Turn to Luke Chapter 16. I'm going to share a message with you today that is a difficult message to share and it's a difficult message to listen to.

And that is the message is entitled Hell, Fiction, Fiction, or Fact.

Hell, Fiction, or Fact.

Is it Fiction, or is it Fact?

Is Hell a real place?

Well, the Bible directly refers to hell 167 times and I don't think it would

refer to a fictional place a hundred and 67 times. Jesus preached on hell 33 times in a three-year ministry.

So 11 times a year he preached on hell.

About once a month Jesus brought a message on hell.

You might not have even wanted to go to his church,

because you were going to hear a message on hell once a month. He preached on it because he knew

it was real.

It is a real place.

The Bible refers to it many different ways, a shield, Hades, everlasting destruction,

the pit, hell, everlasting fire, unquenchable fire, it is a real place.

Now we're about to read a story in the Bible that Jesus tells, but you need to know something

about this story. It's a true story.

We know it's a true story because it doesn't begin with these words and he spoke this

parable unto them. Jesus spoke in parables so we could understand.

Similes, he would say, it is like.

The kingdom of heaven is like.

He was trying to give us examples so we could understand.

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