So if you have your Bibles, please,
that's Mark chapter 9 and verse 43. And if thy hand offend thee,
cut it off. It is better for thee to enter
into life maimed than having two hands to go into hell, into
the fire that never shall be quenched. where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thy foot offend thee,
cut it off. It is better for thee to enter
halt into life than having two feet to be cast into hell, into
the fire that never shall be quenched, where their worm dieth
not, and the fire is not quenched. And if thine eye offend thee,
pluck it out. It is better for thee to enter
into the kingdom of God with one eye, than having two eyes
to be cast into hell-fire. Where their worm dieth not, and
the fire is not quenched. For every one shall be salted
with fire, and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt. Salt
is good, but if the salt have lost its saltness, wherewith
will ye season it? Have salt in yourselves, and
have peace one with another. Amen. May the Lord bless to us
this reading from his word. Hell is a solemn subject. and I would say that it is also
a fearful subject. If hell holds no fear for you
because you are fully assured of heaven and salvation, then
I would say to you, thank the Lord for that. But I also say
this, at least hear the teaching of scripture regarding hell. and hellfire, and hear it quietly
and hear it respectfully. Knowing about hell will do your
heart good. In this passage before us today,
the Lord Jesus Christ carefully and purposefully set out clear
lessons concerning hell for his disciples. And I suspect that
many of us have never really thought about the Lord's purpose
in teaching his disciples these truths. Indeed, we might say,
Lord, tell them about heaven. That's where they're going. These
were men of faith. These men were never going to
hell. Why did they need to know about
hell? You've already said, Lord, that there are two kinds of people
in this world. Those that are for us and those
that are against. Those that are the elect of God
and those that are the reprobate. Those who are righteous in Christ
and those who are outside of Christ. Why is there any need
to teach those who are in Christ and righteous anything about
hell? Well, we're going to come back
to that in a few moments. But first of all, I just want
to make a little bit of a disclaimer and a little bit of a point here. I have no desire to be a fire
and brimstone preacher. Sometimes you'll hear people
saying that they miss the old fashioned hellfire preaching. And I'm not sure who they're
thinking about. Maybe they're thinking about
Noah or Elijah or someone like that. And I can't imagine that
they would be speaking about Paul because he said that all
he would preach was Jesus Christ crucified. But these old fire
and brimstone preachers, so called, that some people hanker after,
no doubt their preaching was dramatic, no doubt it was rousing,
and they would be able to create graphic pictures of what it was
to be condemned to the burning fires of hell. Maybe it was even
scary. but I don't know what good it
did in truth. Because you cannot frighten people
into heaven by teaching them about the punishment in hell. Preaching hell and punishment,
preaching about the punishment that is to come, it might be
good fodder for a free will preacher who's keen to harvest emotional
decisions Or maybe for the legalist who's trying to frighten his
congregation into obeying some code of conduct or to get the
children to be good. But the fear of hell has never
saved anyone. We often say, don't we, that
when something is repeated in scripture, it is for good reason. It's for emphasis. And we should
never assume that repetition in the Word of God is simply
duplication. And here in this passage that
we have read together today, these last few verses of Mark
chapter nine, the Lord Jesus Christ describes hell to his
disciples in exactly the same words three times in a row. So we have to give this message
the attention that it deserves. In recent weeks we have spoken
about the lessons that the Lord was teaching his disciples and
we discovered that the disciples had been bickering as they had
travelled back from the area around Caesarea Philippi all
the way back into Galilee and Capernaum and the Lord had had
to draw them aside and sit them down and address the preconceptions
and presumptions that these disciples had. They were arguing about who would
be the greatest in the kingdom that the Lord Jesus Christ was
going to establish. And they were thinking about
what position they might obtain in that kingdom, which they still
expected to be established in Israel. and have some military, some glorious duration
in time built up perhaps upon the foundations of the pictures
and the memories and the stories of David's kingdom in days gone
by. but it was to correct that wrong
expectation that these words about hell came from the saviour's
lips. And it was to show his disciples
the foolishness of that idea that these descriptive statements
about hell are given. Here the Lord Jesus Christ is
telling these disciples that these darling thoughts that they
held, that they held so dear and cherished and prized, they
had to go. Those ideas that they had about
natural things and physical kingdoms and power and glory coming to
them and their position in the hierarchy of the kingdom of Christ
in the days that were to come, they had to be cut away. They
had to be severed. These disciples were living an
illusion that had to be corrected. because they had a ministry to
perform. They had a service to fulfil
in the kingdom of Christ and that notion of a kingdom had
to go. And no doubt the disciples saw
themselves filling some high offices in this kingdom of their
vain imagination. Maybe one of them was to be the
Hand of the King. and to be responsible for enacting
his will and his purpose, strong to guide the people. Another
was to be a fleet of foot who would carry the commands of the
king to his subjects in the land. And one would be the eye to see
who would be wise and all would be valuable members of this great
body, this great kingdom, this great established rule in the
land of Israel. They imagined themselves to be
important people, accomplishing great things for God. But the
kingdom of God is not a nation state and it's not a physical
power. We need that message still today
because too many churches and too many so-called believers
still imagine that they can create a physical, natural kingdom of
Christ here upon earth. Christ's kingdom doesn't need
manpower. It doesn't need armies. It doesn't
need physical prowess. It's a spiritual people and the
only need is that that people be gathered in through the preaching
of the gospel. There is a predefined number,
a predetermined group, a predestinated people and they are spread all
over this world and the gospel must be carried to them. it will
be carried to them that they might hear and receive and believe. These disciples weren't being
called to lead armies and live in royal palaces, but to preach
Jesus Christ crucified and to preach him in foreign lands to
the ends of the earth. To speak truth, to carry the
message of salvation, the message of forgiveness and peace with
God. to the nations of the world and
to the ends of the earth. This wasn't going to be an easy
life. This was going to be a service
that would cost them their life. You see, the kingdom of God is
no place for pride, and it's no place for leaning on natural
ability. The only quality essential for
divine service is faith. And true service is achieved
by trusting God's promises. We imagine that the Lord uses
those who have skills and abilities. That's not right. The Lord gives
gifts. to those whom he pleases, and
in the employment of those gifts, by faith, the Lord is pleased
to do his will in this world. God will use a one-handed man, suitably dependent upon the Lord,
to a greater effect than those who come in their own strength. God will use a lame woman humbled
perhaps by her lameness but suitably reliant upon him to greater effect
in his service than all who run unsent. God will use a one-eyed child
to greater purpose in his service than those who see by natural
wisdom and by natural learning. So much church activity in these
days is conducted using the tools and the techniques of worldly
wisdom in the absence of faith and spiritual understanding.
And that might well make a movement It might even create a denomination,
but it won't make one single convert. What the Lord Jesus
Christ was telling his disciples with these words was the fact
that faith is of the essence. Faith is the sole attribute sought
by God. And the Lord Jesus Christ, in
teaching his disciples about hell and hellfire, is using this
picture of hell to reinforce this message that he has taught
them about the singularity, the aloneness of faith as being acceptable
with God. Faith in Jesus Christ alone distinguishes
between those who go to heaven and those who go to hell. Now
the disciples had learned that lesson, they knew this, they
had been with the Saviour long enough to have heard his ministry
and to have heard his message. The Lord is disabusing them of
their foolish notions, their illusions about a kingdom by
pointing them to the fact that faith alone is all that he requires. He had said, had he not, to Jairus
in chapter 5, verse 36, only believe, only believe, and all
things are possible. The lady that had come with the
issue of blood, the Lord told her, daughter, thy faith hath
made thee whole. And in Mark chapter 2 verse 5
we read there about Jesus seeing the faith of those men that had
brought their friend to him and dug the hole in the roof and
lowered him down and it says when Jesus saw their faith he
said unto the sick of the palsy, son thy sins be forgiven thee. Faith is the crucial element. Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ
is what God looks for. Faith alone. And the matter is
non-negotiable. Remember what the Lord had said.
For he that is not against us is on our part. Christ's kingdom
is a kingdom of believers, and faith alone marks out those who
have been freed from sin's condemnation, who have been liberated from
that worm of conscience, and from the reprobate hellfire that
will come upon those who are outside of Christ. And by this
example of hell, the Lord is opening the understanding of
his disciples and our understanding to some of the horrors of hell. Now I mentioned in yesterday's
introduction that I sent out to the sermon and here's the
advert again. If anyone listening doesn't get
these little introductions, then do ask me for them and I'll send
it to you because I hope that they will be useful in setting
a context in which some of our thoughts will find a hook and
a place. But there can scarcely be a believer
who doesn't shudder at the awfulness of hell. And yet unbelievers
seem to have no real dread of what will soon be their experience
everlastingly. except for God's grace in Christ. Do you see the inconsistency
here? Believers who will never be in
hell fear hell more than those for whom hell is designed and
who will very soon be in it. Believers will never be in hell
and they will never endure hell's horrors. and yet they have more
anxiety about hell than those who are standing on the very
brim and on the edge. The Lord Jesus Christ has taught
us about hell purposefully. He is teaching believers, he
is teaching his disciples, he is teaching those who have faith
in him about hell for a reason. He is teaching us about hell
that we might appreciate the greatness of our salvation. Believers find hell dreadful,
not because, well, it is dreadful, but because it measures the infinite
wickedness of sin. and it demonstrates God's attitude
against sin. It demonstrates his wrath, his
fury, his judgement. And it demonstrates it by reminding
us that these very things that are the essence of being shut
out and separated from God in hell, where what was poured into
the soul of the Lord Jesus Christ for our sakes and because of
our sin. The very thing that takes the
unbeliever to hell and keeps him there under the fires that
burn incessantly is what the Lord Jesus Christ endured in
his soul for us. By being our willing substitute,
the Lord Jesus Christ took upon himself our eternal suffering
in hell and bore it in his own soul. By beholding Christ subject
to God's wrath, we understand a little better both the misery
of hell and the magnificence of heaven. Peter the Apostle
calls the Lord Jesus Christ's blood precious. How precious? How precious is Christ's blood? Viewing hell, we have a greater
understanding of how precious the blood of Christ truly is. That was the price paid to keep
us out of that place. We often think of Christ's blood
fitting us for heaven and that's true. but it also delivers us
from hell. And by drawing back the curtain
upon these eternal realities, the Lord lets us see how precious
his cleansing blood is, and how precious we are to him that he
would pay such a price to redeem our souls from judgment. Three times in today's passage,
the Lord draws his disciples' attention to the terrors of hell. The most fearsome physical sufferings
are employed as metaphors to describe what soul suffering
will be. People wonder if it's going to
be real fire. It will be no less awful than
real fire. It is fire that never shall be
quenched. And I don't know how we talk
about these things as far as natural fire and natural flame
and whether they will be real and the same and the self same
thing. There are obvious differences. Here's a fire that's never quenched.
It seems to be a fire that doesn't give off light because it's going
to be a place of darkness and blackness. So to what extent
it is real flames is perhaps of less importance as to describe
something of the awfulness of being exposed to God's judgement
without a saviour. Here's a fire that will not be
quenched that burns but is never to consume that which it burns. It pains but it doesn't inhibit
memory. men and women will still regret,
there will be a conscious awareness of loss and separation. And hell is a place where the
worm does not die, where guilt eats away, gnaws away, at a man
and a woman's conscience. It's a place of torment. It's
a place of separation. It's a place of darkness. It's
a place to be carefully avoided at all costs. Remember, the Lord has been teaching
his disciples here about election and security and acceptance with
God. And that division exists between
the righteous and the wicked in this world, the elect and
the reprobate. God's covenant people are justified. There is no sin in them. There
is no place in hell for them because the Lord Jesus Christ
has taken their hell and they are righteous in Him. They are
redeemed and they are quickened in time through the preaching
of the Gospel by God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.
while others are left to themselves and remain willingly in their
sin. But by informing the disciples
about hell, the Lord is not suggesting that men and women can do anything
to alter that state of being elect or being reprobate, to
alter their eternal destiny. And Certainly he is not suggesting
that chopping off body parts or plucking out eyes to protect
us from evil is going to be a way of not being in hell. It's Jesus' blood and the gospel
of grace that saves from hell, not missing limbs. but knowing
the wickedness of sin that damns to hell makes us more grateful
for the love and the mercy that has carried away our condemnation. The last couple of verses in
this little passage, the Lord refers to a fire and also salt. And I believe that this is key
to understanding these verses as well. The fire that he is
speaking of here is a fire that salts. And what does that mean? Well, it's a fire that burns
endlessly. and it purifies, but it never
goes out. It is fuelled by divine wrath
against sin. Those who are touched by this
fire will never be consumed by the fire. John tells us in the
book of Revelation that the smoke of torment ascends up forever
and ever, giving no rest day or night. Hellfire itself preserves
those who suffer everlastingly in hell. The very fire that afflicts
them preserves them in their suffering for all eternity. and equally true for the lives
of the elect, they also endure everlastingly. But they endure
everlastingly because of the union that they have with the
eternal Son of God. We are preserved under the terms
of the covenant of grace. Not on this occasion by fire,
which preserves the reprobate in hell, but in lieu of the fire
that once burned in Christ's body and in his soul. The Lamb of God was sacrificed
for us. The Old Testament speaks about
that covenant of grace and it speaks about salt being offered
with every sacrifice. Now the sacrifices in the Old
Testament, they looked forward. to the one true sacrifice. We're back to our pictures and
our types and our metaphors. The Old Testament sacrifices,
they all look forward, and we may well say that in truth, there
only ever was one real sacrifice. Everything else was a shadow
of that one true sacrifice, which was the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus Christ on the cross for his people. And as the Old Testament
saints brought salt with their sacrifice, they were testifying
to the fact that there needed to be faith with their sacrifice. There needed to be faith that
they were looking forward to the one true sacrifice, which
was Jesus who would yet come. So in the Old Testament every
sacrifice was offered with salt and every approach to God must
be salted with faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. Otherwise it was
just a ritual. Because the Lord Jesus Christ
is the salt of the covenant. He is the author and finisher
of our faith. He gives faith. and we have faith
because of his goodness and his grace. Faith that then lays hold
upon the work of Christ for the eternal life and joy and peace
of his people. We've seen a development in the
past few weeks in the ministry of the Lord. We've seen a development
in the way in which the Lord has been speaking and his clear
statements about his death, his transfiguration, which was a
once in the history of the world event, his turning now towards
Jerusalem. And as he approaches his great
purpose, He gives his disciples clear understanding of why he
will die and what his sacrifice will achieve. Knowing what we are saved from
is as important as knowing what we are saved to. Many people
have a hope for heaven, but few believe in hell. It is good for
us to have a lively sense of both. And that is why believers,
above all men and women in this world, have a greater fear and
anxiety of hell than anyone else. Warnings of hell will never frighten
reprobates into glory. Judas Iscariot was present here
amongst the disciples, and he would soon take up permanent
residence in hell for everlasting. He heard about hell from the
lips of the greatest preacher ever, and it made no difference
at all to his hard heart. But for the elect, for the elect,
for those who believe, for those who trust, the revelation of
hell, as indeed the revelation of heaven, shows us the infinite
power, wisdom and holiness of God in a way that nothing else
can. And in that sense, we may say
that the revelation of hell that the scripture gives, that the
Lord Jesus Christ gave, is as much as the revelation of heaven
is for believers only. Our Lord Jesus Christ has the
keys of death and hell. That's our comfort. Brothers
and sisters, today, that's our comfort, that the Lord Jesus
Christ has the keys of death and hell. And we come by faith
to Him who has the keys of death and hell. We trust the promises
of God. We marvel at the covenant of
grace. And we thank God for the revelation
of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the good news that by his death
and his sacrifice, by his shed blood on the cross, sinners like
us find peace with God and acceptance. The Lord Jesus Christ will keep
our souls from going down to the pit and he will bring us,
as he promises, to the place God has prepared for them that
love him. We thank the Lord Jesus for showing
us both hell and heaven, what he has saved us from and what
he is saving us for. May the Lord bless these thoughts
to us. Amen.