Unquenchable Fire

Unquenchable Fire 不停的火

There is a famous song by a rock group called the “Beatles”. In this song they say “imagine there is no heaven or no hell below.” While most of us, non christian as well, don’t like the idea of there being NO HEAVEN, all of us struggle with the thought of hell. In the history of Christianity there has been an attack on this Christian doctrine, and I hope that as we look at the Scriptures today, as we look at Jesus Himself, we will be encouraged, and new found confidence in the work of Christ.

As we get into the text this afternoon I want all of us to have two things in mind: 1) We must remember that Mark has written this gospel to a group of persecuted Christians who are suffering in the Roman Empire. They have been tortured for their faith, they have been made into human candles in Nero’s garden, and have been betrayed by family members.

The second thing is the context. If you remember last week Jesus had to address the misplaced ambition and ego of the disciples. They were arguing about which of them was the greatest of disciples. Then immediately before this passage we are going to read, the disciples discovered that there were these other people doing ministry in “Jesus’ name”. These people apparently were not a part of Jesus’ disciples, and so the apostles, thinking that these people were a threat to the ministry of Jesus, asked Jesus if they should stop them. What Jesus is going to do is to make it clear to His disciples that they shouldn’t worry about the threat of some one doing a miracle in Jesus’ name out there, but they need to be aware of the threat that exists in themselves. Jesus tells them don’t be concerned with something or someone out there being a hindrance or an obstacle to the ministry of the kingdom. If you are looking for the greatest obstacle to the ministry of the kingdom, look no further than within yourselves.

Let’s stand and read the text together:

Mark 9:42–48 CSB

“But whoever causes one of these little ones who believe in me to fall away—it would be better for him if a heavy millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. “And if your hand causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life maimed than to have two hands and go to hell, the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to fall away, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than to have two feet and be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to fall away, gouge it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched.

Mark 9:42–48 CNVT

「如果有人使一個信我的小弟兄犯罪，倒不如在他的頸項上拴一塊大磨石投在海裡。如果你的一隻手使你犯罪，就把它砍下來。你身體殘廢進永生，總比有兩隻手下到地獄，進入那不滅的火裡好得多。（有些抄本有第44節：「在那裡蟲是不死的，火是不滅的。」）如果你的一隻腳使你犯罪，就把它砍下來。你瘸腿進永生，總比你有兩隻腳而被丟在地獄裡好得多。（有些抄本有第46節：「在那裡蟲是不死的，火是不滅的。」）如果你的一隻眼睛使你犯罪，就把它挖出來。你只有一隻眼睛進　神的國，總比你有兩隻眼睛而被丟在地獄裡好得多，在那裡蟲是不死的，火是不滅的。

Verse 42

“Whoever causes one of these little one’s” Little one’s is a reference to a disciple of Jesus. Not a little child, but a disciple of Jesus. You see this same reference in?

1.Causes one of these stumble: What does this mean? When we look at this word, it can mean the following:

Cause to fall away

Cause to sin

To offend

Cause to stumble

The imagery is also like a trap, like a snare. If you could imaging something like a land mine, something that will intentionally harm or trip someone up. So if we take the whole language of the New Testament, Jesus is describing someone that is intentionally and actively attempting to lead people away from Christ. These could be people who try and sew doubt in Christian’s lives in order to draw them away from Christ. This isn’t just wicked people doing wicked things but people who are actively attempting to cause people to fall away from Christ.

This can come in many forms: False teachers. Groups like Mormons who believe that Jesus and Satan were brothers, and that the bible actually isn’t enough to teach us about our faith, or Jehovah’s Witness who deny the Trinity and actually call the Holy Spirit a force, like Star Wars and not a person of the Godhead. These are cults, who profess Christ, but are actively attempting to draw people away from the Gospel of Jesus. In my own life, I had a college professor and it was a class on business, and yet one of his first statements in the class, is that he wanted to convince us that Christianity was false. Attempting to draw people away from Christ. There was a story that came out about a preacher who was on a TV show and he began to tell a story about how he and his wife were in a city and they lost their son, they couldn’t find him. He’s getting really emotional as he tells this story, but as he continues you all the sudden realize where he is going: he said that they called the police they prayed and looked for their son, and then they were watching this certain famous preacher on the TV and this preacher asked them to give some money to the ministry if they needed a miracle. And you know what? They gave some money, all they had, and then they miraculously found their son. He uses that false story, to try and make people believe false Gospel. That unless you give money into this ministry God isn’t going to work on your behalf!

You know what Jesus says about people like this? It would be better for them to have a millstone tied around their neck and be thrown into the bottom of the sea! This millstone was a massive stone that crushed the grain. The millstone had to be turned by a donkey because no human being was strong enough to turn it. Take a stone of that weight, tie it around your neck, and be thrown into the sea. Now remember Jesus is speaking to His disciples, this isn’t the Pharisees He’s talking to, but His own followers and says beware! Be warned! Now historically the church has done a better job at judging those outside the church rather than judging those within. Paul says this in 1 Corinthians 5:12 “For what business is it of mine to judge outsiders? Don’t you judge those who are inside? God judges the outsiders, but remove the evil person from among you.”

1 Corinthians 5:12 CNVT

審判教外的人，跟我有甚麼關係？教內的人不是你們審判的嗎？

Right now in our culture we love the idea of tolerance. We worship tolerance. Even within the church, it’s not truth we seem value as much as we do tolerance! So anytime someone challenges a viewpoint biblically people say they are being unloving or legalistic, and to be sure sometimes that happens. But do you know why God is so serious about calling out False teachers?! It’s because of what we are going to talk about next. The reality of hell. The truth that eternal judgement waits for those who do not put their faith in Christ! False teachers who preach a false gospel lead people to a false salvation, and they cannot be saved! So Jesus says about these false teachers or men and women who are leading people away from Christ, that it would be better if they tied this stone around their neck and were thrown into the sea!

So what about you?

Are we being people who are pushing and exhorting others towards CHRIST?! Are we being people who know where people are at with Jesus, and helping them take the next step towards Christ? Or are we people who are trying to lead them away from Christ, cause them to doubt in the exclusivity of Christ?! On the other hand, have we been listening and giving ear to these kinds of people? Is our faith and confidence in Christ being destroyed because we are listening to men and women who preach a false Christ and false Gospel? Paul says this:

Galatians 1:8 CSB

But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, a curse be on him!

Galatians 1:8 CNVT

但無論是我們，或是從天上來的使者，如果傳給你們的和我們以前傳給你們的福音不同，他就該受咒詛。

There is one Gospel, the Gospel of Jesus Christ, we are saved by grace alone唯獨恩典, through faith alone唯獨信心, in Christ alone唯獨基督.

Okay so now lets continue to work through the text.

Verse 43-48

Jesus is shifting His teaching from, how we deal with sin corporately, to how we deal with and view sin as individuals.

Feet, Hands, Eyes: totality of our life: Jesus wasn’t teaching that a one eyed one hand person couldn’t commit adultery or be prideful. So let’s work this out a little bit more.

Old Testament a serious sin to disfigure their own bodies. Hands eyes and feet were seen as gifts of God to be enjoyed in this life, not like Greeks who didn’t value the body. Precious possession to the Jews. As precious they are to you, but it would be better to cut that out, rather than have two hands that you take with you to hell.(foot, eyes, ect)

So what is Jesus saying?

Whatever is precious to you, no matter how precious it is to you, it is not worth having as much as it is worth having the kingdom of God. The worse thing for any human is not personal possession loss, but eternal judgement into hell.

Fire of hell

ILLUSTRATION of individual trying to break up with another person. You sugar coat it make it as nice as you can so that they will “enjoy” being broken up with or their heart being broken. And the church for a long time has gone to this extreme. We either want to do away with hell altogether, or we can sugar coat it so much that we want people to feel nice about going to a place of extreme torment and the hell that Jesus describes here. The other extreme is to preach so much about the damnation and judgment of God that we never preach about the grace of God, the love of God, the mercy of God. Yet most of the teaching we have about hell, is from the lips of Jesus. Jesus describes hell more vividly than He describes heaven.

So let’s unpack what Jesus is describing here:

Gahenna: This word that Jesus uses is a word that comes from the Old Testament. The Valley of Hinnon where during a very dark time in Israel’s history they began to sacrifice children to Molech. After Israel had a revival and turned back to God, the king turned this valley into a trash dump where trash, dead animals, and the bodies of criminals were burned. The stench of the place was horrible, and the Scriptures say that the worm never died because they were always feeding on something, and the fire never stopped, because there was a constant supply of trash or bodies to be burned. What a grotesque picture! Yet Jesus uses that same imagery to describe the eternal judgement that waits for people, who instead of entering LIFE, they continue to rebel in their sin.

In Taiwanese culture there is a belief about hell. In Islam there is a belief in hell. Yet in both Daoism and Islam you have no way, no certainty of whether you will go to hell or heaven! Here in Taiwan Hell is 18 levels, and you don’t know if you will go there or not. People believe that the worst of people go to the bottom level of hell and get out, but everyone else goes to another level and have ways of working themselves up towards heaven. But as a Daoist you have no certainty if you will go to hell or heaven! Church, How different is the teaching of Jesus! Jesus leaves no room for doubt, He says those who continue to rebel in their sin, and do not enter life(explain in a moment) will be judged and sent to hell. Hell is eternal judgement for wickedness! This is not arbitrary like Daoism or Islam, but hell is the judgement for sin. Objection 1):So you’re saying one look on word one sin equals hell? How can one act of sin, be worthy of an eternal judgment like Hell. Are you saying because of one act, I am going to be sent to hell? No. It isn’t the actions of our hands, eyes, and feet, but the disposition of our hearts that we are judged for! Jesus doesn’t have in mind here a clean slate where you have the opportunity to live a perfect life, and oh whoops you messed up, so you’re going to hell. Jesus knows that we all, every single one us, have hearts that are dead spiritually, that seek to worship other things rather than God. Jesus already told us where sin comes from, OUR HEARTS! Ephesians says it this way:

Ephesians 2:1 CSB

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins

Ephesians 2:1 CNVT

你們因著自己的過犯和罪惡，原是死的。

Jesus is describing the eternal judgment of those who remain dead in their sin and DO NOT ENTER LIFE.

So Jesus says, WHATEVER is an obstacle of you entering life, of trusting in ME, however precious it is, REMOVE IT, CUT IT OUT, so that you aren’t ensnared by that and are thrown into Hell.

So big picture Jesus says this:

There is nothing better than the kingdom of God, eternal life with Him, it’s worth your arm and your leg, your most precious possession, the pear of great price, but there is also nothing worse than eternal judgement of unbelievers in in hell.

How does this sit with you? Does this move us? How often have you and I thought about our eternity? How often have we thought about the eternity of those who don’t know Jesus, our neighbors, friends, restaurant owners? If anything 2020 has taught us that life is short. Life is fleeting.

There is a story of a man named Charlie. He was a horrible criminal and he was condemned to death. On the morning he was to be put to death for his crimes, the prison chaplain led him, and routinely and sleepily reading some Bible verses. The criminal stopped the preacher and asked what he was reading. Charlie was shocked at the way this preacher professionally read about hell. Could a man be so unmoved as he led a fellow-human to his death, and yet, dry-eyed, read about this eternal judgement that waits for him? Could this preacher believe the words that there is an eternal fire, and yet slide over the phrase without a blink of an eye? Is a man human at all who can say with no tears, “You will be eternally dying and yet never know the relief that death brings”? All this was too much for Charlie. So this is what he said:

“Sir,” addressing the preacher, “if I believed what you and the church of God say that you believe, even if England were covered with broken glass from coast to coast, I would walk over it, if need be, on hands and knees and think it worthwhile living, just to save one soul from an eternal hell like that!

Friends does Jesus’ view of hell and the cost of sin, reflect yours? Does it reflect mine? If we can look around this culture that we live, and if we really believe in the vivid description that Jesus gives here of hell, and we don’t bat an eye, or it doesn’t grieve us, we need to check our pulse.

How is this not works based salvation? The cross shows us how great our sin is. People don’t understand hell because they don’t understand SIN. Jesus here describes the severity of sin, so people can understand the reality of hell.Jesus is giving us just a taste, saying, listen sin is deadly, rebellion against God is costly, so much so that it is going to COST the life of the one and only Son of God, the pure, spotless lamb. So He isn’t describing a salvation that comes through our works, rather He is saying that your hope to be saved from eternal judgment and enter life, and your hope to defeat and remove sin in your life is ONLY THROUGH THE GOSPEL! Sets us free from being slaves to sin.

“The faith that saves, is the faith that fights” D. Akin

Earlier we read in Ephesians 2 that we were spiritually dead. And without the work of Christ all of us, would have no hope of entering life or the kingdom of God, but all of us would be eternally judged. But Ephesians 2 goes on to declare some really good news:

Ephesians 2:4–5 CSB

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of his great love that he had for us, made us alive with Christ even though we were dead in trespasses. You are saved by grace!

Ephesians 2:4–5 CNVT

然而　神滿有憐憫，因著他愛我們的大愛，就在我們因過犯死了的時候，使我們與基督一同活過來，（你們得救是靠著恩典，）

Listen, your hope of escaping the judgement of eternal hell, is not your good works, it’s not even based upon God’s mood, it’s not an uncertain hope, it is a certain hope based completely and fully on the work of Jesus Christ. And by trusting in Him you and I enter life.

Witness To The World verse 49-50

Finally how does this all fit together with the last two verses?

Mark 9:49–50 CSB

For everyone will be salted with fire. Salt is good, but if the salt should lose its flavor, how can you season it? Have salt among yourselves, and be at peace with one another.”

Mark 9:49–50 CNVT

每一個人必被火當鹽來醃。鹽是好的，但如果失了味，可以用甚麼使它再鹹呢？你們自己裡面應當有鹽，彼此和睦。」

Two things:

1)salt was used in the Old Testament to signify a covenant, an agreement, and was used in the sacrifices they made to God. Fire was also something that burned up those offerings to the Lord.

Leviticus 2:13 CSB

You are to season each of your grain offerings with salt; you must not omit from your grain offering the salt of the covenant with your God. You are to present salt with each of your offerings.

Leviticus 2:13 CNVT

你獻作素祭的一切供物，都要用鹽調和；在你的素祭上，不可缺少你　神立約的鹽；你的一切供物，都要用鹽調和獻上。

2) In the New Testament Jesus calls the church the “salt of the earth”. That means the importance of salt as a preservative and seasoning in the midst of the world. Fire in the New Testament is often a symbol for suffering and trials.

Jesus’ point is that unless we maintain the purity of our own lives (plucking out the eye, etc.) and are purified by the flames of testing, and remain faithful to Christ, our lives will have no preserving influence on this world”

Jesus is saying to His disciples your disunity, your egos, your pride, is going to destroy your witness to the world I’ve called you to.

Just this past week Rich and I, along with a Taiwanese Elvis, went to a small island called Jinmen. This island is one of the most unreached places I’ve ever been to. Only 7 or 8 churches with about 80,000 people. When you get there you get the idea that the number of believers might be even smaller, close to 200 or 300. Yet because of some of the disunity in the church among SOME of the pastors, the reputation of Christ has been damaged. One pastor in particular received an offering from people to buy land. The pastor bought the land with the offering then turned around and sold it and took the money! This is exactly what Jesus is referring to. Our lives are meant to be salt for the world!

The job of salt was to make something taste good. I don't know about you, but I can't stand corn on the cob without salt on it. When I have eaten a piece of corn on the cob that I really like, I put it down, and what do I say? "That was great salt." No, I say, "That was great corn on the cob." Why? Because the job of the salt is not to make you think how great the salt is, but how great the thing is with which it's involved. Tim Keller

We live in this way, we cut out sin in our lives, we pursue unity with each other, not so that people will be impressed with us, the salt, but so that they will look and be in awe, amazed at the work and grace of Christ!

CONCLUSION

So For you?

1. Have you trusted in Christ? Do you know that you have no way of escaping the judgement, the justice of God, other than trusting in the mercy of Christ, and in His finished work on the cross? Repent and believe!

2. For those of us who have, are we actively removing these areas of our lives that cause us to sin? Jesus describes a pretty violent act here, He’s exaggerating but saying, it doesn’t matter how precious it is to you, if it causes you to sin, it’s leading you away from me, get it out of your life! So are there areas in our lives that we know are leading us towards sin? Are there things we watch that we know are leading us towards sin? Are there relationships that we know aren’t helping our walk with Jesus? Jesus says remove those. The danger is that we live for momentary pleasure at the expense of eternal judgment. As Christians, especially those who are suffering right now, live in momentary suffering, for an eternal weight of glory.

3. We are about to take communion. Are there relationships in your life that need reconciliation before you come and take communion? Unity is a big deal to God. Are there people who know you are offended by, or you have hurt that need reconciliation before you come and take communion?

Matthew 5:23–24 CSB

So if you are offering your gift on the altar, and there you remember that your brother or sister has something against you, leave your gift there in front of the altar. First go and be reconciled with your brother or sister, and then come and offer your gift.

Matthew 5:23–24 CNVT

所以你在祭壇上獻供物的時候，如果在那裡想起你的弟兄對你不滿，就當在壇前放下供物，先去與弟兄和好，然後才來獻你的供物。