Quit Running From the Doctrine of Hell

Hell is real. The wrath of God is real. And if you want to sum up all mankind, no matter the skin color, no matter the country they come from, it is this.

They can come from Hindu countries. They can come from America. They can come from South America.

They can come from Russia. They can come from Asia. They can come from Australia.

They can come from wherever. But one thing's for certain, we're all descendants of Adam. And by nature, we're in trouble.

By nature, we are fodder for the fire. Every half second, somebody perishes. Somebody dies.

And if Scripture be true, only a remnant are truly Christians. Do you recognize the horror that is taking place right at this moment? Because from the time I started this sermon until right now, there are souls who have perished and they have come face to face with the reality of an angry God who can stand, who can abide the consuming fire. Nobody can.

It's like you take a bug and you throw it in the fire. Edwards liked to use that picture. It just yields before the fire.

What can you do? You die and there you are in the presence of a holy God and everything, His whole being is bent on your destruction. And you have no hiding place. That was us, Christians.

That's how you were. And if you're lost, that's how you are. And that's how the vast majority of the world around us is.

And it's terrifying. Man is the way God sees him. Man is not the way he imagines himself to be.

Man thinks so highly of himself and God says the whole lot of you are born to wrath. Not born to be wild. Not born to be free.

You are born to wrath. Your life may be shorter. Your life may be longer.

Born to wrath. Children of wrath. Objects of wrath.

You had that truth there in John 3.36. Whoever does not obey the Son, Scripture says the wrath of God abides on him. You have a world out here. They're not submitting to Christ.

The wrath of God presently abides on them. The wrath of God is presently revealed from Heaven against all this ungodliness and unrighteousness of men. That is the truth of Scripture.

It may not break forth upon our heads immediately. We may be storing up wrath for the day of wrath. But make no mistake about it, though you may have woken up to the sun shining out here, if you don't have a hiding place, God is angry.

You are in death row and the day of your execution is coming quickly. Quickly. And it's forever.

You get sick today. You get really sick. There's a hope.

I'm going to get well. You break your arm. There's a hope.

It's going to heal. You come face-to-face with an angry God without a hiding place. There's no healing that.

You just melt before it forever. Forever. Forever.

I can remember as a young Christian, I played a John MacArthur sermon for someone in my family and hoping that God might save her through it. When it was done, or I turned it off, she responded somewhat approvingly by saying, oh, well, I'm glad that he isn't the kind of preacher that preaches all about hellfire and brimstone. And I said, oh, wait a second.

He didn't happen to in that clip I played for you. But he most certainly preaches about hell. Why are people happy to not hear about hellfire and brimstone? Why? Listen to me.

If the doctrine of the wrath of God is true, and hellfire and brimstone is true, is that a truth that we should be hiding? Should we be glad? Oh, we're glad! There was a sermon and we didn't have to hear about hellfire and brimstone. Listen, this pertains to every one of us. We can't escape it.

Is there anything that's more applicable to the human race than if all mankind are children of wrath and we at breakneck speed are headed towards eternity? Listen, we sing a song called The Sands of Time Are Sinking and we are in that hourglass and we are going down with the sands and you can't stop it. And if you don't have a hiding place, the sands are drawing you ever onward, ever forward. You can't stop.

You can't just opt out. You can't say, well, you know, I didn't pick it to be like this, so I'm out of this. I want no part of this.

You don't get to make that call. And if you don't have a hiding place, I'll tell you what's waiting in those sands down there. It is the wrath of God.

It is eternity.