Screaming in Hell Tonight

When I was a little boy, I went to my grandfather's funeral. I'll never forget it, friends. It was an old-fashioned wake, and as I walked down the hall with my mother to the funeral parlor, all I could hear were my relatives wailing at the top of their lungs.

At first, I thought it was the sound of a mighty wind that somehow broke through the building for the noise of those shrieks and wailing sounded like a Russian piercing wind, and when I was nervously pushed into the room by my mother, where my grandfather lay in his casket, all I wanted to do was to put my hands over my ears to shut out the shrieks and wails of those emotionally overwrought people in that room. Their screams terrified and alarmed me, and to this day, when I think of the damned in hell, I picture in my mind that wailing I heard that day in the funeral home, and you can multiply that wailing by hundreds of millions of voices, but can you just imagine, friend, the terrible sound of the screams and hollering going on in hell at this moment, the shouts of, I don't belong here, I'm a deacon in a Baptist church, the horrific yells of, I'm a pastor, I'm a pastor, I'm burning, help me, help me, if you think those raised hell, if you think those, friends, that raised hell on earth are gonna party in hell tonight, you're dead wrong. The souls of the damned are screaming bloody murder in hell tonight, and that's the title of my message this evening, friends.

They're screaming in hell tonight. My Bible says in Isaiah 33, 14, that hell is a place of burnings that are never ending. The sinners in Zion are afraid of fearfulness have surprised the hypocrites who among us shall dwell with the devouring fire, who among us shall dwell with everlasting burnings, and when it came time for my mother to die, I placed her in a nursing home, and the staff of that hospital told me they had to dope my mother up at night so she would sleep because her screams kept the patients up at night.

You take every patient in every hospital in your town this evening, friends, and take them off their pain medication. Their screams will keep your town up tonight, and if you think you're gonna live a long life, friend, but you probably won't. Some of us may suddenly die at any time.

Some may die tomorrow. Sudden death is all around us. I said goodbye to a young man in the hallway just a while ago, and that night he got out of bed, took two steps, and dropped dead to the floor.

He was healthy when he went to bed that night, so we thought, but he had a heart attack in the morning. In three days he was lying in a casket in the ground, and the second he breathed his last, his soul was thrust into eternity. Please, friend, don't go to hell.

I'm gonna do my best to point you to the only one who can save you, the Lord Jesus Christ. I can't save you, friend. No man can.

Only Jesus Christ can save you, but you must get to Christ. Listen, I want to share a story with you. I want to tell you about a bronze serpent.

When the people of Israel were near the close of their desert wanderings, and were marching southward to go around Edom to the east of Palestine, they murmured against God and Moses, and as a punishment, fiery serpents from the region were sent against them, and many of the Jews died from these poisonous bites. On showing repentance, Moses was bidden to put upon a lofty pole, an image in bronze of such a serpent. It was known as Nahashten.

The sufferers, when they looked upon Nahashten, even from any part of the camp, they were instantly healed of their sickness. Now I want you to keep that story in your mind, friend, for a moment, while I say a few words about that remarkable story. Notice first that it was their own sin that brought this remedial punishment from God upon them, their murmuring and unbelief.

God chastises them, and they turn back to God in repentance, and God in his mercy gives them a remedy for their snakebite sickness. In the image of the brazen serpent, all they had to do was to gaze upon it, to look upon it and live, and man is sick with a poison in his blood, through his Adamic nature, and is in desperate need of a remedy from sin. One look at Nahashten, or the brazen serpent, gave them immediate healing and saved their life.

One look, friend. Now listen to this verse of scripture from John 3 14. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Jesus is the remedy for sin, friend. I know, I know I am a sinner, and I need a substitute for sin in the person of Jesus Christ, and so do you, friend, so do you. Jesus is the only one who can save you from the fires and torments of hell, but you must get under his blood.

He shed his blood on a cruel and noble cross, so all who come to him and believe on him may be saved. But there's screaming in hell tonight, friend, and the cries of the damned are never-ending. If I could walk you over to the smoking pit of hell, and lift the lid off, and allow you to listen to those horrifying shrieks of those damned souls, it'd make the hair on the back of your neck stand up.

The Jews in the desert were bitten by snakes that poisoned them, and took their life away. But when they turned back to God in repentance, God gave them a way to live by looking at the brazen serpent, and God in his mercy has sent his only beloved son to earth. And while he was here, he was mocked by men, and abused, and spit upon, and beaten, and then nailed to a bloody cross.

So we can turn in repentance towards God, and look at the son by faith, and live, and own him, and live. Listen to God's word from Isaiah. Look unto me, and be ye saved.

All the ends of the earth. For I am God, and there is none else. Look and live, friend.

Look and live. Let me ask you a question. Are you weary of sin? Why not come and lay your burden down at Calvary? Look upon Jesus, and believe on him.

Come to him, and he will give you rest. Listen to Christ, as recorded in the Gospel of Matthew. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me.

For I am meek, and lowly at heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls. O friend, come lay your burden down, and throw down your shotgun of rebellion at the feet of a sovereign king, the Lord Jesus Christ. And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Let us pray.