Hell is real. You may have heard about hell, but let me still say it here that hell is a place of everlasting torment prepared for Satan, his demons and unrepentant sinners. God spoke to me to preach the gospel and to warn men about the reality of hell. Two thousand years ago, He sent His Son, Jesus Christ, as a substitute for our sins and punishment. Whosoever repents of his sins and believes in Jesus Christ will not perish in hell, but will live in heaven. What would have befallen us, as sinners, God allowed to come on His Son because of the great love that He has for us. Jesus is the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of those who believe in Him. This is the greatest and truest love story on earth. My job is to tell you that God is real and He is true. It is important for you to know Him so you can call on Him and He will answer you. You do not need to go to any native doctor or shrine or water or kill any animal for sacrifice. All you need is faith in Christ. In the finished work of Christ, there is nothing God cannot do for anyone who believes His word.
This week, I want us to ponder on this question: How serious is hell? People take the issue of hell for granted and just joke over it. They think preachers talk about hell to make people afraid. How wrong! No preacher wrote the Bible; these things had been there before we were born. The Bible is the truth. The Bible tells us about hell. The Bible is like a manufacturer’s guide. Just as you have the manual for your car or cell phone; if something goes wrong, you open your manual. God gave us the Bible as the guide to life. In this issue, we are going to examine how serious hell is, for you to know that you have to do something so that you do not end in hell when you die on earth. You have to run from anything that will take you to hell.
In Mathew 18, from verse 6, Jesus said: “If anyone should cause one of these little ones to lose his faith in me, it will be better for that person to have a large millstone tied around his neck and be drowned in the deep sea. How terrible for the one who causes them. If your hand or your foot makes you lose your faith, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter heaven without a hand or foot than to keep both hands and foot and be thrown into eternal fire.
Friends, think about this: This is just an example for you to see how serious the issue of hell is. It is not that you should cut off your hand. Jesus says: if it is your hand or your foot that will make you miss heaven, cut it off. Think about the process and the pain. Therefore do not be afraid of the pain that you will go through in order to gain entrance into the kingdom. Entering into the kingdom of God is not easy, but whatever that is keeping you from the kingdom, whatever that is making you not to keep faith with Jesus, you have to cut if off. The Bible says it is better to enter into life. You may think that you are not in Christ, you are chopping life – you go to the beer parlour everyday and drink; you have women, money and power. Maybe you are a governor or senator or billionaire etc. Praise God for all that, but do not die without Jesus in your life. Or may be you go to church and you have built one for your community. That is good, but how is your soul? Are you in the life of Christ? Are you living holy? Are you pressing into the righteousness of Christ? That is the most important thing. Whatever it is that is making you to draw away or not to press into the kingdom, cut it off.
Verse 9: If your eye makes you lose your faith take it out and throw it away… This is Jesus talking about the seriousness of hell; He is saying, if your eyes will make you commit sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter into life with only one eye than to keep both eyes and be thrown into the fires of hell. In Mark, chapter 9:43-48, we see the same thing: if your right eye causes you to sin, take it out and throw it away. It is much better to lose a part of your body than to have your whole body go into hell. If your right hand causes you to sin, cut if off and throw it away. It is much better to lose one of your limbs than to have your whole body thrown into hell.
Remember this: Hell is serious. I believe you would not want to go to that kind of place where the fire never goes off and the worms never die. In hell, you will be in torment, not for one week, but forever. Do not let the pleasures of life and the deceitfulness of riches take you to hell. Do not let anything keep you from heaven. It is not the will of God for you to end up in hell when you die. Hell was not made for man. God made hell for Satan and his demons that failed him. Therefore reject hell with your body, soul and spirit. We can pray and God will pull you from the path to hell and transfer you to the kingdom of His dear Son. I hope you will say this prayer with me from your heart.
Father in the name of Jesus Christ, I bless the people who will say this prayer meaning it. Say: Lord Jesus, be merciful unto me, a sinner. I am a sinner; I have sinned against you, forgive me. From today, I give my life to you. Come into my life. Be my Lord, be my Saviour and be my Master. I don’t want to go to hell. Save me Jesus; take me to heaven, wash me with the blood of Jesus Christ. Amen.
If you prayed that prayer, you are in Christ; and if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, God has taken over his life and old things have passed away. Fight your way to stay with God. There will be pressure from the other side to pull you back and take you over. But say no: I have decided to follow Jesus. God bless you and I pray that He will help you in the path of righteousness in Jesus’ name
There are three things I always say to new believers:
1. Get yourself a Bible and begin to study it, starting with the Gospel according to John.
2. Pray in the name of Jesus.
3. Look for a good Bible-believing church where Jesus is preached in spirit and in truth as Lord and Saviour, go and worship God there and you will be blessed.
NB: First published September 2012