Thursday 27 March 2014

Neglecting So Great a Salvation

I've heard many objections to the reality of hell. Here are a few:

1. God cannot be a good God and send people to hell

2. It is only for the angels who sinned not for people

3. It is not a literal place, it is only symbolic, people will just disappear and the eternal aspect of it is they will be eternally nothing, their suffering and gnashing will be an eternal fact of the past, but will forever attest to their once having been, and forever having disappeared.

4. Hell only means "grave". It is from a word that translates to mean "the grave". If you believe Jesus, and truly take to heart what Jesus says about hell, you would know that it does mean that the person has died and their mortal body has gone to the grave...but it goes further, there is an immortal portion that goes deeper and further and lower than simply a hole in the ground.

Jesus said none of those things. The Bible reveals that it is a place, a real place, and that there will be angels who get sent there, but that there will also be people that will get sent there...and Jesus said MANY will go there, that few will go the narrow road that leads to eternal life and many will go the wide path to eternal destruction.....


Eternal destruction does not mean that it is destroyed and then eternally it is gone. Eternal destruction as described in the Bible, as described by Jesus, is a place where there is still consciousness, evil, hatefulness toward God, anger or disdain toward God for not doing it their way, according to their own will instead of submitting to His way, the cross.

Heb 2:1  Therefore we must pay much closer attention to what we have heard, lest we drift away from it.
Heb 2:2  For since the message declared by angels proved to be reliable, and every transgression or disobedience received a just retribution,
Heb 2:3  how shall we escape if we neglect such a great salvation? It was declared at first by the Lord, and it was attested to us by those who heard,
Heb 2:4  while God also bore witness by signs and wonders and various miracles and by gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will.
Heb 2:5  Now it was not to angels that God subjected the world to come, of which we are speaking.


Jesus said it would be better to lose an eye or a hand than go there. (Mark ch 9) I've seen people who have lost their eyesight and how miserable they are that they lost such a great gift, the ability to see the beauty of God's creation, the ability to see loved ones...or have lost a hand or a leg, and no longer be able to do many of the things that brought great pleasure, or gave them ability to earn a better income (in sporting events, etc), and Jesus said it would be BETTER to lose an eye or a limb than to suffer eternal hell. It is something horrible, something that He doesn't want for people to suffer, but His righteousness demands that there be such a place which will separate eternally His righteousness from such wickedness and hatred of the truth.

This topic is one that many reject, to their own peril. Wide is the road that leads to destruction. Many would rather suffer eternal hell than have to admit that God is true, and unless they admit it and submit to the truth, they are destined for that place they say they do not believe exists, because God is holy, and a holy God does not toy with the idea of sin. A holy God will judge sin. An eternal God will punish sin eternally. A loving God paid the price for sin, and MANY reject His payment, and accept the penalty thereby instead of the gift God provides.

At the beginning of this sermon this pastor states that he believes the doctrine of hell is what will test the truth of many people's doctrines. I can see the truth in that statement. Many who will say "God wouldn't do that" or "A good God wouldn't send people to hell" have no idea of what a holy God is, and have rejected the God of the Bible.

I hope you take an hour to listen to this, rather than watching mindless stupidity on television or spend that hour in some less important activity. Is what the Bible says, even the difficult portions, important to you? Are God's warnings important to you? Are you warning loved ones, blind ones, people around you, of the reality of hell? If you are saved, and you think there is no hell, then what are you saved from?

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