Hell sermon ideas

In traditional Christian doctrine, hell is the sphere of eternal, tormented alienation from God endured by demons and impenitent sinners.

What does the Bible say about hell?

  • Psalm 6:5, in death, there is no rememberance
  • Psalm 9:17, the wicked shall depart to Sheol
  • Ecclesiastes 9:10, there is no work or knowledge in hell
  • Matthew 5:22, if you are angry with someone you will be liable to judgement
  • Matthew 7:13, enter through the narrow gate
  • Matthew 10:28, fear that which can destroy both the soul and body
  • Matthew 16:18, God will build his church on the rock
  • Mathew 25:30, 41,"Then he will say to those at his left hand, 'You that are accursed, depart from me into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.'"
  • Mathew 25:46, the evil go away to eternal punishment
  • Mark 9:43-48, better to cut off your hand than to go to hell
  • Acts 2:27, God will not abandon his people Hades
  • 2 Thessalonians 1:9, when those who suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, they are separated from the presence of the Lord
  • 2 Peter 2:4, God did not spare his angels when they sinned
  • Revelation 6:8, "I looked and there was a pale green horse! Its rider's name was Death, and Hades followed with him."
  • Revelation 20:13-15, death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire
  • Revelation 21:8, the second death

Sermon ideas about hell

"Sheol" in the Hebrew Bible may mean death, grave, or the realm of the dead. It's a shadowy destination, sometimes described in the Old Testament as a place where very little is going on (Eccles. 9:10). Biblical thinking about hell sharpened in later centuries so the Greek words translated as "hell" in the New Testament (Hades, Gehenna, Tartoros) connote fire, lake of fire, darkness, punishment, death, and destruction.

Images

The fact that some of these pictures of hell clash with each other suggests that they are more like images than literal descriptions. Sometimes the image for hell is darkness, or outer darkness. But sometimes it's fire, which is not very dark at all. In Matthew 25:30 and 41 Jesus employs these alternate images almost back to back. A former Calvin Theological Seminary professor, Henry Stob, wrote that these images — fire and darkness — represent the two principle forms of sin. We either attack God or we flee from God. We are either rebels or aliens. "In either case hell is not a divine creation," he says. Sinners turn life to hell when they "mount an attack on God" and discover that God is a consuming fire. They are moths to God's fire. On the other hand, those who turn their backs on God, fleeing the fire, "move toward the eternal blackness that marks God's absence. Hell, then, is un-arrested sin's natural end." It leads either to "the fiery furnace" or to cold and desolate night. (Henry Stob, "Sin, Salvation, Service" [Board of Publications of the Christian Reformed Church, 1984], 16)

Gates of Hades

In the famous saying of Jesus that he will build his church on Peter "and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it," the expression "gates of Hades" represents ungodly power. Ancient cities were often walled and gated, so the city's vulnerability lay in its gates. If they were strong they would repel assault. In speaking this way, Jesus is saying the powers of death will not be able to repel the greater powers of righteousness — which they did not in Jesus' own resurrection on Easter morning.

A difficult doctrine

Preachers of the doctrine of hell should be prepared for questions. Thoughtful believers have often struggled with the doctrine of hell. Who belongs there? Why eternally? Why would a good and just God create a world that he foreknew would feature a populated hell? And how does hell fit in a renewed world in which all things are to be "gathered up" in Christ (Ephesians1:10), or in which "God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things" (Colossians1:20), or in which "God is merciful to all" (Romans11:32) or in which "every knee should bend . . . and every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord" (Philippians2:10 - 11)? Why eternal torment for one lifetime of sinning? Starting with the Greek church fathers, considerations of these kinds have prompted speculation that hell might turn out to be something like purgatory, or that it's a place where God euthanizes his enemies. C. S. Lewis appeared to have believed that nobody is in hell who doesn't want to be, and that "hell" for them is the poverty of their imagination and the corruption of their thinking(C. S. Lewis, The Great Divorce, revised edition [HarperOne, 2015]).

The doctrine of hell is one about which the church has as many questions as answers.

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