Farewell to Hope, Part 1

Sometimes people make jokes about Hell as if it's going to be a big party.

Perhaps even more tragic, there are people who don't believe it even exists at all. It is a place of fire that never burns away, Matthew 5. A place of tormenting thirst, guilt, and regret, Luke 16. And then John says it's a place where they have no rest day or night, Revelation 14 and 11. And Jude 1, 13 says it's a place of total darkness. And you say, Stephen, these are figures of speech.

Come on, a furnace of fire. You're trying to scare us into church. As Christians, we talk about God's gift of eternal life, and rightfully so. But we need to remember that every person who ever lived will exist forever. Here on Wisdom for the Heart, Stephen is working through a series called, Is Hell for Real? Well, it is for real. And even though it's an unpleasant topic, we need to talk about it because the Bible talks about it. Stephen will be taking you to Revelation chapter 20 today. He's calling the lesson you're about to hear, Farewell to Hope.

Stay with us. One of the most widely followed financial crimes in recent history involved Bernie Madoff, who had amassed so many millions. In fact, for decades, he'd been a leader on Wall Street, an impressive businessman who'd given millions to charities, university endowments, social causes, most importantly, his investors. But then to the shock of the financial world, Bernie Madoff was found guilty of leading a Ponzi. A Ponzi is an old scam, in fact, named after Charles Ponzi, who was caught in the first lucrative scam of this sort in 1910, where he convinced investors of incredible gains, all the while simply taking the money of his newest investors and giving it to those who had invested in him earlier.

As long as new investors could be found, the scam would grow until finally it collapsed, as they all do under its own weight. Bernie Madoff's Ponzi goes down in the books as the largest Ponzi of all time. In fact, I read when he was finally caught in the net, he had actually manipulated about $64 billion. A lavish lifestyle. He financed this incredible lifestyle of his from his yacht and villa on the French Riviera to his million dollar apartment in New York. His attorneys argued that this Ponzi by Madoff was actually just something that had grown beyond his ability to shut down.

He wanted to, but couldn't. He was caught. It was also argued that people got rich off his investments and his returns, that charity had been helped by the goodness of Madoff's heart, even though Madoff was taking money that belonged to somebody and giving it to somebody else, which is known as stealing. In the end, all his investors lost everything. Their savings, their homes, charities and schools lost million dollar endowments and there were even some who took their lives.

I read a small book by Brian Ross, investigative correspondent for ABC, who covered Bernie's life and a very, very sketchy overview. And of course, this trial, most of all. And I was struck by the gravity of this final courtroom setting. It was time for the judge to deliver the sentence. The courtroom was packed, of course, with investors and family and reporters and business associates and some of the well-known high profile investors. The judge said, Mr. Madoff, please stand. And he stood. It is the judgment of this court that the defendant, Bernard L. Madoff, shall be and hereby is sentenced to a term of imprisonment of 150 years.

150 years will be equivalent to 1800 months. This was the guarantee that 70 year old Bernie Madoff would spend the rest of his life in prison. There were cheers in the courtroom.

And applause. And there were some who wept. For justice had been served. Now, as much as people intuitively appreciate and believe in justice like this in a courtroom setting, ask the average person on the street what they think about the justice of God and you'll get a dozen different opinions. Ask the average person on the street about the justice of God being served in a literal place called hell.

And then with much more emotion, you'll get a few dozen opinions. Frankly, any discussion about a literal place where eternal justice is served has long since moved out of the mainstream religious scene, especially in this country. Ask the average church member when's the last time you heard a sermon on hell and they'll give you a blank stare.

Unless, of course, they go to Colonial, then they'll say this is all we're hearing lately. Historian Martin Marty wrote, hell has disappeared and no one noticed. A recent Newsweek article said today hell has become the church's H word. In other words, good people never say it.

It's impolite, crude. Gordon Kaufman of Harvard Divinity School believes that this is actually a good trend. He wrote, I don't think there is any future for hell.

Evidently, it's out of bounds. It's out of step with the world and the average church member doesn't really know much about it in America. One evangelical theologian delivered this rather timely challenge. If we come to the scriptures with our minds made up, expecting to hear from it only an echo of our own thoughts and never the thunderclap of God's thoughts, and he will not speak, and we will only be confirmed in our own conclusions, we must allow the word of God to confront us, to disturb us, and to overthrow our personal patterns of thought and behavior.

Well put. You see, the question isn't what do you think and what do I think? How do we feel about hell?

It's not the question. The question is what does God say about the subject? And guess what? He has actually said an awful lot about this place called hell.

In fact, more than we might even imagine. When the rather well-known North Carolina evangelist born and bred here had the accent to match, Vance Havner, if you've ever heard him, he's now with the Lord, been with the Lord for years. When he was beginning his ministry, he pastored a country church and there was a farmer who didn't like his preaching on hell. So after one particular service, he came up to Havner and he said, Why don't you preach about the meek and lowly Jesus? Havner replied, Well that's where I got my information about hell.

And it's true. Ladies and gentlemen, the shocking truth is the fact that nearly every single New Testament reference to eternal punishment in hell comes from the lips of Jesus Christ. As if to imply that this place is so terrible that no human being can be dependent upon to describe it, to speak of it.

But the Creator who delivers to us the news to share with our world that this place is real. According to the Bible, there is a coming judgment and eternal consignment in the lake of fire. But before that, there is this judgment, before that sentence is delivered, this judgment that we have been studying. If you have your Bibles, Revelation chapter 20, I've divided that last paragraph, perhaps the most overlooked paragraph in all the Bible, into four sections.

The first section was this unforgettable setting. Then I saw a great white throne and him who sat upon it from whose presence earth and heaven fled away and no place was found for them. We studied this terrifying moment where everything will be changed.

The universe exploding, literally fleeing, reconstructed at some later time after this courtroom setting. But here will the world of unbelievers stand. This is the judgment of unbelievers. The judgment of believers has already taken place.

We call it the Bema Seat. It's a place not to determine whether or not you get into heaven, but your rewards for how you've lived in faithfulness to God on earth. This is the judgment for unbelievers. They will be confronted with the truth they denied and dismissed as they stand before God and they will virtually stand here alone. No defender, no advocate, for they denied the gospel they had heard or seen, the gospel of conscience.

The gospel of creation and or the gospel of Christ. Here they stand in his presence like Madoff did before his judge. So all of the world of unbelievers will be standing before the great white throne and they will be found guilty. God for them will not be some cosmic therapist, not some grandfatherly figure who will say, there, there.

He will be the holy and righteous judge. Then we listened in on what we call the unavoidable summons. Verse 12 records, and I saw the dead, the great, and the small standing before the throne. This isn't very clear then when he says great and small, he's talking about those who were impressive and important and well connected. These are the emperors, the dictators who didn't know God through Christ. These are the movers and shakers of the planet. These people mattered and the smaller they are, the ground is equal level. The small, meaning the insignificant, and yet they had enough pride in themselves to reject creator God.

We notice, thirdly, this undeniable standard. Verse 12 goes on to say the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the book of life, and the dead were judged from the things which were written in the books according to their deeds. Now I mentioned that I would say more about the purpose of these books being opened, not to determine whether or not they are in hell or be sent to hell forever, but to determine the level of punishment they will receive.

So let me say just a few things about that. Everyone here before this great white throne will suffer in hell, but not all will suffer to the same degree in hell. Jesus Christ, again, is the one who delivers the truth. Jesus, when he sent his 12 disciples on a preaching ministry expedition, Matthew's gospel records Christ telling them, quote, whoever does not receive you, that is, they don't heed your words, as you go out of that house or that city, shake the dust off your feet.

Truly, I say to you, it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah in the day of judgment than for that city. Matthew 10, 14, and 15. Jesus also warned the hypocrites in his audience, the scribes and religious leaders, he said, who like to walk around in long robes, who like respectful greetings in the marketplaces and chief seats in the synagogues and places of honor at banquets, who for appearances' sake, and that's the key phrase, it's all a scam in religious terms, who for appearances' sake offer long prayers, these will receive greater judgment. Matthew 12, 38 to 40. In Luke's gospel, the Lord made a distinction between the punishment of two servants when he said, the servant who knew the master's will and did not act in accordance with his will will receive many lashes. This is a reference to eternal judgment and punishment. But the one who did not know it, but committed deeds worthy of a flogging, that is, he still violated the will of his master, will receive but few.

Luke 12, 47 and 48. In other words, they both sinned against their master, but they will be judged by how much they knew about the master's will. They will both be punished for sinning against their Lord, but they will not be punished to the same degree. One commentator put it this way, all unbelievers will be miserable in hell, but not equally miserable. The very fact that there are degrees of punishment in hell is a severe warning, especially in this country that has a church on every corner, not necessarily preaching the gospel, but the easy access to the truth. Certainly for those sitting in this auditorium at 8 o'clock and 9.30 and now at 11 hearing the same message, surrounded by the truth of the gospel, it is a severe warning to hear it, understand what it means, and reject it. One commentator said, Imar Dahan, who's now with the Lord, he said, hell for the pagan headhunter, who has never heard the word of God, is going to be heaven compared to what it will be for you, who have heard the pleading of the gospel and have rejected it. In other words, those who have had the maximum opportunity to believe in the gospel of Christ and yet reject him, will experience the maximum punishment in the fire of hell. And so with this sermon, I deliver to you another warning and yet another invitation to believe, for after hearing this, your condemnation will only be greater in this day. There is a judgment coming, and those who knowingly reject Christ, the greatest torments of hell await them. One of my staff members sent me a link to a website called The Blasphemy Challenge, I don't recommend you Google that.

The Blasphemy Challenge, in which the designers of this website encouraged people to take them up on the challenge and deny the existence of God the Spirit. They incorrectly assumed that blaspheming against the Holy Spirit, that is simply denying his existence, is in some unique way unpardonable. Frankly, every sin is unpardonable, unless you go to Christ and ask him for pardon, right? Unless you go to the cross, you can't remember every sin, but you go to the cross and you ask him to forgive your sin and your sinfulness. And he doesn't pay for 99.99% of them. And, oh, that one over there, that's the one I didn't die for.

No, he died for them all. Well, they incorrectly, in fact, to the horror of their thinking, they incorrectly misinterpret that and say, well, if we then verbally deny the existence of the Holy Spirit, then that will consign us irredeemably to hell. So take the challenge. They ask that individuals video their response.

They have to log in and download it to this site, and I went to the archives and watched in horror one person after another. Finally, I stopped. Many of them teenagers, 20s and 30s, who verbally said we deny the existence of the Holy Spirit. In fact, one young man propped either his iPhone or his camera on something and said that it shot upward, and he stood back, and behind him was a church, and he said, I'm standing here in front of a church accepting this challenge. He said, I deny the existence of the Holy Spirit.

And then he walked forward and leaned down toward his camera, and he said, and I am not afraid. Taking pride in their blasphemy, their condemnation will only be that much greater. And I wondered if they knew it, but according to this text, those statements will be brought forward as evidence of the guilt and the justness of God's sentence.

Now, when will they give an account? Well, John tells us here in this opening courtroom scene where the books are open, so you have an unforgettable setting and unavoidable summons, an undeniable standard as these books are opened, and the actions and secrets and words and deeds, we talked about the different kinds of books that this could represent in our last study together, will all be judged against the perfect holy standard of God. In the fourth and final division of our exposition of this paragraph, John now shows us the terrible delivery of an unpardonable sentence. God the Son opens one more book. Notice the middle part of verse 12. And books were opened, and another book was opened, which is the book of life.

Look down at verse 15. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. So the only book that we're given the title to is this last book, the book of life.

So after presenting the books, the evidence, God the Son, and we know it's God the Son because Jesus Christ said that the Father has delivered the right to judge the world to the Son, John 5, 17 and 22. So Christ now, as it were, leans forward and opens one more volume, one more book. It is effectively the register of heaven. The names of everyone who have been born again, who have come by faith to Christ alone.

This is the register of the citizens of heaven. This is not a book of church affiliation. This isn't a book of church membership. Nobody steps forward and says, hey, wait a second, I'm a Baptist and I've been baptized. Or I'm a Catholic and I've been catechized. Or I'm a Methodist and I've been mesmerized, or whatever. Nobody's going to step forward and say that because Jesus did not say, believe on the church and thou shalt be saved. Nobody's going to step forward and say, well, you know, I didn't want to be one of those hypocrites.

I wanted to get my life right. I wanted to be the man before I placed my faith. God did not say, believe on yourself and thou shalt be saved. He said, believe on the Lord Jesus and thou shalt be saved. To that Philippian jailer whose household also believed and heard, all that night baptized, their names entered then. In the book of life. So John writes, God the Son is opening this book.

He is allowing the court, then the implication would be, just as he's allowed the evidence of the other books to be at the disposal of those standing before him, that one standing before him has access to it. Maybe Jesus Christ shows them, not so much whose names are here, but the fact that their name is not. Maybe someone will come up and say, no, no, wait a second here. It should be right about here. There's my grandmother's name. There's my father's name.

Wait, it skips a generation. That should be where my name is. But it isn't there. Truthfully, everyone would say, I knew my name wasn't written here.

In fact, I've seen all the evidence. I didn't need it anyway, but you've confronted me with the undeniable truth. I had no interest in you. I had no interest in being in your kingdom. I had no interest in you being my king, the only kingdom I cared about was the kingdom of earth.

The only king I cared about was me. And to them, Christ will deliver them what they would admit is just and right. It is this eternal sentence of banishment from the king and his kingdom. Verse 15 says again, look there, if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, note he was thrown into the lake of fire. Now that is so clear.

That is so undeniably horrifying that people immediately shift into high gear. And we've got to find a way to maneuver around this paragraph, especially the last phrase because we kind of like the Bible. And we'd like to think we sort of like God.

So that can't be what he means. There's got to be something more manageable, something a little more comforting, something less severe, something less eternal. In fact, if you notice just before verse 15, the last part of verse 14, John writes, this is the second death, the lake of fire. And that phrase has given rise to one of the more popular maneuverings around the truth of scripture.

And I'll give you two of them very quickly. The first is annihilationism. Tough word. But it is a view that the souls of the unredeemed are not eternally damned. They are eventually annihilated, exterminated, terminated in the fires of hell. Depending on how bad they were, depending on how bad they acted, really bad people live a lot longer in hell before poof. People who were really good, you know, just never heard the gospel of Christ, just a second or two and gone. Well, John called it.

I just showed you. The second death, that must mean to cease existing. Well, let me give you an answer. The Bible actually speaks of two different kinds of death, physical and spiritual death. In fact, the word death here, thanatos refers to the separation of the material, what you see, and the immaterial, that which I really am that you can't see. The immaterial is soul and spirit. In other words, death, if I were to die before I finish this sermon, there will be a separation between my body and my soul. My body, you'll bury, you'll plan a wonderful funeral, I hope, and lots of nice things will be said that I'm sure I'm fully deserving of, and then you'll gather in the cafe to eat potato salad and go home and talk about the next pastor, okay?

That's how it'll work, trust me. But my soul, my spirit, which has been awakened, will be immediately with Christ. So there's been a separation. Death, thanatos means separation. In other words, death is not when the soul ceases to exist.

In fact, that separation is temporary. Even for the unbeliever, their bodies will be physically resurrected, joined with their soul, which has been in Hades, the place of torment, awaiting the final judgment. Luke 16, we've already spent time studying that. The body will be resurrected, God will reconstruct it, immortalize it, suit it to be able to take the effects of hell forever, reuniting with the soul, and here they stand at the judgment. Death does not mean cessation.

It means separation. So when John says this is the second death, what he means is this separation is between that soul and that immortalized body from God. Listen, you never need to ask the question, is a person going to cease to exist?

The question is, where will that person exist forever? Here on Wisdom for the Hearts, we're committed to teaching verse by verse through books of the Bible. And sometimes that brings us to unpleasant topics, like the topic of hell.

But it's in the Bible because God wants us to know about it. Now, there's more to this lesson, but our time is running short, so we need to stop right here for today. We're going to bring you the conclusion to this message on our next broadcast.

You're listening to Stephen Davey, our Bible teacher here on Wisdom for the Hearts. If you missed a portion of today's lesson and would like to hear the whole thing, we've posted it to our website, wisdomonline.org. Before we end our time for today, I want to remind you about our app. The Wisdom International app will work with your smartphone, your tablet, or a smart TV. It's free to install and use, and it's a great companion for your personal Bible study. We're glad you joined us today, and I invite you back for the conclusion to this lesson at this same time tomorrow, here on Wisdom for the Hearts. Thank you.