Sermon Tone Analysis

Introduction

Over the last week weeks we have been talking about the only two realities a person has at the end of theirs day in this life.

And just as we have talked about many different thoughts or points of heaven, please know there are many thoughts about hell.

Many do not want to accept the idea of eternal punishment for sin, and many have refuted it.

For example, the agnostic British philosopher Bertrand Russell in 1967 wrote this phrase..

“There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that

He believed in hell.” .

The idea of eternal punishment for sin, he further notes, is “a

doctrine that put cruelty in the world and gave the world generations of cruel torture.”

How terrible to think someone would write something so sad, so condemning of Jesus all because they are condemned about sin, about lostness and so their condition in front of a holy God.

How terrible to think someone would write something so sad, so condemning of Jesus all because they are condemned about sin, about lostness and so their condition in front of a holy God.

“There is one very serious defect to my mind in Christ’s moral character, and that is that He believed in hell.” .

The idea of eternal punishment for sin, he further notes, is “a doctrine that put cruelty in the world and gave the world generations of cruel torture.”

Religious philosopher John Hick, who refers to hell as a “grim fantasy” that is not only “morally revolting” but also “a serious perversion of the Christian Gospel.”

Worse yet was theologian Clark Pinnock who, despite having regarded himself as an evangelical, dismissed hell with a rhetorical question: “How can one imagine for a moment that the God who gave His Son to die for sinners because of His great love for them would install a torture chamber somewhere in the new creation in order to subject those who reject Him to everlasting pain?”

But he is not the only one by any means… Let me share a couple more with you...

His views are at least more consistent than religious philosopher John Hick, who refers to hell as a “grim fantasy” that is not only “morally revolting” but also “a serious perversion of the Christian Gospel.”

Worse yet was theologian Clark Pinnock who, despite having regarded himself as an evangelical, dismissed hell with a rhetorical question: “How can one imagine for a moment that the God who gave His Son to die for sinners because of His great love for them would install a torture chamber somewhere in the new creation in order to subject those who reject Him to everlasting pain?”

Religious philosopher John Hick, who refers to hell as a “grim fantasy” that is not only “morally revolting” but also “a serious perversion of the Christian Gospel.”

Worse yet was theologian Clark Pinnock who, despite having regarded himself as an evangelical, dismissed hell with a rhetorical question:

“How can one imagine for a moment that the God who gave His Son to die for sinners

because of His great love for them would install a torture chamber somewhere in the

new creation in order to subject those who reject Him to everlasting pain?”

*******

Now you might ask why I have shared these three views or people with you today?

Well to remind you there is a lost world out there hates the things of God, who unfortunately have been led astray by false teachers,

So what can we believe about hell, we can believe hell because of what Jesus has taught us about hell....

Now we know that this is part of the extended passage of Jesus teaching about the sheep and the goats, about heaven and hell.

And here in this passage Jesus teaches us four truths about hell that should cause us to grieve over the prospect of anyone experiencing its horrors.

He teaches us four truths about hell that should cause us to grieve over the prospect of anyone experiencing its horrors.

1. Hell is a state of separation from God.

On the day of judgment, Jesus will say to all unbelievers, “Depart from me, you cursed, into the eternal fire” (v.

41).

This is the same sort of language that Jesus uses elsewhere to describe the final judgment of unbelievers in Matthew chapter 7, verse 23

Can you imagine, you are separated from God, and from all that you know as good and wonderful .... it is difficult to think of that concept.

You know why? even the lost enjoy some of God’s blessing in this life… We breathe His air, we see the good things around us, the changing of the seasons, the warm of the sun.

We see his wonderful creation....

In a sense the general revelation of God.... and perhaps a wonderful thing is if they know of His special revelation, the word of God .

So they enjoy his goodness, but in hell, these blessings will be nonexistent.

There they will remember God’s goodness, and They might be reminded of the pleasures of what could have been.... Just as the rich man called out to Abraham looking for help and Abraham reminded him of what he had in life… without a doubt was the joy of knowing right from wrong.

I think God will not be existent in Hell, his presence removed since he says depart me form I never knew you....

Others hold fast to the idea that since God is omnipresent, His presence is there

says

Ps 1

Some say to be separated from the Lord and cast into hell does not mean that a person will finally be free of God.

To be separated from the Lord and cast into hell does not mean that a person will finally be free of God.

That person will remain eternally accountable to Him.

He will remain Lord over the person’s existence.

But in hell, a person will be forever separated from God in His kindness, mercy, grace, and goodness.

He will be consigned to deal with Him in His holy wrath.

They will without a doubt be fully accountable to God, God will remain apart from them and they will be separated form his kindness, mercy, grace, and goodness.

And then there is this thought......

2. Hell is a state of association.

Jesus says that the eternal fire of hell was “prepared for the devil and his angels” ().

One person said People were made for God.

Hell was made for the Devil.

Yet what about the lost?

The Lost refers to people who die in their sin, without Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, will spend eternity in hell with the one who is entirely opposite from God, the devil.

People were made for God.

Hell was made for the Devil.

Yet people who die in their sin, without Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, will spend eternity in hell with the one being who is most unlike God.

It is a tragic irony that many who do not believe in the Devil in this life will wind up spending eternity being tormented with him in hell.

It is a tragic irony that many who do not believe in the Devil in this life will wind up spending eternity being tormented with him in hell.

And then there is a third thought

3. Hell is a state of punishment.

Jesus describes in terms we can understand.. look again at verses 41 and 46

Matthew

So God says it is a place of fire and a place of punishment.

Hell is a place of retribution, a place were justice from past sin is served out… but there is no parole.

There is a old thought in justice, “...it is the punishment must fit the crime...”

The misery and torment of hell point to the wickedness and seriousness of sin.

Those who protest the biblical doctrine of hell as being excessive betray their inadequate comprehension of the sinfulness of sin.

The misery and torment of hell point to the wickedness and seriousness of sin.

Those who protest the biblical doctrine of hell as being excessive betray their inadequate comprehension of the sinfulness of sin.

For sinners to be consigned to anything less than the horrors of eternal punishment would be a miscarriage of justice.

For sinners to be consigned to anything less than the horrors of hell, anything less than eternal punishment would be a miscarriage of justice.

The punishment must fit the crime.

and then there is a fourth point....

4. Hell is an everlasting state.

4. Hell is an everlasting state.

Some try to lessen the effect of hell, some say hell is not for eternity, it is just for a short while.

But that is different from the Bible....

Jesus said in verse 46

He is very clear those who are in hell, are eternally in hell, in heaven, eternally in heaven.

So let me ask you a question.....

Why does God punish sin?

Does he have the right to hold us accountable for sin?

Yes....

First all sin is a crime against Him.

He is a sovereign God who is holy, kind and good.

Now one thought I have not considered that I came about in this study is ..... “ In addition to that, those condemned to hell will go on sinning for eternity.

There is no repentance in hell.

So the punishment will continue as long as the sinning does.

In addition to that, those condemned to hell will go on sinning for eternity.

There is no repentance in hell.

So the punishment will continue as long as the sinning does.

I am not sure what I think about this.... what do you think

Without a doubt, those in hell, deserve hell..

Believing the truth about hell also motivates us to persuade people to be reconciled to God.

Those of us who have trusted Christ as our Savior have been rescued by the grace of God.

How can we say we love our neighbor if we do not share with them the greatest message of all, Jesus loved them and died for them.

How can we love people and refuse to speak plainly to them about the realities of eternal damnation and God’s gracious provision of salvation?