I'm going to preach this morning a sermon entitled, Why People Go to Hell, Why People
Go to Hell.
I want to just talk about several reasons why it is that people go to hell.
It's not a very pleasant subject, but the fact is that people go there.
If we're not careful, we can fall into a mentality that might even go so far as to blame God
for the fact that people go there.
What I want us to understand this morning is that God is just in sending people to hell.
It is a just and righteous thing when God sends a sinner to hell.
He is not to be blamed for people going to hell.
People can get this mentality because they don't seem to understand some things concerning
the Lord and sin and so on and so forth.
If they're not careful, they can develop a critical attitude that goes so far even as
to charge God foolishly in blaming Him for the fact that people go to hell.
That's why I want to preach tonight or this morning about the reasons why people go to
hell.
If you're there in Matthew chapter 7 verse 13, there's a very sobering fact here about
hell.
It says in verse 13 of Matthew 7, Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide is the gate
and broad is the way that leadeth to destruction, and many there be which go in there at, because
straight is the gate and narrow is the way which leadeth unto eternal life and few there
be that find it.
That is a verse that I often quote when I'm out soul winning.
When I quote that verse, I'm making a point to the person I'm talking to that more people
are going to go to hell than heaven.
That's what Jesus is saying here.
He's saying, Enter ye in at the straight gate, for wide, because wide is the gate and broad
is the way that leadeth to destruction.
That's hell.
Why is it wide?
Why is it broad?
Because it needs to accommodate more people.
There's more people going to hell than going to heaven.
That's why he says the way to heaven is narrow.
It is a straight gate.
The fact is, out of Jesus' own mouth, that more people are going to go to hell than heaven.
We need to understand why they're going there so we do not charge God foolishly.
There's several reasons why people go to hell.
We will see, hopefully by the end of this sermon, that not only is God just in sending
people to hell, but that we also are responsible for rescuing those that are going to hell.
That's our job.
That's been given unto us to do.
What's one of the reasons people go to hell?
Well, just coming at it from the theological perspective, just coming at it from a doctrinal
kind of approach, people go to hell because they're sinners.
We all understand that.
That's the punishment for sin.
Keep something in Matthew this morning.
We're going to come back several times in Matthew, but go to Romans.
We're probably going to be very familiar with many of these verses.
It says in Romans chapter 3 verse 23, for all have sinned and come short of the glory
of God.
Now that's everybody.
Everyone's a sinner.
The Bible says, and if you would just go to Romans 5, I already read that one, go to Romans
5.
The Bible says in Ecclesiastes, for there is not a just man upon the earth that doeth
good and sinneth not.
There's nobody on the earth that does not sin.
Everybody is a sinner.
We understand that sin, the wages of sin, is death.
Why do people go to hell this morning?
Because they're sinners.
That's a very basic truth.
That's very simple.
I already know that.
I know, but you have to keep that in mind when you are approaching this topic.
Even Christians, they forget.
They get into these foolish notions, and I don't want to get ahead of myself, where they
start thinking, well, what about people who never heard?
This is this whole hypothetical thing about people who've just never heard.
Will they go to hell?
Yes.
Because having not heard is not the punishment for sin.
What's the punishment for sin?
It's hell.
God is not a respecter of persons.
Even people that have never heard the gospel are still going to go to hell, and God is
still just in sending them there because they're still sinners.
Hopefully that makes sense, and hopefully it'll make more sense as we go on through
the sermon this morning.
Bible says in Romans 5, or where you are, you say, well, that doesn't seem fair.
That seems like, you know, that looks bad on God.
People go there, but let's remember who's responsible for man going to hell.
Man is.
It's our own fault for going there.
It says in verse 12 of Romans chapter 5, wherefore as by one man sin entered in the world.
Now, who is that?
That's Adam.
By one man sin entered in the world.
People say, well, why did God even make man if he just, you know, he knew he was going
to go to hell?
Well, because he made man, you know, to have fellowship with him, and that wasn't God's
intent for man to disobey.
God very clearly told him, you know, do not eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and
evil.
Of all the other trees thou mayest freely eat, and he gave man free will to choose whether
or not to obey God.
And as by one man sin entered the world and death by sin, and so death passed upon all
men for that all have sinned.
So that sin has been passed down generation to generation to generation, so we are all
sinners and therefore we all deserve to go to hell, as the Bible says.
So man is to be blamed for his sin.
Not God.
You can't blame God and say, well, why is God sending people to hell?
God is holy, God is just, and he has every right to punish sin as a holy and righteous
God.
And here's the thing, you know, we can get into this attitude where we start to charge
God foolishly.
Look at verse 18, it said, therefore, as by the offense of one, judgment came upon all
men to condemnation.
He said, look, you know, by the offense of one, by the sin of one man, judgment came
upon all men to condemnation.
That was that one man sin, you know, was what brought condemnation to all of us, okay?
Not because God is just, you know, cruel and wants to just punish people unmercelously,
right?
In fact, he goes on there in verse 18 and says, even so, by the righteousness of one,
the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.
Now, who did it come to?
How did this free, what is this righteousness, this gift that God gave, right?
The righteousness by the, of one, the righteousness of one, the free gift, right?
That's salvation.
Christ's righteousness, we understand that, it's talking about Jesus, right?
Who did he come to?
Who did that gift come to?
To all men, the Bible says.
Either it came to all men or it didn't.
And people get caught up and they start to, they get these weird ideas about how, you
know, how God has worked in the world, you know, about people that have never heard or
how the, how the gospel did or didn't go up throughout the world.
And they, they get in their idea that the just whole, you know, whole, just centuries
go by where just thousands of people, millions of people just never get a chance to hear
it.
And that's just not the case.
The Bible says that the free gift came upon all men, that everyone has a chance to be
saved, that everybody can know the truth if they want to know it.
So do not charge God foolishly in this area of letting this foolish thought creep into
your heart and say, well, God's really, he's the one that made hell and he's the one that
allowed man to sin.
And, you know, God could have just wiped his hands of everything with Adam.
He could have just said, you know what, I'll just start over.
I'll just, you know, I'll just send Adam to hell and we'll just try this again.
The same thing would have happened over and over again.
And it was a very merciful thing that God, you know, kicked him out of the garden and,
you know, put the angel there, prevent him going in and not allowing him to live forever
in that fallen state.
That's another sermon.
But do not charge God foolishly.
Go to Romans chapter 9, Romans chapter 9.
Man is to be blamed for his sin, not God.
People go to hell because they are sinners, because God is righteous and he punishes sin.
Romans 9, look at verse 20, nay, but oh man, who art thou that repliest against God?
You know, people can charge God foolishly when they see what the Bible says and then
they start having their own thoughts and they start to disapprove of what God has said.
They reply against God.
He says, shall the thing form, say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?
Who are we to criticize God?
You know, when I run into people that want to charge God foolishly on this subject in
this way, I want to ask them, what else about God do you disapprove of?
What other criticisms do you have about the Lord?
What else do you disagree with God about?
Because that's what they're doing.
They're replying against God.
They're shaking their fists and saying, why hast thou made me thus?
Go over to Ezekiel.
Actually, you know what, go over to Matthew chapter 25, Matthew chapter 25.
I'll go through Ezekiel really quick.
It says in Ezekiel 18, the soul that sinneth, it shall die.
The souls that sinneth, it shall die.
People say, oh, that doesn't seem fair that, you know, God's going to punish people.
God must be cruel.
But he says in Ezekiel chapter 18, have I any pleasure at all that the wicked should
die?
It's not like God enjoys it.
You know, the Bible says in Proverbs that hell and destruction are before the eyes of
the Lord, how much more so the hearts of the children of men.
You know, God sees hell and destruction every day.
You know, we might think about it every so often and it makes us feel uncomfortable and
we go, oh, I don't know if I like that idea about people going to hell.
God sees it every single day and he says, how much more so than the hearts of the children
of men.
And God reaches out to lost men and wants them to be saved.
He does not have pleasure that the wicked should die.
And when Ezekiel was preaching to Israel here in Ezekiel, he made comment of them saying,
yet ye say the way of the Lord is not equal.
And, you know, that's exactly what people are saying when they say, well, it's not fair
that God sends people to hell.
What about all the people that never heard?
That's not fair of God.
You know, what's amazing to me is how many, you know, people who claim to be Christians
are sounding more and more like Mormons today.
I don't know how many times, oh, I go to a non-denom church.
Well, is it by faith or by works?
Oh, it's by faith, but, you know, James 2, it's like, are you Mormon?
Because that's what I hear the Mormons say.
And then I hear the Mormons saying, well, you know, it's not fair that people have never
heard.
Everyone's going to get a second chance to get out of hell.
Or the people that never heard, they're not going to have to go there.
That's not what the Bible says.
That doesn't make God into some belligerent tyrant.
He doesn't have pleasure in the death of the wicked.
And when people want to start, you know, making up these excuses of why some people aren't
going to go to hell if they never heard about Jesus, what they're saying is, well, I know
that's what the Bible says, but the way of the Lord is not equal.
We have a better understanding about how it ought to be than God does.
And he says to the house of Israel, is not my way equal or not your ways unequal?
And here's the thing, when you start to go down and get this philosophy and get this
critical attitude about God, you're putting yourself in a very dangerous path with the
Lord.
He goes on and says, therefore, I will judge you.
He said, you're going to look up at me, the high and lofty one, the one who is the king
of king and Lord of lords, the most high, and you're going to criticize me?
I formed you, and you're the one that's responsible for your own sin, and you're going to say,
my ways are unequal?
Therefore will I judge you.
And we should be very careful about being critical of the things of God.
In fact, we shouldn't do it at all.
And if we ever run into something in the Bible, whether it's a subject about hell or anything,
you name the subject, and we're at odds with it, and we say, well, I know that's what the
Bible says, but I just don't feel that way, we should just chalk it up as we're wrong
and God's right.
Instead of saying, well, I know that's what God says, but I don't think he's right about
that.
I have my own ideas.
Well, God just might judge you over that, just to prove his point.
So don't charge God foolishly.
Hell is the punishment for sin, and we're all sinners.
So if somebody dies without having heard the gospel, they still deserve to go there because
the punishment for sin is hell.
Hell is the punishment for sin.
The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our
Lord.
And see, people get so caught up sometimes about the wage and about hell, and they forget
the fact that Jesus came and died for everyone's sin.
People don't have to go to hell.
Matthew 25, verse 31, where you are, when the Son of Man shall come in his glory and
all the holy angels with him, then shall he sit upon the throne of his glory, and before
him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall separate them one from another as a
shepherd divided the sheep from the goats, and he shall set the sheep on his right hand
but the goats on his left.
Then shall this king say unto them on his right hand, come ye blessed of my Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world.
Jump down to verse 41.
Then shall he say also unto them on the left hand, depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting
fire prepared for the devil and his angels.
So when God made hell, when he made that everlasting fire, did he make that, did he make it for
man?
Is that his intention?
That's not what the Bible says.
The Bible says that when he made hell, when he prepared the everlasting fire, it was for
who?
The devil and his angels.
It was never God's intent that man would go there.
But because, you know, by one man sin came and entered into the world and death passed
upon all men, and because God is holy, now he also has to punish man for what?
For his own sin.
So hell is not a punishment for not having heard the gospel.
Hell is a punishment for being a sinner.
And God is just in sending people to hell.
Go over to, go over to Isaiah chapter 45, Isaiah chapter 45.
God is perfectly just in sending people to hell, whether they have heard the gospel or
not.
Because hell is the punishment for a sin.
And here's the thing, you say, well I don't know about that.
Well, you know what?
Even the wicked one day are going to acknowledge that.
Even the people that are being sent there are going to acknowledge this fact.
That God is just, and that God is holy, and that God is righteous to send them to hell.
We were going through Philippians, it said there in Philippians, in chapter 2, verse
10, it said that at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow of things in heaven and things
of the earth and things under the earth.
Isaiah chapter 45, verse 23, I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth
in righteousness.
He's saying, what I'm saying is righteous and shall not return.
I'm not going to take it back.
That unto me every knee shall bow and every tongue shall swear.
You know what's going to happen?
In Matthew 25, that's what's going to happen.
When he separates the sheep and the goats and tells them to go into everlasting fire,
you know what they're all going to do?
They're going to bow the knee and say, he's just.
I deserve to go there.
You say, well I can't understand that.
Yeah, but when you're standing in the presence of almighty God and beholding his glory and
his holiness, and you have the full understanding of that that we can't have here, even the
wicked are going to say, yep, he's right, I'm condemned.
I'm a vile sinner worthy of punishment eternally in everlasting fire.
They're not going to argue.
The Bible says every knee shall bow and confess that Jesus Christ is Lord.
They're either going to do that in this life or on that day, lost or saved.
Every knee is going to bow.
Every tongue is going to confess that Jesus is God to the glory of the Father.
But notice there, did I have you go there?
Yeah, you're still in Isaiah?
He is a just God, right?
Look at verse 21.
He said, tell ye, and bring them near, yea, let them take counsel together.
Who hath declared this from ancient time?
Who hath told it from that time?
Have not I the Lord?
There is no God else beside me.
So I don't like the God of the Bible, tough, you're stuck with him, that's all you get.
There is nobody else.
And he said, and you know what, God's good.
He says a just God.
Is God just?
100%.
There's never going to be a case where God is unjust.
It's not even in his nature.
So if we can't wrap our minds around it, if there's something we don't understand about
how God does things, we just have to say, well, I'm just ignorant.
I'm just, I don't understand.
It's my fault.
I'm the one who is failing in this area to grasp, you know, something about God.
Because he is a just God.
But notice also, he goes on and says, I am a just God and what?
And a savior.
It's not just that he's just, God knows how just he is.
And because of how just he is, he's also a savior because of how merciful he is.
He knows, I'm going to punish the wicked, I'm going to send them to hell, but I still
love them.
I'm going to give them a chance to get saved.
And so he's also a savior.
He's both.
I mean, the Bible says, for God so loved the world, we can't even begin to comprehend how
much God loves the world.
That does not take away from the fact that he is just and righteous and holy and will
punish sin eternally.
So that's one reason why people go to hell, is because sin is punished in hell.
Hell is the punishment for sin.
Whether you've heard of Jesus or not, you are still a sinner and still deserve to go
there.
God is still just for doing it.
But another reason why people go to hell this morning is because they reject the gospel.
They reject the gospel.
And this is, you know, a lot of people think, well, they never had a chance to hear.
Well, how do you know they would have even accepted anyway?
You know, this giant imaginary group of people that, you know, have never heard the gospel,
how do you know they would have even accepted it anyway?
How do you know they would have rejected it out of hand?
You think God might know that?
You think God might already know who's going to accept the gospel and who isn't?
Who's going to reject Christ and who isn't?
He, of course, he already knows that.
Not in the sense that he picks and chooses who's going to get saved, but he already knows
who's going to accept him and who's not.
People go to hell because they reject the gospel.
Are you still in Isaiah?
You know, hell can easily be avoided.
Well, all these people are going there, yeah, but it could be avoided through faith in Christ, right?
That's why he says in verse 22, look unto me and be saved, all ye ends of the earth.
So does God want everyone to be saved or not?
He said all the ends of the earth, look unto me and be saved.
That's what he wants.
For I am God, there is none else.
But people reject him and say, well, you know what?
I want another God.
But there isn't another God.
They make up their own imagination.
They reject the gospel.
And you know what they often do?
Go back to Matthew 7, is they end up trusting in their own works.
And really, that's the only other religion there is in the world.
There's grace, and then there's every other religion works, because every other religion
that's unbiblical teaches works in some shape or form.
Matthew chapter 7, verse 21, not everyone that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, I mean, they're
even calling him by name.
Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven, but he that doeth the will of my Father
which is in heaven.
And what is the will of the Father?
You know, in John 6, they said unto Jesus, what shall we do that may work the works of
God?
And he answered and said unto them, this is the work of God that ye believe on him whom
he hath sent.
Oh, you got to do works to get to heaven.
Yeah, you got to do one work, believe.
That's the work of God.
That is the will of the Father, to believe on him whom he hath sent.
Say, oh, I don't know, I know there's works got a lot to do with it.
Okay, well, let's look at the works here.
Many will say to me, verse 22, in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy
name, preaching in his name, and have we not in thy name cast out devils, and I have done
many wonderful works in thy name.
And then it says in verse 23, and then will I profess unto them, I never knew you, depart
from me ye that work iniquity.
So they list off all their works, and he says ye work iniquity.
Why is that?
I mean, are those wicked works that they're doing?
They're doing them in his name.
Think about it.
These are all works that Jesus himself did.
Did Jesus prophesy in the name of God and for God the Father?
Yeah, he did.
He prophesied.
Did Jesus cast out devils?
Oh, yeah.
He did these same works.
Did he not do many wonderful works?
Yes, he did.
So what makes these works so wicked that they're doing?
Why does he call these works iniquity?
Because not because of the works themselves, because those that are doing it, they're trusting
in themselves.
They're saying, oh, these works are what's going to get us to heaven.
They are professing to have done the same works Jesus did, but the problem is that they
are trusting in themselves.
They're not trusting in Christ, and he looks at that and says, well, that's iniquity.
That's your own self-righteousness trying to earn your way to heaven, and you can't
because you're a sinner and you're already condemned.
The Bible says, go over to Luke 18, we all as an unclean thing and all our righteousness,
all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
Why should God let me into heaven?
Well, because I preached.
I got up every Sunday and I preached in his name.
He says, filthy rag.
Why?
Because that's not going to atone for all my sin.
Well, I go out soul winning every Saturday, but once a week I'm out there knocking
doors and I'm prophesying in thy name, Lord, let me in.
Filthy rag.
That's not going to atone for your sin.
You got to find something to atone for your sin because sin is what takes people to hell.
So, you know, we all understand, well, I'm going to go to heaven because I believe, because
I did the work of God, the will of the Father.
I believed on him whom he has sent.
That's why I'm going.
Not because of my own righteousness, but because of his.
Luke 18, look at verse 9, then he spake this parable unto certain that trusted in themselves.
That's the problem.
That they were righteous and despised others.
So this is the parable, a very familiar one.
Two men went up into a temple to pray, the one a Pharisee and the other a publican.
The Pharisees stood and prayed thus with themselves.
I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even
as this publican.
I fast twice in the week.
I give tithes of all that I possess.
Now, are those bad things that he's listing off?
No.
It's good that you're not a, you know, that you're not an extortioner.
It's good that you're not unjust.
It's good that you're not an adulterer, or, you know, even as some publican.
It's good that he fasts.
It's good that he gives tithes of all.
The problem is that he's trusting in himself, and it's so foolish to think that, but that's
exactly what people say, don't they, when we go out soloing.
Well, why are you going to go to heaven?
Because I'm a good person.
I've never committed adultery.
Oh, good job.
Good job on that.
You know, even the unsaved world knows not to do that.
Even the heathen knows that they don't do that, that they even have enough sense not
to do those type of things.
Well, I've never, I'm not an extortioner.
I've never blackmailed anyone.
Oh, well, just raise that standard of moral righteousness a little higher for the rest
of us by not blackmailing people.
Gold star on your chest for that.
Well, open the gates wide open.
That's the standard?
To have not committed adultery, to not, you know, be an extortioner?
No.
The problem is that they trust in themselves.
Well, what was the publican's response?
And the publican, verse 13, standing afar off.
He was, he could, he didn't even want, couldn't want to get too close to God.
He said afar off and he could not so much as lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote
upon its breast saying, God be merciful to me, a sinner.
And that's the difference, isn't it?
Between the person who's justified before God and the one who isn't.
The one who's just pleading for God's mercy and asked him to have mercy on his soul.
That's the guy that's going to get saved.
I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other.
And he was a publican.
It doesn't say anything about him who said, I'll stop being a publican if that's what
it takes to go to heaven.
No, he said he was a publican and he went down a publican, but he went down justified.
Why?
Because he did not trust in himself.
So people go to hell today because they reject the gospel.
And one way that they very commonly reject the gospel is by trusting in their own works,
trusting in themselves.
Not only that, people do go to hell because they have not heard the gospel.
Do people go to hell having not heard the gospel?
Yes.
You know, people reach out to us and I talk to people all the time and say, well, what
about all the people that never heard?
Do they go to hell?
Yes, they do.
Because going to hell is the punishment for being a sinner, not for having not heard the
gospel.
People go to hell because they have not heard the gospel.
So that doesn't seem fair.
But here's the thing, they don't hear the gospel and they're probably not seeking for
the truth.
Do you know if you're seeking for the truth, you'll find it.
That's a promise from the word of God.
Are you still in Matthew 7?
Stay there, I'll read you from Acts 18, it says in verse 26, and he hath made of one
blood all nations of men for to dwell on the face of the earth and hath determined the
times before appointed and their bounds of their habitation that they should seek the
Lord if happily they might feel after him and find him.
And he's saying there that the nations were separated, why, so that they might seek the
Lord if happily they might feel after him and what, miss him and keep stumbling around
wondering who God is?
No, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us.
God can be found if people will feel after him.
If people want to know who God is, people want to know the truth, and people say, oh,
we just don't, there's just so many people that have never heard.
Do you really believe that?
I mean, Jesus Christ is the most famous person that has ever lived.
The Bibles have been published in almost every language, it's gone around the world, it's
been preached for centuries upon centuries for millennia.
The gospel, the truth of God has been out there.
God's not hiding with man.
He's not playing hide and seek.
He's out in the open.
And if people really want to know who God is, they will find out who God is at any time.
I'm not saying just today, I'm saying throughout all of history that people could have known
that.
Either that or God's a liar.
Matthew chapter 7 verse 7, ask and it shall be given you, seek and he shall find, knock
and it shall be opened, it shall, shall, shall, not maybe, might be, if I feel like it, no,
he will open the door.
You will find him.
For everyone that asketh receiveth, and he that seeketh find it, and to him that knocketh,
it shall be opened.
Say, well, what about people who have never heard?
Those are probably people that didn't want to know to begin with.
Probably people who don't even want to know.
If they wanted to know the truth, they would have heard it.
Because God isn't going, go to Matthew 10, God isn't going to send the gospel, God isn't
going to send some preacher of righteousness to those who don't want to hear it.
That would be a complete waste of time.
You know, we say that all the time about soul winning.
When you get to an unreceptive door, move on.
Man that is an heretic after the first and second admission, reject and move on.
Shake the dust off your feet.
That's what he said in Matthew chapter 10 verse 14, and whosoever shall not receive
you nor hear your words, when you depart out of that house or city, shake off the dust
of your feet.
Fairly I say unto you, you should be more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomorrah
than for the day of judgment than for that city.
Well, stay there and make sure you just clean with them until they come to Christ.
No, he said leave them.
God's not going to send people to go preach to people that don't want to hear it to begin
with.
And here's the thing, people had this idea that, you know, the gospel didn't go around
the globe until the Europeans did it, you know, until the 18th century or whatever when
America had that great missionary movement here.
Before that everyone was just in complete darkness, never heard the gospel.
But you know, I'm reading this book about Genghis Khan, and even in his own army, even
among his own inner circle, he's got Christians in the 12th century.
I mean, he's talking about how there was like three major religions, and Christianity was
one of them.
Look, the light of the gospel has been shining since the beginning of time.
That testimony has been out there, and if people wanted to hear it, God would have gotten
it to them.
It has to be that way.
You know, if that's one example, how about the remnant in Isaiah's day?
Go over to Jeremiah chapter one.
We're going to come back to the New Testament in a minute, but go over to Jeremiah chapter
one.
In Isaiah chapter 66, he said in verse 17, they that sanctify themselves and purify themselves
in the gardens behind one tree in the midst, eating swine's flesh and the abomination of
the mouse shall be consumed together, saith the Lord.
So the people that, you know, are purifying, they have their own false religion, right?
They're purifying themselves in the gardens behind one tree in the midst.
They're eating swine's flesh and the abomination, you know, which at this time God had already
given the Mosaic law, saying that was forbidden.
They're eating, you know, the swine's flesh and the mouse, he's saying they shall be consumed
together.
You know, they're going to go to hell.
Verse 18, for I know their works and their thoughts.
I'm reading from Isaiah 66.
He said, for I know their works and their thoughts.
God knows whether or not they're going to accept or reject the gospel.
So if God at some point, and I don't know that anyone can point to any one group of
people and just say, well, that's the perfect example of it, but it's probably out there,
where God just let a whole group of people, a whole nation go to hell, it's because he
knew their thoughts and he knew their hearts and he knew they would rather, you know, commit
idolatry and reject me, so I'm not even going to bother with them.
God already knows that about them.
He said, all nations shall be turned into hell.
You know, all nations are, the wicked shall be turned into hell and all nations that forget
God.
So people don't want to retain God in their knowledge, God's just saying, well, just go
to hell then.
And God already has this.
God already understands this, who's going to reject the gospel and who's going to accept
it.
So if I see, someone could point to some time in history where just a whole nation went
to hell without having heard the gospel, I said, well, God's just.
God must have known something about them that I don't know.
He said in verse 18, for I know their works and their thoughts.
It shall come that I will gather all nations and tongues, for they shall come and see my
glory and I will set a sign among them and I will send those that escape of them unto
the nations.
So it's not that God hasn't tried to reach out to the world in times past.
He said, I'm going to send out the remnant of the people that are left over from the
Babylonian captivity, right?
I will set a sign among them and I will send those that escape of them unto the nations
to Tarshish, Pol and Lud that draw the bow to Tubal and Javan, to the isles afar off
that have not heard my fame, neither have seen my glory and they shall declare my glory
among the Gentiles.
So here's an example in history, in Isaiah's day, where God said, I'm going to send the
remnant into all these nations, unto all the isles of the Gentiles and they shall hear
my glory.
So, well, the gospel never got around to the Europeans did it, you know, until the Mayflower
or whatever.
No, God sent them around the world in Isaiah's day.
Jeremiah is another example.
Or did I have you go to Jeremiah chapter one, verse four?
Then the word of the Lord came unto me saying, before I formed thee in the belly, I knew
thee.
Before thou came'st forth out of the womb, I sanctified thee and I adorn thee, or excuse
me, ordained thee a prophet unto Israel.
A prophet unto a very small group of people.
No, he said a prophet unto the nations.
And he sent Jeremiah into the isles of the Gentiles.
Jeremiah didn't just stay there and preach to a few people, he preached to all the kings
of the earth.
There's another example in history where God's word went out into all the world.
And he'll say, well, we just don't know if that ever happened.
Yeah, but the historical record is so sketchy.
Even the things that they claim to know, can we really be certain about the things that
they know?
And what are the archaeologists concerned with?
Are they concerned about whether or not the gospel was preached?
No, they're trying to figure out what king ruled when and what people did what.
You know, I'm sure they have some interest in religion, but you know, even the historians
back then, the people that are writing this down, they're not documenting whether or
not the gospel's being preached.
We have no idea how many times it went around the world.
How many times people heard the gospel, but I guarantee you that it did.
Because God, you know, if there was people out there that wanted to hear the truth, they
were seeking, God said he would send them the truth.
And he did it in Isaiah's day, he did it in Jeremiah's day, he did it in our day, you
know, in the New Testament.
Go to Acts chapter 20.
Think about Paul, just one man, what God did with one man in Paul's day.
Well, the Lord said unto me, Go thy way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me to bear my name
before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.
That's what Paul was, somebody who was going to bear God's name, preach the gospel to the
Gentiles, to the kings and the children of Israel.
Look at Acts chapter 20 verse 26, and that's what Paul did.
He said, Wherefore I take you to record this day that I am pure from the blood of all men,
for I have not shunned to declare unto you all the counsel of God.
Look at verse 31, Therefore watch and remember that by the space of three years I cease not
to warn everyone night and day with tears.
I mean, Paul was just out there preaching to everybody, setting up churches all around
the known world at that time.
So God wasn't just waiting on, you know, the Europeans to do it.
God's been busy preaching the gospel, sending out his servants throughout all time.
And just because we don't know about it, doesn't mean it didn't happen.
There's several examples right here in scripture.
People go to hell because they don't, because they don't, they reject the gospel, and you
know what else they do?
They deny the witness of God's revelation.
You say, well, maybe they never got somebody to come to them and preach them gospel.
Yeah, but they had God's creation, God's revelation, just witnessing to them every single day.
Every time they woke up and looked and opened up their eyes and looked at the sky and looked
at creation, they had the testimony of God in their face every single day in creation.
Go to Romans chapter one.
Bible says in Psalms 19, the heavens declare the glory of God.
Oh, where's the preacher of righteousness for the unsaved, for these masses that don't
know the Lord?
The heavens declare the glory of God.
The heavens do it every day, and the firmament showeth its handiwork.
You can't look up at the sky and go, there is no God.
The Bible says that that's a testimony of the fact that there is a God.
The Bible says that the fool has said in his heart there is no God.
You have to be a fool to look at creation and say, well, this all happened by accident.
You're a fool if you believe that.
Day unto day utter a speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge.
There is no speech nor language where their voice is not heard.
So where's the preacher?
It's in their face every day by just looking up at the firmament and God's handiwork.
Look at Romans chapter 1 verse 18, for the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against
all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men who hold the truth in unrighteousness, because
that which may be known of God is manifest in them.
Not only is it in our creation, it's actually in us.
That which may be known of God, what can be known of God is manifest in them.
And the people, they take that knowledge and they hold it in unrighteousness, and they
deny God.
It is in manifest in them, for God has showed it unto them.
For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood
by the things that are made.
That's me and you, the things that are made, creation.
Humans, human beings can look at the creation and understand the things that are unseen.
They can understand the things of God, even his eternal power and Godhead, so that they
are without excuse.
Even if they never had a preacher come and explicitly preach them the gospel, the Bible
says they are still without excuse, because they have the testimony of God all around
them and even in them.
That testimony should lead them on a path for seeking the truth, and then God would
bring it to them.
But God knows their hearts, God knows their imagination, God knows their works, and knows
that even despite of the fact that he's given the testimony of nature, the testimony of
their own conscience, the testimony, you know, even if a preacher did come, they would still
reject him.
They'd still reject him.
It's in their hearts.
It says in verse 19, because that which may be known of God is manifest in them, for God
has showed it unto them.
The Bible says, go over to Romans chapter 2, that we have this witness even with, man
has this witness even within himself.
The Bible says there is no respect of persons with God, verse 11.
There is no respect of persons with God.
Oh God, this guy is a wicked sinner, but he never heard the gospel.
Come on in.
That's respect of persons.
Well this guy heard the gospel and he rejected it, but you know, but he lived a good life,
but he's still got to go to hell.
You see what I'm saying?
That's respect of persons.
God is holy.
God is just, he's not just going to make exceptions for people.
He's going to punish sin, no matter what, no matter who we are, no matter what we have
or haven't heard.
He says in verse 12, for as many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without
the law.
What about people that never heard?
Well, they're going to go to hell.
As many as have sinned without the law, have never heard, shall also perish without the
law.
No exceptions.
And as many have sinned in the law shall be judged by the law.
For not the hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified.
Look at verse 14, for when the Gentiles which have not the law do by nature the things contained
in the law, these having not the law are a law unto themselves, which show the work of
the law written in their hearts, their own conscience, also bearing witness in their
thoughts, the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.
The Bible's saying here that the Gentiles are a law unto themselves, even those who
do not have the law, they have the law written in their own hearts and that they are a witness
unto themselves.
It says in verse 15, they show the work of the law written in their hearts, and how does
that manifest?
How does the work of the law written in their hearts manifest?
Their conscience also bearing witness, their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing
one another.
It's in their own mind, their own conscience is bearing them witness.
They know when they do something bad, no one ever has to come along and tell you, hey,
what you're doing is sin.
We all know it by, naturally.
Even when we go ahead and do it, we know this isn't wrong, I shouldn't do that.
That's what the Bible's saying here.
That even people who didn't have the law, that don't know the things of God, their own
conscience bears witness against them.
Their conscience also bearing witness and their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else
excusing.
Now, notice that little word there at the end, else.
Those are the two options, right?
Their thoughts the meanwhile accusing or else excusing one another.
They're looking what somebody else is doing and say, oh, that's wrong or no, that's okay.
I'm accusing that or I'm excusing that.
It's accusing or else excusing, there's no other option.
It's not like, well, I don't know, I'm clueless on whether or not that's right or wrong.
The Bible says it's one or the other.
People without the law sit there and make moral judgments every day about what's wicked
and what isn't, about what's sinful and what isn't.
What shows the work of God written in their own heart, which is another witness against
them that God is real and that they need to seek him.
But people go to hell because they have not heard the gospel because why?
Because we fail to preach it.
And this is the point I'm going to kind of close on and drive this home.
Go to 2 Corinthians chapter 4.
That's what I want to ask people who want to bring this up and argue about whether or
not people who've never heard deserve to go to hell or not.
And I want to say, well, I'm so glad you're so concerned about people hearing the gospel.
I'm assuming that you're doing it, that you're out there preaching, that you're in a good
Baptist church, that you've taken the time to learn how to go soul winning and you're
prayed up and you've got the Holy Spirit and you're knocking the doors.
I'm assuming you're witnessing to your lost relatives then because you're so concerned
about all these untold masses that are going to hell.
You know what?
Nine times out of ten, I bet the people who bring this up don't do any soul winning at
all.
They're probably the most callous people.
All they want to just sit around and just think navel gaze and think about stupid things
like this and end up shaking their fist at God and charging him foolishly.
It's a foolish thing to do.
The biggest hypocrite in the world is the one who blames God for people going to hell
but does nothing to reach the lost.
It's the biggest hypocrite in the world.
God shouldn't send anybody to hell.
Well, what are you doing about it?
God could just turn around and ask that of us and say, well, why are you letting people
go to hell?
I sent my son.
I gave him the witness of creation.
I gave him the witness of their own conscience.
I gave him, my word has gone around the globe.
I've given him prophets.
I've given him preachers.
What are you doing about it?
Why are you blaming me?
Jesus said, they're saying, I'm the one that came down and lived a perfect life.
I'm the one that suffered and bled and died and spent three days in hell and you're going
to blame him for people going to hell after everything he's done?
It's foolish.
It's not right.
It's wicked.
It's blasphemous to sit there and shake your head at God and say it's not fair when you're
doing nothing about it yourself.
He says in 2 Corinthians chapter 4 verse 1, therefore seeing we have this ministry, we
have this ministry, this is our ministry that God has given to us to do.
As we have received mercy, we faint not but have renounced the hidden things of dishonesty,
not walking in craftiness nor handling the word of God deceitfully but by manifestation
of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God.
But if our gospel be hid, it's God's fault.
Wrong.
It's our fault.
It is hid to them that are lost and whom the God of this world had blind the minds of them
that should believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ who is the image
of God should shine unto them.
For we preach not ourselves but Christ Jesus the Lord, and ourselves your servants for
Jesus' sake.
For God who commanded the light to shine out of darkness has shined in our hearts.
God wants the light to shine.
Where does he shine it?
In our hearts.
That's our ministry.
How is God going to reach the lost?
Through us.
That's how he's going to reach them.
Through us.
This is our ministry.
With command of the light to shine out of darkness hath shined in our hearts to give
light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We are those lights.
That's why Jesus said, you know, a city that is set on a hill cannot be hid.
Neither do men light a candle put under a bushel but on a candlestick and give light
unto all that are in the house.
Let your light so shine before men that they may see your works and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.
Say, oh, God needs to come down here and preach the gospel.
Wrong.
He shined in our hearts so that we can make known the light, the knowledge of the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
Second Corinthians chapter five verse 20, now then we are ambassadors for Christ as
though God did beseech you by us.
How is God going to beseech the lost today?
Is he just going to split the clouds open and come down in a beam of light and manifest
himself to them?
No, he's going to do it through us by shining in our hearts.
God is going to beseech them by us.
We pray you in Christ's stead be reconciled to God.
That's what we're doing.
We're out preaching the gospel.
We are beseeching people in Christ's stead.
Instead of him doing it, we're doing it for him.
Again, the biggest hypocrite in the world is the one who blames God for people going
to hell but refuses to do anything about it himself.
We'll close over in Revelation.
Go to Revelation chapter 21.
It's not a pleasant subject to think about the fact that a lot of people are going to
hell, but it is a reality we all need to face.
People are going to be a lot less motivated to go out and reach people with the gospel
if they just think, well, everyone's going to get there eventually.
They'll find their way.
This kind of mentality I think creeps in even to Baptist churches, and I've heard it from
Baptist preachers who would denounce Calvinism, but will sit there and say, well, if they're
supposed to get saved, they will.
Here's the thing.
Everyone's supposed to get saved.
God is not willing that any should perish, but we're the ones that have to bring them
the gospel and preach it to them, otherwise they're not going to get saved.
People that would have gotten saved are not going to.
As unpleasant as that thought is, we still have to remember that God is just, and that
if someone who could have gotten saved goes to hell, it's our fault and not his.
Look at Revelation.
You're in Revelation 21.
I'm going to read to you from Revelation 7.
He said, I said unto them, Sir, thou knowest, and he's talking about the great multitude
that John saw in heaven, and he said to me, these are they which came out of great tribulation.
He said in verse 16, they shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more, neither shall
the sun light on them nor any heat, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
And I'm abbreviating these verses.
But I want to end on this thought here.
It's not a pleasant thing to think about hell, is it, and the fact that we probably know
people that are going there, and a lot of times you'll hear people say, well, God's
going to wipe away all tears from their eyes, meaning this, that he's just going to cause
the memory of those people to go away.
I don't believe that.
Now I can see where people are coming from, and they might be right.
Maybe I'm wrong.
I'm open to correction on that.
I'm open to correction on anything, actually.
But I don't think that's what they're saying.
Show me where it says the memory disappears or something like that.
That's just conjecture on our part.
It does say he's going to wipe away all tears after they come out of tribulation, that they're
not going to hunger any more, they're not going to thirst any more, that there's not
going to be any heat upon them, that they're going to be with God, and God shall wipe
away all tears.
Meaning, what is he saying?
Their suffering is coming to an end.
That's what's going on here.
This isn't God wiping their memory of the lost.
He repeats it in Revelation chapter 21.
Now that was after the great tribulation.
He does this again.
The statement is used again to describe a time at the end of the millennial reign.
He says in Revelation 21 verse 1, and I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first
heaven and the first earth were passed away, and there was no more seen.
And I, John, saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared
as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,
and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with
them and be their God.
Verse 4, and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes.
God's going to cause the memory of the unlost to cease from their minds.
Is that what it says?
No.
He says he's going to wipe away their tears from their eyes, and what?
And there shall be no more death, neither sorrow nor crying, neither shall there be
any more pain, for the former things are passed away.
What's the wiping away of the tears from their eyes?
It's the former things passing away.
It's not just them forgetting the fact that there's people in hell.
You say, well, how are you going to go through all of eternity knowing there's people in
hell?
You'll go through it without mourning it because you'll have the mind of Christ, because
at that time, we'll look at it and say, everyone that's there deserves to be there.
We'll have the mind of Christ, we'll know the holiness of God, and we'll be able to
look and say, they deserve to be there, and God is just.
You say, how does that work?
I don't know.
But that's what I think is going on here.
I don't think this is God wiping away the memory of the lost from the minds of believers.
I just don't see it.
Now, I could be wrong, you know, and pardon me, I hope I am, but I think the way people
are going to spend eternity in heaven knowing that the lost are in hell is that they'll
have the mind of Christ and they'll understand that God is just for having sent them there
and they deserve to be there.
We can't fully understand that here, but we will there.
Some people are going to ask, well, why does God allow people to go to hell?
Well, you know what?
He could just as easily ask me and you the same question.
Why do you let him go to hell?
Why do we not go out and reach them?
And we might not fully understand God's justice now, but when we're transformed and we are
in the image of Christ, we will.
And you know, this wiping away of tears, it's not going to be, I don't believe it's this
induced forgetfulness as much it is as awareness of how holy God really is and how just he
really is.
So, well, I don't want to spend my eternity in heaven weeping for the lost.
Well, why don't you just worry about weeping for them now then?
Now is the time to weep for the lost.
You know, God's going to wipe away tears that are already there.
And we should spend our time weeping now for the lost and not blame God who is holy
and just.
Let's go ahead and close in a word of prayer.