Passion/Palm Sunday March 27, 1994
Sermon: "Hell" Rev. David Anderson
Matt. 13:49-50; Zech.9:9-10; Philp.2:5-11; Mark 15:1-39
Sermon ~ “Hell”
Matthew 13:49-50
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Our Lord spoke about the doctrine of hell, and often, even as we read from Matthew 13:49-50, and we do so in Jesus name: "This is how it will be at the end of the age. The angels welcome and separate the wicked from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teach."
According to a 1990 Gallop Poll, 78% of Americans say that they believe in the existence of heaven, while only 60 percent indicate that they believe in hell. I’M AMAZED AT THIS! Not because fewer people believe in hell than heaven-- I expect that!-- but that 60% of the people interviewed actually believe in hell. I would have thought that far fewer people would take hell seriously.
To say it another way, I do not believe that 60% of Americans live as if they believed that there really could be a hell for them in their future. I don’t see lots of evidence that people are concerned about hell. For example, the average weekly worship attendance within Christian congregations is 1/3 of its total membership. We at Immanuel have about 800+ souls, and we average about 325 in weekly worship attendance. So we’re slightly above the 1/3 watermark.
Still, if 60% of our people really believed that hell could be in their future, it seems to me that at least 60%, or 480+, of our people would be attending weekly worship. Doesn’t that seem to make sense? It does make sense, unless, and I think that this is the key to our quandary, many of those 60% who believe in hell have made it so difficult to get into it that they feel sure that they’ll never end up there... nor will their uncle who never worshiped... nor will their
friend who is an adulterer... nor will Sam who uses God’s name constantly in bad circumstances... etc., etc., etc.
I really think that many Christians who say they believe in hell don’t see a significant relationship between sin and damnation, and so they’ve made hell almost impossible to get into. This was not the view of Jesus when he said, "Enter by the narrow gate; for the gate is wide and the way is easy, that leads to destruction, and those who enter it are many. For the gate is narrow and the way is hard, that leads to life, and those who find it are few."
It’s so easy, for example, to stay at home on Sunday morning rather then worshiping our great God. It’s so easy not to take on duties in the church. Then again, it’s so hard not to channel our money into the things that give us pleasure and short-change the Kingdom’s work. It’s so hard to give of our selves for others; it feels so natural and right to have others serve our interests and appetites.
Ah, but some will say (and especially the good Lutherans), “Hey! Aren’t we saved by grace through faith-- not by our works!”
This is absolutely true, but it’s not the whole truth. We are saved by grace through faith in a very unique Jesus Christ who tells us in His word how He seeks that we should live. The problem is that many believe in the Christ crafted within their imaginations who is so indefinite that faith in the fabricated Jesus is easy.
A dramatic scene in a movie that was about the life of Martin Luther shows Luther defending his position that we are saved by grace through faith. He is lecturing to students who have been raised on the notion that we are saved by faith and works. A student stands up to
protest Luther’s ideas concerning salvation by faith alone. "It can’t be that easy!"
"Do you think faith is easy?" quips back Luther.
Faith is not easy! The very powers of hell, spiritual hosts with intellect and resources beyond our imagination, are trying to destroy our faith. Dark forces want to keep us away from the Word of God. Dark forces want us to neglect worship. Dark forces minimize the importance of prayer, Bible study, and daily. Dark forces seek to keep us from the very stuff that creates and builds faith.
And why do they seek to destroy our faith in the genuine, living, biblical Christ? So they can substitute an imposter and then feast upon us and lead us into hell.
SO ASSUMING THAT THERE IS A HELL, LET’S BRIEFLY CONSIDER:
IS IT A PLACE?
WHAT WILL IT BE LIKE?
AND WHOSE IT FOR AND WILL ANYONE EVER GO THERE?
First, is hell an actual place? Interestingly enough, I just read an article by a scientist who argued that new understandings gained in physics might be used to explain the location of hell. But we don’t need to look to science in order to speak about hell. The true and trustworthy Word of God tells us that there is a hell. It’s a place, but it’s also a state of mind or conscience.
Hell is an actual place, the Bible tells us, where the dominions of evil demons and Satan will go, along with unrepentant sinners. Speaking of the great separation which will take place during the final judgment, Jesus says of the wicked, "Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels..."
When we hear these severe words, we must remember that they are spoken by the most tender, loving, reaching heart of all human history! What makes hell, and all of our Lord’s illusions to hell, so relevant, is that its reality is defined by a God who is so loving that He sent His Son to die in order to keep us from all going to hell.
God is tender and loving! GOD IS LOVE!! But God is also just, and His love and His justice meet in the cross of Jesus Christ. Consider again the Gospel text read today. Remind yourselves of our Lord’s humiliation and crucifixion!
Do you only see God’s love at work in Christ’s humiliation? Or do you also see the holy wrath of God demanding that the penalty of sin must be paid. Dear friend in Christ, if you believe in the Christ of the Bible (and not the Christ fabricated within your imagination or by an evil generation), then your penalty for sin has been paid. You will be in heaven. If you do not believe in the Christ of the Scriptures, you will suffer the penalty of sin in a place called hell.
Even as hell is a place, it is also a state of mind. Theologians speak of the demons who carry hell with them. John Milton, in his epic poem about hell, sees hell within the mind as the most terrible of all, for it keeps getting worse. Listen to these sad, sad words about the unending descent of hell as it is experienced by the mind of the damned:
Myself a Hell;
And, in the lowest deep, a lower deep,
Still threat’ning to devour me, opens wide,
To which the Hell I suffer seems a
Heaven.
Hell exists as a place and a state of mind, but what will that hell be liked for the damned? The Bible depicts hell graphically, especially in images of fire. Most theologians interpret the fire in two senses:
First, an actual fire or heat that makes contact with the pain cells of resurrected bodies.
Secondly, and I think more tragically, a "fire" of the passions heated up in the hopeless despair of their situation.
THINK OF THE LIVING CONDITIONS OF THE DAMNED!
They are in physical pain! They live only with Satan, demons, and wicked self-centered fallen human beings!
They forever must live with the knowledge of eternal separation from that which is lovely, graceful, joyous, and pleasurable! They are consumed by hatred-- hatred for themselves... hatred for those with whom they share hell... hatred for God and the host o heaven.
More could be said about the conditions within hell, but one final point is certain. Even though in life on earth the damned lived in sin and justified their sin through a thousand artful reasons and excuses, in hell their intellect will recognize God as the most just judge and the most severe avenger of sins.
SO, THE BIBLE TELLS US THAT HELL IS A PLACE AND STATE OF MIND THAT IS ETERNALLY HORRIBLE BEYOND HUMAN METAPHORS, EVEN OF FIRE AND SULPHUR.
Finally, lets ask who was made for hell and who will go there.
The first thing to point out here is that hell was first created for Satan and the fallen angels, as we just read from the words of Christ Himself. Satan and all fallen angels will be in hell.
Yet, as we continue with these same words of Christ, hell has been remodeled so that it can also house unrepentant, wicked people. And interestingly, the wicked in context to this verse, are those who chose the easy way and did not recognize Christ as they discovered Him through a life of serving others.
We aren’t saved by serving others. We aren’t saved by our works, period, any more than an apple tree is made out of its apples. But a healthy tree bears fruit, and a dedicated Christian, who believes in the biblical Jesus as Savior, will bear fruit. Jesus told His disciples: "By this my father is glorified, that you bear much fruit."
But here we come back to the problem. Many people do not take seriously the Jesus Christ of the Bible. They have invented their own understanding of Christ, and this Christ indulges them in what ever they want to do.
If they don’t feel like worshiping, their Christ says, "You’re saved by faith, so why worship? Besides the services are too long and the sermons are boring!” The problem is that the one giving them permission not to worship is Christ, but in fact it’s Satan whispering in their ear and seeking their damnation.
Or again, those who invent their own Jesus Christ may do any number of selfish actions without pains of conscience. Their Jesus tells them, “No one’s perfect, and besides, just look at how bad that other person is anyway!” Again, the whisper of Satan leading this soul away from the real Jesus Christ and into damnation.
You see, the repentant sinner wants to do Christ’s will, but often fails and so returns to God’s grace for strength and forgiveness. The wicked don’t even try to do Christ’s will. They do what they want to do, and they cling to a false Christ and gladly walk a life of sin.
My friends, remember today that the Love of God is great, but so is His justice. We know that each of us needs His love, but equally so we need Him to be completely just. If in God their were even a hint of evil, that evil could grow like a cancer and our eternal paradise would become a second living hell!
This is the glorious beauty and horrid reality of the cross. God’s own Son cruelly treated and killed to show the world not only the love of God toward sinners, but also the severity and justice of God which demands --and eternally so -- penalty for sin. Amen.
