Musings on Hell
I was surprised how difficult it was for me yesterday to preach a straightforward sermon entitled, "What does the Bible teach about Hell?" How seductive our culture is and how susceptible we all are to the applause and approval of the crowds. Or maybe its just me.
Why is hell the big elephant in the room that Christians today refuse to talk about?
Here's another quote from J.I. Packer on the subject that I just couldn't squeeze in. . .
The pupose of the Bible teaching about hell is to make us appreciate, thankfully embrace, and rationally prefer the grace of Christ that saves us from it. It is really a mercy to mankind that God in Scripture is so explicit about hell. We cannot now say that we have not been warned. --from Concise Theology, pg 263.
And one more from C.S. Lewis too. . . .
In all discussions of hell we should keep steadily before our eyes the possible damnation, not of our enemies nor our friends (since both these disturb the reason) but of ourselves. This chapter is not about your wife or son, nor about Nero or Judas Iscariot; it is about you and me. --from The Problem of Pain, pg.128.
Good advice.
3 comments:
It seems that most churches today are afraid to preach about Hell and sin, nobody wants to offend anyone. Preachers are even afraid to preach on the shed blood of Christ for fear of losing people. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is missing because many find it offensive.
Tim, you did a great job on Sunday morning. Thanks for stepping out and giving a sermon on hell. It is the first time I have heard a sermon on this subject. I would say that you had the whole congregations attention. I wish I could sit in some of the growth groups this week and just listen. Thanks Tim, Keep up the good work.
I am really glad you were willing to extend the topic of Heaven to include what the Bible teaches about Hell.
I did hear a great sermon on Hell about a year ago on the radio. Dr. Tony Evans - The Alternative. He made a lot of the same points that you made on Sunday. He went into a little more detail about exactly why I deserve to go into the lake of fire and how the only way for me to get out of going was to find some one to take my place there FOREVER - someone who didn't already deserve to be there themselves. It really streched my thinking and made my current afflictions in this world look very light in comparison.
We had a great discussion on this during our growth group. I was wondering if you were going to talk on the subject further and possibly elaborate on the earlier section of Revelations 20 regarding the 1,000 years reign and what happens to the dead who do not come to life until after the 1,000 years are ended.
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