Erasing Hell - Get Hell Out of Here

I'm uh particularly grateful for the men and for the fathers today that are in the room that are leading their families, serving God here on Father's Day with their families, and I'm grateful because um you know, Father's Day gets a bad rap.

Actually, Mother's Day a few weeks ago, people were already starting to make jokes and make fun of Father's Day a few weeks ago on Mother's Day.

Uh, but I'm particularly grateful because I think about all the dads who are in the house right now who are doing their best to serve God, to lead their family, to love the Lord, to be here right now on Father's Day.

And can we just put our hands together for all the dads that are in the house right now?

Who are pursuing Christ, who are pursuing the Lord.

And I'm particularly grateful for you today.

If I have not met you before, my name is Forrest, lead pastor here at Multiply.

Glad that you are here on this Father's Day.

And for the the dads that are in the house that are following Jesus and serving well, I am celebrating you today.

Because we've got we got some uh serious fighters in our church.

We got some jujitsu warriors, we got some rough-handed farmers, we got prayer warriors, we got pastor dads all over the place that are in our church and are taking serious the words that we heard from Jesus the last two weeks that the kingdom of heaven is near.

And that we have a mission.

We have a mission to serve and to protect and to push back darkness and hell.

Which leads me into the beginning of this new series that we are jumping into called Erasing Hell.

Now, we haven't done a series like this before at Multiply, but it it's uh for each of us as we're understanding what it is for us to be in mission with Christ, pushing back darkness, pushing back hell.

My title of my message today is uh quite literally Get Hell Out of Here.

That's the title of my message today.

And here's what I'm saying: the world is desperate to convince us that there's not a spiritual battle that's being waged.

The devil, sin, hell is not real, is what we're trying to be convinced, and that it's just a scary fairy tale made to control the masses.

TikTok and social media is filled with people telling you just to believe in yourself and that'll be enough.

And Jesus is almost, it's that he's used as like a mascot of people's pet project or ideology or lifestyle, that Jesus is just a nice guy, and that a nice guy would never let allow anyone to go to hell.

And this is an attempt to censor Christ and to erase eternity, erase hell.

And I want for us as a church, for us to be equipped, for us to know what the scripture says and what Jesus had to say about eternity and about this reality.

We're uh in the summertime, which summertime in church, in churches across uh the country, kids get loaded up in vans and go to vacation Bible school, which I never understood because it's never a vacation for the church or for the kids.

Um but I have a friend of mine, Heather, who, when she was growing up, she went to vacation Bible school, and it was at vacation Bible school where they were uh attempting to teach the kids about heaven and hell and to lead into the Lord, and the the pastor got in front of the kids and said, uh, now kids, I want you to imagine that if the floor split in two and opened up right now and there was flames of hell below you, which one of you would fall into hell today?

And uh Heather, she gave her life to Christ that day.

Um, but I don't uh suggest that that's really a really good strategy when talking about hell, the fear factor not being the best strategy, especially as we're talking to kids.

But on the flip side, we also shouldn't ignore the reality of hell either.

The old quote, the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world that he didn't exist.

And the inspiration of this series is from a heart to ensure that we are equipped with the words of Jesus so that we have an understanding of eternity, of hell, so that we are not easily tricked by social media, by artificial intelligence, or conversations that we have with people who don't know Christ that are trying to convince us that hell doesn't exist and completely denying it.

There's a a book written by Francis Chan and Dr.

Prince Preston Sprinkle about 10 years ago entitled Erasing Hell, which is a great resource to go deeper on this topic.

But I I wonder, I wonder what if hell isn't just a place where people go after they die, but it's a force that's at work in our lives right now.

And if God's people are the only ones standing in the way of it taking more ground.

See, the enemy wants to steal, kill, and destroy.

That's what Jesus told us.

And wants to destroy our lives, and if the devil won't make you bad and can't make you bad, he'll make you busy.

And if he can't destroy you, then the devil will try to distract you.

And if he can't convince you that hell's not real, then he'll try to convince you that it doesn't matter.

See, hell is not just this destination that we want to avoid, it's a darkness that we're called to fight against, starting with our own lives, with our own homes, with our own hearts.

And I want to equip us over the next couple of weeks in what Jesus said about hell, because Jesus talked more about hell than he did in heaven.

In Matthew, the book of Matthew, Jesus talks about hell some 40 times.

And in the passage that we're gonna look at today, several verses, Jesus is warning his disciples of persecution that's gonna come, betrayal of war, not a physical war, but a spiritual war that cuts through families and culture.

And what we're gonna look at the scriptures today, we're uh not looking at the meek and mild little baby Jesus, six-pound, eleven-ounce baby Jesus.

This is the sword-wielding, soul-saving King of the universe, King Jesus, as he talks to his disciples and says this in Matthew chapter 10 and verse 28.

Matthew 10 · chapter mention

If you have your Bible, turn there with me.

It'll also be on the screen in the New International Version, verse 28.

Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.

Rather, be afraid of the one who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Are not two sparrows sold for a penny?

Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside of your father's care.

And even the very hairs on your head are all numbered.

So don't be afraid.

You are worth more than many sparrows.

Whoever acknowledges me before others, I will also acknowledge before my father in heaven.

But whoever disowns me before others, I will disown before the Father in heaven.

Do not suppose that I have come to bring peace to the earth.

I have come, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword.

For I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law.

A man's enemies will be the members of his own household.

Anyone who loves their father or mother more than me is not worthy of me.

Any who loves their son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.

Verse 38.

Whoever does not take up their cross and follow me is not worthy of me.

And this last verse, whoever finds their life will lose it.

And whoever loses their life for my sake will find it.

Would you bow your heads?

Father, as we open your word, and we're taught by you, Christ.

Lord, we want to be people who know you, who love you, who have you, Jesus, in your rightful place and position in our lives.

Jesus, it's our intention not to censor you, but to surrender to you.

So, God, today as we look at your word and as you teach us, Father, we pray that we would be made more and more like you, God.

Jesus, thank you that you love us, that you care for us, that you know the number of hairs on our head.

So, God, make us now as we look at your word in Jesus' name.

Everybody said, Amen.

Next week we're gonna talk about all the imagery that Jesus uses to describe hell and the meaning behind his words and what the Bible actually says about it.

Hell, it's it's a place of torment and annihilation where souls are destroyed, is what we heard Jesus just say.

It's not an everlasting party with your friends like the ACDC song describes, okay?

But it it's a place, and and it's it's not a place where Jesus has created for people to go.

Instead, what Jesus' call to us and his heart for us is that we would be the ones that would acknowledge him and give him allegiance.

And as we acknowledge him and give our lives to him, then Jesus will honor the allegiance before the Heavenly Father in heaven.

So who goes to hell?

It's kind of a hot topic.

And uh what's funny is I most of the conversations that I have had that have centered around hell at multiply over the last three or four years are people asking if tattoos send you to hell.

That's like the most thing that's been asked.

So if you're wondering, no, the Bible does not say that.

Actually, a few years ago, there was a I met this young guy who was an Iraq War veteran, and he was beginning to follow Jesus, and he was covered in tattoos, super cool guy, and he was working at a convenience store in Somerset, and one day he was working at the counter, and a lady came into the store, and she came up to the counter and looked him up and down, and she said, You know you're going to hell for all those tattoos.

Real religious woman.

And he looked back at her and he said, I'll see you there.

Which I think was just the perfect response from this guy who is beginning to follow Jesus.

Let me be clear.

The only thing that sends you to hell is not having Jesus as your Lord and Savior.

If you're a true follower of Jesus, you are saved and sealed.

Your name is written down in the Lamb's book of life in heaven.

And Romans tells us that nothing can separate you from the love of God if you're in Christ Jesus.

So if you're a genuine follower of Jesus, slip-ups into sin don't send you to hell because you have received the blood of Christ on the cross, his full forgiveness and his pardon.

So that when you one day go before God and you're standing before him to be judged, God doesn't look at you and see all your mistakes and all your sins.

Instead, he sees the blood of Christ covering over you and he allows you to walk into everlasting life in heaven with him.

Because we can't enter into the perfection of heaven, the utopia of heaven, the glory of heaven with our imperfections.

If we go into heaven with all our imperfections, it will no longer be heaven imperfect.

So we need to have the covering, the forgiveness of our sins that we receive from Christ who loved us so much that he died for us.

So slip-ups don't send us to hell because we're pardoned and we've been purchased by Jesus' blood.

That means that if you cuss while you're getting into a car accident and you die, you don't go to hell because of that.

You're covered by the blood of Jesus.

Are you hearing me?

Now, when I begin studying and reading and listening for this series, I'm gonna tell you it's quite challenging because as I don't like to think about hell.

I especially don't like to think anybody of think about anybody going there.

But sometimes as believers, and maybe for you, sometimes it's easier for us just to stick our head in the sand like an ostrich than to embrace the grace and truth that comes with the reality of heaven and hell.

So, as followers of Jesus and knowers of the truth, what should our response be?

Well, it shouldn't be apathy, it shouldn't be passivity, it shouldn't just be ignoring or sticking our head in the sand.

Instead, we should collectively hate hell.

That's the first big truth.

That Jesus tells us not to spend our life thinking and afraid of what others think about us, but instead for us to fear God, have reverence for Him, hating hell, sin, and death and everything that comes from it, because the Bible says to hate what is evil and cling to what is good.

So we should be people who are hating the things of the devil in hell and clinging to the goodness of God.

It's one of the only things that we're allowed to hate as believers.

And the world tries to say, well, if God is love, then how could he allow anybody to go to hell?

But we don't use that same logic when we think about a doctor who comes to warn us about the cancer that's in our body.

Or if your house is on fire, you want somebody to come and wake you up.

Love warns of the truth.

And the justice of God.

The justice of God for him to pour out wrath on evil that God is fully just.

And so he's made a way of rescue so that we could be in right relationship with him now and into eternity.

God doesn't send people to hell, he gives us the freedom to choose a path with or without him.

And we need to be the people that hate sin, hate darkness, hate hell because we know the love of God that has rescued us from it.

Jesus says to fear God more than we fear man, even our own families.

A couple of years ago, a college student and my parents, a small group, came to faith in Christ.

And she came from the background of a Muslim family, and last year she made the decision to be baptized, knowing full and well that her family would disown her because of that decision.

She was baptized on a Sunday, surrounded by her family of faith, her friends in the small group, as she made this decision, knowing that her earthly family, she would lose her earthly family because she was putting Jesus in the proper place in her life.

And I I think about the courage of that young woman and her putting Jesus to the right priority.

And Jesus is the one who says to us in this passage that we're to love him above everything else, even our earthly relationships, and he wants for us to be the ones that fight to see all of our loved ones go to heaven with us.

But as we have relationships with people who do not acknowledge Jesus as Lord, then there will be no peace in that relationship.

Like a sword, the reality of the battle that we are in, it cuts into that relationship.

Now, I don't want people that I know to go to hell.

That's why I proclaim Christ and I do my very best to show love and to hate the things of hell.

And I do my very best, but I'm not perfect, but I know the one who is.

I don't get it right all the time.

But I know the Jesus that others need to receive.

And this is serious because I know that so many people in our church, they're connected with those that are not confessing Christ, and that is so painful.

That's why it matters what we do here at Multiply.

That's why it matters that you're here right now.

That's why it matters that we worship Jesus above every other thing in our life.

That's why it matters for us to be here on Sundays and to be in community and relationship with other believers, growing in our faith in Christ and letting other people see our good deeds, not just our good words, and then us to proclaim Christ as Savior so that more people will fill heaven.

Amen.

So for you in the room and specifically the dads in the room, I want for you to step into the fight.

I want you to fight for your family.

That's the next big point.

I want you to fight for your family.

And the way that you do that is through both grace and truth.

Showing the love and the grace of God, but also having the truth that Christ tells us from his word on our lips.

We need to fight for our own families, and we also need to fight for the family of faith and see those added to our number daily, those who are being saved.

But the world tells you, well, don't pressure anybody.

Well, it's personal.

Don't bring that up.

But love doesn't stay silent when the house is burning down.

Instead, we fight for our families, for our homes, for our spiritual family, and don't surrender to the enemy.

You know, there's a lot of talk right now about revelation with all that's happening in the Middle East.

And anybody who tells you on TikTok that they know when Jesus is coming back is lying to you because Jesus himself said that nobody will know the day or hour of his return.

But when Jesus does return, which he is going to return, it's not going to be silent.

He returns as a warrior with the sword of the spirit.

Jesus is our rescuer and also a returning warrior.

We see a depiction of that day of Jesus splitting the sky and his return to earth.

And it's in Revelation chapter 19 where we see a picture of Jesus' return in verse 13.

Revelation 19 · chapter mention

He's dressed in a robe dipped in blood.

And his name is the word of God.

The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses, dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

Coming out of his mouth is a sharp sword, which is which to strike down the nations.

He will rule them with an iron scepter.

He treads the wine press of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty.

And on his robe and on his thigh, he has this name written, King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

On his robe and on his thigh.

See, even Jesus had a tattoo.

Don't send me an email about that.

Don't send me an email.

The Bible in Exodus 15, 3 says, the Lord is a warrior.

The Lord is his name.

See, our God, our God is not this punisher or tormentor.

That's what the absence of God is.

Just like darkness is the absence of light.

When God is removed, when there's an absence of Him, that's a place called hell.

But Jesus has come and wants to help us to.

To find life and to be rescued from the pit of darkness.

God grants us the freedom to find life.

And He is our rescuer.

And He tells us to take up our cross because He's already conquered His.

We'll talk in depth next week about how Jesus describes hell and what it is.

And I want to give you a little preview.

It was never meant for you and for me.

Later in Matthew chapter 25, verse 42, Jesus says, And then I'll say, and then he will say to those on his left, Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

Matthew 25:42

Hell was never created, was never created for humans.

It was created for the rebellious Satan and his demons.

And it's our task that we would join Jesus and the hope of this world and to join in with the heaven's armies that we would fight for our homes and fight for our families and our family of faith.

That means we don't just waste time on meaningless stuff and spend our whole life pouring into hobbies.

Dads, that means put down the controller and lead your family.

Pray together, serve together, worship together every single week.

Love fiercely, build security into your home.

Dads, your children should never feel like they are not safe with you.

And in discipline and in love and in training, they should feel the love of God, the fatherly love that we have flowing through you.

And just like what we said this last week, that you and your family and those that you're training, that you would be a part of building the kingdom of God together with Christ, joining in the battle.

Last week we saw in Matthew chapter 9, Jesus was talking about the few.

Matthew 9 · chapter mention

And Jesus in verse 35 went through all the towns and villages teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness.

We have a kingdom of good news that we get to carry with us to see people be saved, delivered, and healed in the mighty power of Jesus' name.

And Jesus allows for us to be a part of that with him.

He's asking for us to be a part of it with him that more people would come to know him as Savior.

And we get to be the ones to help see it happen by the power of the Holy Spirit.

There's so many times where I am I'm fighting the flesh within me and the sin within me and what hell wants to destroy in my life.

And maybe for you, you're tempted at times to live like hell doesn't matter.

Can I tell you that Jesus is inviting you into the fight with him to war alongside him, to war with the rescuer?

That's my third point.

See, the the world wants to tell you that religion is just a crutch, but Jesus didn't bring a crutch.

He brought a cross where on the cross he died and defeated death, hell, the grave, that there's no more sting.

That one day we would be with him in heaven and we would be in full peace and love and joy in heaven with Christ, where there is no suffering, there is no pain, there is no tears.

And I want for you, and I wonder, are you one of the ones who are fighting for Jesus or are you fighting against him?

Here's what gets me every time.

What tears me up when I think about hell.

That Jesus didn't just talk about hell, he walked straight towards it.

Jesus, he was the one who was betrayed by his friends, was rejected by his people, was tortured and mocked and murdered and abandoned, even feeling like he was abandoned from the Father at the moment of the cross as he cried out, My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

And see, put the weight of sin and death, hell and the grave on his shoulders and died on the cross and defeated the ultimate consequence of sin, which is death, by walking out of the grave victoriously three days later.

Jesus didn't just warn us about hell, he took it on.

The full wrath of God, the weight of our sin, darkness, isolation, the horror of it all.

He bore it for you and for me.

And so maybe this sermon today feels heavy.

And I want you not to miss this.

I want you to hear me say this.

So if you don't hear anything else that I say, listen to me right now.

Jesus went through hell so that you wouldn't have to.

That's the God that we worship, that's the king in the universe who didn't come to scare you, but came to save you.

And he's not just handing you a sword, but a sword of the spirit and uh handing you the hope of heaven.

So let's, church, let's bring heaven here in Frankfurt as it is in heaven, that we get to be a part of our King who allows us to carry the hope that we have, knowing full well that hell is real, but also that the hope of heaven is real as well.

See, God doesn't torment, torment is what's left when you push him away.

And Jesus bore hell on the cross so that we wouldn't have to, he's already won the war.

So, what do we do?

Well, what we need to do is we need to drop the excuses and pick up the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God, and we need to fight for our families, we need to worship with them weekly, we need to serve the Lord with our full heart, we need to fight side by side against darkness so that one day your grand your grandkids don't just inherit your money on your house, they inherit your faith as well in Christ.

That you've fought for your family, and so what that means for us is that we can't we can't fast forward the clock and do things right in the future.

We have to start right now, today.

And so maybe in the room today, there's a there's a step that you need to take to repent where you have let hell take ground in your life.

Maybe this very night you need to pray over your family, or even better, pray with your family that you would be the ones that would show up and receive the hope of heaven and be one who can carry it to a neighbor in love and in grace and in truth.

I'm so burdened, church.

I'm so burdened, I'm so burdened that if we don't know God's word, and I want us to be a church that knows God's word.

And even right now, there are new believers in our church who are starting in the book of Matthew, who who just asking the questions, what's the difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament?

Start in the book of Matthew and read what Jesus had to say because I don't want us to be a church that's so easily tricked by false teachers that are on TikTok or what all artificial intelligence wants to tell us about our future.

We need to be ones who know God's word and wield it like the sword of the spirit that he's equipped us and called us to do.

Can you hear me, church?

So if you're not reading in the scripture right now, start in Matthew.

Begin to see what Jesus said because we don't want to censor what Jesus said, we want to submit our lives to it and we want to surrender ourselves to him, and we want to be in the battle, serving him, and knowing that we're not doing it on our own, but that we have the Holy Spirit helping us every step of the way.

Not that we're perfect or that we're going to be, but we have heaven's perfection given to us by the power of the cross and the glory of the resurrection and the revelation of his word teaching us and changing us.

And so I wonder for you today, Christian, what is the battle right now that you are in?

That when I even said that, it's the first thing that came to your mind that you need God to help you to fight to grow with his word and relationship and fellowship and community with other believers.

What is it?

Or maybe you're in the room today and you've let the world trick you into thinking that eternity doesn't matter, or that it's not real, and all that there is is just the here and now.

Can I tell you that God loves you so much that He literally died in your place and returned back to life so that you can now find life in Him as well?

Today could be the day of your salvation.

Would you bow your heads with me?

All across the room, Christians that are in this house, and you know that you're fighting a battle right now, and you need the Lord's help and you need the Holy Spirit, and you know that this battle is something that needs to be handled.

And I want to pray for you.

And so, right now, if that's you, if you're a believer and you know that there's a battle, and and I want to pray for you.

So if that's you, would you just raise your hand right here, right here, all over the place, all over the place, all over the place.

Father, right now I pray, God, for those in this house right now that are in the battle.

God, I pray, Lord, right now, by the power of the Holy Spirit, King Jesus, that you would deliver yourself to them in the midst of the battle that they're in, that God, they would confess their sins.

That God, they would have relationships and friends that would hold them up and encourage them.

Father, I pray over them right now, Lord, that they would submit their lives to you.

And Holy Spirit, that you would tell them that you don't forget, you don't forget them or forsake them, but you are right here with them right now.

So we thank you.

You can put your hands down if you're in the room today and you've not received Christ as your Savior.

I want for you to take the step for you to give your life over to Christ as He's given His life for yours.

And I want you to pray, Jesus, save me.

Pray it in your heart and mind, Jesus, save me.

I believe that you're the Son of God and that you died on the cross for my sins, and that you walked out of the grave.

I give my life to you.

Forgive me, cleanse me so that I can have the hope of heaven.

I give my life to you as you gave your life for mine.

Thank you for saving me.

If you prayed that right now, I I want to acknowledge you and pray over you.

If you prayed that today, at the count of three, I want you to make a sign before heaven, and so I can acknowledge you.

And as you acknowledge Christ before heaven, if that's you today, raise your hand ready.

One, two, three.

Anybody in the house, raise it high.

Father, I pray that our church would be a place that would continue to see people saved and sealed, rescued from the darkness of the grave.

So, Father, I pray right now over our church, Lord, as we do our best to love and to serve and to care for you and for the people in our city and beyond, God, we pray right now, Lord, that you would help us to fight, to be strong, to have endurance, to be filled with faith.

The kingdom of heaven is near.

We thank you, we praise you.

And all God's people said, Amen.

Church, will you stand to your feet now as we worship God and as we sing?