As my final series of preaching here at LBC, I want to share the fundamental reason for all that I, as a Christian and a pastor, have served and lived for, and that is the Gospel message of Christ Jesus.
To begin this series about The Good News of the gospel, and to really understand why it is so Good, we must first set the stage and start with the BAD news. As one author wrote;
“The good news is only as good as the bad news is bad, and in Scripture eternal happiness and everlasting joy are balanced against the alternative—eternal misery and everlasting anguish.”
The bad news is not only, well, bad, it’s quite terrifying and can be summed up in one word-HELL. Now Hell has fallen upon hard times as it were in that no one wants to talk about it, believe in it, or acknowledge its existence. In one sense this is understandable for who wants to consider the reality of an eternal, conscious punishment for themselves or their loved ones? As C. S. Lewis wrote,
“There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom.”
Not only do the Scriptures unhesitatingly speak of the reality of hell, but it was Christ Himself who spoke more about hell than heaven! One author noted;
“no Bible spokesman places more stress on hell as the final consequence of God’s judgment of condemnation than Jesus. God’s Son was the great theologian of hell.”
And the early church held an almost unified concuss on the reality of hell as a place of eternal punishment than their consensus on defining the Trinity.
So why did Hell fall out of “favor” in Christian circles? Denying the existence of hell is a mark of the liberal churches for sure but they deny a great deal of Scripture as well. The rise of Universalism, in which everyone gets to heaven, has discounted the idea of hell. Other groups such as the Jehovah Witness and Seventh-Day Evangelists believe that hell is not eternal conscious punishment but complete annihilation, the person in body and spirit ceases to exist. Even within the pale of fundamental, evangelicals there has been a shift in thinking. The late 1960’s and early 1970’s saw a new Statement of Faith adopted and published by Fuller Theological Seminary and which became popular, in which the old Statement’s language of Christ “assigning unbelievers to eternal punishment” was changed to state that, “the wicked shall be separated from God’s presence.” The new Statement changed the persons involved (from “unbelievers” to “the wicked”) and the scope of their fate (from “eternal punishment” to separated from God’s presence”), thus allowing for greatly broader views. But the truth is that, “separation from God,” is no threat at all to unbelievers who chose to live their whole lives “separated from God.” Hell then becomes nothing but a continuation of that non-relationship for eternity. Besides that, using the phrase, ‘separated from God,”though found in Scripture, can be misleading. Since God is omnipresent, His presence is even in Hell. Ps.139:7-8;
“If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.”
Unbelievers will not be separated from God, but without a mediator to shield them, they will only be exposed to the manifested presence of His Divine wrath for all eternity. They will only know Him as a “consuming fire!”
This attempt to mollify the doctrine or to create a “kinder, gentler theology” arises not from Scripture, but from our emotional distaste for the doctrine. As one author noted;
“While not denying the Bible’s teaching on hell, it is seldom preached on—even in the most conservative circles. One wonders how this can be if pastors are preaching expository messages, working through Bible books and desiring to proclaim the whole counsel of God. One clue is that positive relational preaching is more the order of the day. For some preachers this is a conscious and deliberate attempt to see their churches grow through meeting the felt needs of today’s baby boomers and appealing to their new priorities.”
Many people, even Christians, think it unloving to speak about hell. That somehow one might have their sensibilities shocked, or that it’s so medieval and certainly not the way to attract modern people. Those are lies of the devil, if you still believe in him! When there is a danger, what better way to love someone than to warn them of that danger! Isn’t that what Jesus did again and again? Listen to Mt.18:8;
“If your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire.”
While Jesus is not advocating actual mutilation, he is warning of the dreadfulness of hell and that one should strive to remove anything that causes sin to avoid it.
We know the devil and his demons, the Beast and the false prophet will be thrown into the the fire for Rev.20:10 tells us so;
“And the devil, who deceived them, was thrown into the lake of burning sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet had been thrown. They will be tormented day and night for ever and ever.”
We know the wicked will be in hell. Mt.13 and the parable of the fish net shows this;
“This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come and separate the wicked from the righteous 50 and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
However, I suspect that hell will be most populated by “good” people. Good, that is, according to our definitions of what good is. We consider “good” a person of kindness and one who does good works on behalf of others. One who tirelessly serves the poor and needy or a champion of justice for the oppressed. An altruistic individual who generously disperses their money, or the organ donor, a good neighbor, a friend, a loving grandma. All these are good people and they enrich our lives here on earth. But they are only good by human definitions not God’s. They refused to believe in Christ as their Savior and receive life. Therefore, in the final judgment before God, as Rev.20:15 shows;
“Anyone whose name was not found written in the book of life was thrown into the lake of fire.”
Anyone. That is why, when the disciples returned to Jesus excited about casting out demons, in Lk.10:20, Jesus said to them;
“However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.”
When the rich, young ruler approached Jesus he asked;
“Just then a man came up to Jesus and asked, “Teacher, what good thing must I do to get eternal life?”
17 “Why do you ask me about what is good?” Jesus replied. “There is only One who is good. If you want to enter life, keep the commandments.”
Notice in Jesus’ answer, there is only ONE who is good and that is God. It is His criteria that alone is important. In Mt.5:48 Jesus says;
“Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.”
Even in Jesus giving the answer to the young man, “Keep the commandments” meaning keep them perfectly, it shows our inability to be truly good by God’s definition. As Paul wrote in Rom.3:20;
“Therefore no one will be declared righteous in God’s sight by the works of the law; rather, through the law we become conscious of our sin.”
No one can keep the commandments perfectly. The “little white lie” breaks the commandment, “You shall not lie.” Feeding our lust by viewing pornography breaks the commandment “You shall not commit adultery.”for Christ said;
“But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart.”
When we are not truthful on our Income tax, we break the commandment, “You shall not steal.” And who can say they love the Lord with all their heart, mind, soul and strength? When we look at the Law it convicts us of our sins and failures, for no one can keep the law perfectly! The hard truth is that there are consequences to breaking the commandments, whether it’s one or all of them, once or continually. Jam.2:10 reads;
“For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it.”
And in breaking the law there is only one sentence, one pronouncement by The Holy God whose eyes are too pure even to look upon evil, judgment followed by damnation.
Only sinless perfection merits heaven. But as Rom.3:10-12 reminds us;
“None is righteous, no, not one; no one understands;
no one seeks for God. All have turned aside; together they have become worthless; no one does good, not even one.”
No one does good according to God’s standard of perfection. And ever since Adam sinned, and brought death and corruption into the whole race, and with that, judgment upon sin, hell is the eternal destiny of every person, because no one is perfect.
And hell is more dreadful than we can even imagine. The unbelieving world likes to joke about hell and use “gallows humor,” humor that makes fun of a life-threatening, disastrous, or terrifying situation. They think they will endlessly party, or enjoy unstrained sin and carouse with their buddies. Satan uses such lies to blind people to the horrors that await just as he whispered to Eve, “You shall not die.” But she did and Adam, and sin and death passed onto all people. Only fools think hell is a laughing matter.
Consider the horrific words and phrases our Lord used to describe hell.
Mt.13:50; “throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.”
Mk.9:48; “It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, ‘where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’
Mt.3:12; “but the chaff he will burn with unquenchable fire.”
Jude 13; “for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.”
Rev.10:11-12; “he also will drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. 11 And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they have no rest, day or night,”
And in Lk.16, the account of the rich man and Lazarus it reads;
“The rich man also died and was buried. 23 In Hades, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he called to him, ‘Father Abraham, have pity on me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, because I am in agony in this fire.’
Mt.25:41; “Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Finally, Mt.25:46; ““Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.”
This last verse shows that us that it will be an eternal punishment. Some want to lessen and shorten the punishment but the two are in parallel, eternal punishment is compared to eternal life. To try and lessen one, lessen the other and no one wants to lessen eternal life. Therefore, it stands, the punishment of hell is eternal.
And there is no relief. There is no hope of relief. The author Dante, in his classic poem, The Inferno, was correct, when he wrote the words over the gates of hell, “Abandon all hope all ye who enter here!”
At the last judgment, when the righteous experience the resurrection of life, Jn.5:29 states in the KJV;
“and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation.”
And before the burning throne of the Lamb, every knee will bow. The righteous bow in worship while the unrighteous in trembling terror, wishing the mountains to fall upon them and hide them from the eyes that flamed like fire. The punishment is just, irrevocable, and eternal. ““Depart from Me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.”
Depart into eternal fire, forever. As Samuel Davies, the famed Southern preacher during the Great Awakening, penned;
“Forever! There is no exhausting of that word. When it is fixed to the highest degree of misery, the terror of the sound is “unbearable!”
Hell is a place devoid of the slightest glimmer of love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.
So, if there is no one who is truly good, no one who seeks God or can be perfect, if there is nothing we can do to avoid the judgement of hell, we might cry out with the disciples;
“Who then can be saved?”
And Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible,”
Oh, dreadful word! Impossible! Before the Holy Judge, as sinners, we can do nothing warrant salvation. We are all guilty of sin, and all sin must be punished. “For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.”
And hell is the punishment! And the statement Jesus made to the religious leaders becomes our dilemma; “How will you escape being condemned to hell? The truth is, there is only one way of escape…
BUT!
Let us finish Jesus’ response to the disciples;
“with men this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
With God all things are possible and that means our salvation.
As R.C. Sproul pointed out;
“The grand paradox or supreme irony of the Christian faith is that we are saved both by God and from God!”
The Scriptures proclaim that we are saved by God; Eph.2:8-9 states;
“ For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— 9 not by works, so that no one can boast.”
And Titus 3:4-6 declares;
“But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, 5 he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. He saved us through the washing of rebirth and renewal by the Holy Spirit, 6 whom he poured out on us generously through Jesus Christ our Savior,”
We are saved BY God! But we are also saved FROM God. Lk.12:5;
“But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear him who, after your body has been killed, has authority to throw you into hell. Yes, I tell you, fear him.”
And Rom.2:5 warns;
“But because of your stubbornness and your unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God’s wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed.”
Since we had no interest in God and could do nothing to save ourselves, out of His great love, God stepped in to save us. Jn.3:16-18 points to the one way of salvation;
“ For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. 18 Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”
What these verses show is that, outside of having faith in Jesus everyone stands condemned to hell already! But there is a way out, a way to not only avoid hell, but to enjoy the glories and blessings of heaven. That one way is to put your trust in Christ and His redeeming work on your behalf. Flee to Him today! Confess you are a sinner and repent, call on the name of the Lord today and be saved! Saved from what! The wrath of God in hell. Acts 4:12 states;
“Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to mankind by which we must be saved.”
Faith in Jesus Christ is the escape and the only place to find salvation.
Next week we’ll explore how Christ saves us. But today, after seeing what we are saved from, I must implore you, Call upon Jesus as your Savior to save you! Do it today, for without Jesus everyone stands on the brink of hell and eternal damnation. AS the crowd cried out to Peter’s preaching on Pentecost, “What shall we do?” I give the same answer as Peter gave them, “Repent and be baptized.”
The doctrine of hell is a hard topic, but as Pastor Tim Keller wrote;
“If we play down harsh doctrines, we will gut our pleasant and
comfortable beliefs too.”
Let me close with this from A.W. Pink;
“What is needed today is a Scriptural setting forth of the character of God-His absolute sovereignty, His ineffable holiness, His inflexible justice, His unchanging “truthfulness.” What is needed today is a Scriptural setting forth of the condition of the natural man-his total depravity, his spiritual insensibility, his stubborn hostility to God, the fact that he is “condemned already” and that the wrath of a sin-hating God is even now abiding upon him. What is needed today is a Scriptural setting forth of the alarming danger in which sinners are-the indescribably awful doom which awaits them, the fact that if they follow only a little further their present course they shall most certainly suffer the due reward of their iniquities. What is needed today is a Scriptural setting forth of the nature of that punishment which awaits the lost-the awfulness of it, the hopelessness of it, the unendurableness of it, the endlessness of it.”
That, I have just presented to you.
