No Hell!? No Gospel!
To start us off and raise your blood pressure, here are 2 bold statements.
1. Without the existence of Hell there is no Gospel.
2. Without the existence of Hell there is no Mercy.
Now let me explain.
To minimize Hell is to minimize the Gospel. The Gospel is the demonstration of God’s love, mercy and grace to us.
Rom. 5:6-10 For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person—though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die— but God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us. Since, therefore, we have now been justified by his blood, much more shall we be saved by him from the wrath of God. For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life.(ESV)
If Hell is not the due outcome of every sinner, then God’s mercy is either non-existent or at the very least not nearly as amazing. We cannot and will not be in awe of God’s mercy toward us if Hell does not exist. And therefore we cannot understand his amazing love for us.
What amazes me about God’s mercy is…
- that while I was an “ungodly,” “sinner” who was one of the “enemies” of God, he did not give me the hell I deserved. Instead, He sent is Son to demonstrate his love to me by DYING for me. This is an overflow of mercy because Hell exist. And if Hell does not exist then I don’t need Jesus to die for me because there is nothing to worry about. Therefore how can I be certain of God’s love, since I’ve just rationalized it away.
The existence of Hell tells us…
- not that God is a terrible unjust God or an unloving God.
- It teaches us the exact opposite: that God is the most merciful and loving being we have ever known. Until we realize what we deserve (Hell) and what we will receive (Heaven) through Jesus by repenting and believing, we will never understand God’s love for us. And therefore will never become true followers of Jesus.
Possible results of a hell-less belief system.
1. Self-righteous People
- Without Hell we are only likely raise of bunch of self-righteous people, not humble devoted followers of Jesus. When hell doesn’t ring in our ears, then the only sound we will hear is how good we must be to deserve heaven.
2. Mean People
- If we are called to be like Jesus and Jesus dying for us is not an act of mercy and Grace, then we will not show much grace and mercy to others.
Preach Hell for the Love of God.
So pastors, the more you avoid the topic of Hell, the more you fail to put God’s patience, mercy and love on display for people to truly know Him. Hell maybe a difficult subject, but it must be preached. We don’t want people to go there, but Jesus said “the gate is wide and the way is easy that leads to destruction, and those who enter by it are many” (Matt. 7:13).