What Is Hellfire Preaching? Should This Be Done More Often?

Why do they call some preaching “hellfire” preaching? Is it biblical? Should it be preached?

The Coming Fire

Jesus spoke twice as much about hell as He ever did heaven because He desires no one go there (2nd Pet 3:9). Jesus gave one of the clearest warnings ever about the coming fiery judgment upon all who are not saved in the Gospel of Matthew in chapter twenty-five when He says “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels” (25:41). Fire is symbolic of God’s judgment and even in the animal sacrifices and it says of God “our God is a consuming fire” (Duet 4:24; Heb 12:29). Fire is sometimes used in comparison to the trials that believers experience but no trial will be anything like the coming fire of all who refuse to repent and have faith in Jesus (Mark 1:15). They have the wrath of God abiding on them (John 3:36b) unless they forsake their sins and come to the Savior. There is simply no other way to be saved (Acts 4:12) and on the day when Christ will judge all of the living and the dead, it warns “if anyone’s name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire” (Rev 20:15).

A Burning House

Many years ago, long before smoke alarms were required and were in widespread use, I read the story of a man who was walking his dog early in the morning. He was walking his dog in a sparsely populated area in small housing addition in the woods where the houses were separated by a few hundred yards. He saw smoke coming out of a side window of a neighbor’s house and not where he expected it, from the smokestack. He walked up the long driveway and saw some flashes and then some flames. He knew from experience that most of the bedrooms were upstairs and that they didn’t have smoke alarms so he went up to the front door and started pounding on the door. No lights came on so he figured they were all fast asleep or worse, some might have passed out from smoke inhalation so he took one of the metal chairs from the lawn and threw it through the living room window so that he could get into the house and yell “Fire! Fire!” The man didn’t look around and say, “Wow, this is embarrassing…I don’t want to offend them. This is none of my business” or “This is really private property and I’m trespassing.” No, he was desperate to save the family from dying in a fire that they knew nothing about. That’s the point! Jesus gave the Great Commission (Matt 28:19-20; Acts 1:8) so that people could be at peace with God (Rom 5:1) and have the condemnation lifted (Rom 8:1). If not, it is incumbent upon us to tell them. We’re not responsible for their believing it…but we are responsible for our telling it.

The Everlasting Fire

What is the fire of hell? Is there a literal fire with flames and heat? Why are darkness and weeping and gnashing of teeth mentioned as the final realm for the lost when flames are supposed to be present? Is this a literal fire but the blackness is so engulfing that the light is consumed? A black hole is so dense that not even light can escape from it so even though thermonuclear reactions are occurring when matter passes through a black hole, the light of this “fire” is not even able to escape. All I know is that hell is said to be a place of everlasting torment and whether there are literal flames or not would seem to help those who are there. We do know that the wicked “will pay the penalty of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power” (2nd Thess 1:9) and Jude writes “just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire” (Jude 1:7). The Greek word used for “eternal” is “aiōnios” and means “without end, never to cease” and as God is, is “everlasting.” God said of the former nation or city-state of Sodom “the whole land burned out with brimstone and salt, nothing sown and nothing growing, where no plant can sprout, an overthrow like that of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboiim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger and wrath” (Duet 29:23). Sodom never recovered and neither will those who refuse to repent and believe the gospel.

Conclusion

The greatest and most courageous thing you could ever do is to warn someone of the coming wrath of God. The apathetic or uncaring thing would be to say nothing. To me, it comes close to criminal negligence because people we know can die and be separated from a holy God for all eternity. The fire departments and insurance companies require that buildings display brightly lit signs in buildings that say “Fire Exit” because it saves lives but these are only temporary lives so when we remain silent about God’s approaching judgment on the unrepentant, then we are being criminally negligent in my opinion and disobedient to the Great Commission and not caring enough about souls that are eternal and will go to one place (Rev 21:8) or the other (Rev 22). It’s like that burning home I mentioned earlier and just walking right on by it without saying a word.

Christians have their sins taken away by the blood of Christ but they will still have to give an account not only for their unconfessed, willful sins of commission but their sins of omission too. James makes this point for me; “So whoever knows the right thing to do and fails to do it, for him it is sin” (James 4:17). Should hellfire preaching be done more often? You probably already know the answer to that because the gospel includes the need for repentance, confession of sin, humbly coming before God, submitting to Him, and putting your trust in Christ but it also includes the reality of hell for those who reject Jesus Christ. The whole gospel must be taken to the whole world and it might even start right next door.

Article by Jack Wellman

Jack Wellman is Pastor of the Mulvane Brethren church in Mulvane Kansas. Jack is also the Senior Writer at What Christians Want To Know whose mission is to equip, encourage, and energize Christians and to address questions about the believer’s daily walk with God and the Bible. You can follow Jack on Google Plus or check out his book Teaching Children the Gospel available on Amazon.