Heb 1:1-4 God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. 
We are at a juncture of sorts in our plan of Biblical reading. There is something that has welled up within me and within many in this room over the course of the past year. We, as a fellowship, have been keeping in prayer a series of messages that were delivered by Dr. Ted Donnelly on the Biblical truths of Heaven and Hell. These are very serious and vital truths that we have not, heretofore undertaken to study before God in accordance to His Word. 
We talk about Heaven and Hell, but not many of us know what is in the heart of God with regard to these places of His Creation. Accordingly, I have contacted Dr. Donnelly and received permission to share from these messages with you. We will be using his messages as the framework of these studies from his book entitled Biblical Teaching on the Doctrines of Heaven and Hell. As well, Dr. Donnelly’s messages are on our website. I pray that our study will be valuable and utterly pleasing to God in the manner in which we share these messages together. I will not try to cover the vastness of the subjects with the in-depth study that he has undertaken, but I do hope to capture the essence of what we need to know about Heaven and Hell. 
The doctrine of hell is not an easy subject with which to involve ourselves. It is very painful in many degrees. It requires a loving heart of delivery and reception. It will cause us to tremble before the might of God in His Holiness and His Justice. It must be given and received with intensity of purpose and deep, deep effectual working within us. There will be tears and pleading and a great necessity to ask God to open His heart of compassion and comfort and hope in the midst of our travail. 
These are not studies to be taken lightly or casually or flippantly. While many of us have already listened to the bulk of these messages, they nonetheless recall to us the need for the fervency of prayer and supplication after softness of heart for the sake of each one listening together to the Word of God. Over the past months, in the course of our studies of Paul’s epistles, we have tried to lay a foundation of the truth of God’s Word and the heart with which we are to receive it. We have tried to set the stage whereby we will see God’s divine plan and purpose in the fellowship of our brothers and sisters in Christ. 
These foundations may well be tested in the course of this current study as we, together, take up the Word and face the reality of Heaven and Hell. We are considering the eternal course of the fulfillment of our obedience or rejection of Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior. We do so with hearts that will willingly suffer all grief and unease, if, by it, just one person in our midst, here, or in our families, or in our workplaces will be saved from Hell. As a church, our heart should be that of God, Who desires no one to be lost. That is the course that our prayers have been following and should follow as we look upon the face of God through the truth that He has given us in His Word. 
This brings us back to our text this morning in Hebrews. God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son… It is of urgent necessity that we listen to what God tells us through His Son, Jesus Christ. He has very much to say about Hell, our first topic of consideration. As we read in Luke 12:2-5, "But there is nothing covered up that will not be revealed, and hidden that will not be known. "Accordingly, whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in the inner rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops. "And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do. "But I will warn you whom to fear: fear the One who after He has killed has authority to cast into hell; yes, I tell you, fear Him! 
It is with great fear and trembling that we come to the Biblical doctrine of Hell. We know it in general terms as a place of punishment into which the devil, his minions and bad people will be sent for all of eternity. For many of us, this is as much as we think we need to know. We fully accept the fact that if we do not believe on Jesus Christ as our Savior, we will go there. That is pretty much the acknowledged idea of hell in the church. There is, however, a great need to know more about Hell, as Christians. There is a requirement to study about Hell because it is taught extensively in the Bible. Because of that, it is a most important, yet basic doctrine, about which we should know very much, instead of very little. It has a great established purpose in the plan of God. As such, it should be known by all the members of the church. There are three main grounds upon which it is important to study this doctrine, as depressing and gloomy as it will be. This will be the course of our initial deliberations, today and next week, Lord willing.
	The first ground, that we will undertake this morning, is the fact that the doctrine of Hell is intrinsically, foundationally, fundamentally, and inherently important! It must be known and taught for four, very central reasons. Initially, in absolute line with this morning’s text, is the fact that Christ taught about it extensively. He had far more to say about Hell and the judgment of God and eternal and everlasting punishment than about Heaven. Mark 9:43-48 "And if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life crippled, than having your two hands, to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire, [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] "And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, than having your two feet, to be cast into hell, [where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.] "And if your eye causes you to stumble, cast it out; it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes, to be cast into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched. 
	And in Matt 5:22, "But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother shall be guilty before the court; and whoever shall say to his brother, 'Raca,' shall be guilty before the supreme court; and whoever shall say, 'You fool,' shall be guilty enough to go into the fiery hell. 
	Listen to Christ as He was talking to the religious leaders of the day. Matt 23:13-15 "But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you shut off the kingdom of heaven from men; for you do not enter in yourselves, nor do you allow those who are entering to go in. ["Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you devour widows' houses, even while for a pretense you make long prayers; therefore you shall receive greater condemnation.] "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites, because you travel about on sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he becomes one, you make him twice as much a son of hell as yourselves. As well as in Matt 23:33, "You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell? 
	And in Matt 11:21-24, "Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the miracles had occurred in Tyre and Sidon which occurred in you, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. "Nevertheless I say to you, it shall be more tolerable for Tyre and Sidon in the day of judgment, than for you. "And you, Capernaum, will not be exalted to heaven, will you? You shall descend to Hades; for if the miracles had occurred in Sodom which occurred in you, it would have remained to this day. "Nevertheless I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment, than for you." 
	These are but a few of the recorded statements of Christ so declaring the very consequence and substance of the depth of fear that should be awakened in us by the judgment that is to come. We are given the very words spoken by the Son of God with regard to this doctrine of Hell and we dare not minimize nor discard it as merely rhetoric used to make a point to His listeners. No, this is so important that we should be shocked into attentive desire to understand the full weight of what is in God’s heart concerning Hell. 
	Even more so, is the manner in which God concludes the Bible in The Book of The Revelation. The final pages of God’s Word speak of the abyss, the bottomless pit, the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, the second death, and those outside for eternity. Rev 20:1-3 And I saw an angel coming down from heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold of the dragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bound him for a thousand years, and threw him into the abyss, and shut it and sealed it over him, so that he should not deceive the nations any longer, until the thousand years were completed; after these things he must be released for a short time. Rev 21:8 "But for the cowardly and unbelieving and abominable and murderers and immoral persons and sorcerers and idolaters and all liars, their part will be in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death." And finally, Rev 22:15, Outside are the dogs and the sorcerers and the immoral persons and the murderers and the idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices lying. 
	There is a massive weight of Biblical testimony about Hell. That is the first element of its intrinsic value. The second reason of its intrinsic and fundamental importance to us is the content of the doctrine itself. Hell is the place where millions upon millions of human beings will spend eternity in torment and punishment beyond our vaguest comprehension. It is estimated that every hour of every day, eleven thousand human beings die to face either an eternity in Heaven or an eternity in Hell. Eleven thousand people, hour after hour, and every single one of them in desperate need of the salvation that is only through Jesus Christ. That should stir within us the obligation of the Gospel, to reach out to everyone in our sphere of influence before they face the judgment seat of God.
	The third aspect of the intrinsic and essential value of the doctrine of Hell is the fact that Hell affects every one of us. Not one of us is exempt from facing death. We are all dying, every one of us. We all have family members and loved ones who are dying. Hell is the certain destiny of every unsaved sinner, and we are all born sinners. As we read in Rom 3:10 as it is written, "There is none righteous, not even one… We must face it head on and we must not allow ourselves to be put off in telling our loved ones about Hell. We must alert them to the awful and utterly dreadful consequences of the judgment that they will absolutely face, if they do not find the only way of salvation, the only manner of not going to Hell. 
	This brings us to the fourth reason of the intrinsic value of why we must study and know this doctrine, no matter what pains it elicits in our hearts and minds. There is one way of escape from Hell and only one way. It is by faith in Jesus Christ. Scripture is very clear on this truth. John 3:16, "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life. There is no other manner of finding salvation. John 3:36, "He who believes in the Son has eternal life; but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him." We study this doctrine because we have got to be able to proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ for the salvation of others. Hell must be faced, but it is to be faced in the power and the salvation and the glory of Jesus Christ.
	God is speaking to us this morning, through His Son. He is calling to us in our grief and in our sorrow. He is melting our hearts with fear and trembling at the reason that we must study this doctrine of Hell. We must listen to Him. For some of us, maybe it is for our own sake that we must listen. For others, it is for a loved one, a friend, an associate, or for some person whom God will yet bring into our lives. I pray with all my heart that we listen and that we are challenged as individuals and as a fellowship to share the very heart of God that desires that no one be lost. Listen to the Lord as He speaks to us through His Son. Obey for His glory to fill the ranks of the saved with those whom He reaches through our living testimony of His Grace and Truth and Mercy. So be it!
God, after He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many ways, in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high; having become as much better than the angels, as He has inherited a more excellent name than they. Amen.

This morning’s benediction is found in Rom 15:7-13 Wherefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God. For I say that Christ has become a servant to the circumcision on behalf of the truth of God to confirm the promises given to the fathers, and for the Gentiles to glorify God for His mercy; as it is written,  "Therefore I will give praise to Thee among the Gentiles, And I will sing to Thy name." And again he says, "Rejoice, O Gentiles, with His people." And again, "Praise the Lord all you Gentiles, And let all the peoples praise Him." And again Isaiah says, "There shall come the root of Jesse, And He who arises to rule over the Gentiles, In Him shall the Gentiles hope." Now may the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope by the power of the Holy Spirit. Amen