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OVERCOMING THE INFLUENCE OF HELL-2

Text: Matthew 10:28

And do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.

Having made it very clear that the simplest way to overcome the influence of Hell is through the fear of the Lord, today, we shall be taking a closer look at our study text.

Like it was mentioned yesterday that Jesus Christ never preached hell at sinners but only to His disciples and the religious leaders of His days. 

The reason may not be far fetched, while sinners are already in hell, believers are taught about hell in order to pull the sinners out of hell, and for them not to slide back into hell through careless living.

One of the scriptures that vividly painted the reality of Hell is our study text (Luke 16). Jesus never mentioned this story as a parable. It rather looks more like a story about what happened sometimes ago. Anyways, it is good for us to know that the narrative is not a parable.

In Luke (16:22&23) the scripture says, "And it came to pass, that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom: the rich man also died, and was buried; And in hell he lift up his eyes, being in torments, and seeth Abraham afar off, and Lazarus in his bosom."

It is clear from the above that there is an hereafter. *Death is not the end of life, there is certainly a hereafter.* 

While the rich man  opened his eyes in hell, the poor man woke up in Abraham's bosom. 
Please note that what took the poor man to Abraham's bosom, (paradise) and the rich man to hell was neither their poverty nor riches while on earth.  

Their different  destinations were simply determined by  their fear and reference towards God while on earth. The beggar was rich towards God while on earth but the rich man was not.(Luke 12:21). Today, our fear and richness towards God is simply measured by our acceptance of Christ as the Son of God, our Savior and our Lord.

Having clarified what took the rich man to hell,  we can now look at his realities. Hell is a place of torment and terror. Unlike the movies you've been seeing, it is not the devil that will be tormenting people in hell because the devil too will be in torment. It is God Himself who prepared hell for devil and all the disobedient and rebellious people. 

Hell is a place of continuous torment and unquenchable thirst. Luke 16:24.

While sinners need the message of Grace, which bring them out of hell, believers who are straying away from the path of truth should be warned of sliding back into hell.

 *PRAYER FOCUS* 

1.) Father, I receive the grace to always walk in your fear alone in Jesus name.

*Bible reading:*

Luke 16: 19-31.

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