You seldom hear a sermon about hell anymore.
It has been said that when there use to be hell in the pulpit there was no hell in the streets and in the homes. But where there is no hell in the pulpit, one finds it now in the streets and in the homes of people.
The subject is avoided at most meetings. We do not want to be reminded of the place Jesus described so starkly: “Where their worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched” (Mark 9:44).
It is almost as if our avoidance of the subject will somehow make hell vanish. Perhaps God will change His mind; maybe He will decide that man’s sin and rejection of Christ are not worthy of such terrible punishment after all.
Our generation has been given such a one-sided view of God that it cannot comprehend the penalty for sin. Men have heard of God’s love, His mercy, His long suffering and how He gives bounteous supplies of just about everything no wonder they cry out, “How can such a loving God send anyone to hell?” such a question dismisses God’s holiness, justice, and divine order.
It is a blunt reality-harsh through this truth may be- that without God man is lost, both now and forever. The word “lost” is a sad one, isn’t it?
Especially when it refers to man’s soul. For the human soul, of all God’s vast creation, alone is priceless! All of earth’s treasures are not enough to purchase one eternal soul.
The soul is eternal. It was created in the image of God, Himself. When all the ancient hills and rolling seas have found their sepulcher, and the stars have been snuffed out like candles in the wind, the soul will still be young. It will abide forever in heaven or hell.
It would be a terrible tragedy if the recoding angel at the close of your life wrote LOST by your name. Your legal eternal status as an unforgiven sinner. Lost for eternity.
Down deep in your heart you are experiencing a tug that you know does not come from me. Only the Holy Spirit can convict a person of sin and bring that on to the cross of Jesus. That is exactly the situation you are in right now, isn’t it? Don’t you think it is time that you faced realities and came to the Savior?
