Sermon Tone Analysis

To Hell With Hell?

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ESV / 62 helpful votes

“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep's clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves.

ESV / 40 helpful votes

I appeal to you, brothers, to watch out for those who cause divisions and create obstacles contrary to the doctrine that you have been taught; avoid them.

For such persons do not serve our Lord Christ, but their own appetites, and by smooth talk and flattery they deceive the hearts of the naive.

The Bible has very strong words for people who spread a false gospel, for those who are tickling peoples ears.

It is one of the roles of a pastor to warn you about false teachers who may, through a friend, or book, or an email, try and persuade you to believe what they are saying.

This mornings sermon has been one of the toughest sermons I have ever prepared for… I know at the age of 26 that doesn’t mean much.

But this morning I am going to talk about a very, very popular pastor who has just released a book entitled Love Wins: a book about heaven, hell, and the fate of every person who has ever lived.

The pastors name is Rob Bell.

I’m sure many of you have heard of him.

This morning I am going to address what he is teaching in his book and contrast it with what the Bible says.

This has been tough because I have never prepared a sermon of this nature.

**PRAY**

For so many people in this postmodern world, the biblical doctrine of hell has become simply unthinkable.

The idea behind postmodernism is that all truth is relative, (what’s true for you is true for you, what’s true for me is true for me) existentialism runs ramped, and truth is defined by choice.

So many evangelicals have become persuaded through the “innocent” yet crafty speech of our culture and society.

We to have adopted, on differing levels, a postmodern way of thinking; we now have less biblical fidelity, less interest in truth, less seriousness, less depth, and less capacity to speak the Word of God to our own generation in a way that offers an alternative to what it already thinks.

This is so evident in the way we talk to others about Jesus:

It is no longer about God being deserving of all our praise, and all of our honor, and all of our devotion, and all of our money, and all of our time; we don’t talk about this Jesus as deserving of every fiber of our being, being submitted to the glorious Lord!

Instead, we talk about how Jesus can fix your problems.

Its no longer about the radical life transformation the Bible demands, its about adding the cherry on top of your already perfect life.

The Gospel is an Offence!!

We serve a God who was murdered because we was so offensive to his culture.

Yet we don’t want to hurt people’s self esteem by giving them actual truth!

We want to give them a Jesus that is palatable.

***ROB BELL p.150***

Rob Bell offers to people a Jesus that is easier to cope with.

The concept of Hell is one of the most difficult truths in the entire Bible.

So what do those who are not completely committed to God’s Word do with it?

Well… they choose not to believe in it.

Rob Bell is one of the most influential pastors in the US.

Believe me, if they haven’t already, your kids and your grandkids will be faced with this type of theology.

This ideology is already so prevalent in schools and universities.

Rob Bell just takes the post-modern mindset and sprinkles a little Jesus on top.

Over the last few weeks there has been a firestorm over the doctrine of Hell.

Rob Bell, the pastor of a mega emergent church in Grand Rapids Michigan, released his book “love wins” on Tuesday.

This book has raised a massive amount of attention in regards to his view of the love of God and Hell.

In the past few weeks:

Justin Taylor Responds First 

Justin Taylor responded to this video on his blog on the Gospel Coalition's website.

This was the push the controversy needed to get it rolling full-force downhill.

CNN Covers the Heated Debate

CNN decided to jump in and cover what was going on between the two sides as arguments grew more heated (for lack of a better word) .

CNN - Zondervan Splits with Bell

Another article appeared on CNN which went into more depth with the Rob Bell controversy while also discussing his previous publisher's (Zondervan) split with him.

Relevant Magazine on Universalism and Bell

Scot McKnight breaks down the different types of universalism and notes that we will be seeing nothing new here than in centuries past.

Challies - The First Review of the Book

Tim Challies received one of the first copies of the book and quickly got the review out.

Al Mohler's Two Part Series

Part 1 + Part 2 ~ In this 2-part series, Al Mohler addressed "Doing Away with Hell?" and the attention it demands.

Kevin DeYoung Reviews the Book

Kevin DeYoung of the Gospel Coalition spent a good amount of time with the book and hammered out a 20-page review.

Christianity Today Reviews the Book

Mark Galli reviewed the book for Christianity Today, examining the answers Bell gives and how it might sabotage his goals.

USA Today - Pastor's Book Kindles Firestorm

The debate made enough noise to get picked up by USA Todayyesterday morning.

"Mars Hell" by Doug Wilson

Douglas Wilson points to the present effects of what happens when we deny things about eternity.

"To Hell With Hell?" by Mark Driscoll

Yesterday, we released this post from Pastor Mark that was adapted from a chapter of his book Doctrine: What Christians Should Believe.

Just Friday Bell did a 1hr open forum type of Q&A about his beliefs that was covered by and hosted by livestream.

Rob Bells view of God, Heaven, Hell, and Gods love is nothing new.

This Video will give you an understanding of what Bell’s view really is.

VIDEO****

The idea that everyone will eventually get saved and enter heaven was first presented by Origen, an early church father who was born in 185 AD.

This heretical doctrine, which was deemed a heresy at the Council of Constantinople in the years 543, has been present, on one level or another, throughout the history of Christendom.

Rob Bell has nothing new to say, every argument he raises has already been dealt with in the past.

Bell communicates, through questions, that those who believe in Hell are so primitive, so backwards, so mean, so exclusive, so intolerant.

And that Gods love is so great that anyone who believes God will send people to hell must not understand Gods love.

What seems to happen is that we often, in trying to understand Gods love, will then sit back and contemplate what is the most perfect form of love?

There are two errors in doing so:

We are imperfect.

We do not know the future, who are we to tell God what perfect love is.

EXAMPLE**** One might think if they say me viciously grab my daughter by her collar and yank her into the air, that I am not a loving father!

I mean how could a loving father do that to their child.

What that person did not realize when they made their assessment of me is that there was a car screaming toward my daughter at 70mph and I grabbed her with much zealousness and viciousness by the collar in order to yank her out of the way of the car.

So, we are so flawed in our thinking because we don’t have omniscience.

We don’t know everything.

We have what perfect love is in the scriptures, thus we should not try to define it any way other then that.

I am sure a lot of you have heard, “How could an all loving God send people to hell?”

The real question we should ask is, “How could a just, holy and righteous God allow me to breath my next breath sinning the way I sin, and still provide a way for me to have eternal life in heaven?”

I would like to go through and critique Rob Bell’s book for you and show you why Bell’s view is not just a different interpretation of what the Bible says about God, but that Bell’s god is an entirely different god then the God of the Bible.

Though due to time I am going to just try and highlight some of Bell’s views and contrast them with Scripture.

There are three views to consider when thinking about Hell

Annihilationism – The unbeliever goes to Hell for a period of time until his sin debt is paid off then he simply ceases to exist.

Universalism – This is Rob Bell’s view.

There are different types of universalism Hell is not real, and as soon as you die you go to heaven Hell is real, you go there if you didn’t trust God in your earthy life, but you can still repent and Gods love will save you out of Hell.

Hell is what your life is on earth if you do not trust in Jesus, when you die you will trust him and be with him.

Eternal Punishment – Those who are not forgiven of their sins spend an eternity in hell under Gods wrath.

Rob Bell’s view is a mix between points b. & c.

He believes that we create hell for ourselves on earth when we don’t trust in “Jesus.”

And if we die not trusting him we go to hell, but there is a postmortem repentance that we can exercise and be saved.

***LOVE WINS p.107***

We are only going to look at Universalism and Eternal Punishment.

Is Hell eternal?

(ESV)