Hebrews 10:28-31 - Why Teach the Doctrine of Hell? - March 4, 2018

Looking at today’s sermon theme, you might be thinking that you walked into the wrong church – or maybe the wrong century – this morning. Eternal damnation in hell is a doctrine that has all but disappeared from Christian preaching in 21st century America. (I would be willing to bet that some of us have never heard a sermon focused on the reality and severity of hell.) Why? There are three main reasons. First, this is not the kind of thing that would seem to appeal to unchurched people. We’re told that unchurched people don’t want to hear about a God who punishes sin and unbelief with eternal death in hell. Our response is: of course not! No unbeliever is going to want to hear about hell because, by definition, no unbeliever thinks that he or she deserves to go there. That conviction is only worked by the Holy Spirit through the proclamation of the Law – which includes the threat of eternal punishment in hell.

Secondly, the subject of hell is one which even we – believers – don’t really like to think about or talk about. Even if we know that in Christ we are absolutely certain that we will escape the punishment of hell, we do not like to think about it too much or too long because we have friends and relatives who have rejected Jesus and we cannot bear the thought that if they remain faithless will go to hell. And the result is that we tend to downplay or ignore or, sometimes, outright deny the reality of hell.

The last obstacle may come as a surprise to you: hell is not a topic that Christian pastors relish discussing and applying. Think about the oncologist who must tell a patient that they have stage four cancer and only has days or weeks to live. Compare that to telling a person who has rejected Christ and the salvation he offers – that the only future he or she has to look forward to is punishment that never ends. And yet, in spite of these obstacles, it is important that we hear what God’s Word has to say about hell. Why? Because so many deny it, because it is Biblical fact, and because it reveals, better than anything else, our need for a Savior.

It is especially important for us to teach about hell in our time because so many people deny it. This wouldn’t be so troubling if it were only godless unbelievers denying the existence of hell. When we learn, for example, that Thomas Jefferson said that a God who would condemn people to hell would be a monster and not a God, that hardly surprises us, because Thomas Jefferson was not a Christian. When Unitarians say that hell is what we experience when we are suffering from depression or loneliness or lovelessness on earth, that doesn’t shock us because Unitarians are not Christians. [1] When Jehovah’s Witnesses deny that those who die in unbelief will face an unending eternity of pain and torment and instead say that unbelievers will simply be annihilated [2] this does not surprise us either because Jehovah’s Witnesses are not Christians.

But what ought to shock and disturb us is that the doctrine of hell is under attack by people who claim to be Christian and insist that they believe the Bible. For the better part of 2000 years all Christians – whether Lutheran or Protestant or Catholic – were in agreement all who die in unbelief go to hell, that hell is forever, and that hell is unending torment. But, in recent years, this has changed. A 2015 Pew Research Council survey showed that while 85% of Christians in America believe in the existence of heaven, only 70% believe in the existence of hell. [3] How is this possible? Well, like most heresies, it starts with those who should know better, the leaders of the church. One example is Clark Pinnock, a prominent Evangelical theologian who wrote “Everlasting torment is intolerable from a moral point of view because it makes God into a bloodthirsty monster who maintains an everlasting Auschwitz for victims whom he does not even allow to die.” [4] This was not some cult leader making this assertion. This was a respected and influential Bible teacher in Evangelical circles. Chances are you may even know some people who agree with him.

How do they come to this conclusion? Many so-called Christians find it difficult to believe in hell because they say that God is love (1 John 4:8), and a loving God – according to them – would never punish anyone forever in hell (except maybe Hitler). So they use their own reason and emotions to fabricate their own theories of what will happen to unbelievers when they die. Some say that there is a hell, but that the suffering in hell will finally come to an end and eventually everyone will wind up in heaven. Others say that hell is non-existent and that all those people who do not go to heaven will simply be annihilated – that is, they will simply pass out of existence. But the worst heresy of all is the doctrine of universalism – that hell is just an empty threat and that all people, regardless of what they believe or don’t believe about Jesus, will immediately go to heaven when they die.

The only problem with their theories is that the Bible, the only source and standard for Christian doctrine and life, states unequivocally that hell is real and that it is a place where there is horrible, unending punishment. In this section of Hebrews the author is warning his wavering readers to not be deceived: anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? For we know him who said, “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” and again, “The Lord will judge his people.”

The author is arguing from the lesser to the greater. If God demanded that those who rejected his Word and will in the Old Testament be executed without appeal and without mercy on the basis of two or three witnesses – what do you think God will do to those who grind his Son under their feet like a bug, who blaspheme the blood he shed for forgiveness, who despise the Word and Sacrament – the only instruments the Holy Spirit uses to create and sustain faith? Every parent understands this. You may get used to the fact that your children will disobey your rules – but when they reject and despise your gifts? That’s something else entirely. Do not be deceived; if God mercilessly punished lawbreakers with death in the Old Testament, you can be sure that the punishment will be far worse for those who reject his grace.

And Scripture reveals exactly what this worse punishment is. Already in the OT, Isaiah wrote those who rebelled against me…will be loathsome to all mankind…their worm will not die, nor their fire be quenched. (Isaiah 66:24) Jesus told his disciples: do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. (Matthew 10:28) In his description of the Last Judgment in Matthew 25, Jesus tells unbelievers depart from me, you who are cursed, into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels (Matthew 25:41), and the book of Revelation says that the smoke of their torment rises for ever and ever. (Revelation 14:11) Hell is real no matter what percentage of people believe it. It is a permanent separation from God’s goodness and love, it is unimaginable torment, and the worst part is that it will never end. We must teach the reality of hell, then, not just because so many deny it, but because the Bible clearly, repeatedly, and forcefully teaches it.

And there’s one final reason to clearly teach and preach the doctrine of hell: because it reveals our need for a Savior. One of the most powerful and dangerous human impulses is the impulse to minimize, rationalize, and downplay the severity of sin. That’s why we come up with phrases like “little white lies” and “I know it’s a sin but it’s not hurting anyone.” In relation to hell, the impulse to justify ourselves leads many to underestimate the punishment sin earns. It’s the idea that I can pay for my own sin – whether that means making amends or giving to charity or paying the fine or suffering whatever temporary consequence is required. It’s the satanic lie that no sin is so bad that I can’t pay for it sooner or later. (You see this attitude regularly in public figures who are exposed for their evil deeds. Their gut reaction is to try to pay off their victim or give thousands of dollars to some non-profit or spend some time paying the price in a rehab center.)

If that’s true, if sin is something that can be wiped off the books by a few years of disgrace or by donations to charity or by spending a few years in prison, then God is a liar because sin is not as bad as he says it is – not to mention: Jesus didn’t have to suffer and die and we are just wasting our time here. But if, as the Bible says, sin is something that earns God’s righteous wrath, if it brings suffering that does not end, then it is obviously something that we cannot afford to treat it lightly – either in our own lives or in the lives of other people, especially people we love. God is just, he will punish sin. If we refuse to confess our sins and lay them on Jesus and trust that he suffered hell so that we never would – then we are telling God that we demand to suffer the full punishment our sins deserve. And it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.

It is important for us to teach this doctrine of hell and the severity of sin, especially during this Lenten season, because it helps us understand what an amazing, precious, priceless gift of God it is to know that we have a Savior from sin. The author mentioned the blood of Jesus by which we are sanctified – that is, made holy. If the first part of faith is the confession that we deserve nothing from God but eternal death in hell – then the other half is trusting that there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus because through Christ Jesus the law of the Spirit of life set me free from the law of sin and death. (Romans 8:1-2) Jesus by his holy life kept God’s will perfectly for you. Jesus, by his death, paid the wages of sin for you. And Jesus, by being forsaken on the cross by God, suffered the punishment of hell – so that you never will.

So why do we, who believe that, need to hear a sermon about hell? Because some of us have heard that good news thousands of times. We may have heard it so often that we take it for granted, that it doesn’t really have any impact on us anymore, that we think nothing of skipping an opportunity to hear God’s absolution and receive the body and blood Jesus shed to spare us from hell’s punishment. But if we would always remember what a dreadful thing it is to fall into the hands of the living God, if we would never forget that the sins we commit every day earn us God’s eternal punishment, we would never grow tired of hearing the good news that God his Son into this world to die for us so that we might have eternal life instead of eternal punishment in hell. The doctrine of hell is a terrifying truth. But only when we realize that hell is what we deserve will we understand the stakes of Christianity. This is not just about making friends or having a good time or having a positive impact on the community. The stakes in everything we do – from evangelism to education to discipline – are eternal life and eternal death.

That’s why, even though it might make us squirm and may seem like a doctrine that was left behind with the fire and brimstone preaching of past eras, it is still important to teach this doctrine faithfully, not only to defend God’s people from being led astray by those who deny it; not only because the Bible clearly teaches it; not only because it reveals our desperate need for a Savior from sin; but especially because it will help us appreciate so much more during this Lenten season what God’s Son did for us and saved us from by his suffering and death on the cross. Amen.

[1] https://www.unitarian.org.uk/pages/frequently-asked-questions-faq

[2] https://www.jw.org/en/bible-teachings/questions/what-is-hell/

[3] http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2015/11/10/most-americans-believe-in-heaven-and-hell/

[4] https://news.nationalgeographic.com/2016/05/160513-theology-hell-history-christianity/