I’ll probably get a few “unsubscribe” requests after this, but that’s ok.  Every day I pray, and share what is on my heart as God leads.  So basically on any given day, God is teaching me something, and likely has something that others need to hear.  So with that, I’m definitely wondering who all will receive this, and how God intends to use this message, but my curiosity will wait until I see Him face to face.

Have you ever wondered why there is difficulty talking about Hell?  The doctrine of hell is as important as any other, yet it is often absent from sermons preached on Sundays.  The understanding is that Christians will say, no, we do not want to hear about that negative stuff, just give us a happy song, a good comedic pastor, and we’ll all move along with our lives slowly inching closer to death, day by day.  Just tell everyone they’re going to be “ok” if they’ve said a prayer, read their Bibles every once in a while, belong to a small group, and pay their tithe – no one grows their church through being “negative”.  That’s all just fear-mongering anyway, right?  People who talk about Hell just want to scare people into becoming little zombies that they can control, right?  If that is true – why did Jesus talk about Hell so much?  Why did Jesus over and over and over again warn people of the judgment to come?

Often times you’ll hear people explaining away the severity of Hell.  Our friends, the 7th Day Adventists for example, want to say that Hell isn’t real, that it is just a way of saying that people will cease to be.  There’s just one problem with that idea, it’s not what the Bible and Jesus said.  Other times people want to say that the descriptions of Hell are metaphorical, and shouldn’t be taken literally.  The Bible describes Hell as outer darkness where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth (Matt 8:12), a fiery furnace (Matt 13:42), where one will be cut to pieces (Matt 24:51), a place of eternal fire (Matt 18:8), eternal destruction away from the presence of the Lord (2 Thess 1:9).  Here I would agree with the scoffers – these words we use in the English language are metaphorical.  Just as we cannot explain the joy that awaits us in heaven, and thus use words as metaphor, so too words for Hell are metaphor.  There is one important point that is missed though – whenever metaphor is used in the Bible, the reality of that metaphor is always MUCH greater than literal interpretation.  So then, if the metaphor is unbearably horrific, how much more horrific must the reality be?

John the Baptist, the herald of our Lord and King, Jesus Christ, came to prepare God’s way by piercing the hearts of the people, especially those who were resting in the grace of God amidst sin, to repent.

Matthew 3:7-10 – “But when he saw many of the Pharisees and Sadducees coming to his baptism, he said to them, “You brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come?  Bear fruit in keeping with repentance.  And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father,’ for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children for Abraham. Even now the axe is laid to the root of the trees. Every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.”

Let me be direct.  If you are holding onto sin in your heart, if you find yourself struggling with sin, and you want to play with it, and hold onto it instead of saying “No”, I am going to follow Jesus, my Lord, you are not repentant, you are not walking with the Lord, and you are not covered by grace.  Let me add one more to that list… if you hear all of this, and you do not break down in tears before the Lord, seeking His forgiveness and grace to turn from your sin, you are a fool.  You do not know the day the Master will come for you.  Good intentions are the pathway to Hell.  Today is the day of salvation for you.

You hard-hearted, stubborn sinner.  Do not presume upon the grace of God – He is not mocked!  Galatians 6:7 – “Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever one sows, that will he also reap.”  You know what the Bible says about those who continue in immorality that profess to be Christians?  It says that they will be thrown into Hell with everyone else (Matt 7:21-23)  If you are sowing to your own fleshly desires, you will reap eternal destruction, the infinite all powerful wrath of God poured out on you for a second, then a minute, then an hour, then a day, then a year, then 10,000 years, and on and on until your life now is but a glimmer in the past, with no hope for the future – ever.

If you don’t understand the justice of God in pouring out infinite wrath, then you do not understand the horror of your sin to an infinitely Holy God who created you in His image.  Do not think to yourself, I am covered by grace, because of a prayer, or a confession, there is no grace for an unrepentant heart.  1 John 3:9 – “No one born of God makes a practice of sinning, for God’s seed abides in him, and he cannot keep on sinning because he has been born of God.”  Stop your blasphemous claim to be a Christian if you are unrepentant… all you are doing is storing up wrath for the day of judgment.  It would be better for you to admit your depravity, than to smear the name of our Holy God with your profession to belong to Him.  Repent!  Do not give God your words merely, give Him your heart and mind.  Count the cost of following Jesus, and decide today who you will follow, your own will or Him.

The wrath of God is more horrific than we can imagine.  Hell is more horrific than we can imagine.  Therefore, repent and believe the gospel of Jesus.  Our great God loves us enough to come in the flesh and die in our place, shedding His blood on the cross, bearing the full infinite wrath of God – experiencing Hell – the judgment we deserve.  But death could not contain Him, Jesus rose, His infinite righteousness and holiness victorious over sin, and we too have a similar hope if we would believe in Him, and His atonement for our sins, and turn our lives over to Him to follow after Him.  If the darkness of Hell is unfathomable, how great is the Light that conquered it?  Oh, what a savior!  What infinite joy must await us there, in His presence for all eternity.  What grace must He be desirous to extend to us, if we turn to Him.  Do you love Him enough to turn away from your sin, and intentionally choose to follow Him every day?  He loves you today – He came to die not for the righteous, but for sinners, that they would be reconciled to Him.  Therefore, my exhortation is the same as that of Jesus in Mark 1:15 – “The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent and believe in the gospel.”   May the our savior, Jesus Christ, through the Holy Spirit bring brokenness, and repentance to us, and have His way among you all.

Grace and Peace,
Adam