REVIEW
FLIP CHART: SOM’S KEY VERSE, GOAL, MOTTO
“But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness ….” (Mt. 6:33a).
The law sends us to Christ for justification; Christ sends us back to the law for sanctification.
FLIP CHART: Show new “Perfect Righteousness” chart explaining steps to coming to Christ (As a worm, mourning, meek, spiritual hunger/thirst with the result of legal righteousness). Explain moral righteousness, immediate moral change at conversion, gradual change through life’s challenges and speeding up moral change via CCRC (Concentration, Choice, Reflection and Confession/Thanksgiving). Repeat the verse, “By one sacrifice He has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.” (Heb. 10:14) HAVE SOMEONE COME FORWARD AND EXPLAIN THE CHART.)
FLIP CHART: Go over John Stott’s outline of SOM. Show that 5:17-20 was an introduction to a Christian’s righteousness.
INTRODUCTION:
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
1. The Moral Justification for Hell
2. A Brief Physical Description of Hell
3. The Eternity of Hell
4. The Suffering of Hell
5. Nine Objections to the Idea of Hell
6. God’s Solution to Eternal Suffering in Hell
“You have heard that it was said to the people long ago, ‘Do not murder, and anyone who murders will be subject to judgment.’ But I tell you that anyone who is angry with his brother will be subject to judgment. Again, anyone who says to his brother, ‘Raca,’ is answerable to the Sanhedrin. But anyone who says, ‘You fool!’ will be in danger of the fire of hell . . . . You have heard that it was said, ‘Do not commit adultery.’ But I tell you that anyone who looks at a woman lustfully has already committed adultery with her in his heart. If your right eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to be thrown into hell. And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to lose one part of your body than for your whole body to go into hell” (Mt. 5:21-22, 27-30).
NINE OBJECTIONS TO THE ETERNAL TORMENT OF HELL
I. THE MORAL JUSTIFICATION FOR HELL
No one likes the idea of hell. God is the most perfect, loving, gentle and caring of beings. If He created hell and allows people to go there, that in itself justifies the existence of hell.
God does not want anyone to suffer in hell, “I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked” (Ezek. 33:11).
Hell is necessary because of the sinfulness of sin and the holiness of God. Hell is a direct consequence of God’s love. “Hell is God’s great compliment (way of showing respect) to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice” (G.K. Chesterson).
How can a sinful man ever stand in the presence of a holy God? Hell is God’s way of protecting sinful people from His presence.
II. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF HELL
One word for hell is “hades.” It appears that “hades” is divided into two sections, “paradise” (“Today thou shalt be with me in paradise”) and “tartarus,” a place where the wicked dead are “reserved unto judgment” (II Peter 2:4).
“Gehenna” is the third term for hell and is a transliteration of the Hebrew word “Hinnom” from the expression, “The valley of Hinnom.” “Gehenna” is the term used for Hell in Mt. 5:22.
When the Bible speaks of the “fire of hell” it seems that these flames are figurative. “Heaven’s streets will not be made of gold, nor will Jesus come with an actual two edged sword in his mouth. We accept these statements as figures of speech. For how can there be flames of fire while at the same time outer darkness. Jesus uses the strongest language possible to show how terrible hell is.
Hell basically is “The Great Divorce,” the separation of people from the awesome presence of God.
III. THE ETERNITY OF HELL
IV. THE SUFFERING OF HELL
1. They will be aware of their separation from God.
2. They will remember their sins.
3. They will remember the good things they enjoyed in life.
4. They will remember all of the opportunities they had to meet with and follow God.
5. They will still have a desire for happiness.
V. NINE OBJECTIONS TO THE IDEA OF HELL
1. Why are people punished infinitely for finite crimes?
2. How can god send children to hell?
3. How can hell exist alongside of heaven?
4. Isn’t reincarnation more rational than hell?
5. Why does everyone suffer the same in hell?
6. Why doesn’t God just snuff people out?
7. Why didn’t God create only those he knew would follow him?
8. Couldn’t God force everyone to go to heaven?
9. Why doesn’t God give people a second chance?
1. WHY ARE PEOPLE PUNISHED INFINITELY FOR FINITE CRIMES?
QUESTION: How should we answer this?
It is not eternal “torture” but eternal “conscious suffering” due to being sentenced to separation from God.
To answer the question we need to consider what is the most heinous thing a person can do in this life?
“The worst thing a person can do is to mock and dishonor and refuse to love the person that we owe absolutely everything to, which is our Creator, God himself. God is infinitely greater in his goodness, holiness, kindness, and justice than anyone else. To think that a person could go through their whole life constantly ignoring him saying, ‘I could care less about what you put me here to do, about your values or about your Son’s death for me. I’m going to ignore all of that. The only punishment worthy of that is the ultimate punishment, which is everlasting separation from God.” (The Case for Faith, 181).
ILL: What if a father and mother, who sacrificed their whole lives for the well-being of their children, cared for them, fed them, nursed them and were perfect parents were completely ignored by their children who abused and mocked their parents. Would not that be considered their greatest sin in relation to their parents.
The greatest sin is breaking the greatest law, which is the first and greatest commandment. The second greatest sin is to break the second greatest commandment.
ILL: When evaluating a sin you must keep in mind not only the nature of the sin but also the object against which the sin is committed, e.g. cutting a flower, killing a cat, murdering a child.
ILL: Murdering the pope, president or innocent child is viewed differently then murdering a Mafia boss or a terrorist.
“Sin in thee and the injury of it to God is an eternal Stain, which Hell Fire cannot eat out, or satisfy God, but in an Eternity of time. (A Discourse of the Punishment of Sin in Hell, Thomas Goodwin, 1680).
“Your eyes are too pure to look on evil; you cannot tolerate wrong” (Habakkuk 1:13).
According to Jonathan Edwards, the theologian of The Great Awakening, even one sin deserves hell since God cannot tolerate even one sin.
Only eternal punishment will suffice for sins against an eternal God.
The alternative to eternal punishment is to either annihilate them or force them into heaven. Both of these options remove from people their free will.
2. HOW CAN GOD SEND CHILDREN TO HELL?
QUESTION: How should we answer this?
Remember, the flames are figurative.
In the afterlife our personalities reflect an adult situation so we can be assured there are no children in hell.
There will be no one in hell, who, if they had a chance to grow up as adults, would have chosen to go to heaven. No one will go to hell simply because they did not have enough time for a decision.
Children are only used as figures of speech for salvation. (Cf. Mt. 18:2-5) There is no Biblical text where children are ever used as figures of damnation.
Jesus said, “…the kingdom of God belongs to such as these [to little children]” (Mark 10:14). Is this an indication that little children before the age of accountability (the age when they are conscious of the moral law and are able to make moral choices) will automatically go to heaven?
David’s child conceived with Bathsheba is in heaven, “I will go to him, but he will not return to me” (II Samuel 12:23).
3. HOW CAN HELL EXIST ALONGSIDE OF HEAVEN?
QUESTION: How should we answer this?
Won’t those in heaven mourn those in hell, thus making heaven a place of misery?
ILL: We can eat and enjoy a wonderful meal and yet be aware that in some places in the world people are starving.
God has made us such that we can have an unperturbed sense of joy, well-being, love and happiness and at the same time have a sense of grief and sadness for others.
J.I. Packer wrote, “…love and pity for hell’s occupants will not enter our hearts (that is the hearts of those in heaven).” (Christianity Today, 4.22.2003)
C.S. Lewis said that hell will not have veto power over heaven. If people in heaven couldn’t enjoy heaven because they were conscious of hell, then hell would have veto power over heaven.
Are we more merciful than God? God will be perfectly happy in heaven yet He is well aware of the torment in hell.
People in heaven will be aware that hell is the way of honoring people as being intrinsically valuable.
Our attitudes about hell, justice, the love of God and all similar concepts will change once we are in heaven. Our attitudes will correspond more with what God loves, hates etc.
4. ISN’T REINCARNATION MORE RATIONAL THAN HELL?
Reincarnation means that after death the human soul attaches to another body and returns to live another life (Geisler, 639) About one in four Americans believe in reincarnation. A high percentage of college students believe in reincarnation. Even 20% of church attenders believe in reincarnation.
QUESTION: How should we answer this?
The idea of reincarnation denies our ‘humanity.’
Being “human” is essential, and if I am no longer “human” then it is not me.
Reincarnation says what is essential to being me, my humanity, my soul, is really not essential at all and is meaningless. The “I” of who I am has no meaning.
It is repugnant to think that God would punish children for sins they don’t even remember committing.
ILL: A child might die at the age or two or three from some deformity and according to karma/reincarnation this death and deformity would be punishment for some former sin.
Reincarnation is ultimately anti-humanitarian.
If you seek to alleviate a person’s suffering you may be improving his karma while decreasing their karma for he will then have to suffer again in the next life because of the suffering he was robbed of in this life.
If reincarnation were correct then society would by now be perfect.
When evaluating the moral quality of the human race, people have had thousands of chances to improve over millions of years and yet all the evidence points to the opposite.
Jesus does not attribute present suffering to a past life of sin.
As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life (John 9:1-3).
The Bible speaks very specifically that at birth a new person is created, and this person is then responsible for and suffering for his own sins.
5. WHY DOES EVERYONE SUFFER THE SAME IN HELL?
QUESTION: How should we answer this?
Why would someone who lived a fairly good life suffer no more than Adolf Hitler?
Everyone does not experience hell in the same way.
Then Jesus began to denounce the cities in which most of his miracles had been performed, because they did not repent. “Woe to you, Korazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Tyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. But I tell you, it will be more bearable for Tyre and Sidon on the day of judgment than for you. And you, Capernaum, will you be lifted up to the skies? No, you will go down to the depths. If the miracles that were performed in you had been performed in Sodom, it would have remained to this day. But I tell you that it will be more bearable for Sodom on the day of judgment than for you.” (Mt. 11:20-24).
There will be degrees of separation, isolation, and emptiness in hell.
David struggled with the lack of justice in this world (Ps. 73:3-11). “For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.”
It is also important to note that not all justice is accomplished on this earth. What about the child molesters, murders and thieves who never get caught? What about the arrogant and greedy dictators like Stalin, Hitler and Hussein? Is death the only punishment that these people will receive?
6. WHY DOESN’T GOD JUST SNUFF PEOPLE OUT?
QUESTION: How should we answer this?
The eternity of hell seems wrong. Why not just annihilate people and be done with it?
Annihilation is not punishment, it is a release from punishment.
Everlasting separation from God is morally superior to just snuffing people out.
Just snuffing people out is like saying, “They are worth nothing and they are a pain to me. I will just kill them.” You are treating people as a means and you are not respecting them as having intrinsic value.
“Annihilation demeans both the love of God and the nature of human beings as free moral creatures. It would be as if God said to them, ‘I will allow you to be free only if you do what I say. If you don’t, then I will snuff out your very freedom and existence!” This would be like a father telling his son he wanted him to be a doctor, but when the son chose instead to be a park ranger he shot him. Eternal suffering is eternal testimony to the freedom and dignity of humans, even unrepentant humans” (Geisler, 24).
ILL: Hitler referred to Jews as swine and monkeys. Why? To dehumanize them and make it easier to kill them.
God never does that. He values humankind. We are made in His image. He values and honors our decisions. He will not say, “They didn’t love and honor me so I will terminate them.” He does not treat us as animals. We shoot an animal to put it out of its misery.
God felt people were so intrinsically valuable that he sent His Son to die for them.
The Bible does not teach annihilation.
“Multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake: some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2).
The identical Hebrew word is used for “everlasting” in this verse.
If people are going to be snuffed out in hell, then they are also going to be snuffed out in heaven.
‘Are you come to destroy us?’ said the devil to Jesus (Luke 4:34). The devils are afraid of torment, not of annihilation (Mt. 8:29), ‘Are you come to torment us before the time?’
7. WHY DIDN’T GOD CREATE ONLY THOSE HE KNEW WOULD FOLLOW HIM?
QUESTION: How should we answer this?
How is the soul created? “The soul comes into existence at conception and is in some way passed on by the parents. In other words, soulish potentialities are contained in the parent’s egg and sperm. It’s called “traducianism.” This means my parents created my soul in the act of reproduction. Consequently, I could not have had different parents. That means that the only way God could make me is if my entire ancestral lineage had preceded me, because different grandparents means different parents and thus different materials for the soul.” (The Case for Faith, 187)
In order for me to be here I have a great ancestral chain. All those in my ancestral chain were necessary for me to be here, even though not all of my ancestors came to Christ.
God’s goal is to get as many people as possible into heaven and in the process some people to be created who will not choose heaven but will be ancestors of those who will.
8. COULDN’T GOD FORCE EVERYONE TO GO TO HEAVEN?
QUESTION: How should we answer this?
You only respect people when you treat them with intrinsic value and not instrumental value.
ILL: Why do you treat a chicken different than you treat a person? Because the chicken has instrumental value, not intrinsic value.
Is driving on the right side of the road of intrinsic value or instrumental value? Driving on the right side of the road has no intrinsic value, it is not valuable in and of itself. If everyone drove on the left side of the road, that would serve the same purpose.
“If you were to force people to do something against their free choice, you dehumanize them. You are saying that the good I want you to do is more valuable than respecting your choice. You are treating people as a means to an end by requiring them to do something they don’t want to do. You are manipulating them.” (The Case for Faith, Pg. 182)
Forcing everyone to go to heaven is immoral, dehumanizing. It strips people of their dignity of making their own decisions. It denies them their freedom of choice.
It is unloving to force people to accept heaven and God if they really didn’t want them.
ILL: People forced to confess their sins on pain of death or labor camps during the Cultural Revolution in China (“Life and Death in Shang-Hai”). We revolt from such coercion. Why? It is dehumanizing. It manipulates our free will.
9. WHY DOESN’T GOD GIVE PEOPLE A SECOND CHANCE?
QUESTION: How should we answer this?
If people experienced hell, wouldn’t that motivate them to change their mind about God?
A. God does everything possible to help people make that decision during their lifetime. If they need more time, God gives them more time.
“The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance” (II Peter 3:9).
B. God is fair and is not making it difficult for people to believe. If they will respond to the light they have He gives them more light.
“And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him” (Heb. 11:6).
“God maintains a delicate balance between keeping his existence sufficiently evident so people will know he’s there and yet hiding his presence enough so that people who want to choose to ignore him can do it. This way, their choice of destiny is really free” (The Case for Faith, 189)
C. If people saw the judgment seat of Christ after death and the horror of hell it would be so coercive that they would no longer have power of choice.
ILL: It is like spanking a child for not sitting down. You told her to sit. The command was plain. She did not sit. Finally you showed her a paddle and said if you don’t sit you will get a spanking. The child knows you are serious so she sits. She is coerced into sitting. She may even say to herself, “I am sitting down on the outside but standing up on the inside.”
“God exercises great self-restraint, not forcing himself into our lives; He hides himself because He places a premium on faith. The direct presence of God would inevitably OVERWHELM OUR FREEDOM with sight replacing faith … God “errs” on the side of human freedom subjecting himself to our choices and working from within His creation rather than acting on it from outside.”
D Giving people a second chance would undermine the missionary mandate.
If people have another chance we don’t have to worry about evangelizing them.
VI. GOD’S SOLUTION TO ETERNAL SUFFERING IN HELL
“Come now, let us reason together,” says the LORD. “Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they are red as crimson, they shall be like wool” (Isaiah 1:18).
Lord, my sins they are many, like the sands of the sea,
But Thy blood, O my Savior, is sufficient for me;
For Thy promise is written, in bright letters that glow,
“Though your sins be as scarlet, I will make them like snow.”
(From, “Is My Name Written There?”)
“And so Jesus also suffered outside the city gate to make the people holy through his own blood” (Heb. 13:12).
“For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life handed down to you from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or defect” (I Peter 1:18-19).
“. . . To him who loves us and has freed us from our sins by his blood” (Revelation 1:5).
“And they sang a new song: ‘You are worthy to take the scroll
and to open its seals, because you were slain, and with your blood you purchased men for God from every tribe and language and people and nation’” (Rev. 5:9).
“And he said, ‘These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb’” (Rev. 7:15).
For nothing good have I
Whereby Thy grace to claim,
I’ll wash my garments white
In the blood of Calv’ry’s Lamb.
Jesus paid it all,
All to Him I owe;
Sin had left a crimson stain,
He washed it white as snow.
Lord, now indeed I find
Thy power and Thine alone,
Can change the leper’s spots
And melt the heart of stone.
When from my dying bed
My ransomed soul shall rise,
“Jesus died my soul to save,”
Shall rend the vaulted skies.
(Jesus Paid It All)
CONCLUSION
Jesus spoke more about the reality of hell than any other Biblical personage. So many atheists accept him as a great teacher and yet reject the idea of hell.
If you want to know if hell is ultimately fair, you ask Jesus. He was absolutely fair and just in everything and always defended the outcast of society.
Jonathan Edwards explained why so many people reject the idea of hell: (1) It is against our personal preference.
(2) We have a deficient concept of evil and its deserved punishment.
“I think we’re on thin ice when we compare our moral sentiments and moral intuitions with Jesus’. We’re saying we have greater insight into what’s fair and what isn’t than he does. And I think that’s not the kind of arena we want to step into” (The Case for Faith, 191).
SO WHAT?????
1. Since we know who God is, and we know His character, we know that however He chooses to deal with the unbelieving will be the right way and perfectly correct.
2. We do not want to base our belief in hell on our feeling, on our dislike of hell. Instead we want to focus on what the Bible says.
3. Hell is a place of eternal torment and unending separation from God. It is the “Great Divorce.” We must thank God continually for calling and saving us.
4. We must be involved in sharing the Gospel with the world and thus helping to steer others to the narrow way, the cross, so that they too can have their sins washed away.