transcript - Peachtree Presbyterian Church

“Why We Need Hell”
“He shall come to judge…”
SERMON SERIES:
The Apostles’ Creed
April 3, 2011 ©
Dr. Victor D. Pentz
Senior Pastor
Scripture Lesson: Luke 16:19-31
Brace yourself. You are about to hear
what may be the most politically incorrect sermon
you’ve ever heard.
Few things make an audience squirm
more than hearing about Hell. Come to think of
it, few things make a preacher squirm more
than talking about Hell. It’s really hard to put a
positive spin on a wrathful God flinging evildoers
into unending misery where they’re surrounded
by pitchfork-toting devils.
In reaction to that cartoonish literalism
today some people have turned down the temperature
of Hell so it’s little more than an uncomfortably
warm room where you have to
spend a temporary time-out thinking about
your bad behavior. Just how bad is Hell? What
gets you put there? And, of course, how can we
make sure we never find ourselves in that
place?
I know one preacher who says that when
people ask him about Hell, one of the things he
has said over the years is, "Well, one thing I
believe is that the biblical imagery of hell-fire
is probably metaphorical." The person will say,
"Whew!" But then he adds, "I think it's metaphorical
for something probably infinitely
worse than fire." Then they say, "Huh?"
Hell for some people is the deal-breaker
that ruins Christianity. They say, “How can
you reconcile Hell and judgment with what you
claim is a loving gracious God?” Those just
don’t go together—and we’re going to talk
about that.
The one reason Christians can’t dismiss
Hell is this: no one talked more about Hell than
Jesus. He went around warning people about
eternity. So I don’t want anything I say this
morning to lessen anyone’s urgency on the
critical importance of this issue.
Our Lord told a parable once about the
possible outcome of our lives. I invite you to
turn with me to Luke 16:19-31, on page 1626
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in your pew Bible. We read:
There was a rich man who was dressed
in purple and fine linen and lived in luxury
every day. 20 At his gate was laid a beggar
named Lazarus, covered with sores 21 and longing
to eat what fell from the rich man’s table.
Even the dogs came and licked his sores. 22 The
time came when the beggar died and the angels
carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man
also died and was buried. 23 In hell, where he
was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham
far away, with Lazarus by his side. 24 So he
called to him, “Father Abraham, have pity on
me and send Lazarus to dip the tip of his finger
in water and cool my tongue, because I am in
agony in this fire.” 25 But Abraham replied,
“Son, remember that in your lifetime you received
your good things, while Lazarus received
bad things, but now he is comforted
here and you are in agony. 26 And besides all
this, between us and you a great chasm has
been fixed, so that those who want to go from
here to you cannot, nor can anyone cross over
from there to us.” 27 He answered, “Then I beg
you, father, send Lazarus to my father’s house,
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for I have five brothers. Let him warn them,
so that they will not also come to this place of
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torment.” Abraham replied, “They have
Moses and the Prophets; let them listen to
them.” 30 “No, father Abraham,” he said, “but
if someone from the dead goes to them, they
will repent.” 31 [Abraham] said to him, “If they
do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they
will not be convinced even if someone rises
from the dead.”
Two people: a rich man and a poor man.
Now ponder this: this poor man is the only person
in any of Jesus’ parables who has a proper
name. In all of Jesus’ other parables it’s always,
“There was a certain son” or a king or a
nobleman, the owner of a vineyard. Nobody in
any of Jesus’ parables has a name except this
poor man, Lazarus. What you’d expect is if one
of these men had a name the others would, too.
But by design Jesus doesn’t do that. We have
a named person and other nameless persons.
Life’s Most Important Question
So why do we need Hell? The first reason
is because Hell forces us to look deep inside
and ask life’s most important question:
who am I?
We have a “rich man” in Hell – which
to the ears of Jesus’ hearers would be an oxymoron.
They would have gasped, for in that
day wealth and righteousness went hand in
hand. Being rich was God’s gold-plated guarantee
that you were in his favor, giving you
reason to believe your blessedness in this life
would flow seamlessly into the next. But the
cosmos played a trick on this man. The winner
in this world wound up a loser in eternity.
And the worst kind of loser in this life—a
beggar whose sores are licked by dogs—
wound up winning the cosmic sweepstakes.
Think of it! Poor Lazarus closed his
eyes while lying in the gutter in front of the
rich man’s house and he opened them as he
was being carried through the skies by angels
to Heaven! The rich man closed his eyes with
his head resting on a silk pillow and opened
his eyes on a scene of unspeakable horror and
regret—he was in Hell without a name.
Now, what landed him there? Timothy
Keller suggests verse 25 is the key. Abraham
says to the rich man, "Remember that in your
lifetime you received your good things.” He
had things he built his life on. And again,
what were they? “There was a rich man who
was dressed in purple” (purple was the ultimate
status color, the color of royalty) and
fine linen." (Linen in that day cost twice its
weight in gold.) “…he lived in luxury every
day” – a kind of in-your-face opulence. Ah,
so this man’s wealth sent him straight to Hell.
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No, not exactly. Abraham, who in this story
speaks for God from Heaven, was a fabulously
wealthy person in this life and made a killing in
agribusiness. He had flocks and herds and on
and on. If there are no wealthy people in
Heaven, wow, God sure made a lousy choice
of his press secretary.
But notice the tense Abraham uses:
“Remember in your lifetime you had your good
things.” That’s past tense. Those good things
were what made him who he was. They were
his identity. And now in this afterlife, stripped
of them he was nothing, a nameless, faceless,
empty shell.
His fatal flaw was turning life’s good
things into his ultimate thing, because in the
end God releases us to our cravings. Hell is
getting what you think you really want. It is
God honoring his gift of freedom. In Dante's
Inferno those who live for lust in this life go on
to burn with lust for all eternity. Those who
lived to gorge themselves with food must go on
pounding down fistfuls of food that never satisfy.
As someone has said, “The Heaven we
craved is the Hell we get.”
It’s really not accurate to say God flings
people into Hell. Hell is the end of a life of
running. Hell does not exist because God doesn't
want us. Hell exists because we don't want
God. It’s where we wind up at the end of a life
of running from God. God says, “Have it your
way.”
C.S. Lewis always described Hell as a
place where the doors are locked from the
inside. The flames of Hell are the torment of
our ceaseless longing for the things we built
our life on that can never satisfy. Notice this
pathetic rich man was still clinging to his
status. Even though he was in Hell and Lazarus
was in Heaven he was still ordering Lazarus
around, like Lazarus was his flunky: “Hey,
boy, go fetch me some ice water and put it on
my tongue.” He was so out of touch even in
Hell this man expected to be waited on hand
and foot. And then notice this: this rich man
did not even ask to escape from Hell; he
wanted to get Lazarus in Hell, to come down
and make his life a little more tolerable.
Timothy Keller puts it this way: “Hell is
a freely-chosen identity based on something
else other than God that goes on forever.”
There are basically two kinds of people in the
end: those who say to God, "Thy will be done,"
and those to whom God says in the end, "Thy
will be done."
We need an urgent awareness of the
possibility of eternal misery. As much as we
wish there were, there is no place in the Gospels
where Jesus said, “Oh, guess what? I was
only kidding – just wanted to scare you a little.
Everything is going to turn out just fine for
everybody.” Or “There is a hell but nobody’s
going to be in it.”
Taking Sin Seriously
The Bible says the state of your soul and
your personal consciousness goes on and on
forever, and that leads to a second reason we
need Hell – all of us, including believers, need
to take the sin in our lives seriously. C.S.
Lewis, who is sort of the fifth gospel writer for
many of us, says it so well: "Now there are a
good many things which wouldn't be worth
bothering about if I were going to live only
[eighty] years, but which I had better bother
about very seriously if I am going to live forever.
Perhaps my bad temper or my jealousy is
actually getting worse — so gradually that the
increase in [eighty] years would not be very
noticeable. But it might be absolute hell in a
million years: in fact, hell is precisely what it
would be. Be sure there is something inside
you which, unless it is altered, will put it out of
God's power to prevent your being eternally
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miserable. While that something remains, there
can be no heaven for you, just as there can be
no sweet smells for a man with a cold in the
nose and no music for a [woman] who is deaf.
It's not merely a question of God sending us to
hell. In each of us there is something growing
up which will of itself be hell unless it is
nipped in the bud. The matter is serious: Let us
put ourselves in God’s hands at once — this
very day, this hour.”
Many of us have a list of pet sins which
we’ve been doing so long we pretty much automatically
forgive ourselves for them. Maybe
we have a cruel side to our personality or a pattern
of sexual dalliances or an absolute disdain
for certain kinds of people or creative accounting
in our business. A chilling word from Jesus
says, “Have zero tolerance for sin.” In the Sermon
on the Mount, he says if your hand causes
you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to go to
Heaven with one hand than to be in Hell with
two hands. Jesus said if your foot causes you to
sin, cut it off. It is better for you to hop around
Heaven on one foot than for you stand in Hell
with two feet. And if your eye causes you to
sin, pluck it out. It is better for you to enter the
Kingdom with a patch than to endure Hell eternally
with 20/20 vision.
Whatever sin you become aware of, nip
it in the bud. What seems like no big deal now,
Jesus says, could be devastating in eternity.
One of my favorite television shows
years ago was Wide World of Sports. Every
episode began with that famous line: “the thrill
of victory and – what? – “the agony of defeat.”
For the agony of defeat, there was this scene
that caused people across America to go running
into their living rooms every week. This
out of control ski racer took a spectacular tumble,
where he bounced across a roof of a ski
lodge, went airborne, flew through the air,
slammed into a fence, and seemed to break
every bone in his body. We loved to watch
that, didn’t we? Did you know that skier did
that on purpose? He had started his run, got on
some ice, was picking up speed, saw the trajectory
he was on would probably kill him, and he
thought, “Well, I can pay something now or
pay a lot more later” – so to save his life he
took that terrible fall.
That’s what Jesus says about sin. Even
if it hurts, like cutting off an arm or a leg or
pulling out an eye, to stop it, it’s worth it given
the abyss out ahead. Some of the best advice
I’ve ever received comes from N.T. Wright,
who said that whenever you feel yourself caving
to temptation, you must get in touch with
your pain. Where is the wound in your life or
in your past that makes you vulnerable to that
sin? Then he says Jesus will be your healer,
your guide and friend. He will carry you
through.
We must take sin seriously.
Finding Joy in God
Third, know that your bliss or misery in
eternity is directly proportional to your capacity
to find joy in God and happiness in him.
We Presbyterians came up with a really
cool question: what is the chief end of man?
The chief end of man and woman is to glorify
God and – what? – enjoy him forever. Do you
enjoy the presence of God? If you read the
writings of the new atheists – Richard Dawkins
and Sam Harris and others – to them, separation
from God is like getting free from a tyrannical
boss or an overbearing spouse. No way
do they want to spend eternity in the presence
of God.
One writer says, “In that light, Hell is a
grace, because for the person who has no taste
for God, no desire to see God’s face, the prospect
of standing before God for all eternity
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would be far more terrifying that anything
Hell will throw at them.” So try on this
thought. Suppose in eternity we are all in the
same environment of God’s presence only our
capacities for joy will vary hugely.
Suppose, for example, I were to raid
my pastor’s study leave fund and fly all of us
to the Caribbean, first class—I can dream.
And after landing in Jamaica we charter a big
ocean liner for a Peachtree cruise to Grand
Cayman Island. We’re on the same ship, same
environment, same food, all of us doing the
same thing. Yet each of us has a differing capacity
for enjoying our experience.
Some of you would not be able to get
over the fact that you put on a few extra
pounds this winter: “Oh, I can’t be seen in a
bathing suit in front of Peachtree Presbyterian
Church members!”
In our church we have a lot of type
A’s, and as control freaks, they would not be
able to get over the fact that they’re not steering
the ship and their cell phones don’t work.
Their capacity for joy is diminished.
Or maybe you’re like some of us who
have abused our skin over the years and your
doctor has you terrified of bright sun. You’d
experience less joy.
On the other hand maybe you’re someone
who has not been on vacation for months.
You’re like a zombie since you’ve worked so
hard and been under such stress. You’re so
pale your skin looks like the Pillsbury
Doughboy. For you, that cruise is Heaven on
earth.
Or maybe you are so attuned to God
you feel every ray of sunshine and see every
glimpse of blue and bite of shrimp as a gift
from God that thrills you down to the cellular
level.
We are here on earth to expand our capacity
for joy in God so we can contain the
fullness of joy and happiness God wants to
pour into us. Jonathan Edwards said that in
Heaven we’re going to all be like vessels of
varying size. Each of us will be filled to overflowing
with the joy of God’s presence; it’s
just some of us will be able to handle more of
it. Some of us will be super tankers and others
of us will be salt shakers. Meanwhile we need
to cultivate habits like prayer and worship and
service and so grow to enjoy more of God
every day.
Some of us need to admit this morning
that like the rich man we really don’t like the
presence of God. If we did, we’d probably
spend more time with God, seeking God, enjoying
God. You don’t want to wind up in
Hell someday from having rejected God. You
do want to be in Heaven with a mega capacity
for enjoying God, who wants to bring you
into his very own happiness.
Heaven is something we need to prepare
for now. That’s why I feel urgency in
sharing the Gospel with others. It’s why I’m a
preacher. And that is why all of us need to
feel such urgency and compassion to share
the Gospel. Verse 25 says something very
poignant. Abraham looks down from Heaven
into Hell and speaks to this rich man—this
sad, pathetic, out-of-touch-with-reality man.
Notice what he calls him: "Son." Commentators
say there is a sense of tragic sadness in
Abraham’s voice.
There was a great evangelist named
Dwight Moody. Someone once said, “The
only person I can stand to hear speak on Hell
is Dwight Moody, because for him it’s impos-
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sible to do so without breaking down and
weeping.”
Yet we today are like the five brothers
of the rich man in the story. We’re alive and
still on the earth with time to settle our issues
of eternity.
.
So are you ready? Do you have a name?
Not a name you’ve achieved in the eyes of the
world but a name you received from what God
in Christ has done for you? This morning are
you just a business person? Are you just an A
student? Just a developer or doctor or attorney
or teacher or mother? In your heart of hearts,
inside your 3 a.m. self, who are you? What
makes you you? Is it a lot of stuff out there – or
in here do you know you are God’s own precious
child? Do you have that one name that is
fire proof in time and in eternity?
Don’t try to hammer together your own
stairway to Heaven. Surrender to Jesus who
says, “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life. I
go to prepare a place for you, and if I go to prepare
a place for you, I will come again and take
you to myself, so that where I am, you may be
also.”
Would you join me in prayer?
Lord, thank you for the invitation to find
life in you – a life that is unending and overflowing
with the joy of your presence. I pray
for anyone here who senses a tug from your
Spirit right now, who is thinking, “I’m willing
to trade my reliance on life’s good things to
have that one ultimate thing, a relationship
with Jesus.” I pray in these moments someone
will pray with me these words: “Lord, I give as
much as I know of myself to as much as I
know of you. I accept Jesus as my Lord and
Savior. I surrender to His Lordship. God, give
me confidence that I am your child. Help me to
grow every day in my new name.” Amen.
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PEACHTREE PRESBYTERIAN CHURCH
3434 ROSWELL ROAD, NW · ATLANTA, GEORGIA 30305
www.peachtreepres.org · 404-842-5800
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