BELIEVE OR PERISH

"For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.
For God did not send His Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world through Him might be saved.
He who believes in Him is not condemned; but he who does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God.
And this is the condemnation, that the light has come into the world, and men loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil.
For everyone practicing evil hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his deeds should be exposed.
But he who does the truth comes to the light, that his deeds may be clearly seen, that they have been done in God."

Message:
"THAT WHOEVER BELIEVES IN HIM SHOULD NOT PERISH...."
BELIEVE OR PERISH!
Question!
What does it mean to believe?
Belief is an act of the will in which the facts concerning a matter or a person are known and received which results in a trust or faith being placed in the facts or the person. In the matter of salvation, it is the act of believing in the person and work of Jesus Christ for our eternal redemption and the forgiveness of sins. Believing involves acting in faith.
REAL FAITH IMPLICITLY TAKES GOD AT HIS WORD.
Faith transports God's promises into the present tense.
In the Amplified Bible, when the word "BELIEVE" is translated in the text, it reads: ' so whoever believes in (trusts in, clings to, relies on).
Let's talk about this matter of FAITH as it relates to BELIEF. To begin with, natural faith rest on an object that is not necessarily reliable. But the FAITH as described in Hebrews 11:1 is not like that everyday FAITH we speak of.
"Now faith is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses]. Heb. 11:1

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When we believe unto eternal life, we trust something more real and Someone more trustworthy than anything or anyone we could ever comprehend with the natural senses.
Our senses may lie, God cannot!
Titus 1:2 says: "[Resting] in the hope of eternal life, [life] which the ever truthful God Who cannot deceive promised before the world or the ages of time began."
People fail; God does not!
Numbers 23:19 says: "God is not a man, that He should tell or act a lie, neither the son of man, that He should feel repentance or compunction [for what He has promised]. Has He said and shall He not do it? Or has He spoken and shall He not make it good?"
Circumstances change; God never does!
Malachi 3:6 says: "For I am the Lord, I do not change; that is why you, O sons of Jacob, are not consumed."
The NATURE of faith is different in the spiritual realm. Natural faith relies on the physical senses. We tend to believe only what we or others can see, hear, taste, and feel. When we trust the water, our brakes, the surgeon, we do so because our senses and human experience tell us these things are generally worthy of our confidence. Hebrews 11:1 faith, on the other hand, is a SUPERNATURAL conviction--a solid, unshakable assurance that is contrary to human nature. It includes the capacity to lay hold of scriptural reality imperceptible to the natural man.
THE CLEAR IMPLICATION OF ALL THIS IS THAT FAITH IS A GIFT OF GOD! So....to believe as indicated in our John 3:16 text, means that with a faith that is from Almighty God, we act upon the knowledge of the gospel by placing our trust and hope for our salvation unto eternal life in the person and work of Jesus Christ, God's Son, and our Redeemer and Savior and Lord.
PERSONAL SAVING FAITH, IN THE WAY SCRIPTURE UNDERSTANDS IT, INVOLVES MORE THAN MERE KNOWLEDGE! Of course, it is necessary that we have some knowledge of who Christ is and what He has done, for "how are they to believe in Him of whom they have never heard?" (Romans 10:14)
But knowledge about the facts of Jesus' life, death and resurrection for us is not enough, for people can know facts but rebel against them or dislike them. "Though they know God's decree that those who do such things deserve to die, they not only do them but approve those who practice them"...these are words that Paul wrote in Romans 1:32 informing us that people may know God's laws but dislike them and refuse to obey them. Even the demons know who God is an know the facts about Jesus' life and saving works, for James says, "You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the

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demons believe--and shudder" (James 2:19) But that knowledge certainly does not mean that the demons are saved!
Moreover, merely knowing the facts and approving of them of agreeing that they are true is not enough. Nicodemus knew that Jesus had come from God, for he said, "Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God; for no one can do these signs that you do, unless God is with him" (John 3:2). Nicodemus had evaluated the facts of the situation, including Jesus' teaching and his remarkable miracles, and had drawn a correct conclusion from those facts: Jesus was a teacher come from God.
But this alone did not mean that Nicodemus had saving faith, for he still had to put his trust in Christ for salvation; he still had to "believe in Him."
In addition to knowledge of the facts of the gospel and approval of those facts, in order to be saved, I must decide to depend on Jesus to save me. I move from being an interested observer of the facts of salvation and the teachings of the Bible to being someone who enters into a new relationship with Jesus Christ as a living person. We may therefore define SAVING FAITH in the following way: 
SAVING FAITH IS TRUST IN JESUS CHRIST AS A LIVING PERSON FOR FORGIVENESS OF SINS AND FOR ETERNAL LIFE WITH GOD.
Our text in John 3:16 tells us that "whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life." Here John uses a surprising phrase when he does not simply say, "whoever believes Him" (that is, believes that what He says is true and able to be trusted), but rather, "whoever believes IN HIM." The Greek phrase used here can also be translated, "BELIEVE UNTO HIM" with the sense of trust or confidence that goes INTO and rests in Jesus as a person. FAITH, for John, is an activity which takes men right out of themselves and makes them one with Christ. New Testament faith is not just intellectual assent but includes a "moral element of personal trust." Such an expression was rare or perhaps nonexistent in the secular Greek found outside the New Testament, but it was well suited to express the personal trust in Christ that is involved in saving faith.
When a person comes to trust in Jesus Christ, three elements must be present. There must be some basic knowledge or understanding of the facts of the gospel. There must also be all APPROVAL of, or agreement with, these facts. Such agreement includes a conviction that the facts spoken of the gospel are true, especially the fact that I am a sinner in need of salvation and that Christ alone has paid the penalty for my sin and offers salvation to me. It also includes an awareness that I need to trust in Christ for salvation and that He is the only way to God, and the only means provided for my salvation.

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BELIEVING FAITH AND REPENTANCE MUST COME TOGETHER! We may define repentance as follows:
REPENTANCE IS A HEARTFELT SORROW FOR SIN, A RENOUNCING OF IT, AND A SINCERE COMMITMENT TO FORSAKE IT AND WALK IN OBEDIENCE TO CHRIST. This definition indicates that repentance is something that can occur at a specific point in time, and is not equivalent to a demonstration of change in a person's pattern of life. Repentance, like faith, is an intellectual UNDERSTANDING (that sin is wrong), an emotional APPROVAL of the teachings of Scripture regarding sin (a sorrow for sin and hatred of it), and a PERSONAL DECISION to turn from it (a renouncing of sin and a decision of the will to forsake it and lead a life of obedience to Christ instead).
GENUINE REPENTANCE WILL RESULT IN A CHANGED LIFE! In fact, a truly repentant person will begin at once to live a changed life, and we can call that changed life the fruit of repentance. Repentance is something that occurs in the heart and involves the whole person in a decision to turn from sin.
It is important to realize that mere sorrow for one's actions, or even deep remorse over one's actions, does not constitute genuine repentance unless it is accompanied by a sincere decision to forsake sin that is being committed against God. Paul preached about "repentance to God and of faith in our Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 20:21). He says that he rejoiced over the Corinthians, "not because you were grieved, but because you were GRIEVED INTO REPENTING...For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation and brings no regret, but worldly grief produces death" (2 Corinthians 7:9-10). A worldly sort of grief may involve great sorrow for one's actions and probably also fear of punishment but no genuine renouncing of sin or commitment to forsake it in one's life.
Scripture puts repentance and faith together as different aspects of the one act of coming to Christ for salvation. It is not that a person first turns from sin and next trusts in Christ, or first trusts in Christ and then turns from sin, but rather that both occur at the same time.
In his book entitled: THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO JESUS, Dr. John MacArthur writes these words:
"Faith, like grace, is not static. Saving faith is more than just understanding the facts and mentally acquiescing. It is inseparable from repentance, surrender and a supernatural eagerness to obey. The biblical concept of saving faith includes all those elements. None of them can be classified exclusively as a human work, any more than believing itself is solely a human effort.

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IN OUR STUDY, WE HAVE ARRIVED AT A POINT WHERE WE MUST ADDRESS ONE OF THE GREAT ERRORS PRESENTLY BEING TAUGHT IN MANY OF OUR EVANGELICAL CHURCHES TODAY...it is called NO-LORDSHIP THEOLOGY. This doctrine propounds that "conversion to Christ involves" no spiritual commitment whatsoever. Those who hold this view of the gospel teach that Scripture promises salvation to anyone who simply believes the facts about Christ in claims eternal life. There need be no turning from sin, no resulting change of life-style, no commitment--not even a willingness to yield to Christ's lordship. Those things, they say amount to human works, which corrupt grace and have nothing to do with faith.
Dr. James M. Boice, in his book, CHRIST'S CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP, writes concerning this doctrine:
This theology separates faith from discipleship and grace from obedience. It teaches that Jesus can be received as one's Savior without being received as one's Lord.
This is a common defect in times of prosperity. In days of hardship, particularly persecution, those who are in the process of becoming Christians count the cost of discipleship carefully before taking up the cross of the Nazarene. Preachers do not beguile them with false promises of an easy life or indulgence of sins. But in good times, the cost does not seem so high, the people take the name of Christ without undergoing the radical transformation of life that true conversion implies."
THE CALL TO CALVARY MUST BE RECOGNIZED FOR WHAT IT IS...A CALL TO DISCIPLESHIP UNDER THE LORDSHIP OF JESUS CHRIST!
Remember, true believing involves repentance.
Repentance as Jesus characterized it involves a recognition of one's utter sinfulness and a turning from self and sin to God. Far from being a human work, it is the inevitable result of God's work in a human heart. And it always represents the end of any human attempt to earn God's favor. It is much more than a mere change of mind--it involves a complete change of heart, attitude, interest, and direction. It is a conversion in every sense of the word!
We must remember above all that salvation is a sovereign work of God. Biblically it is defined by what it produces, not by what one does to get it. Works are not necessary to earn salvation. But true salvation wrought by God will not fail to produce the good works that are its fruit.
A. W. Tozer said, "The Lord will not save those whom He cannot command. He will not divide His officers. You cannot believe on a half-Christ. We take Him for what He is--the anointed Savior and Lord who is King of kings and Lord of lords! He would not be Who He is if He saved us and called us and chose us without the understanding that He can also guide and control our lives."

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"...that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish."
In the first part of our lesson today we have discussed at length the meaning of believing. Now we must approach the solemn truth of judgment and eternal punishment.
Hebrews 2:1-3
"Since all this is true, we ought to pay much closer attention than ever to the truths that we have heard, lest in any way we drift past [them] and slip away.
For if the message given through angels [the Law spoken by them to Moses] was authentic and proved sure, and every violation and disobedience received an appropriate (just and adequate) penalty, How shall we escape [appropriate retribution] if we neglect and refused to pay attention to such a great salvation [as is now offered to us, letting it drift past us forever]? For it was declared at first by the Lord [Himself] and it was confirmed to us and proved to be real and genuine by those who personally heard [Him speak]."
JUDGMENT--ETERNAL PUNISHMENT--HELL!
Not popular subjects to say the least, but if we are to preach the whole gospel, then these subjects must be discussed.
Deep below the surface of things, a proliferating erosion concerning the seriousness of hell, brought on by a complex web of modern ideas about hell, has stripped this weighty word of most of its awesome solemn content.
Frivolous modern notions about hell have arisen to compete with what the people of God have for centuries understood and believed about the unending punishment of the wicked. The threat of having multitudes of people deceive into taking hell lightly is greater now than it has ever been in human history.
Consider the notion--HELL ON EARTH! The "Hell-on-earthers" agree that there must be some form of negative consequences for wrongdoing because justice demands some retribution for evil.
Then there is the notion-- IT CAN'T BE ALL THAT BAD!
Those with this view see the difference between heaven and hell as one of degrees of something basically good.
Our generation has a powerful propensity to believe that what anyone in the past believed to be true is now probably all wrong! The fallacious line of reasoning often goes, "In the older days folks couldn't figure out a way to keep bad people and little children in line. So they conjured up the idea of a monstrously grotesque place of gloomy darkness and frightening, everlasting torments. Armed with the threat of consignment to such a terrible place, they scared the stubborn and a young into submission to their cultural patterns." They say: "Hell is a concept invented by the ancients that fits nicely into the ignorant life-schemes of antiquity and medieval times."

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We may define Hell as follows: HELL IS A PLACE OF ETERNAL CONSCIOUS PUNISHMENT FOR THE WICKED.
Scripture teaches in several passages that there is such a place. At the end of the parable of the talents, the Master says, "Cast the worthless servant into the outer darkness; there men will weep and gnash their teeth" (Matt. 25:30). This is one among several indications that there will be consciousness of punishment after the final judgment. Similarly, at the judgment the King will say to some, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the ETERNAL FIRE prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matt. 25:41), and Jesus says that those thus condemned "will go away into ETERNAL PUNISHMENT, but the righteous into eternal life." (Matt. 25:46)
In this text, the parallel between "eternal life" and "eternal punishment" indicates that BOTH STATES WILL BE WITHOUT END.
Jesus refers to HELL as "the unquenchable fire" (Mark 9:43), and says that HELL is a place "where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched" (Mark 9:48).
The story of the rich man and Lazarus also indicates a horrible consciousness of punishment:
Luke 16:22-24:
"The rich man also died and was buried; and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes, and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus in his bosom, and he called out, "Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water to cool my tongue; for I am in anguish in this flame."
When we turn to Revelation, the descriptions of this eternal punishment are also very explicit: (Rev. 14:9-11)
"If anyone worships the beast and its image, and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he also shall drink the wine of God's wrath, poured unmixed into the cup of his anger, and he shall be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever; and they have no rest, day or night, these worshipers of the beast and its image, and whoever receives the mark of its name."
This passage very clearly affirms the idea of eternal conscious punishment of unbelievers.
The idea that there will be eternal conscious punishment of unbelievers has been denied recently even by some evangelical theologians. David L. Edwards, John R. W. Stott and Clark Pinnock are some of those who have chosen to give their own interpretation of Hell and turn from the teachings of Scripture. Those who deny eternal conscious punishment often advocate "ANNIHILATIONISM"--a teaching that, after the wicked have suffered the penalty of God's wrath for a time, God will "annihilate" them so that they no longer exist.

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Arguments advanced in favor of ANNIHILATIONISM are: (1) the biblical references of the DESTRUCTION of the wicked, which, some say, implies that they will no longer exist after they are destroyed (Phil. 3:19; 1 Thess. 5:3; 2 Thess. 1:9; 2 Peter 3:7); (2) the apparent inconsistency of eternal conscious punishment with the LOVE OF GOD; (3) the apparent injustice involved in the disproportion between sins committed in time and punishment that is eternal; and (4) the fact that the CONTINUING PRESENCE OF EVIL CREATURES IN GOD'S UNIVERSE will eternally mar the perfection of a universe that God created to reflect his glory. With these we disagree!
After all has been said, we have to admit that the ultimate resolution of the depths of this question lies far beyond our ability to understand, and remains hidden in the counsels of God.
Because the doctrine of eternal conscious punishment is so foreign to the thought patterns of our culture, and, on a deeper level to our instinctive and God-given sense of love and desire for redemption for every human being created in God's image, this doctrine is emotionally one of the most difficult doctrines for Christians to affirm today. It also tends to be one of the first doctrines given up by people who are moving away from a commitment to the Bible as absolutely truthful in all that it affirms. Among liberal theologians who do not accept the absolute truthfulness of the Bible, there is probably no one today who believes in the doctrine of eternal conscious punishment.
If our hearts are never moved with deep sorrow when we contemplate this doctrine, then there is a serious deficiency in our spiritual and emotional sensibilities. When Paul thinks of the lostness of his kinsmen the Jews, he says, "I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart" (Romans 9:2). As long as we see and think about others to need to hear the gospel and trust in Christ for salvation, it should cause us great distress and agony of spirit to think about eternal punishment. Yet we must also realize that whatever God in His wisdom has ordained and taught in Scripture is right. Therefore we must be careful that we do not hate this doctrine or rebel against it, or seek to rationalize or explain it away, but rather we should seek, insofar as we are able, to come to the point where we acknowledge that eternal punishment is good and right, because in God there is no unrighteousness at all.
At the very root of disbelief in the eternal punishment of the wicked is a questioning of the truthfulness of God! The Bible says: "Since it is a righteous thing with God to repay with tribulation those who trouble you, and to give you who are troubled rest with us when the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with His mighty angels, in flaming fire taking vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ. (2 Thess. 1:6-8)

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Although the Old Testament case for eternal punishment is conclusive enough, the New Testament teaching on it is even more definitive. So lucidly clear is it that no man or woman of right mind who hears or reads the facts in Scripture could possibly be justified in doubting the overwhelming seriousness of hell.
As Paul once said: "...let God be found true, though every man be found a liar..." (Romans 3:4)
That same type of exhortation was offered by Martin Luther in a letter he wrote in 1522:
"...one must separate widely our way of thinking from God's truth, and take care that we do not make God a liar, but far rather allow that all men, angels and devils will be damned than that God should not be truthful in His words."
IF YOU LOOK AT THE WORDS OF GOD, YOU WILL SEE WHY THE CHURCH HAS CONSISTENTLY MADE THE SAME INTERPRETATION OF THEM.
After every Scripture has been examined, every orthodox creed considered well, and the opinions of orthodox theologians taken into account, one issue stands as far more basic than all others combined: WHAT DID JESUS SAY? All else in the Bible about eternal punishment must be understood and interpreted in the light of what He said. He is, after all, the final authority!
Nothing any human could write to explain Jesus' words could be as clear and powerful as His own words. Therefore, let me bring to our attention the great majority of the words of Jesus that bear unequivocally and directly on the subject of eternal punishment. "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne. And all the nations will be gathered before Him; and He will separate them from one another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats; and He will put the sheep on His right, and the goats on His left...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;...And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life."
(Matthew 25:31-33; 41, 46)
(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. And if your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off; it is better for you to enter life lame, then having two feet, to be cast into hell. 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 fire is not quenched."

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"And do not fear those who kill the body, but are able to kill the soul; the rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell." (Matt. 10:28)
"The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all stumbling blocks, and those who commit lawlessness, and will cast them into the furnace of fire, in that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 13:41, 42)
"Many will say to Me on that day, "Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles? And then I will declare to them, "I never knew you; depart from Me you who practice lawlessness!" Matt. 7:22-23
"You serpents, you brood of vipers, how shall you escape the sentence of hell? (Matt. 23:33)
"So it will be at the end of the age; the angels shall come forth and take out the wicked from among the righteous, and will cast them into the furnace of fire; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth" (Matt. 13:49, 50)
"Do not marvel at this: for an hour is coming, in which all who are in the tombs shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; those who did the good deeds, to a resurrection of life, those who committed the evil deeds to a resurrection of judgment." (John 5:28-29)
JESUS HAD MORE TO SAY ABOUT HELL THAN ANY OTHER SPEAKER OR WRITER IN THE BIBLE. If He was mistaken in what He said, then the Almighty, Eternal, and Ever-lasting God was mistaken!
There is no other Christianity than that which Jesus Christ established. And His Christianity clearly, distinctly, emphatically and even threateningly speaks of a very real hell.
A CLEAR MEANING OF JESUS' WORDS ABOUT HELL CAN BE GAINED FROM AN EXAMINATION OF FIVE PERTINENT WORDS USED IN RELATION TO IT.
These words are: Hades, Tarturus, Gehenna, forever, and eternal.
(1). HADES
For the Greeks and the Romans, Hades was the world of all the dead, both good and evil. Located in the very bowels of the earth, it was a happy place for no one. The Hades of the Greeks and Romans was sullen and dull. At its best it was far from being as pleasant as the former life had been at its worst.
It was this Greek word HADES that those who translated the Hebrew Old Testament word SHEOL chose to use in almost every case. It happened to be the most convenient and closest word available in the Greek language.

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Hades is used ten or eleven times in the New Testament, and without doubt it refers to the exact same place as SHEOL does in the Old Testament. There is one interesting difference, however. In the New Testament HADES is never used to mean simply a sod grave; its only use is to describe the place of retribution for the wicked.
I have referred to the passage in Luke 16 in which Jesus talks about Lazarus and the rich man. Let me quote the entire text. "Now it came about that the poor man died and he was carried away by the angels to Abraham's bosom; and the rich man also died and was buried. And in HADES he lifted up his eyes, being in torment, and saw Abraham far away, and Lazarus in his bosom. And he cried out and said, "Father, Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus that he may dip the tip of his finger in water and cool off my tongue; for I am in agony in this flame." But Abraham said, "Child, remember that during your life you received your good things, and likewise Lazarus bad thing; the now he is being comforted here, and you are in agony. And besides all this, between us and you there is a great chasm fixed, in order that those who wish to come over from here to you may not be able, and that none may cross over from there to us." (Luke 16:22-26)
These were not the words of some ill-informed, unlearned child of his time. They came from One who is fully God and fully man. Jesus gave us here a cutaway view of what exists beyond the grave. Regrettable, there are those who would attempt to discredit Christ, the Bible and the church by insisting that because of the use of the word HADES, the whole idea of Hades was borrowed from paganism by early Christianity. That is followed by the assumption, "Of course, now that we've matured, we need to reject it completely as paganism itself." No plausible support can be given to such an idea.
(2) TARTURUS
The apostle Peter used in expression involving hell that appears only once in the whole New Testament. In context it is extremely illuminating on the subject of the judgment of God and ensuing punishment. Let me quote 2 Peter 2:1,3,4,9,10:
"But false prophets also arose among the people [in the Old Testament], just as there will also be false teachers among you, who will secretly introduced destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing swift destruction upon themselves...and in their greed they will exploit you with false words; their judgment from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep. For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into HELL and committed them to pits of darkness, reserved for judgment...then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of

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judgment, and especially those who indulge the flesh in its corrupt desires and despised authority."
The expression of interest here is "God...cast them into HELL. There is actually no noun in the Greek New Testament for the word HELL in this statement. The verb TARTAROO, which means, "to send or cast into Tarturus," is used. The translation, "cast them into hell," is quite proper, however.
Tarturus is another Greek expression almost identical in meaning to Hades. Tarturus was, in fact, the lowest spot in the Greek Hades.
(3) GEHENNA
Hades and Tarturus are powerful words indeed, but there is one that is stronger yet--GEHENNA. It is the ultimate in terms of severity. The word appears twelve times in the New Testament. Used in its primary, literal sense, GEHENNA is the Valley of Hinnon, located just south of Jerusalem. Topheth, one of the names given to the Valley of Hinnon, means "THE PLACE OF BURNING. According to the ancient rabbis, the idol, Moloch, was hollow inside, and after being heated with fire, little children were laid in its arms and veritably roasted alive!
Though Jesus is the only one in all the New Testament to use GEHENNA in this specific sense, He was not the first to use the word to signify the place of eternal punishment. Jesus used the term to describe the place of retributive suffering, the place of fire and brimstone, the lake of fire, the place of the eternal torment of those condemned because of unrighteousness. It is the everlasting abode of the devil, his angels, and those whose name are "not found written in the Lamb's book of life."
Hell has come under popular ridicule in recent times because of the idea of unquenchable fire. We are told bizarre preachers have used the imagery purely for emotional effect. Those with such a complaint however, are going to have to lodge it against Jesus Christ Himself! It is none less than he who makes that unquenchable fire so plain, ugly, terrifying and inescapable in His teaching on hell.
In conclusion, just because we may not believe in a literal HELL does not, in any degree, lessen the truth of this terrible place where the ungodly and unbelievers will spend eternity.
Just as sure as there is a Heaven to gain, there is a HELL to shun!