Today I have some Good News for you, but also some Bad News as well. To
begin with, I want to put two images into your mind to prepare you to hear
God's perfect revelation. The first image is entirely fictional. Let us
suppose there were a large wedding celebration to which dozens of people had
been invited. The alcohol was flowing, the dancers were enjoying themselves
and the gossipers at the tables around the hall were as catty as normal.
All of a sudden, sirens are heard outside and several doors and windows of
the hall are broken in by the Volunteer Fire Department. The Chief rushes
in and announces that they have come to save the party hearty crowd. But,
no smoke is in sight, no flames are evident and there isn't a hint of
catastrophe! How do you suppose the fire fighters would be welcomed in such
a case?
A second image, which while fictional may also prove historical in certain
instances. A group of men are deep in the tunnels of a coal mine. There
has been an explosion, the lights have gone out, the air has stopped
circulating and the canary refuses to sing. The hours go by, the canary is
barely breathing, the air is slowly becoming toxic. The men, who have
gathered at the nearest end of the tunnel to safety are waiting and
listening for any sounds of rescue. A day and a half of darkness have gone
by and all the batteries in their lights have gone out, suddenly mechanical
equipment and the shouts of rescuers is heard a long long way away. Will
they live long enough to see the light break through at the end of the
tunnel? Yes, in this story a rescue is effected and when workers break
through and announce that they have come to save them, brave men break down
and cry in thankfulness for their salvation!
Those stories my friends illustrate the great watershed in personal
experience in our day. The great majority of humans haven't a clue that
they need to be rescued. Only those whom God is calling to Himself finally
realize their desperate need for Jesus Christ. And the great tragedy of our
time is that most of the population in this country have never realized
their need for salvation because, the Word of God has been shut up and kept
as far from the public life as possible. In addition, times have been good,
there has been very little poverty or suffering here in America these last
seventy years.
Yes, there are rumors of war and even acute human suffering somewhere else.
But, here in America - what human experience have ever challenged the Baby
Boomer generation and their children? Like the party crowd that I first
described - it is exceptionally difficult to gain a minimal audience that
will even listen to the lessons of history and especially to the hard
lessons described in Holy Scripture. People just don't want to hear about
heaven and hell, especially the latter. If you took a survey of the general
population, you would find that the majority probably believe in salvation
by death. By that I mean, when everyone dies they go to heaven and perhaps
have to spend some minimal time repenting from not loving as well as they
might have.
If this is where your heart really is, I must speak truthfully from
Scripture and challenge your thinking. Yes, I have broken into your
religious party and would plead with you to listen to your need of being
saved! Like the householder in our passage from Matthew I must show you
treasures from both the Old and the New Covenants of Scripture. I must
speak about the absolute holiness and righteousness of the Father God
revealed in the Old Covenant passages.
Our God is an awesome God as a modern spiritual song goes. In His absolute
holiness, no human can stand or even long live. Remember Moses, Isaiah and
the Apostle John? What were their reactions to standing in the presence of
our God? "Woe is me!", said Isaiah and John fell down as if dead. Moses,
too was protected by the hand of God so that he could live! Since the time
of Adam, all of mankind has been in this sinful condition where God's the
purity of God's holiness would cause instant death if any one of us were in
His immediate presence!
To Moses, God revealed the Law summarized in ten principles. Those
commandments have three applications.
- For God's elect the laws are intended to show us how far and wide we
stray. They are given to show us our imperfection and our need for
Jesus Christ.
- The second tablet of six are the foundation for every human law.
These are the essence of the natural law which all nations are
obligated to order and enforce.
- Both tablets, the four and the six are to be the fruits of the Spirit
which the elect in Christ are to demonstrate in there lives before a
watching world.
By the law all men are judged and at the end of the age found guilty! Even
the elect of every nation who belong to Christ. However, by the grace and
mercy of our God the righteousness of Christ who was crucified in our place
covers over our manifold sins. And while the vast majority will receive
justice - those who belong to Christ will receive mercy instead!
Well what of the worldly wicked who know not our Lord? The Gospels report
the words of Jesus, the Son of God in all of their severity to warn us to
make certain of our salvation! In our passage in Matthew the furnace of
fire is written in the Greek "geenna" or Gehenna in the theology
commentaries and topical indices. Now Gehenna, which is normally
translated as the fires of hell is a New Covenant reference to one of the
valleys near Jerusalem. Originally the Valley of Hinnom was where baby
sacrifices were offered to Moloch in the time of Ahaz and Manasseh. During
the reforms of Josiah the valley was turned into the garbage dump for the
surrounding area.
Thus we might say quite literally that hell in this image is God's final
trash dump for all the human refuse who have no regard for Him, His
commandments or His only Son! If you ever have a curiosity to understand
what Jesus is talking about, may I suggest that you find one of those metal
dumpsters to spend a night! If you aren't brave enough to do that, just
open the lid and look in!
Oh, look - someone has tossed in some pampers. There is some moldy food,
broken glass, fragments of metal, newspaper and old books. There is a
broken plastic doll, some old clothing that hasn't been washed and even the
contents of someone's ashtray. While the lid is open, enough air gets in to
encourage the fresh ash and a little smoke begins to smolder. Not hot
enough to start a fire, but enough to burn slowly for a long time. Near the
smoldering fire, some wildlife rustles through the trash. Is it a snake, a
rat, mouse or only a spider - take your pick. Just as you think you have
seen enough a homeless pervert grabs you from behind and throws you in,
hoping to share some body fluids with you. That would be hell you say?
Exactly what Jesus means when He uses the word Gehenna. Only the reality is
much worse than any example we can imagine. We are reminded in our passage
from Mark that those who go down to hell do not die and the fire is not
quenched.
This is a place to be avoided at all costs. And Jesus tells us in Mark that
it is better to enter the Kingdom of Heaven maimed rather than into hell
whole. Now, let me give a general caution here. This passage is not to be
taken literally. Do not cut off a limb, do not gouge out an eye to seek
purification. Symbolically, what Jesus means here is that whatever bad
habit or sin you enjoy - it must be put away through the power of the Holy
Spirit.
Even though we cannot merit salvation by complete obedience to the Ten
Commandments, we are certainly encouraged to try! Some years ago, I had a
small card on my classroom door which read: "Beware of Calvinist". Most
people never paid it any mind. But one student took the trouble to look it
up and he told me what he had discovered. A Calvinist, he understood was a
person who utterly understood that they were saved only and completely by
grace, but then went on to live as if their ordering of life was the means
of salvation.
Unfortunately, much of the church misunderstands the true meaning of the
Good News. There are many religionists who presume that holiness can be
learned and the door to heaven opened by that means. Well do we need to
hear the inspired words of the Apostle Paul, (if he is still in your Bible?)
He tells us "as it is written [in the Old Covenant]:
There is none righteous, no, not one;
There is none who understands;
There is none who seeks after God,
They have all turned aside;
They have together become unprofitable;
There is none who does good, no, not one.'"
"Their throat is an open tomb;
With their tongues they have practiced deceit",
"The poison of asps is under their lips";
"Whose mouth is full of cursing and bitterness,",
"Their feet are swift to shed blood;
Destruction and misery are in their ways;
And the way of peace they have not known."
"There is no fear of God before their eyes."
Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the
law, that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty
before God. Therefore by the deeds of the law no flesh will be justified in
His sight, for by the law is the knowledge of sin." [Romans 3: 10-20]
Today I would remind you all of the most elementary lesson in the Theology
of the revealed wisdom of our God and King through His only Son - our Lord
Jesus Christ and applied in our hearts by His Holy Spirit. Again, I quote
from Paul:
"And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you
once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince
of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of
disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts
of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were
by nature children of wrath, just as the others.
But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved
us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ
(by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit
together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He
might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in
Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not
of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should
boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them." [Ephesians 2:
1-10]
And that lesson is the necessity of our being saved through the new birth
from spiritual death and being destroyed for all of eternity. Well has it
been said that the twice born die only once physically, but those who have
been born only once do indeed die twice both physically and then spiritually
at the end of the age. In our time, far too many organizations which
pretend to be churches have lost the sense of this lesson. There are far
too many congregations which style themselves as New Testament Churches
where only a minimal good news is preached.
As a result, the Old Covenant scriptures where the absolute holiness,
majesty and authority of our Triune God is taught, is often ignored because
our continued failure and even ability to keep any one of the commandments
perfectly, condemns us and thus prevents us from standing in the presence of
our Holy God. This we really do not want to hear. So naturally, the bad
news that describes the fallen nature of all humanity is glossed over and
forgotten. Even the spiritual activity of the Third Person of the Trinity
is ignored and our means of salvation is shifted to doing the best that we
are able to earn our way into heaven.
What a damnable heresy to be heard in any of Christ's Churches, as if any
one of us except Christ were capable of perfection! Lets turn to the third
chapter of John where Jesus instructs Nicodemus (A teacher of Israel):
"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born again, he cannot see the
kingdom of God" .
"Most assuredly, I say to you, unless one is born of water and the Spirit,
he cannot enter the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is
flesh, and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Do not marvel that I
said to you, 'You must be born again.' The wind blows where it wishes, and
you hear the sound of it, but cannot tell where it comes from or where it
goes. So is everyone who is born of the Spirit." [John 3: 3 & 5-8]
Again from Paul in his letter to the Romans:
"Therefore, brethren, we are debtors - not to the flesh, to live according
to the flesh. For if you live according to the flesh you will die; but if
by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live. For as
many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God. For you did
not receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit
of adoption by whom we cry out, 'Abba, Father.' The Spirit Himself bears
witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then
heirs - heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, if indeed we suffer with
Him, that we may also be glorified together." [Romans 8: 12-17]
"Likewise the Spirit also helps in our weaknesses. For we do not know what
we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit Himself makes intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. Now He who searches the
hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He makes intercession
for the saints according to the will of God."
"And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God.
to those who are the called according to His purpose. For whom He foreknew,
He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might
be the firstborn among many brethren. Moreover whom He predestined, these
He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He
justified, these He also glorified." [Romans 8: 26-30]
What more can I say - I cannot convince any human being of the truths just
explained from Scripture. I must leave the conviction and application of
our texts to the great teacher that Jesus left behind when He ascended to
glory. May the Holy Spirit contend with your spirit and give you the means
of salvation.
Amen.
