Doctrine of hell

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.

We're here to take your calls as well. Here's our host, Pastor Mike Abendroth.

Why This Program Will Talk About Hell

Welcome back to No Compromise Radio ministry, this is Mike Abendroth, I'm your host. Today is Wednesday, October 21st, and we typically talk about books on Wednesday, but we'll talk about books tomorrow with Mike Horton, and books of Friday with Ted Kluck.

So today we'll talk about something else. Before we get into our topic today, I want you to know that on this show we have a slogan. NoCompromiseRadio .com's slogan is, Always Biblical, Always Provocative, Always In That Order.

After all, I want to teach the Bible. I believe that God has saved me and commissioned me into gospel ministry, called me into ministry to teach you the Bible, to anyone who will listen, whether it's just my family, the church that I am allowed to pastor, Bethlehem Bible Church in West Boylston, or on the radio or any other way I can influence people.

Maybe that's podcasts, books, etc., and so I want to make sure that I'm biblical. After all, if I'm a good talker or I'm interesting but not biblical, that doesn't do us much good now, does it? That does not give God glory.

And so I want to make sure I talk about Christ Jesus, His finished work, who He is, the good news of salvation, that He's the risen King, there's forgiveness found in no one else. But I also want to do it in an interesting way.

I don't think the Bible's boring. I don't think preaching should be boring. I don't think anything about it should be, and so I want to provoke you, I want to prod you, I want to tell you, contra to our society today, that there is truth.

There is absolute truth. And if you affirm propositional truth, that means you must deny the contrary, you must deny error. And so to teach the truth, we have to stand up against error. And people don't like that today.

It's a God of love age. We are living in the age of Aquarius, it's the dawning of a new age, and you're not allowed to critique, you're not allowed to criticize, you're not allowed to disagree with, you can't debate, or someone thinks that it's unloving, it's not Christian.

Why Hell Is an Unpopular Doctrine

And so today we want to talk about the topic of hell. I would like to talk to you about an unpopular subject today, and that is on the subject of hell. You, if you're listening, need to believe what the Bible teaches about hell.

Not what your friend teaches, not necessarily what your church teaches, not what you've been taught from some romance book, or from The Secret, or from Dan Brown, or from any other person. But you need to say, I'll agree with those people if they teach what the Bible teaches.

What does Jesus and his apostolic messengers teach on the subject of hell? And so, I don't know when's the last time you heard a sermon from your pulpit on Sunday morning, from the church's pulpit, on the topic of hell.

Maybe you remember Jonathan Edwards here in New England when he preached in Enfield, and then of course he went back to his home church in Northampton to preach the same sermon, to lesser effect. He preached the sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

And people have thought he has taken eternal retribution, and he's put it on steroids, and he has gone over the deep end, gone off the deep end. Is that true? Is there a—are there sinners? Is there an angry God?

We don't think about God being angry anymore. We don't think about Psalm 5, verse 5, that God hates wickedness and hates wicked. We have slogans like God loves the sinner but hates the sin. And frankly, God, in his creative love for people, he has a love for created people.

But God also hates sinners. That's right, that's what Psalm 5, verse 5 says. So today we want to talk about this unpopular subject, hell. And it's probably going to take us a couple Wednesdays to get through this, a couple days.

There's all kinds of people teaching the opposite of hell. I give you some examples. Christian Science, for instance, founded by Mary Baker Eddie Glover Patterson Frye. I don't know how many of those were her husband's or just—she had a long last name.

I do know the question, but that's just rhetorical. She said there is no death. So by the way, if there's no death, how can there be some kind of hell? She taught, quote, heaven and hell are states of thought, not places.

And so some people have their hell on earth right now. That, by the way, is very popular, even if you're not a Christian scientist. By the way, MacArthur used to say, it's like grape nuts. It's not grape, and it's not nuts, and it's not Christian, and it's not science.

Well, what about other people? What do they say on the flip side of the non-biblical side? Mormonism, for instance, taught through Joseph Smith, quote, the false doctrine that the punishment to be visited upon erring souls is endless, is but a dogma of unauthorized and erring sectarians at once, unscriptural, unreasonable, and revolting, end quote.

That's Joseph Smith. Now, I believe it is scriptural, and I believe it is true, but it is certainly revolting. Joseph Smith was right. Hell is revolting. Jehovah's Witnesses teach through Charles Taze Russell, forever annihilated, quote, the teaching about a fiery hell can rightly be designated as a teaching of demons, end quote.

And the list goes on and on and on. The Love Family, the Children of God, founded by Spiritist David Berg, talks about hell this way, quote, the lake of fire is where the wicked go to get purged from their sins to let them eventually come out.

And so we have some kind of a hybrid of purgatory, and we have a hybrid of hell that doesn't exist. And so we are people of the book, aren't we? We can't say what we think, what we feel, what we'd like to have happen.

We have truth, and truth comes from outside of us. We are not mystics. We are not subjective. We are not trying to determine truth based on our own theological gizzards. We have to say we have an external source, and we can't know truth unless someone has told us.

And so God, in his great mercy, has given us all kinds of different ways to understand him that were put in one book. And sometimes God moved with visions, dreams, still small voices speaking from Mount Sinai.

It sounded like thunder through Jesus, through the prophets, through his apostolic messengers. And now we have truth, and it's outside of us. We had this canon of truth called the Bible before we were born.

Before you were alive, there was God's revealed truth. After you will be dead, there will be God's revealed truth. And that's the only way we can find out who God is. Anything less turns into just Mike Abendroth religion.

It's not Christianity. It's just whatever I make up. And so some people cannot stand the fact that their loved ones who have rejected Christ Jesus, who have not confessed him as Lord and Savior, who are not born again.

It is such a horrible thought, and I agree. It is such a tragic thought, and I agree, that they cannot bow their own knee to Scripture, and so they make up something else. Frankly, if the Bible didn't teach hell, it was literal, and it was forever.

It was eternal. I could not wrap my mind around that. I mean, who could? And so today we want to just say we have to submit our hearts and our minds and our wills to the Holy Scripture. We can't say, well, you know, let's just hope for annihilationism.

Let's just hope that there might be some pain, but after a long pain, maybe there's a second chance, or maybe they're just obliterated. And sadly, we have evangelical scholars. I don't know if you can be an evangelical scholar and deny hell.

I guess you can. Someone like John Stott. I respect John Stott a lot, but he has said, I also believe that the ultimate annihilation of the wicked should at least be accepted as a legitimate, biblically founded alternative to their eternal conscious torment.

That is very, very difficult to take. That's worse to stomach than hell, because John Stott knows better. And so what do we do? We have to say, of course, the world will not like the doctrine of hell.

Some in the church might not like the doctrine of hell, because it's a feeling-based world, and this just doesn't feel good. But we, along with Walter Elwell's book, Baker's Encyclopedia of the Bible, an article written by Ralph Powell, says this, it must always be remembered that the Bible is our rule of faith for the doctrine of hell.

However difficult the doctrine may seem for natural reason or for human sentiment, scripture leaves no doubt about the terrible nature and eternal duration of hell. Rejection or neglect of this doctrine will have dire effects upon the health and mission of the church.

And it's true. Once you jettison this, what's next? Compromise leads to more compromise. And so you just can't do that. You have to stand up for the truth no matter what. And we have to make sure we have a biblical definition of hell.

I mean, these days, if someone's wreaking havoc, they'll say all hell is broken loose. We'll talk about George Patton as a man who is nicknamed Hell on Wheels. People will say, you know, that war is hell.

I went through hell. And we want to make sure we are very careful in the way we speak. Some people use hell as some kind of curse word now. But we've got to just go back, what does the Bible say? Did you know in a survey of evangelical seminary students that 46 of them—this is in MacArthur's Ashamed of the Gospel book, page 65—46 of these surveyed students felt preaching about hell to unbelievers is poor taste.

It's bad etiquette. Emily Barnes would not like it if we would talk about hell to these people. MacArthur goes on, worse yet, three out of every 10 self-professed born-again people surveyed believe good people will go to heaven when they die, even if they've never trusted Christ.

So do you see the converse of this? You say, well, hell isn't really true. And by the way, good people end up going to heaven. One out of every 10 evangelicals say they believe the concept of sin is outmoded.

So when sin goes out the window, when we dumb down God's holiness and exalt man's goodness, we don't even really need a hell. And so I think we need to make sure we still believe in hell. Why would it be important?

Well, A, it's in the Bible. But B, your evangelism will go down. Your zeal will be abated, as Tozer would say, for evangelism when you believe there's no hell. If you think people have purgatory, if you believe they're annihilated, if you believe in universalism, then you are going to say, it's not that big a deal for me to preach the gospel.

It's not very fun to preach the gospel. There's the offense of the cross, the stone of stumbling, the only one way Jesus is exclusive. Well, I'll just hold out and they can get to heaven another way. But friends, if you realize that everyone in your life, everyone you've ever met or will meet, will stand before a thrice holy God on judgment day, and they will either have their own righteousness, which won't be righteous at all.

They will either have their own works to try to merit God's favor, or they'll have Christ Jesus' work and his merit to earn his favor. And frankly, the first one's not going to work because we are sinful beings.

And so we stand before God. We cannot stand before God. We cannot be in God's presence, and he will have us depart from him, those who practice lawlessness. And so if you realize everybody you know, your parents, your kids, your neighbors, you walk outside and see all those kids scamper onto the bus in the morning, every person who's ever been born will stand before God.

And they will be undone unless they are cloaked with the perfect righteousness of Christ Jesus, unless they have had their sins placed on Christ Jesus at Calvary, confirming this by the great resurrection.

And so if you toss hell out, you're not going to want to evangelize very much. Tozer said, the vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become, listen to this, a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.

Tozer was before his time. He was practically a prophet, smaller case P. But we have to make sure we understand what the Bible teaches. It is vital for evangelism. It is vital for your thanksgiving. Friend, if you're a Christian today listening, aren't you glad you don't have to go to hell forever?

Aren't you glad you don't have to go there and suffer the torments of the damned? You deserve to go. You should have gone. It was your destiny to go, except there is someone who said, I've got a better destiny because I will interrupt that person.

I will interrupt you. I will stop you. I will make you born again. You're running to hell as fast as you can. And then God, the Spirit of God interrupts you. So we need to make sure that we are not playing to the culture.

If you're a pastor and you think preaching about hell is in bad taste, then you need to ask yourself the question, I need to preach for God's glory. I don't need to be concerned about how the congregation responds.

That should never be the issue. Although I understand if they control your money, they control your health insurance, your life insurance, your car allowance, then it's easy to be able to say, well, I might have to back off a little bit.

But you must not. J .C. Ryle said, let others hold their peace about hell if they will. I dare not do so. I see it plainly in scripture and I must speak of it. I fear that thousands are on that broad road that leads to it.

And I would feign arise them to their sense of peril. What would you say of the man who saw his neighbor's house in danger of being burned and never raised the cry, fire? Ryle says, call it bad taste.

If you like to speak of hell, call it charity to make things pleasant and speak smoothly and soothe men with the constant lullaby of peace. From such notions of taste and charity, may I ever be delivered.

My notion of charity is to warn men plainly of their danger. My notion of taste is to declare all the counsel of God. If I never spoke of hell, I should think I had kept back something that was profitable and should look on myself as an accomplice of the devil.

He's right. The doctrine of hell is profitable. It is God-breathed scripture. And it is good for us to teach this. It is good for us to understand this. And it is good for Christians and unbelievers to understand the doctrine of everlasting punishment.

Jesus Taught Hell More Than Anyone Else

I don't know if you have your Bibles, but if you have your Bibles, you should turn to the book of Mark. Turn to the book of Mark. And let's take a look at the one that talked about hell more than anyone else.

This is not some Pauline doctrine. This is not the Sons of Thunder doctrine. This is not some kind of Old Testament minor prophet doctrine, someone like Amos. This is a doctrine affirmed by all those men, certainly.

But this is a doctrine taught mostly by our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Listen to Mark 9, verse 38. John said to Jesus, Teacher, we saw someone casting out demons in your name, and we tried to hinder him because he was not following us.

You know, we're the official representatives, and they weren't. But Jesus said, Do not hinder him, for there is no one who shall perform a miracle in my name and be able soon after to speak evil of me.

For he who is not against us is for us. For whoever gives you a cup of water to drink because of your name as followers of Christ, truly I say to you, he shall not lose his reward. And so now Jesus continues to teach other lessons.

The disciples have had a dispute, and now Jesus begins to teach this other lesson right out of this theme. Verse 42. Whoever causes one of these little ones who believe to stumble, he's talking about Christians, it would be better for him if, with a heavy millstone hung around his neck, he had been cast into the sea.

And so Jesus says, if you're going to cause one of these Christians, this has nothing to do with a little child. We wouldn't want to make a child to stumble, but this is talking about a childlike faith Christian.

Then this large millstone, this heavy millstone that had to be turned by some kind of animal like a donkey. You can imagine how bad this would be to have a donkey millstone around your neck and cast into the deepest body of water.

Not some pond, not some stream, not some bathtub, but something very, very deep. And then Jesus says in Mark 9 .43, and if your hand causes you to stumble, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than having your two hands to go into hell, into the unquenchable fire.

You have objects that have lots of value, your hands, your feet, your legs. And Jesus says, if you've got something that is of value to you like your hands, but they are causing people to stumble and cause you to stumble, it's better not to have them.

And he's using this hyperbolic statement to teach something. This is not some literal issue like Origen would teach. A .J. Gossop, a Scottish preacher, tells the story about a theology student that went crazy and cut off his hand with a razor.

That's not what he meant here. That's not what Jesus meant here. And so you wouldn't think twice about having some kind of gangrenous limb cut off and amputated to save your life now, would you? Of course not.

And so Jesus here is talking about this is better. This radical amputation spiritually is better than getting cast into hell. Jesus is talking about the reality of hell. Shedd said the strongest support of the doctrine of endless punishment is the teaching of Christ, the Redeemer, man.

You shall be guilty enough to go into fiery hell. For your whole body to be thrown into hell. In this place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth cast out into outer darkness. These are all red letters.

These are all Jesus's words. You should fear him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell. And they will gather out of his kingdom all stumbling blocks and those who commit lawlessness and will cast them, verse 42, into the furnace of fire.

In that place there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth. That's what Jesus, the Son of Man, will do as he sends his angels to be his executioners. It says in verse 50, This is from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

Do you believe it? You must believe it. You have no option except to say, oh, the Bible is written by men. And once you do that, it is over. It is complete. It is done. And it's not it. You are done because you'll then find another doctrine.

You'll find women's roles in the church. I don't like that. That'll be done. View of homosexuality. I don't like that. That's done. You either submit to the text or you are above the text. Those are your only options.

Eternal Punishment and the Gospel Call

Matthew 25, verse 46. These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. Matthew 25, verse 46. If heaven is forever, and you want that to be forever, don't you? Then hell is too.

The exact same word. Eternal punishment, eternal life. You can't say, I really, you know, think this is Pauline. He made this up. But you can't say it because Jesus taught it. John taught it. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown in the lake of fire.

Revelation 20, verse 15. Peter taught it. 2 Peter 2, 4. If God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to pits of darkness reserved for judgment. And then he goes on to talk about the punishment for false teachers.

You don't want to go to hell. If you're not a Christian, you must repent and believe today the good news. The good news that is this. You could not save yourself. You could not forgive yourself. You could not make yourself acceptable to God.

So God, in his great love and his mercy and his kindness, sent his son, Jesus Christ, to do for you what you couldn't do. And that is Jesus laid down his life for sinners. He lived a perfect life. He obeyed the law.

He had a perfect righteousness because he was God. And then he lived out this great life. And then he died on the cross as a substitutionary death for sinners, just like you, and was raised from the dead.

And if you don't believe that, you are going to hell. You are going to an eternal, literal hell for an eternity. And I don't want you to do that. I want you to believe. I want you to repent, follow, trust Christ Jesus.

Believe with your heart that God raised him from the dead, that he is who he says he is. Otherwise, it is a hell for you, eternal, everlasting, forever and ever. And you say, well, that's not loving. It's the most loving thing I could do.

It is the most reasonable thing I could do. I don't want you to have the torments of the damned. Spurgeon said they are forever, forever, forever lost. On every chain in hell, there is written forever.

In the fires, they blaze out the words forever. Richard Baxter said they were wont to think sermons and prayers are long. How long will they then think these endless torments? Friends, we just scratched the surface today.

It's enough to read eight or ten verses from the Lord Jesus Christ about the eternal damnation of those who reject him. You're either for Jesus or you're against him. And you can't say, well, he's a good man, and he's this, and he was a good teacher, and he was moral.

Friends, that is not enough. You must call him Lord and Savior. And if you can't do that, then you ought to cry out, God have mercy on me. I am a sinner. I am the sinner. When I look around, I don't see anyone else and their sins.

I notice mine because I realize you're holy and you have a holy heaven. And I realize I can't trust in some kind of nonsensical doctrine like purgatory because it's not even found in the Bible. It's not found in the words of Jesus.

There is a hell, and you need to know about it. And if you're a Christian, you need to tell your friends so that they'll be rescued by the Lamb. This is Mike Abendroth, NoCompromiseRadio .com, NoCompromiseRadio .com.

God bless you.