Covenant Presbyterian Church

If asked for a reason why the gospel seems to have lost its compulsion in our country and church leaders scurry about looking for the gimmick de jour to stimulate flagging interest among congregants, I would certainly including "hell" in my list of reasons. When hell is believed as a reality, everything changes. In the church, "work out your salvation with fear and trembling" takes on a much higher degree of urgency. It makes the church’s evangelistic mandate of pressing importance. "Without holiness no man will see the Lord" motivates serious, committed discipleship. "The fields are white unto harvest" and "pray for the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into the harvest" generate church-wide support for training of preachers and missionaries. This does not mean that love for God is less of a motivating factor, or joy in Christ, or concern for the welfare of one’s fellowman, or the glory of God. But hell is different. It is final, dividing, and horrible. It places a terminus upon the opportunity we and others have to be reconciled to God. This life is seen in its proper perspective as a daily preparation for the life to come.

When hell loses its hold upon the collective Christian mind, several negative implications follow. This life becomes defining and all-important; materialism destroys concern for the after-life. Missionary activity is transformed into a coffee-shop discussion to learn more about other religions so that they will perhaps listen to ours, or at least appreciate our concern. Training worship cheerleaders and religious managers of show-time is substituted for gospel preaching and biblical worship. Holiness becomes a personal choice, something I may get around to later, an occasional mountaintop experience rather than the disciplined pursuit of life. There is certainly no need to "fear and tremble" in working out one’s salvation because God loves me just as I am. The loss of hell makes men careless, shallow, and giddy. It encourages toleration of evil as not really "all that bad," just a different perspective. It reduces judgment day to religious manipulation. If belief in hell changes everything for man, disbelief in hell leads to the loss of everything significant, everything pressing, everything God-centered. The loss of hell leads finally to the loss of God.

Even in the church the old "hell-fire and damnation" preachers are the butt of jokes. It is an effort to make sure they never return, to discourage serious thought about judgment, to encourage a congenial ministry, and to transform God from the "consuming fire" into the "indulgent friend." Men hate hell. Many professing believers hate it - but not for the right reasons. They hate hell because they might go there. Their consciences are not quite assuaged by the preacher touting the sufficiency of a decision, the certainty of a feeling, the "loving God" of easy-believism, or the ceremonies of sacramental religion. Yet consciences are funny thing. You can feed them on cotton candy and try to convince them that everything is fine. But this sentinel of the soul cannot be erased like a hard-drive; it retains root information, an indelible sense of the holiness of God, a certain expectation of fiery judgment that all the reformatting in the world cannot quite remove. And so we dismiss hell, pit it against God’s love, seek subtle interpretations of Scripture that make it only a temporary "time-out" before everlasting, universal bliss begins.

But hell cannot be dismissed quite that easily. At every turn, heaven and hell, life and death, are placed in tension, one or the other being the eternal consequence of personal decision (Deut. 30:15; Prov. 11:9; 15:24; Jer. 21:8; Matt. 25:46; John 3:17,18; 5:24; Romans 5:16-18; 2 Cor. 3:9; 1 Thess. 5:9; Rev. 20:15). It is no exaggeration to say that life and heaven cannot be adequately preached unless they are placed against the opposing destiny of death and hell. Our Savior regularly warned of everlasting hell (Matt. 25:41; Mark 3:29; 9:44-48). The gospel is proclaimed by the apostles as deliverance from wrath and hell (Rom. 2:5; 5:9; 9:22; Eph. 5:6; 1 Thess. 1:10). The Bible opens and closes with warning of death and judgment as a consequence of disobedience to God (Gen. 2:17; Rev. 21:8). The Bible, the Christian faith, gospel preaching, and even divine love are all a farce when hell is dismissed, rejected, and ridiculed. Hell gives meaning to the love of God in Christ, elevates the substitutionary death of Jesus Christ on the cross to a level of unique significance for sinners, gives compulsion to gospel preaching, and places men before the yawning chasm of eternity with a historical choice of unspeakable significance: heaven or hell, life or death, mercy or judgment, eternal life or eternal death. It transforms biblical Christianity from its modern counterfeits of religious sentiment, personal fulfillment, moral virtue, and social consciousness to a message of escape from the wrath to come.

You see, believer, hell is good news. Hell means that a sovereign God does in fact rule over the lives and destinies of men and nations, that sin will not finally triumph over righteousness, and that divine justice will finally prevail. Hell means that Satan is not God’s equal, for Satan too will be thrown one day into hell, not as his dark kingdom where he will pout and scheme for eternity but as the place of his everlasting torment under the judgment of God. Hell means that though the bad guys may seem to win on earth, they will lose, horribly, painfully, and miserably. Hell means that evil is destined for defeat. Hell means that personal decisions count. This is not regularly emphasized, but if there is no such thing as hell, there is no such as thing as morality. Without a final reckoning, personal choices have no meaning beyond the immediacy of individual feeling. Hell means that Jesus Christ did not die in vain, for those who reject his sacrifice will face the wrath of the Lamb.

Hell is also good news for the child of God. Hell strongly compels us to deal with besetting sins (Matt. 5:20). It motivates us to persuade men to embrace the gospel (2 Cor. 5:11). It fosters love for our Savior, self-denying humility before his cross, and deep appreciation for the love of God. Hell encourages holiness; yes, holiness. When the believer hears that without holiness no man will see the Lord (Heb. 12:14), he knows that "not seeing God" means hell. Hearing this warning, he casts himself upon the grace and mercy of his Savior, in dependence upon his strength, and dedication to seeking holiness of life. Hell warns us against backsliding, for we belong to Christ if we hold fast the beginning of our confidence steadfastly to the end (Heb. 3:14). Hell, along with heaven, places this life in perspective. I may be poor and sick, wealthy and healthy. Hell levels us all before this eternal realities, teaches us to deny ungodly lusts and to live for everlasting life. And hell make us sober-minded, a necessary antidote especially for the sickening shallowness of modern American life, where the most important things are where I eat, what clothes I wear, and what kind of car I drive. In the light of hell, these things, frankly, have little significance. What counts is setting my affection on things above, where Christ is, where my life is hidden with him in God.

American Christianity desperately needs a heavy dose of hell. It would lead to the recovery of the gospel of sovereign grace and efficacious grace. It would again give compulsion to our preaching, missionary endeavors, seminaries, Christian education, long-term kingdom planning, resistance to secularism’s strident march against public Christianity, and personal piety. It would enable us to appreciate Jesus Christ more, love the gospel more, cling to him more, and devote each day to thankful obedience. It would lead us to God. Men will never be persuaded to seek him until they are convinced of their need, or their ruin, of hell. And hell would lead to love. It would remind us again that the purpose of our calling in Jesus Christ is not to build a Christian republic, elect a conservative president, or make sure marriage remains heterosexual, but to love men by remembering their destiny and ministering to their true need. Every man, woman, and young person we encounter has a date with heaven or hell, blessing or torment, life or death. This is the church’s ministry and message of love to the world - to warn it to flee from the wrath to come, to embrace the powerful Savior, and to be reconciled to God.