June 21, 2022
Friends,
Our world is squeamish about hell. Nobody likes talking about it except as an expletive. Even less do folks like being warned of it. It’s all too grim and judgy. We’d rather hear pleasant and comfortable things.
But our Lord Jesus talks about hell, extensively. He warns about hell as though it really exists and as though sinners will really wind up there. He does not shy away from the details, the weeping and gnashing of teeth, the unquenchable fire and the eternal rot. He threatens the judgment of his Father against unrighteousness and wickedness, against storing up treasures here on earth, against serving two masters, against selfishness and pride and the lusts of the flesh.
There’s a way to dwell on hell as though the goal is simply to terrify. That’s how you can get people to shape up and adjust their behavior. God is watching you, so you better be good.
But preaching about hell is not merely to terrify, not merely to produce some temporary change so long as the picture of torment lingers. Preaching about hell is towards salvation, towards eternal life and glory.
It’s like going to the doctor for a physical, feeling just fine. In your exam, the doctor discovers that cancer has spread throughout your body. The news is bad. But you feel fine, and so to make the point even clearer, he shows you a scan. He shows you the nodules on your lungs and the ooze in your abdomen. He describes to you what will happen if this disease goes untreated: a slow, painful, and certain death.
Nobody enjoys that description, and we’d rather not imagine it. But for the patient who will be cured, that description is needed to make sense of the chemotherapy and the radiation and the surgery and all the misery that’s entailed. The patient who will be cured doesn’t say, “I wish you wouldn’t have told me. I wish you’d have just kept all this information to yourself, doc.” Instead, he says, “Thanks for letting me know. Thanks for giving me a chance to be healed. Thanks for giving me the bad news so that I can receive the good news.”
The bad news is that you are sick with sin and that, left untreated, that sickness is unto eternal death. Lest you think of death in sin as “going to a better place” or “being free from suffering”, Jesus tells us that death in sin is just the beginning of eternal torment. A worse place and worse suffering awaits those who are not cured.
He tells us this so that our ears will be open when he next says, “I have come to give my life as a ransom for many.” He died on the cross, endured the sufferings of hell, and rose again for your sake, so that everyone who believes in him might be saved. He did it to take the fangs out of death and to deliver you from hell.
That’s the best news there is.
But the warning about hell still stands. Don’t take his gift for granted. Christ didn’t die on the cross to relax the rules a bit, to make room in heaven for unrighteousness. He died to make you righteous and holy so that you could have a place in heaven. Those who practice unrighteousness are unfit for the kingdom of God. So turn away from your sin. Cling to Jesus and put your trust in him. Fear hell and the one who can consign your soul and body to hell. Fear him, so that you can learn to trust in his goodness.
Do not be squeamish about hell. Instead, be confident that hell has been overcome for Christ’s sake. Live in him and you will never die!
God bless and keep you,
Pr. Buchs
COMING EVENTS:
Old Settlers’ Day – Saturday, June 25
Elders & Council – Thursday, July 14 @ 6 & 7pm
Vacation Bible School – July 31-August 4 @ 6-7:30pm