Sermon 9 - The Place Of Torment Series

A. Many of you have had the opportunity to travel on airplanes far more than me, but I question whether any enjoy it more than I do.

1. I’m like a kid in the candy store when I am on a plane - I’m fascinated with everything, from the notion of flight, to the view from 30,000 ft.

2. One of the interesting rituals that takes place at the beginning of every flight is the presentation of the safety information by the flight attendant.

3. He or she stands at the front of the plane and holds up a seat belt and an oxygen mask as the prerecorded voice gives the instructions on how to use them.

4. Then he or she points to the emergency exits.

5. But something very strange occurs during this pre-flight ritual - no one pays attention.

B. I wonder what would happen if the attendant used more drastic means to communicate the warnings.

1. What if she took a gasoline-drenched doll and set it on fire?

2. What if the in-flight screen projected images of passengers racing to exit a blazing plane?

3. What if she marched up and down the aisle, yanking away magazines, tablets and cellphones, demanding that the passengers listen for their own safety and good?

4. What if she said: “You folks better listen up. One mishap and this plane becomes a flaming mausoleum. What I am telling you just might save your life!”?

5. As you can guess, she would probably lose her job, but she’d make her point.

6. And, in the end, she’d be doing the passengers a favor.

C. Our Savior has done something similar for us.

1. He was motivated more by love than duty and love always cautions those they love.

2. Jesus said: “An hour is coming when all who are in the tombs will hear his voice and come out, those who have done good to the resurrection of life, and those who have done evil to the resurrection of judgment.” (Jn. 5:29)

a. With those words, Jesus clarified that there is only one of two destinies that await each person after death: eternal life in heaven or eternal condemnation in hell.

3. Look with me at Jesus’ words of caution in Matthew 24:38-39: “For in the days before the flood, people were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, up to the day Noah entered the ark; and they knew nothing about what would happen until the flood came and took them all away. That is how it will be at the coming of the Son of Man.”

D. The parallels between the flood of Noah and the return of Christ are many.

1. A message of judgment was proclaimed then and it is still proclaimed today.

2. People didn’t listen then and they refuse to listen today.

3. Noah was sent to save the faithful and Christ was sent to do the same.

4. Noah built a safe place out of wood and Jesus made a safe place with a wooden cross.

5. Those who believed hid in the ark and those who believe today are hidden in Christ.

6. A flood of water came then and a flood of fire will come next.

7. The first flood was irreversible and so is the second.

8. Once the door is shut - it is shut forever.

9. There was screaming on the day of the flood and there will be “weeping and gnashing of teeth” on the day of judgment (Mt 25:30).

10. Regarding the lost, the Bible says, “And the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. There is no rest day or night…” (Re 14:11)

E. This is serious business, isn’t it?

1. Hell is a serious topic. A topic many would rather avoid.

2. Maybe you agree with the sentiments of C.S. Lewis, “There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than hell, if it lay in my power…I would pay any price to be able to say truthfully; ‘All will be saved.’ ” (Quoted by Larry Dixon in, “The Other Side of the Good News”)

3. But not only is that not possible, it is not suitable.

4. In the end, our thoughts and opinions about hell don’t matter, rather all that matters is what God has revealed about hell in the Bible.

F. Believe it or not, hell serves a very important purpose.

1. As much as we might resist the idea, the absence of hell is even worse than its presence.

2. To remove hell from the Bible is to remove, at the same time, any notion of a just God and a trustworthy revelation.

3. If there is no hell, then God is not just.

a. If there is no punishment of sin, then heaven is apathetic toward sin.