The Sword Room

How many of you fear hell? If you are not born again I would say that to a degree such fear is good because it is realistic. It shows you are not in denial about your eternal destination without the regenerating and justifying work of Christ in your heart. There is nothing healthy or wise about a man turning over and sleeping through multiple warnings that his house is on fire and he needs to get out. Wait too long and it will be too late–you will be like Bin Laden when the choppers landed and the Seal team stormed the compound.

But what about you professing Christians? If you are genuinely born again does the fear of hell have any practical benefit? I would say for the most part such fear is worthless in terms of sanctification, and it says nothing definitive about your spiritual condition, except that you do not love God. More on that later; for now suffice it to say this: light a field on fire and every disease carrying rat and venomous snake will flee the flames. But once they make it to safety they will still be vile vermin by nature. When the time comes for the devil himself to be thrown into the lake of fire, you can bet he won’t go willingly.

On the other hand the devil would hate heaven because God will be there and he hates God. Same with the unregenerate. You see salvation is not just an eternal fire insurance policy. It involves a real internal change of our desires and affections. Such a change does not result in a denial of the reality of hell and/or a belief in universalism, as in the case of Rob Bell and others. But the transforming work of the Spirit in the life of a born again Christian creates a love for God that crowds out fear of punishment like rocks displace a bucket-full of water.

This is what I believe John meant in his first epistle when he spoke of being perfected in the love of God and how perfect love casts out fear. The believer loves because he knows he is loved–but he does in fact love the true and living God. Cultivating this love of the God of Scripture  is the key to overcoming the fear of hell. If you are not saved (and sometimes even if you are) you will mistakenly think you must somehow make yourself more righteous through a system of goodness or works. Then you can feel good about you and at least for a season the fear of hell will vanish, only to return when you mess up (which you will).

You cultivate the love of God by absorbing His word through reading, study and meditation; or by reflecting on His self-disclosure in the creation; or by praying in the name of Jesus by the power of the Spirit; or by fellowshipping with others who love Christ and by sharing the good news with those who don’t know and love him. You grow in your love for Him by trusting Him enough to obey His commands–not out of a negative motive of fear, but from the positive place of heartfelt love.

David loved the Lord, and he messed up at least as much as Arnold Shwarzeneggar, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, and Charlie Sheen–maybe even combined. No excuse for sinning, but yes, you will not love the Lord perfectly, even as you will never love your wife and kids flawlessly. But you will pick yourself up because you know God does not lie when His word promises that nothing will separate you from His love. As you respond to this by growing daily in your love for Him the fear of hell will not be an issue.

Today the pastor preached on hell. I can’t remember the last time I heard a sermon on this topic, but he will be preaching on it for the next four Sundays. His basic points were straight out of the Bible. We are all going to die, and after that will come judgment. Everyone will spend eternity in one of two places. Heaven (new heavens and earth) or hell. No soul sleep or reincarnation. Eternal conscious bliss or torment, torment so severe Jesus said it would be better to hack off an arm or gouge out an eye than go there.

This is not the kind of thing I dwell upon often, but I was reminded today that Jesus spoke quite a bit about hell. He spoke of it in various figures–as a place where the worm dies not and the fire is not quenched. A place of outer darkness,  where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.In the story of the rich man and Lazarus we see that the rich man has a memory of his past life on earth and a helpless desire to warn his brothers still living. He is able to see what he is missing in Paradise and asks that Lazarus might come and refresh his dry tongue with a drop of cool water.

It is one of the most unpleasant doctrines in the Bible, this business of eternal punishment. But to deny it would be theological suicide–for it is taught with more authority than the virgin birth. No, like it or not we are stuck with it as believers. How should knowledge of this terrible potential destination influence our daily lives? First, it should make us more thankful for the grace and mercy of God in Christ. Thanks be to God that His Son took on Himself the damnation we rightly deserve. Second, it ought to cause us to pray more earnestly for our unbelieving friends and loved ones and to plead with them to trust Christ as their Lord and Savior.

Bottom line: a hundred years from tonight every human being living on earth right now will be in one of two places. That’s it. There are no other options. Three people a second die on this planet, and all of them enter into eternity either in union with or separated from God. A sobering wake up call, indeed.