Video Transcript: Warnings about Hell (Dr. Feddes)

Now, why do you think that is? Do you think that they're all saved and born again and delighting in the Lord and so confident of their salvation? No. 

In many cases, it's simply that they don't believe hell is real, and they don't take it seriously. And the only thing they really worry about are the problems of this life. But what did Jesus say? Jesus said, 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 body. And so in hell, really, there is nothing that needs to be worried about as much as one's eternal destiny, if we're not right with God. And the Bible is filled with stern warnings about hell, and we need to take those to heart. Here are some facts to face three main facts that I want to highlight. 

First, God's wrath is real. Although God is love, He will punish unrepentant unbelievers. If you will not believe in Jesus and you will not repent, then you cannot expect God's love to be the thing that saves you. Because you have sins that have not been dealt with God's wrath is real. 

A second fact very closely connected with that is that the scripture often warns of hellfire. God gives us plenty of fair warning that hell is real. And we cannot ever object that God didn't give fair warning. And then a third thing, of course, is, these warnings are meant to be hided to be responded to. God doesn't say it just for the sake of saying it. But for the sake of letting us know while there is still time to avoid that terrible destination. 

First of all, then, will a loving God really punish sinners? Is God maybe too nice to punish people who do what's wrong? Well, not according to Hebrews 10. We know him who said vengeance is mine, I will repay and again, the Lord will judge his people. It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. I read a book once by popular author. And at one point in that book, he said, 

It is not a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God no matter what Jonathan Edwards said. That it is not Jonathan Edwards who said that originally, it is the scriptures it is the voice of God himself, that says it is the fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God. If you are an unrepentant sinner, and you fall into God's hands, it is a dread dread thing to happen. Will God punish will read your scriptures. Here are some of the Old Testament judgments, God sent a flood that wiped out the world and spared Only Noah and his family. God sent fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah. And it says in the New Testament that the fire that destroyed Sodom and Gomorrah is a picture of the eternal fire that will consume those who live in wickedness. 

God sent 10 plagues that crushed Pharoh's Egypt destroyed their prosperity wiped out their firstborn sons, because they would not respond to God their hearts were hardened, and they would not let God's people go. 

The Canaanites lived in wickedness, rampant sexual immorality, sacrificing of babies and butchering babies to please their gods, and God wiped them completely from the face of the earth. God in the book of Deuteronomy describes the punishments for covenant breakers and it is a terrifying list of all the things that will go wrong and the problems and woes that will be inflicted on people who live apart from God. 

You read the Book of Kings and you read of some use who came out and mock the prophet Elijah, and Elijah cursed them in the name of the Lord and two bears came out and molded a bunch of them read of the prophecies against the wicked cities of the world. 

Samaria the capital of Israel, was attacked and destroyed none of the capital of the Assyrian Empire such a mighty city with vast walls, and yet it fell under God's judgment. Jerusalem itself fell tyre though City have great wealth and power fell and was crushed under God's wrath. 

And God prophesied that He compared tyre to a great and beautiful ship that wouldn't be destroyed and sunk. And mighty Babylon itself with walls so wide and thick that chariots could ride side by side, three abreast on those walls, huge, massive amounts, walls, vast armies, crushed by the wrath of God. When you read of the Old Testament judgments, you can hardly say well, because God is faithful, and God is loving, and because God is slow to anger, he's just too nice to hurt anybody. The fact is the, we're warned of God's wrath against sin. And it's made very clear again and again and again that God punishes evil doers in the New Testament. 

We read abandoned is and Safire who lied to the Holy Spirit and were struck dead on the spot. King Herod was persecuting the church, he had the Apostle James killed with the sword. And then one day he was standing in front of a crowd trying to impress them, and they cried out, it is the voice of God, not of a man and Herod was all happy about that. And on the spot, and Angel struck him, and worms ate his insides and he died. false teacher named Barr, Jesus was opposing the work of God that Paul was doing and sharing the gospel with Sergius Paulus, a government official. And Paul called him a son of the devil instructing him blind right on the spot, or God struck him blind. People in Corinth were participating in the Lord's Supper in a way that was unworthy, and some of them were dying. 

And the Apostle Paul writes to them God's Word that this is why they're dying, because they're treating God's supper with contempt and treating fellow believers with contempt. Jesus warned that Jerusalem and the temple would be destroyed. And 40 years after Jesus gave that warning, that's exactly what happened. And it was a terrible destruction of the city. And all of these judgments are just pictures of a final judgment, and of the eternal hell that awaits the enemies of God, the unrepentant, the unbelieving, who refuse to turn to God, the Old Testament and the New Testament make it very clear that the God is loving though God is patient, though he delights in the death of no one, yet he is just, and he will punish wickedness that has not been repented of that has not been paid for. 

Does God give fair warning of hell? Jesus tells a story in which there's a guy who doesn't think so, he lives as a very wealthy man, he's got every luxury you can imagine. And right at the gate to his house, there is a poor beggar who has nothing and where the dogs licked his sores. But after death, the beggar is in glory, with the people of God. And this rich man is in hell suffering terribly. in anguish, he wishes he could have just a drop of water. He's in terrible anguish. He says, I'm in anguish in the slave, I beg you father, Abraham, sinned. Lazarus, the poor man who was in heaven sent him back to my father's house, for I have five brothers, so that he may warn them less they come into this place of torment. So Jesus is telling this story. And this man is kind of hinting that if only his brothers had enough warning, they wouldn't go to hell. And he's really hinting. If I had had enough warning, I wouldn't be here in hell. He's kind of blaming God, that he didn't have enough warning. But if somebody come back from the dead, and warn of hell, hell, then of course, they would immediately repent and turn to God. 

But the man is told, if they do not hear Moses and the prophets, neither will they be convinced if someone should rise from the dead. And those words of Jesus story are absolutely true. Think about it. Jesus did rise from the dead. And still people won't take warnings of health seriously. In fact, he raised a man named Lazarus from the dead. And how did his enemies react? They tried to kill both Jesus and Lazarus. And so, if someone's in hell is it because God never mentioned how because he kind of kept it a secret because he really wanted to send somebody there and he was just gonna get him by surprise, and not let anybody know. Well, Jesus says Moses and the prophets have warned about God's judgment. If you don't listen to them, you're not going to listen, even if someone rises from the dead. Let's consider some of these warnings of hell.

In Deuteronomy 32 verses is 22 and 35 It says, For a fire has been kindled by my wrath, one that burns to the realm of death below. It is mine to avenge I will repay. In due time their foot will slip. Their day of disaster is near, and their doom rushes upon them. That's God's warning in Moses. How about the Psalms, Psalm 21:8 and 9 says "Your hand will find out all your enemies. Your right hand will find out those who hate you. You will make them as a blazing oven when you appear. 

The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath and fire will consume them". Psalm 97:2 and 3 "Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne fire goes out before him and burns up his adversaries all around". Consider the Prophet Nahum. Nahum says the Lord is a jealous and avenging God, the Lord is avenging and wrathful. The Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps the wrath for his enemies. The Lord is slow to anger, and great in power. And the Lord will by no means clear the guilty, who can stand before his indignation, who can endure the heat of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire. We sometimes like to treat God as a gentle housecat. What if he's a tiger? What if he's a lion? What if he's a consuming fire? 

That's what the Bible says he is, towards those who are his enemies and refuse to turn from their sin. The warnings of God and of his fiery judgment are very clear. The Prophet Isaiah is of all the prophets, the one who speaks beautiful words of comfort, comfort, my people, says your God, and he speaks of the glories of a new creation, he speaks of the coming of one who would be bruised for our transgressions and take all our sins upon himself. The gospel is proclaimed in advance in the book of Isaiah, what a wonderful book it is. But does that mean judgment is not mentioned in Isaiah? No. Judgment is mentioned very clearly in Isaiah just as the gospel and good news of the coming savior are mentioned. Isaiah chapter 1, but rebels and sinners shall be broken together, and those who forsake the LORD shall be consumed, and the strong shall become tender, and his work a spark, and both of them shall burn together with none the clenched them, and people shall enter the caves of the rocks and the holes of the ground from before the terror of the Lord, and from the splendor of his Majesty. 

When he rises to terrify the earth. That is what's going to happen when Jesus Christ comes again, people will flee from him from terror of the splendor of his Majesty. He came in humility, and veiled his glory and his wrath so that we might come to know him before that second coming, but when it comes again, in the splendor of his Majesty, the wicked cannot stand before him. And the Lord will cause his majestic voice to be heard says Isaiah, and the descending blow of his arm to be seen in furious anger and the flame of devouring fire. For a burning place has long been prepared, indeed for the king, it is made ready. It's pyre made deep and wide with fire and wood and abundance, the breath of the Lord like a stream of sulfur candles, it that's Isaiah 30:30 and 33. This fiery place that God has prepared for a wicked king. Isaiah 33:14 says "the sinners in Zion are afraid, trembling has seized the godless, who among us can dwell with the consuming fire? Who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings?" Isaiah 47:14 " behold, they are like stubble the fire consumes them, they cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame". 

And the last verse of Isaiah, Isaiah 66, after talking about a wonderful new creation, it speaks of those who are not part of that new creation and who are the enemies of God, their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched, and they shall be an abhorrence to all flesh. Remember, this is Isaiah, the prophet of such beauty, have such blessing of such comfort and yet even Isaiah is directed by God to reveal these terrible judgments on the unrepentant.

The great Prophet Daniel in chapter 12:2 says "multitudes who sleep in the dust of the earth will awake, some to everlasting life, others to shame and everlasting contempt". And then There's Jesus. There are some folks who say, well I know the Bible, and especially the Old Testament talks about a God of judgment and, and so forth. But Jesus, he comes with gentleness and sweetness. Well, Jesus is gentle, and he does come in kindness, but no one in the whole Bible says more about hell than the Son of God himself. 

Here are just a few examples Matthew 13:41, and 42. Jesus says, "The Son of Man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom, all causes of sin, and all law breakers and throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth". Matthew 22:13, Jesus speaks about a worthless servant, who did not serve as master and he says, bind him hand and foot and cast him into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Matthew 25:29, and 30 "from the one who has not even what he has will be taken away, and cast the worst was servant into the outer darkness. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth”. Later on in Matthew 25:41 and 46. Jesus will say "depart from me, you cursed into the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels. And these will go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life". 

Jesus says in Mark 9:43 to 48, "and if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off, it is better for you to enter life crippled than it was two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off, it is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell. And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out, it's better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell, where their worm does not die, and the fire is not quenched". Now Jesus is not saying literally to mutilate yourself, he just saying that anything in your life that you have to give up, no matter how precious to you. You've got to give it up. If it's a choice between that and hell. Hell is worse than anything you can imagine, says Jesus. And so whatever causes you to sin, get rid of it. 

Jesus says in Luke 13:26 to 28, you will begin to say we ate and drank in your presence and Utah in our streets. But he will say, I tell you, I do not know where you come from, Depart from me, all you workers of evil. In that place, there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Even some who claimed to know Jesus will be sent away because Jesus did not know them in a saving way, they were workers of evil. 

John 15:6 "if anyone does not abide in me, he is thrown away like a branch and withers and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire and burned". So Jesus is absolutely clear and the apostle sent out by Jesus are just as clear. Here's some warnings from Paul. On the last day the Lord Jesus is revealed from heaven with his mighty angels in flaming fire, inflicting vengeance on those who do not know God, and on those who do not obey the gospel of our Lord Jesus, they will suffer the punishment of eternal destruction, away from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of His might. 2 Thessalonians 1.

Jesus half-brother Jude gave this warning in the book of Jude, and the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept that is God has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day, just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. Those today who say, Oh, any kind of sexual behavior is fine, and we believe in everybody can marry everybody, whether men marrying men, when women marrying women, abandoning your spouse, do what you like, there is no god or God is too nice, and he just supports whatever you do. What does Jude say? Sodom and Gomorrah serve as examples of those who indulge in sexual immorality and unnatural desire and they serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire. 

And the last book of the Bible written by the beloved Apostle John, the disciple who was closer to Jesus than anybody else, this great disciple of love. The Gospel According to John is filled with expressions of love. The book of Revelation has tremendous visions of a new creation of heaven on earth, of the marriage of God's people to their Lord and the end the love for him and yet, this note of judgment and hell. Revelation 6:15, through 17 says, "then the kings of the earth and the great ones, and the generals, and the rich and the powerful, and everyone's slave and free, hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains, calling to the mountains and the rocks fall on us, and hide us from the face of him who is seated on the throne, and from the wrath of the lamb for the great day of the wrath has come. 

And who can stand?" Revelation 16, people are beginning to get terrible afflictions that are a preview of hell coming upon them just around the corner. And it says people nod their tongues in anguish, and curse the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds. That's the terrible thing about hell. If we picture hell as this place where everybody really wants to go to heaven and be with God, and they love God and they're so sorry and disgusted with their sin, read this. Their nine their tongues and anguish, but they curse God for the punishment. But one thing they will never do is say they were wrong, and repent. Revelation chapter 20, tells us what happens to the devil and to all who have wandered far from the Lord and who refused to go back to him. Revelation 20 says, the devil who had deceived them was thrown into the lake of fire and sulfur, where the beast and the false prophet were, and they will be tormented day and night, forever and ever. If anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. 

Now, when you hear all of that, can you honestly say that God has not given fair warning? Again, and again, and again, through Moses, through the Psalms, through the Prophets, through Jesus, the Son of God Himself, through all of his Apostles, he speaks of these warnings of hell, and of the wrath that awaits the enemies of God. How should we respond? God's so loved the world, that He gave His one and only Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. That phrase shall not perish means shall not go to hell shall not be lost forever, and suffer forever far from God and banished from him. And how do we escape that whoever believes in Him that beloved son, that God sent for our salvation, we must trust him. And when we embrace Jesus and His salvation, and know that we've been saved from that terrible punishment of hell, because he suffered in our behalf, then we praise God, for saving us from the agony that we deserve. And we marvel that God the Son, Jesus Christ endured the horrors of hell for us. That's one more reason to treasure and appreciate Jesus, think about it.

Think about horrible hell is. And then think about this. Jesus Christ took hell into himself, when he hung on the cross. And somehow the reality of his eternal being and who he is, he was able to take all the punishment, and all the hell of all the wicked people in the world who would turn to him, he took all of that hell upon himself, and suffered it for us. He as God, the Son of God, took it all upon himself, think of what he paid, so that we might be saved and not only be saved from hell, but then be given glory and happiness, and heavenly pleasures and blessings forever. And Jesus did all that. Hell, on the one hand, is a terrifying reality to be warned about, but on the other hand, to realize that Jesus paid even that price, somehow he could take all of the eternity of hell into himself when he was on the cross, because He is God, and then did that for us. 

And then, once you've turned to God, for salvation, and to Jesus and are praising him, let this weigh on you grieve for the last. Pray for those who unless they're saved will go to hell. Warn them as God gives you opportunity. Show them explain to them the way to be saved. The Apostle Paul was such a mighty missionary and he said, I have unceasing sorrow in my heart for my fellow Jews who won't believe and that's the attitude we ought to have. Jesus wept over the people of Jerusalem when they wouldn't repent. And so these warnings are to cause us to say, Oh, I don't I don't hate those people. People who are my enemies, those people are in terrible, terrible circumstances and unless they're saved, they'll go to hell forever. 

So don't resent your enemies. Pray for them, agonize over them as God have mercy on them, and then urge them to turn to God. And finally, rejoice that the promises of eternal joy are as sure as the warnings of eternal punishment. CS Lewis said, I have never met anybody who disbelieved the teaching of eternal hell, who at the same time had a strong and lively belief in eternal blessing. The fact that God's punishments are eternal. And sure, the flip side of that is that God's promises of eternal joy are absolutely sure and everlasting. And so if you want to be blessed, you need to take God seriously when he warns of hell, but also, thank God when He promises heaven. And in light of these responses, we need to again embrace the gospel and then communicate that gospel. Here's a reminder of what the gospel is. 

First of all, the gospel is bad news. It's bad news about my sin. I'm sinful, and God's holy law condemns my crimes, and requires punishment in hell. Without Jesus, I'm spiritually and eternally dead, serving Satan, unable to save myself headed for hell. And once that bad news is known to be a reality, well, then we're ready for some good news. And the good news is the cross of Christ, God in love, put my sins on his sinless Son, the God man, Jesus, by suffering and dying on the cross, Jesus took my punishment, he canceled all the charges against me, He disarmed Satan. And God raised Jesus bodily showing Jesus to be the divine ruler of all. And once I know my sin, and once I know of Jesus cross and resurrection that overcomes my sin, then God blesses me with new life. 

The Holy Spirit causes me to be born again, as a child of God through faith. When I believe in Jesus, God credits Jesus perfect goodness to me, and the Spirit lives in me and connects me with Christ and His eternal life. trusting Jesus, I leave the old behind, and I joined the new humanity and Jesus, not the hell bound humanity, but the heaven bound humanity, not the humanity dead in sin, but the humanity born again and alive in Christ Jesus.

How do I become a Christian? Well, it can be expressed as simply as ABC. First A admit that you are sinful and totally unable to save yourself. B believe the gospel facts and apply those facts to yourself. Trust Jesus to save you, you personally. Make God your greatest treasure, and pleasure. And then C commit, commit your life publicly to Jesus as your owner, as your ruler as your boss. Be baptized if you're not already baptized. Become a daily disciple by listening to God in Scripture, by talking to Him in prayer, and seeking to live for the Lord in all you do. And join a Bible believing Christ honoring church. 

The Bible gives these fierce and terrible warnings of hell. We have it in the voice of God and of Jesus Christ himself. But we also have the good news, the gospel of salvation, and clear direction on how to become a Christian and to live forever, to already experience now a taste of eternal life and to live forever in the freedom and glory of the new creation. May God give us confidence in his promises, humility before his warnings, and a willingness to warn others while there's still time.