Summary: As much as even some in the church at large desire to "air-condition" hell, the doctrine of eternal punishment is a foundational doctrine for believers in Jesus

Air Conditioning Hell

Why is the Gospel Good News?

TCF Sermon

March 21, 2010

Have you seen this t-shirt? Heck is where people go who don’t believe in Gosh.

Or heard this story:

There was a Christian lady that had to do a lot of traveling for her business so she did a lot of flying. But flying made her nervous so she always took a Bible along to read, because it helped relax her. One time when she was flying she was sitting next to a man. When he saw her pull out her Bible he gave a little chuckle and went back to what he was doing. After a while he turned to her and asked “You don’t really believe all that stuff in there, do you?” The lady replied, “of course I do. It is the Bible.”

He said, “well, what about that guy who was swallowed by a whale?” She replied, “Oh, Jonah. Yes I believe that. It’s in the Bible.” He asked, “Well, how do you suppose he survived all that time in the whale?” The lady said, “Well, I don’t know really. I guess when I get to heaven I’ll ask him.” The man asked sarcastically, “What if he isn’t in heaven?” The lady replied, “Then you can ask him.”

You know, it’s hard to find good, usable jokes about hell. Why do you think that is? Because clearly, the idea of hell isn’t very funny. Most of the jokes about hell you can find somehow mock the very idea of hell’s existence.

You don’t hear much about hell anymore, even in church settings. That’s in large part because fewer and fewer people believe in hell anymore. For some who do believe, it’s almost as if we’ve somehow managed to air-condition hell. Even Christians seem embarrassed about this doctrine.

The move away from, and undermining of, the doctrine of eternal punishment in a place called hell, has been going on for quite some time. Today we find Christians who deny the doctrine entirely. Consider this quote:

How can Christians possibly project a deity of such cruelty and vindictiveness whose ways include inflicting everlasting torture upon his creatures, however sinful they may have been? Surely a God who would do such a thing is more nearly like Satan than like God, at least by any ordinary moral standards, and by the gospel itself.*

-- Clark Pinnock, Professor and Noted Evangelical Author

I think it’s important for us to think about hell. I think it’s important for us to remember why the gospel is good news. The gospel isn’t good news because it makes our life better. In fact, for some of us, that’s pretty far from the truth.

Yes, there’s joy in the Lord. Yes, God provides. Yes, God gives us emotional and spiritual resources for the challenges of life.

But, try telling the Muslim in Yemen who converts to Christ that the good news of the gospel means his life will get better. Try telling our Chinese brothers and sister in Christ that being a Christian means only good things will come into their lives from now on – they’ll be healthy, wealthy and prosperous.

No. The good news is that Jesus paid the price for our sin, when we are absolutely incapable of doing so. Because of that, we can have eternal life, and escape the eternal death that awaits all of us in hell unless we receive the amazing grace offered us in Christ.

As I prepared for this message, I quickly realized that if any subject ever called for sober, serious consideration, this is it.

Do you recognize this famous sculpture? It’s called The Thinker, by Rodin. Most people, and until a few days ago, I was included in that category, don’t know what the thinker is pondering so deeply. I’ve always thought it was just a general, deep thinking. But Rodin did this sculpture as part of a larger display. The theme was The Divine Comedy of Dante and Rodin entitled the portal The Gates of Hell. Each of the statues in the piece represented one of the main characters in Dante’s epic poem.

The Thinker was originally meant to depict Dante in front of the Gates of Hell, pondering his great poem. In the final sculpture, a miniature of the statue sits atop the gates of hell, pondering the people who were in hell.

Dante wrote The Inferno in an era when people did think more often of the horrors of hell. Here’s a brief segment from Dante’s famous work:

I am the way into the city of woe.

I am the way to a forsaken people.

I am the way to eternal sorrow.

Sacred justice moved my architect.

I was raised here by divine omnipotence,

Primordial love and ultimate intelligence.

Only those elements time cannot wear

Were made before me, and beyond time I stand.

Abandon all hope ye who enter here.

The gate of hell, from The Inferno by Dante Alighieri

There are so many passages of scripture which speak to us of eternal judgment that we cannot possibly explore them all this morning.

But what does that very fact say to us? This is a doctrine we cannot ignore, diminish, or sweep under the rug. We cannot and should not be embarrassed about it. If we’re embarrassed about it, we’re embarrassed about Jesus, because Jesus spoke of hell and judgment more than anyone else.

That’s right. The truth is that Jesus spoke more about Hell than anyone else in all of Scripture. Jesus referred to Hell as a real place and described it in graphic terms. He spoke of a fire that burns but doesn’t consume, an undying worm that eats away at the damned, and a lonely and foreboding darkness. Jesus says the unsaved “will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Matthew 8:12).

Jesus taught that an unbridgeable chasm separates the wicked in Hell from the righteous in paradise. The wicked suffer terribly, remain conscious, retain their desires and memories, long for relief, cannot find comfort, cannot leave their torment, and have no hope (see Luke 16:19–31). Our Savior could not have painted a bleaker picture of Hell. Randy Alcorn

C. S. Lewis said, “I have met no people who fully disbelieved in Hell and also had a living and life-giving belief in Heaven.”

The clear teaching of the Word of God on both destinations stands or falls together. If the one is real, so is the other; if the one is a myth, so is the other. The best reason for believing in Hell is that Jesus said it exists.

“There seems to be a kind of conspiracy,” wrote Dorothy Sayers, “to forget, or to conceal, where the doctrine of hell comes from. The doctrine of hell is not ‘mediaeval priestcraft’ for frightening people into giving money to the church: it is Christ’s deliberate judgment on sin.... We cannot repudiate hell without altogether repudiating Christ.”

We like to pick and choose the things we want to believe from the Bible, and from the very words of Jesus. We’re fine when Jesus says, “My peace I leave you, my peace I give to you.” We love it when Jesus says things like:

Truly, truly, I say to you, if you ask the Father for anything in My name, He will give it to you.

We’re not so excited when Jesus says things such as:

John 5:28-29 (NIV) "Do not be amazed at this, for a time is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out--those who have done good will rise to live, and those who have done evil will rise to be condemned.

Matthew 25:41: Depart from me you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.

John 3:36 (NIV) Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life, but whoever rejects the Son will not see life, for God’s wrath remains on him."

We cannot make Hell go away simply because the thought of it makes us uncomfortable. If I were as holy as God, if I knew a fraction of what he knows, I would realize Hell is just and right. We should weep over Hell, but not deny it. If there isn’t an eternal Hell, Jesus made a terrible mistake in affirming there is. And if we cannot trust Jesus in his teaching about Hell, why should we trust anything he said, including his offer of salvation? We may pride ourselves in thinking we are too loving to believe in Hell. But in saying this, we blaspheme, for we claim to be more loving than Jesus—more loving than the One who with outrageous love took upon himself the full penalty for our sin. Who are we to think we are better than Jesus? Or that when it comes to Hell, or anything else, we know better than he does? Randy Alcorn

Some believe that “hell is a blemish to be covered up by the cosmetic of divine love.”

I thought long and hard about why we should hear a message about hell at TCF. After all, aren’t we all believers in Christ? What purpose would a message on hell serve here? I believe there are three key reasons we need to hear about hell again and again.

1. some of us here may be in danger of spending eternity there. I don’t assume for a minute that each person here this morning has received the gift of salvation, eternal life, through Jesus Christ. While I would hope that God’s love would be sufficient to draw people to Him, I also recognize that, as it says in Proverbs 16:6, “by the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.”

The bottom line is this: I don’t really care what your initial motivation is for coming to Jesus Christ for salvation. It might be better if you did this as a response to His love, as opposed to a fear of eternal damnation, but God’s heart is that you do respond.

William Evans wrote, “fear is a legitimate motive to which we may appeal. While it may be classed among the lower motives, it’s the only one that will effectively move some.

George Whitefield: And though one would imagine, the bare mentioning of heaven would be sufficient to draw men to their duty, yet ministers in all ages have found it necessary, frequently to remind their people of (hell), and to set before them the terrors of the Lord, as so many powerful dissuasives from sin.

We’re afraid that old-fashioned fire and brimstone preaching will offend people or drive them away. But the fear of eternity in hell should at the very least get your attention.

2. Regardless of where you stand on the issue of what some people have called “once saved-always saved,” and we won’t really examine that issue this morning, there’s enough scripture cautioning believers against the fire and brimstone consequences of sin that we as believers must take note.

Heb 10:26-31

Heb 6:4-6

3. The horrors to come for many should spur us on to fulfill the great commission and do our small part to help keep others from going there. We need to live our lives with an eternal perspective.

2 Corinthians 4:18 (NASB95) …the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.

Horrible is not too strong a word to describe hell. In fact, what we’re finding in much of the world today, and creeping into the church, is that the picture scripture presents of hell is so horrible, so impossibly terrible, that we’ve felt the need to soften its horror.

That’s why much of the false doctrine has crept even into the church. There’s the belief in annihilationism. This essentially means that, rather than be cast forever into a lake of fire – one of the scriptural descriptions of hell – the unsaved are essentially destroyed. They are taken out of consciousness forever – they cease to exist.

Then, there’s Universalism. This idea tells us that sooner or later, all people will be saved. This position states that the concepts of hell and punishment are inconsistent with a loving God.

Annihilationism especially is becoming more and more popular in the church, and universalism isn’t far behind. It’s presented as a loving alternative for sensitive Christians. Yet, in both cases, it takes some interesting mental and theological gymnastics to avoid the plain meaning of scripture.

In the Matthew passage we read a moment ago, the final state of the wicked is described as “everlasting punishment.” From this, it follows logically that we are not annihilated.

Writer William Shedd argues that

“the extinction of consciousness is not of the nature of punishment.” If suffering is lacking, so is punishment; punishment entails suffering. But suffering entails consciousness. “If God, by a positive act extinguishes, at death, the remorse of a hardened villain, by extinguishing his self-consciousness, it is a strange use of language to denominate this a punishment.”

The Greek adjective for eternal here used in these verses means “everlasting, without end.” We should note, however, that in certain contexts this adjective is not always used of eternity. In some passages, it refers to an “age” or period of time. On the other hand, in many places, the adjective is used of God (i.e. “the eternal God”). In these passages this same word means eternal, as shown in their context, and from the fact that God is the subject.

So, if the term may or may not refer to eternity, how can we be sure of its meaning in Matt 25? I believe the single most compelling indication of its meaning, is the fact that the duration of punishment for the wicked forms a parallel with the duration of life for the righteous. The same adjective is used to describe both length of punishment for the wicked and length of eternal life for the righteous. It’s abusing scripture to limit the duration of punishment for the wicked, without at the same time limiting the duration of eternal life for the redeemed.

John Broadus, in his classic commentary on Matthew, states,

It will at once be granted, by any unprejudiced and docile mind, that the punishment of the wicked will last as long as the life of the righteous; it is to the last degree improbable that the Great Teacher would have used an expression so inevitably suggesting a great doctrine He did not mean to teach.” Sixty four times the same word is used to remind us of the eternal nature of heaven. Would it not be logical to conclude that in the seven occurrences of eternal to describe the complete opposite of these blessings (eternal punishment), the idea is that of duration without end?

This passage in Matt 25:41 describes hell as a place of eternal fire. Does this mean a literal, material, physical fire? Or is this a metaphor for something else, designed to convey an awful reality through our limited language?

Many conservative theologians, even while affirming the doctrine of eternal, conscious punishment, would say that this is metaphorical language.

Our assumption might be that if someone says this isn’t a literal fire, then they’re trying to soften the reality of hell. Yet, this isn’t necessarily true.

Some may object that invoking the concept of figurative language is a thinly veiled attempt to evade the force of Jesus’ words. But precisely the opposite is true. The fact is, the horrors of hell are so great that no earthly language can do complete justice to them. By using the figure of unquenchable fire, undying worms, etc., Jesus selected the most horrific descriptions that earthly language would allow. As Robert Reymond observes, "the reality they [the figures] seek to represent should surely be understood by us to be _more_ -- not less -- than the word pictures they depict." Likewise, Ralph E. Powell urges, "If the descriptions of hell are figurative or symbolic, the conditions they represent are more intense and real than the figures of speech in which they are expressed."

So, the point is, whether or not these descriptions of hell are literal or not, is really not that important. Why? Because the picture they present is at least as bad as if we took it quite literally, and probably worse.

One writer noted:

Without the explicit and reiterated statements of God Incarnate, it is doubtful whether so awful a truth would have such a conspicuous place as it always has had in the creed of Christendom.

Then this writer asked this question:

If we gladly embrace the teaching of Incarnate Love when He speaks words of comfort and of life, must we not also receive, with all due solemnity, the words of Incarnate Justice when He speaks of judgment, perdition and hell?

Scripture describes hell as

- fire

-unquenchable fire

-the lake of fire

- the place of weeping and gnashing of teeth

-eternal punishment

-the wrath to come

- torments

-condemnation

- woe

-a fiery furnace

-the lake of burning sulfur

-everlasting contempt

-darkness

-exclusion

-damnation

-retribution

-the second death

Clay Sterrett said in his book “The Judgments of God”:

Eternal judgment is a foundational doctrine for Christians to build upon. Sometimes we mistake foundational truths as simple truths. Foundational means more than in the initial stages. The foundation of a house is not there merely to launch it on its permanent site. The foundation is the permanent site, giving strength and definition to the finished building.

Eternal judgment is one of the foundational doctrines found in Hebrews 6:1-2. Hell is the most troubling of these and the one we’re quickest to lay aside.

One reason we have such a hard time with hell is that we believe in a merciful and loving God. How can we reconcile those two things? We often have a hard time reconciling two seemingly opposite things in scripture.

Preparing for a message on hell is hell. It’s one of the most difficult things I’ve done I’ve studied, prayed about and meditated on this topic for several days now, and have found it to be a real spiritual battle.

However, a few things have come to mind, that help me come to grips with this difficult challenge.

1. The Word says in Ephesians 3:19 that the love of Christ “surpasses knowledge.”

His love is one of those things I can know in part, but not fully.

2. quoting Clay Sterrett:

None of us can fathom what an insult it is to almighty God when we reject the sacrifice of His own Son, so that we can go our own way and do our own thing. God’s love is so great, however, if we want to go in the opposite direction of heaven, he will let us. He will permit us to choose hell.

Essentially, what we’re seeing here is that God’s love means He will not force His will on us. Those who are redeemed by the blood of Christ are the ones who will bow their knees and say to God “Your will be done.”

As C.S. Lewis pointed out in his book “The Great Divorce,” the condemned who are in hell are the people to whom God finally says “your will be done.”

G.K. Chesterton once remarked,

“Hell is God’s great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human personality."

3. another thing we do not fully grasp is the holiness of God.

If we could see as God sees, from His holy perspective, perhaps the doctrine of eternal, conscious torment wouldn’t be quite as hard for us to come to terms with.

In a book called Ghenna by Paul Thigpen, one character says,

“it seems extreme to us, and yet our own standards of good and evil have been marred. If we could see as God sees, perhaps we would agree that even what looks to us like small sins are far worse an affront to His holiness than we had ever dreamed.

4. we can be confident that God is a just God.

Genesis 18:25 (NIV) Will not the Judge of all the earth do right?"

Deuteronomy 32:4 (NIV) He is the Rock, his works are perfect, and all his ways are just. A faithful God who does no wrong, upright and just is he.

Romans 2:2 (NIV) Now we know that God’s judgment against those who do such things is based on truth.

Clay Sterrett: God’s nature is totally good, just and right. All injustice can be measured only against His character.

When C.S. Lewis was an atheist, he rejected the idea of a divine being because of all the injustice in the world. When he asked himself where he had gotten the idea of injustice in the first place, he had a problem.

Lewis wrote: Man doesn’t call a line crooked unless he has some idea of a straight line. What was I comparing this universe with when I called it unjust?

Injustice in the world, in fact, points to a God who Himself set the standard of justice.

5. We can be confident that God has done everything possible to keep us from hell.

Psalm 98:2 (NIV) The LORD has made his salvation known and revealed his righteousness to the nations.

Romans 1:20-21 (NIV) For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.

Romans 2:4 (NIV) Or do you show contempt for the riches of his kindness, tolerance and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you toward repentance?

Romans 9:22-23 (NIV) What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory--

2 Peter 3:9 (NLT) The Lord isn’t really being slow about his promise, as some people think. No, he is being patient for your sake. He does not want anyone to be destroyed, but wants everyone to repent.

If God would open our eyes to understand the terrible price He paid, I cannot help but believe that we would, in that moment, comprehend the awful guilt of spurning that price. (I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross)

So, whether we can fully grasp the whys and wherefores, hell is an inescapable teaching of the Word.

RA Torrey writes: whether we can defend it on philosophical grounds or not, it is our business to believe it, and leave it to the clearer light of eternity to explain what we cannot now understand, realizing that God may have infinitely wise reasons for doing things which we in our ignorance can see no sufficient reason at all. It is the most ludicrous conceit for beings so limited and foolish as (even) the wisest of men are, to attempt to dogmatize how a God of infinite wisdom must act. All we know as to how God will act is what God has seen fit to tell us.

One of the things God has told us in His Word is this: Everyone will experience life after death. The question is not whether or not we’ll enter eternity. The question is where will we spend eternity?

When I was a new believer, I regularly visited a prisoner at Attica state prison in New York. A year before I began visiting this man, Attica became known as the site of the bloodiest prison riot in history at that point. I had a neighbor who was a state trooper and stormed the prison that day. I also had a classmate whose father was a prison guard held captive by prisoners in that riot.

I remember going into that prison and thinking this is a place no one in their right mind would ever want to go to – it’s a place to avoid.

The same is true of hell. I’ve never been there, and I only visited Attica. I only have what the Word of God tells me about hell. What it tells me is enough for me to know I don’t want to go there. I don’t want to even visit there, but I especially do not want to go there forever and ever.

I also know enough about hell that I don’t want my family, my friends, my neighbors to go there. I don’t want anyone to go there.

Which brings us full circle. The reasons we must look at what Scripture tells us about hell.

1. there may be someone here who’s going there because they’ve never been born again – never received the gift of salvation through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

2. there may be some who, as it notes in Hebrews, fit the second reason: They are those who “deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth,” and “no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire.”

Understanding hell should motivate us to Godly living. Godly living doesn’t earn us eternal life. But, it should motivate us to obedience, which is how we reveal our love for the God who rescued us from sin and eternal death by His grace and mercy.

3. most of us fall into the 3rd reason. We don’t want to see anyone go there, so this reminder of the reality and the finality of hell should motivate us to tell others. If you’re in the 1st category, Scripture says today is the day of salvation. Don’t put it off. Receive the free gift of eternal life today. Jesus paid the penalty. That’s what it means to be redeemed. Sin against God is so serious, so severe, that only the death of the sinless Son of God could atone for it.

Given the biblical warnings about hell, unbelievers end up betting their eternity that Christianity is a lie. If you’re a gambler, this is the biggest gamble you’ll ever make. Consider carefully the claims of Scripture. Consider all there is to gain, and all there is to lose. You may think I’m wrong, but as a Michael Omartian song once asked: what will you do if I’m right?

If you’re in the 2nd category, consider what 2 Pet 3:11 says:

2 Peter 3:11 (NLT) Since everything around us is going to be destroyed like this, what holy and godly lives you should live,

Then in verse 14: “make every effort to be found spotless, blameless, and at peace with Him.”

If you’re in the third category, let this reminder of hell be a reminder of God’s grace and mercy toward you. Let this reminder spur us on to fulfill the words of Jesus in the great commission, when He told us to go and make disciples of all nations.

Jesus told us we would be His witnesses. We can and should be His witnesses to His saving grace. Let’s not forget what we’re saved from.

Jim said last week that the destination is what it’s all about.

1 Corinthians 15:19 (NIV) If only for this life we have hope in Christ, we are to be pitied more than all men.

We’re just a few weeks from Holy Week, where we remember and mark the awful price God paid to save us – to rescue us from sin and eternal death.

In this season where we think of what it cost God the Father to send God the Son to suffer and die for us, let’s remember where each and every one of us would be headed if it weren’t for that amazing sacrifice.

I want to close with an excerpt from a very famous sermon – the kind of sermon no one really preaches anymore. It’s the kind of sermon that fits the definition of fire and brimstone. This is from Jonathan Edwards sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, preached in 1741:

How dreadful is the state of those that are daily and hourly in the danger of this great wrath and infinite misery! But this is the dismal case of every soul in this congregation that has not been born again, however moral and strict, sober and religious, they may otherwise be. Oh that you would consider it, whether you be young or old! There is reason to think, that there are many in this congregation now hearing this discourse, that will actually be the subjects of this very misery to all eternity. It may be they are now at ease, and hear all these things without much disturbance, and are now flattering themselves that they are not the persons, promising themselves that they shall escape. If we knew that there was one person, and but one, in the whole congregation, that was to be the subject of this misery, what an awful thing would it be to think of! How might all the rest of the congregation lift up a lamentable and bitter cry over him! It is doubtless the case of some, whom you have seen and known, that never deserved hell more than you, and that heretofore appeared as likely to have been now alive as you. Their case is past all hope; they are crying in extreme misery and perfect despair; but here you are in the land of the living and in the house of God, and have an opportunity to obtain salvation. What would not those poor damned hopeless souls give for one day’s opportunity such as you now enjoy!

And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and pressing into the kingdom of God.

As we pray this morning, consider how God would have you respond to the preaching of His Word here this morning.

Pray