We come this evening to the second of
four questions that we wish to consider together
as we think of the Bible doctrine of
hell.
And it is simply this, what does the
Bible teach about hell?
What does the Bible teach about hell?
Some biblical doctrines are extremely complex.
They are difficult to grasp.
They are elusive, mysterious, far beyond the reach
of our minds.
We think, for example, of the doctrine of
the Trinity, of the three persons in the
one Godhead.
We wrestle with that doctrine, and even the
mightiest human and believing intellect finds it difficult.
Other doctrines are simple in a sense.
The doctrine of the atonement, Christ in the
place of sinners, the Son of God who
loved me and gave himself for me.
A child can understand that, and many children
have believed it to their salvation.
And yet, although simple on the surface, those
doctrines have such depths of profundity as to
be unfathomable, and to fill us with wonder
and amazement.
The doctrine of hell is not really in
either of these categories.
It is not extremely complex.
It is relatively plain and straightforward.
We can state it quite simply.
One writer defines hell as a place of
eternal conscious punishment for the wicked.
That's plain and straightforward.
Again, a child can understand that.
A place of eternal conscious punishment for the
wicked.
And this is a doctrine which is fortified
even by the unregenerate human conscience.
All human beings throughout history, or the vast
majority, have had a sense of hell.
Look at heathen religions.
Islam has a hell.
Buddhism has a hell.
Hinduism has a hell.
There seems to be something imprinted on the
conscience of human beings, made in the image
of God, that after this life there is
a place of judgment and punishment for those
who have done wrong.
The doctrine is straightforward.
It is easy to grasp.
And it is something that in our inner
being we agree with.
And the fact that it is denied by
so many, and ignored by more, is simply
because it is so unwelcome.
Not because it's so complex or so unreasonable.
In the New Testament church, the doctrine of
hell seems to have been one of the
ABCs which was explained and expounded to new
converts.
In Hebrews chapter 6, the writer is speaking
of leaving aside the elementary principles of Christ.
He says it's time we moved away from
basic doctrines, from teaching for beginners.
And he lifts some of those teachings, the
foundation he calls them.
He mentions the resurrection of the dead, and
eternal judgment.
It was a basic, fundamental truth in which
every new believer was instructed.
And I almost feel embarrassed to take time
over it tonight because it is so plain,
and clear, and straightforward.
And yet there is value in that.
Because it is neglected.
It is overlooked.
And there is great value in clarifying our
understanding.
And I don't propose to give you a
complete statement of the biblical doctrine of hell
this evening.
What I would like to do is to
summarize the main truths in the biblical doctrine
of hell under five propositions.
And then in the remainder of the time
to consider several problems which people have with
the biblical doctrine.
So let us come first to the biblical
doctrine of hell, and five simple propositions which
gather together the main aspects of scriptural truth
on this topic.
The first is this.
Hell is a real place created by God.
Many people have heard the statement of the
French existentialist philosopher Jean-Paul Sartre, no need
of brimstone or gridiron, hell is other people.
That was his definition of what hell is,
the suffering that comes to us by the
cruelty of our fellow human beings.
John Robinson, infamous a generation ago for his
remarkably falsely titled book, Honest to God, writes,
life can be hell.
That is really what hell is, the dark
side of life.
People pass through dreadful experiences and they say
I have been through hell.
They describe their experiences in that way, that
is not true.
Hell is a real place.
It is not a metaphor, it is not
a symbol, it is not a picture, it
is not an imaginative way to describe our
sorrows or our sufferings, it is not a
description of our state of mind, it is
a place, it has dimensions, spatial dimensions.
We don't know where that place is in
God's universe.
The characteristic biblical description is outside, to be
cast out, to be into outer darkness, but
somewhere, somewhere in God's universe there is a
place and that place is hell.
In our Lord's parable of the rich man
and Lazarus in Luke 16, the rich man
talks about this place of torment and it
is the normal Greek word for a place,
our word topography comes from it, the science
of describing places.
We are told that Judas Iscariot went to
his own place.
The same word, hell is a place.
Perhaps the most characteristic name for it in
the New Testament is Gehenna, translated in our
Bibles as hell.
And that word has an interesting history.
It was used of the valley of Hinnom,
sometimes called Topheth, a place outside Jerusalem which
had a history of horror in Israel.
Centuries earlier, God's people had murdered their children
in that valley.
They had burned them to death in the
worship of the Ammonite God, Molech.
It was the place of dread, of cruelty,
of foulness, of desolation, of heart-wrenching grief,
a place of desecration, a place of devilment.
By the first century, it had become a
rubbish dump, a garbage dump, a place where
offal was burnt day and night.
And in the valley of Hinnom, there was
smoke, stench, worms, uncleanness, all that was hideous
and horrible.
And it is this term which our Lord
uses to describe hell.
He sees it as a suitable picture or
symbol of the real place, hell.
And because it's a place, it has been
created by God.
We're told in Revelation 4.11 that God
created all things, and by his will they
exist and were created.
And that all things includes hell.
Hell was made by God.
He prepared the fire of hell for the
devil and his angels.
And we'll see the significance of that later.
So in the first place, hell is a
real place created by God.
Secondly, hell is a place of punishment which
is just, terrible, and everlasting.
Hell is a place of punishment which is
just, terrible, and everlasting.
Now is there any more idea, is there
any more unpopular idea today in our society
than the idea of punishment?
It's anathema to modern man.
There should be no punishment in the home.
There should be no punishment in the school.
There should be no punishment in the state.
Punishment is regarded as barbaric, primitive, unworthy, immoral.
People say we don't believe in punishment.
And they say that not because they're humane,
not because they're kind, not because they're tolerant
or advanced or civilized.
They say that because of a frightening dark
shadow right at the back of their souls
and of their consciousness.
The shadow of hell.
That voice which says there is punishment.
There is punishment.
And that idea so terrifies them that they
do everything within their power to remove punishment
from their world and their consciousness and their
society in the hope that by so doing
somehow, because we don't punish, God won't punish.
Because we don't believe in punishment, God won't
believe in punishment.
It's a childish, pathetic, ostrich mentality.
If we say it isn't so, it won't
be so.
If we hide our head under the bedclothes,
the nightmare will go away.
No punishment.
But the Bible says that hell is a
place of punishment.
Matthew 25, 46.
These will go away into everlasting punishment.
2 Thessalonians 1, 9.
These shall be punished with everlasting destruction.
And if people are willing to accept punishment,
isn't it interesting how they want to water
it down.
They will have remedial punishment.
Punishment that will make people better.
Now that's fair enough.
Punishment can be remedial.
We trust that when we punish our children,
it will be remedial punishment.
It will teach them not to do wrong.
It will bring them to a position where
we don't have to punish them again.
It is remedial punishment.
Or there is preventative punishment.
To punish one so that others will fear
and avoid that particular wrongdoing.
But the punishment in hell is not remedial.
It does not make anyone better.
It is not a purgatory.
It is of no benefit whatever to those
who are being punished.
Nor in the absolute sense is the punishment
of hell preventative.
Unless to the extent that now to hear
of the pains of hell will turn people
to Christ.
In that sense it is preventative.
But when judgment has come.
When the books have been opened.
When the final destiny of all has been
proclaimed.
Then the punishment of hell will not be
remedial.
It never was.
It will not be preventative.
It will be what people hate and fear
above all.
Retributive punishment.
Punishment purely for wrongdoings sake.
Punishment inflicted on the evildoer.
Not to frighten others.
Not to teach the evildoer the error of
his or her ways.
But because it is right that they should
be punished.
Because it is just.
Because that punishment in itself is a good
and righteous thing.
Without any benefit whatever accruing to the person
who experiences the punishment.
Our society hates and fears the idea of
retributive punishment.
It brings nightmares to their soul.
Hell is a place of punishment.
This punishment is just.
It must be just.
Because it's carried out by the Lord God
Almighty.
And his judgments are true and righteous.
And without expanding on it unduly.
We can see the justice of the punishment
of hell.
Particularly in the way in which the scripture
tells us that the punishment in hell will
be measured precisely to each individual according to
the knowledges and privileges which that individual enjoyed.
In Luke 12 verse 47 the Savior says
the servant who knew his master's will and
did not do according to his will shall
be beaten with many strikes.
But he who did not know shall be
beaten with few strikes.
All will be punished.
All will be punished in hell.
All will be punished justly.
But all will not be punished to the
same degree or to the same extent.
All will deserve punishment.
But some will deserve more punishment.
And they will be given that more punishment.
Precisely measured calculated to their deserts.
Christ says for everyone to whom much is
given from him much will be required.
And to whom much has been committed of
him they will ask the more.
Remember his words in Matthew 11 21 when
he was speaking to those towns which had
heard his preaching and seen his miracles.
Chorazin, Bethsaida, Capernaum.
He said woe to you.
It will be more tolerable for Tyre and
Sidon for the land of Sodom on the
day of judgment than for you.
All these cities will be punished.
But some had more privilege.
Some had more opportunity.
Some had more blessing offered to them.
They will be punished more severely.
He speaks regarding the scribes in Mark 12
38.
The scribes who are selfish, hypocritical, greedy and
dishonest.
These religious leaders who knew the Old Testament
from beginning to end.
He says these men will receive greater greater
condemnation.
A solemn word to those of us who
are teachers in the church.
You remember James's advice.
Don't rush he says into the teaching office.
Greater privilege brings greater responsibility.
Now we're not told how this punishment will
be graded.
We're not told in the Bible if God
will inflict greater pain on some individuals than
on others.
Perhaps it will be a greater awareness of
opportunities neglected.
Perhaps it will be a deeper remorse.
Perhaps the worm of memory, a father, a
mother's prayers will be part of the torture
of the damned in hell.
The Bible doesn't tell us and we must
not speculate.
But what it does tell us is that
the punishment in hell will be utterly fair.
Just.
No one will ever be able to complain.
No one will ever be able to say
this is not fair.
I have not deserved this.
This is more than should be given to
me.
Hell is a place of punishment which is
just.
It is also terrible.
We're told that it is a place where
there is weeping and gnashing of teeth.
The worm does not die.
The fire is not quenched.
Those in hell shall drink of the wine
of the wrath of God which is poured
out full strength into the cup of his
indignation and they shall be tormented with fire
and brimstone and the smoke of their torment
ascends forever and ever and they have no
rest day or night.
Revelation 14 verses 10 and 11.
It is a terrible punishment.
It is not a slap on the wrist.
It is something fearsome and it is everlasting
in spite of the false claims today made
about annihilation.
The scripture is abundantly plain.
We're told about everlasting destruction, everlasting fire, everlasting
punishment.
The same Greek word that is used of
everlasting life.
The pains of hell are as eternal as
the joys of heaven.
The same word is used to describe them.
Jude speaks in verse 7 of the vengeance
of eternal fire.
In verse 13 the blackness of darkness forever.
We read in Revelation 20 10 they will
be tormented day and night forever and ever.
I'm not going to expand on this now.
I hope God willing tomorrow evening to speak
on the pains of hell.
Let us simply note at this point how
fearsome this punishment will be.
Just, terrible and everlasting.
John Calvin says there can be no doubt
but that by such expressions the Holy Spirit
intended to confound all our faculties with horror.
To confound all our faculties, our minds, our
emotions, our wills, everything to be confounded with
horror.
Thirdly, hell is for the devil, his angels
and the unsaved.
Hell is for the devil, his angels and
the unsaved.
George Bernard Shaw the Irish playwright commented flippantly
and blasphemously that all the interesting people will
be in hell.
That's not what the Bible says.
Christ speaks of the everlasting fire prepared for
the devil and his angels.
The devil we're told was cast into the
lake of fire and brimstone.
The demons cowered before Jesus of Nazareth.
What have we to do with you?
Did you come to destroy us?
Mark 1 24.
Luke 8 31 they begged him that he
would not command them to go out into
the abyss.
They knew the place for which they were
destined.
Jude verse 6 we're told of the evil
spirits who rebelled in heaven.
That God has reserved them in everlasting chains
under darkness for the judgment of the great
day.
Hell is for the devil and for his
angels.
That is their place.
It is also for the notoriously wicked.
In Revelation 21 verse 8 we read that
the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers,
idolaters and all liars shall have their part
in the lake which burns with fire and
brimstone.
These are George Bernard Shaw's interesting people.
The abominable murderers, immoral, idolaters and liars.
These wicked people, these evil people will be
cast into hell.
But hell is also for those who are
outwardly moral and decent, upright and respectable who
have never trusted Christ as their savior.
Paul describes them in 2nd Thessalonians 1 8.
He says that God will take vengeance in
flaming fire on whom?
The Hitlers?
The Stalins?
Who are these people on whom God will
take vengeance in flaming fire?
What monsters of depravity are they?
Paul says those who do not know God
and who do not obey the gospel.
Some of you tonight are refusing to obey
the gospel.
Simple as that.
You say that's all I've done.
I've never done anything really bad.
But you're not obeying the gospel.
The gospel says believe on the Lord Jesus
Christ.
And you're not doing that.
You're not obeying the gospel.
The bible says that God will take vengeance
in flaming fire upon you if you never
did another bad action as long as you
lived, but if you didn't obey the gospel.
He who does not believe the Son shall
not see life but the wrath of God
abides on him.
The only human beings who will escape hell
are the elect, Christ's people.
He who hears my word and believes in
him who sent me has everlasting life and
shall not come into condemnation but is passed
from death into life.
Hell is for the devil, his angels and
the unsaved.
Fourthly, hell is where the souls of the
wicked go at death and where their bodies
are rejoined with their souls at the last
judgment.
Hell is where the souls of the wicked
go at death and where their bodies are
reunited with their souls at the last judgment.
In other words, there is no neutral place
in the universe between heaven and hell.
There is no third state.
There is no waiting room until the second
coming of Christ.
There is no such thing as soul sleep
or a period of unconsciousness or oblivion.
There is only this life, this world, and
then heaven or hell.
We know that when the believer dies, his
or her soul goes immediately to be with
Christ.
The Westminster short ecstaticism puts it beautifully.
The souls of believers are at their death
made perfect in holiness and do immediately pass
into glory and their bodies being still united
to Christ do rest in their graves till
the resurrection.
Christ said to the dying thief, today you
will be with me in paradise.
Paul wanted to depart and to be with
Christ which is far better.
That's what happens to the believer at death.
And conversely, as the unbeliever dies, there is
a gloating whisper from the devil, today you
will be with me in hell.
Those are the only two voices.
You will be with Christ or you will
be with Satan.
The 1689 Baptist confession of faith puts it
this way.
After death, the souls of the wicked are
cast into hell where they remain in torment
and utter darkness reserved to the judgment of
the great day.
I think some confusion has arisen in people's
minds because the Old Testament word Sheol and
the New Testament word Hades are used in
scripture with different meanings.
Sometimes they refer to the grave to which
we all go.
Sometimes they refer to the place of punishment
to which believers do not go.
So sometimes you will see a statement in
the Bible, I will go to Sheol.
Sometimes you will see a statement, I will
not go to Sheol.
And that has confused people.
And they said, what is this Sheol?
Is it an intermediate state?
But the words are being used in different
senses there.
And though the scripture has far more to
say about the immediate destiny of believers, its
teaching is quite plain regarding those who die
without Christ.
Perhaps clearest of all in the Lord's parable
of the rich man of Lazarus.
That is clearly referring to the intermediate state.
The rich man has five brothers.
They are still alive.
They are on the earth.
The end of the world has not come.
The Lord has not returned.
He has died but his brothers have not
died.
They have still opportunity to repent and believe.
And what are we told about this man
who has died before the general resurrection?
We are told in Luke 16.23, the
rich man died and was buried and being
in torment in Hades, he lifted up his
eyes.
His body was in the ground.
His body was going into corruption but his
soul was in torment.
I am tormented they said in this flame.
Again 2 Peter 2.9, the Lord knows
how to deliver the godly out of temptations
and to reserve the unjust under punishment for
the day of judgment.
Literally in Greek, to keep the unrighteous continually
being punished till the day of judgment.
Even now they are being punished.
There is no such place as purgatory.
There is no second chance.
There is no future hope.
There is no point in praying for the
dead.
They are beyond our prayers.
Our prayers cannot help them.
We may say it reverently, even almighty God
himself will not help them.
That is the urgency of the gospel.
That is why God says believe today.
For once you die, it is too late.
You cannot pay for masses to be said.
You cannot give all your possessions to bring
your beloved out of some purgatory.
They are lost.
They are gone forever.
They await the general resurrection, the day of
judgment when our Lord returns.
When the souls and bodies of believers are
reunited and pass into glory.
When the souls of wicked are reunited with
their bodies and consigned to hell forever.
And then fifthly and lastly in this section
of our study, we can say that the
Bible teaches that hell is ruled by God
and exists for his glory.
Hell is first of all ruled by God.
Now we need to stress that because there
is a popular idea in people's minds that
hell is somehow outside God's presence and God's
reach and God's power.
That it is some sort of garbage dump,
some sort of repository for nuclear waste where
God puts everyone in and seals it and
buries it and puts it away and forgets
about it.
And they just govern their own affairs in
that dreadful place of torment.
It is a community beyond God's reach people
think.
Perhaps John Milton is partly to blame for
that.
Some of you may know his great poem
Paradise Lost.
And in that poem he gives a great
deal of attention to Satan, the chief angel.
And here is what Satan says according to
Milton, the great Puritan that he was, as
he is about to enter hell.
The devil says, here at least we shall
be free.
Here we may reign secure and in my
choice to reign is worth ambition though in
hell.
Better to reign in hell than serve in
heaven.
You see that was Milton's understanding of Satan.
Now perhaps that is what Satan thought.
Perhaps that is what he hoped for.
Better to reign in hell than serve in
heaven.
I may be wretched but I'll be my
own master.
I may be miserable but at least I'll
have got away from God.
Even John Gerstner, great theologian, writes in one
of his works, hell is where Satan rules.
My friends that is not true.
Hell is where God rules, where God alone
rules.
It is not a demonic colony which is
declared unilateral independence.
Jesus says, fear him who has power to
cast into hell.
That is God, the ruler of hell.
He has prepared the fires of hell.
The everlasting torment we are told in Revelation
14.10 is in the presence of the
holy angels and in the presence of the
Lamb.
What an awful and mysterious statement.
We'll come back to it again tomorrow evening.
The devil does not reign in hell.
The devil suffers the worst punishment in hell.
And there is a danger you see of
making the devil into a sort of a
James Dean type figure.
A sort of a tragic heroic rebel.
The outsider, the man who stands by himself
and shakes his fist at God.
Let me quote Milton again.
Here is Satan speaking.
What though the field be lost, all is
not lost.
The unconquerable will, the courage never to submit
or yield.
God's glory never shall his wrath and might
extort from me to bow and sue for
grace with suppliant knee and deify his power.
That were an ignominy and shame beneath this
downfall.
Satan says, I have never kneeled to God,
but at the name of Jesus every knee
shall bow.
Of those in heaven and those on earth
and those under the earth and every tongue
shall confess that Jesus Christ is Lord to
the glory of God the Father.
Satan will be a whipped, crawling, cowering cur
in hell.
He'll not be a dark prince.
He'll not be a majestic Lord, magnificent in
his evil.
No, he'll be a contemptible thing.
He'll be a worm.
He'll be a miserable, pathetic object cowering down
before the mighty King and Lord of all.
God rules in hell as he rules in
heaven.
It will not take time to develop it,
but hell is also for God's glory.
I want to come back to that.
Properly understood, it is not an embarrassment.
It is not something we regret.
It's not something we speak about in whispers.
It's not something we're hesitant or reluctant about.
In hell, and I say it, I trust
reverently and tremblingly, in hell the glory of
God will be unveiled in a new and
amazing way.
More of God's authority will be seen than
has ever been seen before.
God's holiness, God's justice, God's anger will be
revealed in hell.
And he will be glorified through hell.
It's significant that the holy ones in the
book of Revelation praise God for hell and
thank him for hell.
It's not a fearsome thought.
Revelation 11, 17, the 24 elders, we give
you thanks, O Lord God Almighty, because you
have taken your great power and reigned the
nations where angry and your wrath has come.
At the time of the dead, that they
should be judged, thank you Lord.
Revelation 16, 5, the angel of the waters,
you are righteous, O Lord, because you have
judged these things and you have given them
blood to drink, for it is their just
due.
Like everything else, hell exists for God's glory.
So that's a brief, a very brief and
inadequate outline of some of the major themes
in the biblical doctrine of hell.
But I would like, for the remainder of
the time, to turn comparatively briefly to two
problems with the biblical doctrine.
And these are the result of mistaken thinking,
but we're not talking about arrogance, we're not
talking about unbelief, we're not talking about a
weak evasion of scriptural truth, we're talking about
genuine problems which godly people sometimes have.
Issues with which they wrestle, which are a
problem and a difficulty to them and we
want to try to help them with them
if we can.
The first one is this, is hell not
a punishment which is disproportionate to the offense?
Is hell not a punishment which is disproportionate
to the offense?
In its severity and its duration, is it
not a fearsome thing that human beings should
be tormented so unbelievably, horribly and dreadfully, forever
and forever and forever and forever.
Even the best of us, even the most
knowledgeable of us from time to time may
have wondered, is it just?
Is it terrible?
Is it unfair that such an awful punishment
forever should be inflicted on human beings?
What can we say?
Let us make several brief points.
The first is that we have no concept
of the horror and guilt of sin.
Even the best, even the holiest, even the
most godly of believers has little idea of
what a foul and ghastly thing sin is.
Charles Hodge says, we are incompetent judges of
the penalty which sin deserves.
We have no adequate apprehension of its inherent
guilt of the dignity of the person against
whom it is committed, of the extent of
the evil which it is capable of producing.
A mortal being sets his or her will
against the creator.
We arrogantly reject the authority of the God
who made us.
We refuse to fall down and worship.
You see, the gravity of the offense depends
on the dignity of the being which is
injured by the offense.
If we were to go out this evening
and see a small child tromping on a
worm or pulling a worm to pieces, we
would be annoyed.
We would say, don't do that, that's a
creature of God.
Unless of course the worm was in an
inconvenient place.
But we would say, well that's something you
shouldn't do.
Don't be cruel even to the insects.
But we wouldn't be appalled by it.
We wouldn't say, you evil wicked little boy,
how could you do such a dreadful thing?
We wouldn't lie sleepless all night to think
of that child torturing that worm.
If a child was torturing a cat, it
would not be worse.
We would think that really was cruel.
That was perverse.
Because in our scale of understanding, a cat
we think is a nobler animal than a
worm.
Or if it was torturing a human being,
now that would shake us.
That would fill us with horror.
That is a truly dreadful thing.
It's the same action in every case.
But it's against a different creature, a different
being.
And it is that which gives it its
guilt.
To pull a worm in two is not
as bad as pulling a human being in
two.
But what then must be an offense against
God?
Who is so much above all other creatures,
all creatures?
For He is the Creator, the Uncreated.
Nor has the guilt of a sin any
connection with its duration.
You could murder someone in a second.
It could take you ten years to defraud
someone of their life's savings.
One crime is committed in a second.
The other crime takes ten years.
Does the longer sin require a longer punishment?
No.
It bears no relationship.
People say, why should I be tormented forever
for a sin which only takes a few
moments?
That's irrelevant.
That has nothing to do with the guilt
of the sin.
People don't understand the heinousness of sin.
Our society is numb with regard to sin.
I wonder, do any of you smoke tobacco?
I hope you don't.
I think if you do, you're very foolish.
You're injuring your body.
You're breaking the sixth commandment.
I'm not making a plea for the smoking
of cigarettes.
But isn't it strange?
The persecuting mania which our society has against
people who smoke tobacco.
They're banned.
They're banished.
They're frowned on.
They are the lepers of society.
There are notices up.
You could be put out of a restaurant.
That is one of the worst things you
could do to smoke tobacco.
Abortion fine.
Perversion fine.
You name it.
But don't you dare to light a cigarette
in my presence.
You see, people's values are all skewed.
They don't know right and wrong.
They don't know great evil and small evil.
We're not in a position to say what's
terribly bad.
Only the Bible can help us.
Hasn't it been interesting recently to hear people
talking about capital punishment?
People said, oh I don't agree with capital
punishment.
Oh no, it's cruel.
It's terrible.
To put another human being to death.
And then after Oklahoma City.
Oh, that's a different thing.
Such a crime as that.
Such a heinous thing.
All those lives taken away.
The man who does that deserves punishment.
Normally I don't agree with it.
But when it's something really bad, then of
course.
But that's the point.
Sin is really bad.
Sin is the worst thing imaginable.
That's why we cannot say that it's unfair.
Oh, we remember again that those who are
in hell continue to sin.
They keep on sinning and incurring more guilt
forever and forever and forever.
In Revelation 22.11 we have the solemn
statement, he who is unjust, let him be
unjust still.
He who is filthy, let him be filthy
still.
I owe many debts to you Reformed Baptist
friends.
And one of the not inconsiderable debts I
owe you is introducing me to the writings
of John Ledley Dagg.
And he's a manual of systematic theology.
In today's world it's a very unimpressive looking
book.
There is no bibliography.
There are no learned footnotes.
It just looks very simple and straight forward.
But if you haven't got that book, get
it and read it.
Use it in your private devotions.
He has a most marvelous, simple, warm, practical
way of teaching us theology.
Here's what Dagg has to say.
A sinner cannot become innocent by being confirmed
in sin.
The future condition of the wicked is chiefly
terrible because they are abandoned by God to
the full exercise and influence of their unholy
passions and consequent accumulation of guilt forever and
ever.
In other words, in hell they become more
guilty and more guilty and more guilty forever
and forever and forever.
And after millions and millions of ages they
have just accumulated more sin to be punished.
They don't become innocent by being confirmed in
sin.
The cross of Christ shows us the seriousness
of sin.
Listen to Dagg again.
If wrath and damnation had been trivial things,
the sending of God's only Son into the
world, the laying of our sins upon Him,
and the whole expedient adopted to deliver us
from these inconsiderable evils, we would have been
unworthy of infinite worship.
Sin is such a trivial thing, such a
small matter.
What a waste to shed the blood of
God's only begotten Son to atone for it.
Dagg goes on.
The power of God's anger, finite intelligence cannot
conceive, but God understands it well.
And the full estimate of it was regarded
in the deep counsels which devise the scheme
of salvation.
William Shedd says, It is incredible that the
eternal Trinity should have submitted to such a
stupendous self-sacrifice to remove a merely finite
and temporal evil.
And he goes on to make an exceedingly
profound statement.
The doctrine of Christ's vicarious atonement stands or
falls with eternal.
If we lose this, he said, we lose
the cross.
Isn't that awesome?
Would not be another reason that we could
have thought of last night.
If we lose hell, sooner or later we
lose the cross.
There is no point to the cross.
No reason for it.
Jesus didn't need to come and do all
that.
He stand or fall together.
Hell is extreme, but that is because sin
is extreme.
Are we going to stand at the foot
of the cross and tell God that hell
is an inappropriate punishment?
But then another question, a problem.
Is hell not contrary to the character of
God?
Is hell not contrary to the character of
God?
God is love.
God delights in mercy.
How then can a loving God bear to
send some of his creatures to everlasting torment?
That is one of John Stott's difficulties.
How can a loving God bear to send
some of his creatures to everlasting torment?
Would you do it to a child?
You who are human beings, would you send
a child?
Would you do it to a dog?
Of course you wouldn't.
You wouldn't put a dog in the flames
of hell forever.
I wouldn't.
You wouldn't.
How can God do it?
Isn't he a God of love?
What can we say?
Let me give several strands of argument to
you.
We'd want to say first of all that
God's attributes do not oppose each other.
They do not fight against each other.
One does not override the others.
They're not at war, there's not a battle
between them.
God is loving and he's merciful, but he's
also holy.
And he's also righteous of purer eyes than
to behold evil.
And all his attributes are exercised in the
fullness of their perfection.
And none of them can be cancelled.
For that would mean that God was denying
himself.
And that is what he will never do.
It is right for God to hate sin.
You would agree with that.
And it is right for him to hate
sin with an infinite hatred.
And that infinite hatred is good.
We'd agree with that.
It's good that he should hate sin.
Well if it is good, should it not
be expressed?
Is it not right for God to express
what is good?
He expresses his love.
He expresses his holiness.
He expresses his wrath.
He expresses his justice.
Are we going to question that?
Are we going to say that God should
stump himself and cripple himself and give us
a partial picture of his glory?
Or again, we could ask, would indifference to
sin be a virtue?
Would indifference to sin be a virtue?
Do we admire people who have no moral
sense?
When the citizens of a great nation are
asked in a poll Do you believe that
the rumors regarding the morality of a politician
who is running for chief office in that
nation Do you believe that those rumors have
foundation?
And over 70% of the citizens of
that nation whose identity you can probably guess
over 70% of the citizens say Yes,
we do believe that those rumors have foundation
and are probably true And they're then asked
Would that affect the way you vote in
any way?
And they say, not in the least We
believe the man has probably done these things
We believe the rumors are true Nevertheless, we
intend to give him our support Is that
a sign of health in a nation?
It would be healthier if they believed the
rumors were false At least they'd be acting
out of some conviction Indifference to sin, is
that a virtue?
If someone was willing to be poly with
a multiple unrepentant child murderer And say, well
I just like to be friendly with people
I like to get on with people, you
know I'm a good natured sort of a
person Would you say, what a wonderful guy
that is?
Oh, what a big heart What an admirable
man No, you wouldn't You would say, where's
his thinking gone?
R.L. Dabney gives a powerful illustration from
life of two people he knew A woman,
a godly, saintly woman Who trusted the Lord,
who lived a life of holiness and love
Who was plagued by pain and illness All
her days, and died in agony And a
wicked wretch Profligate, immoral, cruel Who had taken
human life Who spent his days in health
and happiness And was taken from this world
suddenly Without an ache or pain And Dabney
says, let us suppose That these two persons
Appearing so nearly at the same time In
the presence of God Were together introduced To
the same heaven If this is God's justice
Then he is more fearful Than the prince
of darkness To believe that our everlasting destiny
Is in the hands of such unprincipled omnipotence
Is more horrible Than to dwell in the
crust of a volcano What sort of God
would he be?
He would be the devil He would be
the devil If God could look at sin
and say It doesn't matter Never worry, come
into heaven He would be the devil Or
again we could say The objection proves too
much People say how can a God of
love Inflict endless misery On his creatures But
we could equally ask How can a God
of love Inflict any misery on his creatures
But he does The world is full of
misery And unhappiness It's quite clear that God
judges sin He has done since the fall
In Eden One writer says his judgments Are
frequent enough To let us know he judges
But seldom enough To let us know that
there must be Judgment to come Frequent enough
To show us that he judges Seldom enough
To point to a judgment to come This
argument would also mean That mercy Is compulsory
Pastor Hendricks wouldn't need To preach to us
on the grace of God Because there wouldn't
be any Grace of God If God is
bound to forgive If his love Requires him
To show mercy And to receive into heaven
Then there is No grace Then we are
not indebted to him In any way at
all He is so controlled by His love
that he cannot Punish That he must forgive
That the cross is a supreme Irrelevance And
nonsense That redemption is not of grace It
is the fulfilment of Obligation You have to
throw away Your Bibles If a God of
love Cannot send to hell Then what does
John 3 16 mean And of course most
of all How can God Be merciful And
condemn to hell But my friends the truth
is That there is mercy There is mercy
In Christ God demonstrates His own love toward
us In that while we were still sinners
Christ died for us Now tell me this
How is it reasonable For people to hear
of the love of God And be pleaded
with To accept the love of God And
turn their backs On the love of God
And reject and refuse the love of God
And then complain That God is not loving
He is loving But they don't want His
love They spurn it They despise it They
trample upon it And then they have the
sheer Gall to criticise Him To stand at
the foot of Calvary On which His only
begotten Son bled and died And say Oh
well I've got doubts About God's love One
of those theologians could speak of it last
night As profoundly immoral How How can any
man Dare to say In the light of
the cross of Christ That God is unloving
Do you remember those words That must have
cut our Saviour's soul That night in the
boat On the sea of Galilee Lord do
you not care That we perish I wonder
did Jesus think to Himself Oh my friend
If you knew What your words mean Why
am I here No God
is the Father of our Saviour And to
suggest in any way That the existence of
hell Is contrary to His love Is blasphemy
I want to take a few minutes in
closing To say just a word or two
About the purpose Of the biblical doctrine We've
looked at it in summary We've considered one
or two objections Now then what is its
purpose Why is it given In the scripture
It is horrible It's alarming It's disturbing It's
frightening Why has God put these Very very
disturbing Awful statements In His word Why does
He upset us so Let me suggest that
That is not the key issue Supposing tonight
About 3 or 4 am Someone were to
run down The corridor Of the building where
you're staying You're peacefully asleep You're tired after
a busy day And suddenly someone runs Down
the corridor shouting FIRE FIRE The building is
in flames Awake Escaped for your life And
you jump out of bed And you're sleepy
And you bang your leg on the chair
And it's sore And the children are frightened
And crying And you feel sick And you
rush out into the corridor That's a very
upsetting statement It's very disturbing And annoying But
what would be the reality If there is
no fire That's a piece of irresponsible Foolishness
But if there is a fire That is
an act of love And kindness The issue
is not the loud voice The inconvenient hour
The frightening words The upset to yourself And
your children The issue is this Is it
true Or is it false And if it's
true Then the louder and more Upsetting it
is The better And you see people criticise
the bible All this language Bloodthirsty, upsetting You
have passages you couldn't read to children They
have nightmares Why has God put all this
Into his words That's not the issue The
issue is, is there a hell Or is
there not And if there is And there
is Then surely This is an act of
supreme kindness Supposing the bible Had told us
nothing of hell Supposing it had satisfied The
modernists and the liberals And there wasn't a
single word in this book About any condemnation
to come Would that be a loving thing
I was speaking To someone at lunch today
Who serves God working in the hospice movement
She was telling me That the holy thought
of the movement is Don't alarm the dying
Don't cause them any anxiety Or worry Assure
them that they are going to a better
place All will be well Nothing to trouble
them Let them slip out of this world
Easily and comfortably We want to be kind
We want to be caring That's not kind
That's not caring That's dreadfully dreadfully cruel And
people you see complain That God warns us
But it's in his love he warns us
It's in his grace he warns us Because
hell is a reality And it's in love
That we've chosen this topic For this conference
For those of you who are on your
way to hell This morning Jesus was described
As the theologian of hell We sometimes overlook
The point of that We say well hell
must be true For Christ taught it That's
correct We say hell is not inconsistent With
God's love For Christ taught it That's correct
But what is the chief point The chief
point is that he who tells us About
hell Is the one who can save us
from hell He who brings us The warning
Is the one who can help us That's
the beauty of it And the grace of
it What more Could we ask The very
person Whom God sends to warn us He
himself Is the person who can deliver us
He brings the warning And the deliverance Together
Some of you here today Are unconverted You've
heard about hell Many times And you're resisting
it And I warn you now That if
you continue In your unbelief You will end
up in that dreadful place And those of
us here who are Christians Will witness against
you At the day of judgment On Friday
my wife and I hope to be driving
Off on holiday for a few weeks Courtesy
of some of the friends here And I'm
driving Let's say along the highway Driving at
70 miles an hour I won't be but
let's assume I were And a highway patrolman
Pulls me over and he says Sir the
speed limit in this state is 65 You're
breaking the law And I would say Well
I'm sorry officer I didn't know I wasn't
aware I'm a visitor here And he would
say well you should have known It was
your business to know You could have found
out I'm going to have to fine you
But he would be lenient I think I
think he would be understanding And if he
had to give me a penalty He would
do it with a smile I would hope
And a degree of graciousness I didn't know
But supposing that Same officer stops me again
An hour later And I'm still driving at
70 miles an hour He's going to have
a different Attitude then he says Sir I
spoke to you about this I warned you
I explained the position His whole attitude towards
me is going to be changed And many
of you Have heard of hell Again and
again and again And again What will you
say What will you say young people When
you stand before God God says you were
warned You were told You were urged To
flee the wrath to come But you trampled
The son of God Under your feet You
insulted the spirit of grace You will be
damned And you will deserve to flee The
wrath to come Let
us pray Thank you Father For warning us
So clearly Movingly Powerfully And repeatedly Thank you
Lord For sending that warning Chiefly Through the
Savior Himself Who came Full of grace And
mercy And life That the warning was brought
To us By the one who delivers from
it Lord our God Thank you that Christ
Stands in our midst this evening By His
Spirit And warns us each one again Of
hell And offers Himself To be our Savior
Lord if there is someone here now Resisting
you Fighting against you Longing for this Meeting
to be over Shuffling in their seat Trying
to think of something else Lord break through
Their indifference Terrify them Overwhelm them oh God
Help them to realize That it is the
voice of the Son of God Who is
truth Calling on them Warning them And grant
that by your mercy They may take heed
And be saved We pray in Jesus name
Amen