WELCOME
Good Morning and welcome to Church! Whether you are listening online or you’re here in person; we’re glad you’ve connected with us!
SERIES RECAP
If you are visiting or this is your first time listening, today we’re wrapping up a series called Talking Faith. It’s a series about apologetics; learning how
“…to give an answer to everyone who asks you to give the reason for the hope that you have” (1 Peter 3:15).
In this final message (Part 4) of the series, I’d like to tackle a question I hear people ask from time to time: How Can a Good God Send People to Hell?
To begn to unwrap this question, let's read a parable Jesus told in Luke 16:19-31.
WHAT IS HELL AND WHERE IS IT?
What is hell? The Bible uses several images to describe hell:
As a place where there is “weeping and gnashing of teeth.” This phrase is used 7 times in the New Testament as a description for the destination of the unrighteous (Matthew 8:12, 13:42, 13:50, 22:13,24:51, 25:30; Luke 13:28).
It a place of an “eternal fire [which has been] prepared for the devil and his angels” (Matthew 25:30)
A “lake of burning sulfur” (Revelation 20:10)
The contours and thermal output of hell are not as important as the fact that hell is complete separation from the presence of God. The Apostle Paul put it like this in 2 Thessalonians 1:9,
They [the wicked] will be punished with everlasting destruction and shut out from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might… (2 Thessalonians 1:9).
Hell is eternal separation from God. It’s a place of everlasting destruction, where its captives moan and wail. It’s a place of utter hopelessness, extreme anguish, and endless torment. It’s a place that has been prepared for the devil, his angels, and for those who reject God.
QUESTIONS ABOUT HELL
Most, if not all, people associate hell with unpleasantness; a place you wont to avoid at all costs. So, since hell, is such a wretched place, how could a good and loving God send people there for eternity? The short answer is he does not send people to hell; people choose to go there themselves.
In his book The Great Divorce (1945), C.S. Lewis wrote that in the end there are only two kinds of people in the world,
“…those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done.’ All that are in Hell, choose it. Without that self-choice there could be no Hell. No soul that seriously and constantly desires joy will ever miss it. Those who seek find. Those who knock it is opened.”
So, claiming that God is unjust to punish people for sins they committed on earth is illogical. Those who are in hell have knowingly committed the ultimate sin: they’ve rejected a relationship with God. If a person wants to live like there’s no God, they are free to do so, but they will spend eternity without God. God is not unjust to punish those who reject Him, their punishment fits the crime they’ve committed.
A CHANGE OF HEART IN HELL?
Someone might say, well wouldn’t a person in hell want to be with God once they found out what hell was really like?
No. Those who have resisted God on earth will continue to resist him in hell. Their hearts have been hardened by sin. For example,
(1) Joseph Stalin, who was on track to become a minister, rejected a belief in God and went on to murder 15 million of his own people. Stalin sold his soul to the devil and on his deathbed as his last act of defiance, he clenched his fist toward heaven, and with that, he died.
(2) Adolf Hitler murdered 6 million Jews in the Holocaust (1939-1941). Hitler was a diabolical murder and his mission was to destroy the apple of God’s eye; the Jewish people. Hitler said, his mission was to “...to raise a generation of young people devoid of a conscience, imperious, relentless and cruel.”
(3) Historians estimate that Mao Zedong (Tse Tung) was responsible for the deaths of as many as 46 million people in the Great Leap Forward (1958-1962).
These men totally rejected God and gave themselves fully to evil. They detested anything and everything that had to do with God. They hardened their hearts toward God. Reveled in wickedness. They were heartless, calloused, cold-blooded murderers who took pleasure in inflicting pain and horror on others.
THE RICH MAN AND THE BEGGAR
Another aspect about hell is that the Bible doesn’t give us any reason to believe that those in hell are repentant. In the parable of the Rich Man and the Beggar (Luke 16:19-26), Jesus paints a vivid picture of the eternal state of two men.
One of the men was a rich and hard-hearted man. He died and went to Hades; which is another word for hell. It represents the Hebrew word Shoel, the realm of the dead. The rich man didn’t go to hell because he was wealthy, but because he was selfish, and he refused to take care of the poor and needy. A point of application we can make here is that what we have is not as important as how we leverage what we have to further God’s kingdom.
The other man was a beggar by the name of Lazarus; not to be confused with the man Jesus raised from the dead in (John 11:38-44). When the beggar died, the angels carried the beggar to “Abraham’s side” which may be a reference to the “feast in the kingdom of God” that Jesus referred to earlier in Luke 13:28-29,
“There will be weeping there, and gnashing of teeth, when you see Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and all the prophets in the kingdom of God, but you yourselves thrown out. 29 People will come from east and west and north and south, and will take their places at the feast in the kingdom of God” (Luke 13:28-29).
The twist in the parable is that the beggar, and not the rich man, went to heaven. This part of the story would have caught the Pharisees off guard because they viewed wealth as proof of a person’s righteousness.
Through the parable, Jesus paints a contrast between Hades and the resting place of the righteous. The division between the two realms is final and absolute.
In the parable, the rich man makes two interesting remarks. First, he says,
“‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire’” (Luke 16:24).
After learning that his request was denied, the rich man said,
“‘Then I beg you, father, send Lazarus [the beggar] to my family, for I have five brothers. Let him warn them, so that they will not come to this place of torment” (Luke 16:27).
In the parable, Abraham’s response shows the absolute and unchangeable finality of their decisions, and even though the rich man shows some remorse, he does not repentant (Luke 16:27). He did not want to change he wanted relief for himself.
HOW CAN A GOOD GOD SEND PEOPLE TO HELL WHEN PEOPLE DON’T KNOW WHAT HELL IS REALLY LIKE?
When people ask the question, How can God send people to hell when people don’t know what hell is really like, their question operates from a faulty premise. The problem with this question is the line of reasoning; it’s flawed. God doesn’t send people to hell; people willingly reject God. They exercise free will and seal their own fate.
People choose either to reject God or follow him. For example, the same Sanhedrin who saw the miracles Jesus performed and heard what he said, was made up of the same people who condemned Jesus to death. They rejected the Messiah. And to drive home their point, they arrested and flogged the apostles for preaching the Gospel! Every person is faced with the same choice: either embrace God or reject Him.
THE APOLOGETIC OF STEPHEN
God doesn’t send people to hell; he gives us ample opportunities to repent. An example of this is found in the book of Acts. Luke recounts the defense Stephen gave in front of the Sanhedrin, and he didn’t beat around the bush. He put it as plain as day:
“You stiff-necked people! Your hearts and ears are still uncircumcised You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute? They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him – you who have received the law that was given through angels but have not obeyed it” (Acts 7:51-53).
We may not know the full implication of rejecting God, but each of us is free to make that decision. The only thing preventing the salvation of everyone on the planet is the freedom to reject God.
God, on the other hand, is ready to forgive anyone and everyone. Peter put it like this in his second letter:
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promises, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (2 Peter 3:9).
God is not unloving. He has gone to great lengths to show us the far-reaching scope of salvation. The gift of salvation is available for all humankind it makes no difference whether you are black or white, tall or short, rich or poor; God’s heart is for everyone. And while he doesn’t want anyone to perish, he will not force himself upon anyone. God is a gentleman. He will never coerce anyone to love him. That’s the beauty of free will! The choice is ours.
And just like every choice we make in our ordinary dealings has a consequence, like…
(1) Eating a steady diet of Fast Food will lead to heart disease and diabetes
(2) Or speeding on the Freeway will eventually lead to s speeding ticket
(3) Or spending more than you make will lead to immense debt
Similarly, the choice to reject Jesus will result in eternal separation from God.
THE STRONGEST DESIRE WINS
Even though God’s desire is for all to be saved, many people will resist Him. This is a reality we need to come to terms with. People are free moral agents and whatever the mind deems desirable is what the will is inclined to choose.
Jonathan Edwards (1703-1757), one of America’s most well-known philosophical theologians, said
“Free moral agents always act according to the strongest inclination they have at the moment of choice.”
In other words, at any given moment, the strongest desire always wins. If a person rejects God, the desire to live without God is stronger than the desire to surrender to Him. If our desire to obey Jesus is greater than our desire to commit sin, then we would not sin.
The essence of free choice is the ability to choose what we want. Everyone, whether they follow Jesus or do not, has the ability to choose freely. A person who has not committed their life to Jesus still has a mind, the capacity to think, they have desires, they still have wills.
Likewise, the person who does not follow Jesus uses their will to reject Jesus. They’ve exercised their human capacity of self-determination.
THE PROBLEM LIES IN THE HEART
So, where's the problem? The problem lies in the heart. The desires of the heart are bent for evil because we are fallen creatures with a sin nature. Jesus spoke about this reality when he said,
“For out of the heart come evil thoughts—murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander” (Matthew 15:19).
Sin has crept into the heart made its home there. Jeremiah, the prophet put it like this,
“The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17:9).
Our heart has been inclined to sin since the day we were born, but we can choose not to yield to the evil temptation that arises. It is possible to resist the enemy and choose to follow God.
CONCLUSION
God does not send people to hell. In fact, he’s so opposed to hell that he sent his one and only Son to earth to make a way for people not to go to hell. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, God made a way for us to be saved. But as free moral agents, humanity has to make a choice: to embrace what God has done through Jesus or reject it. The choice is ours to make.
If you’ve ever wondered, “how do I become a Christian?” Some people think it’s a complicated process, involving a background check, credit report, and three years of Federal Tax Returns. It’s nothing like that. It’s easy: You make the choice to follow. Paul put it like this in Romans,
“The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame” (Romans 10:8-11).
Becoming a Christian is not difficult; walking out the Christian faith, on the other hand, takes a lifelong commitment. Let’s pray.
PRAYER POINTS:
• Engage in meaningful conversations with our friends and neighbors.
• Articulate a response for why Jesus is the truth, the way, and the life.
• Empower us by the Holy Spirit to give a clear reason for the hope we have in Jesus
• Lead people into a relationship with Jesus.
