There must be a place of punishment for sin. God’s nature is holy and righteous. He is not only love but He also cannot tolerate sin. The Bible says that He is a God whose anger burns against the wicked and disobedient. We may not understand that our sin is exceedingly sinful to God nevertheless our ignorance of that fact doesn’t nullify God carrying out His justice. Heaven is a perfect place without sin, and God cannot allow sinful man into heaven. We need to see that our sin is deserving of death, which means separation from God.
There are wages we earn for our sins. These wages include death, destruction, separation from all good, and God’s fury and wrath. Just as there is punishment for breaking man’s laws, spiritual punishment is the result of breaking God’s laws. Every person has failed to live up to God’s moral law, and so he finds himself guilty. The Bible word for this moral failure is sin.
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Romans 3:23 states, “The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life.”
There must be a place that separates the disobedient from the obedient. This is why prisons are necessary. If there were no consequences for committing heinous crimes, would our society be safe? Of course not! If a person could murder or rape and not be imprisoned for it, they could continue to repeat the same offence, which would be a danger to society.
We wouldn’t accuse the leaders of our country of being mean and unfair for constructing prisons, so we should not accuse God for establishing hell. Man has been given a free will to choose whether to obey God, or not. It’s a person’s own choice if they go to hell. It is not God’s decision.
Hell is a great deterrent against sin. When we comprehend the severity of an eternal hell, we are less likely to sin. We are less likely to live morally corrupt lives. We are less likely to compromise and fall prey to every temptation and sin. The truth of an eternal hell should cause us to walk more in the fear of the Lord by obeying Him.
Of course, obedience to God’s commands does not save us from hell. Only our trust in what the Lord Jesus Christ accomplished for us on the cross provides us with the gift of salvation. Obeying His commands identifies us as one who has repented and received Him as our Lord and Savior. It is evidence we are saved. Good works are not the cause of salvation, but the effect.
Jesus said in Mark 9:47, “And if your eye causes you to sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye, rather than having two eyes, to be cast into hell fire.” This is a severe statement of Jesus. He is saying that we are better off digging our eyes out if they are causing us to sin, rather than going to hell. That would be a severe action to take but better than enduring hell. We all should have a fear of an eternal hell.
There are many people who don’t want anything to do with God. Hell is a place where all the attributes of God are removed. There is no good thing apart from God because all good comes from Him (James 1:17). Many people just don’t realize that they can’t have the good without God. They enjoy God’s goodness on the earth but after they die, they won’t get to enjoy his goodness because God grants them their desire.
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Second Thessalonians 1:8-9, “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. These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.”
And finally, Isaiah 55:6-7 says, “Seek the Lord while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the Lord, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon.”
Bill Wiese is the author of New York Times best-selling book, 23 Minutes In Hell, the story of his life-changing visit to hell in 1998. Bill has since authored six additional book titles, and continues to share his experience around the world. He and his wife Annette founded Soul Choice Ministries in late 2006 and have dedicated their lives to reaching the unsaved. For more information about Bill Wiese and Soul Choice Ministries please visit us at: https://soulchoiceministries.org/
You can find more of Bill’s teachings at: https://www.youtube.com/user/BillWieseTV
