4 JUNE 2006: Bad News According to Jesus!

TOPIC: Hell; Damnation, End Times, Eternity, Judgment

TITLE: HELL OF A NOTE!

TEXT: Matthew 25:46 [31-46]

These will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life.

COMPANION TEXT: Hebrews 9:27

And inasmuch as it is appointed for men to die once and after this judgment.

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: How are we to understand hell?
CONCISE OUTLINE:
One of our great saints suggested three hells every person must deal with.

I. THERE IS THE HELL OF THE HEART!
II. THERE IS THE HELL THAT’S ALL AROUND!
III. THERE IS THE HELL THAT AWAITS!

Billy Graham, Decision Magazine, (July-August 1984) p. 2.

TRUTH/CONTEXT: Matthew 25 is speaking of the final judgment, where everything comes to a last climax after the Millennium.

This event is known as "The Sheep-Goat Judgment" … not literal sheep or goats … a metaphor ... sheep are the saved, and the goats are the lost.

"These" refers to those who "did not do it to one of the least of these" [v. 45]; whereas, "the righteous" refers to those who "did it to one of these brothers of Mine" [vv. 34, 40].

Clearly the latter are the sheep, who were placed on the King's right, and the former are the goats, who were placed on His left [vv. 33, 41].

So why did the sheep know to do good to the least of these and the goats did not? God put it in their hearts at rebirth; their new nature compelled them to do right things (righteousness).

The key players in this passage are the King/Lord and His subjects (“all the nations” of v. 32); there is only one King/Lord but the subjects are divided into two groups - those on His left, and those on His right.

RIGHT: "sheep" (v. 33); to these the Lord says, "Come, you who are blessed"; they "inherit the kingdom" (v. 34); they are those who "did it to one of these brothers of Mine" (v. 40); these are called "the righteous" who go "into eternal life" (v. 46). You over here will be the sheep.

LEFT: "goats" (v. 33); to these the Lord says, "Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels" (v. 41); they are those who "did not do it to one of the least of these" (v. 45); these are not again referred to descriptively, except that they "go away into eternal punishment" (v. 46). You over here will be the goats.

This is the eternal hell we know so little about!

FOUNDATIONAL INQUIRY: How are we to understand hell?
EXPANDED OUTLINE:

I. THERE IS THE HELL THAT’S ALL AROUND!

A. Hell at home, hell in the streets, hell in our schools, hell in our government, hell at work, there’s hell all around.

B. Hell in our entertainment, our literature, our art, our technology.

C. There is hell in our personal behavior.

D. Everywhere God’s commands are trampled upon.

E. Darfur, Holocaust, Civil War, Eritrea, Belsan, the 9/11 plans, inside the towers.

F. All of this was for a season, a lifetime perhaps … but unsaved man’s hell is … well it’s forever, eternal suffering and none of the above compares.

II. WORSE THERE IS THE HELL OF THE HEART!

A. There is hell in the hearts and minds of our leaders … where can we have confidence in a leader today?

B. Millions own hearts filled with hell; one day their hearts will fill hell!

C. The world has bought “the power of positive thinking,” the wisdom of this world; the church is determined to drift that way.

D. Yesterday I read in a couple of place in church documents the term “felt needs.” This is psychobabble and out of the pit of hell. Give me my good Gospel needs anyday.

E. They teach man is inherently good, he’s just momentarily off track; the bible teaches the opposite “there’s none good, no not one.”

F. They teach if you just imagine goodness you will have it; e.g., “Imagine Peace” bumper sticker and yard signs in Claremont, California.

G. No we won’t … we’re by nature selfish, carnal, filled with lusts, lacking in simple discernment and self-control, seeking our own.

H. The heart of man is evil and filled with iniquity [Genesis 8:21]

For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.

Matthew 15:19

I. Man’s heart is like the surface of the sea, never at rest, always in commotion!

J. The turmoil of our hearts is a hot finger pointing out our guilt … we call it our conscience.

III. THERE IS THE HELL OF THAT WAITS!

A. Both of the above are temporal, meaning they have an end in this earthy realm; consider the horrible nature of I. & II. … now consider … .

B. The hell of the future is eternal … ages without end!

[Barnes] “In all these places it denotes anguish, suffering, punishment. It does not mean simply a ‘state or condition,’ but absolute, positive suffering; and if this word does not teach it, no word ‘could’ express the idea that the wicked would suffer.”

C. Hell is where we’ll find the devil and his minions.

D. There’ve been numerous recent articles on the subject of hell … most confusing and unhelpful. Several complained the church is not preaching on hell anymore.

[NO NONSENSE] John Steinbeck, in Travels with Charley: In Search of America, writes his thoughts on a sermon heard while attending a New England church:

It had been long since I had heard such a good approach. It is our practice now, at least in the large cities, to find from our psychiatric priesthood that our sins aren't really sins at all but accidents that are set in motion by forces beyond our control. There was no nonsense in this church.

The minister … reassured us that we were a pretty sorry lot. And he was right.

Having softened us up, he went into a glorious sermon, a fire-and-brimstone sermon. . . . He spoke of hell as an expert, not the mush-mush hell of these soft days, but a well-stoked, white-hot hell served by technicians of the first order. [Citation: Clark Cothern, Tecumseh, Michigan; source: John Steinbeck, Travels with Charley: In Search of America (Penguin Books, 1961), p. 78 (from The Perfect Illustration for Every Topic and Occasion copyright © 2002 by Christianity Today International. All rights reserved.)]

[WHERE’S HELL?] An adult doubter was mocking a young woman who’d just become a new Christian. "Okay, Miss Smarty, tell me where hell is?" After a moment the young saint said, "Well, I guess it's at the end of your miserable life."

APPLICATION/CHALLENGE: Let’s understand we do not need to live with a heart filled with hell; God’s grace is sufficient for that purpose!

Let’s also understand we don’t have to live in a hell on earth; God’s grace is sufficient for that purpose as well!

Likewise, we don’t need to fear the hell of the future; God’s grace has taken care of that! Peter tells us …

the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment

2 Peter 2:9

Did you ever think that the reason you don’t believe in Hell is because you are unrighteous in God’s eyes, and that He’s keeping you there “for the day of judgment.”

Yet we must admit we’ve chosen for many family members, friends, and neighbors to end in this way because we have failed to plead with them concerning their eternal state. Some have even encouraged their unrighteousness.

Verse 46 is a wonderful verse for explaining to doubters that they deny Jesus or at least call Him a liar if they say all roads lead to heaven. The word "eternal" is used for both life and punishment ... let me illustrate its importance:

[DIRECTIONS] Let’s say I’m on a sales trip and do the unthinkable, I stop and ask directions; the man says my destination is three miles North of town on the main road, at exactly three miles, I’m to make a right and head into the desert for five miles, the first building on my left will be what I’m looking for. I follow his directions and end up at the business I wanted.

On my return trip I again stop for directions only for a different destination; the same man says my destination is three miles South of town on the main road, at exactly three miles, I’m to make a left and head into the desert for five miles, the first building on my right will be what I’m looking for.

After receiving his instructions I decide he couldn’t have meant the “main” road, he must have meant the business loop bypass and he must have meant 30 not “three” miles, and it must be a right because at 30 miles there is no road to the left. I never do find my customer.

The point is simple: if the directions were from the same man in the same language, I had no reasonable justification for changing the meaning of his directions the second time, if his directions were correct in the first instance.

How can I choose to believe someone's word about one event but not another, especially when given in the same language and context?

If Jesus says, "There is eternal life!" (v. 34) and I believe, putting my hope in His word, how can I not accept His word when he says, "There is eternal punishment"? If it’s not “eternal” punishment, then it’s not “eternal” life.

The prophet Amos [4:12] told Israel, “Prepare to meet your God!” We seem to prepare for everything: schooling, marriage, career, and even burial. But little is said or done about eternity.

Do you know where you are going? I know where I am going! Not because of any thing I’ve done, but entirely because of what Jesus has done. I, like the thief on the cross, am deserving of hell but God’s grace through the shed blood of Jesus has purchased me an eternal ticket to heaven.

John wrote,

These things I have written to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life.

1 John 5:11-13

And Paul says,

Now is the accepted time; … now is the day of salvation.

2 Corinthians 6:1-2

Do you know where you are going? Are you preparation for Judgment?

Did you hear about the boy who failed all his college work? He wired his mother: "Failed everything; Prepare Papa." His mother wired back, "Papa prepared; Prepare yourself."

This is the message a lot of us need in view of the coming judgment. God is prepared. We need to prepare ourselves!

TAGS: Damnation, End times, Eschatology, Eternity,
Hell, Homoletics, Judgment, Matthew 25,
Preaching, Sermons, Sheep Goat Judgment