Thrown into the Fire
Sadly, many in the church today, even some genuine disciples, do not have a proper understanding of God’s final judgement. Either God’s judgment is ignored or treated as if “it can’t be that bad.” Many Christians wish that somehow in the end both hell and the lake of fire will not turn out to be true.
In other words, they’re wishing deep down inside that hell would simply vanish like a nightmare. As a result, when the church doesn’t comprehend and teach the true nature of God’s judgment the world is only left with cartoon images of a red horned devil with a pitch fork “roasting God’s rejects.” This image could not be further from the truth. Hell is real. It is solely man’s choice that sends him there that makes it all the more terrifying. Learn the truth today!
“If sinners be damned, at least let them leap to Hell over our dead bodies. And if they perish, let them perish with our arms wrapped about their knees, imploring them to stay. If Hell must be filled, let it be filled in the teeth of our exertions, and let not one go unwarned and unsprayed for,” Charles Spurgeon.
SERIES TEXT
John 15:1-10 (NKJV), “1 I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser [gardner]. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.
5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples.
9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.”
ILLUSTRATION
THE JUDGEMENT OF GOD
- HE TAKES AWAY: Jesus said in John 15:2, “every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He takes away,” thus He is clearly teaching that someone who was once in the vine (i.e., “a disciple”), can now be taken out (Romans 11:22).
- CAST OUT: Jesus also said in John 15:6, “if anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered,” therefore, Jesus is not addressing mere sinners, but rather those who were once brought near and are now being cast out of His presence (Psalm 51:11).
- THROWN INTO THE FIRE: As Jesus continued in John 15:6 he said, “they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned,” as a result He boldly and plainly describes the enteral fate of backsliders (those who have turned away from God and towards their sin), Luke 9:62.
DESCRIPTIONS OF HELL & THE LAKE OF FIRE
- HELL: The temporary place where departed souls are being held until the Great White Throne Judgement, 2 Peter 2:4.
- Fire, Matthew 13:50.
- Torment, Luke 16:24.
- Gnashing of Teeth, Matthew 13:50.
- Worms, Mark 9:48.
- Weeping, Matthew 13:42.
- LAKE OF FIRE: The everlasting place of torment for all mankind and angels (including Satan) who have rebelled against God, Revelation 20:14.
- Eternal Fire, Matthew 25:41.
- Brimstone, Revelation 21:8.
- Everlasting Destruction, 2 Thessalonians 1:9.
C.S. LEWIS AND OTHER QUOTES ON ETERNAL JUDGMENT
- “There is no doctrine which I would more willingly remove from Christianity than this, if it lay in my power. But it has the full support of Scripture and, specially, of our Lord’s own words; it has always been held by Christendom; and it has the support of reason,” C.S. Lewis.
- “In the long run the answer to all those who object to the doctrine of hell is itself a question: “What are you asking God to do?” To wipe out their past sins and, at all costs, to give them a fresh start, smoothing every difficulty and offering every miraculous help? But he has done so, on Calvary. To forgive them? They will not be forgiven. To leave them alone? Alas, I am afraid that is what he does,” C.S. Lewis.
- “I have met no people who fully disbelieved in hell and also had a live-giving belief in Heaven,” Lewis.
- “The damned are, in one sense, successful, rebels to the end; the doors of hell are locked on the inside. . . they enjoy forever the horrible freedom they have demanded, and are therefore self-enslaved,” Lewis.
- “To enter heaven is to become more human than you ever succeeded in being on earth; to enter hell is to be banished from humanity,” Lewis.
- “There seems to be a kind of conspiracy to forget, or to conceal, where the doctrine of hell comes from. The doctrine of hell is not “mediaeval priestcraft” for frightening people into giving money to the church: it is Christ’s deliberate judgment on sin. . . we cannot repudiate hell without altogether repudiating Christ,” Dorothy Sayers.
- “There are only two kinds of people in the end: those who say to God, ‘Thy will be done,’ and those to whom God says, in the end, ‘Thy will be done,’” Lewis.
- If the evils Jesus died for aren’t significant enough to warrant eternal punishment, then the grace displayed on the cross isn’t significant enough to warrant eternal praise,” John Piper.
DON’T GET ENTANGLED AGAIN!
2 Peter 2:20-22, “20 If they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and are overcome, they are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning.
21 It would have been better for them not to have known the way of righteousness, than to have known it and then to turn their backs on the sacred command that was passed on to them. 22 Of them the proverbs are true: “A dog returns to its vomit,” and, “A sow that is washed returns to her wallowing in the mud.”
As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.
EXTRA NUGGIES FROM THE SERMON
- “God won’t chain you to the cross, but He will let you cling to it! The choice is yours, not His!”
- “Jesus, speaking to His disciples in John 15, basically said, “If you don’t let me “cut out the sin in your life” I will “cut you off” from my vine and throw you into the fire! Either way, sin is not going to remain in my Father’s Kingdom! The choice is yours- let my Father prune you or perish!”
- “The gospel ship of salvation is not a slave ship that you cannot leave, you can jump overboard at anytime.”