Heb 4:12+13 For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. 
	We are in the midst of our discussion of Heaven and Hell. We are using Rev. Donnelly’s studies and writings, with his permission, as the framework for our discussion. Last week, we began to look at hell with the Biblical perspective of what it is. It is a real place created by God for His purpose. It is a place of just, terrible, and everlasting punishment. It is for the devil, his angels, and the unsaved, those who have refused to believe upon Jesus Christ, the Son of God, sent for their salvation. Today, we want to finish our look at what hell is and then consider two difficulties that could reasonably arise in our minds with regard to hell. 
	With full regard to this morning’s passage, we are seeking strictly what God’s Word has to tell us about such an awful reality. We need to keep within the confines of scripture and not use human imagination. Hell is well defined within God’s Word as a warning, a very loud and clear and unmistakable warning of the consequences of sin. In that active working of God’s Word, we will soon find that our entire heart is open to His piercing and relentlessly intense gaze of holiness. Thank God, that we are covered in the righteousness of Jesus Christ, or we would never be able to endure one second of His penetrating and discerning search of our beings.
	Continuing then, hell is the irrevocable destiny of all who die as an unbeliever. There is no second chance. There is no other means of earning a way to heaven. At death, we are either welcomed into the arms of the Lord through our belief in Him, or forever cast into hell. Consider the dying thief and what Jesus said to him in Luke 23:43, And He said to him, "Truly I say to you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise." The Lord was stating that the instant the thief died, he would be in heaven. There is no purgatory; there is not a no-man’s land. At the instant of death we face either heaven or hell. As we read in 2 Peter 2:9, then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment… The unrighteous will not have another opportunity for saving grace. If they turn their back on Jesus Christ in this life, they will suffer the just and terrible and righteous punishment of eternal hell. 
This is why the gospel is so urgent. Heb 3:7+8, Therefore, just as the Holy Spirit says, "Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts as when they provoked Me, As in the day of trial in the wilderness... There may not be a tomorrow. None of us will ever know if we will wake up in the morning. We do not know if we will suffer death in a car accident or an act of violence or as a result of medical trauma. We can only know what is before us this moment. We need to accept the Gospel today and we need to declare it today. We need to tell others about Jesus Christ today because there may not be a tomorrow for them or for us. It is urgent and incumbent upon us to be the living witness of Jesus Christ today!
	The last aspect of our question as to what scripture tells us about hell is that it is ruled by God and existing for His Glory. There is a terrible misunderstanding in many people’s minds that hell is separated, in some manner from God. That He just casts people into hell and forgets about them. That hell is a place that is ruled by Satan, as some dark and evil lord over the slaves of his dominion. This is entirely false and utterly at odds with the very character and nature of God. He is Omnipresent. He is everywhere and His presence will be as evident in hell as anywhere else in all of His creation. Hell is not a dumping ground that He will seal up and all the lost that are there will be forgotten for eternity after eternity. 
No, hell is a place where God alone reigns. As our Lord tells us in Luke 12:4+5, "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! God, Alone, has the power to cast into hell and He rules it and He has prepared its fires. Matt 25:41, "Then He will also say to those on His left, 'Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels. He must be present in hell. As we read about the unsaved in Rev 14:10 …he also will drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is mixed in full strength in the cup of His anger; and he will be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. The damned will be tormented for all of eternity in the presence of the Lamb and His holy angels.  
	The devil does not reign in hell. He will be a cowering, sniveling, pathetic creature who will have to eternally bow, as will all of creation to the Lord Jesus Christ. Phil 2:10+11 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Those who refuse to bow to the Lordship of Jesus today will bow. They will bow for all of eternity as they are tormented by the utter folly of their unbelief. God will be glorified, even in the midst of hell. It will be a forced and a mournful and a piteous and resigned offering of glory, but it will be His glory none the less that rises in the tormented cries of hell. 
	Quote. We must remember that hell exists for God’s glory. Properly understood, it should not be an embarrassment to us. We need not speak about it in whispers or wish that it did not exist. In hell, and we can say this only in trembling reverence, God’s glory will be unveiled in new and amazing ways. His kingly authority will be seen more clearly than has ever been possible before. Fresh aspects of his holiness and justice will be revealed to his wondering people. End quote.
	The last book of the Bible has very much to say in terms of the glory that will be given to God for His righteous and just punishment of the damned. Rev 11:16-18 And the twenty-four elders, who sit on their thrones before God, fell on their faces and worshiped God, saying, "We give Thee thanks, O Lord God, the Almighty, who art and who wast, because Thou hast taken Thy great power and hast begun to reign. "And the nations were enraged, and Thy wrath came, and the time came for the dead to be judged, and the time to give their reward to Thy bond-servants the prophets and to the saints and to those who fear Thy name, the small and the great, and to destroy those who destroy the earth."  
Then in Rev 16:5+6, And I heard the angel of the waters saying, "Righteous art Thou, who art and who wast, O Holy One, because Thou didst judge these things; for they poured out the blood of saints and prophets, and Thou hast given them blood to drink. They deserve it." 
And our last passage on this point, is Rev 19:1-6. After these things I heard, as it were, a loud voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying, "Hallelujah! Salvation and glory and power belong to our God; because His judgments are true and righteous; for He has judged the great harlot who was corrupting the earth with her immorality, and He has avenged the blood of His bond-servants on her." And a second time they said, "Hallelujah! Her smoke rises up forever and ever." And the twenty-four elders and the four living creatures fell down and worshiped God who sits on the throne saying, "Amen. Hallelujah!" And a voice came from the throne, saying, "Give praise to our God, all you His bond-servants, you who fear Him, the small and the great." And I heard, as it were, the voice of a great multitude and as the sound of many waters and as the sound of mighty peals of thunder, saying, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns. God reigns in hell as He reigns everywhere!
	Having concluded our brief deliberation as to what the Bible has to say in terms of what hell is, let us now look at two questions or difficulties that can arise in our minds with regard to hell. These are issues with which godly men and women wrestle in consideration of the awfulness and the horror that hell evokes within our minds and thoughts. These are very legitimate concerns with which we must deal in loving and understanding compassion and reflection. 
The first is the question of is hell disproportionately severe? Are not the sufferings of hell, both in the length of eternity and the severity of punishment unbalanced to the offences? Does the penalty far outweigh the crime?
	One answer lies in the fact that we do not have the means of understanding the extent of the guilt involved. We do not have an adequate realization of the severity of sin. We cannot appreciate how awful sin is in the sight of the holiness and the righteousness of God. Our society has no understanding of sin and its wickedness. It will accept abortion as something which is merely a hard decision to make. It will accept deviant sexual behavior as merely a life choice. It will allow and even promote evilness and wickedness in business and in the arts and in social gatherings as merely means to self-expression. There is no understanding of the difference between wickedness in the eyes of God and bad manners in the company of mankind.
	This world considers sin against God as not that bad. It is seen as just the teachings of a moralistic philosophy that is voluntarily obeyed by those who choose to follow such rules and guidelines. We do not understand that, in God’s eyes, sin, disobedience to Him is really, really evil and deserves the ultimate punishment. 
Quote. It is the worst thing imaginable. A mortal being sets his or her will against the Creator. We refuse to worship Him. We reject the authority of the Lord Who made us. Sin is so serious because it is against God that it is directed and the gravity of the offence depends on the dignity of the One against whom it is committed. End quote.
	Donnelly provides an example effectively demonstrating how this offence is so vial before God. If we saw someone pulling a worm to pieces, we might be irritated at such a cruel, pointless way to treat a living creature. But we would not be appalled. We would not lie sleepless for hours, agonizing over its fate. If a cat were being mutilated, we would be much more upset and would probably intervene, because in our scale of values a cat is a nobler animal than a worm. And if we saw someone torturing a child, we would be horrified and the memory would stay with us forever. In every case the action would be the same, but against a different kind of being. Cutting a worm in two is not as bad as cutting a human in two. But how serious, then, must be an offence against God, who is far above all creatures, the Creator, the Uncreated? How can we begin to measure such appalling wrongdoing? End quote.
	As well, the length of the time of the commitment of the sin has no connection to the severity of the punishment. Murder may take but a few seconds, while embezzlement might be years in process. The amount of time is irrelevant to the guiltiness of the sin since God is infinite and the sin is against Him. Whether the sin was committed in an instant or over the course of a lifetime makes no difference, it is sin!
	As well, in this line, those in hell continue to sin, bringing more guilt upon themselves as they suffer the ages of eternal damnation. Rev 22:11 "Let the one who does wrong, still do wrong; and let the one who is filthy, still be filthy… As eternity unfolds, the sinners will heap up their sin and their guilt will be more and more deserving of the just punishment that God will mete out to them. 
	The ultimate answer to this concern of the length and severity of the punishment, however is found at the cross of Jesus Christ. If sin were just a trivial and insignificant matter, why would Jesus Christ have had to die for our atonement? If a lighter penalty would have covered our sins, why did it take the very death of the Son of God, His precious blood to wash away our guilt? Quote. Hell is extreme, but that is because sin is extreme and because extreme measures were taken for our salvation. We cannot survey the wondrous cross, meditate on what the Saviour suffered and assert that hell is an inappropriate punishment for sin. End quote.
	The second concern or question centers on the fact that God is Love and is hell not contrary to the character of God?  How can a loving God bear to send some of His creatures to everlasting torment?
	In answer to this concern, it is absolutely true that God is love. But He is also Holy and Just and altogether Righteous and these attributes are in perfect harmony in His being and Essence. One characteristic does not oppose another. In each of His perfect actions, His Being of truth is evidenced and exercised and revealed without any contradiction. God cannot deny Himself (2 Tim 2:13). Quote. We would agree that it is right for the Holy God to hate sin. This is an essential element in His Being and, because He is infinite, He will hate sin with an infinite hatred. But if such hatred is good, should it not be expressed? God reveals His love and His grace, but He also displays His righteousness and His wrath. Not to do so would be to cripple Himself and give us a partial picture of His glory. Yet, there is no contradiction, for He is holy in His love and His kindness is not threatened by His justice. End quote.
	How can God not treat sin as the evil that it is? How can He not punish those who refuse to belief that He is Love and that, in that love, He has made a way for salvation?  Rom 5:8+9 But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much more then, having now been justified by His blood, we shall be saved from the wrath of God through Him. Unbelievers accuse God of a lack of love because He would send them to hell. But God has proven His love in sending His very Son to die for those who will but believe upon Jesus Christ. His mercy and His love and His grace is fully evidenced in the manner in which He has made the only sacrifice that is fully sufficient to cleanse us from our sin and is full enough to give us eternal life. 
	To then accuse God of being unloving because He punishes those who willingly reject the very means of their salvation is utterly incomprehensible on our part. He must punish sin. It cannot be overlooked. It cannot be forgotten. It cannot be treated lightly as if it didn’t matter. To do so would be to nullify the very death and resurrection of His Only Begotten Son. God has very graciously given the means of eternal life, through Christ. In Him, we can be saved from the eternal damnation that justly awaits those who refuse Him. In His love, He has offered the sole means to avoid such an awful fate. Those who reject Him will be eternally damned and will deserve to be eternally punished under the righteous wrath of Our Holy God. Heb 10:29-31 How much severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know Him who said, "Vengeance is Mine, I will repay." And again, "The Lord will judge His people." It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God. 
Our hearts and prayers and earnest cries unto the Lord are that none of us in this room have so trampled the Love of God in Jesus Christ under our feet. That everyone in this room, that everyone in our families, that everyone in our spheres of influence will accept the grace and the mercy and the love of God and believe on the name of Jesus and not be eternally deserving of the damnation to come. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ Our Lord and Savior. Amen.
	For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. Amen

Our prayers are for each family to have a very blessed Thanksgiving, filled with all joy and thanksgiving to God for His so great love that binds us all together in Christ Jesus Our Lord and Savior.      
1 Thess 5:16-18 Rejoice always; pray without ceasing; in everything give thanks; for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus. 
Eph 5:19+20 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord; always giving thanks for all things in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the Father; 
Phil 4:6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. 
Col 3:15-17 And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body; and be thankful. Let the word of Christ richly dwell within you, with all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with thankfulness in your hearts to God. And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father. 

This morning’s benediction is Rev 5:11-13 And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honor and glory and blessing." And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, "To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honor and glory and dominion forever and ever." Amen.