David Diga Hernandez - The Place of No Escape

Now, one night, I had a dream—a nightmare, really—and all I remember from this dream was that my mind was conscious. I sensed this discomfort because I just wasn’t familiar with my surroundings. I was suspended in darkness. In every direction that I looked, I saw nothing—nothing but deep, deep darkness as far as I could see. Then I realized something: I realized that I had no movement. I had no hands to move, no arms to move, no legs to move. In this nightmare, I was just a mind disconnected from any physical body, suspended in the darkness. That discomfort I felt began to intensify until it became pain. But the pain was peculiar because I couldn’t even tell you where it was coming from; it was just a state of agony. No matter how much I struggled to find movement, no matter how much I searched for footing, as often as I looked for reference, there was none. Nothing but confusion—nothing but questions. Did I die? Am I in a coma? How long will this last? Is there anyone else here? Those thoughts echoed in the blackness, with no one to respond. Now, I must have had that experience for no more than two or three minutes, but it seemed much longer. Now, I don’t know how much of what is described about hell is literal; I don’t know how much, exactly, is figurative. But if hell is anything like that dream I had, you don’t want to go there. Brother David, are you trying to scare people into getting saved? No, I simply share the truth. We don’t respond to the Gospel because of our fear of hell; we respond to the Gospel because we recognize our need for a Savior. Now, in Luke chapter 16, I’m going to begin reading at verse number 19. Jesus said there was a certain rich man who was splendidly clothed in purple and fine linen and who lived each day in luxury. At his gate lay a poor man named Lazarus, who was covered with sores. As Lazarus lay there, longing for scraps from the rich man’s table, the dogs would come and lick his open sores. Verse 22 of Luke 16: finally, the poor man died and was carried by the angels to sit beside Abraham at the heavenly banquet. The rich man also died and was buried, and he went to the place of the dead. There, in torment, he saw Abraham in the far distance with Lazarus at his side. The rich man shouted, «Father Abraham, have some pity! Send Lazarus over here to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in these flames.» But Abraham said to him, «Son, remember that during your lifetime you had everything you wanted, and besides, there was a great chasm separating us. No one can cross over to you from here, and no one can cross over to us from there.» Then the rich man said, «Please, Father Abraham, at least send him to my father’s home, for I have five brothers, and I want to warn them so they don’t end up in this place of torment.» But Abraham said, «Moses and the prophets have warned them. Your brothers can read what they wrote.» The rich man replied, «No, Father Abraham, but if someone is sent to them from the dead, then they will repent of their sins and turn to God.» But Abraham said, «If they won’t listen to Moses and the prophets, they won’t be persuaded even if someone rises from the dead.» Now, the Bible very clearly lays out a picture of hell for us here. How much is figurative, and how much is literal is really not the point because there are certain things we can learn about hell that are certain, as I’ll go over in a moment. But you know, there’s this really wicked doctrine that’s floating around the world and making its way into certain parts of the church. It’s a doctrine of devils. Let me just be very clear about this: it’s a doctrine of devils called universalism. What’s happening is, in an attempt to make the Gospel more palatable, in an attempt to make the Gospel sound friendlier, people are beginning to twist the Scripture, especially by looking to the original language, in an attempt to erase the idea of hell. Simply put, whether they will admit it or not, what’s actually taught in that doctrine is that ultimately everyone goes to heaven, no matter what they did with Jesus. Some look at this parable and say, «Well, it was just a parable. Surely, it wasn’t grounded in reality; surely, it wasn’t an actual account.» Now, it’s quite possible that this story of the rich man in hell was a parable, not an actual account. But consider this: have you noticed that Jesus’s parables were always grounded in reality? He used real-life constructs to tell a story; for example, agriculture. If the story of the rich man is a parable, then all this means is that Jesus is using the reality of the afterlife to help make a point. Parable or not, the torments described here must be real. Jesus would not use a lie to communicate a truth. And consider also that in verse 29, the Scripture says, «But Abraham said, 'Moses and the prophets have warned them.'» In other words, this was understood even in the ancient world. The Old Testament contains enough truth about this reality that someone is properly warned of the terrors of hell simply by reading the Old Testament. So what can we glean from this portion of Scripture about this place of torment? Well, as you look to the Scripture, you will not see this idea of a torture chamber and demons running around in charge.