John 3:16 ”For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish
but have eternal life.”
The Lord tells us that Hell is also outside the
possibility of change. Hell is reserved for those who refuse to accept and
follow Christ, who stand up in rebellion against Him and His ways. Sin has
eternal consequences and once you are there, nothing can change or be stopped.
The rebel cry of Luke 19:4 “We
don’t want this man to be our king”, shall
be heard and will be respected. Hell is a place where hope perishes and
happiness dies away, but the body and soul cannot do either of those things.
Hell is not a prison that God sends you in order to change you, so that you can
be "good enough" for Heaven. It’s not a “Reform school”, where He can scare you
enough and teach you the “right” ways in order to get you into Heaven. It is
not an “In-patient” Rehabilitation Center, where He takes and purges all of the
evil from your life by sending you to the place where “true” evil exists, in the
hopes of getting your attention and make you “good”. That’s not what Hell is
designed for or why it exists.
Listen to me really carefully please, because I want you to
get this, if you don’t hear anything else. Hell is not for those who seek God
and still struggle with life, but is for those who actively rebel against God’s
call upon their life. Hell is for those who decide that they want nothing to do
with Him, and then Jesus says “Great, You made that choice. I never knew you, you evildoer” – Matthew 7:23. Hell is for those who when Jesus calls, they
decide not to listen. Those who when Jesus directs them, they decide not to
follow. This is why Hell exists. It’s the ultimate demonstration of God’s
justice because God in His infinite holiness can have nothing to do with our
sin and the sinful ways of this world. We have to realize that
the sovereign Creator of Heaven and Earth, nature and all that live, has no
obligation to save anyone who sins against Him. But out of His essence of love
and mercy He offers forgiveness and salvation, restoration and reconciliation,
adoption and citizenship into His kingdom
of Heaven
Matthew 25:46
“Then they will go away
to eternal punishment, but the
righteous to eternal life.”
Believing Christians praise God because they know
that God chooses not to deal with us just out of His holiness, but He deals with
us out of His mercy. It was out of His unending mercy that He gave us a choice
by sending His Son as a free gift (not earned, deserved or bought) and Jesus paid
the price, offering us a different choice than Hell. But if we choose not to
accept the sacrifice that He made upon that Cross, His inherent holiness does
not allow us to be in His presence. Habakkuk 1:13 “You are of purer eyes than to
behold evil, and cannot look on wickedness.”
But God’s heart is heard clearly in Ezekiel 33:11 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?’
God is not up in Heaven looking down and taking
joy in seeing mankind, created in His image, falling away and going to eternal
punishment. Isn't the choice so clear? Shall we choose to fall away and perish?
C.S. Lewis said, “I willingly believe that the damned are, in
one sense successful rebels to the end; that the doors of hell are locked from
the inside.” If we rebel against God; against His teachings, against His ways,
and against the call that He places upon our life to follow Him, he will let
you. You can be successful in that, but make no mistake about it, it’s a choice
that humanity makes to lock themselves into that reality. How can a loving God
sent someone to Hell? Well, the truth is that He doesn't Those who choose to
rebel against God’s Ways, refuse to repent and reject the offer of salvation in
Christ alone make the choice to go to Hell. Christ (the Son of God) died on our
behalf, so that we would not have to go to Hell. This is the gospel message
that Satan does not want anyone to know. Jesus paid the price of our sin, so
that we would not perish but have eternal
life. Isn't it good to hear those words now? God does not offer us anything
less than that.
2 Peter 2:9
“The Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials and to hold
the unrighteous for punishment on the day of judgment.”
I
shall pick up one more time on Pastor’s Sermon from right here on the next post.
In Christ, Brian
1 comment:
Hi Brian,
It seems that people just don't want to believe in hell and a God who will pour out His wrath on those who are not saved.
God is love and full of patience but His time of grace is just about up and then His wrath will be poured out on all those who are not covered in the blood and have the mark of the Lamb.
Great post Brian. Please continue to preach Scripture!!
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