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:
Bill Faris, pastor of Crown Valley Vineyard Christian Fellowship was quoted in the LA Times (July 6, 2002) as saying, “[Hell] isn’t sexy enough anymore” as the reason why he never mentions the topic. He says that his congregation shows little interest in Hell. The LA times goes on to say, “In churches across America, hell is being frozen out as the clergy find themselves increasingly hesitant to sermonize on Christianity’s outpost for lost souls.”
Mega-churches routinely pay for market research on what will draw people and keep them coming back. “Once pop evangelism went into market analysis, hell was just dropped,” said Martin Marty, professor emeritus of religion and culture at the University of Chicago Divinity School (LA Tim, July 6, 2002).
OUTLINE FOR TODAY:
1. The Moral Justification for Hell
2. A Brief Physical Description of Hell
3. The Eternity of 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).
JESUS BELIEVED IN HELL
I. THE MORAL JUSTIFICATION FOR HELL
QUESTION: If someone told you that hell was morally unjustified, how would you answer? What would you say?
“There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that he believed in hell. I do not feel that any person who is really profoundly humane can believe in everlasting punishment.”
(Bertrand Russell, atheist as in The Case for Faith by Lee Strobel).
“The idea of hell is morally absurd.” (Atheist B.C. Johnson)
None of us should like hell or enjoy the thought of hell. But we need to set aside our feelings and evaluate whether or not hell is morally just; not whether we like it or not.
“God’s decision to create hell is not based on modern American sentimentalism. This is one of the reasons why people have never had a difficult time with the idea of hell until modern times. People today tend to care only for the softer virtues like love and tenderness, while they’ve forgotten the hard virtues of holiness, righteousness and justice.” (The Case for Faith, 174)
We must begin by saying that God is the most perfect, most loving, most gentle, and most caring person in the universe, and also that He is the most just, most righteous and most holy person in the universe. We can have full confidence that whatever He plans and does is right..
It is important to note that God hates Hell, and he hates for people to go there. “Say to them, ‘As surely as I live, declares the Sovereign LORD, I take no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but rather that they turn from their ways and live. Turn! Turn from your evil ways! Why will you die, O house of Israel?’” (Ezek. 33:11).
A. Hell Is Necessary because of the Sinfulness of Sin and the
Holiness of God.
The infinite dignity of the party offended by sin requires infinite punishment.
ILL: If I cut off and kill a neighbor’s pansy, I have done something that is wrong but there will be no punishment. What if I kill a neighbor’s cat? But then, what if I kill a neighbor’s child?
The part offended is the great God, the chief good – the offender a vile worm; in respect to perfection, infinitely distant from God, to whom he is indebted for all the good he ever had. … Sin is a kind of infinite evil, as it wrongs an infinite God; and the guilt and defilement of it is never taken away, but endures forever, unless the Lord Himself in mercy removes it (Thomas Boston).
“Who knows the power of your anger? For your wrath is as great as the fear that is due you” (Ps. 90:11).
B. Hell is a direct consequence of God’s love
QUESTION: How or why would anyone make such a statement?
The fact that God is love makes hell necessary. “Hell,” as E.L. Mascall once said, “is not compatible with God’s love; it is a direct consequence of it.” That was his way of stressing the fact that the very God who loves us is the one who respects our decisions. He loves us, but he does not force his love on us. To force love is to commit assault. He allows us to decide. He loves us, he encourages our response, he woos us, he pursues us, but he does not force us because he respects us.”
“Hell is God’s great compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice.” (G.K. Chesterson).
Is it just for God to send the devil to hell? Or should he let him into heaven? If he did, God would not be a good God.
II. A BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF HELL
Hell in the KJV is translated ten times from “Hades,” the Greek term used for the general abode of the good or evil spirits of the dead. When the cold hearted rich man died, his spirit was found in Hades, a place of torment and anguish. When Christ died it says that his soul was in Hades (Acts 2:27-31), elsewhere called “Paradise” (Luke 23:43).
The second term for hell is “tartarus,” which is only used once in the NT. See II Peter 2:4, “God spared not angels when they sinned, but cast them down to hell, and committed them to pits of darkness, to be reserved unto judgment ….” Thus “tartarus” is the abode of the evil angels.
Most scholars thus believe that Hades is divided into two parts, one called “tartarus,” where the evil dead wait final judgment; and the other “paradise,” where the righteous dead await final judgment.
“Gehenna” is the third term for hell and is a transliteration of the Hebrew word “Hinnom” from the expression, “The valley of Hinnom.” It was the name for a ravine on the southern side of Jerusalem. It was where apostate Jews placed their children in the fiery arms of the pagan God Moloch while drums beat to muffle the children’s screams. It was thus an area of suffering and weeping and regarded as a place of heinous abomination. It became the city garbage dump for all refuse and there was continual burning.
“Gehenna” is the term used for Hell in Mt. 5:22.
Hell is described as a place of burning, fire and flames. It is a place also of darkness, a place of gnashing of teeth, a place where the worm dieth not.
“… in danger of the fire of hell” (Mt.5:22). . . . “everlasting fire” (Mt. 18:8 and Mt. 25:41). . . . . “But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth” (Mt. 8:12). . . . . “Where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark. 9:48).
QUESTION: Are the flames “figurative” or “real?”
God represents the unseen world of heaven and hell using “earthly dress,” e.g. words we understand. Thus he refers to heaven as a city with gates of pearl and streets of gold. But pearls and gold will not be worthy of heaven. There is no way God would stoop to making heaven of such earthly things.
Heaven is pictured as paradise, rest, feast, treasure but none of those phrases can adequately describe the beauty and joy of heaven.
So when he speaks about flames and darkness in hell, he is explaining how utterly terrible hell is.
If the flames were real, Hell could be a place of “utter darkness.”
Secondly, we have word pictures of Christ returning to the earth with a large sword coming out of his mouth. “Out of His mouth came a sharp double-edged sword” (Rev. 1:16). The sword symbolizes judgment. We don’t think of it as an actual, physical sword.
III. THE ETERNITY OF HELL
The fire is “unquenchable” (Mt. 3:12). The word “unquenchable” in Greek is “asbestos,” a word that denotes “that which cannot be extinguished.” The word “dies not” means that punishment after death will not cease (Thayer, 580).
QUESTION: Do we have any good illustrations of eternity?
ILL: Eternity – an ocean whereof we shall never see the shore; it is a deep where we can find no bottom; a beginning without a middle, a beginning without an end. Like one sitting by a river and waiting for it to run out of water. He watches water passing and there is still new water on its way. How long would it take a bird to move Mt. Everest if every thousand years that bird removed one grain of dust?
After thousands of ages in hell we will still be just as far from the end of the duration of hell, for hell is eternal.
If we were to bear the punishment for our sins for ten thousand or ten million years, there would be grounds for comfort and hope. But the duration of time spent in hell will be forever without end. Thus there is no hope whatsoever.
The torment of hell will be uninterrupted. Not tortured, but tormented without respite, forever. Here on earth a small respite between times of trouble enables us to bear the trial. Few are so troubled in this world without getting some rest. Those in hell will get no rest.
This one word, “forever” will be the greatest torment to the soul.
C.S. Lewis in “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” painted Narnia under the control of the White Witch as a place where it was always winter and Christmas never came. It shall always be winter; always be night in hell.
The Bible speaks about “The wrath to come.” In hell there will always be “wrath to come.”
If the punishment and torment of hell were to come to an end then heaven would also come to an end. The same word is used for “eternal” punishment that is used for “eternal” life in the Mt. 25:46.
“Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life.” (Mt. 25:46).
SO WHAT!!!
1. Jesus talked more about hell then he did any other subject. Hell was very real to him.
2. Suffering eternally in hell is not a laughing matter. It is the most horrible thing that can happen to any a person.
3. We who have been redeemed by the blood of Christ and given eternal life must daily thank God for delivering us from hell.