Sermon Tone Analysis

Heaven

H-E-Double Hockey Sticks

Jeff Jones, Senior Pastor

October 19~/21, 2007

 

Hell Week

 

Welcome to “hell week,” as we are ending our series on heaven.

You might remember the theme of the series, the big idea, which is this: heaven is a re-made earth, life on this planet the way it was meant to be lived.

God created us to live in paradise, and we ruined it, and now live on a sin-cursed earth that is a foretaste of what hell will be.

This week, we are going to tell the other side of the heaven story; we are going to talk about hell, and to introduce us to the topic, let me introduce to the stage a very infamous guest.

* Steve’s Welcome to Hell monologue

 

Today we are talking about H-E-double hockey sticks (hold on to sticks), and even though we had some fun with the topic, this just isn’t one of those really fun topics in the Bible.

Hell is a horrible reality and something very difficult to think about.

It is a little like the time I was channel surfing and landed on one of those programs that show medical operations.

Right as I turned there, they had just made all the cuts necessary and were peeling someone’s face off of their skull, peeling it back like a mask.

I only saw it for seconds, but that was seconds too long.

I know that happens, but I don’t want to see that, I don’t want to think about that.

Hell is certainly one of those topics that is hard to think about, which is why you don’t hear many sermons about h-e-double hockey sticks.

When it comes to the topic of hell, there are two extremes.

One is the old fire and brimstone preachers that almost seemed excited about the reality of hell and would give very morbid descriptions of eternal torment to manipulate people to choose Christ.

We want to avoid that.

Yet, the other extreme that is more common today is no good either…to just ignore the topic altogether, either act like hell does not exist or even begin to believe that it does not.

Either there is a place called hell or there is not.

Obviously you can choose to believe in a hell or not believe in a hell.

However, whatever any of us might believe, what we will see today is that there is no doubt that the Bible teaches that there is a place called hell, a place of judgment for the sins of mankind, a place where God’s justice is poured out.

The person in the Bible that knows the most about hell is the one who talked the most about hell, and that is Jesus.

Jesus talked more about hell than he did heaven, and in fact the reality of hell is the chief reason he came.

He came to make a way for people to avoid the punishment they deserved.

Because he wanted people not to go there, he talked a good bit about it.

Just one passage is enough for now, as Jesus is telling us about the final judgment, and he turns to those who are still holding on to their sins, who have not chosen the forgiveness that Jesus offers, and will say,

 

Slide: ___________) Matt 25:41

 

/“Then he will say to those on his left, 'Depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels/.”

A few verses later he says,

 

Slide: ___________) Matt 25:46

 

“/They will go to eternal punishment, the righteous to eternal life.”/

If the Bible is right, if Jesus is honest, then there is a hell, a place of eternal punishment, and we have to understand the implications.

As we have been talking about this cursed earth and how we have all sinned, what this means is that the whole human race deserves such punishment and is heading to a horrific fate, and someone needs to warn them about that.

It means that we cannot just close our eyes and wish the whole idea would go away.

We need to understand it so that we can avoid it and help others do the same.

Slide: ___________) [show thinker].

You have probably seen this sculpture before, it is Rodin’s sculpture called the thinker.

Have you ever wondered what he is thinking so hard about?

Maybe something like, “Who got my clothes?

Where did I leave them?

Now this is embarrassing.

How am I going to get out of here w~/out anyone seeing me?” Actually not.

The thinker is part of a much bigger work of art, called the “Gates of Hell,” and below the thinker are all these figures writhing in agony on their way to judgment.

The thinker is contemplating an eternity of separation from God; he is thinking about hell.

Today we are going to discipline ourselves to do the same, and answer the question of what hell is really like.

So, you can posture yourself like the thinker, just keep your clothes on, as we look and see what the Bible says.

Slide: ___________)

 

* *A Place** of Degrees*

 

The first thing we need to understand about hell is that is a place of degrees.

Here I’m not talking about the thermostat or diplomas, but of degrees of judgment.

It is a place of judgment, but in varying degrees based on the severity of people’s sin.

Just as heaven is not the same for everyone who goes there because of reward for what they have done, hell is not the same for everyone because they are only punished for what they have done.

Revelation 20 describes the final judgment, where those who have not come to know Christ will stand before God.

It says,

 

Slide: ___________) Rev. 20:12

 

/And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened.

Another book was opened, which is the book of life.

The dead were judged according to *what they had done* as recorded in the books (20:12).

/In a similar way, Jesus says,  

 

Slide: ___________) /Lk 12:47-48a/

/ /

/“And a servant who knows what the master wants, but isn’t prepared and doesn’t carry out those instructions, will be severely punished.

But someone who does not know, and then does something wrong, will be punished only lightly (Lk 12:47-48a)./

When Jesus warns a couple of very evil cities to change their direction, he says that if they do not shift,

 

Slide: ___________) Matt 11:22

 

“/It shall be more tolerable on the day of judgment for Tyre and Sidon than for you (Matt 11:22).

/He tells the religious leaders of the day that

 

Slide: ___________) Lk 20:47

 

These shall receive the “/greater condemnation” (Lk 20:47).

/

 

Before the new heaven and the new earth, there will be a great day of judgment for those who have not chosen to place their faith in Christ.

They will stand before God still holding on to the guilt of their sin, and he will judge them on the basis of what they deserve.

What we know is that it will be fair, and that hell will not be pleasant for anyone but will be much more tolerable for some than others based on what they have done.

Slide: ___________)

·         *A Place** of Suffering*

Hell is not like some say a big party, where Satan is at the DJ booth spinning records and everyone is yucking it up and having a great time.

Some seem to believe that; I’ve heard people tell others, “See you in hell!” looking forward to the big party.

The Bible lets us know that hell is no party, but a place of anguish and suffering…not the kind of party you want to be invited to.

The Bible gives various descriptions of hell, but one such picture is from a story that Jesus told about a rich man and a poor man named Lazarus that both died about the same time.

The wealthy man went to hell, and therefore we get a snapshot.

It is in

Slide: ___________) Luke 16:22-24

follow along with me/: //"The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham's side.

The rich man also died and was buried.

In hell, where he was in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away, with Lazarus by his side.

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.'/

We learn a lot about hell from this snapshot.

For one, he is still the same person.

People who go to hell maintain their personality.

He was still the same person.

He was conscious and aware.

He could think and feel and remember and communicate.

He was still the same person, very much aware of what was going on.

And he was in torment.

In this passage and others, they constantly describe hell as a place of fire, flames, a furnace that causes relentless, suffocating, tormenting heart, to the extend that the man in hell begs for just a drop of water for a second of relief.

Notice he doesn’t ask for a barrel of water or a jar or thermos or cup or even one drink.

He asks for one drop.

Just one drop would bring a moment of relief, and he longs for even a moment.

Certainly the torment was physical, but also emotional and relational.