The following "Question" was asked by a member of the congregation at Grace Community Church in Sun Valley, California, and "Answered" by their pastor, John MacArthur Jr. It was transcribed by Nelly Kaye of Chilliwack, British Columbia, Canada, from the tape, GC 1301-H, titled "Bible Questions and Answers Part 10." A copy of the tape can be obtained by writing, Word of Grace, P.O. Box 4000, Panorama City, CA 91412 or by dialing toll free 1-800-55-GRACE. ©1978. All Rights Reserved.
Question
What about Hell?
Answer
I called up the library the other day, because I began to think the other day I
don’t know what stimulates my thinking, but sometimes the Holy Spirit just kind
of prods my mind along certain lines and I began to think about the subject of
hell. I took out a book that I every once in awhile read when I find myself
becoming a little indifferent to people who die and the reality of hell. It’s
the same book and I bet I’ve read it twenty times. And I read it again because
it presents all that the Bible teaches about hell. And so I called the library
and I said how many people die every year? And they said 50 million people die
every year. So I figured out that 136,986 people die every day. 5,707 people die
every hour and 95 people have just died since I started to talk to you. Most of
them are in hell.
Hell is not a popular doctrine, but it’s true. There is a place of separation
from God, that the Bible calls the ultimate hell. All of the 4 billion, 219
million people on this earth will die [1978]. And more than that will die
because the people on the earth are being replaced at two and a half times the
death rate. Billions of people will die. And said our Lord Jesus Christ, “Broad
is the way that leads to destruction and many there be that go in there at.”
The earth as we well know is pock marked with graves. Every time I drive along
and see Forest Lawn and it all looks so green and so white with all the
buildings and so beautiful, but all I can ever think about is that it’s full of
graves, most of whom are simply marks to indicate someone in hell. That’s a
terrifying thought. The myriad of tombstones and crosses and grave markers
constantly remind us that death claims everything. Every living thing. And that
there are only two options, after death: one is heaven and one is hell. And I
believe in the real heaven and the real hell. The Bible is explicit about that.
For those who obey and love the Lord Jesus Christ there is heaven. A place of
joy and bliss and happiness. For those who love not the Lord Jesus Christ,
according to first Corinthians 16: 22, there is only cursing and an eternal
hell. And you know I have to realize the fact that I think the doctrine of hell
is one of the greatest proofs that God wrote the Bible because men don’t write
books that damn their souls to an eternal hell.
This is God’s book and this is what God says, in fact, it might be interesting
for you to note that the person in all of history who spoke the most about hell
was the Lord Jesus Christ Himself. People say, "Well, the Lord Jesus Christ was
full of love and He was full of grace and He was full of mercy," and that’s so
true. But for those who shun His grace and reject His mercy and do not return
His love there is an inevitable consequence and He spoke of it many times--Hell.
The place of eternal burning.
Henry Van Dyke put it this way, “Remember that what you possess in this world will be found at the day of your death and belong to somebody else, but what you are in this world will belong to you forever.” Death doesn’t change anything. It just puts into forever what you were in this life. If you didn’t want God in this life, God’s certainly not going to sentence you to an eternity in His presence. If you didn’t want Him here, you don’t want Him there. People always say, "Well when people go to hell aren’t they sorry and don’t they want God?" Listen if you wouldn’t want the Lord Jesus Christ and the sweet wooings of the Holy Spirit in this age, you would never want Him in hell when there is no good thought. No good influence.
And so the Bible teaches that if you live in this world for the gratification of the flesh, if you live in the sins of this world, you will die in those sins and you will live eternally in a place prepared for those who have so died. But if in this life you live for Jesus Christ and you live for God you will live eternally in the place prepared for those who choose such a life. Our own Lord Jesus summed it up in Matthew when we see the ultimate judgment there. The judgment of the sheep and the goats in Matthew 25 and Jesus says, these are the words of Jesus, the loving Savior, “Depart from Me, ye cursed into everlasting fire.” And on the other hand He said, “And these shall go away into eternal punishment, but the righteous unto life eternal.”
There are two places. Heaven and Hell. And you know, some people can satisfy their minds by just sitting around trying to rationalize why there is a hell or how could a loving God have a hell, but that’s not really the point. It is true and the Bible reveals it and God‘s reasons are clear if we study them. God does not desire to force people into His kingdom. But we best not sit about and speculate as to whether this kind of a God could have a hell. We had better realize the reality of it and do something about it.
Samuel Scales wrote this about a trip he took, “Recently I had the privilege
of visiting Paris, among the sites and buildings chosen to visit was the Rodin
Museum.” Here are housed most of the works of the famous sculptor Auguste Rodin.
Perhaps his most well known work is La Penseur or The Thinker and we’ve all seen
that one, if we’ve looked at any books of art. “Before I made the visit,” says
Scales “someone told me that the Statute of the Thinker was facing the gates of
hell,” which by the way, is another work of Rodin. “And that the two works were
really to be seen together, as if the Thinker was thinking about hell. I
discovered however, that the Thinker was really an offspring of the work The
Gates of Hell. The Thinker was originally created by Rodin within the gates of
hell. He is the one, Rodin consigned to hell itself. What did this mean? As I
stood before this giant work of art I let my imagination roam at will, I
wondered what is it the famous figure might be thinking? Rodin seemed never to
have indicated specifically what his figure is thinking, but it is no doubt a
reflection of Rodin’s pessimistic speculation of the afterlife. Rodin received
his inspiration for The Gates of Hell from Dante’s Divine Comedy.” Listen, he
said, "If he is thinking about hell then he became too late smart. Because the
time to think about hell is not after you are in it, eternally held within its
confines, but before, while in this life." And Scales says, “My mind went
immediately to a story that Jesus told in Luke 16 about a rich man who died and
went to hell. And he too like Rodin’s thinker became smart too late.”
This is the time to realize it. It isn’t just that the people baptized tonight
have escaped a doleful meaningless life. It isn’t just that they have been given
happiness and peace and love and joy. It is that they will never know hell. They
will never spend an eternity without God, of which the Bible speaks in such
explicit and shocking terms, as to say that there is a place called everlasting
fire, where the worm dieth not, where the fire is not quenched, the bottomless
pit, outer darkness, with weeping, wailing, gnashing of teeth, a fire
unquenchable, a furnace of fire, blackness of darkness.” And I couldn’t help but
think about it, people tonight, that as these folks were being baptized, it
isn’t just, it isn’t just that they’re going to be happy. It isn’t just that
they’ll know peace. It’s that they have been granted by God’s wonderful grace
the promise of eternal life in heaven, and they have missed hell. What about
you? What does the future hold for you?
As you come to this table you say, "Well John, I’m a Christian." Then are you thankful for the cross? Not only for the cross that purchased for you joy and peace and gladness and love and hope and all those good things for here and now and for forever. But are you thankful for the cross by which the Lord Jesus Christ endured hell, as it were, for you that you may never know it? That’s what the cross means. Not just what we gain, but what we miss, what we lose…hell. I’m grateful tonight for the testimonies of these people because out of the 95 people that die every minute in this world at least here were 25, who when they die will go into the arms of Jesus Christ. And I’m grateful to God tonight that we’re all here, aren’t you? And that we can come to this table and say thank you Lord Jesus for dying for me, thank you for giving your body and thank you for shedding your blood so that I can be with you in your heaven.
I would just say this to you, if you’ve never invited Jesus Christ into your
life, you’re in danger of hell. To die is to go out of God’s presence forever.
But it need not be. Because the Bible says , “He is not willing that any
should,”…what... “perish”. God said, “I have no pleasure in the death of the
wicked.” You see hell was created for the devil and his angels, not even created
for men. And its only as men willfully join the rebellion of Satan that they
sentence themselves to hell. That isn’t God’s will. It was a place that He made
to put fallen angels so that they wouldn’t corrupt the world and the universe
anymore than they had already corrupted it. And men choose to go there. It’s not
necessary. If you put your faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, He’ll gather you into
His kingdom.
Added to Bible Bulletin Board's "MacArthur’s Questions and
Answers" by:
Tony Capoccia
Bible Bulletin Board
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