Thrown out Branches
Notes
Transcript
Main Idea: We must Grow IN Christ
Main Idea: We must Grow IN Christ
How do I see Jesus:
How do I see Jesus:
I remember hearing a story about a lady who didn’t like it when her check engine light came on, so she just took a little piece of electrical tape and covered it up. And I guarantee if you ask Mike he will tell you that will definitely fix the problem. That’s why mechanics are going out of business, you can get a whole role of tape at the dollar tree, and people are just covering up those problems and going on with it, because you know, if you cant see it its not there.
And I think thats what a lot of us like to do with verse 6 of chapter 15… we like to not think about it…
and lets just get to it
6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned.
So, if we are going back to our elementary days and we ask ourselves what is this verse about we can quickly get in and see this is Jesus giving us imagery of hell. That hell is a real place and its a place he sends people that are not abiding in him. And this is insanely controversial, and I am sure some of you can’t imagine why. Did you know there are a whole heap of people in this world that do not believe that Hell is a real place? They think this whole thing is allegory and Jesus isn’t really talking about a place where we will burn for eternity. Its just this place outside of town where the trash was burned and the fire never stopped. IT has nothing to do with how we will really spend eternity.
A recent Poll by the Pew research center says 92% of people who call themselves Christians believe in an actual place called Heaven, while only 79% believe in a place called Hell. Its almost hard to believe for some of us, but there may be some of you even in the room this morning that don’t believe in a literal place called hell.
There are a few modern views on what hell is and how it should really be seen. Some may be of the mindset, of Rob Bell, who in his book Velvet Elvis says,
For Jesus, heaven and hell were present realities. Ways of living we can enter into here and now. He talked very little of the life beyond this one.
Bell was a pretty famous pastor, his claim to fame was some video series he made called Nooma… and he would bring the Bible to light in short modern clips that people were able to connect with, They were used a lot for youth. However, somewhere along the way he deconstructed his faith and has written quite a few books on what he thinks it means to be a Christian and what Jesus really meant. And for Bell he thinks there is no real place called Hell that Hell is this place in the modern time where we are living beyond what jesus wanted for us. He kind of comes from this because of Jesus speaking on the Kingdom of Heaven being here and now and to come so for him he is trying to say both of thos
e are possible… In other books he even says that there is no eternal life that ends with death, the eternal life Jesus speaks of is here and begins with our decision to follow him. SO it is very clear, he is teaching a whole new group of people That hell does not exist.
The first Man that I sat under as a youth pastor for a summer, after I was gone he was teaching Hell was not a real place, much like Rob Bell, that Hell was when we were living apart from the will of God on Earth. My guess is he had read this book and it had really connected with him. Because eternal life is here and now, what happens when we don’t follow Jesus is we don’t have the blessed life in our current life. Jesus cannot give us the blessings he wants to give us in our current life because we are not following him, but in the end we will be reconciled to him. Thats because when we believe there is no Hell this idea goes even a step further. Bell and others go on to teach Everybody wins that Jesus is death on the cross was for everyone, and it is not dependent upon whether you accept his gift because if you have to accept his gift that is a work that we must work out. Therefore Jesus died for everyone and everyone will end up in the same place we will all end up with him forever. This is a prominent view in the world today that because there is no hell, We will all end up in heaven with Jesus because his death and resurrection paid the price for everyone.
However, it is clear from scripture that hell is a real place and it does exist. Jesus talks about it in many places, for instance Matthew 5:22
22 But I say to you that everyone who is angry with his brother will be liable to judgment; whoever insults his brother will be liable to the council; and whoever says, ‘You fool!’ will be liable to the hell of fire.
And again in
41 “Then he will say to those on his left, ‘Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
and Mark 9:43
43 And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire.
The other idea is that hell is not a place of fire and torment but hell is a place of separation from God. The idea here is that we will not burn for eternity, but we will just be separated from God for eternity.
I remember the first time I heard this view on Hell. It was my first year at Asbury. The revival speaker came and he was preaching from Romans, but then he made this statement about hell. He said hell is not a place of fire and torment hell is a place of separation from God. In hell we will be walking around with those, who have a relationship with the Lord, but we won't be able to have a relationship with him ourselves. It will be miserable. It will be hell because we will be separated from our God and we will not be able to commune with him instead, we will see everyone else who is able to and our place will not be made right with him. So for him Hell was a place where we could see God, but we could not connect with him.
To fully understand this point of view on Hell we have to remember the final resting place of the Gospel is that Jesus work on the cross will restore us in such a way we can have the life God intended us to have with him in the Garden. He wants us to be able to walk and commune, worship, and depend on him much like his plan was in the Garden from the very beginning before sin interrupted. And what this idea is saying is because Hell is not a place of torment, what hell will be is us seeing all of these people who are living that life, but they cannot recognize us or communicate with us, and we cannot with them or God. And we are eternally separated from his goodness and mercy.
And let me say, I don’t think this view is any better than the Biblical view of Hell. Let me explain that, I think many people who take this view are people who know there must be justice that is paid when we don’t submit our lives to Jesus. However, they can’t make right of How a Good God could torment people forever, so they try to make this less painful view of hell. But separation from God and not being able to commune with him and knowing it isn’t any better. I don’t think this view takes into account how good God is, and how absolutely miserable it would be to see for a fact how good he is, but not be able to commune with him. When it comes to this view I do think scripture is clear that hell is a separation from God, we won’t be in the presence of the Lord as 2 Thess 1:9 tells us
9 They will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of his might,
And I think that is part of it, but there is more to it as we see in Rev 14:10
10 he also will 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 we see its not just a separation, but it is something so much more. In fact it is so bad look at the story Jesus tells us in Like 16. Luke 16:22-26
22 The poor man died and was carried by the angels to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried,
23 and in Hades, being in torment, he lifted up his eyes and saw Abraham far off and Lazarus at his side.
24 And he called out, ‘Father Abraham, have mercy on me, and send Lazarus to dip the end of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am in anguish in this flame.’
25 But Abraham said, ‘Child, remember that you in your lifetime received your good things, and Lazarus in like manner bad things; but now he is comforted here, and you are in anguish.
26 And besides all this, between us and you a great chasm has been fixed, in order that those who would pass from here to you may not be able, and none may cross from there to us.’
So it is absolutely clear just from this scripture in Luke that hell is a real place, that there is real anguish, real flame, and real separation from God.
And there are a litany of other places that Jesus speaks of hell, and the thing is clear when you read the entirety of scripture as that there is a place that we will go when we are not abiding in Jesus.So contrary to the popular belief that is going around today, there is a place where we will go if we don't abide in Jesus, we cannot just put black tape over the scripture and hope that it doesn't exist because it does exist and Jesus wants us to know what happens when we're not abiding in Him.
And you say thank you for this lesson on Hell this morning, it was exactly what I needed and I have no problem believing anything you have said, but why is that important, why have you spent the last fifteen minutes telling me about Hell what does that have to do with me. I am glad you asked.
Here is what we need to see, each one of us before we called upon Jesus as our savior, and every person in this room who has not called upon him yet are destined for the fate we are talking about here. They are destined to be thrown away from the vine and burned. And not just those in this room, but those who cut you off in traffic if they don’t know Jesus as Lord, those who you work with who don’t know Jesus as Lord, the daughter in law who you think is snooty if they don’t know Jesus as Lord, your children if they don’t know Jesus as Lord, they are all destined to the exact same fate, they will be cut off, gathered and cast into the fire. And so it is important for us to realize we must take the great commission seriously. We can no longer live for ourselves and our own desires, we must lay all of that down to share the gospel with the people around us. And I realize some of you may have a hard time knowing how to share the Gospel and let me give you four points to remember so you can do this effectively. If you’re a note take just write these down, and memorize them and I am positive you can expand on them, and if you are hearing this for the first time today, I want you to listen very carefully. Here are the points.
God Created Us
He Loves us
Sin Entered though Adam and Separated us From God
God sent his Son as a sacrifice to make us right with Him.
And just write those things down, but God created us, and he created the world by his mere word. He spoke everything into existence from his word, and he loved us so much that he sat Adam down in the garden. HE gave he him the garden to tend and to take care of and he gave him just one rule… don’t eat from that one…but he didn’t listen. He ate from the fruit of the tree and because of that decision sin entered into the world. His disobedience brought sin into the world. And you and I are his direct descendents and because of his sin you and I were born with a sin nature. This nature in us to sin. And because of this sin nature we are born with we sin. We step out and commit acts against God against his will and his desires. And what you and I seek in this life is justice. We want people to pay for the things they have done wrong, the only problem is, if we seek justice it means we are seeking it upon ourselves, and we would seek our own death and demise. So God, because of his great love for us sent his son, and he was born of a virgin, and that’s important because he was not born with our sin nature. He was not born of human means, its not that she was sinless, but he was not born by human means he was born through the Holy Spirit, and because of that he did not inherit our same sin nature. And he came and he, unlike us, lived a sinless life, he lived his life in ACTIVE obedience to the things God wanted of him. And because he was sinless, he was able to give the ultimate and final sacrifice for you and for I. And they placed him on the cross, and the bible tells us he BECAME sin… that knew no sin… and every sin you have ever committed, ever sin you will ever commit, every thing you have ever done wrong God he placed it upon Jesus… and he bore that sin. HE took it all… the weight not just of my sin… but of all of ours… and he died… and was buried and 3 days later… he defeated death and sin and walked from the grave victorious… so that anyone who calls upon his name may have life eternal…
And that is the truth today… if you are hearing that for the first time… in a few moments they are going to play and you can make your way here… and we will celebrate with you as you give your life to him
