Understanding God's Severity: The Reality of Hell

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In 1985, I wonder whether you remember a very much younger me sitting in your office and telling you I was afraid God would have to use a car accident or some other awful event to get my attention, and you pointed out that the consequences of my deliberate choice to continue sinning would be nothing short than hell itself. [00:01:37]

Hell is an echo of something bigger and original than itself. It's the echo of the glory of God's infinite worth, and it's the echo of the glory of Christ's infinite suffering, and it's the echo, therefore, of his infinite love. That will be the first point I want to make. [00:04:41]

The truth and the reality of hell are insufficient to awaken saving faith in anybody or to awaken genuine evangelical gospel spiritual remorse or regret. But rather, this insufficiency of hell points toward a very surprising source for the tears that are authentic on the way into heaven. [00:05:06]

Five things that need to be believed about hell: number one, it's eternal. I'm sure you've heard that. In fact, I think I want to base all of these on a text, so let's go to Revelation 14. I don't know if anybody's read that, but I'm going to read it again. [00:06:10]

The crime of one being despising and casting contempt on another is proportionably more or less heinous as he was under greater or less obligations to obey him. And therefore, if there be any being that we are under infinite obligations to love, honor, and obey, the contrary towards him must be infinitely faulty. [00:24:56]

Hell is meant to serve as an echo of the infinite value of the glory of God, such that if you turn away from the glory of God as your treasure and your life and embrace the broken cisterns of the world, hell defines the heinousness of that sin and the greatness of that glory. [00:38:08]

The only true sorrow for not having holiness comes from love for God's holiness, not fear of its consequence. Let me say it another way, more precisely: true remorse, true brokenness, true contrition at not having holiness is over not enjoying God and living out of that impulse. [00:52:13]

True evangelical contrition, repentance, brokenness must be preceded by and awakened by delight in God. Very strange, very paradoxical. To truly weep at not having God's holiness, you have to long for God's holiness, and to long for God's holiness, you have to see it as beautiful and desire it. [00:54:41]

Hell cannot produce satisfaction in God, and so it cannot produce remorse for not having God, and so it cannot produce gospel repentance, and so it cannot save, and so it is insufficient. I want to read that summary again because that's what I've done the last 20 minutes or so. [00:57:07]

Don't let the fear of hell be the end point of your pursuit of repentance. Don't rest until you have gone beyond the fear of hell to the living waters and drunk deep at the glory of God, the love of God, the truth of God, the goodness of God, the wisdom of God, the power of God. [00:59:20]

Father, I pray that we would believe biblically and rightly about this awesome and terrifying truth of the everlasting conscious suffering of God-imposed, just, and righteous hell. And I pray that we would recognize that in all of our living and all of our evangelism. [01:00:04]

This doctrine, this reality is insufficient to awaken gospel tears and gospel repentance, which will only come when we have so shared, so lived, and so preached that the pleasure of people in knowing you is awakened so that the failure to have you will break their hearts. [01:00:37]

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