God's kindness in warning us of hell | Clip from Divine Retribution

The sermon, as he lays it out, four points. The first is that it is right that God inflict on wicked men a punishment that is eternal. And under that he deals with two different aspects, that God's punishment of wicked people is not inconsistent with his justice, and that it's not inconsistent with his mercy.

And those are probably still two of the arguments that people would offer today. The second is that this punishment is eternal punishment, it is abiding, a sensible punishment, it's not just annihilation, you're not just disappearing.

Third, that it is eternal, so not just of long duration. And he gives several arguments that people make, and I don't know that we'll actually get to that point, so I'll just mention them here. I mentioned here that there are people who make the argument that when God speaks of it lasting forever, there are other places in Scripture where forever is obviously kind of hyperbole.

And so they're trying to apply that to this punishment. But he makes arguments and demonstrates that that's not what God means here, and that's not the only language that he employs here. So you can read that section.

Also, though, that it is eternal and it's not shortened by God. God doesn't, in a moment of pity, see people suffering in hell and say, okay, that's enough, which goes back really to the argument of justice, doesn't it?

So he makes both of those points, demonstrating that it is an eternal punishment. Then he lists four outcomes of this punishment that show that they are good outcomes, that there's good that comes from this.

There is God's majesty vindicated. He is God, and he deserves our obedience. He deserves our love. Justice is upheld. God has for a long time, in a sense, winked at sin. He demonstrates justice at the cross.

Before that, he had winked at sin. But he still is, in a sense, delaying and waiting. But his justice will be upheld. His grace is glorified. And we see this, his grace glorified, as we see something of the greatness of our salvation.

The sin is that great. The punishment is that great. The salvation must be a great salvation. So his grace is exemplified in that. And then also, if we deserve that, if that's the punishment that is deserved, then how great is God's mercy or grace demonstrated to us when we think about the rewards that we receive, the joy of living with him through eternity for those who are in Christ.

Then he makes a number of applications, and we'll walk through some of those, I think, as we go through the sermon.

Yeah.

Before we even get to the particular high points of the sermon that we want to discuss today, I think it is good to remember that it is an extraordinary kindness. It is a kindness of great significance that if all of humanity is rightfully heading to a very perilous end, that we are given a warning, that we are given a warning in a timely fashion, that we are given a warning in time to turn away from this perilous end while there can still be something done about it, but also that the one that gives us the warning in a timely fashion so that we can do something about this is actually the only being who fully understands what's coming.

You can think of people giving you a warning and telling you how to prepare. So what if you ignore them? Well, you know, they gave you a warning, so ignoring them is... You know, that was a... It was a crime against yourself, so to speak.

You should have listened. You passed up a kindness. But what if you did everything they said to prepare for the coming need or danger or crisis? And when the crisis came, you were ill-prepared, not because of a lack of effort, but because the person who gave you guidance did not have all the facts.

And therefore, even though you followed their advice, you know, to the letter, you suffered great harm at the end. So it is an extraordinary kindness that God says to his enemies, to fallen humanity that fights against him.

He explains to them what is coming so that they will be moved even by self-love to turn and to cry out to God and to ask what the crowd did, you know, when Peter preached. You know, what must we do to be saved from this?

It is not all that there is to Christianity, you know, saving your skin. But it is a great starting place to realize that God has kindly exposed the terrible ultimate end of this pattern of life in time for me to be saved.

Also remarkable kindness in consideration of the fact that the one who is providing this information is the one that you have offended and is the one who himself has provided the means of escape.

Yeah, it would be a very different picture of God if one of the angels came and kind of behind God's back, so to speak, said to humanity, by the way, I am not supposed to tell you this, but there is a very terrible day coming and here is how you should prepare.

But it is the King that we fight against constantly. And like you said, and the King who paid the price so that not only can the warning come, but the way of rescue can come. We really do appreciate being able to interact with you through the comments.

So if you have questions or just comments you would like to leave, leave them below and we will get back to them as we have a chance.