Lies People Believe About God Pt 2 A loving God would never send anyone to Hell Introduction A. Two weeks ago we started a new sermon series titled, Lies People Believe About God. Josh Poland did Part 1, A loving God would never allow His children to suffer. If you were not here for that, I would strongly encourage you to go to our website and take some time to listen to that sermon or watch it on YouTube. It is a powerful sermon EVERY Christian needs to hear. B. One of the most destructive things that Satan and his demons can do to people is to distort their view of God. They do everything they can to get people to believe lies about God, things like: God is an old man who is out of touch. God is trying to keep good things away from you when He tells you not to do something. God is against having fun and against sex. God does not really care about you. God is mean and so on. This is why it is so important to truly get to know God for yourself. There just is no substitute for having a real relationship with God. Reading the Bible is one of the best ways to get to get to know God and see who He really is, attending church on Sunday, singing worship songs, taking some quiet time to talk to God all help you get to know God and His character and His Kingdom. You will find out how great God really is and how much He really, really loves you and is doing everything He can to be a good Father to you. C. Today I want to talk about the lie that a loving God would never send anyone to Hell. Without a doubt the most unpopular of all Christian beliefs is the doctrine of hell. This is one of most common things that people who do not believe in God will bring up and often it stumbles Christians. Currently about 60% of US population actually believes there is a real hell. D. Even Christian pastors are beginning to question this whole concept of people actually being sent to hell. A recent book by a popular pastor Rob Bell of Mars Hill Church, Love wins out, taught that in the end no one goes to Hell. Some people may suffer for a while after they die but eventually they come to realize their need for Jesus death on the cross for their sins and they get saved and go to heaven. He was teaching a sort of Catholic purgatory, a stopping ground for people after they die and then after a while they get to go to heaven. He has since left his church. E. An article written a few years back by the Chicago Tribune was entitled, Theologians Opening Heaven s Gate A Bit Wider stated, Both Catholic and Protestant theologians are denouncing the outdated notion that eternal salvation is limited to those who believe in Christ. They are rejecting the medieval image of hell, calling it a distortion of the revelation of God s love. The argument is: if God really loves the whole world, He could not possibly limit salvation to just those who were blessed to be born in a different place on earth and at a different time. What about those who have never heard the gospel, never read a Bible or stepped foot into a church, do they get to go to heaven? Today I shall attempt to answer this question with compassion. F. We are going to read today from the Book of Romans but before we do
Honor God s Word Hebrews 4:12, The word of God is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart. The power of this book is that if you are struggling with an issue, or seeking guidance about a decision, this book has the ability to cut through all the self deception and speak the truth. It brings clarity on issues. It is not swayed by current opinion polls or what feels good. This is why we read it on Sunday. Text Poll Would God ever send a good person to Hell? Yes No A. This is a difficult question to answer. Especially when we think of all the good people we have known or who we may have read about or heard about. What about people who have given their lives to save someone? What about people who have served others their entire lives? B. The only way to really answer this question is to decide if anyone is really ever good. C. The Bible teaches that no one is good. The Bible teaches that we are all sinners. The Bible clearly teaches that we have all gone astray. We have all broken God s laws. So no one is ever good. Some may be better than others, some may be worse than others, but no one is ever good enough to earn their way to heaven. D. CORRECT ANSWER: NO. If a person was really good and never did anything wrong, and was perfect without sin then God would not send them to Hell. But since no one fits that description, and even though some people are better than others, God will send them to Hell unless they have someone take their punishment for all their sins. VIDEO: Hell (Worshiphousemedia) It is three minutes too long, only use last portion Who goes to hell? Start at 1:35 end at 2:54 (total 1:19) Everyone has their own opinion on hell. How are we going to know which one is correct? I have based my life on the teaching of the Bible. Let s see what it says. What about people who have never head? Romans 1:18-25 What about the people who have never heard? Rom 1:18-25 & 2:15 Deut 30:19 or Ecclesiastes 3:11 A. In Romans 1:18-20, 2:15, we can see that God has put His witness in every man. In Ecclesiastes 3:11 we read that Eternity is placed in every man s heart. It means that we are born with the sense that there is more to life that just here on earth.
B. What about the person who has never heard? The implication behind this question is, since they did not know should they be excused? The idea is if they never heard about the true God, then their ignorance should be an acceptable excuse. But we don t really believe that. Try to use that excuse the next time a police officer stops you for speeding. I didn t know what the speed limit was. What would he say to that? Ignorance is no excuse. You are expected to know the law. C. It is the same with life. We are all born with a hunger for God. We all have a soul that is hungry for God. We are all born with a God shaped hole in our hearts. It can only be filled by the one true God as revealed in Jesus Christ. If we listen to the cry of our hearts, the hunger of our inner man, if we call out to God. He will answer. If we don t know, ignorance is no excuse. Let s run with this reasoning that if a person never hears about Jesus then he can still get to heaven just by being good or something. If we accept this reasoning wouldn t it better to never preach the gospel to people! If they never heard, then they would be held accountable. If they are presented with the truth of the gospel and they refuse then they are going to be held accountable! D. But Jesus told us to go into all the world and preach this gospel. Why? Because even though a person has the witness of God in their heart and they will be held accountable for this witness. It is possible to silence that witness, to shut the voice of our conscience. This is why preachers of the gospel are needed. That is why we are all to be witnesses for God. We are the voice that bears witness to their conscience. When we share the truth we awaken their conscience, we help them hear the cry of their own heart for a relationship with God. Ignorance is never an excuse to allow a person to get into heaven. No one is ignorant of the existence of the one true God. It is written in their hearts. E. In the Book of Deuteronomy 30:19 God said to the people of Israel, I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live. This offer has been made to every man who has ever been born. God gives each person an opportunity to come to Him. He has a way of revealing Himself through creation. He has placed His light in every soul. It is called the conscience. Our conscience bears witness of a living God. If any person is truly searching for the true and living God. He will reveal Himself to them. Sometimes people say, But what about the native in the jungle of Africa? In the Bible there is a story about a child who grew up in an idol worshipping home. No one told him about the one true God but somehow we read that God revealed Himself to him. His name is Abraham, and we read that Abraham became one of the great followers of God. He is called the father of faith. So if God could reveal Himself to Abraham, who grew up in a home of idol worship, I am confident God can reveal Himself to anyone who is truly searching. Jesus said, If you seek you shall find, if you knock, He will answer. The offer has always been there. F. In the truest sense, God does not send anyone to hell, they send themselves. God gives us this wonderful and terrible thing called freedom of will. We choose how we will live here and there. Our choices are being made this very moment whether we will live with God or without Him. Free will means God will let you do
what you want to do. He will not force you to live for Him. He will not coerce you into making the right decisions. He will not forgive you when you do not want His forgiveness. You are a free moral agent. You are responsible for the direction and the quality of your life, both now and forever. G. Hell is the necessary compliment to the reality of human freedom and the dignity of human choice. There have to be consequences to our choices or else our choices are meaningless. <Say again> God honors our choices and will not force us to choose Him. He will allow us to stay away from Him for all eternity. H. Don t you ever wonder why some people continue to live in hell here on earth? People all around us prefer to live in their private hell instead of surrendering their lives to God. They could choose to live life so differently. They could stop making the choices that are destroying them. It would spare them so much pain and suffering. We wish we could make their choices for them. Sometimes we wish we could even control them just to help them to avoid the hell they are creating for themselves. But they continue to make the wrong choices. If that is true here and now, why would we think eternity would be any different? The doors of heaven are open. The possibility of real life is available. But some people are just not interested. It is God s will that everyone go to heaven 2 Peter 3:9 A. He is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance. God wants everyone to go to heaven. He creates each person with that possibility. We know this because the Bible describes the heart of God. B. Remember that Jesus wept over the people of Israel as he said, O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing. Look, your house is left to you desolate. (Matthew 23:37-38). He saw that the choices of the people of Jerusalem would destroy them and make their lives desolate. He wept because He wanted to save them from their sin and from themselves. But although He would hold out His arms to them, He would not overpower them as He so easily could have done. C. God will not force anyone to go to heaven, either now or in the future. But their choices are forever choices. The problem of the human family is the problem of the will. We do not want to surrender to anyone, even God. There comes a time in everyone s life that God looks us in the face and says, Now just who is God here? And without hesitation, some people defiantly point to themselves. We want to be in charge. We want to rule. We want to be God. It is the story of the Garden of Eden all over again. Satan tempted Adam and Eve telling them that they could be like God. They could be in charge of their world. They did not have to surrender to God; they could exercise their own wills. They could have their own way. And so they did, and God allowed them to have their way apart from His original plan for them. And so He will do for all of us. D. There will only be two kinds of people in the end. Those who say, God, YOUR will be done, and those who say, MY will be done. Hell is the result of that choice. All those who end up in Hell, end up there by their choices.
What is hell like? Matthew 25:30-31 A. Jesus was always talking about Hell and warning people not to go there. In the Gospels Jesus talked about Hell 16 different times! From His descriptions we can get an idea of what Hell is going to be like. B. Vs. 30 (He said this at least FOUR different times) He said there will be weeping, wailing and gnashing of teeth. Weeping and wailing are expressions of grief. Gnashing teeth is an expression used to describe rage and frustration. It means tormented, frustrated, and emotionally upset. I see this happening as the result of forever making bad decisions and suffering the consequences of them. C. Vs. 30 Jesus also said it would be dark in hell. Pitch black, no light at all. D. Vs. 31 Jesus said there is fire there. It is an eternal burning fire, which causes the people severe pain! It smells like burning sulfur brimstone, which smells like rotten eggs. Rev 20:10 E. In Luke 16 Jesus said that the people who are in hell can feel pain and are conscious! Also in Rev 14:9-14 we read, And he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone (sulfur) in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the Lamb. F. In Mark 9:43-47 Jesus said there would be worms that never die! G. In Matthew 5:29 (Matt 18:8) Jesus said this at least twice that we have record of, If you right eye causes you to sin, pluck it out and cast it from you for it is more profitable for you that one of your members perish, than for your whole body to be cast into hell. He believed that whatever it took to avoid Hell, it was worth it! H. In Luke 12:47 Jesus said there are different levels in Hell. That servant that knew his masters will and did it not shall be beaten with more stripes than the servant who did not know his masters will and did not do it. I. In Matthew 7:13 Jesus said there are going to be a lot of people who go to Hell. Wide is gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. J. In Matthew 10:28 Jesus said people will be cast into Hell with their body after the final judgment. K. We often think of Jesus as being so kind and gentle and merciful. He was, but He nevertheless spoke often about the terrible place called Hell. It almost seems like He was always talking about it. If He were here today, I think we would take Him aside and tell Him it probably isn t such a good idea to talk so much about Hell, and that it would probably scare people away! Jesus obviously felt it was very important to teach about the horrors of Hell. L. Sometimes we see pictures of hell and people suffering. In the picture we often see demons tormenting people. But I don t see that in the Scriptures. I don t see anywhere that demons rule in hell or get to torment people in hell. I see hell as a continuation of life on earth. People who continue to make bad decisions will continue to make bad decisions forever. They will continually suffer because of their bad decisions. Their choices exclude them from heaven just as their decisions in their everyday life exclude them from God s presence. I don t see anyone tormenting them, or poking them with pitchforks, but I do see an eternity of misery. When speaking of the suffering in hell, the Bible never uses the word torture, rather the word torment is used. What is the difference? Torment is self-
inflicted by one s own will and it results from the choices a person makes and the consequences that follow. People who are forever angry, blaming everyone else for all of their problems, mad, bitter, and alone. I don t see them ever coming to their senses and changing their minds. M. There is a passage at the end of the Bible, in Revelations, verse 11 that says, He who is unjust, let him be unjust still; he who is filthy, let him be filthy still; he who is righteous, let him be righteous still; he who is holy, let him be holy still. I believe this is talking about the reality that the way we live our lives on this earth establishes our eternity. If we live our lives rebelling against the ways of God, we will be sealed forever like that. If we live our lives seeking the ways of God we will be sealed like that forever. When the Bible speaks about the torment in hell it is referring to internal anguish, sorrow. N. Man who rejects and rebels against God chooses instead to follow the god of this world, Satan. Man who rejects God receives the same judgment as the one he chose to follow. No person who ever finds themselves in hell will be able to point his finger at God and say, You sent me to hell. Their own guilt will condemn them. Is hell forever? Matthew 25:41-46 A. Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, Depart from me, you cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and his angels. God did not create hell in the beginning. The earth was created as a paradise. Hell is a place that was prepared for the devil and rebellious demons. When the founding fathers went about the task of creating this great nation, they did not start by creating jails. They would have preferred to have a society without jails. But jails became necessary, because it was important to keep dangerous and evil people separated from the rest of society. God is going to protect His own. In heaven, God keeps watch above His own. He will not allow the wicked, selfish, sinful people into heaven. B. Jesus described the final judgment by saying, Then they will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous to eternal life. vs. 46. Notice that the word eternal is used to describe both eternal life and eternal punishment. It is so sad that some theologians have tried to explain that this word eternal could also mean for a period of time. Well if hell is only for a period of time then so is heaven. Eternal means without end, forever, to go on and on and on Hell is forever and so is heaven. C. Since we are eternal beings, when we die if we do not go to be with Jesus then we must go somewhere. There is a hell. When you die, you do not cease to exist. Once you are born, you live forever. We were created to be immortal beings. The question is, Where will you live forever? It is all up to you. You can live in the presence of God forever, or away from the presence of God forever. It is all about choices. The reality is that the choices we make in this temporal world have eternal consequences. I believe that I am now leading a life that will last forever.
Summary A. In Ezekiel 33 we read God saying, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked. It is not His will that any man perish. He had created all of us with a conscience that bears witness of His existence. He has sent His son to pay the price for all of our sins, so that we don t have to be separated from Him. B. All we have to do is accept His free gift of salvation and have our sins forgiven. If we don t we will be sent to Hell forever. C. Hell is a real place. It is a place of eternal torment. It was not created for us, it was created for the devil, but all those who chose to follow the devil and his ways will be sent there after the Day of Judgment. D. Can t God give people a second chance after death? The truth of the matter is that God is giving people a second chance, right now. He s giving a second, third, fourth, fifth, etc. Every minute that passes is an opportunity for a person to cry out to God and be a recipient of His mercy and grace. If you are outside of Christ right now, you are given a chance this very moment, as you hear about the fate that awaits you, unless you repent and put your faith in Jesus. God is patient. Once you die or when the Lord returns, it is too late. E. Hebrews 9:27 says, It is appointed for men to die ONCE, after this is the judgment. During your life, God s Spirit is patiently working with you, convicting you of your sins, reminding you of God s righteousness, warning you of the coming judgment. He is speaking to you through creation. He is sending messengers with the good news of this free salvation that is available. F. There is NO SECOND chance after death. Please don wait, the time is now. Today is the day of your salvation. Let s pray.