Hi, everybody. Would you turn
to Mark, the ninth chapter? Mark, the ninth chapter. Verse 42. And whosoever shall offend one
of these little ones that believe in me, it is better for him that
a millstone were hanged about his neck and he were cast into
the sea. And if thy hand offend thee,
cut it off. It's 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's better for thee to enter
in, 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's better for thee to enter
into the kingdom of God with one eye than having two eyes,
to be cast into hellfire where their worm dieth not and the
fire is not quenched. I've entitled this message, The
Reason for Hell. Now, I dare say that Probably,
if I would ask you what is the subject in the scriptures you
least like to think about, it'd be hell, wouldn't it? That's
something that every one of us just, in some measure, cringes
at the thought of someone being punished eternally in hell. If you had asked me what is the
subject that I would least like to preach on, I would say, without
hesitation, hell. And there's a reason for that
because I am unable to see things as God sees them because of the
weakness of my flesh. That is why this subject is so
difficult, but it's in the Bible and I want to preach the gospel
from this. That's what I want to do. I want
to preach the gospel from this. And I want this message to be
a comfort to God's people. Somebody says, well, how can
you be comforted if you're preaching on a subject like that? Well,
if the gospel is preached, you will be comforted. And every
message ought to be comforting to God's people. The Lord said,
comfort ye, comfort ye my people. So if I preach this message as
it ought to be preached, you're going to find it edifying, and
you're going to find it comforting. All messages should be that.
Now, I do not like in any way what is called hellfire and brimstone
preaching. Whenever I hear preaching like
that, I cringe. I don't believe it is gospel
preaching in the first place. Nor do I believe anybody ever
believes the gospel because of fear of hell. That never caused
anyone to believe. But I don't want to ignore what
the scriptures have to say about this. Matthew 10, verse 28, the
Lord says, fear not them which kill the body, but are not able
to kill the soul, but rather fear him which is able to destroy
both soul and body in hell. Now that's something to fear. Now in our text, the Lord says
in verse 42, and whosoever shall offend, cause
to stumble one of these little ones that believe in me." Isn't
that a description of every believer? A little one. Weak, ignorant,
a little one. Insignificant, a little one. But here's the difference. They
believe in me. I am their hope. They rely on
me. Now, whosoever shall offend one
of these little ones, cause to stumble one of these little ones
that believe in me, what a wicked thing to do, to offend one of
these little ones. What a malicious thing to do.
What an evil thing to do. to offend one of these little
ones. The Lord says, it would have been better for that person
before they offended one of those little ones, to have a millstone
hanged about their neck and they would be cast into the sea. Now look what he goes on to say
in verse 43. And if thy hand offend thee,
cut it off. Whack it off, for it is better
For thee to enter into life made, than having two hands to go into
hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched, where the
worm dieth not and the fire is not quenched. Some people who
said we ought to strive against sin so much that we're willing
to pluck out our eyes if they cause us to offend. And one of
the things I thought, well, what if you saw with two eyes? Should
you pluck both of them out? We ought to be willing to cut
off our hand. We ought to be willing to cut off our foot that
we sin not against sin. You first. I'll follow your lead. You do it first and I'll be right
with you. Don't think you're going to do
it first though, are you? The Lord is not teaching self-mutilation.
He's just not teaching self-mutilation. It's not like you'd be going
into heaven with one leg or one arm or one eye. In the first
place, you'd have a glorified body if you enter into heaven.
He's not saying if you do this, you'll enter into heaven. This
is not speaking of self-mutilation. But this is letting us know something
about the fact that there is a real place called hell. It's a place of torment. It's a place of physical pain. It's a place of emotional pain. Now this passage of scripture
from Mark chapter nine is a quotation from Isaiah chapter 66 verse
24. And hell is eternal. The Lord said the fire shall
never be quenched. There is no purgatory. There's
no getting out. There's no such thing as annihilation.
Hell is eternal. It's the punishment of justice
administered. There are two words in the New
Testament that are both translated hell, Gehinnis, I don't know
if I'm pronouncing right, Gehinnis and Hades. Maybe you've heard
those words, but they're both a reference to this place in
the Bible called hell. Do you know that the Apostle
Paul never used the word? Not once. It's almost as if he
thought the word is too terrible to use. He used the term destruction
and perdition and damnation and condemnation, but he never used
the word hell. Who used the word more than anybody
else? The Lord Jesus Christ. He is
the one who warns more with regard to hell. Every one of us, I dare
say, has struggled with the thought of hell. I know I always have.
I was afraid of it when I was a little boy, and just the thought
of an eternity in hell. I dare say every one of us has
struggled with that thought that is so clearly taught in the scriptures. Now, I want to ask a few questions,
and I'm not asking these things to vindicate God about hell.
He doesn't need me to vindicate him. Whatever God does is right.
But let me ask you this question first. Is there such a thing
as right and wrong? Is there such a thing? Is there
such a thing as sin and righteousness? Is there such a thing as fair
and unfair? You know, a little kid, one of the first thing he
learns to say is, that's not fair. I'm not being treated fairly.
I mean, it's just woven into our being. We know these things
intuitively. there is a right and wrong. Now,
if there's no God, who's to say? If there's no God, who's to say
there's moral absolutes? Who's to say there is a right
and a wrong? If there's no God, I mean, it's
my guess, your guess, but hey, survival of the fittest. I mean,
I could see the evolutionary principle at that time, survival
of the fittest, that's who's gonna make it, if there's no
God. But everybody here knows better than that. There is a
God, the God of glory that created the universe. Somebody made all
of this, it was Him. And nobody made Him, He is eternal. And hell is where the impartial
justice of God is administered. I wish I could, you know, when
I'm even talking about this, I wish I could say it right.
I remember reading about one fellow, a preacher from the past.
And another fellow preacher said, what'd you preach on this Sunday? He said, hell. He said, did you
do it with a tear in your eye? And I like that. I like that. I want to have that kind of attitude
of fear, of desire for you not to go there, for me not to go
there to preach the gospel. But hell is the place where God's
justice is administered, the place of pure, impartial justice. Now, the first thing we need
to understand about hell is who made it. That's the first thing. Who made it? The first thing we need to know
about hell is the character of the one who made it. Now, would
you turn with me to the little book of Nahum in the Old Testament? It's right after the book of
Micah, Nahum. And here we have this glorious
description of God. Remember, God's the one who made
hell, therefore it's good. You believe that? God is the
one who made hell, therefore it is good, because whatever
he does is good. Now, look in verse one, the burden
of Nineveh, the book of the vision of Nahum the Elkishite, God is
jealous. His jealousy is not like ours.
Our jealousy is evil. Whenever we talk about these
things concerning God's character, don't equate them with human
emotions because they're not. God's jealous is a holy jealousy. It's a perfect jealousy. If I'm
jealous, it's evil. It's evil. I'm wanting something.
You have to be mine. And what a base emotion that
is. But with God, he's jealous. Jealous of his own honor, jealous
of his own glory. Why in the commandment with regard
to idolatry, the reason God hates it is he's a jealous God. He
hates anything that brings him down. And any idolatrous image
of God is only making him like a human. God is jealous. He's
jealous of his own honor. He's jealous of his own glory.
He said, my glory, I'll not share with another. And he should be.
This is who he is. But what said next? The Lord
revengeth. And it's furious. Now remember,
his fury is not like human fury. You think of somebody with a
red face and their veins pop it out and they're angry. This
is a holy fury. This is a righteous fury. He
takes vengeance. Vengeance is mine. Me and you
don't have the right to take vengeance. He said, vengeance
is mine. I will repay, saith the Lord.
The Lord will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth
wrath for his enemies. Now, notice these two words,
adversaries and enemies. Men hate the living God. They hate him. They're his enemies. They want to put him out of business.
And it's a bad thing to have God as your enemy, because that's
a battle you can't win. He reserveth wrath. Now you think
of all the sins people commit that they've forgotten about.
How many sins have you forgotten about that at one time seemed
very poignant, and you felt awful about it, and you haven't thought
about it for years? Well, everybody's like that,
but with regard to all of those who don't believe the gospel,
wrath is reserved for each individual sin. God is holy. He taketh vengeance on his enemies. Verse three, the Lord is slow
to anger. Now we read those scary statements
with regard to his vengeance and so on, but look at this.
The Lord is slow to anger. He's long-suffering. And great
in power, he's omnipotent. Whatsoever the Lord pleased that
did, He's great in power and will not at all acquit the wicked. He will by no means clear the
guilty. Now, what would you think of
a judge if, let's say some criminal had committed some crime against
you, or maybe some kind of horrible crime against a family member
or a child, and the judge said, I'm a loving judge, I'm gonna
forgive you. What would we do with that judge? We'd get rid
of him, wouldn't we? That's no just judge. That is
by every standard of thought we have. That's an unjust judge.
We don't want to have anything to do with a judge like that.
Yet that's the way people view God. But understand this, God
will never acquit the wicked. If you're guilty before God,
you will be punished. That's who he is. He will never
let one sin go unpunished. He will not at all acquit the
wicked. You see, this is good news. If I'm in Christ, that means
I'm justified. That means I stand before God without guilt. That
means I have no sin. There's no sin for him to condemn
me for. Whoa, the power of the gospel, the power of the blood
of Christ. The only way you can understand how God will not at
all acquit the wicked is through the gospel. justifies a man,
that man has no guilt. He has never sinned, he stands
perfect before God. That's the gospel. And God will
not at all acquit the wicked. If I have any sin on me, I'm
gonna be judged for it. God will not acquit the wicked.
The Lord, look what it says next. The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind, in the storm, and whirlwind and the storm, the
clouds of the dust of his feet." Now, I love that the Lord has
his way. You know who's going to win the election? Whoever
he determined to. I have such rest in that. I have
such peace in that. The Lord's way, his will is always
done. He's absolutely sovereign. I
actually heard somebody say last week, I actually heard this.
I was watching a religious television and the preacher said, the Lord's
done the hard part on the cross. Now all you gotta do is let him
have his way. And I just cringed when I heard
that. I despise hearing things like
that. What kind of God do you have? He has his way all the
time. He is absolutely sovereign, absolutely
in control of everything, in creation, in providence. It's
always his will being done, most especially in salvation. If you're
saved, it's because he's having his way. He's God. Verse four, he rebuketh the sea.
maketh it dry. He dryeth up all the rivers.
Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languishes.
The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth
is burned at his presence. Yea, the world and all that dwell
therein, who can stand before his indignation? Who can abide
the fierceness of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord is good. Now, everything that precedes
this is good because the Lord is good. And the Lord is good
all the time. The Lord is good. You remember when Moses said,
I beseech thee, show me that glory. How did the Lord answer? I'll make all my goodness pass
before thee. Now, this good God, this essentially
good God, this immutably good God, this absolutely good God,
this eternally good God is the one who made hell. And it is
good. He's holy. He's good. Whatever he does is good. Look what it goes on to say.
The Lord is good and a stronghold in the day of trouble. A safe
place, a refuge, a hiding place in the day of trouble. And that's
not just talking about some kind of trouble you have in a trial
in life, although that is certainly included. That's talking about
trouble with God. He's a hiding place. And the
Lord said, come unto me, all ye that weary and are heavy laden,
and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn
of me, I'm meek and lowly in heart. This is the one who made
hell. He's meek and lowly in heart, and you'll find rest for
your souls. He said, him that cometh to me,
I will in no wise cast out. If you come to Christ for mercy,
you'll be received. There's never been a sinner who
came into God's presence for mercy that he turned away. Him that cometh to me, I will
in no wise cast out. Look what it says next. He knoweth
them that trust in Him. Now my trust, my confidence is
only in Him. Nowhere else. I know exactly
what Paul meant when he said, oh, that I may win Christ and
be found in Him. Not having my own righteousness.
I don't want to have anything to do with that. But that which
is through the faithfulness of Christ, the righteousness which
is of God by faith. He knoweth them that trust in
Him. In Him is the only place I see
safety. in him. That's why John said,
abide in him. I don't want to be anywhere else. I don't want
to be found anywhere else. But the Lord knows those who
trust, put their confidence in him. Now he's good. Trust him. Whatever he does is good. Trust
him. All that he is, is good. Trust him. You know, when we
call into question his being too strict or fair or anything
like that, we're becoming his judge, and that's not a good
place to be. I love what the Lord said through Job, though
he slay me, yet will I trust him. And the Lord Jesus, while
he was on the cross, I have no doubt he was thinking, perhaps
he even said, though he slay me. Yet will I trust Him. Now, hell is caused by the justice,
the holiness, and the goodness of God. And I believe that. I believe that because I believe
Him. If there is a hell, it's because God is, well, I shouldn't
say if there's a hell, there is a hell. And there is a hell
because God is good. Everything he does is good. Now would you turn with me for
a moment to Luke chapter 16. Verse 19, and there was a certain
rich man which was clothed in purple and fine linen and fared
sumptuously every day. And there was a certain beggar
named Lazarus, which was laid at his gate full of sores and
desiring to be fed with the crumbs which fell from the rich man's
table. Moreover, the dogs came and licked
his sores. And it came to pass that the
beggar died and was carried by the angels into Abraham's bosom. The rich man also died and was
buried in hell. He lift up his eyes being in
torments and seeth Abraham afar off and Lazarus in his bosom. How could he see this from hell?
I don't know, but he did. And he cried and said, Father
Abraham, have mercy on me and send Lazarus, that he may dip
the tip of his finger in water and cool my tongue, for I am
tormented in this flame. But Abraham said, son, remember,
there'll be a lot of memories in hell, won't there? Son, remember
that thou in thy lifetime receivest thy good things and likewise
Lazarus evil things, but now, He is comforted, and thou art
tormented. And beside all this between us
and you, there is a great gulf fixed eternally, permanently. So that they which would pass
from thence to you cannot, neither can they pass to us that would
come from thence. Then he said, I pray thee, Father,
that thou wouldest send him to my father's house, for I have
five brethren, that he may testify unto them, lest they also come
into this place of torment. Abraham said unto him, they have
Moses and the prophets, let them hear them. And he said, nay,
Father Abraham, but if one went unto them from the dead, they'll
repent. He could tell them about the
reality of this place and the horror of this place, and they'll
repent. And he said unto him, if they
hear not Moses and the prophets, Neither will they be persuaded,
though one rose from the dead." Now, make a few remarks with regard
to hell. Number one, in hell, there are
differing degrees of punishment. Scripture teaches that. We read of those who were beaten
with many stripes and those who were beaten with few. Remember
what the Lord said to Capernaum? He said, Sodom, that place of
moral perversion, of great wickedness, Sodom is going to have it better
on the day of judgment than you do. They didn't have a Bible. They didn't have a gospel preacher.
They didn't sin against the light that the people of Capernaum
did. Now there are differing degrees
of punishment in hell and the punishment always fits the cry. Second thing about hell is it
is eternal. There is no annihilation. There is no purgatory where you
pay for so long and then you finally get out. Hell is eternal. May the Lord enable me to give
the reason why. The reason why is because God
can never be satisfied with the punishment of the sinner because
of the greatness of his sin. Now, I have one daughter. And if somebody murdered her,
brutally, wickedly murdered her, and then offered me $10 million
and said, would this satisfy you? No, no. What about 100 million? No, I
cannot get satisfaction. Now, we've been guilty of the
murder of God's son, and God can never be satisfied. The only thing that would really
satisfy me is if my daughter was raised from the dead and
justice was administered, I'd be satisfied then. I'd be, well,
Christ Jesus bore the full equivalent of all the horror of hell. I
don't even know what I'm talking about, I realize that. But Christ
Jesus bore the full equivalent, willingly, Willingly, in obedience
to his father, out of love to his people. We talk about, oh,
hell's so horrible. He experienced it more than anybody
else, and only he did. Only he did. He did it willingly. He did it out of love for his
father. He did it out of love for his people, and he satisfied
God. God said, I can't ask for anything
else. I'm completely satisfied with
what he did. And do you know, if you're in
Christ, he is completely satisfied with you. He's not looking for
anything else. You see, on Calvary's tree, when
he cried, my God, my God, why have you forsaken me? It's because
he was going through hell. everything that hell is. And
you know, I can't tell you anything more about hell than I can about
heaven. I mean, Christ is there, it's
a place of holiness, but I don't understand that. I don't understand
all this stuff about the horrors of hell and the fire and the
worm that doesn't die and all that. I can read that. Do I understand
it? No, but I know it's a bad place
and I know that Christ bore it completely in his own body on
the tree when my sin was made his sin. He put that sin away
and now God is satisfied with everybody in his son. And I want
you to think about this. Cry, God gave his son. He that spared not His own Son,
but delivered Him up for us all. He bore all that God gave His
Son. Christ willingly bore all that
hell is, and there is therefore now no condemnation to them that
are in Christ Jesus. And the next time we're tempted
to think harshly of God about hell, remember, He spared not
His own Son. and his son willingly went to
hell and bore all the sins of his people and put them away.
I think of what Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16, verse 22, if
any man loved not the Lord Jesus Christ, let him be anathema,
maranatha. Let him be damned upon the Lord's
return. And he said that under the inspiration
of the Holy Spirit. And that wasn't a harsh sentiment.
That's where somebody ought to be that does not love, admire,
and stand in awe of the Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord said in
Mark chapter 16, verse 16, he that believeth and is baptized
shall be saved. He that believeth not shall be
damned. And the reason he shall be damned
is he doesn't believe on the name of the only begotten Son
of God. What a name! It is this begetting. I love that scripture. Thou art
my son this day, heaven above, by begotten thee. It's not a
calendar day. It's eternal. He's always the
eternal begotten son. The only begotten son. The only
one who tells us who God is. This begetting is not a thing
of time. It's a fact, irrespective of time. To not believe on him?
The only begotten son? That man ought to be damned. And if I don't believe on Christ,
I ought to be damned. And you believe that about yourself
too. And you know, the faith you have is his gift. You know,
you wouldn't believe if he didn't give you the grace to believe,
but what a crime it is to not believe on the name of the only
begotten son of God. Now, here's some questions that
come up. What about those who have never heard the gospel? Most of this world's population
has not heard the gospel. What about those people? Well,
they rejected the light of creation, and if they would have lived
up to the light God gave them, God would have given them more.
You go to hell because of sin, and these people who have never
heard the gospel They rejected what they did know of God from
the light of creation. And if they go to hell, they
deserve to go to hell. Now somebody else asks, are people
predestinated to hell? And are they going there no matter
what? They won't be saved because they
predestinated to hell. Predestination never has to do
with hell. Did you know that? Never. Predestination
has to do with being saved. Always. The word is used six
times in the New Testament. Every time it has something to
do with salvation. Now, if I'm saved, it's because
I've been predestinated by God to be saved and it's all his
fault. If I go to hell, it's all my fault. Every bit of it. It's all my fault. Now, I would
not disregard these scriptures. As
a matter of fact, I love these scriptures where we read of ungodly
men who were before of old ordained to this condemnation. We read
of those who were being disobedient whereunto also they were appointed.
I love those scriptures. God's God, and I love the way
he is. Whatever it is, I love the way
he is. But if I go to hell, it's because of my sin. Anybody that
goes to hell, it's because of their works. And if I go to heaven,
it's because of His grace. Now, another question that comes
up quite a bit with people, what about infants? What about infants? What about infants? I mean, there
are people who die that Paul says have not sinned after the
similitude of Adam's transgression. They have not sinned the way
you and I do. They have not used their will
and so on. What about infants? Let me tell
you this about infants. If an infant is saved, he's saved
the same way you are. because he was elect, because
Christ died for him, because God gave him a new nature and
brought him into heaven. That's the only way an infant
would be saved. Now, there are scriptures, several
scriptures, but the one that comes to my mind most, which
imply David, he's lost his son. He said, he can't come back to
me, but I will go to him. And the implication there is
that yes, at least in David's case, he's going to see him in
glory, in heaven. But you know the Bible, this
is important, the Bible never makes a real clear statement
about this. It just doesn't do it. And I see the Lord's wisdom
in that. What if the Bible said all infants
are saved? What's the best thing you could
do for an infant? Somebody do that. Somebody do that. Somebody think, well, we're going
to kill them and that way they're sure for heaven. And somebody
would do that. Do you see the Lord's wisdom
in not making a statement? What if the Bible said all infants
are assigned to an eternity in hell? Can you imagine the despair
that would create for people who have lost a child and think,
oh, I see the wisdom of God in not making this strong statement.
I mean, he's given us implications to give us hope. I hope they
are. If you ask me, I think they are. But I'm not going to make
a dogmatic statement about it because when you make a dogmatic
statement about it, you're almost saying, well, God's wrong if
he doesn't save them. I don't want to do that. God's right
whatever he does, and he shall not the judge of the earth do
right. So do I think, well, there's
scriptures that seem to imply they are, and I'm thankful for
those scriptures, but I'm not going to make a dogmatic statement
where God didn't make a dogmatic statement, because whatever God
does is right. Whatever he does is right, doesn't
matter what it is. It's right because he does it. He doesn't
have a law over his head. He doesn't do something because
it's right. It's right because he does it. And we believe that. Now, God delights in mercy. Never
says he delights in sending somebody to hell, but he does delight
in mercy. That's the character of our God.
He delights in saving sinners. And there's never been anybody
that came to him for mercy that he turned away. Never. And if you call on the name of
the Lord, you know what'll happen? You'll be saved. If you confess with your mouth
the Lord Jesus, you believe he's Lord, and you believe in your
heart that God raised him from the dead, not just the fact of
the resurrection, but the reason God raised him from the dead,
he completely satisfied God, you'll be saved. You see, the
truth of the gospel doesn't keep people from being saved, saves
people. Election doesn't keep people
from being saved who otherwise would have been saved. It saves
people who would have been damned. The atonement of Christ is atonement
for the elect. That doesn't keep anybody out
of heaven. Brings people into heaven. And I don't care who
you are. I don't care who I am. If we
call on his name for mercy, we will be saved. I can say that
universally to everybody knowing it so. And one last thought,
if somebody in hell got out of hell and was brought into heaven,
they'd want out. They wouldn't even want to be
there. They'd get me out of here. They would hate the God of glory. They would hate the praise of
Christ. They would not want to be there. Anybody who wants to be in heaven
on God's terms, through Christ only, they will be there. Well, that's a different message to
preach on that subject, but that's one of the reasons we preach
verse by verse through the scriptures. I'm preaching through Mark, and
that's where I was at. And in closing, The reason for
hell is to show how glorious God is. The reason for hell is to show
how evil sin is. The reason for hell is to show
us how holy his law is. The reason for hell is to show
us how terrible punishment is. The reason for hell is to show
us what the Lord endured in our place and how glorious he is
that he would willingly take all that on himself to save his
people from their sins. Let's pray.