Tag: spirituality

Opportunites for the Overwhelmed

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“Hear my cry, O God; attend to my prayer. From the end of the earth I will cry to You, when my heart is overwhelmed; lead me to the rock that is higher than I.” (Psalm 61:1–2)

The Psalms are filled with comforting promises and convicting precepts.  The more adversity and affliction we face, the greater the need for the Psalms.  We have opportunity to see that truly no temptations have overtaken us except those which are common to man (1 Corinthians 10.13).  If God was faithful when David was overwhelmed, then He will be faithful when we are overwhelmed.  We need refuge and relief.

Life presents plenty of opportunities for you to feel overwhelmed.

We are overwhelmed by the difficulties of this life. 

David faced plenty of these difficulties.  Think of the overwhelming feelings when his son, Absalom, rebelled against him and was killed.  David was moved deeply.  Overwhelmed, he cried bitterly, “O my son Absalom – my son, my son Absalom – if only I had died in your place!  O Absalom my son, my son!” (2 Samuel 18.33).  Physical pain is also overwhelming.  If it is constant, it will wear you down and leave you feeling overwhelmed with depression.  I’ve had other times in my life when I’ve been caught in a lie or some other embarrassing situation.  Even though God forgives, I’ll think back on those times and cringe.  Sometimes we are so caught up in our past regrets, we are overwhelmed.  My relationship with Jesus Christ gives me victory over these over difficulties in life, but I often find myself just settling for getting by day to day.  I just sort of become resigned to feeling overwhelmed.  The goal is to grow closer to God when I am overwhelmed.  The difficulties of life tend to leave us overwhelmed; it becomes a way of life.

We are overwhelmed by the battles in our inner lives. 

My sin is always before me.  God convinces me to confess it and move on toward the mark set before me.  However, often the pangs of conviction leave me in deep anguish.  If I did not understand the mercy and hope God offers, I truly would have destroyed myself long ago.  I look at the inward condition of my soul at times and say, “O wretched man that I am!  Who will deliver me from this body of death?” (Romans 7.24)  Add to this that I feel God is so far away.  Sometimes “my soul refuses to be comforted” (Psalm 77.2) and my spirit is overwhelmed (77.3).  Perhaps the Lord has cast me off forever (77.7).  Has his mercy ceased forever when it comes to me (77.8)?  Has He forgotten to be gracious to me (77.9)?  His anger toward me has stopped the flow of His tender compassion and mercy.  Of course, nothing is further from the truth, but it doesn’t change the way we feel.  Life presents external and internal opportunities for us to feel overwhelmed.

We are overwhelmed by the finality of death. 

I live under the constant prospect of death.  Of course, all of us do.  But I’m reminded of it daily.  My body has changed.  Cancer has crept in and made me aware of just how brief life truly is.  I struggle with the ability to maintain my schedule.  I feel overwhelmed.  There are times and seasons when I say with Paul, “For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain …I am hard-pressed between the two, having a desire to depart and be with Christ, which is far better.  Nevertheless to remain in the flesh is more needful for you” (Philippians 1.21-24).  Death holds no sting for the believer.  I welcome it in some respects.  It cannot come soon enough when my heart is overwhelmed!  However, deep depression and loneliness makes death dreadful.  Ungodly and ungrateful people die like animals; they have no understanding of eternity.  But we know the terrors of death’s finality.  Our hearts are severely pained within us.  The terrors of death fall upon us.  Fearfulness and trembling come and horror overwhelms.

The Lord presents plenty of opportunities for you escape being overwhelmed.

Prayer stabilizes life like nothing else can. 

When God sees that we are finally looking to Him alone for our strength and comfort, He is pleased.  We look to the Creator not His creation for these things.  No one else can help me.  No one else knows me.  The person I think will help me will eventually abandon me.  I fall …he falls.  We all perish together (see Isaiah 31.3; reminds me of “Ring Around the Rosie”).  But before the throne of God’s grace, I find Him answering before I call …hearing and acting before I speak (Isaiah 65.24).

Prayer will prolong my physical life in order to accomplish the will of God.  Prayer will deliver me from my rebellious spirit.  Prayer will stabilize my chaotic inner life.  “The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (Jam 5.16).

God delivers us through prayer so that we might glorify Him.  He turns grief to joy in a season of prayer.  He gives peace through prayer.  “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6–7)

Prayer leads me to the Rock higher than I. 

Jesus Christ is the Rock.  He is sufficient to meet our every need.  If we really were convinced of that, we would pray.  We pray, “Lord God lead me to the Rock!”  The Rock upon which we have a secure foundation …the rock that crushes guilt, composes our thoughts, dissipates temptation …pours forth grace to go through affliction and wind up closer to God than we ever have been!  “Lead me to the Rock that is higher than I!”

I am sure that some readers cannot really relate to what I am writing, but the storms of life are coming.  You misunderstand Christianity if you think that you will always be in safe harbors and of sound mind and body just because you trust in Jesus Christ.  All of us are dying.  Life is very brief.  The best way to prepare for the inevitable is cling to the Rock higher than you.  The terror of judgment awaits us all.  The believer is judged for his life-work.  What is enduring and eternal?  What is vaporous and temporal?  Jesus Christ will declare it from His Bema Seat.

Other readers are overwhelmed by acute personal turmoil.  Realize that your natural tendency is to go to the creation rather than the Creator.  No pastor …no mother and father …no friend will stand in the place of God.  God is always faithful, and God will never fail you!  Overwhelming times present themselves to drive you to the Savior.  If you lived a constantly prosperous life, you would not see your need.  You would neglect the Lord Jesus.  As you mature in your relationship with Christ, you will recognize the purpose of affliction and be grateful for it.  There is great opportunity for the overwhelmed and great glory for the God of the overwhelmed.

Worldliness – Chapter 4

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51qp2VlKXFL._SL175_“Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses.” (Luke 12:15)

Materialism is the dependence upon and stockpiling of stuff.  Consumerism (materialism) has powerful sway of us.  We remain ignorant of the warning Jesus gives in Luke 12.15.  Materialism is a problem in the human heart.  It is not so much the stuff around us as it is the stuff within us.

Coveting is desire stuff too much or desiring too much stuff.  Stuff can be a tremendous resource for God’s purposes.  However, covetousness is a form of idol worship (Eph 5.5; Col 3.5; Lk 16.13).  It’s not that we have stuff; it’s that our stuff has us.  The availability of stuff ignites covetousness.  We must battle this at the level of our desires.

God’s remedy for sin stands before us in the Person of Jesus Christ.  Covetousness is powerful but no match for a benevolent Savior.

“Then He spoke a parable to them, saying: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded plentifully. And he thought within himself, saying, ‘What shall I do, since I have no room to store my crops?’ So he said, ‘I will do this: I will pull down my barns and build greater, and there I will store all my crops and my goods. And I will say to my soul, “Soul, you have many goods laid up for many years; take your ease; eat, drink, and be merry.” ’ But God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you; then whose will those things be which you have provided?’ “So is he who lays up treasure for himself, and is not rich toward God.” (Luke 12:16–21)

The rich man, inspired by he own genius, comforts his soul.  But the only audit that truly matters is God’s.  His new name in eternity is fool.  He is completely impoverished.  Every object you see is confined to this world.  You cannot take it with you.

Four Chains Binding Us to Stuff

  1. My stuff makes me happy (Lk 12.19).  But stuff stokes desire and doesn’t satisfy.  Discontentment forges chains which binds us.  Purchasing becomes a very elusive pursuit to happiness.
  2. My stuff makes me important (the ‘I wills’ in Lk 12.16-21).  Pride and covetousness are intertwined.  This is inevitable and destructive.  We obtain our desire and then feel superior.  Our purchase is a sacrifice of worship we offer to ourselves.
  3. My stuff makes me secure (Lk 12.16).  The prosperity in our lives is a test of trust.  95% of believers who face the test of persecution pass it; 95% of believers who face the test of prosperity fail it.  Prosperity moves us away from depending upon God.  It fosters false security.  But where we fail, Jesus succeeds.  When we are tested, we can go to our Savior.
  4. My stuff makes me rich (Lk 12.16).  But you can measure wealth by what fits in your barns.  We accumulate more than we need to become blind and bloated by our prosperity.  Don’t make decisions that protect yourself or keep the best for you.  The stuff we own can soon own us.  We are not rich but impoverished.

A man finally gets what he wants only for it to become the source of his destruction.  Don’t allow covetousness to chain your heart to that which is passing away.  The Holy Spirit empowers us to resist the seductiveness of riches found in this fallen world.  “Do not fear, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” (Luke 12:32)

Jesus is the King of the Kingdom.  We must hunger for God more than stuff.  The Gospel is the key to seeking that which never passes away.  How do we cherish Gospel freedom by being on guard against the bondage of covetousness?

We must post a guard of gracious resolve:

  1. Consider the true riches you possess in Christ (2 Cor 12.9).
  2. Confess covetousness and repent (1 Jn 1.9; James 5.16).
  3. Express specific gratitude (1 Thess 5.16, 18).  Gratitude subverts greed.  It is not a feeling or based upon circumstances; it is a recognition of our dependence upon God.  God is always good and right in His dealings with us.
  4. De-materialize your life (1 Tim 6.18-19).  It is painful.  Take stock of your real needs and give away the stuff you don’t need.  Grace doesn’t make things easy, but it does make hard things easy.
  5. Give generously (Lk 16.10).
  6. Guard and guide your children.  Dig covetousness out when it appears in your children.  Don’t accommodate children to bring peace.  Defend children when it comes to branding and advertising.  Teach children to share.  “Let Johnny have it first and enjoy the act of sharing.”

Is your happiness so closely tied up with what you own?  Is Jesus Christ enough?  Perhaps he will put you in a place where you have nothing and no one and find out that He indeed is.  Jesus is not merely enough; He is abundantly more than we could ask for and think of.  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His abundant mercy has begotten us again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled and that does not fade away, reserved in heaven for you…” (1 Peter 1:3–4)

 

Worldliness – Chapter 2

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51qp2VlKXFL__SL175_We are saturated by a perpetual media lifeline.  We live in the ‘mediasphere’.  We cannot take the pervasiveness of media too lightly.  It is having a devastating impact on culture today.  Everyone is influenced chiefly by television.  In television we live and move and have our being.

The world in which we live has the same desires of the flesh, desires of the eyes, and the pride of life as the world of John’s day.  We are no different.  Our calling as Christians is to resist the seductive calling of this fallen world.  To do this, we need to sharpen our biblical discernment and wisely evaluate our media intake.

The hazard is thoughtless watching of media.  We don’t gradually drift into holiness.  We take countless steps and each step matters.  A lifestyle of careless viewing reveals an ignorance of the media’s power in temptation.  Critical thinking leads to costly action ….to work.  Our minds must be engaged to travel against the cultural current.  It is a battle.

Is pop culture as deadly as persecution and plagues?  Yes, because it lulls us into apathy and passivity.  Christians must watch on purpose.  We are not immune from the danger of thoughtless watching.  We have a conscience that must be re-sensitized not desensitized.  Ignoring your conscience may lead to shipwreck when it comes to your faith.  We are “speaking lies in hypocrisy, having [our] own conscience seared with a hot iron” (1 Tim 4.2).

“The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9)  Our battle is with the flesh.  “For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.” (Galatians 5:17)  Our hearts are deceitful and our flesh is tempted.  “Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed lest he fall.” (1 Corinthians 10:12)   “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.” (Romans 12:2)

Legalism and liberty often come to the fore in this discussion.  Those stricter than us are legalistic; those more lenient are libertines.  The risk lies in our motivation not in having standards.  Are you lowering your standards while not reaching anyone in the culture?  You don’t need to immerse yourself in the latest entertainment to reach people for Christ.

We live before the face of God.  He watches everything.  This is the fear of God …our beginning place.  A fool excludes the reality of God (Ps 14.1).  We watch media in God’s presence.  We are accountable to Him in all things – including our entertainment.  God is holy; we are not.  We are in trouble.  Our eyes have lusted, our imaginations have trespassed, and before the face of God we find grace.  Grace that leads us to desire obedience.  Obedience must be motivated by grace.

The first three chapters of Ephesians doctrinally lay out the grace of God for us.  Commands do not come until Paul writes three chapters of grace.  Then this command:  “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,” (Ephesians 4:1) Then, we come to Ephesians 5:

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma. But fornication and all uncleanness or covetousness, let it not even be named among you, as is fitting for saints; neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor coarse jesting, which are not fitting, but rather giving of thanks. For this you know, that no fornicator, unclean person, nor covetous man, who is an idolater, has any inheritance in the kingdom of Christ and God. Let no one deceive you with empty words, for because of these things the wrath of God comes upon the sons of disobedience. Therefore do not be partakers with them. For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light (for the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, righteousness, and truth), finding out what is acceptable to the Lord. And have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but rather expose them. For it is shameful even to speak of those things which are done by them in secret. But all things that are exposed are made manifest by the light, for whatever makes manifest is light. Therefore He says: “Awake, you who sleep, Arise from the dead, And Christ will give you light.” (Ephesians 5:1–14)

All that is good, right, and true pleases God.  God’s grace leads us to live out these verses.

The more subtle the message, the more demand for perceptive viewing and critical thinking.  God plainly identifies what is displeasing.  Paul’s world and our world has much in common.  But we were once darkness and now we are light.  We are to no longer take part in the unfruitful works of darkness.  We are different people and must live different lives.

Avoid impurity in light of Christ’s love and sacrifice (5.1-2).  There shouldn’t be even a hint of sexual purity in our lives.  Does a program tempt me to be sexually impure?  I shouldn’t have a hint of it in my life.  Fallen people sin sexually.  But the visual and verbal details of immorality should remain in secret.  We learn nothing by learning the lurid details.

Let no one deceive you with empty words.  The wrath of God is indeed coming upon the sons of disobedience (5.6).  God prescribed stoning for adultery in the OT (Lev 20.10).  This seems extreme to us because we don’t have a healthy view of the blazing holiness of God (Hab 1.13).  We also see immoral people prosper in our media and, thus we are deceived.  Where is God’s wrath in immoral, romantic movies?  Maturity is not steering clear of immoral acts only; it extends beyond our thoughts and deeds and even to our words (Eph 5.4).  Foolish talk mocks and ignores the Word of God.  Crudeness and filthiness should not proceed out of our mouths, but it also shouldn’t come into our ears through films we watch.  What we say and what we listen to reflects upon our holy God.  Grace changes us from the inside out.

We have a high and holy view of sex as God’s good gift.  We don’t want to see it cheapened into a joke that degrades sex.  Sitcoms, stand-up routines, and comedy movies lead us to laugh at what we should weep over.  Thank God for sex; don’t joke about it and demean God’s good gift.  Watch what you watch.  Steer clear of impurity.  Christ died for the impure sins of impure people.

How do we decide what we will watch?  Hopefully not by the world’s rating systems.  The rating system doesn’t use a biblical criteria to evaluate films.  And what about the stewardship of our time and the motivations of our hearts?  Ask these questions:

  • Am I skipping or delaying something important to watch this right now?
  • What are my other social and entertainment options besides going out to watch a movie?
  • How much time have I already spent on media today?
  • How much time have I spent on spiritual disciplines, building relationships, or serving in my local church?
  • After investing the time to view this, will I look back on it as time well-spent?
  • Why do I want to watch this program or film?  What do I find entertaining about it?
  • Am I seeking to escape from something I should be facing by watching this?
  • Am I seeking comfort and relief that can only be found in God?
  • What sinful temptations will this program or film present?
  • Do I secretly want to view something in it that is sinful?
  • Am I deceiving myself by saying, “I’ll fast-forward over the bad parts”?  Am I telling myself, “I’ll just visit this website once, and I won’t click on any other links I find there”?
  • Am I watching because I’m bored or lazy?  What does that say about my heart?
  • Am I watching because others are …to be relevant or fit in?
  • How have my online relationships impacted my face-to-face relationships?  How has it impacted my soul – for better or for worse?
  • What motivates me to create and maintain a blog or a Facebook/Myspace presence?  To impress others?  Am I being sinful and proud?
  • Is sin identified as sin in this film?  What is being glamorized?  Who are the heroes?  Is sin glorified and rewarded?  What is humorous in this work?  Is violence used gratuitously to entertain?  Is sinful self-sufficiency honored?  Does it portray materialism as the good life?  Does it help me to understand my culture without tempting me to sin?  Does it reflect truth, beauty, and holiness?
  • What’s my speech like online?  Does it reflect grace?

Discernment is hard work but worth it.  Watching something might be acceptable, but is it beneficial?  “All things are lawful for me, but not all things are helpful; all things are lawful for me, but not all things edify.” (1 Corinthians 10:23)  What if your standard is that which is beneficial rather than that which is permissible?

To forewarned is to be forearmed.  How do we view entertainment for the glory of God?  Act as if you standing before the face of God because you are.  “Abstain from every form of evil.” (1 Thessalonians 5:22)

Promoting an evil message is presenting sin in a favorable light.  An evil method is employing sin itself to entertain (e.g., reality programs with slander and gossip).  Turn to the Lord and away from sin even when no one is watching.  View proactively.  “I will behave wisely in a perfect way. Oh, when will You come to me? I will walk within my house with a perfect heart. I will set nothing wicked before my eyes; I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. A perverse heart shall depart from me; I will not know wickedness.” (Psalm 101:2–4)  Grab the remote or click the mouse when something worthless appears.

View with accountability.  God has given us families and local churches to support us.  Defeating temptation requires exposing temptation.  Television viewing usually occurs in private and is not talked about in public.  Many do not know about the quantity or quality of our viewing habits.  We remain ignorant to the devastating impact to our media viewing habits because we rarely invite others to help us.  Turn to Christ for repentance and to a brother or sister for accountability.  God’s help often comes in the form of a fellow believer.

Parents must keep children accountable.  Internet filters and monitored computer use is a must.  We must be aware of when, where, and what our children watch.  We cannot be passive.  If we have been, we must repent and ask our kids to forgive us.  Kids who sin in this area must confess their sin and ask parents for accountability.  Accountable viewing is a blessing and not a burden.  It is protection and not legalism.

We are free to pursue entertainment within biblical parameters.  “Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy—meditate on these things.” (Philippians 4:8)  This verse affirms; it does not restrict.  It leads us to view with gratefulness that which is God-honoring and God-glorifying.  “And whatever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him.” (Colossians 3:17)

If I cannot thank God for whatever I am watching, I shouldn’t watch it.  But if it is true, noble, just, pure, lovely, and of good report, we should thank God for it.  We can watch television and movies and glorify God in the process.  But remember the ‘mediasphere’ will dictate watching less than we actually do.  Each step in the right direction counts.

Worldliness – Chapter 1

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51qp2VlKXFL__SL175_I’m listening to a book that’s been out for some time.  I just haven’t had the time to look into it.  Here is what I took away from the first chapter:

“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” (1 John 2:15)

“For Demas has forsaken me, having loved this present world…” (2 Timothy 4:10)

How did Demas go from dedication to desertion?  He didn’t turn the corner on a dime.  He did so over a period of time.  The signs and symptoms often remain inward.  A dull conscience and a listless soul.  Affection and passion for the Lord Jesus and His church dims.  Often people think they are just temporally preoccupied.  But they have fallen in love with this present world.  We are a desensitized people.

We are not under attack from without; we are decaying from within.  Our love for the things of this world has watered down and weakened our witness.  We have so little influence over the world because the world has too much influence over the church.  The more distinct we are from the world, the powerful our witness against sin.

What is the world we are forbidden to love?  The world God forbids us to love is the fallen world, those at enmity with God.  It is the organized system energized by Satan.  Worldliness is a love for the fallen world.  It is gratifying and exalting oneself in exclusion to God.  Our opinions are exalted above God’s commands and promises.  Worldly people move forward instead of upward.  Worldliness is a human nature without God.

Worldliness begins inside and works itself outward.

“For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.” (1 John 2:16)

The essence of worldliness is in the cravings of sinful man.  You must start with yourself.  Discern your own heart.  The cravings we have are often legitimate desires that become inward demands.  We are obsessed with the things of this world.  Our hearts are a perpetual factory of idols.  These cravings are often aroused by what we see.  If you’re more excited by what you see in this world than you are about what you see in the Lord Jesus, you’ve succumbed to the world.  Still others, are so proud and revel in what they have and what they have done.

“And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.” (1 John 2:17)

These things don’t last; they pass away.  There is no future to worldliness …none.  The world sparkles and dazzles, but does not deliver as advertised.  Sin always carries the seeds of dissatisfaction and destruction.  But there is a future in godliness and doing the will of God.  They will live forever.

Resisting worldliness means cutting it out of our hearts.  We cannot overcome it on our own.  But God has provided all we need to do so through the cross.  We not only have forgiveness of sin, we have the power to overcome it in the Gospel.  Fill your hearts with the love of God, and you will resist the world.  “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20)

“But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.” (Galatians 6:14)

Resisting worldliness is absolutely vital, but Jesus Christ must be preeminent.  Worldliness is so serious because Christ is so glorious.

“Hell? No, I won’t go!”

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“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” (Psalm 9:17)

This past year we marked the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the luxury liner Titanic.  About 1500 people died when the ship that not even God could sink sank.  But perhaps the greater tragedy was that the Titanic had lifeboat space for almost 1200 people.

20 lifeboats were lowered and only a few were filled to capacity.  Only a little over 700 passengers and crew were rescued, and 40% of the total lifeboat spaces remained unfilled.  Hundreds of people floated in the open icy waters wearing life jackets.  Only one lifeboat went back to search for survivors.  The rest remained a safe distance from the horrific tragedy.  They comforted one another and even praised God for being spared.  All the while people were dying.

As a church, does our outreach ‘make room’ for the lost and dying in this world?  Or do we lack the compassion needed to weep for the lost.  Perhaps we are safe in our redemptive lifeboat comforting one another and praising God for being spared as we read our text this morning.

The truth is that the wicked are being turned into hell and the nations are forgetting God.  The need of the hour is for compassion for the lost.  But to get there, we must understand a subject we often avoid.  Pray for a clear understanding of this text as I preach.  Pray for compassion to reach a lost and dying world.

The first question we must ask concerning this verse is simple…

Who are the wicked?

I would venture to guess that most of us would not define ourselves as wicked this morning.  We generally reserve this adjective for really evil people …people like Charles Manson or Adolf Hitler.  We usually use ourselves as the standard and measure wickedness accordingly.  We always end up outside the sphere of wickedness as we think of it.  Other people are wicked but not me.  Yet God’s thoughts are not our thoughts.  His ways are not our ways.

The parallelism in this verse makes it clear that the wicked are those who forget God.  While some are more culpable than others, the wicked have three characteristics which define them…

First, wicked people don’t care about God’s commands as written in their hearts and communicated in His Word.  Wicked people choose instead to think only of themselves.

Is there anyone who has ever lived on this earth who hasn’t thought only of what would please himself at some point in his life?  There is One.  His name is Jesus.  Thus, everyone else is wicked.  We have rebelled against God and have set up thrones over our own perceived dominions.

Second, wicked people actually work at forgetting God.  It takes work to forget the mercies and lovingkindnesses of our God …to drain your life of compassion and gratitude.  The redemption of God offered in the Person and Work of His only Begotten Son is the greatest gift we will ever receive.  But what if we choose to forget it?  What if we treat it as something despised?  If so, we are deemed wicked by God.

Third, wicked people treat God as if He was not here.  God has given us a way to not only be mindful of His presence, but to actually walk with Him.  But we act as if He is not here.  It simply doesn’t bother us to think this way hour after hour and day after day.

We speak as if He will not hold us accountable for every word.  We act as if only what is seen and felt matters.  We have no desire to be with those assembled in churches praying and worshipping.

We live without God in the world, and we are wicked.  It is not just the adulterer or murderer who is wicked.  All who are without Christ have no hope because they are without God in the present world (Eph 2.12).  When we act as though God is not here, we have much in common with those without Christ and without hope.

Now, we ask yet a second question…

Where will the wicked end up?

“The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” (Psalm 9:17)

Where will they wicked end up?  It’s stated pretty simply:  They shall be turned into hell.

The word hell in this verse is the English translation of a Hebrew word which basically means the grave (sheol).  While it it true that in other OT contexts, sheol simply means grave, it means something more here.  Why?  Well, because righteous and wicked people end up in the grave.  So, this verse must include a more comprehensive understanding of the final destination of the wicked.  Thankfully we have a complete revelation of God.  The progress of revelation provides for us an more informed understanding of Hell.

The NT references to Hell are found mostly in Matthew, Mark, and Luke.  Two words in the NT are translated Hell:  Gehenna and Hades.

1) Gehenna (12 times) is a word derived from a place known as the Valley of Hinnom near Jerusalem.  This valley was a notorious site of idolatry and child sacrifice in the OT.  God’s own people participated in this wicked practice.  The NT imagery adds to the horror of this place.  It was a place of constantly burning refuse in Jesus’ day.  Occasionally, a murder victim would be dumped in Gehenna with the refuse.  Here is what we find this out from the dark history of Israel regarding this valley…

  • King Ahaz was a wicked king of the northern confederacy of a divided Israel.  He sacrificed his own son in the flames of this valley to show his allegiance to a false god (2 Kings 16.3).  This was done by placing an infant in the stone arms of a statue of the false god Molech.  Flames had heated the statue and were stoked to consume the child in an act of human sacrifice – beyond anything tolerable for us to imagine.  It is akin to the heinousness of partial birth abortion.
  • King Ahab did the same with his son (2 Kings 21.6).
  • Mercifully, King Josiah ended this abomination.  He defiled “the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, so that no man might make his son or his daughter pass through the fire to Molech” (2 Kings 23.10).

Jesus used the images of Gehenna and the constant burning of the dead in many startling ways.

  • He said that whoever says, ‘You fool!’ shall be in danger of Gehenna (Mt 5.22).
  • He said it would be better to pluck out an eye or cut off a hand in order to stay out of Gehenna (5.29-30).
  • He warned, “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul.  But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in Gehenna” (Mt 10.28).
  • He confronted the Pharisees by pronouncing woe upon them for their hypocrisy.  He accused them saying, “You travel land and sea to win one proselyte, and when he is won, you make him twice as much a son of Gehenna as yourselves” (Mt 23.15).  Jesus rhetorically asks of these hypocrites later in the same passage, “How can you escape the condemnation of Gehenna?” (Mt 23.33)
  • Mark 9.43-48 state that Gehenna’s fire is never quenched.
  • But there is a second Greek word for Hell as well.

The second word translated Hell in the Scripture is…

2) Hades (11 times) is the common Greek term for the world of the dead.  The Hebrew word, Sheol or grave, is translated in the Septuagint (Greek version of the Hebrew OT, the one Jesus used) as Hades.  We do well to note the specifics regarding this word in the NT…

  • Jesus condemned the people of Capernaum to Hades because the mighty works He did in their presence were met with rejection.  As a matter of fact, the degree of Capernaum’s punishment in Hades would be greater than that of those in the city of Sodom.  The reason for this is that Capernaum’s culpability was greater.  They knew more and were thus more responsible for what they knew.

And you, Capernaum, who are exalted to heaven, will be brought down to Hades; for if the mighty works which were done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. But I say to you that it shall be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgment than for you. (Matthew 11:23–24)

  • Jesus also said that the gates of Hades would not prevail against the onslaught of His church (Matt 16.18).  This certainly indicates that Hell is a place.
  • The rich man was in torments in Hades after he died (Lk 16.23).
  • The term is used in connection with the resurrection of Jesus.  Using the words of David, Luke quotes, “For You will not leave my soul in Hades” and explains later that God would raise up the Christ to sit on David’s throne.  The soul of Jesus was not left in Hades, nor did His flesh see corruption.  See Acts 2.27, 31.
  • Hades will be robbed of a victory because Christians will rise.  See 1 Cor 15.55.
  • Revelation pairs Hades with death each time it is mentioned:

“I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen. And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” (Revelation 1:18)

“So I looked, and behold, a pale horse. And the name of him who sat on it was Death, and Hades followed with him. And power was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword, with hunger, with death, and by the beasts of the earth.” (Revelation 6:8)

“The sea gave up the dead who were in it, and Death and Hades delivered up the dead who were in them. And they were judged, each one according to his works. Then Death and Hades were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.” (Revelation 20:13–14)

We are able to summarize these words fairly easily.  Hades is associated with a place of punishment.  Both Hades and Gehenna speak of torment.  Hades does not end.  But both death and Hades are cast into the final abode of all the wicked, namely the Lake of Fire.  The Lake of Fire is everlasting.

Fire is a common thread when Hell and final judgement are mentioned in the NT.  The writer of Hebrews calls Hell fiery indignation (10.27).  Peter states that the present heavens and earth are reserved for fire until the day of judgement and perdition of ungodly men (2 Pet 3.7).  Jude deems Hell the vengeance of eternal fire (Jude 7).  It is a place of darkness, weeping, and gnashing of teeth.

I think we do well to pause now and really think of the horror of Hell.  It’s beyond our imaginations, but there is something that I found that does the best job I’ve read so far in describing the terror of eternal Hell.  The book Crashmaker: A Federal Affaire paints a graphic picture of Hell. The villain, Alan Stillwell, has a nightmare in which he meets the atheistic French philosopher Voltaire in Hell:

Voltaire’s countenance appeared white, not because it was dead, bloodless flesh, but because it was a mask of the most intense, living fire. So, too, flames enveloped his whole body—if, indeed, what Stillwell saw beneath the fire could properly be called a body at all. Twisted and deformed, it mocked the shape of a man. As black as charcoal, shimmering in reds and oranges with the incandescence of combustion, the thing seethed with ulcers of molten flesh that suppurated (festered) to a white heat, spit out jets of fiery matter, then collapsed upon themselves, only to burst forth in some other spot.

At the margins of these migrant craters emerged orange ribbons—no, Stillwell saw to his horror, worms. Standing on end, the creatures writhed in the flames, then melted into a translucent yellow liquid that poured back over the body and ignited, the bluish tongues of fire from this foul fuel spawning more of the awful parasites that then bored their way back into the body. As Stillwell watched, his mouth agape, chunks of Voltaire’s black flesh crumbled in showers of sparks, revealing bones almost transparent in their white heat. The fire all around consumed the flesh before it fell far. But when Stillwell looked again, the body was once more intact—always destroying itself, yet always whole. A fool’s cap of the most intense flames crowned the [philosopher’s] head, but not because his hair itself was alight. Rather, in the manner of a wick drawing on an inexhaustible reservoir, the follicles sucked from fissures in Voltaire’s skull liquefied brain that burned with a fury born of the unhappy combination of the intellectual brilliance of his mind and the perverse purposes to which he had put it.

Somehow, Stillwell could bear to look on all that. What he saw in Voltaire’s eyes, though, shook [him] to his core: all the depravity of man the philosopher had unleashed during and after his lifetime. And, underlying that monstrous crime against humanity, its true cause: Voltaire’s overweening pride.

[Voltaire confesses,] “My own reason enchained me, too, in disbelief. I ridiculed the Absolute. I imagined myself capable of giving new laws to the world, even of dethroning God. But what help were my pithy skepticism, my witty unbelief, all the blasphemies of my facile pen when at length I found my name inscribed in the Book of Eternal Death? Oh, then to erase, to amend! Alas, too late. I pulled down the Prophet, Priest, and King from the Cross without knowing that, in so doing, I would nail myself there in His stead, to become defenseless before the supreme tribunal, with no Savior to forgive my transgressions, no Church to reconcile me with my Creator.”

Stillwell shuttered, as if a dagger had been driven into the soul he knew he did not have. “Why do you want to save me?” he probed. “Save you?!” the spirit shrieked, shaking with fury. “I long for your damnation! To work for the salvation of souls my own sins have corrupted is part of my punishment. How it tortures me to fear that you might be saved, whilst I must remain forever [here].”

Victor Sperandeo and Alvaro Almeida, Crashmaker: A Federal Affaire; submitted by Jerry Cline, Upland, Indiana

The wicked will end up in Hell filled with great everlasting horror and unspeakable torment.  “These shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord and from the glory of His power.” (2 Thessalonians 1:9)  Just as Stillwell looked at the body of Voltaire once more intact—always destroying itself, yet always whole.

Hell is eternal conscious punishment.  The torment is spiritual, emotional, and physical.  The Bible defines the fire of Hell, the punishment of the wicked, and their destruction as everlasting.  People in Hell will not simply be annihilated, but rather they will suffer eternal destruction.

The judgement is eternal not temporary.  Hell is real and horrific.  But the greatest horror of Hell is the final, everlasting separation from God.  The inhabitants of Hell will get their desire:  God will not be a part of their existence anymore.   Hell is the absence of God.  And that absence is felt without a respite and without an end.  We tremble at the thought of it.

“Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men….” (2 Corinthians 5:11a)

But some men will remain unpersuaded.  The devil works hard at taking as many with him to Hell as he possibly can…

It is said that Satan once called to him the emissaries of Hell and said he wanted to send one of them to earth to aid women and men in the ruination of their souls.

He asked which one would want to go. One creature came forward and said, “I will go.” Satan said, “If I send you, what will you tell the children of men?” He said, “I will tell the children of men that there is no heaven.” Satan said, “They will not believe you, for there is a bit of heaven in every human heart. In the end everyone knows that right and good must have the victory. You may not go.”

Then another came forward, darker and fouler than the first. Satan said, “If I send you, what will you tell the children of men?” He said, “I will tell them there is no hell.” Satan looked at him and said, “Oh, no; they will not believe you, for in every human heart there’s a thing called conscience, an inner voice which testifies to the truth that not only will good be triumphant, but that evil will be defeated. You may not go.”

Then one last creature came forward, this one from the darkest place of all. Satan said to him, “And if I send you, what will you say to women and men to aid them in the destruction of their souls?” He said, “I will tell them there is no hurry.” Satan said, “Go!”

Bruce Thielemann, “Tide Riding,” Preaching Today No. 30; submitted by Kevin A. Miller, Wheaton, Illinois

Some are blithe and ignorant about the truth of eternal perdition.

Paul “Red” Adair was the oil field firefighter first made famous by a 1968 John Wayne movie The Hellfighters. After the first Gulf War, he led the effort to cap the Kuwaiti oil wells set ablaze by Iraq. Adair was a brash, fearless fighter. He joked in 1991 that it would be no different after he died. “I’ve done made a deal with the devil,” he said. “He said he’s going to give me an air-conditioned place when I go down there, if I go there, so I won’t put all the fires out.”

Adair died at age 89 on August 7, 2004. The devil, he may have discovered by now, is a liar.

Lee Eclov, Vernon Hills, Illinois; source: Obituaries, Chicago Tribune (8-10-04)

Others believe the lie that their works will keep them from eternal perdition.

In a Reader’s Digest interview, Muhammad Ali stated: “One day we’re all going to die, and God is going to judge us for [our] good deeds and bad deeds. If the bad outweighs the good, you go to hell. If the good outweighs the bad, you go to heaven.”  How different that view is from the gospel!

“Ali,” Reader’s Digest (December 2001), p. 93; submitted by Robert Wenz

The Gospel means not forgetting God.  It means not misunderstanding what He has revealed and not scoffing at it either.  One day, men will yearn for the rocks to fall upon them and the mountains cover them rather than face the wrath of Almighty God.  But they will be turned into Hell just as sure as the righteous will be secure in Heaven above.

The apathy so deeply rooted in our world today has lulled Christians into complacency and unbelievers into indifference.  God is not a man that He should lie.  He demands that we flee from the wrath which is to come!

A friend encouraged author Neil Cole to tour the Rodin museum while in France. Reflecting on Rodin’s most famous work, Cole writes,

Rodin was a French impressionist sculptor. Though many do not realize his name, most are familiar with his work. He created the Thinker. What you may not realize is that the Thinker was really a study he had done to sit on the top of his greatest masterpiece—The Gates of Hell. For years we have been wondering what it is that the Thinker is thinking about… What the Thinker is contemplating is an eternity of judgment separated from God.

Cole’s friend began to describe The Gates of Hell, which depicts innumerable beings writhing in agony on their way to judgment. As the vision of the work gripped Cole’s friend, she said, “Oh, I could just stare at The Gates of Hell forever.”

It was quiet for a moment as the significance of her words became clear. Cole writes, “All I could think of to say at that moment was, ‘Oh, I hope not.'”

Neil Cole, Cultivating a Life for God, (ChurchSmart Resources, 1999) p. 120; submitted by Dietrich Schindler, Otterbach, Germany

God has witnessed many generations preceding our own striving to forget Him.  “The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God.” (Psalm 9:17)  God has been banished from our court rooms and school houses …from our homes, books, and media choices.  He is not in our conversations or thoughts.

Yet we are not yet turned into hell.  He patiently and mercifully seeks to receive those who have forgotten Him.  He continues to pursue them in love.  One day the wicked will be turned into a place where one drop of water will remain unavailable for the parched tongue.  But today is the acceptable day of salvation!  May God grant that you have found it.  May God grant that we are able to persuade others knowing the terror of the Lord!

Prayer of Saving Repentance:

  • Lord, I know that Hell is real and that I am wicked by Your definition.  I have forgotten you and lived selfishly.  I am deserving of the judgment spoken of today.
  • But I know that salvation, righteousness, and Heaven are real as well.  That they are gifts not earned but free to us, purchased by the blood of Jesus Christ.
  • I understand that you will judge sin and the wicked one day, but that you are merciful and loving today.
  • I believe that Jesus is God the Son.  That He never sinned or knew sin, but became sin for me so that I might have the righteousness of God in Him.  I believe that Jesus died, was buried, and is risen.  Right now I place my trust in Him alone for eternal life.
  • Please help me know you more clearly, love you more dearly, and follow you more nearly.