Forgetting hell

ROBERT MURRAY M’CHEYNE once said: “As I was walking in the fields, the thought came over me with almost overwhelming power, that every one of my flock must soon be in heaven or hell.” Every one. That includes all and excludes none. All who are born will also die. And all who die will also live for eternity. We can talk about this all day if we’re talking about heaven. But if we start to talk about hell, we stop. We don’t usually talk about hell. But I don’t think we talk about it enough. In fact, many churches and christians simply don’t talk about it as much as Jesus did.

In Matthew 10:26-33 Jesus teaches that there is one thing above all that we should fear. But first He gives us three things that we should not fear, which incidentally are three things that many people consider to be their greatest problems.

1. We should not fear those who persecute us for His sake. This is to be expected Jesus said. (Matthew 10:25) We need to recognize that being a Christian will inevitably lead to some type of and some length of persecution. So, our greatest problem is not the person who does not like us.

2. We should not fear death (Matthew 10:28). For the Christian, as Paul taught, death is gain. (Philippians 1:21) It may not be desirable for many of us, yet it is not something that we should fear, because Jesus awaits us. And somehow, in a way we cannot fathom nor comprehend now, He is better than anything we have here on earth or anything we possess. When we see Him He will become our all-encompassing and ever-increasing joy. So, our greatest problem is not death.

3. We should not fear a lack of care or provision (Matthew 10:30). God knows everything about us and is aware of everything we need. Many people today are extremely anxious, though, because they don't have everything they want or think they need. Yet, our greatest problem is not a lack of things.

No. The greatest thing we should fear, Jesus says, is God. God is humanity’s biggest problem. Why? Because He is who can destroy both the soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28)

God is holy, infinitely holy. God is just, infinitely just. God is righteous, infinitely righteous. He is perfect in all His attributes, meaning there is no imperfection or incompleteness in God. Therefore, in order to please God and be right with God you and I have to perfectly and completely obey His law. But this is impossible. The Bible teaches that no man or woman ever born has perfectly fulfilled God’s law. (Psalm 143:2) And no one ever will. Therefore, in the courtroom of heaven everyone stands as a convicted criminal before God, the Holy and Righteous Judge.

Where do criminals go? To prison. And depending on the gravity of the crime will be the duration of their stay. God is of infinite worth to whom we owe infinite obligation and obedience. The gravity, then, of any sin committed against a God who is infinitely good, holy, just and righteous demands an infinite punishment: hell.

Hell is eternal (Matthew 25:41, 46; Jude 7, 13; Revelation 14:10-11; 20:10).
Hell is punishment. (2 Thessalonians 1:5-10; Revelation 20:10-15).
Hell is destruction and death (Matthew 7:13-14; 2 Thessalonians 1:9).
Hell is banishment (Matthew 7:23; 25:41; Revelation 22:15).

The Bible often depicts hell using the following images:

FIRE
Suffering that is unbearable and inescapable:
-A fiery furnace, Matthew. 13:42, 50;
-Unquenchable fire, Mark 3:12; 9:43
-God’s judgment is “a fury of fire that will consume the adversaries”, Hebrews 10:27
-Those in hell “drink the wine of God’s wrath, poured full strength into the cup of His anger” and are “tormented with fire and sulfur”, Revelation 14:10
-They are “thrown into the lake of fire”, Revelation 20:15

DARKNESS (Matthew 8:12; 22:13; 25:30) or Blackest darkness (Jude 13).
- There will be utter desolation.
- People will feel totally abandoned, disoriented, fearful and lost.
- People will be fully aware of the total absence of divine blessing and the consciousness of never being the object of divine mercy, but rather of divine wrath.

GEHENNA: A valley southwest of Jerusalem
-In the Old Testament it was where children were sacrificed to the God Molech. (2 Kings 23:10; Jeremiah 7:31; 32:35)
-Jeremiah prophesied it would one day be known as the “Valley of Slaughter” (Jeremiah 7:32; 19:5-6).
-In time it became a place where people burned garbage and refuse with fire and sulfur.
-This is a place that is cursed, a smoky, evil- smelling, incineration dump.
-A place “where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched”. (Mark 9:48)

With this particular image in mind, we all feel great compassion when we see pictures of families living in a garbage dump. The reason we feel compassion is because they’re not supposed to be there. How much more compassion should Christians feel when they consider the reality that is hell. But the Christian witness today has a major obstacle: A low view of hell. If I announced I was preaching on hell, many would not think twice about inviting a friend. They might say, “That would turn them off. . .They would be offended by that. . .God is a God of love....” Yes, He is a God of love. But God does not love me in that He is willing to overlook my sin. He does love me in that He is willing to give me a Savior precisely because He is unwilling to overlook my sin. The Cross is God's willingness to forgive sin. Hell is God's unwillingness to forgive sin.

The Church is the pillar of truth (1 Timothy 3:15), meaning, we must proclaim and protect the truth delivered to us once and for all in the Word of God. This Truth includes the reality of eternal punishment and hell. Hell is real precisely because man is a sinner without hope, a convicted criminal in the courtroom of heaven, sentenced to prison. The world does not recognize or realize this danger. Therefore, the greatest danger, the greatest thing to be feared by all of humanity is a danger that only Christians can warn about. We are sent to preach the good news of Christ crucified to a world in need of rescuing from the greatest threat it has faced, is facing and will ever face. No organization or government can do this. Only the Church can do this.

The offensive thing about this Gospel includes the reality that we all deserve to go to hell. Hell is part of the Gospel, but not because it is good news. Rather, because the good news is that we can be rescued from it!

We cannot forget about hell.
The blood of the Lamb saves us from the wrath of the Lamb. (Revelation 6:16)


We cannot forget about hell.
God is compassionate and loving, but he also “will by no means clear the guilty”. (Exodus 34:7)


We cannot forget about hell.
Because righteousness and justice are the foundation of God’s throne, (Psalm 89:14) He cannot simply set aside justice and sweep sin under a big rug. 


We cannot forget about hell.
If there were no hell, the cross would not be necessary.


We cannot forget about hell.
If we minimize hell, we minimize the glory of Jesus on the Cross. We cannot brush aside what Jesus ultimately came to save us from.

AT THE FINAL HOUR, ON THE FINAL DAY, Jesus Christ will appear as “the Savior of the righteous and the Righteous Judge of sinners”. To one He will appear glorious, to the other dreadful. To the one there will be no reason to fear everlasting judgement, but instead to rejoice for everlasting life. But to the other there will be no reason to rejoice for everlasting life, only to fear everlasting judgement.

We must not forget about hell. In remembering, we glorify Jesus as the eternal hope of our salvation, the everlasting refuge of our souls and the endless joy of our reward.