Heaven or Hell?

     When is the last time you heard a good sermon about hell? No, you didn’t mis-read that. I used the word “good” on purpose to refer to a truthful, straight-forward sermon on what the Bible says about hell. You might not know it by listening to a lot of contemporary preaching, but hell is still a reality according to the Holy Bible. It’s still there, although it’s no longer found in the sermons many preachers present. But we can’t just blame the preachers. The fact is for millions in our relativistic, “this is my truth” age, hell will no longer sell. The doctrine and place called “hell” by Jesus just won’t jive with the God many contemporaries have created in their own free-wheeling way of thinking. The very notion that God might actually punish and cause pain in an eternal place the Bible calls hell is very unpopular in this age when, as it was said of another people long ago, “every man [is doing] what is right in his own eyes” (Proverbs 17:6). For many preachers as well as people who sit in pews, hell has cooled off or been frozen out altogether. The fire of hell has been thoroughly drenched with the water of theological liberalism and faithless thinking. There is barely a flicker of hell left in the minds of many. We can choose to ignore it, we can get angry about it, and all hot-under-the-collar if the preacher preaches on it from time to time, but the Bible’s teaching about hell is still there right alongside it’s gloriously good news about Heaven. Jesus Himself taught about Heaven and told us to lay our treasures up there (Matthew 6:19-21). But the Lord also talked about hell. He pulled no punches about it when He warned (talking to His disciples of all people!) in Luke 12:4-5 — “And I say to you, My friends, do not be afraid of those who kill the body, and after that have no more that they can do.  But I will show you whom you should fear: Fear Him who, after He has killed, has power to cast into hell; yes, I say to you, fear Him!” Read more of His sobering words about hell in Mark 9:44-48 (do it now if you haven’t read that passage lately); if what you read there doesn’t give you a big case of the heebie-jeebies, you didn’t read closely enough. Whether your preacher or church will preach hell or not, Jesus preached it.  
       Words by eighteenth century English poet Edward Young should provoke serious thought: “Time flies, death urges, knells call, heaven invites, hell threatens.” All of that reflects Bible teaching, and especially the vein of thought in 1 Thessalonians 5:9-11 (and several preceding verses) — “For God did not appoint us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us, that whether we wake or sleep, we should live together with Him. Therefore comfort each other and edify one another, just as you also are doing.” We don’t have space to study it here, but the “wrath” Paul mentions is God’s wrath, and its final and fullest form will be in hell (Romans 1:18ff * Matthew 5:22 * 1 Thessalonians 1:10). That’s bad news. The good news is, praise be to God, because of Jesus you don’t have to go! Mark Twain said he didn’t want to commit himself about heaven or hell because he had friends in both places. Millions never grasp the fact we can go to Heaven, but we must commit to it. If we don’t, we automatically commit to hell. Serious stuff. Are you committed to Heaven? Have you thought about it?

by: Dan Gulley, Smithville, TN