Is the Church Too Cautious When Talking About Hell and Judgment?

Is the Church too cautious when talking about hell and judgment? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity.

Well, hi there. This is Bill Meyer with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. We'd love to hear from you, and here's our phone number, 833-THE-CORE. You can call us for the next 25 minutes at that number.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Now, you can also watch Adriel right now on our YouTube channel. See what he's doing in the studio. I think he's drinking some coffee right now. And you can send him a message that way through our YouTube channel.

Plus, you can always email us your question at questions at COREChristianity.com. Bill, there was no coffee in the office today. I don't know who I have to talk to about this, but heads are going to roll, I think. I mean, the show may be a little bit different today because I just have not had my third cup of coffee. I don't need it, but yeah, no coffee today. Yeah. Somebody bring that man a Red Bull. All right, let's get to our first question.

And this is a voicemail that came in from one of our listeners named Derek. I just had a question. Recently, I've been having some financial struggles and I know that God loves the cheerful giver. So my question is, how do I stay a cheerful giver when I don't even have money in my bank account for savings? Do we give it and just pretend to be cheerful about it? Yeah.

So any insight you guys can give me would be so helpful. And I thank you so much again for ministry. It's been such a blessing.

When I get on my feet, I'm going to join the inner core because it's just been so helpful. Thank you guys. Okay.

Hey, Derek. Thank you. May the Lord bless you and provide for you in all things.

And the question you asked is a really good one. You know, does God just want me? I know scripture says God loves a cheerful giver. Second Corinthians chapter nine. But right now, you feel like you're not in a position to where you can give cheer.

You're not able to save money. So you feel like you're not in a position where you can give cheerfully. Should you just sort of grit your teeth and give anyway? How can you become a cheerful giver? Well, I think if you go to the chapter right before second Corinthians nine in chapter eight, I think there's some clues as to how to give cheerfully even when we are struggling ourselves or even when we don't have as much as we would like. Listen to what Paul said in second Corinthians chapter eight.

We want you to know brothers. This is verse one. We want you to know brothers about the grace of God that has been given among the churches of Macedonia. For in a severe test of affliction their abundance of joy and their extreme poverty have overflowed in a wealth of generosity on their part for they gave according to their means as I can testify and beyond their means of their own accord begging us earnestly for the favor of taking part in the relief of the saints and this not as we expected but they gave themselves first to the Lord and then by the will of God to us. Paul here is commending these believers and their generosity giving according to their means but even above and beyond their means.

Why? Because they long to care for the saints to meet the needs of others. In other words they're willing to sacrifice, to lose something, to experience some loss for the gain of another. Here saints who were desperately needy. Now why might they be willing to do that? Why might anyone be willing to do that? Well I think Derek I know it comes from a heart that's shaped by the message of the gospel because we serve the God who came from heaven to earth taking the form of a servant humbling himself and you know assuming our humanity went to the cross suffered and died so that he might make us rich with his grace. We follow Jesus the king of kings and lord of lords the one who is all generous and so I think in terms of growing in that cheerful giving having joy when you give to the local church or to a ministry where there's some need it has to flow from the gospel from having received the grace of God in your own life and so I would encourage you instead of instead of just saying I'm just going to do it and and suffer through it man take some time and prayerfully meditate upon how good God has been to you in his son Jesus the grace that he's lavished upon you the provision that he's given to you we really it's been said so many times we can't out give the lord and so meditating on that on that great mercy on that great goodness and from that place being able to say lord I want to meet the needs of others as well even if it even if it means suffering on my part even if it means losing on my part I can do that with joy because as I think about your great mercy towards me as I see how you have treated me oh lord I want to love others like that may God help each of us to live in such a way and may the lord bless you and be with you Derek and provide for all of your needs brother thank you for giving us a call hmm really good counsel thanks for that Adriel this is core Christianity with pastor Adriel Sanchez our phone lines are open if you have a question about the Bible the Christian life doctrine theology maybe some doubts about the Christian faith maybe you're struggling in some area of your Christian walk hey give us a call 833-THE-CORE that's 1-833-843-2673 let's go to Gene calling in from Broken Bow Nebraska Gene what's your question for Adriel uh good afternoon gentlemen and thank you for your program it's a beautiful program um recently in conversation uh where the bible statements of a third heaven but also a seventh heaven and I'm lacking knowledge of in differences is it a progression like someone's going to be so much greater than or uh I can't recall where those are found in the bible I would be glad to share that information with these other guys in that conversation again wonder what you could tell me about that please yeah gene uh well one thanks well one thanks for your encouragement and two I think that I think that the passage you're you're getting at is second Corinthians chapter 12 where Paul his focus there is not necessarily to draw these distinctions between these different levels of heaven if you will he's talking about an experience that he had second Corinthians chapter 12 beginning in verse 1 I must go on boasting he says though there is nothing to be gained by it I will go on to visions and revelations of the Lord I know a man Paul says in Christ who 14 years ago was caught up to the third heaven whether in the body or out of the body I do not know God knows and I know that this man was caught up into paradise the third heaven being paradise there they're parallel whether in the body or out of the body I do not know God knows and he heard things that cannot be told which man may not utter now in the context here Paul is talking about boasting in this man and his experience and and he goes on to talk about how he's not going to boast in himself but he's actually going to boast in his weaknesses because in his weaknesses Christ is made strong God is is showing himself strong through his shortcomings and so that's that's the main point of second Corinthians chapter 12 but along the way he talks about this individual who he knows who 14 years ago from when he was writing to the Corinthians had this experience where he was caught up into the third heaven and the third heaven there being heaven in the presence of the Lord with the angels and you know descriptions of it in places like the book of revelation so we can think of you know in terms of the biblical view of the world or the biblical cosmology we might say heaven above you know you think of the skies you think of outer space and then you think of the third heaven that is being in the very presence of the Lord around the throne of God that's the idea here and he's saying that this individual was caught up he doesn't know if it was in the spirit or if he was caught up in his body his whole body was transported into into the third heaven if you will but but there he heard things inexpressible things which he couldn't repeat Paul says and so yeah it's sort of an interesting thing there right because you see all these people writing books these days about it's called it's called I think they're called heaven tourism books or something like that well they'll say you know I had a near-death experience and I died and went to heaven and they'll come back and they'll write a book about it and make all sorts of money and and they'll describe you know what the third heaven was like what paradise was like but here Paul says I actually knew a guy that that happened to and he didn't he said I can't share any of it so sort of interesting there but the third heaven being being in the presence of the Lord around the throne of God with the angels and all the departed saints those who have gone before us in Christ now whether there's a seventh heaven or you know again it's not the idea here is not you know different levels of heaven sort of like in Dante's writing right that's not that's not the point he's talking about the third heaven as being in the presence of the Lord with the angels and so that's where we that's where we expect to be as believers when we die and our spirits are perfected in holiness and we go into the presence of the Lord to worship God it's described in places like Hebrews chapter 12 for example the vision that's painted there by the author to Hebrews and so a couple of other couple of other passages maybe for you to consult gene and appreciate again your encouragement and for you calling into the program god bless this is core christianity with pastor adriel sanchez our phone lines are still open if you have a question about the bible or the christian life we'll be taking calls for the next 15 minutes or so so now's the time to hop on the phone 833 the core is the number that's 1-833-843-2673 by the way our mission here at core christianity is to answer the tough questions about the bible and the christian faith and of course that can't be done without your support yeah that's right we want to ask you to consider making a one-time donation to the team here at core christianity your support allows us to share the gospel and the core truths of the christian faith with people all around the world through our live radio broadcasts our podcasts as well our web articles free resources and bible studies we hear from so many people who have benefited from the work that we're doing and we're saying if you're one of those people if you've been blessed and encouraged in your walk with the lord would you consider giving us a one-time gift to help us continue to serve the lord in this way you can go over right now to corechristianity.com forward slash give in order to do so and we thank you for your support you know we are not supported by a church or denomination we don't get money from a radio station we actually depend on you people just like you to keep us on the air so so if you believe in what we do on this program if it helps you in your christian walk by all means consider making a gift you can find out more by going to corechristianity.com forward slash give again corechristianity.com forward slash give or of course you can give us a call at 833 the core well we do receive voicemails here at core christianity and emails as well here's our email address questions at corechristianity.com and josh wrote to us and said i love your show it seems like the modern church has strayed away from talking about hell and sin christians know god is love but god is also just jesus talked about hell more than anybody what are your thoughts on this yeah well josh i mean i can't speak for the whole modern church but i'm also concerned about this i wonder if part of the problem may not just be the way in which so many churches teach through the bible and so you don't have i think as much expository preaching going through books of the bible unpacking them line by line verse by verse but but a lot of times you know in churches just purely topical that is there's there's a series that's chosen you know maybe you know building up your marriage or or you know how to get free from addiction or whatever it is i mean things that aren't on bad things good things but then you you get to sort of as as the minister or maybe as the ministry team pick and choose what you want to talk about and a lot of times people do shy away from talking about the more difficult doctrines the doctrines that people don't want to hear about like the doctrine of god's judgment the doctrine of hell and so i think that that could be part of the issue and by the way i'm not saying that topical preaching is necessarily a bad thing i i like to take time throughout the year maybe to do a short series here and there but if that's all that we do and we're not going through the scriptures you know you know book by book line by line then you you can miss things you can skip over things and so we have to be careful and you're right josh that jesus does talk about judgment and hell throughout his ministry i mean as he's preaching you think about jesus going around in the gospels preaching he has no problem talking about the reality of divine judgment john the baptist as well calling people to repentance and faith and so and so if we really are you know concerned with with the truth i think that we also will be willing to talk about those things we need to talk about those things because they're serious i mean i think about what what the apostle paul said when he's preaching as well you think of um ax chapter 17 talking about the judgment of god there um listen to this this is you know at the areopagus he finishes up his sermon he's calling these people to repentance and he says in verse 30 of ax 17 the times of ignorance got overlooked but now he commands all people everywhere to repent because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed and of this he has given assurance to all by raising him from the dead and so let me just maybe take this opportunity right now having received this email to say to you listening right now do you recognize that that's the case that god has appointed a day on which he will judge the whole world you in righteousness that there is a judgment that is coming and the the question isn't is there a judgment the question is are you secure are you safe in christ um because you know i i was i was just talking about this actually recently in a sermon you know when judgment comes when the earth shakes you know when things around us quake what's the first thing we do we we look for shelter um well that's coming this great shaking i mean i'm preaching through revelation right now and the final judgment is depicted as this cosmic earthquake you imagine when an earthquake hits you know you're looking for shelter what's the shelter that will keep you safe in the midst of the divine judgment where can sinners flee it isn't a home built out of the bricks of your own righteousness your own piety it's solely jesus christ it's being in christ the true temple of god who took our judgment and so people need to hear that message they need to recognize that we need to flee to christ to run to him and to trust in him um and to rest in him as well and so i hope that i hope that that is happening um in many churches throughout the united states but i'm also concerned john that or josh excuse me that there are um also churches that are shying away from that message from that truth and so uh may the lord help us to be faithful to his word and i appreciate you reaching out and uh bringing this this to our attention god bless just a follow-up question for you adriel doesn't that also mean that there should be an urgency to our evangelism i think a lot of times we go well we'll just kind of be friendship evangelists and be nice to people and someone will eventually figure out you know boy that guy's got a nice smile so maybe they'll ask me about why and then i'll be able to save because i'm a christian but the fact that there's eternal judgment coming doesn't that say to us hey we we don't want people to perish we should be out there sharing christ with them in an appropriate way of course but we should there should be an urgency to that yeah as you as you say that bill i think of you know uh noah for example building the ark and you know the preacher of righteousness calling people to repentance around him because of that great urgency you know the the flood is coming noah would say and and for us certainly um i think there there should be a sense of lord a prayerfulness lord give me opportunities to preach the gospel um not just as as you said bill you know to assume that my my my smile is going to lead them to jesus that that kind of thing um but really looking for those opportunities and also not being like a you know not uh being like a used car salesman for jesus where we really don't have an interest in our neighbors we're just trying to you know check a check a box okay i i shared the gospel and told them about hell and judgment check and if they want it you know good no i think we should take a genuine interest in them in loving them and caring for them and a part of that is being honest about the truth of god's word and prayerfully looking for opportunities to share christ with them in the hope of salvation that we have that we believe that the gospel like paul says in romans one is the power of god for salvation to everyone who believes so that should encourage us to share the message with the people around us that's so well said thanks for that adriel let's go back to the phones we have sarah on the line calling in from minnesota sarah what's your question for adriel yeah it's just a follow up on the question about cheerful giving i saw myself smiling when he was asking it but aren't there many other ways that we can give to the church that don't even involve money like with her other talents hey sarah thank you for that question i believe that absolutely i mean there are so many ways that we give to the church for her edification we're all gifted in unique ways paul says in first corinthians chapter 12 and those gifts that god has given to us the ways that god has gifted you even sarah those gifts are for our neighbors within the body of christ for their building up and so my hope is that um and i think this should just be the case that we are giving to our church not just in terms of of resources you know um money for the advancement of the gospel but but our time and our talents now if if the question is well as can we choose one or the other you know some people they give their talents to the church their gifts that god has given them describing first corinthians 12 other people give money to the church and that's sort of how they get out of having to volunteer for the nursery or whatnot no i i think in in both ways we want to cultivate that cheerfulness that joy um i you know paul in second corinthians chapter 9 he talks about not doing not doing it under compulsion there he's talking about giving financially and it's not like you're getting your arm twisted um but but freely purposing in your own heart you know this is what we want to do this is what we want to give and then doing so cheerfully knowing that the lord loves a cheerful giver i think one of the reasons why we just talked about how jesus had no problem talking about hell um and so we don't want to shy away from that well jesus also didn't have any issue talking about money and possessions and one of the things he highlighted throughout the gospels is that this really is one of the greatest idols of the world that we um we we worship property money possessions that they can become ultimate for us so that we're unwilling to to be generous so that we're unwilling to part ways from them in any sense to care for those who are in need and so i think one of the reasons that jesus talked about it is because he saw the danger um in really worshiping money and wealth and and and i think that danger is very real today and so that's why it's it's good to still talk about and to think about okay am i cultivating a heart of generosity with whatever it is that the lord has given me and the gifts that god has given me for the advancement of the gospel and may god help us again all to do that sarah thank you for for following up and may the lord bless you you raise an interesting choice there do i write a check or serve in the nursery yeah a lot of people would rather write the check yeah i know i know being a pastor of a local church i know people are like oh that's an easy one in my mind but um do both do both yeah there you go this is core christianity with pastor adriel sanchez let's go to anthony calling in from nebraska anthony what's your question for adriel yes uh good afternoon my question is about the sin question uh sometimes uh i pray i pray and even though in my whole entire life it's like i've been in the sin of uh uh immorality and um uh how you call it um uh cheating my wife and and all the time i've been i've been kind of like uh repentance and sometimes like when i pray even though i don't feel like i'm i'm really really really really convicted of the sin and repenting myself of that sin can i ask you did you i mean you said that this has happened is this something that you've confessed to your wife uh actually in the in the in the location where it happens my wife she's she's she's been noticing that i've been cheating on her and and uh she forgives me but i i tend to go back again and cheat and order her again and and like uh like i said i mean even though sometimes i feel like i want to really really give uh get rid of the uh sin but even though if i pray a lot or i pray really sincere like i feel like it but it's like uh sometimes i not feel like it anthony i didn't mean to cut you off there but we only have a little bit of time left and i just wanted to say um one when we get into a pattern of sin like this our our hearts can become seared our consciences can be become seared so we don't feel that sense of conviction like we should even though we know it's wrong and so i would say regardless of how you feel realizing that this sin is deadly and is destroying you it will numb your heart it will destroy your faith it'll destroy your marriage it's something that needs to be repented of and you need to take it to christ confessing and being honest with your wife about about the extent of it and getting the help that you need anthony in the local church and then maybe even someone who can help you with with these kinds of addictions may god be with you and help you thanks for listening to core christianity to request your copy of today's special offer visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar or call us at 1-833-843-2673 that's 833 the core when you contact us please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of god's word together