The Truth About Hell (part 2) - [Matthew 5]

I'm always interested in deathbed discussions, what people say when they're dying.

Sir Thomas Scott is reported to have said on his deathbed, "...Until this moment, I thought there was neither a

God nor a hell.

Now I know and feel that there are both, and I am doomed to perdition by the just judgment

of the Almighty.".

Voltaire on his deathbed, "...O Christ, O Jesus, I must be abandoned by God and men.".

The doctors were afraid to go to his bedside, and he said finally to one brave doctor, "...I'm abandoned

by God and man.

I will give you half of what I'm worth if you will give me six months of life.".

The doctor said, "...Sir, you cannot even have six weeks.".

Voltaire answered right away and said, "...Then I shall go to hell, and you shall go with me.".

Infidel Adams cried these last words, "...I'm lost, lost, lost, damned,

damned, damned forever.".

William Pope, "...I have no contrition.

I cannot repent.

God will damn me.

I know the day of grace has passed.

You see one who is damned forever?

O eternity, eternity, nothing for me but hell.

Come eternal torments.

I hate everything that God has made, only I have no hatred for the devil.

I wish to be with him.

I long to be in hell.

Do you not see?

Do you not see him?

He's coming for me.".

I'm wondering why in our society today, nobody's afraid of hell.

You talk to the average person on the street, they're not frightened by hell, they're not afraid of hell at all.

They don't even think it's real.

If you'll take your Bibles and turn to Matthew chapter 10, I want to talk to you about the reality

of hell.

I want you to be afraid of hell for many reasons.

Number one, as we talked about last week, if you're a Christian, you should be very,

very thankful that because of what Christ did, see John chapter 10, Jesus

lays down his life for you, that you don't have to go to hell.

Hell is profitable to talk about because we say to ourselves, I deserve to go, but by the grace of

God, I don't.

Hell is profitable to talk about because it spurs us on to evangelism.

We have good news for people.

Sin can be forgiven.

You don't have to go to hell.

It's not too late.

And the thief on the cross, even on his deathbed, knew it was never too late as long as he was alive.

I've received many emails from you this week and I've been very thankful as a pastor that even though we

talked about hell last week in a blunt fashion, in a biblical fashion, many of you respond with,

I want to tell my friends and loved ones I have a renewed urgency to evangelize.

I also want to talk about hell because there are probably some of you here today that need to be

awakened to your fearful destiny because you have a false sense of security.

I don't want you to think to yourself, you know, I accepted Jesus in my heart.

I walked the aisle.

I got baptized.

I'm a pretty good person and therefore I'm set.

So we're looking at the doctrine of hell.

On one hand, I want to say to myself, it needs to be taught.

But why is there something in me that almost is ashamed of it?

Are you ashamed?

Maybe you've brought a friend today and you thought, oh great, now the pastor, besides money, what's the awful doctrine to talk about today?

Hell.

Jesus wasn't ashamed of it.

The writers of the Gospel weren't ashamed of it.

You ought not to be ashamed of it.

It is difficult, yes.

It is unbelievable unless Scripture would teach it, yes.

But the Scriptures do teach it and we need to be reminded of it.

I mean, you can think to yourself, when's the last time you heard a sermon or two on the doctrine of hell?

Psalm 90 says, who considers the power of your anger and your wrath?

The answer to that is sadly going to be those who are receiving torments in

hell.

William Booth, the founder of the Salvation Army, had a way with words and he said, to make a

good Christian missionary, we send them to school for five years.

I wish I could send them to hell for five minutes and have them come back.

They'd be the best missionaries.

And in a sense, that's what we're going to do today, to acknowledge again and accept and submit to and be

taught by Scripture.

This is what the Bible says about it.

And therefore, what do we do in light of those truths?

What do we do in light of the reality of hell?

What do we do when it comes to those loved ones where we're afraid to say something because it's difficult?

They're not going to like us.

It's going to cause family problems.

And it's probably true what Dabney said.

When you don't talk about Jesus to others, you functionally deny

the doctrine of hell.

I don't really believe in hell.

Well, I do, but my actions betray me.

So we want to make sure we have a close look at the doctrine of hell, true or

false.

It's appointed for man once to die, and then what?

Judgment.

And as Pilgrim's Progress' Christian said, I find I'm

not willing to do the first nor able to do the second.

Can you be saved from hell?

Can you be saved from your sins?

The only answer is going to be found in the Bible because once you start going outside of the Bible, what do politicians say about hell?

What do liberal theologians say about hell?

What do writers in the media say about hell?

They pretty much said what Mencken said a generation or two ago.

What is the function of a clergyman?

Answer, he gets his living by assuring idiots that he can save them from imaginary hell.

When you go to politicians, Khrushchev, when he was in the United States said, I tell you what the difference

between Christians and me is, that if you slap me on the face, I'll hit you back so hard your head will

fall off.

Our hairy Elmer Barnes, once we make a candid examination of the actual teachings of

Jesus insofar as we know them, it must be admitted that the teachings of Jesus are

not only archaic, but even destructive for any advanced

civilization.

But you know what?

If I'm a dad and I am, I want the pastor to tell my children, this is how you escape hell.

I want the pastor to tell the congregation, this is how you escape hell.

Otherwise, it's basically John Lennon theology, no hell below us, only

above, excuse me, above us only sky.

And even lately with Rob Bell, the poster boy of evangelicalism,

when he asked the question in Time Magazine, what if there's no hell?

Do you think this sermon and last week's sermon is in poor taste?

Is it bad taste to talk about hell?

What's going to happen is as you look at the doctrine of hell, you will say, I am so glad I don't have to go, and then you're

going to say, but that means everyone in my life, every child, every parent, every

relative, they are going to live forever, either in heaven or in hell.

And it makes me uncomfortable, so let's just not talk about it.

Or let's lower the bar, so my deceased grandmother can get in somehow.

We have to resist that.

We have to go back to what the Bible says.

And so last week we started examining biblical reasons why hell is true, and that

Christians should be thankful they don't have to go, and evangelistic.

And the first one was found that Jesus taught hell was true.

Remember Matthew 10 .28?

We looked at many scriptures.

Matthew 10 .28 was one of those, but I want you to go back and see it one more time

as we see the doctrine of hell as profitable.

All scripture is inspired by God and is what?

Profitable, including the doctrine of hell?

Absolutely.

People say, well, I don't like Paul's words, but I love Jesus' words.

Somehow Paul is harsh and Jesus is loving.

Well, what does Jesus say in Matthew 10 .28?

We looked at a dozen scriptures from Jesus, but we'll remind ourselves of this one, Matthew 10 .28.

And do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.

Rather, fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in

hell.

Incarnate Jesus.

Love incarnate teaches the doctrine of hell.

If you say, I'm a Christian, I follow Jesus, I follow His teachings, then you

must believe in hell.

Secondly, last week we looked at hell is scary and real because God

is in hell and God Himself is fearful.

Even go back to the text that we just read.

What does Matthew 10 .28 say?

I mean, whose hell is it really?

Is it Satan's hell?

No.

Who's doing the tormenting in hell?

We looked at that last week.

Do not fear those who kill the body, but cannot kill the soul.

Fear Him who can destroy both soul and body in hell.

God is omnipresent.

He's everywhere.

And of course, His good pleasure, His face that smiles, make His

face shine upon you and be glad, His face of fatherly countenance, that's not in hell, but God's

still there in hell.

When Adam and Eve were kicked out of the garden, forfeited God's presence in

Eden because of rebellion, does that mean God wasn't there?

Of course He was.

But the whole life, shalom, in the presence of God with His kindness and His mercy,

those won't be in hell.

Those will only be in heaven.

Hell is more than the absence of God.

When Tim Keller says, hell is simply one's freely chosen identity apart from God on a

trajectory into infinity.

In eternity, this disintegration goes on forever.

There is increasing isolation, denial, delusion, and self -absorption.

People in hell are miserable.

They are utterly, finally locked in a prison of their own self -centeredness.

All God does in the end with people is give them what they most want.

It's not true.

Because what they want the least is the presence of God, and He is there.

They are thrown into hell, cast into hell, Mark chapter 9 says.

Thirdly, we looked at hell is awful but true,

and that people there deserve their punishment.

They deserve their punishment.

Hell is not cruel and unusual punishment.

God is fair.

Hell is fair.

God is just.

Hell, therefore, God's hell is just.

Habakkuk 1, God, your eyes are too pure to approve evil, and you cannot look on wickedness

with favor.

Why do you look with favor on those who deal treacherously?

Why are you silent when the wicked swallowed up more than the righteous?

God's holy.

He can't look at sin.

No one in hell deserves to be in heaven.

The text says in Revelation that we saw last week, they are judged according to what they have done.

People say, well, a loving God won't send people to hell.

Well, a loving God and a God of only love doesn't exist.

He is a figment of your imagination because God is love, yes, but God is light, yes.

He's holy.

Romans 2 asks the question this way.

Do you presume on the riches of His kindness and forbearance, not knowing that God's kindness is

meant to lead you to repentance?

But because of your hard and impenitent heart, you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of God's wrath,

when God's righteous judgment will be revealed.

He will render to each one according to His works.

To those who by patience and well -doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, He will give eternal life.

But for those who are self -seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath

and fury.

Number four, new material for this morning.

Hell is frightening because it is eternal.

Maybe the most awful thing about hell, not only is God's presence there, not His

loving Father, but tormentor, is that God's

hell is eternal.

God's hell is eternal.

R .C. Sproul's mentor, John Gershner, said, the tendency of modern times has been to take punishment out of

eternity or eternity out of punishment.

Let's turn our Bibles to Matthew 25, verse 46, please.

We had some visitors last week and they said, we're looking for expository preaching.

And then you taught a topical message.

And I said, well, expository just means to expose you to the text.

It's good to teach sequential exposition.

And we'll begin that again in Hebrews very soon.

But exposition, Jesus was an expository preacher, even though He didn't preach verse by verse all the time.

We're looking at this doctrine because it's important.

Matthew 25, verse 46.

Notice the two words for eternal, and they have to both mean the same thing.

Don't think to yourself, heaven is eternal, but hell is

annihilationism.

And these will go away, Matthew 25, 46, into eternal

punishment, but the righteous unto eternal life.

If heaven is eternal, then hell is eternal.

Everyone wants heaven to be eternal.

It goes on forever, but the doctrine of hell is the same.

The Roman Catholic Church, of course, will deny that.

In their own catechism, I quote, Catechism 1030, all who die in God's grace and

friendship, but still imperfectly purified, are indeed assured of their eternal salvation,

but after death they undergo purification so as to achieve the holiness necessary to

enter the joy of heaven.

The church gives the name purgatory to this final purification of the elect, which is entirely

different from the punishment of the damned.

That is not true.

Matthew 25, 46, eternal punishment or eternal life.

The Bible uses other terms, unquenchable fire, eternal destruction, the worm that

dies not, day and night, forever and ever.

We might not want hell to last forever, but it does.

And with probably tears in his eyes, the Puritan writer Thomas Brooks says,

Oh, but this word eternity, eternity, eternity.

This word everlasting, everlasting, everlasting.

This word forever, forever, forever, will even break the hearts of the damned

in 10 ,000 pieces.

Impenitent sinners in hell shall have end without end, death without death,

night without day, mourning without mirth, sorrow without solace, and bondage without

liberty.

The damned shall live as long in hell as God himself shall live in heaven.

The Bible doesn't teach eternal damnation.

It doesn't teach eternal life in heaven.

Do you notice back in Matthew 5, 25, verse 46, the parallelism?

Eternal punishment and eternal life, both

long -lasting, both endless, both infinite.

If Jesus actually wanted to teach heaven goes on forever, but those in

hell are snuffed out, annihilated.

There's a cessation there.

He knew how to say that, but he did not.

Revelation 14, we read last week, and the smoke of their torment goes up forever and ever.

Literally, the Greek is unto the ages of the ages.

There is no stronger expression in the Greek language than forever.

Salvation, Hebrews 5, eternal.

Life, John 6, eternal.

Redemption, Hebrews 9, eternal.

Inheritance of the saints, Hebrews 9, eternal.

Now, when something happens to you on earth, if you say to yourself, I know in time it'll just be a little better,

at least it won't last forever, you can get through it.

I can endure this because I know there's an end date to it,

but not so in hell.

As long as God is eternal, hell is eternal.

The Bible says of hell, so says Jesus, if your eye causes you to stumble,

cast it out, it is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes to be cast

into hell.

Now, He describes hell, where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

Turn your Bibles to Acts 12, please, and we've got another description of that worm that does not

die.

What does it mean to have a worm that doesn't die?

These are all words in the Greek to tell us this never ends, it is eternal.

You say, but I don't want hell to be eternal.

I know your desires, I know your thoughts.

Friends, like with every single doctrine, our responsibility is to be under Scripture

and not over it.

If you say, well, I just as soon create my own religion, I think it was Christian Smith years ago who said, there was a

lady he met named Sheila and she just picked and choose whatever parts of the Bible she wanted along with every other

kind of world religion.

And he said, I know what kind of religion you now believe in.

And Sheila said, what's that?

And this man said, you believe in Sheilaism, where you are over and you

orchestrate everything versus the Christian.

Show me a Christian person.

And even the hardest doctrines of Scripture, they will say, I might not like it, I might not completely

understand it, but I will submit to Scripture.

Now, you know what was going on in Acts chapter 12.

Remember, we're talking about the worm that doesn't die that Jesus describes hell with.

In Acts chapter 12, now about that time, verse 1, Herod the king laid

hands on some who belonged to the church in order to mistreat them.

He had James, a brother of John, put to death with a sword.

Can you imagine?

When he saw this pleased the Jews, he proceeded to arrest Peter also.

Now, it was during the days of unleavened bread.

Verse 20, Now he was angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon, and with one accord they came to him, and

having won over Blastus, the king's chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because their country was fed by the king's country.

And on an appointed day, Herod, having put on his royal apparel, took his

seat on the rostrum, and began delivering an address to them.

And the people kept crying out, the voice of a God and not a man, the voice of a God and

not a man, the voice of a God and not a man.

And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him, because he did not give God the glory,

and he was eaten by worms, exact same word that Jesus uses in Mark chapter 9,

and died.

By the way, you can't read that passage without going to verse 24, because God's word is so

powerful, and His church will be built.

But the word of the Lord continued to grow and be multiplied.

Now, Josephus the writer, who is not inspired by the Holy Spirit, he's just a writer of history at the time,

he talks about this death, and he talks about how Herod came out that day perfectly, when the sun was

coming up.

Herod had on these silver clothes, so when the sun came down and beat upon Herod, the

reflection would go, and everyone would say, Herod is a God.

Herod's supernatural.

Josephus says, that Herod did neither rebuke them, nor reject their

impious flattery.

And so here he comes out, this murderer of Christians, and he comes out, and in full display,

perfectly, dramatically, steps onto the stage,

and he receives the worship.

I will not give my glory to another true or false.

True.

And that word right there, where it says, eaten by worms and died, is the exact same phrase Jesus

used to describe hell.

Yeah, but why a worm?

What's so eternal about a worm?

What's so never -ending about a worm?

Dr. Morton describes this worm, this skolax,

in the original language, as a head structure of the tapeworm.

Quote, Herod's death was almost certainly due to the rupture of a cyst, formed by a

tapeworm.

Most common in those countries, was the dog tape.

The heaviest infection comes from areas where sheep and cattle are raised.

Sheep and cattle serve as immediate hosts for the parasites.

The dog eats the infected meat.

The man gets the eggs from the dog.

The disease is usually characterized by formation of the cysts, generally on the right lobe of the liver.

The rupture of the cysts may release as many as two million skolices.

The developing worms inside the cysts, are called

skolices, because the anterior region constitutes the major part of the development of this stage.

Dr. Morton says a literal translation of Mark 9, 44, Where their skolax dieth

not.

Each section of the worm is a self -contained unit, which has both male and

female parts.

And therefore, the worm doesn't die.

Josephus said it took five days for Herod to die.

It was terrible pain.

The language that Jesus uses, is to make sure we understand, hell is forever.

Torment is forever.

Spurgeon, on every chain in hell is written, forever.

In the fire there, every fire blaze has the word on it, forever.

And you should probably ask yourself the question, if God is infinite in love,

and we commit finite sins, how could God punish people infinitely for a

finite sin?

Infinite punishment for finite sin?

How would you answer that?

How do you think through that?

Well, one of the first things I would do, is remember it is a sin against a thrice holy God.

The second thing I would think about is this, I could prepare

to steal money out of a credit union, and it might take three hours in the stealing.

And yet I could murder somebody, it would take two seconds.

Yet this requires more punishment than that.

Even with humans, the reference of length of time, occupied in the commission of the

offense, is dealt with.

William said, killing a dog is no worse than killing a man, if merely the subject who kills, and not the

object killed is considered.

Both alike are voluntary acts, and of one and the same person.

If therefore the gravity of the act, is to be measured solely by the nature of the person committing it, finite

person, and not by the thing against whom it is committed, infinite God, then killing a

dog, is as heinous as killing a man.

But see, we know if you kill a dog, and you kill a man, it's different.

We know if a person assassinates President Kinley, it's

different.

Number five,

hell is petrifying, because there are degrees of punishment in hell.

I basically have given you five reasons today, you should be thankful if you're a Christian, that you don't have to go.

Five reasons you should repent, and believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, if you're not a Christian.

Five reasons to evangelize your friends, because they're going to go to hell, unless they're born again.

There are degrees of punishment in hell.

Bad for all, worse for some.

Turn to Revelation, chapter 20, please.

Here's what we think about in evangelicalism.

The one sin that can never be pardoned, and that is

the determining sin of everything is, well, you now know about Jesus, and you've rejected Him,

and that will send you to hell, because you reject Jesus.

Friends, it is an awful thing to reject Jesus, and His offer of free grace to sinners.

But every sin is against God, and God holds people, not for just

rejecting Jesus, but He holds people for any sin against Him.

Don't fall for this.

Well, now you know about Jesus, now you're responsible.

No, you're always responsible, and you're extra responsible, because you now know about Jesus.

Revelation 20, verse 12.

I mean, we even know with our justice system, we know even what's in our conscience.

If you are Hitler and you die in your sins, you should have to pay more than if you're 20 years old and you die in your

sins.

20 years of sin are 50 years of sin.

We know there's justice in that.

Revelation 20, verse 12.

How are sinners judged in hell?

Answer, and the dead were judged by what was written in the books according to what they had done.

Of course, there's more punishment for more sin.

God's just.

Hebrews 10 speaks of this.

How much worse punishment do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God?

Of course, if you know about Jesus and say, I don't care about Jesus.

I hate Him.

And that's what all unbelief says.

Of course, that's worse.

But as the sins go by, it gets worse and worse and worse.

Every sin a person commits makes hell that much worse.

Every year the sinner lives makes hell that much worse.

There are degrees of punishment.

Of course, there's no degrees of annihilationism, but annihilationism isn't true.

Think about the flip side.

Are there degrees of reward for the Christian?

The Spirit of God has saved them, has made them born again, has given them a heart to love the Savior

Jesus Christ, the God -Man, the resurrected substitutionary death of Jesus.

They say, I love Him, and now the Spirit of God works in us and we evangelize and we pray and we serve others.

And Jesus said, you'll be rewarded for your service to Me.

Aren't there degrees of rewards in heaven?

Of course we believe that.

It's just easier to believe doctrines of heaven than it is doctrines of hell.

2 Corinthians 5 .10 it says, For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, this is for the

Christian, not for sins but for rewards, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has

done in the body, whether good or worthless.

In other words, Christians, it would be enough just to go to heaven, but God rewards us for what we've done.

And there are degrees of appreciation, degrees of reward in heaven.

I don't know exactly what the rewards will be, but here's the way I think about it, and I've been taught this for many years and still have not changed

my view.

You know, if I pick someone who's skilled in classical music and they go to hear

the Boston Symphony.

Do we have a Boston Symphony here?

Okay, we do.

I don't know anything, well, I know a little bit about music.

Just for your reference, I was first chair tuba, all city band, Omaha, Nebraska,

1974.

But I don't know much about classical music.

We both could go to the Boston Symphony and say, that's wonderful, I enjoyed that, except the trained

ear is going to really enjoy it and I'm just going to kind of enjoy it.

Everyone in heaven will enjoy heaven tremendously, but those who have been working

diligently for the Lord will be given rewards and I think it will be an increased appreciation

for their Savior.

And I think it will be the exactly converse of that in hell.

Hell will be awful for all, but it will be worse for those who have sinned more and

their, not appreciation, but their understanding of said torment

will be worse.

No wonder Edwards said, sinners in hell would give everything and more

to turn the clock back and have committed even one less sin.

I'm getting judged for 5 million sins if I only could get judged for 4 ,999 ,000.

Thomas Watson, the coolest part of hell is hot enough, but there are some who shall have a hotter place

in hell than others.

All shall go into the fiery prison, but some sinners God will thrust into the dungeon.

And you can just imagine.

All right, let's make it very personal.

I'm not kidding when I say to you, if you're a person here today and you're not born again and you refuse to worship Jesus

Christ on your deathbed, your hell will be hotter because you've rejected today's

message from the Bible.

You know better.

What does it say about a person who says, I love my sin more than loving Jesus and I'm willing to be

like William Pope?

I'm willing to go to hell for it.

Doesn't that even tell you you're enslaved to sin?

You're enslaved to bondage.

Satan has got your mind and your will and he's taken you over and you need somebody to come along and rescue

you, to help you, to get you out of it.

Speaking of which, turn to Matthew chapter 27.

We end with this glorious news.

We end with Jesus, as it were, absorbing hell at Calvary so you don't have to.

Jesus on the cross said many things.

It is finished.

But He also said something else that helps us with the doctrine of hell.

Helps us with the doctrine of God's wrath.

Assists us with such a devastating doctrine.

I mean, let's be honest.

If it was just us and God, that would be one thing.

But we've got relatives.

And for many of us, we have relatives who have died.

What about them?

Matthew chapter 27, verse 45.

I don't really think you can understand the doctrine of hell without thinking about what Jesus did at Calvary because it

all comes together right there.

Now from the sixth hour, Matthew 27, 45, they start counting hours at

six in the morning so now it's noon.

Darkness fell upon all the land until the ninth hour, 3 p .m., 1500.

About the ninth hour, Jesus cried out with a loud voice, Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani, translated,

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Now I think when you read the Bible, you should read it not emotionally, not

sentimentally, but you should read it that there's emotion in the text.

How do you think God said the words at Jesus' baptism?

This is my beloved Son in whom I'm what?

Well pleased.

Do you think it was, this is my beloved Son in whom I'm well pleased?

Could there be more emotion in that statement?

This is my beloved Son.

This one is my beloved Son.

I'm well pleased in Him.

And similarly with this passage.

Don't read it without emotion.

Can you imagine the Son of God for the first time ever not calling God the Father?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

The judgment of God fell upon the Son.

All the fury and wrath and judgment of God that He would pour out

on people in hell has now been dumped on Jesus.

Sinclair Ferguson, the death of Christ was itself a form of enduring the judgment of God and therefore the hell

condemnation that the sin He bore justly deserves.

Christ took the cup of God's wrath.

I mean, remember back in Gethsemane when Jesus said, my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death?

And then now He enters what would have been horrible for any Jew, let alone any person,.

To be forsaken by God

for us.

We hear the words of the Father in Hebrews 13.

I will never leave you, nor what?

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?

Ferguson, if we need to be convinced of the reality of hell, all we need to do is consider

the cross.

It's all there.

If you don't believe in hell, you don't believe in what Jesus did on the cross as a propitiation for sin.

Hell's reality should be obvious to anyone who looks at Calvary.

Why should we have to think about Jesus' death in such a way?

Strong, A .H. Strong the Baptist, if there be no eternal punishment, then man's danger

was not great enough to require an infinite sacrifice.

And we are compelled to give up the doctrine of the atonement.

If there were no atonement, there was no need that man's Savior should himself be more than a man.

And we are compelled to give up the deity of Christ and the Trinity.

Friends, mark this.

You get rid of hell, you get rid of the atonement, you get rid of human kind of Jesus, the deity of Jesus,

the Trinity, and it's gone.

And I can prove it more than one way, but you can just look at a man like Rob Bell.

I mean, to think that Jesus said in John 6, Behold, an hour is coming, and it

has already come for you to be scattered, each to his own, and to leave me alone.

And yet I'm not alone, Jesus said, because the Father's with me, yet on the

cross, forsaken, so that we

might not be forsaken.

Abandoned by God, so that we might not be abandoned by God.

I think it would be right if you said, if you could compress the eternal punishments of

hell into three hours, and that's what Jesus experienced

from noon to three, you'd be thinking rightly.

Galatians 3, having become a curse for us.

Hebrews 9, to bear the sins of many.

When you deny substitutionary atonement, you basically say, I don't need a substitute.

I'll bear my own sins, thank you.

But with substitutionary atonement, you think I have Jesus who died in my place.

Jesus is my righteousness.

And Luther, who was very much a man given to hyperbole and

exaggeration, he said, you know, it's a wonderful exchange that Jesus gets my

punishment, and I get his righteousness.

A wonderful exchange, but that was not exaggeration.

You cannot understand the gospel unless you understand eternal damnation.

And once you get rid of hell, you don't need Jesus.

No wonder everybody is trying to do that.

And here's the thing.

If you're here today and you're not born again, you're not a believer, you secretly

think you're going to get out of hell.

Edwards was right.

You flatter yourself.

You've got some kind of thing all set up.

I was watching Ray Comfort preach the gospel to somebody the other day.

And, you know, on this earth, you've got to believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and to turn by

repentance and trust in the gospel.

And the person was flattering himself saying, I'll just wait until my deathbed.

That's exactly how people think.

Christian, no matter how troubled your life is

today, Christian, no matter what difficulties you've had in the last week, year,

month, Christian, no matter how hard life gets next year, I've got news for you.

You're not going to hell.

It won't end my troubles seemingly, but they will end.

And I get to go to heaven based on the work of another.

Unbeliever, to use the language of Spurgeon and Edwards,

you're hanging over the mouth of hell on a plank, a two by four, and it's rotten.

You need to trust the risen Savior.

Don't be foolish like those men on their deathbed.

Some people try to prepare for dying.

M .L. Williams, M .L. Evans rather said, in the unfortunate event of miscarriage of justice and several

thousand years ensuing before my sentence is squashed, please bury me with a fire extinguisher.

How foolish.

Sir David Wilcox of Cambridge, please give me some earplugs

when I die in case the heavenly choirs are not in tune.

How foolish.

If God did not spare His Son, He's not sparing you.

Father, my hope is today, my prayer is,

that in this sanctuary auditorium place, every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that

Jesus is Lord to the glory of God the Father.

I don't think anybody in this room would drink poison on purpose.

How foolish that would be.

But to then not consider the wages of sin as death and wrath and hell that come along with that,

how foolish that is.

He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey shall not see life, but the wrath

of God abides on him.

Father, I was a blasphemer, and You gave me new life.

Many here, maybe most here, were the same.

Father, for some that are here, maybe they're 12 or 13 years old, hiding behind,

I'm not accountable yet.

I just pray that You'd open their eyes.

How You open eyes of people through preaching, through a frail, sinful man, I don't know, but You do

that.

Because of Your Son's great life and substitutionary death, on our

behalf, Father, we don't have to go to hell.

We actually have a promise that we never would have to go because of what Jesus did.

We thank You for that.

And Father, would You help us to be better evangelists?

And Father, would You rid things like complaining from our lives?

How could we complain about one single solitary thing?

We've been rescued from hell.

Thank You for the free gift of eternal life in Jesus Christ alone.

Amen.