“The Four Last Things: Hell (1)” September 18, 2011

Mark 9:42-50

SCRIPTURE INTRO:

We are in the middle of s sermon series called

The Four Last Things—Death, Judgment, Hell, and Heaven.

I explained that the phase—The Four Last Things—

is an old way of summarizing what is called eschatology—

the doctrine of last things.

What is going to happen at the end of my life as an individual?

What is going to happen at the end of the world? Of human history?

Those are not hypothetical questions. Very practical.

The way you answer them will determine the way you live every day.

INTRO: I was once introduced to a man, who, when he found out I was a minister,

laughed and said: You aren’t one of those fire and brimstone preachers, are you?

For a moment, I was conflicted, and didn’t know what to say.

I knew he was probably imagining a preacher pounding the pulpit—

taking great delight in describing all the terrors and torments of hell.

What it will feel like for sinners to burn forever in the lake of fire.

I didn’t want him to think I was like that.

But I was bothered because I could tell he was mocking the very idea of hell.

He wanted me to say, No—and laugh with him, like we were in on the joke.

Nobody really believes in hell any more.

And I could tell he was also laughing at the phrase “fire and brimstone.”

But, of course, that comes right out of the Bible.

It’s used to describe both the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah and hell itself.

So I simply said: “I believe in hell. It’s in the Bible.”

That conversation bothered me, because I wondered—

If I believe in hell, why don’t I preach about it more.

If I preach about God’s grace that saves us from hell,

and if his grace only makes sense, and is only precious to us

because of what it saves us from—they why don’t I preach about hell more often?

Why don’t I talk about hell more if it is the eternal destiny of many?

Hell is a hard teaching. It’s hard to get our minds and emotions around hell.

It is one of the teachings in the Bible that we constantly have to remind

ourselves that God’s ways are not our ways, his thoughts not our thoughts.

Different ways people try to tame hell, make it a little more appetizing.

Most people deal with hell by just not thinking about it seriously.

Sometimes you will hear people make jokes about hell, like—

I hope I go to hell, all my friends are there. That sort of thing.

You often hear people use the word hell lightly. “We had a hell of a good time.”

I’m sure that if you took a poll of Americans, a large majority would say they

believe in hell. But it’s not a concern. Because only really bad people go there.

Hell is for the serial killers and child molesters. It’s for Hitler and Stalin.

Hell is not for good people. And most people put themselves in that category.

I may have done some bad things, but deep down, I’m a good person.

If my good deeds are weighed with my bad deeds, I’ll come out ok.

Within the church itself, there have been attempts to get rid of hell.

Universalism is one attempt.

Everyone will be forgiven when die.

Everyone will get God’s grace in the end.

God’s love is so big, that he won’t send anybody to hell

There are lots of variations of universalism.

Some say the death of Jesus covers everybody, no matter what believe.

Some will say there is a second chance after you die, and everybody will believe.

But the end result is that there is no hell and nobody in hell.

Annihilationism is another attempt to get rid of hell.

It’s the teaching that wicked are simply destroyed.

They are wiped out of existence body and soul.

So there is no eternal punishment. Fires of hell burn people out of existence.

But even a child can read what Jesus says about hell and see that neither

one of those views work. Hell is an eternal, conscious state.

It is a place of punishment and despair for rebellious sinners,

where they face the justice of God for what they have done.

Why is hell in the Bible? Because it is true. Because we live in a moral universe.

There are consequences now and there will be eternal consequences.

Justice will be served. God will be vindicated.

Rebels and scoffers who have rejected God’s law and his salvation

will receive the penalty for the lives they have chosen.

But mostly hell is in the Bible because of God’s grace.

It’s a gracious warning. Because with the warning comes a way of escape.

Salvation through Jesus Christ.

It has been noted many times—worth repeating—

that the person who says the most about hell in the Bible

is not Moses, or Peter, or Paul—but Jesus himself.

In fact, almost everything we know about hell came from the lips of Jesus Christ.

So let’s look these words of Jesus about this serious subject.

Will do so under two headings:

1. The Doctrine of Hell

2. The Warning of Hell

MP#1 The Doctrine of Hell

Jesus is speaking to his disciples. That’s significant.

This is a doctrine for believers. He wanted his disciples to take hell seriously.

You can see how serious in that he mentions hell not once, but three times.

Each time, told them would be better to live mutilated, than to be thrown into hell.

The word for hell is the word Gehenna.

Hebrew name for a place right outside of Jerusalem—Hinnom Valley.

In ancient times, the Hinnom Valley was the scene of Israel’s worst idolatry.

There was shrine in the valley to the Ammonite god Molech.

If you wanted a blessing from Molech, if you wanted him to bless your farm

or your business or your future plans, if you wanted him to make your life easier

or happier, you had to make a sacrifice to him.

That’s the way idolatry always works. You have to give something to your idol

in order for it to bless you. Molech required a child.

Residents of Jerusalem would go to Hinnom Valley to sacrifice their infants in fire.

So Gehennah was a place of deep spiritual darkness.

A place where evil was served. Where people were destroyed body and soul.

In later years, the Israelites, ashamed of that valley, made it the dump for the city.

All the carcasses of unclean animals were thrown there.

The sewage of the city drained there. Garbage was burned there.

It was a place of fire and smoke, where maggots were always feasting.

So Jesus built on the symbolism of that valley says that hell is the place

where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

What do these descriptions of hell in the Bible mean?

An undying worm, unquenched fire. A lake of fire in Revelation.

Other passages describe hell as a place of outer darkness,

and gnashing teeth, and unsatisfied thirst, and utter despair.

These are all word pictures, they are metaphors, of a place and an experience

that is too terrible to describe. These pictures are intended to sober us.

They are intended to make us say: I’ll do everything I can not to go there.

It’s just the opposite of the word pictures of heaven in the Bible.

They are intended to delight us, and make us wonder and long to see it.

City forsquare, streets of gold clear as crystal, gates of pearl, river from the throne.

The tree of life bearing fruit year round with leaves for the healing of the nations.

What do those things mean? They mean wonderful things.

Are they literal descriptions? No, Bible says words cannot describe what God has

prepared for those who love him. Just hints to fill us with longing.

It’s the same with the Bible’s descriptions of hell.

Not intended to give us a physical description of the place. That’s impossible.

But to give us a deeper sense of what it is. What it means for those who are there.

When you read this passage and others in Bible, give three strong impressions.

Three impressions that make you say: I don’t want to go there ever.

First, hell is clearly a place of punishment.

When Jesus speaks of being thrown into hell, who does the throwing?

God does. Popular idea is that the Devil throws people in hell.

Bible tells us that God’s holy angels do this work at God’s command.

He commands people thrown into hell as punishment for wickedness, rebellion.

Hell is the satisfaction of God’s justice.

And it will be perfectly just. In hell, the punishment will fit the crime.

The wicked will not all be thrown into hell alike. Jumbled up together.

Jesus says that some will be beaten with many stripes, and some with few.

He also says it will be more tolerable for some than others.

But the Bible also makes it clear that the thing that will determine the severity

of the punishment is how much light, how much truth each person had—

and how they responded to that truth.

So that means the people who will be held to the strictest account are people

like us, who have grown up in a place like Cullman, where there is Gospel light.

And the people who will be punished most severely in hell are people

who have grown up in Bible-believing churches,

and have heard the Gospel, and experienced some of its power,

but have turned their backs God and rebelled against him.

It would be better for them not to have been born.

The second strong impression is that hell is a place of destruction, of eternal ruin.

Another way to say this is that it will be a place of wasted lives.

Gehenna was a garbage dump. What do you find in a garbage dump?

Things that were once useful, but now ruined.

What is this rusted, twisted piece of metal? It seems to be an old bicycle.

One Christmas morning a boy found that by the tree with a big red bow.

And he admired the green metallic paint. Rode it around his neighborhood.

But now it’s ruined forever.

That’s what hell will be—twisted, wrecked lives—ruined forever by sin.

Could it be the undying worm that Jesus speaks of is the hopeless regret of hell? For eternity person looks at the wreckage of the decisions he has freely made.

And the wreckage of other lives he has dragged down with him.

Third impression is that hell is a place of banishment. It’s being utterly alone.

Jesus doesn’t say that in this passage—

but in others he speaks of being thrown into outer darkness.

It is being excluded and cut off from all of the goodness of God.

Everything good in life comes from God’s goodness.

The rain that falls on the believing farmer and the unbelieving farmer

comes from God’s goodness.

Hell is being cut off forever from God’s goodness.

The righteous are welcomed into heaven where there is feasting

and companionship, and laughter, and everything that makes life good.

But the wicked are banished from all goodness and consigned to utter loneliness.

That’s the Bible’s description of hell—

the place of punishment, destruction, and banishment—all perfectly just.

But to complete the picture, we have to add one more thing.

Hell is freely chosen by people. It’s our preference.

CS Lewis: Hell is “the greatest monument to human freedom ever achieved.”

If you are honest with yourself, you know that if it were not for the grace of God,

you would choose a life of rebellion against him.

You would choose a life of greed or arrogance or lust or bitterness—

and hell is simply the eternal destiny of those choices.

Unlike heaven, hell is deserved.

If we face God’s law honestly, we know we deserve it.

We know we don’t deserve heaven. That’s a gift of God’s grace.

We know we don’t move naturally from selfishness and pride to love and humility.

It’s God’s grace that changes us.

So there is good news in this harsh teaching. Jesus says these things to warn us.

So that we will avoid the worm and the fire.

He told his disciples this on his way to Jerusalem where he will descend into hell—

so that all who trust him do not have to suffer God’s wrath.

Jesus is the way we avoid hell. He endured it for us.’

He took the punishment, the destruction, and the banishment.

As the great lover of our souls, he wants us to be free from hell and God’s wrath.

Because of that, he tells us the next thing,

the warning of hell

MP#2 The Warning of Hell

Every time the Bible talks about hell, it warns about sin.

Because sin is what sends people to hell.

So Jesus says to his disciples: You have to deal with sin drastically.

If your hand or foot or eye causes you to sin, cut it off, gouge it out.

It’s better to live life here maimed than to go to hell.

Within the church, there are two different ways that people respond

to these words of Jesus—two wrong ways.

My guess is that every one of you here, in your heart,

tends to respond in one of these two ways.

Both are dangerous, because both twist Jesus’ words and end up

causing you not to take sin seriously. Not to do the very thing Jesus says to do.

Let’s talk about both, and that will help us understand what Jesus actually meant.

First, some people in the church hear these words of Jesus and say:

I’ve got to buckle down. I’ve got to quit sinning and start living right.

If I want go to heaven and not go to hell I’ve got to cut things off, like Jesus says.

So, you get strict with yourself.

You set up all sorts of fences for yourself to keep yourself from sinning.

But you are missing the point of Jesus’ words.

Jesus is not giving us a remedy for how to quit sinning,

he’s giving us a command to take sin seriously in light of hell.

The fact is that no amount of external rules can cure your sin.

If you gouged out your eye, or cut off hand, would that keep you from sin?

You might put a filter on your computer so you can’t see certain images,

that still doesn’t cure you from looking at women as sex objects.

It doesn’t enable you to look at women as image-bearers of the Creator.

You might get anger counseling to keep from screaming at children.

But those techniques don’t make you patient and humble.

You might set up a strict budget to try to control your spending.

But it doesn’t make you content. It doesn’t keep you from loving money.

Don’t misunderstand me. Fences and rules can protect us from temptation.

We do need them. But they can’t change us in the way we need to be changed.

Jesus hates sin in us because he loves us.

That’s why he went to the cross, to save us from the inside out.

If external remedies could cure our sin, then there was no reason for Jesus to die.

So if you hear Jesus words about cutting off your hand—

and think he is saying, just buckle down and be strict with yourself—

you will forever be dealing with externals, never taking the deep sins seriously.

And you could go to your grave eaten up with lust or rage or greed or bitterness—

even though on the outside you’ve learned to control yourself.

Second way people in the church respond to Jesus’ words is like this:

What is there to worry about? I’m saved.

And they might even throw in some theology:

I’m a Presbyterian. I believe in eternal security. Once saved, always saved.

But look who Jesus is talking to.

He’s talking to his own disciples. And he’s warning them.

If you don’t take sin seriously enough to fight it all your life,

and to fight it so hard that sometimes it’s as hard and painful as

cutting off your hand or foot, or gouging out your eye—then you will go to hell.

Now, wait a minute!, someone might say: Is Jesus’ saying I can lose my salvation?

He’s saying that if you don’t fight sin in your life,

then you have no reason to believe you’ve ever been saved in the first place.

It’s not that your fight against sin saves you, Jesus saves you,

but your fight against sin is evidence of a regenerate heart,

and the work of his Holy Spirit within you.

If you are sitting in the pew this morning, and living in sin—

and I don’t just mean sexual immorality—that phrase sometimes taken that way,

But if you are just living with sins of thought, word, and deed.

And you are just comfortable with them, not fighting against, not struggling with,

not trying by God’s grace to cut off and gouge out—

then Jesus says, you are in danger of being cast into hell.

Your profession of faith is proved to be real by your fight against sin.

Judas was one of the disciples who heard Jesus say this? Judas loved money.

Instead of fighting that sin, he embraced it his whole life.

And in the end, he chose money over Christ and went to hell.

None of us are perfect. Jesus alone is perfect.

True believers can have life-long, besetting sins. Bible full of examples.

True believers can fall very far, and many times—many examples of that too.

But true believers know the stakes are heaven and hell,

They know sin must be fought to the very end.

And it’s a violent process. Any time you push against sin, it hurts.

Jesus not only compares it to cutting off parts of your body.

He also calls it being salted with fire. He’s referring to use of salt in OT worship.

Before the sacrifice was burned, it was often salted.

This is very encouraging. It means that God’s warnings are preparing us to be

people who are completely given to him has living sacrifices.

CS Lewis wrote a book called The Great Divorce.

About a bus ride from the outskirts of hell to the outskirts of heaven.

People in hell are given a glimpse of heaven, one more chance

to pick heaven instead of hell, but their sins hold them back.

Sins are depicted symbolically.

Only one man chooses to fight. He has this red lizard on his shoulder, whispering.

Looks around, starts to get back on the bus to hell.

Angel says: Are you going so soon?

Yes, I told him if we came, have to be quiet, but saying things won’t do here.

Angel: Would you like me to make him quiet?

Man: Of course I would.

Angel: Then I will kill him. Reaches out his powerful hand.

Man: Takes a step backwards. Stop, you’re burning me.

Angel: Don’t you want me to kill it?

Man: I know I can make him be quiet.

Angel: May I kill it?

Man: Let’s think about this, plenty of time.

Angel: There is no more time. Now is the moment. May I kill it?

Reaches again.

Man: It’s burning, you’re killing me.

Angel: I’m not going to kill you, going to kill it.

Man: Then why is it burning.

Angel: I didn’t say I wouldn’t hurt you. But not going to kill you. May I kill it?

Then the lizard starts whispering to the man—Don’t let him near me.

He will kill me and you will be without me forever and ever.

Angel: May I kill it?

Man: But it will kill me.

Angel: It won’t but even if it did, better dead than to live with this creature.

Man: Damn and blast. Go on. Get it over with. God help me. God help me.

Angel closed his grip on the lizard, twisted it, broke it’s back, flung it away—

and the man let out a scream of terrible agony.

But then two things happened—The man began to change—had been ghostly—

became solid, manly, strong—and the lizard began to change—

became flying horse, golden tail, silver mane.

Man leaped on the horse, off like a comet streaking through the sky,

towards the mountains of heaven.

The things we have misused, good things in life we have turned to idols,

corrupted by sin, will, by God’s grace, by the good fight—

be redeemed for his glory.

No longer will we be enslaved to them, tormented by them,

and punished for them in hell, but they will serve us, in heaven.

That’s the great hope that the Jesus holds out for us.

What is the basis for this hope?

This is it:

The God who takes sin so seriously that he demands justice

has endured hell for us on the cross.

And so we can trust him, and know that he will enable us to be victorious.