Monday, March 30, 2009
Session 83: Hell
Hell! One of the reasons for being a christian is to avoid hell. I live my whole life in order to serve God and keep from burning. When you think of hell, what is the first thing you think of? We immediately think of flames and a red devil. But, what about the absence of God. We cannot even comprehend what it would be like to have the absence of God in our lives. Everything that God is not is what will be in hell. This week I want you guys to start the discussion. I hope this lesson will open eyes to what an eternity will be like without God. Thanks to each of you for all you do at FBC. You are an amazing group of folks. Keep up the good work as we try to reach our world for Christ. Hell...
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Gee, I guess I will start! (imagine that)
What I am about to say, a lot of you may consider to be semantics. However, I think it is a Doctrinal foundation that we often don't consider;
Why did Jesus sweat great drops of blood and agonize in the garden before the cross? Was it because of the pain & suffering he knew was coming? Of course not, why would the Captain of our salvation tremble when 1000's have been martyred while singing hymns? Was it because God would forsake Him? I say no to this as well. God is omnipresent. So literally He could not turn His back or be absent from anybody or anywhere.
When Christ cried out "Elí, Elí, lemá sabachtháni?” Matt 27:46 (HCSB)He was using a rabbinical form of teaching popular in that time. The name of it escapes me, but they would quote part of a verse and the student would repeat the rest or entire verse to themselves. Remember what took place around the cross, then read Psalm 22. Christ made this statement after a 3hr period of darkness over the land. We see in the OT, darkness often precedes or is a part of God's wrath. The Bible tells us that it pleased God to crush His son. Why? because Christ took on our sin, and God is Holy. His wrath abides on sin.
I say all that to make this simple point. Make no mistake that God is everywhere. And in hell what they will realize is they will live for eternity under the wrath of God, not His absence.
Stephen Bene' says, Hell is the only place where a person can experience the full wrath of God. God is there now but you don't want to join Him there because Hell was designed for one reason; payment for sin. That payment is not just death but eternal death, which is eternal separation from God's grace, love, and mercy. Just as God abundantly blesses those that are His, He will abundantly curse those who chose not to follow Him. The thing that makes Hell even worse is that the pain and suffering will NEVER end and there will NEVER be a way out of it.
God provides the same opportunity for salvation to everyone. God knows who will choose Him and who will not. He knows who are His sheep and how are the goats. He has given us the privilege and honor to choose where we spend eternity. He loved us enough to send His Son to pay the price for our sins but He also loved us enough to let us choose whether or not we will accept His free gift of salvation. God wants us to choose Him but He gives us the right to choose for ourselves.
Praise be to God, the Author and Finisher of our Salvation, Creator, Redeemer, Savior, and the Lover of my Soul! He is my Shield and Defender, a Mighty Fortress, a Strong Tower, and an ever present help in times of trouble! Praise be to the one true God who lives forever! Hallelujah to Him who sits on the throne and unto the Lamb!
What if your student ask this question? If a beleiver dies, his soul goes to straight to Heaven to be with the Lord........So if an unbeliever dies, does his soul go to straight to Hell? What about judgment? The Great White Throne Judgment takes place after the thousand year reign. So where does his soul go then?
Let me first say how much I am learning every week from this blog. It is wonderful that we are getting deeper. I appreciate all the points that John and Paul make. John, I have learned a lot from your blogs and Paul I often find a different way of thinking about things from you. Stephen I love the way you made everything in your blog so positive.
When I was thinking about Hell this week, I think about the absence of God. As I was driving home from a meeting has last night the rain was so bad that I could not see anything. I immediately stopped in the middle of the road and started praying. God please help me make it home. I could not even pull over because I could not see the ditches. In that moment I kept thinking of our lesson this week. Completely darkness, scared, lonely – this is how they describe Hell in our lesson. Who would want to live without God? I was listening to Adrian Rogers on the radio and he was preaching about how God is our refuge. A few minutes later a police officer drove down the road and I was able to see enough to make it to Hwy. 84. God is our refuge and our strength and whenever we are in doubt he will show us the way.
As for John’s question……..For a believer to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. So for an unbeliever to be absent from the body would be to be present to with the devil?
Crystal
Luke 16:19 as far as where do the lost souls go.
At the Great White, Lost souls are reunited with lost bodies and all go into the lake that burns with fire and Sulfur.
Hey, I thought about getting a sulfur smell and turning it loose in the hall right before class lets out, just to give some a pre-view.
Ok, Paul I agree. I guess my question is..... Is that lake of fire "Hell"? If it is, then prior to the Great White throne judgment, unbeleivers may be somewhere else, perhaps "Hades"? If they are in Hell prior to the Great White Throne judgment, then what is the lake of fire, a new Hell? And why before their judgement?
John, I knew that is what you meant, but I was trying to avoid the hard question and give you an easy answer.
I don't have a clue. I lean towards what you state, that they go to Hades or a type of sheol. In the same sense that we will not be in the ultimate heaven when we go to be with Jesus in paradise. With Jesus, will be Heaven, but He promises a New Heaven and New Earth after the White Throne. So as it gets better for us, it will get even worse for those in hell, hades, sheol, etc.
I guess to answer the students question we have to be clear on Baptist Doctrine, which is; We do not believe in soul sleep, you're going somewhere, and if Jesus isn't there, it ain't going to be good!
I gotcha Paul. I believe the saved go to Heaven immediately after death or rapture, and the unsaved go to Hades to await their judgment. If I'm right, we'll be in Heaven a minimum of 1000 years prior to anyone going to Hell, although they will experience torment while in Hades. But, these
are just my opinions, as there is no scipture that just nails it down. I wonder if anyone else has any ideas??
ANYBODY??
Bueller?, Bueller?, Bueller?.....
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