about different parables and even has a parable at the beginning of the chapter. 

• But by the time you get here, it’s not a parable ’cause it does not say “that he spoke this parable. “
• Also, it’s not a simile.
• Jesus isn’t saying, “It is like, it is like, it is like”.
• He is telling us a true story, and we know it’s true because of a couple of things.

And first of all, he says, “There was a certain rich man”. 

• This word “Certain” means individual or specific. 

And then He says, “There was a certain beggar,” 

“Named Lazarus”. 

• Jesus wouldn’t have made up a name. 
•  This is not the same Lazarus that he raised from the dead. 
  •  It’s a common name, like John,
  •  But it’s not the same person. 

Luke 16:19: “There was a certain rich man who was clothed in purple and fine linen 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 with the crumbs which fell from the rich man’s table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked his sores. And so, it was that the beggar died and was carried by the angels,” 

• Now watch this carefully. This is Jesus talking, “to Abraham’s bosom. 
• Was Abraham a real person? 
• He’s talking about real people. “The rich man also died and was buried, and being in torment,”
  • I want you to remember the word “Torment” because a variation of that word is in this passage four times. 

• • This is the first reference

“Being in torment in Hades,” and Hades is the Greek word for Hell.  

• • They just used the Greek word there. 

“He lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham,” a real person, afar off, “and Lazarus,” a real person, “in his bosom. Then he cried and said, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus that he may get the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue for I am tormented.'” 

• • There’s the second time we see a variation of that word, “in this flame”.
    • Remember the word “Flame” 
    • Jesus describes Hell as a place of torment and flame. 

“But Abraham said, ‘Son, remember that in your lifetime you received good things and likewise Lazarus evil things, but now he is comforted, and you are tormented. ‘” 

• • The third time we see the variation of that word. 

“And besides all this, between us and you there’s a great gulf fixed so that those who would want to pass from here to you cannot. Nor can those from there pass to us. Then he said, “I beg you therefore, father, that you would send him to my father’s house, for I have five brothers that he may testify to them lest they also come to this place of torment”. 

• • Fourth time. 

“Abraham said to him, ‘They have Moses and Prophets, let them hear them. And he said, ‘No, father Abraham, but if one goes to them from the dead they will repent.” But he said to him: “If they do not hear Moses and the Prophets, neither will they be persuaded the one rise from the dead”.

Because Jesus is referring to a specific man, and He says in Verse 23: “In Hell”. He’s referring to a person. 

• • And Jesus says, “He’s in Hell”. 
  • This also ends all debate on whether it’s a place of fire. 
  • Because Jesus says, “In this flame”. 
  • And this also ends all debate on whether it’s a place of torment or not because we have the word or variation of the word “Torment” four times.
    • The Greek word here for torment, βασανίζω,  (Basanizo) has three meanings:
      • The first is acute pain from debilitating disease.
      • The second is the name of a rack of torture that they invented, and they gave it this name — the name that is translated as torment here. 
        • It was a rack that had sharp objects that they would stretch a body on and continue to stretch it around it. Until eventually the sharp objects would pierce the body and the person would die from the piercings. 
      • And the third is describing a fire that is hot enough to melt metals.

So, according to Jesus, we can discern a few things about what happens to a person when he goes to Hell.

Here’s number one: He desires comfort. 

• Send Lazarus said, “He may dip the tip of his finger in water. That I may cool my tongue for I am tormented in this flame”.
  •  I want you to notice that he didn’t say, “Could I have a bucket of water? Or could I have a cup of water”? 
  • And he didn’t even say that he might dip his finger. He said, “That he might dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue”.

Number two, He expresses concern.

• He immediately says, “Please send him to my brothers. My father’s house. I have five brothers”. 
• Every person will have this thought at some point. I hope my family does not come here! 
  • Scholars say, “This was not out of true concern for his family as much as it was a protest that someone should warn them because nobody warned me! “

Here’s number three: He seeks consolation. 

• Here’s what he said — he tries to tell himself if someone would go from the dead. If someone were to rise from the dead and tell them, maybe they would believe.
•  I’m sure they would believe. Abraham says this, “Listen, they have Moses and the Prophets”.
  • Moses wrote the first five books of the Old Testament. 
  • The Prophets wrote most of the other books.
• So, when they say — when he says, “If they don’t believe Moses on the Prophets,” he’s referring to the Bible. 
  • Jesus did rise from the grave. That’s a direct reference. 
  • So, if they don’t believe the Bible, they wouldn’t believe even if one were to rise from the grave. And He did.

I’m going to tell you some things that will help you to understand what eternal Hell will be like. 

First of all, two physical properties on Earth keep us mentally stable. 

• Light and solid. 

• • Light helps us to gain our bearings.
  •  If we can just see where we’re going, what we’re doing. 
  • Please understand that light is not in Hell.
    •  The Bible describes Hell as a place of outer darkness.
    • Matthew 8 describes Hell: “Complete total darkness”. The Greek word means blackness. 
    • Total darkness.
    • You will never see or talk to any other person. So, there’s no light in Hell. The reason there’s light in Heaven 
  • Revelation 21:23 “That there’s no sun in Heaven.” 
  • Did you know? There’s no sun because the lamb is the light. 
    • The reason there’s no light in Hell is that God takes His presence from Hell. 
    • So, there’s no light. 

Secondly, no solid, in other words, being able to hold something. Grab something. 

• Keeps us mentally stable on this Earth. Being able to sit down, or walk, or touch something.
• Revelation 9,11,17 and 20 tell us that: “Hell is a bottomless pit. 
  • You will never touch anything. 
  • You will never sit down. 
  • You will never stand. 

Two emotional properties keep us emotionally stable on this Earth. 

No rest in hell. 

1. 1. And I know many of you think rest is a physical property, which it is, but it’s also an emotional property because rest keeps us emotionally stable.
   2. Revelations 14:11 says, “On the smoke of their torment ascends forever and ever and they have no rest. Day or night”. No rest.

No hope in hell. 

1. 1. There’s no hope. 
   2. On this Earth we always have hope that it can get better. 
   3. Hope requires life, and life requires the presence of God. 
   4. Jesus Christ our living hope! I Peter 1:3

Nobody is forced to go to heaven.

•  People who do not wish to go to heaven will not have to. 
• Hell, then is exactly what you wish, for an eternity. 
  • People who have lived for self their entire lives will be left to themselves for eternity.
  • People who have said no to the Lord their entire lives will never feel or sense the lord again. 
    • They will stand before the judgment seat having rejected Him their entire lives, and now who is rejecting whom? 

• By default, the whole world is going to hell!
  • Jesus was the only one worthy of going to heaven and, in a way, the only one going to heaven. 
• When the Father sees you, does He see you or Jesus?
  • When the Father sees you He had better see Jesus.
  • The Bible says of Christmas, “For unto us a savior was born…” A savior from what? Hell. 
  • What is Easter about? Jesus Christ died and rose again for your sins so that you do not have to go to hell.

You are only going to heaven if your life is hidden in JESUS! 

• Colossians 3:2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with Him in glory.…
• To save you, Christ had to die so that you could live. To follow Him, you. You must die and Christ must live.

In the teaching of Jesus, the ultimate condemnation from the mouth of God is ‘depart from me.’ 

That is remarkable–to simply be away from God is the worst thing that can happen to us! 

• Why? Because we were created to walk in God’s immediate presence (Genesis 2). 
• In one sense, of course, God is everywhere and upholds everything.
  •  Only in him do we all speak and move and have our being (Acts 17:28). 
  • The Bible says sin excludes us from God’s ‘face’ (Isaiah 59:2). 
  • All the life, joy, love, strength, and meaning we have looked for and longed for is found in his face (Psalm 16:11)-that is, in his favor, presence, fellowship, and pleasure.

We run from the presence of God and therefore God actively gives us up to our desire (Romans 1:24, 26). 

The doctrine of hell is important because it is the only way to know how much Jesus loved us and how much he did for us. 

• • In Matthew 10:28, Jesus says that no physical destruction can be compared with the spiritual destruction of hell, of losing the presence of God. 
    • But this is exactly what happened to Jesus on the cross- he was forsaken by the Father (Matthew 27:46). 
    • In Luke 16:24, the rich man in hell is desperately thirsty (v.24), 
      • And on the cross, Jesus said “I thirst” (John 19:28). 

• The water of life, the presence of God, was taken from him. 

• • His body was being destroyed in the worst possible way, but that was a flea bite compared to what was happening to his soul. 
  • When he cried out that his God had forsaken him, he was experiencing hell itself. 

• But consider–if our debt for sin is so great that it is paid off there, 

• • And the hell that we deserved would have stretched on for eternity, 
    • Then what are we to conclude from the fact that Jesus said the payment was “finished” (John 19:30) after only three hours? 
      • We learn that what he felt on the cross was far worse and deeper than all of our deserved hells put together.

Hell was not created for you, it was created for Satan and his angels. 

• Isaiah 5:14 – Therefore hell hath enlarged herself, and opened her mouth without measure: and their glory, and their multitude, and their pomp, and he that rejoiceth, shall descend into it.”

Because man decided to follow Satan, Hell had to be enlarged.

•  It was enlarged by necessity. Not by design.
•  But notice, here’s the scripture that shows you Hell was not prepared for you. Matthew 25:41: Then you 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.
• And that’s Jesus talking.

Jesus did not prepare Hell for you, but He did prepare Heaven for you. 

• John 14, he said, “I’m going to prepare a place for you”. 
• Isn’t that a great statement? 
• He did not prepare Hell for you. He prepared Heaven for you.