God’s grace faces hell’s reality straight on, offering full deliverance. Denying hell takes the wind out of grace’s sails. If there’s no eternal hell, the stakes of redemption are vastly lowered. What exactly did Jesus die to rescue us from?
The Grace and Truth Paradox, 2003, Used by Permission from Eternal Perspective Ministries, www.epm.org, p. 75. Get this book!
The dreadfulness of hell deepens our grateful praise for the salvation we have in Jesus Christ. Hell is what we deserve. And hell is what He experienced on the cross in our place.
The Horror of Hell, Tabletalk, October 2008, p. 55. Used by Permission of Ligonier Ministries.
Let us not so much labor to know where hell is – as how to escape it.
There is something worse than death. And only the gospel of Jesus Christ, proclaimed by Christians and protected by the church, can set us free from what we truly must fear. The doctrine of hell reminds us that the greatest need of every person will not be met by the United Nations or Habitat for Humanity or the United Way. It is only through Christian witness, through proclamation of Christ crucified, that the worst thing in all the world will not fall on all those in the world.
How Does Hell Glorify God? © 9Marks. Website: www.9Marks.org. Email: [email protected]. Toll Free: (888) 543-1030. Used by Permission.
In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: “What are you asking God to do?” To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But He has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what He does.
Hell exists because unbelievers are eternally guilty. The powerful lesson to be learned is that no human being’s suffering can ever be a payment for sin. If our suffering could erase even the most insignificant sin, then those in hell would eventually be freed after their debt was paid. But all human goodness and suffering from the beginning of time, if added together, could not cancel so much as a single sin. Could my zeal no respite know, could my tears forever flow, all for sin could not atone; Thou must save, and Thou alone. “Rock of Ages”
Taken from One Minute After You Die by Erwin Lutzer, Moody Publishers, 1997, p. 107. Get this book!
God unleashed the full extent of His fury on Jesus Christ. As Isaiah put it in Isaiah 13:9, “Wrath with fierce anger.” Hell came there. What is hell? Hell is where God punishes people forever. Hell is where God pours out His fury on people forever. God is the power behind the punishment in hell. When you say that hell is being separated from God, only in the sense of His comforting presence, not in the sense of His punishing presence. He is the one who destroys both soul and body in hell. He is the King of hell, Satan is not. And God, who is the punisher of all the souls in eternal hell, shows up in the darkness of Calvary to punish His Son, and He gives His Son eternal hell on behalf of all who would ever believe.
The King Crucified Consummation at Calvary. The sermon originally appeared at: (https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/42-288/the-king-crucified-consummation-at-calvary) at www.gty.org. © 1969-2008. Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by Permission.
This is a stunning thing to think about. All the people who will spend forever in hell will spend forever there because they will never be able to pay for their sins. And yet Jesus, in three hours, would pay in full for all the sins of all the people who would ever believe. How? Because an infinite amount of wrath can only be absorbed by an infinite person.
The King Crucified Consummation at Calvary. The sermon originally appeared at: (https://www.gty.org/library/sermons-library/42-288/the-king-crucified-consummation-at-calvary) at www.gty.org. © 1969-2008. Grace to You. All rights reserved. Used by Permission.
Are you faithfully sharing the bad news of hell so that others will come to know the Good News of the Savior?
Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment, P&R Publishers, 1995, p. 64. Used by permission.
Jesus’ preaching about hell is part of His gracious ministry to a lost world. It is His way of showing unbelievers their need of Him. They, in turn, inevitably make one of two responses. Some display ingratitude for His warnings and reject Him. Others, however, gratefully own Him as the One who alone can rescue them. Instead of experiencing the wrath their sins deserve, they will taste the sweet victory won by His death and resurrection.
Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment, P&R Publishers, 1995, p. 50. Used by permission.
At the cross we catch a glimpse of the enormity of our sins’ offense to God. Here we learn about hell as Jesus, God’s beloved Son, takes the retributive punishment that we deserved, even separation from God, to deliver us. Here we look deeply into the mystery of the love a holy and righteous God for sinners.
Hell on Trial: The Case for Eternal Punishment, P&R Publishers, 1995, p. 214. Used by permission.
The solution is not to dismiss hell as an unloving concept. The solution is to accept the reality of hell and trust the love of God in Jesus Christ to save us from this awful reality.
Sermon, Hell is for Real – Part 1, Luke 12:4-5, March 15, 2015.
Jesus Christ did not bring us the Gospel to enhance our self-esteem, clear our sinus infections or make us prosperous. Jesus Christ brought us the Gospel to save us. To save us from hell which is the consequence of our sin. Matthew 1:21, “She will bear a Son; and you shall call His name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” The moment you get rid of hell is the moment you no longer have any need for the Gospel.
Sermon, Hell is for Real – Part 1, Luke 12:4-5, March 15, 2015.
Few things should be more encouraging for the believer than the teaching on hell. We know and have embraced a Savior who has rescued us from that terrifying destination. We know this was the primary purpose for Jesus’ coming. We know God in His love and mercy provided a way for forgiveness through the work of His Son. We know Jesus, being God Himself, lived a perfect life and thus qualified to stand in our place as a sinless human. He took our sins upon Himself and faced the wrath of God on the cross that we deserved. He took our hell so we would not have to and gave us His life. Justice for sin was accomplished on Christ. Through His incredible love offering, those who receive Jesus Christ can be forgiven and thus saved, saved from hell and enjoy the promise of everlasting life with Him in heaven.
Sermon, Hell is for Real – Part 2, Luke 16:19-31, March 29, 2015.
Hell is real, but God has provided salvation from Hell through Christ. God in His love warned us about hell and did so in the most serious of words. God is not cruel, He is love. If anything we are cruel when we believe this and fail to tell others about the hope they can have in Jesus. Therefore the Christian gospel maintains that today “the day of salvation” is now (2 Cor. 6:2), during this lifetime. Embrace Jesus as your Lord and Savior from hell, because once you die, the grace of God is no longer extended, only God’s justice against your unforgiven sin. And God’s justice will come with holy and righteous severity.
Sermon, Hell is for Real – Part 2, Luke 16:19-31, March 29, 2015
When men talk of a little hell, it is because they think they have only a little sin, and believe in a little Saviour; it is all little together. But when you get a great sense of sin, you want a great Saviour, and fell that, if you do not have Him, you will fall into a great destruction, and suffer a great punishment at the hands of the great God.
Joy Hindering Faith, 38.512.
We rob the gospel of its power if we leave out its threatenings of punishment.
The vague and tenuous hope that God is too kind to punish the ungodly has become a deadly opiate for the consciences of millions.
Jesus, the one who rescues us from hell, is also the one who speaks the most about it.
When People are Big and God is Small, P&R Publishing, 1997, p. 124. Used by Permission. Get this book!
