Jesus & Hell

Hi, my name is George Sinclair. I'm the lead pastor of Church of the Messiah.

It is wonderful that you would like to check out some of the sermons done by Church of the Messiah,

either by myself or some of the others. Listen, just a couple of things. First of all,

would you pray for us that we will open God's Word well to His glory and for the good of people like

yourself? The second thing is, if you aren't connected to a church and if you are a Christian,

we really, I would really like to encourage you to find a good local church where they believe the

Bible, they preach the gospel, and if you have some trouble finding that, send us an email. We

will do what we can to help connect you with a good local church wherever you are. And if you're

a non-Christian checking us out, we're really, really, really glad you're doing that. Don't

hesitate to send us questions. It helps me actually to know, as I'm preaching, how to deal with the

types of things that you're really struggling with. So God bless.

Father, I ask that you would, Father, we're dealing with a passage of Scripture that many Christians

in Canada, many of us maybe feel very uncomfortable with. And so Father, we ask that the Holy Spirit

would come with gentle but deep power to bring us to Jesus. And as your Holy Spirit brings us to

Jesus, that you, Father, will bring us to the words that Jesus speaks to us this morning.

And Father, help us to listen to him. And we ask that the Holy Spirit would bring the words of Jesus

deep into who we are so that it will be his word that forms us. And we ask this in the name of Jesus,

your Son and our Savior. Amen. Please be seated.

So let's just be frank about a couple of things. You've heard the text that I'm preaching through

the Gospel of Mark. And we just had a text read which talks about hell. And for Canadians,

hell is a repellent topic. In fact, actually, I think if our non-Christian friends, maybe it's one of you

who are here this morning or maybe one of you who are here online and you're just sort of curious and

you've been either watching this sermon downstream or you're participating in the service through

online, you'd probably say to me, George, no one is frightened by hell in Canada. Like in Canada,

no one at all is frightened by hell. And the fact is, George, that we will only think less of you

if you mention hell. And we will only think less of Jesus and we will only think less of Christianity.

If you persist and talk as if you actually believe it, we will mock you.

And in fact, George, you might as well just accept the fact that in Canada, it is an unwinnable,

unwinnable, I don't know if that's a word, it's an unwinnable thing to hold. Like you'll never convince us.

It's just ridiculous. And if you really believe it, we'll just think there's something evil about you.

So that I think, I don't know, I think that's sort of a fair way to describe how much of our culture

would think about this topic. In fact, if you think about it, you know, if you watch a Netflix

or some other comedy special, if the person came bounding out all chipper and then said,

I'm going to talk about hell, everybody would laugh, right? That's what they would do. They would just laugh.

That's the normal North American response to this. And this attitude seeps into us as Christians and

makes us very uncomfortable with this doctrine. So what are we going to do? We're going to be

looking at verses 30 to 50. But just before we go up to verse 30, let's just look once again at the

words at the end, the words about hell. And if once again, if Claire could put it up,

but if you have your Bibles, it's page 58. And we begin at verse 43. And here's what Jesus says.

And here's part of the problem about the text. It's not a problem from one point of view,

but it is a problem from another point of view. The problem with the text is that this is the same

just type of language that Jesus is going to use about, you know, feeding the poor and caring for

the sick and loving people. And it's the same language. It's not as if all of a sudden,

you know how sometimes when you're watching movies or something and all of a sudden it moves to a

slightly different color or the color template or filter and maybe becomes a little bit fuzzy. And

you know, it's like a dream sequence or a memory or something like that. In the original language,

if you're reading along, it's the same type of language as he talks about the other things that

we like. And here's what he says in verse 43, before we go back to verse 30 and look at it,

it goes like this. And if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life

crippled than with two hands to go to hell, to the unquenchable fire. And if your foot causes you to sin,

cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into hell.

And if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with

one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into hell. And here he quotes from Isaiah verse 48,

where their worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.

So a couple of things about this. Jesus is saying that hell is real.

He's obviously using a little bit of symbolic language, but he's using some symbolic language

to talk about something which is real. The other thing about it is that Jesus is talking about hell

as if it will not be empty. And thirdly, he's talking about it as if human beings listening to him

and all human beings are in danger of ending up in hell. That's what he's saying. He says hell three times.

And not only does he say it three times, he says it in a memorable way. At the eight o'clock service,

there's a person who comes to the eight o'clock service who's involved in theater.

And as I said to the two people who are involved in the theater, I mean, like live theater, and I said,

this is the type of line that if you had it in a play, it would be memorable because of the rhythm,

you know, of the hand, the foot, the eye. And they said, that's exactly right. A line like this

is more memorable because of the type of rhythm and the other imagery that goes along with it.

So in other words, Jesus says it three times. He says it in a memorable way.

And he says it in the same type of language as he talks about the types of things that we would like.

In fact, actually, if you think about it for a second, what we'd like is life and the kingdom of God.

And he's not saying that if you cut off your hand, so you enter light. I mean, he's talking about people

who are alive. He's talking about how there's basically two destinations.

And even to say that is something which we Canadians, we balk at.

There's only two ultimate endings. And one ending is described with hell, hell, hell,

unquenchable fire, and always nibbling worms.

And the other end, the end we like, is described as life and life and the kingdom of God.

And those are the ends.

So what do we do?

Well,

generally speaking,

you look at context to see if that's going to help.

And the context is profoundly, deeply, satisfyingly helpful,

but not in the way

that we Canadians want it to be helpful.

But we need to get over our being Canadians

and listen to how what the context that Jesus puts it in is, in fact,

deeply and profoundly helpful.

So let's go back to verse 30,

the beginning of our text for this week,

and that's found on page 56.

And if later on,

you decide to sort of catch up on the Gospel of Mark

to see where we've come to in this ancient eyewitness biography of Jesus,

written while eyewitnesses were still alive,

that what we see that's just a little bit before this,

Jesus, for the first time,

prophesied or predicted

that he was going to be crucified

and die and rise again.

And Peter responds to that by saying,

no way, Jose,

no way, Jesus,

that's never going to happen to you.

Jesus rebukes Peter

and says,

you're not thinking in terms of how I'm thinking,

you're thinking in terms of how the devil thinks.

And then Jesus gives his teaching

about how people who want to follow Jesus,

they need to pick up their cross and follow him.

And then the very next thing,

which is just what we looked at last week,

is about a week after that,

Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up to a high mountain,

and he's transfigured.

Before them, in a sense,

it's a vision of heaven.

And the new heaven and the new earth,

Moses and Elijah are there.

And then Jesus goes down the mountain,

and he comes down the mountain,

and he goes right into the normal type of mess

that we as human beings sort of have to live with,

of sickness and demonic oppression

and arguments and religion and all of that.

And the disciples aren't able to cast the demon

out of the young boy, but Jesus does.

And that's what's just happened.

And now the story continues,

and here's how it goes in verse 30.

They went on from there.

That's Jesus and the 12.

They went on from there and passed through Galilee.

And Jesus did not want anyone to know,

for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them,

the Son of Man is going to be delivered

into the hands of men, and they will kill him.

And when he is killed, after three days he will rise.

But they did not understand the saying

and were afraid to ask him.

Now we're going to camp in that just a little bit

because it's a bit longer than we will for the other things

because it's exceptionally, you know, important.

Just this past week I was watching and listening to something on YouTube,

an interview by a fellow by the name of Sean McDowell

with a person by the name of Andrew Clavin.

And it was a very interesting interview.

Andrew Clavin grew up as a secular Jew in an artistic family,

and at a very early age he recognized,

and others recognized, that he was very creative.

And in fact, he had a very long career in that artistic community,

that sort of upper type of artistic community.

As he says in the interview, he lived in either London, England,

New York, or Los Angeles.

And he's a successful thriller writer.

He got into screenwriting, was very successful at that.

And the circles he traveled in were these circles

of very creative people, Hollywood people, literary people,

and he was very at home in that.

He was raised as a secular Jew.

But through a series of circumstances,

and that's partially what the interview is all about,

at the age of 50, he became a Christian.

At the age of 50, he became a Christian.

And the interview, one of the things which is really interesting

in the interview is he describes how his father,

who was completely a non-practicing Jewish man,

when Andrew was 15,

he'd started to develop a huge love of the stories of Arthur,

you know, the Knights of the Round Table and all of that.

He developed a huge interest in it.

And so he's reading all of these old things about it,

and he realizes there's all this Christian symbolism in it.

So he thinks to himself,

well, I don't know anything at all about Christian symbolism.

Like, I know zero about it.

And so he decided he'd find a New Testament.

And he did, and he brought it home,

and he's lying in his bed at night reading the Gospel of Luke,

because he'd somehow figured out that Luke had the Christmas story,

and he thought he'd start with that.

And as he's reading the Gospel of Luke,

not because he's even remotely interested in Christianity,

he just really wants to try to understand the Arthurian legends better.

His dad comes into the room,

sees him reading the New Testament,

and his dad says to him,

how dare you bring that book into our house?

That is the book of the enemy.

It is the book of the people who've killed

millions of Jewish people in the Holocaust.

It is the book of people who have been prejudiced

against our people for 2,000 years.

How dare you bring that book into our house?

And it is the book of the enemy.

So one of the questions that came to Andrew was,

like, how did you overcome that to become a Christian?

Like, how did you get your mind around that?

And Andrew said,

that actually was one of the harder barriers for me to become a Christian.

The long history of people saying that it was the Jews that killed Jesus

and that we are a hateful group.

But then as I'm thinking about it,

and he's been reading the New Testament

over and over and over again

as part of his religious quest,

which will culminate in him

as he puts it,

one day he's driving in Los Angeles

and it's as if God speaks to him.

But it's not God.

He says, just this has overwhelming sense

that he's become a Christian.

He needs to get baptized.

I need to get baptized.

And he said,

I came to realize that Christians who said

that it's Jesus who killed,

that Jews killed Jesus were wrong.

that ultimately it is human beings,

the human race that killed Jesus.

Now, in the interview,

he didn't say anything about Bible verses,

but the verse that we have before us

is actually exactly what Andrew Clavin just said.

If you look at the key verse,

the prophecy in verse 31,

Jesus was teaching his disciples,

saying to them,

the son of man is going to be delivered

into the hands of men

and they will kill him.

And when he is killed,

after three days, he will rise.

In the first prophecy,

he says it's going to be the Jewish leaders

that he's handed to.

But in this text,

it's very specifically all human beings.

He's being handed over to human beings

and human beings will kill him.

That's exactly what this text is talking about.

In fact, it adds something to it that,

I mean, maybe Andrew would know this.

It wasn't part of the interview,

is that the word delivered

is a very, very good word.

Notice that the son of man

is going to be delivered.

It's a very, very good word.

But what you don't get in English

is that in Greek,

there's a tense called the divine passive.

It's a tense which is used

when it's God who does something.

And that's the tense for the word delivered.

So what Jesus is saying here

is the son of man

is going to be delivered by God the Father

into the hands of human beings,

that's you and me,

and we will kill him.

Some of you,

I think most of you,

maybe all of you know the distinction

between got to and get to.

The way to read this,

you see,

if you think about it for a second,

if Jesus knows that this is what,

that he's going to be crucified,

he could have done things to get out of it.

Or he could have this prophecy

that he's delivered hanging over him

a little bit like a curse.

Sort of like those of you

who know a little bit about,

you know, Greek mythology,

I think it's the Oedipus

who's cursed to kill his father

or something.

I think it's the Oedipus curse

that there's a prophecy

that he'll kill his father

and he tries to avoid it

and he ends up killing his father anyway.

And it could read it

as if that's what Jesus is saying here,

as if it's some type of a fate

which has been put on him

that he doesn't want.

But the way to understand it

is not that I've got to do this,

but that I get to do this.

I get to do this.

I get to be the means

by which human beings

who are destined to hell

can be delivered from that fate

into something they don't deserve,

into something we don't deserve,

which is the kingdom of God

and which is life.

The other thing here

which is sort of very

important for us to understand

about the text

is why on earth is it

that in the year 2022,

in post-modern,

post-truth Ottawa,

there's even a couple of us

who are reading

this ancient eyewitness biography

of Jesus.

Now, this, by the way,

is something that, you know,

that generally skeptics

don't really actually

give their mind

much attention to.

But the fact is

the only reason

that we're reading this

is because the person of Jesus

who really did live

really did make such predictions.

In fact, including,

if you look at all

of the eyewitness biographies,

details of his death,

which he could not possibly

have managed himself,

namely that the Romans

would decide to crucify him.

And he really did die on the cross.

And he really did,

on the third day,

rise from the dead

and appear to many people

who recognized him

and saw that he wasn't

a person

who had just barely,

by the skin of his teeth,

survived a harrowing experience

of flogging

and the nailing of the wrists

and the nailing of the feet

and the dehydration

and the spear piercing.

And somehow or another

was able to hobble along,

having had all of that happen,

is the evidence

of all of the different people

and sometimes pairs,

sometimes groups,

sometimes individuals,

sometimes large groups,

is that he was alive.

And that's the only explanation

as to why it is

that we are still reading this.

Do you know,

this is a true fact.

There is only one religion

that was started

in the time of the Roman Empire

that still exists.

It's Christianity.

Only religion.

But of all the ones

that started

during the time

of the Roman Empire.

And, you know,

I know that there's

no technical, logical,

that it doesn't sort of

logically or rationally follow,

but gosh, it follows.

You see, if Jesus says,

I've come to die on a cross,

I get to do this,

and I'm going to die on the cross,

and I'm going to rise from the dead,

that, at a technically literal,

like, logic level,

doesn't vindicate

that he is who he said he is,

and he's going to accomplish

what he says he's going to accomplish.

But if that doesn't vindicate him,

what on earth will?

I mean, that clearly vindicates him.

Good grief.

Defeating death?

Riding from the dead?

If that doesn't vindicate his words?

Well, I just, I, it's,

if we think about it seriously,

that has to vindicate him.

And not just vindicate

that he wasn't a bad man

who died because he was a bad person,

because that wouldn't be the case

of defeating death

and defeating sin,

but it vindicates him

that he is, in fact, God,

the Son of God,

that he is, in fact,

the Lamb of God

that takes away the sin of the world,

that that vindicates

that that is who he is.

And it's after he makes this prediction,

and it's only because

this prediction came true

that Mark writes

his eyewitness biography,

which will end, spoiler alert,

with Jesus, the tomb being empty,

and Jesus being alive.

That also means

that we need to listen

to his warnings about hell

very seriously.

Now, I'm not going to spend

that much time

on the next bits.

They're all very, very important.

I'll make a few comments about them,

but it's very interesting

about how the text goes

and moves towards this part

of the teaching about hell.

And it's especially hard

because it's especially interesting

because it brings home,

psychologically,

a better understanding

of what hell is.

Look at what happens

very next, verse 33.

And they,

oh, by the way,

verse 32,

but they didn't understand

the saying

and were afraid to ask him.

See, even that little tiny bit

is very significant.

Why are you afraid

to ask a question often?

Well, you don't want

to look stupid.

Well, why don't you want

to look stupid?

Because you're proud.

Because you're proud.

Because I'm proud.

Verse 33,

verse 33,

and they came to Capernaum,

and when he was in the house,

he asked them,

what were you discussing

on the way?

But they kept silent,

verse, page 58, verse 34,

for on the way,

they had argued with one another

about who was the greatest.

And he sat down

and called the 12,

and he said to them,

he said,

if anyone would,

if anyone,

if anyone would be first,

he must be last

and servant of all.

And he took a child

and put him in the midst of them,

and taking him in his arms,

he said to them,

whoever receives

one such child

in my name receives me,

and whoever receives me

receives not me,

but him who sent me.

In other words,

God the Father.

This other language

that God the Father

has sent Jesus to die.

Now, here's another thing.

You know,

it's very interesting.

I was reading

a 19th century commentary

as part of my preparation

for this.

And one of the things

a person in the 19th century,

you know,

it's just so interesting

when you read something

which is like 150

some odd years old,

and all the disciples

were all lower working class.

And the person

writing the commentary

wouldn't have been

from a lower working class

background.

He was from a bit

of a better background.

And he just sort of

makes the comment,

imagine lower working class

people thinking

they're the greatest.

But the fact of the matter is,

how uncomfortable

would every one of us be

if God could reveal

our fantasies?

How many of us think

we're the greatest?

It might be in Bible study,

it might be singing,

it might be cooking,

it might be holiness,

it might be prayer.

How many of us

wouldn't be,

well,

how many of us

if God was just to reveal

some fantasy

about how we thought

we were the greatest

and all of a sudden

he put it on the screen

and it was obvious

that it came from me

or it came from one of you,

every single one of us,

God would find something.

And gosh,

if it was me,

two things would happen.

I would get so red

and there wouldn't be

a crack small enough

for me to crime into.

Some of us might not be

as obvious about our

our personal fantasies

about greatness,

but then the second illustration

is very, very telling.

Verse 38,

John said to him,

that's John,

the disciple,

teacher,

we saw someone,

verse 38,

we saw someone casting out

demons in your name

and we tried to stop him

because he was not following us.

But Jesus said,

do not stop him

for no one

who does a mighty work,

and by the way,

mighty work is literal,

but it's a little bit misleading.

It's referring to a miracle.

So no one who does a miracle

in my name

will be able soon afterward

to speak evil of me.

For the one who is not against us

is for us.

For truly I say to you,

whoever gives a cup of water

to drink because you belong to Christ

will by no means lose his reward.

Now, here's the thing

which is not as obvious.

It's there in English,

but it's not as obvious in English

as it is in the original language,

is if we were to try

to actually make it more accurate,

but it would look weird,

in verse 38,

because he was not following us.

That's the issue.

And not necessarily Jesus.

It's us 12.

He's not with us 12

because we're the greatest.

And it's so funny

because if you go back,

the story,

which is just part

of the same chapter,

is the fact that

they weren't able

to cast a demon out.

And so here's a guy

doing what they couldn't do.

But they still think

they're greater than him.

And so they want him

to stop because of us.

Well, isn't that very true as well?

I mean, right now,

by the way,

and this is not,

if John Charest had won,

the John Charest people

would all be feeling very good.

If the Lesley and Lewis had won,

they'd all been feeling really good.

But right now,

it's the Pierre-Paul-Lavere people

because it's us.

We're the ones.

Right?

It's us because

we're the anti-charismatics.

It's us because

we are the charismatics.

It's us because

we have the big church.

It's us because

we have the small church.

It's us because

just you fill in the blank.

And there's a type of,

in a sense of a group pride.

And you see the thing,

I mean, here it is.

What, you know,

Jesus has just described

the very nature.

If what Jesus has said is true,

then the very, very heart of God

is not about him

having his glory

so completely and utterly

and obviously seen

that we just cower.

but he wants us

to see his glory

and he wants us

to see his beauty

but the way he most

fully reveals himself

is by,

is by God,

the Son of God

taking him to himself

human nature

and coming and walking

amongst us

so that he would die

on a cross.

Like love.

Taking the lowest place.

the opposite of pride.

And here we've had

the two proud

to ask a question.

They think they're the greatest.

They think we're the greatest.

And it's in this context

that he's going to say

a couple of things

about hell.

And notice first verse 42.

Whoever causes

one of these little ones

who believe in me

to sin,

it would be better for him

if a great millstone

were hung around his neck

and he were thrown

into the sea.

Now,

little ones just mean

simple Christians.

In fact,

it's another way

to describe a Christian.

We're little ones.

I'm a little one.

And so are you.

You're not the greatest.

I am a little one.

And it's a very, very,

I think,

a very, very significant

placement.

And it's not as if,

because in fact it is,

God looks down the ages

and says,

you know, George,

well,

you're not as clever

as you think you are.

But,

you don't have to be

very clever

to try to do,

well,

it could be this,

it could be that,

it could be this,

it could be that,

and hell is just

a symbolic thing

and it's a metaphor

and,

by the way,

let me tell you

about the history

of Gehenna

and the valley

and do all of that

and what I end up doing

is I end up,

by the end of it,

thinking,

oh, well,

good grief,

there's sin,

hell doesn't even exist

or if it does exist,

it doesn't really matter.

It's just a metaphor,

you know,

for some type

of psychological distress

and if I could,

I could do that

and if I was to teach that

and then it was

to encourage people

like you

or people watching

to say,

well,

I don't have to even

think about hell.

Jesus is saying,

George,

if you do something

like that,

it would be better

for you

if a millstone

was hung around

your neck

and you were thrown

into the sea.

If the Sunday school

teachers do that,

it would be better

if the men's group,

the women's ministry,

if they were to do that,

if the small group leaders

were to do that,

it would be better

if God,

if you just took

a millstone around you

and throw you

into the depths

of the sea,

that would be better

for you.

And if your hand

causes you,

verse 43,

to sin,

cut it off.

It is better for you

to enter life crippled

than with two hands

to go to hell,

to the unquenchable fire.

And if your foot

causes you to sin,

cut it off.

It is better for you

to enter life lame

than with two feet

to be thrown into hell.

And if your eye

causes you to sin,

tear it out.

It is better for you

to enter the kingdom

of God with one eye

than with two eyes

to be thrown into hell,

where their worm

does not die

and the fire

is not quenched.

I believe Jesus

rose from the dead.

I believe that he

is the Savior

and the Lord.

And because he has told me,

I believe that hell exists.

If you look at it,

it's sort of there

in English.

It's also more obvious

in the original language,

but it's there

in the English.

If you look at verse 43 again,

it says at the end

of verse 43,

it is better for you

to enter life crippled

than with two hands

to go to hell.

The other two images,

verse 46,

thrown into hell

and verse 47,

thrown into hell.

I mean, sorry,

verse 45 and verse 47,

thrown into hell.

this is,

this beautifully captures

the fact that

there's sort of two things

that happen.

The first thing is that I,

the person going to hell

willingly goes.

They choose to go.

And at the same time,

it's also understood

as something that God

sends you to,

without any contradiction

between the two.

You see,

one of the things,

and it takes longer

than I have,

I'm just going to throw

this out,

it's,

the doctrine of hell

is not a bug

that needs to be fixed

in Christianity.

It's a design feature.

No,

no religion,

no spirituality,

no philosophy

or theology,

greater values,

human freedom

and autonomy

than the Christian faith

and hell

is the testimony

to that.

God doesn't force you.

Demons force you.

God,

the true and living God,

the triune God

doesn't force you.

You choose to go.

You want to go.

God at the end,

the end,

the end of the end

which is the beginning

of the true beginning

says,

child,

you don't like me

calling you child,

you'd rather that I

called you God.

you find my existence,

my existence only makes you angry.

My love only makes you cringe.

my truth only makes you furious.

My beauty only makes you gag.

And you would rather have your own way

and your own conceits

and your own little rule

than be in my presence.

you would choose anything other

than to be in my presence,

healed and unveiled.

And that is what you choose

right till the end

and that is where you will go.

And I'm,

obviously,

it's a metaphor

and I can't say

that I'm making

a doctrinal statement here.

But if you were locked up

for all eternity

with your pride

and your anger

and your envy

and your greed

and your lust

and your resentments

and not only locked up

by yourself

but with others,

it would be your very own

anger

and fantasies

and hatreds

and rivalries

and lusts

that would be the fire

that would consume you

and the worms

that would eat you.

and what the gospel

is all about

is not that George

is so good

that he's going

to go to heaven

but that God

in his grace

has provided a means

by which

the end of the end

of the end of George

and the beginning

of the beginning

of the beginning

of life

after death

for George

is not hell

but that when I'm

in a sense

stop running

from Christ

and allow him

to catch me

and take me

he takes me

and transfers me

from a fate

of hell

and he transfers me

to be his child

by adoption

and grace

and clothe me

in such a way

that I will be fit

for eternity

and this is not

of my doing

it's not of my work

I can only

allow Christ

to do

that

for me

and in me

he died

the death

that I deserved

he

entered into

all of the

there is of death

whatever that means

which I could not do

but to remain there

and be in hell

he offers me

his perfect obedience

to the father

to clothe me

with his righteousness

which I could

I could never have

and he transfers me

from

the kingdom of darkness

that ends in death

and hell

into the kingdom

of light

and life

and truth

and goodness

and beauty

which ends

in the kingdom of God

and life after life

after life

after life

and it is all

his doing

not mine

I receive it

as an act of grace

it says we're

gripped with this

that we begin

to understand

anew

the wonder

of the gospel

when the bible

talks about

how you were lost

and you have to be saved

that's what it means

you were lost

and you need to be

transferred by Christ

and what he's done

on the cross

you need to be taken

from there

into his kingdom

that's what being saved

means

that's what Christ

has done for us

and it's only

as these truths

grip us

that we can be

really just

you know

one of the things

about it

you know

one of the things

that Andrew Clavin

said

that one of the things

that kept him

from the Christian faith

is and I hope

I pronounce this right

he called it

the banal optimism

of so many Christians

that if you just

you know

you read a bible verse

and your day

will be successful

and he just knew

that couldn't possibly

be true

it was sort of

just this weird optimism

he certainly knew

it couldn't be true

because no fiction character

portrayed like that

is actually believable

and so you know

here's the thing

as Christians

if you give your life

to Christ

you will have

many many hard things

that are going to happen

to you in life

many hard things

will happen to you

you'll discover hard things

about yourself

and Christ will ask you

to do hard things

but it's a very

very different thing

to do these hard things

when you know

that the end

of the end

of the end

of the end

is entering into life

that's the end

you will enter into life

and that is unstoppable

when you put your faith

and trust in Christ

it is unstoppable

and so texts like this

help us to understand

the wonder of the gospel

and also the need

to pray for the lost

I just want to say

if there are any here

or any who are watching

I know you're not

frightened by hell

but it exists and it real

and there is this wonderful

Savior who died for you

and to know him

is to know life

you might have

very very hard times

right now

and you might have

very hard times

in the days to come

some people here

who are here today

are going through

very very difficult

and hard times

but when you put

your faith

and trust in Christ

the end of the story

for you is life

and that life

begins to be a life

that you experience now

even if there's things

going wrong

with your body

and your finances

and your mind

and all of those

other types of things

that seed of life

is something

that will only grow

and will end

with you

seeing God

face to face

and you being like Christ

and so there's

no better time

than now

to call out to Jesus

and ask that he would

be your Savior

and your Lord

let's stand

bow our heads

in prayer

Father

we ask that you

help us to be mindful

of the things

the true things

the spiritual things

the things

which Christ

talks us to about

about our destinies

Father

we all know

that human beings

die

and we

all somehow

blithely

or just arrogantly

think that we will

all go to a better

place just because

we're us

and Christ has issued

a wake up call

to us

that just as we've

lived our lives

many of us

in rebellion

against you

if Christ does not

save us

that will be the

final word about us

but we thank you

Father

that that is not

the final word

about those

who put their faith

and trust in Christ

and so we ask

Lord that you

renew within us

an appreciation

of the wonder

of the gospel

and of what Jesus

has done for us

and grant us

Father a heart

to pray

for those who are

around us

that they will come

to a saving faith

in Jesus

and grant us

Father the courage

to bear witness

to Jesus

and we ask

all of these things

in the name of Jesus

your Son

and our Savior

Amen

you

Thank you.