Please turn in your Bibles this morning to Romans chapter 1 as we look at the foolishness of man to suppress the truth of God and to reject Him for the end result of their foolishness is that the wrath of God will come upon them and they will spend eternity apart from Him in Hell and ultimately in the Lake of Fire!

            That may be a shocking statement to some of you.  Some of you may feel it is unloving to say that someone is going to Hell. And some of you may not even believe that Hell exists.  The reason there is so much confusion today regarding Hell is because for most churches, it is not something that is taught.  In fact, most Americans today do not expect to experience Hell themselves, only one-half of 1% expect to go to Hell upon their death while some 64% believe they will go to heaven, 5% believe they will come back as another life form, 5% feel they will simply cease to exist and 24% admit that they have “no idea” what will happen to them after they die.  Obviously there is much confusion about this place called Hell!

            Maybe some of you have heard this story about the old mountaineer that had lived a full but not exactly saintly life and now was on his deathbed.  He summoned his weeping wife.  “Sara,” he said, “go to the fireplace and take out the third stone from the top.”

            She did as instructed.

            “Reach in there,” said her husband, “and bring out what you find.”  Her fingers touched a large Mason jar, and with some effort she pulled it up. The jar was full of cash.

            “Sara,” said the old man, “when I go, I’m going to take all that money with me. I want you to put that jar up in the attic by the widow.  I’ll get it as I go by on my way to heaven.”

            His wife followed his instructions. That night the old mountaineer died.  After the funeral his wife remembered the Mason jar and went to the attic. There was the jar still full of money and by the window.

            “Oh,” the widow sighed.  “I knew I should have put it in the basement.”

            You see, there still is much confusion about life after death, although she was probably closer to the truth than many!

            Now, in terms of Christians, one survey of evangelical seminary students shows us why there is so much confusion about Hell.  Almost half of those seminary students that were surveyed, 46%, felt that preaching about Hell to unbelievers is in “poor taste.”  Not only that, but 48% of self-professed “born again” Americans said that “good” people will go to heaven when they die – even if they have never trusted in Jesus to be their Lord and Savior!  And 10% of evangelicals believe that the concept of sin is outmoded, we need to do away with it!\

            Today, as we see seeker-friendly churches or user-friendly churches explode on the scene, there seems to be something missing, the H-word.  And I am not picking on these churches, I have talked with a Calvary pastor who had gotten into this movement, knows what it is about, and is now out of it.  And this doesn’t mean they don’t love the Lord, but there is a dangerous trend that seems to be growing as you can see from these news clips regarding these seeker-friendly churches.  “You won’t hear people threatened with Hell or referred to as sinners. The goal is to make them feel welcome, not drive them away.”  Also, “As with all clergymen (this pastor’s) answer is God – but he slips Him in at the end, and then doesn’t get heavy.  No ranting, no raving.  No fire, no brimstone.  He doesn’t even use the H-word.  Call it Light Gospel. It has the same salvation as the Old Time religion, but with a third less guilt.” And lastly, “[The pastor] is preaching a very upbeat message . . . It’s a Salvationist message, but the idea is not so much being saved from the fires of Hell.  Rather, it’s being saved from meaninglessness and aimlessness in this life. It’s more of a soft-sell.”

            Now as grand and as great as that sounds on the outside, or maybe not, it is wrong.  Do you know out of all the prophets, all the apostles, all the evangelists in the Bible that Jesus taught more about Hell then all of them put together!  And thus, it must be an important issue for us to look at, for it was on the heart of Jesus often!

            Listen also to what just a few of the cults teach on Hell and punishment, for some of this garbage has snuck into the church:

1.  CHRISTIAN SCIENCE (founded by spiritist Mary Baker Eddy): They believe “there is no death” and that “heaven and hell are states of thought, not places.  People experience their own heaven or hell right here on earth.”

2.  EDGAR CAYCE (spiritist and New Age prophet):  He believed that “the destiny of the soul, as of all creation, is to become One with the Creator” and that no soul is ever lost.

3.  THE UNIFICATION CHURCH (Sun Myung Moon):  They believe that “God will not desert any person eternally. By some means . . . they will be restored.”

4.  MORMONISM (founded by occultist Joseph Smith):  They believe “The false doctrine that the punishment to be visited upon erring souls is endless . . . is but a dogma of unauthorized and erring sectaries, at once unscriptural, and revolting.”

5.  JEHOVAH WITNESSES (founded by Charles Taz Russell): They believe that the wicked are forever annihilated because “the teaching about a fiery hell can rightly be designated as a ‘teaching of demons.’”

6.  THE LOVE FAMILY or THE CHILDREN OF GOD (founded by spiritist David Berg): They have this interesting take on the subject, they see hell as a temporal purgatory.  They say “The Lake of Fire is where the wicked go to get purged from their sins . . . to let them eventually come . . . out.”

7.  UNITARIAN UNIVERSALISM:  This is their take on this subject.  “It seems safe to say that no Unitarian Universalist believes in a resurrection of the body, a literal heaven or hell, or any kind of eternal punishment.”

            With all this confusion regarding Hell, the judgment of God with Christians and non-Christians, I pray that as we finish our study you will see that the wrath of God upon sinful man is real, that Hell is real.  Here in Romans chapter 1 we have seen Paul’s opening salutation in verses 1-7, then his introduction in verses 8-17, and now, from Romans 1:18 through Romans 3:20 we see Paul condemn the whole human race.  He goes to the unrighteous heathen and has nature itself condemn them.  He then goes to the self-righteous moralist and lets his own conscious condemn him.  And finally, he concludes by looking at the super-religious person and has him condemned by the commandments of God. 

            Paul, as a prosecuting attorney brings these things before the Judge, before God, and shows that all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God, that none are righteous, not even one!  Thus, because of this condition, refusing to receive the pardon that God has given to man through Jesus Christ, God’s judgment will come upon them. They will go to Hell!  With that as our background, let’s begin reading in Romans chapter 1, starting in verse 18 and see what the Lord has for us this morning.

            Have you ever lost your temper before?  Have you ever poured out your wrath upon another? Of course you have and I can safely assume it wasn’t pretty!  Thus, when it comes to the wrath of God, the judgment of God, we tend to think of Him losing control, going crazy, maybe too much caffeine and He just lashes out and wipes out a nation or a people!  You might say He was having a bad day!

            Because of that concept of God, many have a hard time believing and receiving Him into their lives, as did Lord Bertrand Russell, as he said:

            There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that He believed in hell.  I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment, and one does find repeatedly a vindictive fury against those people who would not listen to His preaching. . . You do not, for instance, find that attitude in Socrates. You find him quite bland and urbane toward people who would not listen to him, and it is, to my mind, far more worthy of a sage to take that line than to take the line of indignation.  

                                                - Lord Bertrand Russell, Why I Am Not a Christian, 1964, p. 17

            That is not the right concept of God at all.  Thus, if you approach God’s wrath with a faulty concept, then you will come to a faulty conclusion about God, as this man did, and many others have done.  First of all, we need to understand the word that is being used for “wrath” or in some of your Bibles it may say “anger.”  We need to understand what Paul is saying so we can have a correct starting point.

            In the Greek there are two basic words for “anger.”  The first is THUMOS from which we get our word “thermometer” and “thermos” from.  Think of this word like this: “I’m ready to boil over I’m so mad at you!”  Or maybe “I’m ready to explode because of what you did to me!”  It carries with it the idea of keeping things warm, boiling over, it is a red-hot anger, the kind that builds and builds until it is manifested when someone’s nose hits your fist, or should I say your fist hits their nose!  It is a loss of control.  It is flying off the handle because of someone or something.  But THUMOS is not the Greek word that Paul uses here for God’s wrath or anger; this is not how God responds, although it is how we often respond!

            The Greek word that Paul uses here is ORGE, which speaks of a controlled action or justifiable abhorrence or disgust.  It is perfect, it is settled, it is controlled.  In fact, when you study the Scriptures that is the conclusion you come to, that God doesn’t want to pour out His wrath upon His creation and has done everything possible to prevent it from happening, but because man refuses to come to Him and repent of His sins, to receive Jesus into their lives, sin must be dealt with and when God deals with sin it is fair, it is right, it is just!

            Listen to what God said in the Old Testament, for many times you hear people say that in the Old Testament God is a God of wrath and in the New Testament He is a God of love.  The problem with that is it is wrong, God is unchanging and the God of the Old Testament is the God of the New Testament!  In Ezekiel chapter 18 the Lord tells us, “The soul who sins shall die. The son shall not bear the guilt of the father, nor the father bear the guilt of the son. The righteousness of the righteous shall be upon himself, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon himself . . . ‘Do I have any pleasure at all that the wicked should die?’ says the Lord GOD, ‘and not that he should turn from his ways and live?’ . . . ‘Cast away from you all the transgressions which you have committed, and get yourselves a new heart and a new spirit. For why should you die, O house of Israel?  For I have no pleasure in the death of one who dies,’ says the Lord GOD. ‘Therefore turn and live!’”  Ezekiel 18:20, 23, 31-32. That is the heart of God in both the Old and New Testaments!

            Not only is God’s wrath under control, but Paul tells us it is “revealed from heaven” which tells me it is a righteous judgment, it is a perfect judgment, it is not unfair at all!  We see this in the Old Testament, in Psalm 9:7-8, “But the LORD shall endure forever; He has prepared His throne for judgment.   He shall judge the world in righteousness, And He shall administer judgment for the peoples in uprightness.”  Also, in Psalm 96:13 we are told, “For He is coming, for He is coming to judge the earth. He shall judge the world with righteousness, And the peoples with His truth.”  And that same thought is found in Psalm 98:9, “For He is coming to judge the earth.  With righteousness He shall judge the world, And the peoples with equity.”

            And in the New Testament, that same thought of God’s righteous judgment comes shining through.  In Romans 2:5-11 Paul tells us, “But in accordance with your hardness and your impenitent heart you are treasuring up for yourself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God, who ‘will render to each one according to his deeds’: eternal life to those who by patient continuance in doing good seek for glory, honor, and immortality; but to those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness — indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, on every soul of man who does evil, of the Jew first and also of the Greek; but glory, honor, and peace to everyone who works what is good, to the Jew first and also to the Greek.  For there is no partiality with God.”  And in Acts 17:30-31 we are told, “Truly, these times of ignorance God overlooked, but now commands all men everywhere to repent, because He has appointed a day on which He will judge the world in righteousness by the Man whom He has ordained. He has given assurance of this to all by raising Him from the dead.”  Thus, God is a righteous judge who will judge those who have rejected Jesus and the wrath of God will come upon them!

            As you look at this section in Romans you see God’s wrath parallel to His righteousness.  In Romans 1:17 we are told, “For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’” And here in verse 18 Paul tells us that God’s wrath is revealed against all ungodliness or man’s offenses against God and all unrighteousness or man’s offenses against man.  It is a counterpart to God’s righteousness and if God did not deal with unrighteousness it would make Him an unrighteous judge! And please understand that this judgment is not against those who have not heard of Jesus, have not had the opportunity to see there is a God, but they do know there is a God and they suppress the truth, hold it down so they don’t have to act upon it and thus, they are guilty before God and the wrath of God will come upon them!

            In speaking of God’s wrath, Albert Barnes said the following and I think he gives to us a good perspective of what God’s wrath is all about. He said:

            It is clear that when we think of the word “wrath” as applicable to God, it must be divested of everything that is like human passion, and especially the passion of revenge. It is one of the most obvious rules of interpretation that we are not to apply to God passions and feelings which, among us, have their origin in evil.  [God’s wrath] is the opposition of the divine character against sin; and the determination of the divine mind to express that opposition in a proper way, by excluding the offender from the favors which He bestows on the righteous.  We admire the character of a father who is opposed to disorder, vice, and disobedience in his family, and who expresses his opposition in a proper way.  We admire the character of a ruler who is opposed to all crime in the community, and who expresses those feelings in the law.  Why shall we not be equally pleased with God, who is opposed to all crime in all parts of the universe, and who determines to express His opposition in the proper way for the sake of preserving order and promoting peace?

                                                - Albert Barnes

            Now the result of not worshiping the true and living God is man will worship everything and anything under the son and Paul says “Professing to be wise, they became fools.”  Romans 1:22.  How true that is!  Several years back my wife was at the Post Office and there was an ant walking on the counter and as she was going to smash it, a woman said something to the effect, “Don’t kill it, it could be my re-incarnated uncle!”  Obviously she was a person who was worshiping the creature rather than the creator and she was wrong, it was in no way her uncle, but maybe her A[U]NT!  Sorry about that, but again I think you see the foolishness of what people worship, the imagination of their hearts!

            It is out of all that we see God give them over to a debased mind, to disgrace their bodies and do the most evil things you can imagine, He gave them what they wanted.  People today want to know why man is so evil and they come up with all kinds of crazy ideas that don’t hit at the heart of the matter. They say things like, “In the womb trauma, my parents watched to many Packer games!”  Or “I wasn’t breast fed as a baby!”  “I didn’t grow up in the right environment!”  “My parents were too hard on me!” And that list can go on-and-on, but that is not the real issue.  The reality is they gave up on God and God gave them over to the lusts of their flesh, and turn on the television and that is exactly what you see coming forth. The solution to this problem of evil is easy; it is simplistic, repent and return to God and instead of being guided by the lusts of the flesh they will be guided by the Spirit of God!

            With that as our introduction, let’s look at what Hell is all about.  Don’t be afraid, we will get through this.  First of all SHEOL is the Hebrew word for Hell or the place of the dead and in the New Testament it is the Greek word HADES, which again speaks of the place of the dead. This is the place where the unbelieving dead will go and have gone until the Great White Throne Judgment; it is kind of a holding cell you might say.

            We see this spoken of in Luke chapter 16 where Jesus tells us a true story, not a parable about the rich man who lived a evil life and Lazarus who was a good man and when they both died they went to Hades.  Jesus tells us that Hades was divided up in two areas with a big chasm between the two sides.  The rich man went to the side where he was tormented day and night while Lazarus went to a place called Abraham’s bosom and was comforted there. You see, prior to the coming of the Messiah, the coming of Jesus, those who died in the faith went to Abraham’s bosom and when the Messiah came, after His death and resurrection, Jesus spent 3 days and nights in this place sharing with those who died in the faith and when He rose from the dead, so did they, they went to the Father, they went to heaven and thus, there is only one place that is still filled in Hades, and it is the place where the unbelieving dead go.

            They will remain there until after the Millennial reign or 1,000 year reign of Jesus from the throne of David, and we will be with Him and rule and reign with Him, and then, before God creates a new heavens and a new earth where we will be with Him, there is the Great White throne Judgment and of this we read in Revelation 20:10-15, “The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone where the beast and the false prophet are. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.  Then I saw a great white throne and Him who sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away. And there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, standing before God, and books were opened. And another book was opened, which is the Book of Life. And the dead were judged according to their works, by the things which were written in the books. The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.   And anyone not found written in the Book of Life was cast into the lake of fire.”

            Now as you read through this it seems like they are being sent to the Lake of Fire because of their works and thus, are we saved by our works?  That is not what is being said and we need to look at the totality of the Scriptures and not just pick one verse to make a doctrine.  Listen carefully to what Jesus said in John 16:8-9 as He speaks of the work of the Holy Spirit, “And when He has come, He will convict the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” What is the sin that sends a person to Hell?  The rejection of Jesus as their Lord and Savior!  You see it has nothing to do with works.  Also, Jesus said in John 8:24, “Therefore I said to you that you will die in your sins; for if you do not believe that I am [He], you will die in your sins.”

            Thus, the judging of their works in Revelation chapter 20 is speaking of the degree of punishment for them in the Lake of Fire or in the Greek it is Gehenna, and sometimes the word is translated as “Hell.”  Jesus used this powerful illustration in Mark chapter 9, for Gehenna, located in the Valley of Hinnom, a place where we saw the children of Israel offer their children as a sacrifice to the God Molech in the Old Testament and in the New Testament, it became the garbage dump for the city where the filth of the city was dumped along with dead animals and even executed criminals.  And this garbage dump would burn continually, it would smolder and as Jesus uses this as a picture of Gehenna, we are told in Mark 9:46, “where ‘Their worm does not die And the fire is not quenched.’”  The word for “worm” is really maggot and the idea is these maggots will feed on your eternal body. The fires are not quenched because your eternal body is fuel for them!  Not a pretty picture nor is it intended to be – it is just the truth!

            As I have said, Jesus spoke more of Hell than all the prophets, apostles, evangelists all put together and thus, it is an important subject, but I don’t want to leave us with the fires of Hell burning because Jesus never intended to leave us there, but has provided us a way out!

            Back in Romans 1:16-17 Paul said, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith.’”  You see, by faith in Christ God can save us from sin and death, that is the Good News!  But again, some would like to argue, “How can a God of love send anyone to Hell?” The answer is simple, He doesn’t, you choose to go there!  God has done every thing to save us and all we have to do is receive Him into our lives, but the choice is ours!  You don’t have to go to Hell if you don’t want to, you can certainly choose to go there, why, I haven’t got a clue when you see that Hell is a place of torment apart from God!

            As I begin to rap this up this morning, listen to this story that the great H. A. Ironside told. He said:

            One of the first gospel illustrations that ever made a real impression upon my young heart was a simple story which I heard a preacher tell when I was less than nine years old.

            It was of pioneers who were making their way across one of the central states to a distant place that had been opened up for homesteading. They traveled in covered wagons drawn by oxen, and progress was necessarily slow.  One day they were horrified to note a long line of smoke in the west, stretching for miles across the prairie, and soon it was evident that the dried grass was burning fiercely and coming toward them rapidly. They had crossed a river the day before but it would be impossible to go back to that before the flames would be upon them.  One man only seemed to have understanding as to what could be done. He gave the command to set fire to the grass behind them. Then when a space was burned over, the whole company moved back upon it.

            As the flames roared on toward them from the west, a little girl cried out in terror, “Are you sure we shall not all be burned up?”  The leader replied, “My child, the flames cannot reach us here, for we are standing were the fire has been!”

            What a picture of the believer, who is safe in Christ!

            “On Him Almighty vengeance fell,

            Which would have sunk a world to hell.

            He bore it for a chosen race,

            And thus becomes our hiding place.”

            The fires of God’s judgment burned themselves out on Him, and all who are in Christ are safe forever,
            for they are now standing where the fire has been.

            - H. A. Ironside, Illustrations of Bible Truth, Moody Press, 1945, pp. 34-35

            Where are you standing this morning?  Are you in Christ or apart from Him?  I urge you to enter in and it is as simple as confessing before Him that you are a sinner in need of a Savior and that you want Jesus to be not only your Savior, but your Lord and He will, your sins will be cast as far as the east is from the west to be remembered no more!  If you are in Christ, let others see and hear of this Good News, the Gospel message as I shared with you last week.  His judgment is coming!  As I close this morning, let me leave you with this to think about.  John Hannah said: “No one who is ever in hell will be able to say to God, ‘You put me here,’ and no one who is in heaven will ever be able to say, ‘I put myself here.’”  Receive Him into your life, for God has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through Him, through Jesus!