Run from Hell (Part 4)

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, a ministry.

My name is Mike Abendroth. And if you�d like to email us, you can info at nocompromiseradio .com. And I want you to know that I read those. They probably first go to Spencer, then he puts them through the theological discernment calculator, and then they go off to me.

And if you say, �Hey, you could read this on the radio if you�d like then I might mention your last name or first name. But for now, dear Pastor Mike and Tuesday Guy, thank you so much for your radio show.

I listen via podcast on my commute to and from work, and as a young, born-again, five-year-old Christian seeking to grow in grace, I really appreciate your ministry. Just one quick question. Recently you said something like, �Christ� work was not really about us.

Our salvation was more a side effect. I probably inadvertently twisted your words. Sorry about that. But you have said similar things to this before, which made me wonder what you meant. Recently, I was listening to a Lloyd-Jones sermon, and he said that the Bible was essentially about our relationship with God.

What do you think, and what passages do you base your view on? Appreciate you�ll probably not have time to respond specifically to this email, but maybe it�s an idea for a future show. This question of the main focus of the Bible is one I�m pondering as I keep hearing people say different things.

Thanks once again for all you do. Keep up the good work. Yours in Christ. And then he gives his name. Well, it�s a male name, at least, from my discernment. Maybe people named this, or ladies, I don�t know.

Boy named Sue. So before we get into our subject today, let me just answer the question. Here�s what I�m mainly after when I say things like that. I don�t know if I said it exactly, but I�m trying to say that the Bible is about the glory of God, the triune God, and how He receives glory as He redeems sinners.

And what I mean by that is that it is more important to think about how God receives glory than how we receive the benefits of that. So, of course, it�s magnificent that we are forgiven, that we are reconciled, redeemed, justified.

God�s wrath has been propitiated because of the work of the Eternal Son, Jesus Christ, who cloaked Himself with humanity and lived perfectly, obediently, a man born under the law, and then He died on behalf of all our debts.

He was raised from the dead. So, what I mean is, when we turn salvation into something solely about the benefits that are received versus the benefactor who gives, then I think we just need a reboot. Of course, what Lloyd-Jones is saying, I don�t know how he said it, that doesn�t seem like Lloyd-Jonesian language to me, it�s our relationship with God, it�s a discussion, the Bible is, from Genesis, the fall, to redemption, back to a garden in Revelation.

We have this great reconciling work of God, and so it�s primarily about how God receives glory. He�s the subject of the Bible, and we�re the object. So, if you�ve got a subject and an object, I think you put the emphasis on the subject, not the object.

The one who gives versus the recipient. That�s all I was trying to say. But Tom Jones asked a good question. Oh, did I mention his name? What if Tom Jones really listened? The singer, Tom Jones, listened to No Compromise Radio.

Someone just sent in, John from Idaho sent in a picture of Alice Cooper wearing a NoCo shirt, and it was excellently done. I don�t know if Vincent Furnier really would wear one, but I know Alice Cooper calls himself a Christian.

I heard he golfs with R .C. Sproul. I mean, isn�t that the litmus test of Christianity? Hi, how do you know you�re a Christian? Well, I golf with R .C. Sproul. Very interesting. All right. So, I hope that answers the question.

Maybe we�ll do more on that topic another time. All right, we�ll look at other emailers another time. Well, today is the final, I think, installment on a matter that�s not very jovial. It�s not a laughing matter, at least.

I gladly teach it in the sense that I am commissioned to teach all of the Bible. And if I recall any ordination vows that I would have, and at least if I think of 2 Timothy chapter 4, I�m to preach the Word, and I�m to preach all of it.

And whether it�s a good season to preach the Bible or a bad season, I�m still supposed to preach it. And so, we�ve been looking at the doctrine of hell. And some people think it�s boorish, uncouth, vulgar, rude.

Newsweek Magazine called it the H-word, if memory serves. And lots of people don�t like it. Now, in the old days, we never thought, �Oh, will we expect the world to like it We knew they wouldn�t, and they didn�t.

Same is true today. Back in the old days, we never thought, �Oh, theological liberals, mainline denominations, liberal Episcopalians, liberal Methodists, liberal Lutherans. We never thought they would like it, and they didn�t, and they don�t now.

But these days, we have an amazing thing that�s happening. Basically, those within the theological camp of evangelicalism, hard to define, I know, they don�t like hell either. And so, they are tending to redefine it.

And so, we are going back to what the Bible teaches for three practical purposes here on No Compromise Radio. The first two for Christians. If you�re not a believer, that is, you believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, I don�t want to do the double negatives here, I need the Grammar Phobes Guide to Better English in Plain English by Patricia O�Connor that I have here on my desk but never read, obviously, that you�d be thankful that you�re not going to go to hell.

You deserve hell. Of course, I do too, but I�m talking to you right now. You deserve hell, and you deserve to go there for sins against God. Yet, Jesus is your advocate, He�s your mediator, He�s your Savior, friend.

That�s an amazing thing. And so, because of the work of Christ, you don�t have to go to hell, so you have to be a thankful person. You ought not to be bitter, complaining, down, downcast. Oh, when there�s time to suffer and there�s time to go through trials, you should respond to those, yes, like a human would.

But a redeemed human would also think, well, as bad as this is, there�s going to be an end to this, even if it�s something for the rest of your life, there�s still an end to that sickness or disease or pain or bad memory, but I don�t have to go to hell.

And also, if you�re a Christian and you learn about hell, here�s what it�s done for me. It�s re-motivated me to make sure I�m preaching the gospel to people, because everybody I know is either going to heaven or hell.

Three people a second die, they go to heaven or hell. And yes, you might say, technically, it�s not the real hell yet, it�s not the final hell, it�s not the lake of fire. I understand that, but you know what I mean as well.

And the third purpose is for unbelievers. I hope you�re scared. I hope you�re so scared that you consider the claims of Christ and trust Him with your life. Trust Him, Jesus, the one that said, if you look to me, I�m not going to cast you out.

If you believe in me, the resurrection and the life, you�ll be forgiven, you�ll have everlasting life, the hope of heaven, adoption as sons. And so, that�s what I�m after. And so, last time we were talking about how people in heaven are there by a free gift, but people in hell deserve to be, and the punishment fits the crime.

Nothing cruel or unusual, and the sad thing is, it�s eternal, it�s eternal. And so, it lends itself to questions. How can a finite sin earn infinite judgment? How can hell be eternal in nature when the sin that I committed was not eternal?

How can something like Christopher Love�s comments about the eternal nature of God be true if the sin is so short in its commission? Christopher Love said, �Suppose the mountains, all the mountains of the earth were mountains of sands, and many more mountains still added thereto, till they reached up to heaven, and a little bird should once every thousand years take one grain of sand of this mountain, there would be an innumerable company of years pass over before that mass of sand would be consumed and taken away.

And yet this would have no end, and it would be happy for man, if hell were no longer than this time, but this is man�s misery in hell. He shall be in no more hope of coming out after he hath been there millions of years than he was when he was first cast in there.

For his torment shall be to eternity without end, because the God that damns him is eternal. So what do we do? Does in fact the punishment fit the crime? Infinite punishment for finite sin? Is that the way you should think about hell?

Sin against God? How serious of a matter is it? Listen to what one writer said,. �The crime depends upon the object against whom it is committed as well as upon the subject who commits it. Sin committed against an infinite God should be punished infinitely.

Even in human punishment, no reference is had to the length of time occupied in the commission of the offense. Murder is committed in an instant, and theft sometimes requires hours, but the former is greater crime and receives the greater punishment.

So it almost, you know, if it takes you three seconds to murder somebody, why do you have to go to jail for 40 years? Well, we understand. So we apply the same kind of thinking to sin against God. W. G. T. Shedd 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, and not of that of the thing against whom it is committed, killing a dog is as heinous as killing a man.

So see what's happening there? You can't think, okay, the subject committed the crime in time. It's a finite crime. You have to think of the object. The one that's, the crime is committed against sin has lasting effects.

Punishment has lasting effects. Can you imagine when Edwards said, and if these words are bad, how ghastly must hell really be? �Well, may there be weeping and gnashing of teeth in hell, where there is such misery.

This misery is not only amazingly great and dreadful, but of long countenance, long continuance. Yes, of infinitely long continuance. It never will have any end. There will be no deliverance, no rest, no hope, but they will last throughout all eternity.

The wicked, after having suffered millions of ages, will be, as it were, but in the first point, only setting out in their sufferings. It will be no comfort to them that so much has passed, for they will have none the less to bear.

The damned in hell and their misery will be in absolute despair. They shall know that their misery will have no end, and therefore they will have no hopes of it. Who can express or think anything how dreadful the thought of eternity is to them who are under so great torment?

To what unfathomable depths of woe will it sink to them? With what a gloom and blackness of darkness will it fill them? What a boundless gulf of sorrow and woe is the thought of eternity to the damned, and shall be in absolute and utter despair of any deliverance.

Aren�t you glad you�re not going? For you unbelievers, you don�t have to go. Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord shall be saved. God save me, God open my eyes, God give me new life, God forgive me, God give me faith in the Lord Jesus Christ.

Jesus taught hell is true. God is in hell. That�s what makes hell hell. But no love and no grace, all justice and all wrath. People deserve their punishment. If you�re listening today, you deserve to go to hell.

That�s why you need an advocate, someone to step in your place, a substitute. Hell is eternal. And fifthly, hell is petrifying because there are degrees of punishment in hell. Degrees of punishment in hell.

Bad for all, worse for some. Severe punishment in hell for some. Severe for all, severe for some. Hebrews 10 .29, how much worse punishment, worse, do you think will be deserved by the one who has trampled underfoot the Son of God and has profaned the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified and has outraged the Spirit of grace?

There�s punishment, there�s worse punishment. Jesus said, �In you, Capernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? Will you be brought down to Hades? For if the mighty work done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day.

But I tell you that it will be more tolerable on the day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you. See, we�ve talked about John�s revelation before. People are judged according to what they have done.

Some people have done more sins than others. Some have committed more sins than others. Contrary to this erroneous teaching that people are only in hell for rejecting Jesus, which by the way is a very awful, heinous sin, a grotesque sin.

People are in hell for rejecting Jesus and for every other sin they�ve committed. If you�re only in hell for rejecting Jesus, well, there�s all kinds of theological problems with that. But one would be there would be no levels of judgment in hell because you�re there for only one reason, but you�re there for that reason, and you�re there for every other sin, every transgression a person commits, they earn a greater degree of suffering in hell.

It�s going to be worse for people who had a pastor for a dad, that heard gospel preaching, that listened to sermons, that listened to radio shows about the Word of God. Every sin must be punished. What does it say about a judge who doesn�t punish sin?

Every sin. Oh, well, let�s just let the rapists and murderers off. No, every sin has to be punished. And if you�re a Stalin or a Hitler, you�ll have more sins to pay for. Edwards commented on eternal punishment and the degrees thereof, quote, �The longer sinners live, the more wrath they accumulate.

Why? Aggregation of sin, accumulation of sin, criminals, hey, get caught earlier, you won�t have to spend as many years in jail, that�s the idea. Blanchard, if a sinner is to remain unconverted, the sooner he dies, the better.

Otherwise, every further sin he commits will make things that much worse for him in eternity. And since there are degrees of hell, that means there�s no annihilation. Well, if you�re annihilated, there�s no degrees of hell, no degrees of punishment on the Day of Judgment.

Thomas Watson said, �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 that fiery prison, but some sinners God will thrust into the dungeon.

Edwards, sinners in hell would give anything to turn the clock back and have committed even one less sin. Jesus taught that it was true. God�s in hell, punishing. People deserve what they get, it�s eternal, and there are degrees of hell.

I mean, what�s the hope? What�s the hope in that? Is there any way out? There�s only one way of salvation. There�s only one person who didn�t have to die for their own sins that can die for others� sins.

There�s only one person who can die a substitutionary death that take our place. All the sin, all the blasphemy, all the treason, all the atrocities of sin, Jesus pays for instead of the sinner, and God�s justice is upheld and God�s love is demonstrated.

When Jesus cried, �My God, my God, why have you forsaken me With terms of endearment, Jesus is paying for the sins of all those who would ever believe. Do you believe? Of all those who would trust in his life, death, burial, and resurrection, do you believe?

The darkness in the middle of the day is judgment. The Son is being judged as if he were a sinner, but he wasn�t, because this is divine substitution. God is judging sins, not Jesus�s, but all those who would believe, all those who would believe.

�My God, my God, why have you forsaken me St. Clair Ferguson said, �The death of Christ was itself a form of enduring the judgment of God, and therefore of the hell condemnation that the sin he bore justly deserves.

Jesus taking the cup of God�s wrath, and for a Jew, it�s unthinkable, he�s forsaken. Forsaken of God. I mean, for us as children, we�ve heard from God in Hebrews, haven�t we? I�ll never leave you. Never will I forsake you.

And here on the cross, Ferguson said, is all that makes hell into hell. Darkness, pain, isolation, sin-bearing, divine judgment, curse, alienation, utter darkness, separation from God. If we need to be convinced of the reality of hell, all we need to do is to consider the cross.

It�s all there. Hermann Bavink said essentially the same thing, �For Christ in truth bore unspeakable distress, sorrows, horror, and hellish torment on the cross, in order that he might redeem us from them.

Why is this a digression from the topic of hell important, Ferguson goes on to say? Because it underlines hell�s reality. Jesus experienced it. It is at the same time the clearest indication of hell�s awfulness.

Yet simultaneously and gloriously, it is the divine provision to enable us to escape. It is in this context that the preaching of hell belongs to the preaching of the gospel. When we understand that this is what the death of Christ means, when this grips our soul, we will begin to find the apostolic model of the preaching reduplicated in our own ministry.

For constrained thus by the love of Christ, several things follow, and so the suffering of Jesus on the cross, so that we might not be forsaken. No wonder Arthur Pink said about those three hours of judgment, �Hours into which was condensed the equivalent of an eternal hell.

So if you lose hell, you lose the cross. You lose the cross, you lose hell. What�s the point of the cross if there�s no hell, Donnelly said, and he�s right. Jesus Christ, 1 Peter 3, died for sins, once for all, the just for the unjust, in order to bring us to God.

1 Peter 2, 24, �He himself bore our sins. Galatians 3, �Having become a curse for us. Hebrews 9, �To bear the sins of many. Substitution. God confirmed the substitution by raising him from the dead.

You need to have a substitute. A .H. Strong said, �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 atonement.

If there were no atonement, there was no need that man�s Savior should himself be more than man, and we are compelled to give up the Deity of Christ and the Trinity. So what about you? You�ve been listening.

I hope if you�re a Christian you�re thankful and you want to be evangelistic. And if you�re not a Christian, what about you? You�re going to die one day, I�m 55 years old, middle age is 35, who knows how long I have.

And you are probably like I was. To use the words of Jonathan Edwards, you flatter yourself that you�re going to escape hell. Is that what you�re doing? Do you flatter yourself? Do you really think that if God didn�t spare his own son Jesus, he�s going to spare you?

I want you to know one thing for absolute, positively, and it�s an absolute truth. You surely will have God�s wrath pour out on you forever if you die without a Savior. He who believes in the Son has eternal life, but he who does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abides on him.

Run. Flee. If you�re a Christian, say to yourself, like Donnelly said, if I sin today, I�m telling the Lord that I want to go to hell. I mean, it can never happen, but that�s the extent of it. And if you�re not a Christian, today�s the day.

Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.

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 bbcchurch .org or by phone at 508 -835 -3400.

The thoughts and opinions expressed on No Compromise Radio do not necessarily reflect those of WVNE, its staff or management.