Heb 6:1+2 Therefore leaving the elementary teaching about the Christ, let us press on to maturity, not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works and of faith toward God, of instruction about washings, and laying on of hands, and the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 
	We read this passage and we get a sense of some of the teachings that were part of the early church which have not been fully dealt with in our days of Christianity. The teaching of hell and heaven seem to have been basic teachings within the early church. They were considered the elementary principles of Christianity. Yet, in our day, I doubt that very many of us have ever been taught the depth of the doctrine of hell and heaven. It is simply assumed that we know about them and we assume that there is a universal understanding of their importance. 
	Please note that it can be a trap to just focus on hell or to just focus on heaven. These teachings must not be exclusively our topics of concern. But I prayerfully have been impressed with the need to at least, address each place of God’s creation with a heart after His plan and purpose. We must have a Biblical concept of what is told to us by God so we can address these fundamental principles and truths with the proper understanding as to God’s heart. That is why we have taken these past weeks and will, for the short term, continue our consideration of heaven and hell. We have been doing so as we continue our corporate reading of God’s Word, since these are two truths about which the scriptures have very much to say. 
	We are in a very scriptural line using Dr. Donnelly’s scholarly Biblical studies as the framework of our discussion and we continue this morning with the last of the headings dealing with the everlasting destruction of hell. What will it be like for those who are cast into hell? Remember that we are limited with human language attempting to describe spiritual truth. Therefore, we are seeing that the writers of the scripture, under the direct inspiration of the Holy Spirit, frequently use symbols to present reality. And we must never forget that the symbol is always less than the reality represented. The reality is always, always far greater, and in the case of hell, far more severe and dreadful than the symbol used.
	Last time, we looked at two headings of this consideration of hell. The first was that hell will be absolute poverty. There will be nothing in hell that will distract from the utter and unconditional suffering and agony and torment. There will be no covering of Divine Providence putting forth His Grace and His Mercy and His Gifts that so sooth our days on this earth. There will be nothing of His beauty at all in any manner. Hell will be utter and eternal destitution and desolation. 
	We also considered that hell will be agonizing pain. We saw the image of fire and the burning that never consumes. It will be the absolute torture and torment of the flames that never cease their scorching of the body, and soul. Additionally, there will be the worm that never dies as it gnaws at the minds of the damned, the conscience that will never be soothed and will just continue to grow monstrous in its intensity of anguish and torment. There will be the endless and bitter wailing and the violent sobbing and thrashing of the bodies never to be comforted. And we ended with the insanity and the violent and utter hatred expressed in the hissing and gnashing of teeth. It will be the place of the endless fury of the lost, enraged at everyone and everything and never, ever able to be sated or calmed. Hell will be absolute poverty and agonizing pain beyond belief. 
	This brings us to the third heading of the condition of those in hell, and that is an angry presence. There is a great misconception that God will not be present in hell. That He will just throw the sinners and the devil and his angels into a deep chasm and seal it up for eternity, but that is not the case. God will be present in hell. As we have read often in Rev 14:10, concerning the damned, 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. God will not be withdrawn, but will be very present in hell in the glory of His endless fury, and His justice, and His holiness, and His righteousness. He will be eternally before the damned presented in His glory and majesty as the hope of salvation Whom they threw away. It will be a haunting and fiery presence of wrath and indignation in the fact that His Lordship will be evident. The lost will have to eternally bow their knees before Him in utter submission and self-centered disgust at their blindness and stupidity. They will have to proclaim that He is Lord. His immediate presence will be the eternally damning reminder of their sinful pride and arrogance. Isa 45:20-24  "Gather yourselves and come; Draw near together, you fugitives of the nations; They have no knowledge, Who carry about their wooden idol, And pray to a god who cannot save. "Declare and set forth your case; Indeed, let them consult together. Who has announced this from of old? Who has long since declared it? Is it not I, the Lord? And there is no other God besides Me, A righteous God and a Savior; There is none except Me. "Turn to Me, and be saved, all the ends of the earth; For I am God, and there is no other. "I have sworn by Myself, The word has gone forth from My mouth in righteousness And will not turn back, That to Me every knee will bow, every tongue will swear allegiance. "They will say of Me, 'Only in the Lord are righteousness and strength.' Men will come to Him, And all who were angry at Him shall be put to shame. And in Phil 2:9-11 Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, 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. No, God will not be withdrawn, but will be eternally before the lost in hell. They will see the folly of their sin in the anguish of their torment in His face and glory every moment of their dreadful eternity. 
	Lest there be any confusion, we mentioned last time that hell was separation from God, which it is, but that separation is not based on geographical distance. It is the separation of relationship from His Love and His Providence and His Grace and Mercy. I am sure that we have all experienced a time, hopefully rarely, when we were living in the same house with our parents, our siblings, our spouse, or our children and yet it seemed like we were living a thousand miles apart. We were close in proximity, but very far apart in our hearts and in our minds. Maybe we were separated by anger or unforgiveness or jealousy or some other aspect of selfishness or pride. We were as strangers forced to live in the same house. It was a time in which it was an awful torment to see each other, much less talk to one another. It can be unqualified suffering to be so physically close in proximity, yet so emotionally, spiritually and mentally immensely separated in our thoughts and hearts. Such is the gulf between the lost and God. The very truth of His imminence in presence will be the never-ending torture to them in their total separation from His love. 
	Everyone will be in the eternal presence of God. There will be no place, in heaven or hell, where His presence is not felt. Those who believe in Jesus will be in the presence of His love, basking in the closeness of His heart of warmth and comfort. Those, who so willfully trample under foot the sacrifice of His Son, will be eternally plagued in the presence of His Holiness and Wrath. They will deserve that eternal damnation and will be face to face with Him through each tormented breath they take. Quote, Hell is where God pours out His wrath on the condemned, not just in initial judgment, but for ever, personally, and actively. Those who are in hell will see God in His holy fury. They will be compelled to gaze at their judge, unable to shut their eyes. The sight of Him, intolerably painful, will be their condemnation and their punishment. End quote.
	It is miserable to know that the mind of the unconverted is so at enmity against God. We read so in Rom 8:7, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile toward God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so… But, it is far more fearsome and awful to recognize that Holy God is the avowed enemy of the ungodly. Ps 11:4-6 The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men. The Lord tests the righteous and the wicked, And the one who loves violence His soul hates. Upon the wicked He will rain snares; Fire and brimstone and burning wind will be the portion of their cup. 
It is very sobering to realize that as much as God loves righteousness, He hates wickedness. He hates the evildoer and He will righteously and rightfully punish the wickedness that is before Him. Ezek 8:17+18 And He said to me, "Do you see this, son of man? Is it too light a thing for the house of Judah to commit the abominations which they have committed here, that they have filled the land with violence and provoked Me repeatedly? For behold, they are putting the twig to their nose. "Therefore, I indeed shall deal in wrath. My eye will have no pity nor shall I spare; and though they cry in My ears with a loud voice, yet I shall not listen to them." 
	There should be dread and fear welling up within each one of us as we think with sober terror of the Holiness of God as He pours out His wrath upon those who deserve it. Heb 10:28-31 Anyone who has set aside the Law of Moses dies without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 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. 
	Here, in God’s righteous and just fury, is the fire of hell. It is the anger and wrath of the Holy God Almighty. Heb 12:29 for our God is a consuming fire. Nah 1:6 Who can stand before His indignation? Who can endure the burning of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, And the rocks are broken up by Him. Quote, this is the ultimate horror of hell; not the absolute poverty, not even the agonizing pain but the angry presence of God. End quote. Isa 33:14 Sinners in Zion are terrified; Trembling has seized the godless. "Who among us can live with the consuming fire? Who among us can live with continual burning?" And in the futility of their hearts they will ask for the earth to crash down upon them to hide them from the presence of God. Rev 6:15-17, 
And the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains; and they said to the mountains and to the rocks, "Fall on us and hide us from the presence of Him who sits on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of their wrath has come; and who is able to stand?" 

	As fiery and fearsome as this righteous anger of God’s presence will be, there is the final aspect of this hopeless condition of the damned, which makes hell the most appalling prospect. The fire, the punishment, the destruction is everlasting. It will never, never end. As Jesus tells us in Matt 18:8, it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire. And in Matt 25:46 "And these will go away into eternal punishment… In 2 Thess 1:8+9, it is written …dealing out retribution to those who do not know God and to those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus. And these will pay the penalty of eternal destruction… Also Rev 14:11, "And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest day and night… And finally, Rev 20:10, And the devil who deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are also; and they will be tormented day and night forever and ever. 
	This appalling prospect is far too much for us to grasp or to comprehend. Many of us have spent those long, dark, and dreary nights tossing and turning sleeplessly in bed, just waiting for the morning light. It seems like hour after hour have gone by and when we check the clock, only a few minutes have passed. How utterly minuscule the agony and seeming endlessness of sleepless nights will be to endless eternity after eternity after eternity. As Jonathan Edwards writes in his sermon, The Eternity of Hell Torments: 
Consider what it is to suffer the extreme torment for ever and ever; and to suffer it day and night, from one year to another, from one age to another, and from one thousand ages to another, and so adding age to age, and thousands to thousands, in pain, in wailing and lamenting, groaning and shrieking, and gnashing your teeth; with your souls full of dreadful grief and amazement, your bodies full of racking torture, without any possibility of getting ease; without any possibility of moving God to pity by your cries; without any possibility of hiding yourselves from him; without any possibility of diverting your thoughts from your pain. Consider how dreadful despair will be in such torment; to know assuredly that you never, never shall be delivered from them; to have no hope: when you shall wish that you might be turned into nothing but shall have no hope of it…when you would rejoice, if you might but have any relief, after you have endured these torments millions of ages, but shall have no hope of it. After you shall have worn out the age of the sun, moon, and stars…without rest day and night, or one minute’s ease, yet you shall have no hope of ever being delivered; after you shall have worn a thousand more such ages you shall have no hope…but that still there are the same groans, the same shrieks, the same doleful cries, incessantly to be made by you, and that the smoke of your torment shall still ascend up for ever and ever.
The more the damned in hell think of the eternity of their torments, the more amazing will it appear to them; and alas! They will not be able to keep it out of their minds. Their tortures will not divert them from it, but will fix their attention to it. O how dreadful will eternity appear to them after they shall have been thinking on it for ages together, and shall have so long an experience of their torments! The damned in hell will have two infinites perpetually to amaze them and swallow them up; one is an infinite God, whose wrath they will bear and in whom they will behold their perfect and irreconcilable enemy. The other is the infinite duration of their torment. End quote.
	
Thus we come to the conclusion of the consideration of what will be the experience of hell. It will be absolute poverty. It will be agonizing pain. It will be an angry presence. And it will be an appalling prospect. As the redeemed of the Lord, we should have our hearts seared with anguish for the damned. We should find that our hearts should be infused with a deep longing and oneness that no one would be lost. Our lives need to declare the salvation that is open to all who will but call upon the name of Jesus Christ.  
And, if anyone of us has never called upon God for salvation, let this be enough to cause us to fall on our faces before Him and to ask Him to hear our cries. He will hear us now if we call to Him. Do not harden our hearts, but rather let us each hear His voice in our closing passage this morning. He, Alone, will save us from this eternal damnation, if we will but believe on Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. So be it!     
Heb 3:13-15 But encourage one another day after day, as long as it is still called "Today," lest any one of you be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.  For we have become partakers of Christ, if we hold fast the beginning of our assurance firm until the end; while it is said, "Today if you hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts, as when they provoked Me." Amen

This morning’s benediction is Heb 6:17-20 In the same way God, desiring even more to show to the heirs of the promise the unchangeableness of His purpose, interposed with an oath, in order that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have strong encouragement, we who have fled for refuge in laying hold of the hope set before us. This hope we have as an anchor of the soul, a hope both sure and steadfast and one which enters within the veil, where Jesus has entered as a forerunner for us, having become a high priest forever according to the order of Melchizedek. Amen.