The Horrifying Doctrine of Hell (Part 2)

Welcome to No Compromise Radio, a ministry coming to you from Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

No Compromise Radio is a program dedicated to the ongoing proclamation of Jesus Christ, based on the theme in Galatians 2, verse 5, where the

Apostle Paul said, But we did not yield in subjection to them for even an hour, so that the truth of the gospel would remain with you.

In short, if you like smooth, watered -down words to make you simply feel good, this show isn't for you.

By purpose, we are first biblical, but we can also be controversial. Stay tuned for the next 25 minutes as we're called by the divine trumpet to summon the troops for the honor and glory of her

King. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth. Welcome to No Compromise Radio ministry. My name is

Mike Abendroth. Feeling better. I don't know why. I'm kind of out of wind. I think my volume of the lungs are getting back to what a normal person would be.

I don't think I was normal before because of bicycling, but that's not for me to judge. And what else?

The diffusion rate is getting better. Air to the blood. But sometimes

I feel like I don't, I don't know, sometimes it's just, how can you do radio if you don't have lungs? Be very, very hard.

Gospel Assurance, the new book that I've compiled, Amazon, probably out now, $14 .99,

just click on it and it'll ship to your house. Gospel Assurance, a 31 day guide for assurance, all kinds of great

Puritan articles about Jesus and the doctrine of assurance. I wrote the introduction and hope it helps you.

I think it's the kind of book that you'll buy for yourself and you're going to want to buy four or five and then hand them out to people because everybody needs a good dose of assurance and there's nothing perfect in this life and we're not perfect in anything.

That we do. And so our response to God's saving work isn't always going to be full of confidence and surety and you're not always going to have assurance.

Most of the time, for many of you, yes, sometimes you'll really struggle, but I think it'll help.

What else? Israel, you've got till the end of August now if you want to go with Bethlehem Bible Church and No Compromise Radio.

Pat, The Pact of Mabendroth, he is full and he's going to get a few of my spots if you don't sign up.

So I told him I'd leave it open till the end of August. If you want to sign up, you can. February 23 through March 1st or 2nd or something like that of 2023,

I heard Israel has lifted all COVID restrictions. So we're thankful for that and we intend on going.

If you've got questions, you can write me info at nocompromiseradio .com. I mentioned before, but Grant Smith and his family showed up for the

Law Gospel Conference at Pastor Steve Meister's church in Sacramento, and that was good seeing them, except they didn't have

No Compromise stuff on. He had a Pactom shirt on, so much for that.

I think when this airs as well, Pat and I will be in New York City Thursday and Friday, as S.

Louis Johns would say. What are those dates? Thursday and Friday at Andy Woodard's church,

Providence Baptist Church, like on 61st Street or something.

The conference is next Thursday, Friday, Saturday, August 25th, New York City.

City church. City catechism. Not. Today is part two of a sobering, solemn doctrine, but true, the doctrine of hell.

It is difficult because it's terrifying and it hits close to home because everybody we know has an eternal soul and they go to heaven or hell when they die.

It's appointed for men once to die and then judgment. We know that day's coming for all of us. It's appointed.

Short of the Lord's appointed return, we will die. I'm 62. I look in the mirror.

I think, Ecclesiastes 12, you're dying. I'm getting better on the bike.

I rode the bike, I don't know, four to five days a week in the Redwoods this summer. Felt pretty good.

I don't know why I'm short of breath today, but maybe I'm just nervous. You ever get nervous being on the radio? I remember when

I first started doing radio, I was, as my father would say, nervous, nervous. Back to the subject.

Coming back from California, knowing that I needed to get back into Ecclesiastes soon in our sequential exposition of a

Christ -centered preaching style through all the books of the Bible, I thought, what do I need to talk about in between, especially summer's still on and some people are visiting?

I'd like to talk about 1 Corinthians 6 and those that practice fornication, adultery, idolatry, homosexuality, will not inherit the kingdom of God, but such were some of you.

You were washed, sanctified, justified. That motivates us to flee immorality, verse 18, and glorify

God in our bodies, verse 20. And I thought, I want to talk about hell. Well, strike that.

I don't want to talk about it, but I need to talk about it. I have a compulsion to talk about it because I'd like to be faithful to the scriptures.

And if the world is saying homosexuality is righteous and good and ought to be celebrated, I need to make sure that the people that are under my charge, they realize what the

Bible says instead. In addition, the world doesn't talk anything about hell unless it's

George Patton, hell on wheels or something, to hell and back, fiery hot salsa ghost peppers, but we need to know about it.

The world's not going to talk about it, so we must talk about it from the pulpit. And today we're going to look at Matthew, at several passages when the

Lord Jesus talks about the doctrine, and you need to believe in this doctrine, even though it's horrible, even though it's terrifying, because Jesus taught it and you are to submit yourself to God's word.

God, I don't like it. God, I don't feel like I want to believe it, but I do submit myself to your word and therefore

I believe it because you have taught me to trust you and you have been faithful and what you say is true and right and just and some things are difficult, some things are pleasant and pleasing, and I will accept both because they're from you and you are the only king.

You are the only creator and you now are my savior. Bowing to scripture, being under scripture, teaching of Jesus Christ yields the doctrine of hell.

One person called him the theologian of hell. That's because he talked about it a lot. Another theologian,

WTG Shedd, said, the strongest support of the doctrine of eternal or endless punishment is the teaching of Christ, the redeemer of man.

That's amazing. Bertrand Russell, he was an atheist, and he said,

I do not myself feel that any person who is really profoundly human can believe in everlasting punishment.

I must say that I think all this doctrine that the hellfire is a punishment for sin is a doctrine of cruelty.

If love himself, incarnate love himself, Jesus himself taught that hell was authentic and it was a real place and that it was awful, you better believe that.

And I know you, dear listener, along with the church that I pastored, do believe it. But we need to be reminded because it will motivate us to be so thankful and grateful and to then be good evangelists.

And for those that are sitting in who aren't Christians, they're eavesdropping, as it were, to Christian conversation, they'll realize, oh, that's going to be me one day and that God would grant them repentance and faith.

Passage 1, Matthew 10, 28. Matthew 10, 28.

I mean, what is hell? In the essence of hell, what is it? What makes hell hell?

I mean, the absence of God? Jean -Paul Sartre said that hell is other people.

Who cares about brimstone? Hell is people. Can you imagine? Hell is people.

What makes hell hell? Well, most people think that God is absent in hell. And look at Matthew 10, 28.

And do not fear, Jesus said, those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

Revelation 14 speaks of the same truth. And another angel, a third, followed them saying with a loud voice, if anyone worships the beast and its image and receives a mark on his forehead or on his hand, he will also drink the wine of God's wrath, poured full strength into the cup of his anger, and he will be tormented with fire and sulfur in the presence of the holy angels and in the presence of the lamb.

And the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever, and they will have no rest day or night. These worshipers of the beast and its image and whoever receives the mark of its name.

Who can destroy both body and soul in hell? Obviously, God is omnipresent.

Obviously, God is everywhere. It's not like God is absent from hell. Oh, the face of his pleasure, the presence of his kindness and goodness.

Those are all absent. That's true. That's the idea we get in 2

Thessalonians 1, away from the presence, the favorable presence of the Lord. Absence of the favor of God, Louis Burckhoff would say.

I mean, can you escape God in space? I mean, think about it.

One person said, when Adam and Eve forfeited God's presence in Eden through their rebellion and were cast out, it did not mean that God was no longer present outside Eden.

God's presence symbolized by Eden and the promised land denotes a loving, enjoyable relationship with God in which the wholeness of life was experienced.

I mean, to be cast from his presence, there's not spatially,

I mean, God is omnipresent, but you're shut off from any kind of goodness, any kind of kindness, any kind of love.

The best way to understand hell is this. You're in the presence of God without a mediator, an advocate.

The best way on the flip side to describe heaven is that you're in the presence of God with a mediator, an advocate.

The Lord Jesus. I think it's true that in heaven,

Jesus, the advocate and the mediator, that's what makes heaven heaven. What makes hell hell? Jesus, the omnipresent God, his divine nature, will operate as tormentor.

Yeah, that's true, sorry, that it's so close to home, but we cannot ignore these truths.

Gibson said, God who is the heaven of one person will be the hell of another. I mean, you can think about it, can you not?

Psalm 16, in your presence, there is fullness of what? Joy. Yes, of course.

I mean, if I were to ask you this, when Jesus said, fear him who can destroy soul and body and hell, who's going to be the one doing the tormenting?

Satan? Who tortures, torments? No. A website called

GotQuestions, which has some good questions, by the way, and some pretty decent answers. I disagree with some, but pretty good.

This description of hell would present a more exact opposite to heaven. Heaven provides blessing and wholeness, not through being closer spatially to God, but by being in complete fellowship with him.

Hell is associated with a complete lack of blessing due to the severing of any fellowship with God. Ultimately, it appears that God is indeed present in hell and hell is his presence depending on how one looks at it.

God is and will forever be omnipresent. He will forever know what is happening in hell. However, this fact does not mean that souls in prison there will have a relationship with God or any kind of communication with him.

It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of a living

God. Does Satan rule hell? Do you go party with your friends in hell?

Is Satan's realm hell? Is it his sovereign hell? No. He doesn't rule there.

The Lord rules there. When you say, being saved from something, he saved me from my sins, ultimately that's he saved me from me bearing the wrath of God for my sins.

This is the wrath of God. God is wrathful. God has wrath.

Maybe that's better. I don't think his attributes, he is wrath, but since he is holy, he has wrath.

Hell is the presence of God in his wrath and judgment, R .C. Sproul said. Would not an unbeliever say, what

I would love to do is get away from God. I didn't like him on earth. I don't want him in hell either, but that's not what they're going to get.

They want separation from God, but they're not going to get that. They're not going to be close to God in a warm way, in a kind way, in a merciful way, in a gracious way, in a good way.

No, in a punishing way. Destroying both soul and body in, thrown in.

I mean, even that, you're like, oh, who can destroy? It's crazy.

Lots of times there's this language of thrown in. It's this language of Mark chapter nine, thrown in, cast in.

People just don't go to hell because the doors of hell are locked on the inside, C .S. Lewis unwisely said.

No, no. They're a cast in. My name's Mike Cabenroth. This is

No Compromise Radio. Aren't you thankful you don't have to go there, Christian? Aren't you now motivated to go evangelize?

Passage two is Matthew 13, Matthew 13. I think ultimately, hell is hell because God's there, and now in Matthew 13, we're going to learn that people deserve their punishment.

Cruel and unusual punishment, is that what's in hell? Is there cruelty in hell?

I don't think there's any cruelty in hell. Is there any injustice in hell? I don't think there's any injustice in hell.

It is perfect justice. Perfect justice, Matthew 13, 33. No, let's pick it up in 34.

All these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables, indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet.

I will open my mouth in parables. I will utter what has been hidden since the foundation of the world. Then he left the crowds and went into the house, and his disciples came to him, saying,

Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field. He answered, The one who sows the good seed is the son of man, the field is the world, and the good seed is the sons of the kingdom.

The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels, just as the weeds are gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at the end of the age.

The son of man will send angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all causes of sin and all lawbreakers and throw them into the fiery furnace.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. The righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their father.

He who has ears, let him hear. The kingdom of God, verse 44, is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up.

Then in his joy he goes and sells all that he has and buys that field. Again the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, who on finding one pearl of great value went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Again the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish of every kind. When it was full, men drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad.

So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous and throw them into the fiery furnace.

In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Do people deserve their punishment in hell?

Is it just kind of random? Like you're unlucky? No, no. You're in hell, do you notice back in the text, because of sin and evil.

The wages of sin is death. The day you eat of the tree you'll surely die. What does it say back in Matthew 13, verses 40 to 42?

Causes of sin and law breaking. That's why they're thrown in. What does it say in verse 49 and 50?

Evil. So people that sin against God, they break

His law, they do evil. That's why they're in hell. God is fair.

Hell is fair. Better than that, God is just. Hell is just. God's hell will be just.

And sin, which is so heinous and such an atrocity to God. God is so allergic as it were to sin, so repulsive to sin, it's an abomination in God's sight.

When you think of sin in Romans chapter 3, the smell of graves, poison, snakes, biting.

You think, okay, God is so holy. God hates those that do evil,

Psalm 5, Job sees God and he says, I abhor myself. Isaiah sees

God, woe is me. Daniel sees God and says, there's no strength in me. Your eyes,

God, are too pure to approve evil. If you think hell is full of God's cruel and unusual punishment, what does that tell you?

First of all, is it possible for God to be cruel? I think cruelty means unjust.

I think cruelty means you did something and you have to pay for it with more than you should pay for it.

It's manslaughter, but you get first degree murder. Will the judge do right?

Yes. Will innocent people ever have to suffer? No. Or Daniel said, only sinners go to hell and all in hell are sinners.

Those in hell receive what they deserve. Hell is where God punishes sin. Some people have sinned more and others less.

Let me ask this way. Does anybody deserve to be in heaven? Do you?

Your children, do they deserve to be in heaven? See that's what we need to think about.

And I saw a great white throne, Revelation 20, and him who was seated on it from his presence earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them.

I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne and the books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life.

And the dead were judged by what was written in the book according to what they had done. Just judge.

What you do, you have to pay for. They stand to receive their sentence. The defendant rises and God forgot.

God is senile. God can't remember their sins. Too many sins to count, so he lets them off.

No, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them according to what they had done.

Death and Hades were thrown in the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire, and if anyone's name was not written in the book of life, he was thrown in the lake of fire.

The sinful deeds of the believers are not taken into account because Jesus paid for all those.

So they just have their name in the book. But for those that are not covered by the blood of the Lamb, not washed in the righteousness of Christ Jesus and cleansed, not born again, those people that aren't

Christians, they have to pay for their own sin, their own deeds. I mean, you're dead in trespasses and sins before you're a

Christian, and then what happens? God makes you alive. But if you aren't made alive, you remain dead in your trespasses and sins.

Calvin said, even if there were no hell, I would still shudder at offending him. In hell, the punishment fits the crime.

It's against a thrice holy God. And whether you read outer darkness and second death and weeping and gnashing of teeth or fire or torment, people get what they deserve.

And we have to submit ourselves to scripture. Scripture's trying to scare us.

It's not only trying to scare us, but it's trying to make us so afraid of offending God. And if we have not received

Christ Jesus, that we run to our Savior, run to the Savior. People want to argue all about, oh, it's a metaphorical fire or it's real fire, all these other things.

I think those are fine conversations, but not for today, not for this show.

I mean, I guess I'll say this, Ralph Powell quotes in Baker's Encyclopedia of the Bible, if the descriptions of hell are figurative or symbolic, the conditions they represent are more intense and real than the figures of speech in which they are expressed.

So if you don't want a real fire, if it's a metaphorical fire, it's going to be worse than fire ever was. So why are we arguing about that?

Spurgeon said, now do not begin telling me that that is a metaphorical fire, for who cares for that?

If a man were to threaten to give me a metaphorical blow on the head, I should care very little about it. He would be welcome to give me as many as he pleased.

And what say the wicked? We do not care about metaphorical fires, Spurgeon, but they are real, sir, real, as you yourself are real.

There is a real fire in hell as truly as you have a real body now. Much wiser.

But you know what? People say loving God wouldn't send people to hell. Well, yeah, but God's not only loving, he's just.

God is love and God is justice. God is just, rather. We don't deserve heaven.

We've sinned against God, but we have a mediator. We have a mediator.

Can you imagine? God loves you and sent his son to live for you and die for you and to be raised for you and his son intercedes for you even now.

That's amazing. You want to know what grace is? You want to know what amazing grace is? You want to know what sovereign amazing grace is?

You want to know what grace is greater than all our sins is? Well, you just look at hell and say, I'm not going.

Passage number three will have to be for next time. Time goes by fast here on No Compromise Radio.

My name is Mike Abendroth. This is No Compromise Radio. You can write me info at nocompromiseradio .com.

If you would like, you can go to Amazon. I think even in the UK, you can do this as well.

Gospel Assurance, a 31 day guide for assurance. It says compiled by Mike Abendroth, and I think it's going to help you.

Read the introduction and then just read a chapter, a little section. It's not a whole chapter, just a page or two every day.

And I think it will help you think about the Lord Jesus. And when you think about Jesus rightly as a Christian, you're going to have assurance.

Talk to you soon. You can always write me info at nocompromiseradio .com. No Compromise Radio with Pastor Mike Abendroth is a production of Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston.

Bethlehem Bible Church is a Bible teaching church firmly committed to unleashing the life transforming power of God's word through verse by verse exposition of the sacred text.

Please come and join us. Our service times are Sunday morning at 1015 and in the evening at 6. We're right on route 110 in West Boylston.

You can check us out online at bbchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.